"I have a few," said Elaine.
She looked at Guybrush. "First, is there any way we can get back?"
Guybrush looked wretched. "I don't know any way to reverse what these portal stones do..."
"Well, why don't you just shoot them again?"
Wally spoke up. "They send us to a different place each-"
"We're already forty thousand light years from earth," continued Elaine. "How could we end up in a worse position?"
"We could end up eighty thousand light years from earth," said Guybrush. "At these kinds of distances, the chance that we could make it back to earth are practically zero."
"But it's our only chance," said Elaine.
"Yeah, I guess it might be," said Guybrush. "But I've just got a bad feeling about these portal stones."
"You're telling me," said Elaine sourly.
"It just seems to me that each time we use these portal stones, we'll end up further and further from Earth. And the only way we're going to get back is if we know exactly what we're doing."
"And of course we don't have enough fuel to fly back to Earth," said Elaine.
"I'll have to do the sums, but yeah, I think you're right. And it would take centuries anyway."
Elaine shook her head. "Well, thanks for those answers. Really cheering. Question two: how are we going to get these handcuffs off?"
"Can I try?" said Wally eagerly. He ran to a cupboard, and rummaged around inside. He emerged holding a hacksaw in one hand. "Sharpest one we've got," said Wally. "The teeth are made of a titanium-boron alloy."
"It'll be useless," said Elaine.
"We can at least try it," said Guybrush. Elaine sighed. They walked over to a metal workbench, and rested the handcuff chain on the surface.
Guybrush and Elaine faced each other over the bench. "Arm wrestle?" suggested Guybrush.
"Shut up."
Wally then started sawing away at the chain. A terrible, high-pitched squeal filled the room. The hacksaw blade began to smoke, and then the teeth began to fly off the blade.
Wally stopped sawing, and gazed at the handcuffs in awe. "Wow. What are these things made of?" he said.
"It's classified," said Elaine. "Meaning I don't know. But they're encryption-locked and resistant to blaster fire, so basically anything you try is going to fail."
"How about I hit it with a cleaver?" said Wally. He rushed off to another cupboard, and came back with a heavy, deadly-looking butcher's cleaver. He held it high above the chain, then swung it hard.
The blade bounced off the chain, turned nearly one hundred and eighty degrees, flew back up in the air, and hit the floor just to one side of Guybrush.
"Whoops," said Wally.
"Perhaps we might try something else," said Guybrush evenly. He kicked the cleaver away.
"There's some more tools upstairs," said Wally. He climbed up the ladder, leaving Guybrush and Elaine alone in the hold.
"I wonder how many people my ancestors killed," said Elaine softly.
"What?"
"You can't build up this much bad karma in one lifetime," she said. "Or two lifetimes, even. You'd need at least ten lives of evil."
"Look, I know we're in a bad situation," said Guybrush. "But can't you stop moaning about it? We're stuck together and it looks like it'll stay that way, so we're just going to have to get along."
"Get along?" Elaine laughed bitterly. "With you two? On this wreck?"
"It's not such a bad ship," said Guybrush, a little angrily. "And if you're going to have that kind of attitude of course things are going to be terrible. You're being frank with me, so I'll return the favour. I don't really like you, Elaine. There are hundreds of people I'd rather spend eternity with. But they're not here. You are. And there's nothing we can do about it. So, Ms. Marley, if-"
"Elaine."
Guybrush stopped, confused by the interruption. "What-"
"Call me Elaine." She was crying.