Jahv spoke calmly but quickly. "It's not likely they're the SAME lizard-men, and you can't win a fight against them. They'll kill you on sight, even if it meant being arrested themselves. This place is not without some security. They hate you as much as you hate them because your people destroyed all of the ships that were sent to your world. We have to get you past them unnoticed."
"How do these Soluans feel about Botarans?" asked Keith.
"They're not too crazy about us, either, because they know they can't beat our technology." remarked Jahv.
"But they've probably never seen anyone from Earth, right?" added Keith.
"No, I'm sure of that." replied Jahv. "What are you getting at?"
"You want a distraction, you'll get one. Can I see your backpack?"
Jahv handed Keith the backpack. Keith started fishing around and came out with a can of bathroom deodorizer. "How did that get in there?" asked Jahv.
"I saw the plumbing facilities on board the shuttle before we took off." said Keith.
"Next question — when did you get so brave?" inquired Davy.
Keith sighed. "Look, I'm a bundle of nervous energy right now, and if I don't do something to blow off some steam, I'm gonna pop. I figure if nothing else, those guys are probably half-drunk and we can outrun 'em if we have to."
"'We'?" asked Davy suspiciously.
"I want back-up. You in?"
Davy groaned. "I suppose, if only to see what you've got in mind."
Keith turned to Jahv. "All right, you'll have your distraction in a minute. Get through the bar and we'll meet you on the other side."
"I hope you know what you're doing." said Niklas.
"Yeah, me too." replied Keith, as he and Davy walked off.
The Soluans were huge beings, easily over seven feet tall. Their bodies were powerful but their limbs were rather slender. Their heads looked vaguely like several species of dinosaur Keith could think of offhand. Both were scaly green, but one of them, who also had a badge on his metallic tunic that the other did not have, had some orange around his face. Keith assumed it was probably because he was just older. He looked more scaly, too. The two reptilian men were talking about something, but Keith couldn't quite tell what. The translation field was working in here, but it was crowded and noisy.
Keith took a deep breath and stepped right up to the table, Davy in tow. "Good afternoon, gentle — uh — men."
"Grife, now what." rumbled one of the Soluans. "Getting so you can't get quietly drunk anywhere in the cosmos anymore."
"And what manner of pathetic mammals are these?" said the other. "You ever see anything like these things before?"
"Not sober, I haven't." replied the first. "Maybe we're more drunk than we think."
Keith kept going, bringing out the spray can. "Gentlemen, I have a wonderful offer for you today. For just a — a small amount of whatever you use for money, you can own this wonderful new freshening product."
"'Freshening product'?" repeated the elder Soluan.
"Absolutely!" proclaimed Keith, trying to keep his knees from knocking. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jahv and Niklas flanking Morik and making their way through the bar as quickly as they could without being too obvious about it. It was slow going given the crowd of patrons milling — and in some cases staggering — and in at least one case oozing — around. "Kills germs in the air!" Keith shot some of the spray into the air, and the Soluans waved the spray away from them. "Kills bad breath, too!" continued Keith. "Open up, llama-lips." Keith reached for the younger Soluan's face and pried his jaw open and shot some spray in. The Soluan stared choking. "Makes a great flavor additive, too!" Keith shot some of the spray into the older Soluan's drink, and the force of the spray splashed some of the purplish liquid out of the glass.
"Enough!" roared the elder Soluan. The younger one was still coughing. "Begone!"
Keith backed off, and Davy was clearly ready to run. "Well, I can see you're just not interested, but I tried. Bye!"
Keith and Davy skittered for the exit on the far side of the bar, where the others waited. "I don't believe what you did back there." wheezed Davy. "Grabbing that thing's mouth!?"
"Got on a roll and couldn't stop myself. And brother, he needed the spray, trust me."
"Well, after that stunt, I hope they're gone by the time we get back, because if they're not, Niklas and I are going to have to conceal three of you, and I'm not sure we can." said Jahv. "I didn't pack the cloaking field that I used that day in the mall."
"What now?" asked Niklas.
"Now, we find Karak." said Jahv. He led the group further down the corridor and through several turns. Finally they arrived at their destination. "Thank the Creator!" sighed Jahv. "Karak is still in business."
Jahv led the group to a medium-sized storefront with alien lettering above the entryway. But there was no denying the purpose of the store. Holographic images of spaceship parts were on display in the windows. Niklas theorized that this was probably some sort of universal symbology that practically anyone would understand. The translation field could take care of spoken words, perhaps, but not images.
A chime went off as soon as the youngsters entered. A deep, accented voice boomed from the back. "Yah, yah, I be coming!"
"Sometimes the translation field is — somewhat less than perfect." remarked Jahv, noticing the curious expressions on the other boys' faces. Even Morik stuck a finger in one ear as if to make sure it was working properly.
A huge specimen of alien life emerged from a back room. He was more or less humanoid, well over six feet tall, with light blue skin bordering on pale turquoise, thick black hair and a beard, bald on top with a ridge of skin or bone running from the bridge of his nose well over his forehead, disappearing into his hairline. And either his species was naturally predisposed towards a huge gut, or this being had not missed very many meals in his life, all of which had been considerable. He was dressed in a worn brown shirt, and equally worn grey coveralls with a variety of stains on them from assorted mechanical fluids. Davy, Niklas, and Keith backed off a few steps. Morik looked slightly nervous. Only Jahv seemed unfazed. "Whataya kids want?" said Karak, roughly but not unkindly. "The simulator arcade is on the next level!"
"We know that. We need a part for our shuttle." explained Jahv.
"YOUR shuttle?" Karak's reddish eyes went wide. "You five kids is on your own? Hokay, I'm impressed. Whataya need?"
"Hyperwarp stabilizer coil for a medium-sized shuttle of Botaran design." explained Jahv.
"Lemme see specs." said Karak. Jahv withdrew a small device from his backpack, which displayed an image of the shuttle, and handed it to Karak. "Hunh. Built this yourself, didn't you?"
"Yes, why?"
Karak shrugged. "Overall, you did good job. Followed specs almost precisely. But I see problem. Your regulator coil to your stabilizer isn't tight enough. That's why your stabilizer blew. I can give you new coil and new stabilizer. If you need me to do work, that'll be extra."
"We can do the work." said Jahv.
"I think you can." said Karak, grinning. "But you still need parts. What you have for trade?"
"I can offer you a Botar-Tech Mark 5 Food Replicator." said Jahv.
Keith grabbed Jahv's arm and whispered, "You're giving him the food replicator? I just got that thing to do cheeseburgers and pizza!" "And we're on our way directly home after this, and there's still the replicator back in the dome tent." replied Jahv. The replicator on the shuttle was one which Keyro had brought with him, and they were working on building more such equipment. "Besides, we don't have any currency, and can you think of anything else to better offer Karak?"