Read Online Detour to Apocalypse: A Rot Rods Serial, Part Two by Michael Panush - Free Book Online

while tied up in the Sandpiper Casino. Roscoe stared at him.
    “The cowboy duds?” Betty asked. “I couldn’t just let him wear a pair of boxer shorts. This was the only thing they offered here in his size. I handed him the bundle and he walked into the bathroom and changed, then came back and sat down. He hasn’t moved or said anything else since.”
    The Captain folded his hands. “He’s a creature we don’t understand. A visitor from another world. He didn’t receive the best treatment and he may be dangerous. We need to proceed cautiously.”
    Wooster grunted. “I don’t want to talk to that big-headed Martian. What if he eats my brains?”
    “He won’t eat your brains, Mr. Stokes.” Felix folded his hands. “I will speak with him.”
    Everyone stared at Felix. “You sure?” Angel pointed at the alien. “He don’t really look normal, Felix.”
    “Do you think he’ll listen to you, Son?” the Captain asked.
    Felix nodded hesitantly. “Yes, sir. You see, we were both prisoners.” He stepped closer and approached the alien. The alien watched him, its deep black deep eyes fixing on the boy’s pale face. Felix nodded politely and held out his hand. “Good evening, sir. My name is Felix Gottlieb Tannenbaum. It is a pleasure to meet you. My friends and I wish to help as best we can, but we have a great many questions as well. How exactly did you come to be imprisoned by Mr. Mars?” He paused. “If you would rather not speak of it―I do not sometimes wish to speak of my own captivity―then I understand completely. But if you can―”
    The alien reached out. His thin fingers rested on Felix’s shoulder. The kid’s mouth fell open. He closed his eyes. The Captain hurried to Felix’s side as Snowball perked up and yipped excitedly. Felix stumbled and the Captain caught him―but the kid didn’t fall. He stood and stared at the alien, and straightened his tie. He stepped closer again. “Oh. I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”
    “What’d he do to you?” Betty asked.
    “I believe he established a psychic link,” Felix said. “He communicated telepathically. It was a… somewhat distressing experience.”
    Wooster scooted over and Felix sat down on the couch. Snowball bounced up and curled next to Felix in a fluffy white ball.
    Felix patted the baby Yeti as he talked. “His name is Ambassador. Well, perhaps it is more of a title that he has now chosen to take. I don’t believe his people have names, as we understand them.”
    “Where’s he from?” Wooster asked. “Mars?”
    “He is no Martian,” Felix said. “The Ambassador did not exactly tell me of his home, only that he was traveling in a spaceship through this part of the universe when he experienced engine trouble. He crash-landed in a town called Roswell, New Mexico.”
    All eyes went to the Captain. “I have heard of such a thing. Vague rumors of an extraterrestrial incursion. Task Force X handled it.”
    “That is all they told you?” Felix asked.
    “Yes,” the Captain said.
    “Why?” Betty walked closer to Felix and looked at the alien. “What happened to him, honey?”
    The alien―the Ambassador―released a plaintive noise, somewhere between a squeak and a whimper, the high-pitched kind of sound that a bird would make. He made it without opening his mouth, but his cheeks shook.
    “Task Force X captured him,” Felix said. “They took his ship and him back to a place called Area X, located further south in Nevada. There, they experimented on him. They interrogated him. They forced him to reveal the secrets of his technology so that they might use it.” He shuddered. “He showed me some of what happened―though he thankfully did not reveal the sensations.” He gazed at the Captain. “It was like torture, sir. It was the purest torture.”
    “Oh no,” Betty whispered.
    “It was like my own captivity―though somewhat worse. The Nazis would insult me and threaten me. They would say awful things and they would