Zhevoon, or Joe, frowned at the parchment. He began to laugh. He cried out to the stone walls around him, “You can’t contain me you superstitious King!”

The Guard yelled through the bars, “Shut up you unworthy miscreant!”

Joe ignored the Guard, “King Steve III, if you think you can keep me behind these bars, why don’t you come here and guard me personally!”

As if hearing the summons King Steve III thundered down the hall, “Joe, speak now! Where are you from? What is your mission?”

“My Uncle sent me. He wants me to get a loaf of bread.”

The King frowned, “Quit playing games Joe. I can have you killed right here. Tell me the truth!”

“I was only repairing some damage. I’m done know.”

The King shrugged, “Well, doesn’t matter, the lad said that Joe would lie. Just kill him.”

“What? Kill? Me?” Joe looked around; he glanced at the wizard’s hat he held. He pulled out a small handheld phasing device. He punched a button and phased out.

The King stared at the space that Joe had occupied, “Hmm… it seems that he was a wizard after all, but he has destroyed himself, sparing us the duty.”

As soon as Joe had gotten back to his spaceship (his phasing device connected to the ships powerful Phase Computer) he took a shower and cleaned himself of the Dungeon filth he had acquired. Then he went straight to the Order Corporation headquarters. The man he was looking for worked on the third floor in a fairly large office.

“Jack, quit cheating! You have to follow the Rules! I can’t keep pulling your… heh-heh… fat out of the fire.”

Jack swiveled his chair to face Joe. Even though the office was large, so was Jack, and he took up a lot of it. He spat in Joe’s general direction, “Hah! You’re better off dead Joe. I don’t care about the Rules if it means that I can rid myself of you!”

Joe frowned, “I wonder what the Galactic Standards Organization would think about that statement…”

Jack spat again, “Hah! The GSO would think twice before messing with Order… as for you, get out of my office!”

Joe winced, uh-oh, I think I may have pushed him too far… Security must already be on its way up…

The door opened just as Joe expected and three security guards appeared out of nowhere.

Jack spat once more for old times sake, “I have a Phase Depressor Shield installed, and Hyperspacial Containment Field.”

Joe looked around him. He didn’t feel like using the door today, and the walls looked solid enough that he didn’t feel like testing the Chaos Quantum Law and didn’t feel that his electrons were in the mood for spontaneously jumping through a wall today anyway. There was only one other way out he could think of since spacestations don’t usually have windows. That way was by disappearing. Good thing he had the option of using a Random Phase Generator (RPG). Now, RPGs are very dangerous. You have no clue as to where you would end up, but preferably, it would have to be someplace better than where you were at the time when you used it. Because RPGs use the Phase Formulas by not using the phase formulas a Phase Depressor doesn’t cancel them out. Or, to put it another way, it does cancel them out, but since RPGs don’t really care about the formulas anyway, the RPG is not affected. Joe implemented the RPG and watched as the world around him phased into nothing with a few specks of something.

Unfortunately, Joe had landed in the middle of vacuum. Fortunately, Joe had enough breath to last him the few seconds it took to activate his handheld Phaser and phase himself back onto his own ship.

When he walked onto the Bridge an orange light was flashing on the message board. The orange lights are not as important as the Cerulean Blue lights or the Aquamarine Lights, but it was definitely more important than Chartreuse or Hydromarangue and it was just plain prettier than Eggshell or Feces Brown lights. The Ultramauve light feigned indifference, and the regular Mauve just looked perturbed.

Joe felt like answering the Orange message since they usually meant that his was going to get an extra Fish Day bonus or a better Massage Plan.

On the BDT (Big Display Thing) a lugubrious face materialized. The face righted itself, after having been upside-down, and started to speak, “Joe, we at Kayos realize what great service you have rendered to the company…”

Please be a bonus, thought Joe, I want to give a Holy Mackerel to my son for Fish Day. Even though he would take a Tuna with Holes in it just the same.

“…But, we have received from an anonymous source that you have been disobeying the Corporate Rules…”

Joe angered, “Stak it! I’m not the one who broke the rules! It was that fat klidulik of a person, Jack, over at order who broke the rules!”

“Joe, we know about your personal vendetta against Jack, but you shouldn’t try to pass the blame. We have evidence of you breaking the rules, and if GSO caught wind…”

Joe became angrier, “What in the stak are you talking about? What evidence?”

“Joe, we have a Hypervid of your ship docked above a Non-Standard Backwards Planet (NSBP) without a note in the GSO bank.”

Joe frowned, “The planet had already been sabotaged against its P-Doc stated in the GSO.”

“Everyone figured that that planet would break from its Psychohistory Documentation… even the Pyshohistorians realized that.”

Joe’s frown deepened, “Sure, that’s what supposed to happen (and isn’t that what we are against?), but Jack made it happen.”

The lugubrious face frowned, “Joe, that’s enough. You’re still fired and you can’t change that, no matter how I personally feel, it was a board decision, nothing personal, its just Corporate, that’s all, you understand. These things happen.”

Joe sighed, “Fine President Kayos. Send my regards to Mrs. Kayos and Junior.”

Kayos smiled, “I will, and you say hello to little Joey for me, Joe.”

Joe smiled, “Okay,” and then he mumbled, “Of course, I would have to do that after I explain to him why Fish Day was canceled this year.”