Siddons held Broski's wrist in his vice like grip, examining the nuclear explosive contained within. Sweat ran freely down his face. He mumbled something unintelligible,
followed by a nervous chuckle. With his free hand, Siddons reached into the front pocket of his trousers, his tongue protruding from his mouth as he concentrated on his search. Then His eyes brightened
noticeably.
"Aha!", Siddons exclaimed, pulling the item from his pocket and holding it before Broski.
The corporal eyed the would be treasure skeptically for a moment before remarking. "Wow...that's real...ah...neat."
Siddons didn't hear the dry comment, entranced as he was with the relic he'd exhumed from its resting place.
"But", Broski continued hesitantly, "I don't quite see the usefulness of a plastic spork."
Another nervous laugh escaped the demolitions expert. "By itself, it's nothing more than a useful eating utensil", he admitted, "but when combined with a nucleic
pseudo-inhibitor, it is one of the
universe's most effective nuclear containment units."
"And where is this pseudo-inhibitor?", Broski asked hopefully.
"Huh?" The corporal sighed, "You don't have one, do you?"
"Well no, not exactly", Siddons replied defensively, "but I've been thinking about getting one." He continued, "At least I've got a spork, what do you have?"
Broski carefully un-shouldered his pack, and pushed it over to Siddons who began rummaging through it immediately.
"Geez", Siddons said, obviously impressed, "you sure do have a lot of stuff."
"You either PRE-pare, or DE-spair.", Broski replied quoting the ancient adage of the Space Commandos. "Can you use anything, there?"
"I'm not sure.", Siddons muttered distractedly as he examined the equipment, "I could use an extra pair of socks."
Broski scowled angrily. "I mean, is there anything that would be useful in our current situation."
"Hmmmm.", Siddons said, examining an item within the pack.
Broski stepped over to see what Siddons had found.
"That's the ticket!", he claimed, pulling the item out and holding it up.
Broski's eyes widened as he beheld Siddons' new find. He started to stammer, "But you can't use that...you just can't."
"Why not?", Siddons asked looking the canteen cup over.
The corporal struggled with his emotions. "It was my Grandma's", he whined pathetically, "she gave it to me when she retired from the corps."
"Well", Siddons admitted, "it's no good without a rubber band..."
Broski sighed with relief.
"...luckily I always keep a bunch of them in my pocket.", Siddons finished.
Broski desperately grabbed for his cup, but Siddons' instinctive nervousness made the feat impossible. Broski fell to his knees as he reached out, "Please...", he pleaded, "just let me hold it
one last time." Siddons returned it to the corporal reluctantly.
Broski made a sickening display of caressing the cup as he held it to his bosom. "We've seen a lot together, old friend", he sniffed back tears, "but now it seems destiny has chosen different paths
for us." He handed the cup back to Siddons, "Farewell, my friend."
Siddons set the cup on the floor between them, then delicately took the grenuke from the corporal. Pulling a rubber band from a vest pocket, he went to work with the three items. Broski couldn't bear
to watch and was forced to turn away.
"Done.", Siddons proclaimed proudly.
Broski turned to behold the demolition man's work. The rubber band had been wrapped around the explosive several times, which had been stuffed unceremoniously into the steel canteen cup.
"That's it?", Broski asked incredulously.
"Yup.", Siddons replied nodding.
Broski regarded him skeptically. "So we're safe", he asked, "it's been deactivated?"
Siddons regarded him blandly. "Oh no", he said chuckling, "I just bought us some time."
"How much time?"
Siddons shrugged, "A year, a day, a couple minutes. I really don't know."
They looked at each other for a moment, absorbing the impact of Siddons' words, then both ran for the door, screaming.
