Pancake meets Eckerslike part 2

<snip>
He slapped Justin on the shoulder. "Kid. You've got balls to say what
you think. I like your balls."
Justin cringed a bit at that, and felt Eckerslike's fat sweaty fingers
on his shoulder.
"We're gonna get on alright kid."
<end snip>
Who: Justin Pancake
Where: William Eckerslike's holiday home, New Tenerife
When: After Justin met Eckerslike
Eckerslike opened the doors to his house and Justin walked in.
"Oh wow, it's massive!" Justin said. "And you have a massive TV!" Then
he pointed to the vast assortment of games consoles that William had.
"And games consoles.... you have... all of them!"
Eckerslike nodded. "All at the expense of the JMC. That's what comes
from owning one of the biggest Companies in the entire Galaxy."
Justin blinked. "You OWN the JMC?!"
Eckerslike nodded. "Yeah buddy, didn't I tell ya?"
Justin nodded. "Actually I assumed you were some sort of crime boss or
something."
Eckerslike laughed at that and gave Justin a friendly slap on the
shoulder which almost knocked him flying.
Eckerslike urged Justin to sit on an extremely soft and comfy sofa,
one of those that you slouch right back into. Eckerslike sat right
next to Justin. His fat body emanating heat towards him.
"I have to say first...." Justin said. " I don't like older men and
I'm not gay, right?"
Eckerslike looked offended.
"Oh is that why you brought me here?"
Eckerslike then grinned. "No. I thought we could be friends!"
Justin grinned and allowed the JMC boss to call for a servant to bring
them some drinks. The servant was an attractive young Ffionian girl,
who looked sheepish when Eckerslike looked at her.
"Is that your girlfriend?" Justin asked when she left, and wondered
that if it was why she looked so scared.
"Sometimes." Eckerslike grinned. Then nudged Justin.
"Right." Said Justin in a little bit of horror at Eckerslike's tone,
and did a fake laugh. "You mean you pay her to stick around?"
Eckerslike chuckled, then turned one of the games consoles on to
distract from the question. They played a space flight-simulation
where you had to save the galaxy from invading green aliens. Justin
whipped Eckerslike, but the older man didn't seem to mind. They
continued this all day and the Ffionian servant girl brought several
more beers up for them. They were all JMC branded lagers, which
Eckerslike said was his own special recipe.
"This lager...." Eckerslike boasted. "Is a mix of all the best in the
galaxy. Did you know there's a Ffionian lager?"
"Haha no! Do the Ffionians have beer?"
"Well no, they don't call it beer. But they have a drink really
similar. But it wasn't alcoholic."
"Wheres the point in that?" Justin said.
"Exactly. Just what I said!" Said Eckerslike. "When I first tasted it
though, I thought it was the best thing ever. But when I realised you
couldn't get trollied off it, it was like a kick in't teeth!"
Justin grinned.
"So want to know what I did?"
"What?"
"I bought their factories. Stole their recipe. Added alcohol and sold
it back to them for double the price!"
Justin wasn't sure if this was good or bad. He shrugged, but
Eckerslike seemed pleased with what he'd done so Justin just said "Ah
cool very clever."
"Yeah, Ffionians are a bit gullible really. Silly sods."
Justin nodded. "Yeah there's one on the Blue Dwarf. I played a trick
on him once, I rang him up pretending I was calling from the
'Department of Toilet Security'. I warned him that there might be some
slimy brown alien trying to crawl up and out of his toilet, and he had
to guard it until I rang back. He didn't turn up for work the next day!"
Eckerslike slapped his knee and laughed so hard, Justin thought he
might vomit.
"What about those Mollopods though?" Eckerslike asked. "I know I'm a
bit porky, but wooo are they big fat mommas!"
"Yeah and I hear they explode if you shoot them!" Justin said.
"And don't they half stink!" Eckerslike said.
Justin laughed. They were bonding, but over a weird thing, about how
weird aliens were. The Ffionian girl came again, this time wearing
something a bit more skimpy because Eckerslike had demanded it the
last time. She still looked scared, and Justin felt sorry for her.
Eckerslike had avoided a question last time about her being paid, and
it made Justin wonder if she was just a slave. He started looking for
any bracelet or something around her neck that might explode if she
ran away, but he couldn't see any.
Eckerslike turned to the Ffionian girl. "Feeling cold luv?"
She shrugged.
"Oh sorry, it must be because you're so blue!" He laughed so hard and
obnoxiously that Justin wondered if he should just leave right now.
The girl pulled half a smile and quickly walked away. Justin watched
her walk, he wondered if she was a slave, could he rescue her from
this fat obnoxious old man? Should he? Then he started to wonder what
Eckerslike's reaction might be if he did. If he owned the JMC, then he
could command every JMC Starship in the galaxy to hunt down and
destroy Justin Pancake.
Justin thought twice and just settled that the Ffionian girl was
probably better off here.
He was annoyed at how Eckerslike treated her though, so just came out
with it. "You're a bit racist Willy."
Eckerslike stopped laughing. "What did you say?"
"You're a bit racist. I mean... calling the Ffionians blue, saying
they're silly sods, saying how Mollopods stink. They probably like
that odour."
Eckerslike leaned away from him and looked him straight in the eye.
"Racist? I'm not racist arr kid! I'm just saying aliens are a bit
weird that's all."
"Aren't we weird too?" Said Justin, arguing for the sake of it.
"'Corse. But one day lad, Humans will rule this galaxy – not
Ffionians, or Mollopods, or Nolims, or Aerons or Shellites..."
Justin was sceptical, and thought back to his last adventure. "What
about Hymenoptera?"
"Ah!" Eckerslike perked up and waggled a finger in the air.
"Hymenoptera are awesome warriors!"
Justin grinned. "I know."
"Seen them close up eh?"
"Yeah, quite a bit." Justin under-exaggerated.
"The Hymenoptera are a hive mind, all working towards the same goal.
So focussed, so dedicated! Whereas a whole fleet full of humans, and
they only work eight hour days, have an hours lunch break, and spend
saturday nights in the pub getting sloshed."
"Well yeah... thats normal isn't it?"
"But that's why we're only second best!" Said Eckerslike. "The Hymies
give it 100% at all times. Mark my words buddy, They know what's best."
Justin shuddered slightly. Eckerslike was giving him a weird feeling.
It was hard to forget this was the boss of the entire JMC talking, he
wondered if Eckerslike had a plan to ban all lunch breaks and make
them all work 24/7 like Hymenoptera do.
<To be continued....>