Rick stopped in his tracks, and his mouth dropped open. Before he could say anything else, though, Big Hoss lumbered into the back room. "Hey. What's going on?" There was silence as Big Hoss turned his gaze on the Tractor-Repulsor unit. Rick was still incredulous as how to answer Chumlee's last question. "What the BLEEP is that thing anyway?"
        "THAT is more trouble Chumlee has gotten us into!" Rick snapped.
        Big Hoss cast a quick glance toward his friend. "Chum, what did you do? And what is this thing, anyway?"
        Chumlee summoned all his courage and sheepishly rubbed his feet on the floor. "Well, a guy came by a couple of hours ago and sold me a 'Dromidan T-R unit. I thought it was a subspace transceiver, you know, T-R unit? Well, it turned out to be some kind of alien weapon. I didn't know," he whined. "He had the right documentation. He said he picked it up in space for salvage. I thought it was okay. It looked like a really good deal."
        Rick quickly interjected, "The BLEEP thing is an Andromedan weapon!  A tractor-repulsor. It shakes things apart."
        "Com'on, Dad," Big Hoss said. "Chum didn't know."
        "The BLEEP he didn't!" Rick bellowed. "It doesn't matter anyway. The Fed cops are going to fine us or close us down if they find out we have this BLEEP thing!"
        "Dad, calm down," Big Hoss said. "Remember your blood pressure. Chum didn't know. It wasn't his fault. That's how we'll explain it to the cops if they come."
        "The cops aren't the only ones I'm worried about, Son." Rick seemed to be calming down a little. "What about your grandpa? The Old Man is NOT going to like this. Not one BLEEP bit!"
        As if on cue, the Old Man came shuffling into the back room at that moment. "Exactly what is it that I'm not going to like?"
        Chumlee garnered his confidence once more. "I made a great buy for the shop!" he said enthusiastically.
        "What is it and how much did you pay for it?" the Old Man asked as he made his way around the sled inspecting it.
        Chumlee gave him the same story he had given Rick and Big Hoss, then stood there waiting with a grin on his face.
        "I was supposed to have today off," he began calmly, "but something told me I had better come in to check on things." Turning to Rick, "Where were you when Chumlee bought this?"
        "I took Big Hoss to see a Kzinti fighter a guy had in orbit."
        "Son, how many times have I told you to never leave the shop with Chumlee in charge?" Rick's face began turning red again. Even though Rick owned 49% of the business, he still hated how his dad treated him like a rookie sometimes.
        Big Hoss was feeling a tremendous sense of satisfaction at how he knew his dad must be feeling at that moment. The two of them were tremendously competitive, and Big Hoss always savored any opportunity to see his dad put down, even by his grandpa. The sneering smirk on his face said it all.
        The Old Man then turned to Big Hoss's friend. "Chumlee, I can't remember how many BLEEP times I've told you about buying stuff when no one else is here."
        "Maybe your memory is slipping," Chumlee interrupted. "You are getting on up there in years."
        Big Hoss just looked at the floor and shook his head slowly in disbelief. How can anyone be that stupid? he wondered.
        The Old Man stared hard at the simpleton. He strained to maintain his composure and continue with some amount of dignity.         "Chumlee, you're an idiot. If anything like this ever happens again, you'll be out on the street on your BLEEP. I can't afford your BLEEP mistakes. You're costing me too much money. Besides everything else that was wrong with what you did, you didn't even have a buyer in mind when you paid for this thing."

        "I did, too!" Chumlee retorted. "The guy who sold it to me said Area 52 would be interested in it."
        "Like I said before," Rick said, "you're an idiot, Chumlee. We can't just take this over to Area 52 and ask them if they want to buy it." Rick had recovered enough to calm down and begin to think rationally again, but had no answers. "So, what are we going to do with this thing, Dad?"
        His father crossed his arms and then rubbed his chin with his right hand. "I know someone over at Area 52," the Old Man replied. "Let me give him a call and explain what we have here. Maybe he can take it off our hands before the local cops find out about it. These secret military guys don't exactly get along with the police all the time."
        Rick started walking toward another part of the large room containing storage racks. "I'll get a tarp big enough to hide the thing. We'll have to keep it under wraps until we can get it outta here, which better be quick."
        "Hey, Chum?" asked Big Hoss. "Did you even try it out? I mean, does it work?"
        Without thinking, Chumlee replied quickly. "Oh, sure! We tried it out in the lot outside." Realizing what he had just said, he stood there with his mouth hanging open, staring at his friend.
        "Really?" remarked Big Hoss. "What did you aim it at? Did it work?" Chumlee continued staring at Big Hoss as Rick returned from the corner of the room with a large tarp to cover the T-R device.
        "Oh, yeah," Peaches said. "It worked!"
        "Wait a second!" Big Hoss exclaimed. "I had my sweet new hovercycle parked outside in the lot. I didn't see it when I came in." Chumlee began shuffling slowly around to the other side of the anti-grav sled opposite where Big Hoss was standing. With a sudden fearful dread of what may have happened, Big Hoss demanded, "Chumlee! You BLEEP BLEEP son of a BLEEP! Where is my hovercycle?!"
        Rick had a broad grin on his face as he dropped the tarp on the floor next to the sled. "I think it's over in the corner in a big bag, Big Hoss!"
        As the Old Man shambled out of the back room and into the shop, he mumbled, "Biggest mistake of my life Š going into business with my BLEEP family!"