Posted Jan. 12, 2022, 4:55 p.m. by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) (David Fergusson)
[snip}
…then he remembered again the child and it’s toys, that he needed to speak with Joe Milligan about the time travelling, and that he was sure Miriam had lied about knowing him. Glen could never leave work behind for very long. He was surprised that he hadn’t been paged yet. He had half expected that a briefing from some Admiral or Commodore would have been requested by now. So, he turned away from the shop window and walked off towards the docking rings, picking up his pace as he did. The station was beginning to get busier.
Glen would hear the sound of running shoes behind him ‘’Hey Captain wait’‘ a voice said ‘’Leaving so soon?’‘ a different one called out. Two young women caught up with him and they were dressed up for the night.
‘’I’m Susan and this is my friend Sandy’‘ at which point Sandy wrapped her arm around his, while Susan ran a hand across his chest ‘’There’s a party starting soon!’‘ both girls seemed excited ‘’With two ships docked we’re bond to have a whooping lavish party ‘’.
‘’Any high ranking officers still on the Merrimack ?’‘ Susan asked with a honey sweet voice.
John looked around the docking rings entrance hall for other people involved in the scam, because it was quite obviously some scam. He couldn’t see anyone watching them. “Yes, I am the Captain of the Merrimack, but I think you have me confused with someone else? I don’t have time for… er… carousing! …Sorry! If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to me ship. And I obviously cannot comment upon the ship’s complement!”
This party does sound very inviting, and if these two sirens lure me to my destruction by the sweetness of their songs, well so be it… thought Glen. But that was his heart speaking, and then his head said, “I’m sorry, but I really do need to get back to my ship now!” He really wanted an update on the progress made with the pod and the balls - had the anthropologist been able to find the origin from the box, was the child stable, could they wake it, and what was inside the spheres.
Glen kept walking.
When the girls saw the Captain walking away Sandy was infuriated ‘’What’s wrong with ya?’‘ she called out,a few seconds later Glen would see a shoe whizzing by an inch or two from the right side of his head .
Maybe Sandy was a poor shot, maybe John somehow instinctively ducked, but the shoe went flying past his right ear, and straight into the DS K-5 grocer’s market stall.
Susan on the other hand was mortified ‘’What the hell.....can’t you see his wearing a Captain’s uniform!’‘ she exclaimed, while taking off her shoes though now for a different reason ‘’Run’‘ and both did at the opposite direction.
Glen turned around to see the two women running away. He looked for space station security, but they were never around when you wanted one. Meanwhile, fruit and vegetables had fallen from their stands at the grocery stall, and now melons and oranges were rolling on the ground at his feet. A display of tinned canned produce, stacked in a rickety, ceiling-high pyramid was beginning to wobble from side to side. it was inevitable that it would fall over. Not only that, but the shoe had continued its journey straight into the weirdly positioned glass aquarium that for some reason surrounded the whole docking ring entrance hall. Luckily, this glass was made of recently invented transparent aluminium and withstood being hit by a shoe. That was a lucky miss! Glen though.
It could have been much, much worse. If it had been ordinary safety glass, a crack that starts off relatively small could have quickly increased in size due to temperature changes, water pressure or vibrations. It could have developed into a crack all the way from the ceiling to the floor, and when the pressure of the aquarium behind it became too great to be held back, it could have exploded outwards, spilling the water and all the poor fish it contained, out onto the floor. When all that water came into contact with the space station’s electro-plasma distribution network via the plasma conduits in the walls… well, let’s just say, that was a hell of a lucky miss!
Glen picked up the pace, turned sharply, and accidently kicked a stray apple across the hall. He returned through Docking Port 2 back to the USS Merrimack.
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