“What have you found, Dr. Kamek?” Captain Silver asked the resident biologist. He strode down the corridor with all his usual importance, but his tired countenance betrayed his illusion of confidence. It had been more than six weeks since the small crew of the Moonhopper arrived in this strange new system; three months since they left their own star system; fifteen weeks since they left their home planet. The captain wasn’t the only one who needed a rest.

 “It took a while, but I’ve made some interesting discoveries,” responded Dr. Margaret Kamek. “This specimen we picked up last week was so different from our last two that I didn’t even think it was the same kind of animal, but a closer study of the genetic makeup revealed that it actually is the same species.” She opened the door to the laboratory and showed Capt. Silver their extraplanetary guinea pig.

 It was grotesque.

 “That is one ugly alien,” Silver blew out his breath. “Yuk. Have you discovered any redeeming qualities?”

 “Not really,” Kamek sighed. “It was aggressive, angry, and it repeatedly tried to attack me.”

 “Well, I guess you can’t really blame it,” Silver shrugged. “We kidnapped it from its home. Have you euthanised it yet so you can get a better look?”

 “No,” Kamek grumbled. “Tara and Steffi won’t let me.”

 Silver left the laboratory and tottered down the hallway to the bridge. “Lieutenant Holger--anything?”

 Holger giggled, then purred a response. “No, sir! Everything’s ducky.”

 Silver wondered to himself how Holger had ever gotten a job as an officer--he just wasn’t cut out for it. Almost the entire crew of the Moonhopper was generally grouchy and ill-tempered. He shrugged and turned on the television, seeing if the radio waves from their home planet were reaching them all right. A few minutes of banging the TV and trying to find a clear channel revealed nothing, so Silver turned it off, frustrated.

 Kamek ran into the bridge and skidded to a halt before the captain. “John! I mean--Captain Silver--the specimen is gone! I went to the lounge for a drink and when I came back...” her voice trailed off. “Tara and Steffi are gone, too,” she voiced miserably.

 Silver cursed and ran off down the corridor. “They’re trying to get to the escape pod,” he growled, weaving through the small network of halls in the ship. “Ah-ha! I was right! Trying to escape with our subject, are you?” Silver shouted at his crewmates when he reached the pod.

 Steffi turned around, startled. “Well, you just better leave us alone!” she whined. “We’re not going to let you kill this guy, this guy here. He may be ugly, but it’s just MEAN to kill him!”

 Silver made an irritated face. “Now you look here, Steffi, I’m the captain of this ship and you’ll do as I say, do you hear me??”

 Tara stuck out her tongue. “Somebody’s in a bad mood. We don’t want to kill this alien. Sure, he’s ugly, and mean, and bad-tempered, but then....so are you, sir!” Tara giggled.

 Silver glared.

 Tara and Steffi leaped into the pod along with their ugly alien friend, who was still unconscious. Captain Silver tried to jump in after them, but they closed the door too quickly. Silver hopped up and down, sucking on the finger the door had closed on. Furious, he jammed the intercom button and yelled for the entire crew on the bridge. Well, that’s what he meant to say; he accidentally called for all hands on deck.

~

 On the turf of the besieged planet, a few of the inhabitants were starting to fight back. “Have you got a lock on the position of the alien craft?” one of them asked the targeting officer on the land base. “Yes, sir!” The officer saluted smartly. “Pulse cannons ready.”

 “Stand by to fire,” The general folded his arms behind his back and faced the sky. “In 5......4......3....”

~

 “We’re going after them!” Silver told the crew. “Tseng, bring us into the atmosphere right now.”

  “Yes, sir!” the officer saluted smartly. He ran to the landing instruments and had them inside the planet’s atmosphere within a few seconds. The navigator dropped their altitude to a few thousand feet.

~

 “My gosh, sir! They must have known we were attacking! They’re here!” a panicked soldier yelled.

 The alien craft hovered only 4,000 feet over the planet’s surface.

 “All the closer for us to fry it,” said the general. “FIRE!”

~

 “AAAAAAUUUGH!!!” screamed someone on board the Moonhopper as the pulse blast hit. The outer shell of the ship dissolved, and everyone was soon coming increasingly near the surface of the planet.

 Lt. Holger shrieked. He flapped his tiny, useless black wings as he plummeted downward at an alarming rate. All five of his orange eyes blinked madly as his long, thin body fell straight down through the mists.

 A certain percentage of the Moonhopper’s crew could fly, though, and soon all were relatively safe; still falling from the weight of two Yakletts bearing down on the strength of one pair of large wings, but falling slowly.

 A small crowd of humans gathered around on Earth’s surface and watched the strange group float down. They pointed and gasped with all the usual fervor, but something about this time was different, they could feel it.

 A few feet away, the small silver escape pod also touched down and Tara and Steffi poked their heads eagerly out of it with their human friend in towe.

 Captain Silver touched down and stared embarrasedly at the large (and growing) crowd. “Errrr.....live long and prosper?”

-fin-