Star Ship Rollerprise
Mission Supermarket (episode 2)
by Annette Schwindt
Space... the final frontier... these are the voyages of star ship Rollerprise, its continuing mission, light-years away from integration: to bring Rollanians and Footonians closer together... to boldly go where no man has gone before.
First officer's logbook, stardate: Friday afternoon 17.12 h
Mission: Refill provisions
17.13 h: Following the Captain in Footonian stocks area for food. Provided with means of payment. Encountering difficulties: metal turnstile, no transition for Rollanians. Is this a kind of spiral nebula separating Footonians from Rollanians for not being forced to share their provisions?
17.14 h: Observing events from a secure place: Footonians arrive, take barred orbital gliders in possession, send them through a sluice into the area behind the spiral nebula. Then they jump into the nebula themselves and arrive at the other side together with their orbital gliders. However they don't board them but push them transporting the provisions inside.
17.16 h: Footonian approaching. Yellow alarm! Identification?
17.17 h: Footonian activates greeting frequencies. Presents himself as provisions inspector
on duty. Offers us to beam the spiral nebula temporarily aside in order to permit transition.
Accepting offer.
17.20 h: Leaving spiral nebula behind us in order to inspect stocks of provisions. Stacking different goods on Captain who fills in almost complete Rollerprise.
Annotation: Said orbital gliders are not usable for Rollanians as steering of Rollanian star ship requires full attention. Next time: take Footonian with glider in the wake.
17.25 h: Separating temporarily from Captain for the purpose of synchronized quest of provisions. Hoping to increase effectiveness this way.
17.30 h: Returning to Rollerprise with desired goods I find Captain beleaguered of doter Footonian woman.
Alarm orange!
Tactic: Approaching without attracting attention.
17.31 h: Plugging into their radio communication. It seems Footonian tries to hypnotize Captain with monotonous sonic waves of her own tale of woe.
Red alarm!
17.35 h: Trying in vain to free Captain from unilateral conference. Footonian blocking our way with her orbital glider. But Captain totally unimpressed by this menace. Just listening and nodding in understanding.
17.40 h: Footonian passing into tactics of equalisation reporting egregious events in her home base: successive mutation of a Footonian to Rollanian!
Annotation: Heard about this on our voyages before, have never got as close to the phenomenon before: old Footonians tend with increasing age to such mutations. Footonian term: "frailness" or "femoral neck fracture". Even younger Footonians are said to mutate after hazardous incidents with their spaceships! Have to look further into this at next opportunity.
17.50 h: Footonian transactor suddenly beams into galaxy called "sales". We take advantage of
the situation for absconding.
17.52 h: Only one of four wormholes through which the provisions stocks can be left is active.
Waiting…
18.01 h: Arriving at entry of wormhole but meeting Footonian customs officer. Are forced to
hand out all the provisions we tediously had balanced on Captain for Footonian control.
18.03 h: Customs officer asks means of payment from ME.
Contempt of hierarchy! Again allegation of minor solvency due to Rollanian origin?
Captain reminds of first directive: Be lenient toward them!
18.04 h Captain handing out means of payment. Passing wormhole without further incidents.
18.05 h: Starting to next mission and go on Warp... Engage!
This text by Annette Schwindt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License.