Cargo

Pets On Board

Puddle Jumper was built as a passenger ship. But that was a thousand years ago and at a time when they believed that traveling around the universe would be something everyone would want to do. But the cost of interstellar travel never came down the way the travel bureaus had promised. As it was, carrying cargo from one planetary system to another was so expensive that few carriers bothered with it any more. But this trip was special.

"Captain, the ship is ready for the jump now." Andy stated, then turned back to his monitor.

"Thanks Andy, What about our precious cargo? Mex, are you ready for the transit down there?"

"Yes Captain. All peaceful and quiet down here. But- hey, stop that!"

"What was that, Mex?" Captain Alveron waited for the response.

"Nothin' Captain. We're good to go down here." Mex killed the com-unit and turned back to cages stacked around the hold. "Keep that up and you'll force me to come in there and start breaking heads!"

Mex added emphasis to his statement by picking up a large wrench and banging it noisily against the bars. His charges quickly skittered to the back of the cage and huddled in a group, wide eyes shining in the dim light of the ship's hold.

"Little creeps," Mex muttered under his breath. "Why anyone would want them is beyond me."

As he went back to his bunk to prepare for the transit, the little creatures moved stealthily back to the front of the cage. Their eyes sparkled in the darkness as they watched their keeper disappear behind a door at the end of the cargo bay. They chittered among themselves. Anyone watching would have the thought the annoying little creatures were actually communicating with each other. But everyone knew they were incapable of structured thought. They were strictly instinctual beings, reacting to their immediate needs or fears.

After a short while, their chatter subsided and they settled down in a tight group, clutching each other, huddled against the cold damp of the processed air provided by the ship. The crew prepared for transit.

Captain Alveron was reviewing data on several monitors while Andy, the ship's navigator, locked the controls and prepared to leave the bridge.

"Transit in 2 minutes, Captain." Andy commented softly as he walked past his commander. "Don't want to be caught out here when it begins."

"Point taken, Andy," Alveron responded. "Everything looks good here. See you on the other side."

The two men, the last two on the bridge, disappeared through separate doorways. With a soft hiss, the doors slipped shut. The bridge was empty. Silent but for the faint clicking of solenoids making small adjustments in the hydraulic systems of the control panels.

The countdown showing on the navi-com screen reached zero and the Singularity Drive kicked in, warping Time/Space in ways that nature never intended. The effect would have been deadly on the crew had they not entered stasis prior to the transit. Time stopped as the Puddle Jumper slid between realities and became nonexistent.

In the hold, the little creatures held in the cages huddled closer together. They, unlike the ship's crew, were fully conscious during the transit. Although, subjectively, the ship was gone for only a fraction of a second, for the terrified beasts in the hold, the universe winked out and they found themselves engulfed in nothingness for an eternity.

"Transit complete, Captain." As ship's navigator, Andy was always the first out of stasis and back at his post. "Looks like another successful jump."

The transporter door slid open and Captain Alveron stepped onto the bridge. "Coordinates?" The request was obviously for Andy, although he never took his eyes off the main bridge monitor.