𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗼 Shorts

ღ BSK - Sp x OC - 5

Stardate: Thursday 15th, 7:17AM

Today's the day!

Teacher directed us to stand on five little circular platforms in a glass cylinder. "He cleared his throat. "Are you ready for your first mission? 'To boldly go where...'"

"Baldly go? You should be on this mission, Teach!"

I turned around to glare at Spotty. "Shut up," I growled, fingering my laser gun.

He glanced down at my gun and then raised his eyes to meet mine, daringly. "Make me."

While I was seriously contemplating dismembering Spotty, Sidney was patting himself down. "Hey! I haven't got one of those gun thingies!"

Witheringly, Teacher sighed. "Well, hurry up and get one."

In less than two minutes Sid was back, gun in his holster, and stepped onto his circle.

"Alright, are we ready now?" Teacher asked. "Does everyone have their comms on?

We all checked out earpieces and nodded.

"So..." Spotty said, slowly. "What were you saying about going bald, Teach?"

Teacher pressed the big red button on the control panel. "Forget it."

The weirdest sensation ran through me. I felt like I was going to be sick, my head felt like it would implode, and my chest was fit to burst, all at once; my vision blacked out, and I lost all feeling in my body, as if I were dead.

Then, in a blink, we appeared on the surface of Rumpus 4. A green moon hid half-behind the horizon, amongst clouds that were ombréd due to the setting sun. Standing rock formations clustered in different areas, some being two or three stories tall. A small, cute alien was prancing around. It was green and had a trumpet-shaped nose, with small limbs and a chubby body - from my reading on Rumpus 4, I knew that this native species was totally benign.

"Wow!" Plug exclaimed, looking around.

"Cool," Sid agreed.

Spotty touched his comms to activate it. "Hey, Teach, can we do that again?"

I rolled my eyes and turned to Danny, who was also looking around; he seemed unruffled, however, by the fact we were on an alien planet. He looked at me, then pointedly down at the locator on the strap around my neck. "Where's the captured scientist?"

Punching in the right code, I held the locator up. "Scanning for human life signs... Aha! It's that way."

There was a zap from behind me and I span on my heel, my hand going to my gun.

Sid and Plug were standing, their mouths agape, staring at Spotty, who was reholstering his gun.

"Okay, lets go," Danny said, starting off in the direction I had indicated.

"Spotty, why did you shoot that poor alien?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice level.

"To try out my laser!" The corner of his mouth twitched as he glanced back at the unmoving body. "Besides, I only stunned it."

Sidney huffed. "Well, how would you like it if I stunned you?" He challenged.

But Spotty just laughed and walked past him, after Danny's retreating figure. "You can't stun me with a water pistol!" He called back, cackling.

My eyes widened as I watched Sid take out his pistol and study it, his expression quickly turning to disgust.

"Why didn't you tell me before we beamed down?" He hollered, beginning to run after Spotty.

"It wouldn't be as funny!"

I shared a glance with Plug and we raced after them. He had longer legs, but I had more stamina, so we caught up with the three of them at the foot of a steep rock climb.

With my hands on my knees I caught my breath, before I stood up straight and jabbed a finger at Spotty's chest. "You idiot! Now he's defenceless on a hostile alien planet!"

Spotty was unaffected by this, and stood up straight so he could tower over me... Again. "Awh, is Marie worried about itty bitty Sidney?"

"Worried about your sanity, more like," I shot at him. I turned to Sidney, who in truth looked a little nervous now that he was unarmed. "Stay in the middle of the group. Try not to get separated. And Spotty?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "You are a-"

"Quiet," Danny hushed us. He beckoned us up the slope, and one by one we scrambled up to join him.

Ahead of us sprawled a huge sea of houses, each seeming to be carved from one of the rock formations we saw earlier - they were all different shapes and sizes, stretching out into the distance.

"Wow," Plug uttered, looking around in awe.

I glanced down at my locator, and a blip showed up on the screen. "The scientist is being held in the building with the flag," I said. It was one of the closest one to us.

"Nice of them to mark it for us," Spotty pointed out, taking the opportunity to sit down.

Danny gestured for us to continue. "Come on."

As we snuck down towards the buildings, Sidney slowed down to walk beside me. "Say, Marie, how do we recognise this scientist?"

I smiled and patted his shoulder. "He won't have three eyes and a horn in his forehead," I replied.

Sidney's eyes widened. "Oh yeah..."

"Duh!" Spotty mocked.

I refrained from turning around and screaming at him, opting instead to look at my locator.

"The scientist is the other side of this wall," I said abruptly, stopping by one of the buildings. There were no doors on our side, and the arched windows were too high to climb to.

"We'll have to sneak in," Danny concluded. "Who-"

Spotty stepped forwards, hand on his gun. "Let me handle this!"

Before any of us could stop him he had aimed his laser gun at the wall and blasted a hole in it. There was a loud rumbling, and then the destabilised building came crashing down in front of us. I shielded my head and eyes as rocks fell and dust filled the air, which hung in clouds over the rubble.

"Well..." Spotty rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, and shrugged. "There's a hole..!"

"What happened to sneaking in?" Danny demanded, seething.

Plug looked around anxiously. "I bet the whole planet heard that!"

Prompted by this, I did a quick check of our surroundings, and saw something moving over the remains of the collapsed building. The dust clouds obscured its shape, but it was heading straight for us.

I saw that Spotty was the closest and shouted at him, "Spotty, look out!"

He saw what I meant immediately and raised his gun. "Hands up, alien!"

Then, coughing and spluttering, a human emerged from the dust, his hands high in the air.

"Cuthbert?"

"Er..." Cuthbert glanced down at the gun. "Nice to see you too!"

Spotty lowered his gun and gave Cuthbert a disbelieving once-over. "Since when are you a scientist?"

I rolled my eyes. "Compared to you, he's a genius," I muttered.

"Er... Guys..." Plug said haltingly.

Glancing down at my locator, I assessed our best escape routes. "We need to get out of here," I said, "before-"

"Guys!" Plug interrupted me, urgently.

"Yes?" Danny turned around and his eyes went big, prompting me to look too; four aliens were caging us in against the ruins, and these weren't the small, cute kind.

"So, earthlings," one said. (I recognised him vaguely, and concluded he must be Zarg.) "We meet again!"

Plug smiled awkwardly. "Er... Hi, Zarg!"