The Dream Factory

Good Fortune

Good Fortune 

Sneet curled his lips up round his yellowing teeth and opened his mouth just far enough to release a long thin pink tongue to run over the tip of his fleshy nose. It was something he always did when he was concentrating. He tipped his head to one side before observing, 'It looks dangerous to me Barco.' 

'Yes Sneet, everything we encounter out here does to you, doesn't it?' Barco pulled himself upright in the seat and tapped the panel with his solid hand. The ship slewed off in a wide circle and came around again. As they passed the object they both pressed their faces against the armoured glass and studied their find through a window that throbbed with the mist of their hot breath. 

Before them the oval shape tumbled slowly over and over, like a half-submerged box caught in the churning swell of a receding tide. Tip to top it rolled, ever so gently, as if many years ago it had been sent on its way with the gentlest of pushes, in the hope that one day it might find a settling place far out amongst the stars of a universe that twinkled so invitingly to those that watched and wondered, watched and hoped. Its surface had long since given up its gleaming colour and faded to a dull pitiful grey and the well-wishers that watched it go, dead a generations ago.  

'It could be lost freight.' Sneet noted with just a tinge of optimism in his voice. 

'Something valuable.' Barco added hopefully. 

'Our good fortune then.' Sneet released a toothy laugh. 

'That's it then.' Barco jumped from his seat, 'let's haul it in.' 

Sneet pushed his shoulder up against the corroded surface of the box to lock it into position. It was bigger than they had thought, but space is like that, it's hard to get a measure of things when there is nothing to compare them to. They'd had to use a rig to grapple its icy surface into the cargo hold and it had slipped dangerously across the surface before they'd managed to get the clamps on. He and Sneet walked a couple of times around it. 

'Looks good Barco,' he brushed the thin layer of frosting off the observation panel with his forearm. 

'Whheww,' Barco gave a low whistle between his teeth. 'Well I never.' 

Sneet steadied himself on the other side of the box. 'Looks like another one in here.' 

They retreated to the far side of the cargo hold to whisper to each other.' Mine's a male I should think.'  

'And mine's female I'm sure.' 

'Ever seen anything like them? I wonder why they're in the box.' 

'Delivery perhaps. Zoo maybe?' 

Sneet sniggered, screwed up his pink eyes and turned them back on the chest. 'Let's unpack them and see if they are damaged, we can keep them in here until we get to Refftha 5. We should get something for them -as a novelty. I'll get a prod and you get a cage ready.' 

Barco punched the three buttons in the order they flashed on the worn control panel. With a gush the tepid fluid spilled out and crawled slowly away across the floor. 

Captain Thor Helvig's heart, subjected to a pulse of 1100 volts, jolted back into life pushing back Helvig's body, comatose for over three hundred years, into a fury of pain he could only guess was similar to being born. Ejected from the fugue of deep sleep he lay stupefied for a few moments fighting back the throbbing in his head, the aches, the thirst, the grasping hunger before quickly seeking out the swirling mass of memories that formed his consciousness. Then, he looked up. 

Over the edge of the box two little faces peered curiously down at him. 

'Well, there's a surprise!' he said. 

*** 

Thor Helvig leaned back on the cramped bench and wrapped his thin fingers over his stomach to contain the rumbling emanating from deep within and watched Flight Officer Alina Linde slide the two steaming dishes across the table.  

He pulled the flesh from the bone and chewed thoughtfully. 'That's was fortunate.'  

'Our good fortune, certainly.' Alina said sliding down next to him pulling a dish with her. 'Crackling?' 

'Why wouldn't I?' Thor grabbed a handful of the crisped up morsels and pushed them into his mouth. 'Bon appetit!'

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I suspect eating your rescuers is considered the height of bad taste...wherever in the Universe you find yourself.