Adventures of Commander 'Cuddles'

The Adventures of Commander 'Cuddles' Yupp

Luke couldn't sleep, he had been tossing and turning all night, and now the wonky clock was striking midnight at the end of the common room. 

At sixteen, he was sure he wasn't meant to still have nightmares, but the deafening silence of the orphanage made him feel like he would go mad if he stayed here much longer. The air seemed thick and gloopy, he was sure a storm was on its way. His skin suddenly went cold, and his breathe made small clouds when he breathed out. Something eerie was going on. 

He climbed out of his rusty bed, hoping the metal creaking didn't wake up the other boys and grabbed the closest thing he had for protection. 'Cuddles', his teddy bear. 

He knew at his age he should probably throw it away, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. It was the last thing his parents gave him before they died, and he had been sent to this orphanage. 

He held the teddy close to his chest and made his way to the communal garden at the back of the manor house. 

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The spacecraft beeped rapidly, buttons flashed, signals whirred; everything was telling Commander Yupp that he was going to crash, and crash hard. He quickly looked at his monitors, most of them also flashing multiple warning signs, he was heading for 'Earth', and he was going at such a pace he doubted he would live to tell the tale to anyone back home.

Bracing himself for the inevitable impact he thought of all the lovely things back home he would miss; the food, the music, the battle skiing down the mountains of Uppamarr.  He sighed as he held onto his seat straps and prepared himself for a brutal crash. 

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"Commander?" 

"Commander?" 

"Commencing emergency recall system alert, checking vital signs. Commander Yupp of Exploration Team 'Utt Marr Corr', your body is seventy percent damaged, your vital organs have been pulverized. I must prepare you for immediate re-animation, searching for an inanimate object and charging defibrillator injectors.......inanimate object found. I have been Jetta, your mobile helping device, please feel free to leave feedback on your experience with your Jetta co-pilot on your hand device, after this message I will initiate the self implode dial."

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Luke had opened the back door to the communal garden, a strange light was coming from behind the willow tree, he made his way down the steps and onto the path when he was struck by a flash of blue light, throwing him onto his back. He pulled himself up as quick as he could and ran back to the back door, Luke headed straight for the kitchen, whatever that was, he knew he needed a glass of water before waking the miserable groundskeeper.

Luke placed his teddy onto the island and grabbed himself a glass of water, leaning on the island he slowly sipped his water, then something moved in the corner of his eye. 

He was certain that he had seen his teddies chest move. Luke shrugged it off, perhaps the blue flash was playing havoc with his eyesight. 

There it was again; he was certain his teddy was breathing.  

Luke took a few steps back until his legs hit the sink behind him. He stood in astonishment when his teddies chest rose and fell with jittery movements, then he nearly dropped his glass of water when his beloved teddy sat up straight, like something from a cult classic horror movie. 

Luke was close to running through the closed kitchen door when his teddy blinked at him a few times. 

"What are you?" He asked, then realized he was talking to a teddy that seemed to be trying to talk back. 

His teddy coughed a few times, then slowly moved its paw to its mouth, pulling out a small clump of stuffing. 

"Ow," it said, it's voice soft and quiet. 

Luke sank to the floor, still keeping his eyes on his teddy which was now trying to stand on thin fluffy legs. 

A small voice, with an accent Luke couldn't place, spoke gruffly "I'm Commander Yupp of the exploration team Utt Marr Corr, am I on earth?" 

Luke nodded in response, not trusting himself to speak. Was his teddy possessed by an Alien?

"I'm an Alien, human person. Why must you stare at me like that?" his teddy asked, throwing its brown fluffy paws into the air in exasperation. 

"Because you're my teddy" Luke replied simply, "and I think your spaceship exploded when you crash landed here."

The commander stared down at his hands, which had now been replaced with fluffy paws, his feet were now thin fluffy stumps, his belly was rotund with stuffing, and he seemed to be wearing denim dungarees; if his research had been accurate. 

He quickly grabbed hold of a saucepan lid and stared at his reflection, his face was round and chubby, with pinkish felt circles on his cheeks, his mouth was a small felted hole, with barely any movement. And his eyes were now sunken black beads and more felt had been used to make eyelids. 

"What am I?" He squeaked, not recognizing his own voice. 

Luke stood, carefully taking the lid away from his teddy and placing it back down, "My Teddy" he said, "I just went outside for air, then got hit by a blue light, well my teddy got hit, well.....you got hit."

The commander looked around him, then down at his feet, "Why am I so tiny?" he yelled in his small voice. 

Luke explained, "Teddies are generally small." 

The commander gasped "I need to get back to the Alliance, but how do I do that without a ship?" 

"Build another?" Luke asked. 

"I'm going to need some stuff," the Commander said, his paws on his hips, staring at Luke with distrust. 

"Anything you need," Luke said, "But on one condition."

"And that is?" Cuddles asked, the little felt brow rising up. 

"You have to take me with you," Luke answered. 

To be continued.....