Playing of Old Vienna

I yanked the control stick to one side - I squeezed my finger against the trigger-button and a spear of light shot across the void at the enemy. The ship dodged my fire with a nonchalant shrug of it's stubby wings. Again I tweaked the control stick and the targeting-sight danced in front of my eyes. I let off another stab of light and the enemy ship danced easily out of the way and decided that some sort of discretion would be in order - the ship span round to hide in the shadow of our ship.

Stupid - the gunner on the other side of our ship let rip and I saw a brilliant explosion, quickly followed by a gentle rocking motion as our ship was hit by the blast wave and the inertial dampers struggled to hold us still.

I was grinning from ear to ear, exhilarated to the point of orgasm. I may not have been responsible for the kill but I was instrumental. Worth a point on anyone's "fantasy star-battles" league, I thought.

I looked up from my position, standing in a glass (or rather some sort of plastic) globe that was extruded from the side of the ship and faced my opposite number over the other side of the ship "I think I'm suppose to say 'Great shot kid! That was one in a million!' Or something." I shouted.

"You don't have to shout." Bov said. I grinned as I turned a shade of red beneath the fur, I had only been on the ship for a day and I kept forgetting how it all worked.

It was only yesterday when I came across a spaceship in the forest and now I was a fully-fledged member of the crew!

The blue alien, who I now know as Spiron, had greeted my in his native tongue and, understandably, I hadn't understood a word of it. I stood there like a lemon.

Well not much like a lemon, I'm not that yellow.

Or that round.

Okay - I stood there like a rabbit suffering from severe culture-shock. The scale-face alien came back with a weird contraption in his hands, wires with a small black box attached. He handed this to Spiron and then started back on the digging.

Spiron stepped towards me and I felt his bulk towering over me - I cowered. He stepped back and spoke low rumbling bloopy-noises to me. I gulped. You've seen cartoon characters going "Gulp" and you don't really believe it happens like that until you let the word out.

He stepped towards me again, making low, comforting (I assume he thought) bloopy noises. I stood my ground and let him weave the wires over me - attaching them at points on my head and neck.

He stuck the black box on the right hand side of my neck. All the time he was "blooping" at me. Suddenly, as he attached one last wire just below my ear the bloops stopped and I heard words "Safe. Easy now. Be Calm. It's just.. " He stood back, admiring his work.

"Amazing!" I said.

"Thank you," He said, "You're welcome."

"I can understand you!" He nodded. I remembered where I was. I stood up straight. "I want to join you." I asked. "I want to leave this place."

Spiron took a deep breath. "Do you." Was all he said.

My mouth then decided that it was time to run out of control. "Yes I do," I said, "I want to join you and fly away and get out of this forest and away from these conies and live my life far from here, doing things no rabbit would ever dream of having more fun and excitement (and really wild times) than any silly young Doe could ever dream of and.."

"It's about a woman is it?" Spiron asked.

I nodded.

"You're in luck." He said. I'm burying one of my gunners today." He motioned to the pit beside us. "I have an opening." I didn't think it was a joke.

"How does this work?" I said tapping the box on my neck, "You don't have one?"

I have an implanted version." He said, "If you join us I'll put you in the autodoc as soon as we get clear." He looked thoughtful for a minute, "My mother always told me not to look a gift penguin in the mouth."

"Penguin?" I asked.

"Yes, 'penguin', You know, a quadruped equine with a large mouth."

I pointed at the box on my neck, "Does this ever make a mistake translating?" Spiron nodded sagely.

"If you're joining us," He said, "It's time to start working." He reached behind himself and picked up a spade-like instrument.

"We call this a spade." He said, his small dark eyes boring into me, "We always call it that." He kicked the bottom and the lower edge of the blade glowed blue. "You use it like this."

He got a day's work out of me there and then.