I'm ba-ack! For that wonderful person who ACTUALLY REVIEWED MY FIRST PART, and since I wanted to post the next part anyway, here's the next part and I'll write Part Three as soon as I get over my writer's block.




Byani stood in front of the crew, feeling like a specimen in a jar. The commander was giving her an appraising glare. Byani began to feel more and more desperate as the seconds ticked by. Finally, a small Mercurian girl stepped forward. "Hi! I'm Rosie Ianni! Welcome to the Christa! I hope you'll enjoy your stay!"

Mercurians… Byani pasted a smile on her face, for the benefit of the commander, who was still staring at her as though she was a puddle of lubricant that the cyber-dog had leaked on the floor. The Mercurian girl was still babbling about happiness and sunshine and friends and fun…. Byani felt nauseous just listening to her.

The Uranusian boy rolled his eyes at her. Instead of being hurt, however, she flung an arm around his shoulders. "Oh, Bova! Be happy for once! Because we're all friends here, right, Byani?"

Friends…sure. I've never had a friend in my life. Byani re-pasted her smile on. "Erm…yeah, we're all friends." Byani shut her mouth tight, trying to ignore the churning of her stomach and praying she wouldn't vomit on the clean floor. I really hate Mercurians…

The commander cleared his throat. "Ahem. You're…welcome to stay here for as long as you like, we'll help you fix your ship as well." Anything to get her out of here faster, Goddard thought sourly. Uranusians…

Byani focused her gaze on a girl with multicolored hair and…were those…yes, she had gills! Strange… The fish-girl glared venomously at Byani. "What are you staring at, Wishbone?" Byani forced herself to swallow the comeback on the tip of her tongue and return the fish-girl's glare. In any other circumstances, she would have shown the girl just what the wishbone was capable of, but though Byani could be downright nasty at times, she was cautious.

But she could have saved her rage… Bova immediately came to her defense. "Why don't I show you just what a wishbone is capable of, Suzee?"

"That's quite enough, Mr. Bova!" barked the commander. The rest of the crew turned their stares to Bova, who stared defiantly back. The Mercurian had stopped babbling by now, most likely having run out of happy, cheerful things to rave about. The commander sighed and ran a hand through his fake-looking grayish hair. "All right, we've got work to do. Harlan, Suzee, Radu, you're on Command Post duty. Rosie, Bova, go help Byani fix her ship." And hurry! He disappeared down a corridor, muttering to himself.

Some of the comforting despair and gloominess that had settled in the pit of Byani's stomach began to dissolve. Bova would be helping her fix her ship! Then again, so would the Mercurian. The gloom-and-doom feeling returned. Still, she followed them silently to the landing bay. Her battered ship, which resembled a hockey puck more than anything, came into view. Bova winced at the sight of it. Rosie's sunny smile, however, remained intact. "I'm sure we'll be able to fix this in no time! We've got all the right tools, and two people to help fuse wires and stuff, and if we need him, Radu can help lift heavy things! This'll be fun!"

Byani again fought the wave of nausea that threatened to overcome her. I really, really hate Mercurians…

Bova rolled his eyes at the Mercurian girl. "Sure, and what if her engines are damaged beyond repair? What if her air reprocessors are damaged? We'll suffocate in there while we try to fix her unfixable engines. What if-"

"Oh, Bova! That won't happen!"

Bova shook his head. "That's what they WANT us to think. Thelma!"

"Yes, Bova?"

Byani jumped, stopping herself from shrieking in alarm. She turned around. An android stood behind them, smiling perkily and tilting her head to one side. Rosie's smile became even happier. "This is Thelma! She's our android! She can act weird sometimes, but she's really very useful, and-"

Can nobody shut her up? thought Byani bitterly. She tuned out the Mercurian's babbling and ripped off a damaged panel. Bova handed her another one to replace it with. "Thanks."

"Welcome." It was the first time Byani had spoken to him. Unbidden, the gloom-and-doom feeling began to disappear again.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warlord Sloss was not pleased (but unlike Warlord Shank, nobody really cared whether he was pleased or not.) He had not found a single ship to blow up within the sector he had searched. Angrily, he sped off in the direction from whence he had come. That Uranusian girl's ship would most likely still be there. But, when he arrived at his destination, he found something that pleased him very much. A large ship, of strange design, which looked as much like a bird as the Uranusian's had looked like a puck after a vigorous Canadian hockey game, was visible through the cellophane-covered hole that served as his viewscreen. Eagerly, he raced to get his store of dynamite. Now THIS ship would be worth blowing up…

~To be continued~