Second Chapter! Hope everyone's enjoying it and hope everyone can understand what the heck Dodgers is saying. Lisps aren't that easy to write out, apparently!

"Hmmm, you know sthomething Cadet? I sthuddenly feel a vague sthense of déjà vue." Dodgers sat in his captain's seat in the now pitch black bridge, "It'sth asth if I've been in a sthimilar sthituation before…"

"Maybe it's be-be-because we have gone through this before, sir."

"Multiple times." Dr. I.Q's voice said flatly from somewhere in the darkness.

"Really? I didn't know you guysth were locked in your grandmother'sth celler by your cousinsth for three daysth with nothing to eat but dried fruit, having no light except for the small lamp I wasth able to make using only a few wiresth, an old lightbulb and two potatoes, too! Huh, sthmall world." There was a noise that sounded suspiciously like two hands smacking two sets of foreheads.

Dodgers reached in the general direction of his stockpile of food, grabbed something that felt somewhat edible and bit into it, hard. A loud metallic clank echoed around the bridge, followed by a loud:

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" Then another clank as Dodgers dropped the apparently inedible item.

"Cadet! Who put this flashlight in my food?!" Dodgers rubbed his sore jaw and glared randomly at one corner of the bridge. A beam of light suddenly appeared behind him. He whirled around and saw the Cadet standing there, holding the flashlight.

"Uh, I don't know, sir. Be-bu-but if you don't mind me asking, how did you mistake a-the-the-this for food?"

"How many times do I have to tell ya, Cadet, don't question your senior officer!" Dodgers glared at the Cadet as Dr. I.Q made his way into the small circle of light. He glanced at the flashlight in the Cadet's hands, pulled out his notebook and began to scribble on it. The Cadet and Dodgers watched him for a second, before Dodgers finally interrupted,

"You know, Doc, asth much asth I love Tic-Tac-Toe, sthomehow I don't sthee how that'sth going to get us out of thisth messth…" I.Q shot him an irritated look.

"I'm not playing Tic-Tac-Toe, Dodgers. I'm trying to come up with a way to use the batteries found inside that flashlight and hook them up to the view screen. Once we get that up and running, we can contact any ship in the vicinity for assistance." He wrote a few more lines then rechecked his work.

"I think that does it. Alright Cadet, Dodgers, this is what we're going to do…"

--

"You know sthomething? Thisth lookths remarkably sthimilar to an art project I had to do back in fifth grade." Dodgers commented as he stood back to survey their handiwork. And by 'they' of course he meant the Cadet's and I.Q High's. The entire front control panel had been rewired, so that bits of wires splayed everywhere, connected by globs of gum, paperclips and various other Earth objects. The view screen glowed the default pale blue, as Dr. I.Q ran a gloved hand across his forehead.

"Alright, I think that does it. Now, cross your fingers." He carefully flipped a few switches and the screen began to hum. All three of them waited tensely for a few minutes, until a radar screen suddenly appeared, beeping periodically. Dr. I.Q gave a sigh of relief,

"It's working! Now all we have to do is wait for a ship to come by and hear the distress signal."

"Huh, sthounds easthy enough!" Dodgers yawned and sat back in his chair, "I could usthe a little shut-eye anywa-" Immediatley Dodgers fell asleep and began to snore loudly. The Cadet and I.Q looked at him for a moment in disbelief, until the Cadet asked tenatively,

"Uh-de-de-Doctor I.Q? Where exactly are we?" The doctor studied the image on the view screen, his expression darkening suddenly.

"Well from the looks of it, Cadet, we seem to be right smack in the middle of...Martian territory."