Author's Note: MAA stands for Miles Above Atmosphere.
Bullfrogs and Mud Puddles
"Pasawa!"
628
smirked. It was fun to make fun of Gantu – he was such an easy
target.
"I
WILL get you!"
"Ika
patooka Gantu!"
"Why
you little… you should learn to pay more respect to the former
Captain of the Galactic Armada than that!"
"Meega
nala QUEESTA!"
"Hey,
that's my line!"
"When
I was about five earth-years old, I loved playing Risk, it was merely
a holoboard, but it was such fun!"
Hamsterville
was recalling his childhood to the (surprisingly) attentive 625, who,
every now and then, would scribble something on his notepad and stop
his mock glasses from sliding down his nose.
"Uhuh,
uhuh, go on…"
"By
the Great Magalia Cloud you're gonna regret saying that!"
The
nerve of that trog! I'll send him back to Hamsterville all right –
assembly required!
Gantu
felt like tearing him apart limb by limb. He sure had some cheek!
But
the trog had already climbed into the cruiser. He would have to make
do with overloading the hypercoil. He aimed for the drive
compartment.
But
unfortunately, that didn't work either. Gantu, being the absolutely
amazing shot he is… missed. By three feet. Maybe going back to
applied blasting class wasn't such a bad idea.
"Engines
loaded. System ready. Navigational system is on. Preparing for
liftoff."
Gantu
tried aiming again. He had the nozzle perfectly aligned…He pulled
the trigger.
But
nothing happened.
Blitxnak!
Why does this thing only not work when I need it to?
Ditching
the blaster, he decided to make a run for it. Out of the corner of
his eye, he saw 626 stop the buggy, obviously determining it too
risky.
"Countdown
started. Liftoff in five seconds."
He
was only six meters away, if he sprinted, maybe…
"Four."
Or
if he charged…
"Three."
Or
jumped…
"Two."
Maybe
this wasn't such a good idea…
"One."
Mummy?
For
a moment, he dismissed all his negative thoughts and lunged at the
craft.
"Zero.
Liftoff initiated."
The
engine blast pounded Gantu backwards.
Onto
his blaster. Which only just happened to start working.
Oh,
now it's operational, he thought as the blaster fired.
And, astonishingly, missed Gantu.
The
pellet of plasma ricocheted off the now airborne G-343, off the buggy
and into a Cocos nucifera. Numerous 'coconuts' dropped off
the flora and plummeted into Gantu's spinal column, resulting in
the inevitable drop into a sludge puddle of close proximity. A Rana
catesbeiana leaped onto his cranium.
"Oh
blitxnak" was all he could say.
"That
dimwit Gantu! Now I have to re-calibrate the vectors to compensate
for the damage he caused!"
628
switched to drift mode, then furiously typed number after number into
the computer hub.
"Recalibration
complete," the computer responded merrily.
"OK,
set orbital vectors at 300 MAA and switch to manual control."
"Vectors
set."
The
cruiser zoomed off, slowly gathering altitude, higher and higher,
until 628 could no longer make out the three humanoids staring
directly up at him.