Ships & Experiments
"What
was that!"Something
had just zoomed past the ship. A grey blur, it had been impossible to
determine. That is, of cause, without Jumba's state of the art
video processing software.
"Just
be waiting a minute, I will be locating and enhancing frame so little
girl can for to be looking at, no?"
A
large greenish glowing translucent flat thingy appeared. It kind of
looked like those giant electronic billboards you see mounted on the
sides of buildings in Japan, except it wasn't attached to the wall,
was floating three feet from the ground, and you could see through
it. And, as Jumba demonstrated, walk through it too.
"Woah…
cool!"
Lilo
stood in awe, gaping at the immense size.
Stitch
shook it off. He'd seen more impressive things in the Grand Courthouse.
In
a split-second flash, an image appeared on the screen. It looked all
blurry and deformed, kind of like Pleakly's so-called "meatloaf".
"OK,
applying sharpening filter… ten percent intensity."
Now,
it looked like Pleakly's face during the application of that
greenish mud that he calls "Beautimud® packs". Or something
like that. And though they didn't do anything to help his complexion,
they did make a nice supplement to cheese sauce…
"Number
one, and number two," said Jumba, messing around (or, as Jumba
liked to call it, "working") with the filter. "Which one is
looking better? Number one, and number two."
Cut
it out, Jumba, you're not an optometrist, 626 thought.
"OK,
thirty percent."
Now
it looked like Pleakly on a bad hair day. Which isn't saying much,
owing to the fact that he doesn't have any hair. And his wig looked
stupid.
"'Tis
being sixty percent now…"
Now
it looked like something other than Pleakly all messed up. Which
again, isn't saying much, owing to…
No,
I won't say it. It's too easy.
Squinting
at the blurry image, Stitch thought he could just make out a few
letters on the main blob.
U…
S… S… S… How many S's can you have in a row?
"OK,
'tis eighty percent…"
The
blob suddenly looked less blob-like. And more ship-like. Like a
certain type of ship. A certain fictional type of ship. A certain
fictional type of ship that wasn't supposed to exist. A certain…
"That
looks like the Enterprise-A!" exclaimed Lilo, voicing
Stitch's musings.
"Enterprise-A?
What is this ship that you are knowing about?"
"You
haven't watched Star Trek? Where have you been this
century?"
"Um…
on Delta Quaam?"
"Never
mind…"
Lilo
returned her gaze to the screen. It was a majestic ship, gleaming in
the morning sun, so to speak. She, of cause, knew every part of it.
From the dull grey of the saucer, the large bulk underneath, at the
front of that bulk a royal-blue refracting dish, and the
cornflower-bluish glow of the warp coils.
Except
that this wasn't the Enterprise-A. Even if they had
somehow slipped into an alternate universe, it was the wrong time
period. Starfleet, the 'Galactic High Council' of the time,
discontinued production of Constitution-Refit-class ships in the
2300's!
Then
she noticed the inscription… U.S.S. Serenity was etched upon
the saucer, between the designation… NCC-82535.
Serenity…
She liked the sound of that… it was at least better than
Enterprise, which had more a business-like air to it.
Suddenly,
she had the strange, inexplicable feeling that she was being watched.
She shook it off, explaining it away to herself that it was just
another suspicion, an invention of her paranoid mind.
Two
decks below, nothing was to be seen.
All
was silent. Until…
"YEOW!
419, you stepped on my foot!"
"It's
kinda hard to see without the lights!"
"Didn't
Jumba give you hyper-sensitive retinas?"
"Um…
no…"
"What?
What was he thinking?"
"Maybe
that dealing with quantum physics and astronomical data would not
require seeing in the dark!"
"Well,
he shoulda thought about that before creating a 628!"
A
loud, booming, Russian-accented voice rumbled through the deck.
"Quiet!
Little girl is already getting suspicious! And I don't need Pleakly
on my tail…"
"Yes,
Unca Jumba," the two experiments chorused.
"Is
it absolutely necessary to be calling me that?"
426
spoke up.
"Well,
since you don't like being called da…"
"Not
to be saying D-word. Ever."
"OK,
OK, sheesh!"
Sixteen
light-years away, the woman paced the room.
"Target
acquired," she whispered to herself.
Upon
her console, an image appeared. Of a ship. Jumba's ship. It
glittered in the starlight, stared out of the darkness.
The
unnatural symphony of voices poured into the room like mercury.
"Co-ordinates
determined. Unimatrix 032, Grid 12. Activate!"
The
ship launched forward, gliding like some unearthly being.
"Alter
course to intercept!"