Chapter 1
Seblork knew it from the moment he got out of his cocoon that morning, this would be a special day, he could feel it! This day he would really do a great job, he was sure of it and he hummed as he caught the hover tube to get to work. The shop was rather quiet in the morning, not many customers and those who came all went for the used ships parked outside. He left those to the other sales agents, it was really beneath him to sell used ships. No, he was the best and he sold only the best. He proudly admired their newest model, it was shiny and elegant and it had so many new functions he barely could remember half of them. It was a beauty and it’s price tag was quite impressive too. Ships like this was not for Mr nobody! No, a glork who wanted to buy this baby would have to have style and class and most importantly, be loaded with gliks.
He hovered around this new pride of his and could not wait to tell anybody about it’s special hull and the state of the art engines, and not to forget the new and revolutionary navigation system. He felt like a little glorkie in a candy store. He would polish a little on the ship here and there, not that it was needed in any way but he felt like he had to. A famous designer had created the hull and it was lovely. So smooth and elegant and at the same time practical. If he had been wealthy enough to buy one of these himself he would have spent his time in admiration of it, he would never have dared risk it’s safety by actually using it. He saw this ship as a piece of art, and you don’t sell that to someone who can’t appreciate such things. Everybody knew that he was the best salesman in the business, and they knew why too. It was because he loved expensive designer ships and knew everything there was to know about them. And his enthusiasm was rather contagious too, many had come just to look and admire and went home in utter confusion, some hundred thousand gliks poorer and a brand new ship richer.
He spent his time waiting and hoping and suddenly a new and extremely nice hovercraft showed up in front of the store. Seblork just knew it, this would be his lucky day no doubt. He would be the first to cross the three million gliks border in one sale. He put on his most friendly face and made sure that his exo-skin was ship shape. He had to look sharp for this one. A rather young glork left the hovercraft and entered the store and Seblork could see that this young man had everything needed of a potential buyer. Money, class and style, and probably his glags good name to back him up further. He had a very nice exo skin and well groomed tentacles. The glork saw him and Seblork smiled and greeted him very politely.
«Now how may I be of service master ?"
The young glork smiled , he looked a little spoiled but that meant money, and lots of it.
«I am Daglekk of Blarg, I am looking for a new ship.”
Seblork could have drooled, this would be a piece of cake. He gently took the young glork by his lower left elbow and showed him the entire row of new ships. None of them seemed to impress him until they reached the brilliant shining new ship.
“ And here master Daglekk, brand new with the best engines within this galaxy and probably the entire quadrant, the completely new dish 4000 Owtch! “
Daglekk looked a little confused.»Owtch? What do that mean?”
Seblork could see that Daglekk already was hooked, he was ready to be reeled in, and he knew who the young Glork were too. The son of a buisness tycoon who was well known for being to filthy rich to care about price tags.
He smiled and petted Daglekk on the back.»Ha ha, that is just a little prank from my side, it’s what most customers say when they hear the price of this unique and quite stunning beauty.”
Daglekk could not get his eyes of the ship and Seblork smiled with the same pleased anticipation as a zhyblarks who has caught a fat old Vhyyyl.
“What do you think? Wanna try her out?”
Daglekk nodded so eagerly that all of his tentacles shook. Seblork picked the key out of his utility belt and pressed the button. The ships hatch opened obediently and they entered the very luxurious cockpit.
Daglekk stopped and stared. «What are those? “
There were three seats and in each of them a strange figure was strapped in, to imitate a pilot and his crew. Seblork laughed and petted him on the shoulder once more.
“ Some trinkets we got free from the factory when we ordered this ship. They are very sophisticated crash test dummies, the whole new artificial life technology I am sure you have heard of. These three did not work for some reason so we got them. They are quite nice actually, shows the different seat possibilities rather well.
He pushed a button and the dummy in the pilots seat seemed to almost be swallowed by the seat. «Very practical in a high G situation.”
Daglekk smiled and his eyes seemed to sparkle. “ Those things are not cheap, they really did not work? Is it true that they consist of artificial organs and bone?
Seblork felt a little too eager to talk about such insignificant things.»Yes they are, made to function on a very primitive level of course but more than good enough to register any damage during dangerous situations. “
He pulled the dummy out of the pilot’s seat and smiled “Shall we?“
A short while after they were buzzing around their solar system and Daglekk was thrilled, Seblork could see it. He had shown the young glork most of the ships controls and he seemed to be a very good pilot. Daglekk turned his head toward him
” How are her hyper drives? “ Seblork smiled again, like the question really was a silly one for off course she had the best.
“ Brand new technology, faster than any other ship of this class. If you’d like a try your welcome.”
Daglekk blinked a few times and nodded again.»Yes I would very much like to try them out.”
Seblork pushed a button and a three dimensional holographic map appeared in front of the drivers seat. A small red dot marked the ship. “ Now, this is how this works, you first point at the red dot, then you point at your destination. Lets say you want to visit Curaba 3... “
He touched the red dot and then the star system that had it’s name hovering above it quite visible. A green line appeared between the two points. “ Now she is set to go, you just push that green button there. “
Daglekk looked fascinated, his green skin turned darker in excitement.
“ And that’s it? Nothing more? “
Seblork shook his head. “ That’s it, but mind you it is limited to jumps of no more than twenty light years, jumps longer than that you’ll have to feed into the ships computer first. Just to avoid miscalculated jumps. You don’t wanna end up within a black hole or something ha ha ha”
Daglekk pushed the green button and off they went.
Daglekk found this possibility so fascinating he kept playing with it and Seblork soon felt a little sleepy. He had not rested at all that day and the ships seat shaped itself around him in a very comfortable way. He smiled at Daglekk. “ Why don’t you take her out to the outer rim and stretch her legs, let her show you what she’s got”
Daglekk smiled and set a new course and Seblork soon felt how his eyelids fell shut. But it was no big deal, this guy obviously knew what he was doing. He fell asleep and let Daglekk have some fun.
Daglekk did what Seblork had told him to do, went to the outer rim and played around with the ships controls and the opportunities she had for a while. Then he got a bit bored, this area was dull, nothing really interesting to watch and he decided to head back toward the center quadrants again. He chose an area randomly and touched it. The ships computer bleeped and a message showed up on the map. “ Jump 20,7 light years. Are you sure you want to jump? “
Daglekk made a grimace and his tentacles curled. It was just a lousy 0,7 light years over the limit, it would not matter that much. He pushed the yes button and the ship jumped.
Daglekk got the surprise of a lifetime when she fell out of hyperspace again, he had anticipated that they should end up close to the big gas giant in the middle of that system but instead they had appeared high within the atmosphere of a planet. He could see the ground far down there and gargled hard. »Oh high glork, what is this? “
The ship shook violently and Seblork woke up. He stared out the window and went pale. »Oh no, what have you done? She can’t handle to emerge out of hyper drive within an atmosphere?! “
He felt how panic threatened to overwhelm him completely. The ship seemed to almost glow as it raced through the air and the computer worked frantically to straighten her up but it was of no use. She fell like a rock and Seblork wanted to scream. This was horrible, no more than horrible, it was an utter disaster!!! He would get fired for sure! He hurried to push the emergency button and the entire area around the chairs was covered in a force field that would prevent them from being injured. The dummies they had thrown out of the chairs were on the other hand flying around banging into floor and roof and walls all the time. The ship fell and they could clearly see that it was heading for some desert area. Daglekk tried to smile.
“ My glags has a good insurance, really! He’ll pay for any damages»
Seblork just moaned, the ship would be a wreck, this beautiful lovely ship.
The emergency thrusters turned on in the right minute but still the landing was hard and nasty and Seblork gasped as bits of hull and electronic flew by the window and a terrible sound of metal against rock and sand could be heard. Finally she came to a rest and he was panting for air, wondered if all of his three hearts had survived this. He seemed to be fine, but he was shaking badly and was more angry than ever before in his life. Daglekk made a faint smile and Seblork could have strangled him there and then.
“ We’ll be fine, right? “ The young glork seemed to be a bit nervous and Seblork swore as he turned on his communicator and rang emergency services. Daglekk ought to have his hide whipped but that would have to wait. He got in contact and started to explain the situation.
“ Yes, we have crashed and the ship is a wreck, a total wreck. “
He almost sobbed” Where? The computer says it is the third planet from the sun in system b-12c/678903 of the B/T 1784 quadrant. Yes, the one with very primitive intelligent life yes! The beacon is turned on, we’ll be easy to find”
He listened to the operator for a few seconds, then he turned deep blue with anger and frustration. “ What? What do you mean by that? Only survivors? But the ship? She should be salvaged......” There was a tired voice in the other end and Seblork sighed. “ OK, I see, fine! Just beam us up”
He ended the conversation and stared at the very embarrassed Daglekk. “ See what you have gotten us into? This is a no flying zone, a NO flying zone! Just scientific research vehicles allowed”
He shut his eyes for a few seconds. “ We are in a load of trouble now, oh boy we are gonna have our hides stretched for sure”
Daglekk tried to smile but his mouth barely moved with shock and unease. “ They’ll have to beam us up? “
Seblork moaned. “ Yes, and we’ll have to leave her here, it tears my hearts right out of my zglerjh, by the high glork, this is horrible. “
Daglekk tried to look as small as he could where he sat. “ But they’ll be here soon right? “
Seblork nodded his head and shut his eyes again. “ Yes, just a few minutes they said, this place has intelligent life, and they are not ready to know about us yet. “
Daglekk took a look around, the cockpit was a mess and the three dummies looked like they had been in a major accident, which they of course had! They looked terrible.
“If they found her I wonder what they’d make out of those fellahs?“
Seblork did not answer. The very idea of this pride of his in the hands of uncivilized primitive mammals made his guts spin.
Suddenly there was a strange blue light and a light hum and they got lifted out of the chairs and through the hull and they could see the damage really well. She was really torn to bits and Seblork felt terrible. This was all his fault. His lovely wonderful ship. As they rose towards the rescue ship hovering above the atmosphere the ships tractor beam cloaked them so they could not be seen but Seblork could see dust rising behind some extremely primitive vehicle which raced in break neck speed towards the crash site.
He sobbed and looked the other way. There was a road or something in the distance and a white object that had to be a sign of some kind. His personal computer magnified the image for him and translated the sign too. It said with big bold letters “ Welcome to Roswell» and underneath it was a smaller sign which had to be handwritten »Remember our 4th of July parade, you are all welcome»
Seblork just hissed and closed his eyes, this had been a day of utter disaster instead of a happy one. He would not speak again to someone again for a long time, leaving his precious ship like that felt like abandoning a dying friend. And at such a place?! The only good thing was that the ship would disintegrate and disappear rather quickly whence the pilot’s had left her. It was a part of the computers safety systems in case of just this kind of incidents, they could not risk their technology in the hands of creatures not yet able to handle it.
He sighed and looked down one last time. Strange, she was still there? Wasn’t the self destruction mechanism working? It could not have been switched off.........He looked at Daglekk with a look of complete terror in his face. “ Daglekk, you should not by any chance have pushed the little red button underneath the automatic landing button? “
Daglekk saw the look upon his face and turned bright pink “Whoops....”
Later the crew on board the rescue ship told everybody how they had to struggle to free Daglekk’s throat from all four of Seblorks hands and they could hear him roar halfway through the milky way!
