Anomalous Cargo - Chapter 8

[Fhg#1893]

Anomalous Cargo - Chapter 8

Tred Decker sat quite fascinated with the lights that blinked on his console. He was having serious trouble remembering the last time that the colour red had been quite so fascinating. All those lights were so very captivating, and so very... very... red. A whole universe of electronics, and circuits was just underneath his fingertips, and it was totally... red.

And the planet sitting below him was more interesting too, but sadly it wasn't even close to being the deep red colour of his console lights.

The smooth wooden pipe felt so far away, he tried to reach for it, but like the gradual illumination of a sunrise, Tred gradually realized that he'd been holding it all along.

"Ohhhh man... I'm so spaced... heh... heh heh..." he laughed softly to himself, as he tried to fit some more of the powdered plant into the pipe's bowl. After several minutes of contemplating just how small the bit was, and how big the bowl was he finally managed to place some of the bitter smelling powder into the bowl. He thumbed a control at the base of the pipe's bowl, and the powder burst into flame. He paused for a moment to contemplate the wisps of smoke that filled the already hazy cockpit, then promptly put the bit to his lips, and inhaled deeply on the pipe. He held the hit as long as possible, but eventually was forced into a coughing fit s the smoke burned his lungs. He repeated the process a few more times,
filling the hazy cockpit with even more smoke.

Tred didn't really even like Spaceweed, but the prospect of drinking spacefuel instead was worse as the depressing effect that it had would probably dull his senses into total inaction. At least the weed made the dull life of a trader more entertaining, or at least, it made whatever he happened to be looking at far more entertaining, if only temporarily.

The paranid male computer voice chimed, "Warning! Atmospheric anomaly detected. Internal atmospheric composition approaching dangerous levels."

"Shut up!" Tred tried to maintain the seriousness of his command, but it was no use. He burst out laughing, because suddenly the thought of him choking to death on spaceweed fumes was the most hilarious thing in the
universe.

That was when the comm chimed, and a hideous molted-gray face wearing a perpetual scowl appeared. It spoke, "Split say, you are flying so badly, you almost hit Python! Is argon creature lacking eyes?"

Tred regarded the hideous creature, and the situation struck him as even more funny than the thought of asphyxiation due to spaceweed fumes. He tried to hold in his laughter, and for several seconds it sounded like a cross between a cough and a snort, then he finally lost control and laughed to himself, managing only to speak between bouts of more laughter, which only served to further infuriate the already dangerously angry Split. It demanded,

"You think this is joke!?"

After several false starts ending with laughter, Tred managed,

"You! You! You're face is just so funny! AHAHAH!"

"Split say, are you a mental defective? Have you been smoking spaceweed!?"

After more laughter, Tred barely managed to say,

"Dude, I'm totally spaced out man!"

"Split say you are under arrest for flying while under spaceweed influence! Stop your engines and prepare to be boarded. If you resist, you will be killed!"

By now Tred's sides were feeling very sore, but he kept laughing as the comm chimed off. His mouth felt very dry, and he suddenly had a craving for several argon meatsteaks, some Boron Spices, some sweets, fried
chelt's meat, and to go to sleep. He decided that he'd try to find these in the freighter's hold, left the cockpit, and didn't notice when the freighter abruptly stopped moving.

And so, by the time the Split were able to dock with the ship, it had drifted considerably off course, especially considering that they found no pilot at the controls. They did find Tred's unconscious form, blissfully asleep,
floating freely though the freighters cargo bay, occasionally bumping into a cargo container here or there.

[SOTS]

Nice updates! Glad to see you back, and am looking forward to reading more.

Tred might end up having to disappear again

[Hawk_308]

Ive been enjoying the story so far man , keep up the good work.

[Syndrome]

I've just read the last two chapters. Good stuff

[Hawk_308]

I think we scared him off.

[Fhg#1893]

Did you? No, not quite. I'm still around, and tinkering away with some things. There should be another chapter posted within the next few days.