A Saucerful of Death

by Loretta Johns

  A group of children ran past, chasing a ball.

  I took a small breath, exhaling it slowly. “Yeah, I’m good. Oh, hey, I see the diner. “

  They’d really gone all out. It had one of those large lit up arrows on a pole pointing down and to the side towards the diner, which had large lit up letter proclaiming it was called “Flo’s Dine In”.It looked absolutely packed and I nearly changed my mind about going in.

  “Wow, they’re busy. That’s a good sign. The food must be amazing.”

  “Either that or it’s popular because they don’t yet much else to do entertainment wise.”

  Stephen gave me a pitying look. “That glass isn’t just half empty, is it? Somebody knocked it over and it’s nearly empty.”

  We entered the diner and looked around. A woman in one of those robin’s egg blue button down server dresses, complete with a little waitressing hat perched upon her fifties’ bouffant hair came up to us. “It’ll be about fifteen minutes unless you don’t mind sitting at the counter.”

  I glanced over at Stephen. “I’m good with that.”

  He nodded and looked back over at our server. “The counter’s fine. We’re not picky about where we sit.”

  She led us to the lunch counter and went back behind it, picking up a damp cloth and giving the countertop in front of us a quick swipe. The menus were laminated pieces of cardstock replete with pictures. It was printed on both sides.

  “Can I get you guys a coffee or anything while you look over the menu?”

  “Yes, please,” Stephen said, shifting on his stool.

  I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from commenting on it. “Make that two regular coffees,” I said. I could see the coffee machines behind her. Someone had dug up some seriously old tech and brought it up. Either that or they were replicas. They had the Bunn logo on them, though, just like I recalled from my pre-teen years. Those had been really old back then, too, and generally only found in the more modest of mom and pop places. No fancy espressos or lattes or anything from those. Just plain old drip coffee. Coffee with caffeine in the one with the glass carafe edged in brown plastic and decaf in the one that had orange. Talk about nostalgic. I suddenly felt myself forge a sudden attachment to the place as it slid into the ’feel of childhood home’ part of my heart. I just hoped the coffee and food didn’t disappoint. Two eggs, sunny side up, four pieces of crunchy bacon, two triangles of hot buttered toast, and four hashbrowns later, I could attest to the fact that the food didn’t. The coffee? It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t something to write home about, either. Still, it was better than the swill that came out of the vending machines back at NASA. That was some nasty, er, stuff.

  “Man, I’m stuffed. I think I’m going to get some of that pie to go, though,” Stephen said, tipping his head to indicate the covered glass cake stand on the counter closest to us. There were a total of three on the counter, two of them with a type of fruit pie inside and the third holding a chocolate cake. All of them were already missing several slices. The one Stephen was talking about held a strawberry pie.

  “Oh, yes, please,” I said. I definitely wanted some of that.

  Stephen signaled our server and we placed our pie order. She reached under the counter and pulled out two lidded, reusable plastic containers which had the name of the diner on one side as well as on the lid.

  “Make sure these get returned if you want your deposit back. It’s fifty cents per container.”

  “We just bring them back where?” I asked.

  “You can do, or put them inside any housekeeping receptacle if staying in temp quarters or within any work area’s officially designated break room.”

  The housekeeping receptacle back in our guest quarters it would be then. The receptacles were kitchen trash can size bins you placed recyclables and reusables in. Housekeeping came and took them away to be sorted and dealt with. We both nodded our understanding and paid for our meals.

  Stepping outside, I looked over at Stephen. “We have five hours before scheduled departure. What do you want to do?”

  He glanced down at the pie in his hands. “Let's take these back to our rooms and then see what’s up. The rec area is bound to have something interesting. Maybe check out a ball and shoot some hoops? I don’t know.”

  “Sure, why not? We haven’t done that for awhile.”

  `’Yeah, well,” he replied, falling into step beside me as we began the trek back to our rooms,” You never replaced the hoop on your garage after the contractor took it down and accidentally threw it away.”

  “I know, I keep meaning to get around to it. He paid me for it and everything. You would have thought he’d go and actually replace and install it, but he did a good job with the new roof on the garage and didn’t try messing me around so I didn’t make a fuss.”

  “Boy, I hope this year the storms aren’t so bad. Fingers crossed we don’t get any hurricanes our way like that one.”

  Yeah, it’d been pretty bad. An oak tree out front between my house and my neighbour’s had lost a few limbs, torn away by the fury of Hurricane Lorraine. One of them had torn right through my garage roof, destroying it. I’d had to get it replaced. Thank goodness for insurance.

  Chapter 4

  Darren

  “What was that?” I shouted as we took a jolt.

  “I don’t know,” Stephen said. “I was eyeballing through this window and whatever that was hit us on the other side. Hey, Sam, did you see what it was and have we taken any damage?”

  “It appears to be debris. To be more precise, it looks as if someone lost or jettisoned a large sample container of some kind. Damage is minimal and I have issued a course correction.”

  “Probably from the old science station. Bet there’s lots of it floating around from when it broke up.” I shuddered just thinking about it. Space Station Alpha had been the first cooperative space station built by the Russians, Chinese, and Americans. Unfortunately, while conducting an experiment, someone accidentally lit their lab on fire and the entire station exploded. There was only one fatality, though, so the evacuation was mostly successful. Poor Frankie the rat has a plaque on the wall of heroes though, back at NASA HQ, no lie. Poor little guy.

  Stephen peered out the window. “Yeah, there is a ding in the plating but otherwise we look in good shape.”

  Cool.

  “Adventurer IV, this is Mission Control. Our instrumentation shows you are ready to begin a descent.”

  “Copy that, Mission Control.” Stephen and I scrambled back into our seats and strapped ourselves in. “Sam, begin descent sequence.”

  “Descent sequence activated,” came the reply.

  The Pegasus began vibrating as it hit the atmosphere. “Magic Carpet Ride” began to play through our speakers. “Good one, Stephen,” I said, knowing he had to have asked Sam to do that earlier.

  He grinned back at me, as irrepressible as ever. “I couldn’t resist.”

  And then we were above the ocean and hit the water with a mighty splash.

  “Hello, Houston, this is Adventurer IV” I said. “Looks like a great day for a swim.”

  Cheers came over the radio. “Copy that Adventurer IV. The USS Olympia is on her way. By your coordinates, she should be there in an hour.”

  “Roger that.” I unbuckled myself and began to move about the Pegasus module. A movement outside caught my attention. I craned my neck to try to get a better glimpse of whatever it was. A dolphin maybe? I staggered back, knocking myself into Stephen, who had gotten out of his seat and was taking a stretch.

  “Hey, you okay there, bud?” Concern colored his tone.

  “Uh, yeah.” I couldn’t have seen what I just thought I saw, could I? “I just tripped over my own foot. “ I gave a deprecating chuckle. “So clumsy of me.”

  “Change in gravity and all this rocking about like we’re on a tiny boat doesn’t help.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” I peered out once more. Yep, she was still there, this time waving at me. An
honest to goodness woman was perched on the side of our module. She was lovely, a svelte blonde cutie with a peaches and cream complexion and big blue eyes. And antennae, can’t forget the antennae. I turned to Stephen. “Do you see that?” I asked him, gesturing towards the window. He peered over my shoulder.

  “See what? You see a whale or something? There’s no boats in the area, I hope. There’s not supposed to be any boats. Well, except for the Olympia but she’s not a boat kinda boat, she’s a ship, right? A really big ship.”

  I glanced out again. The woman was gone. I rubbed my eyes. I was imagining things. Hopefully, with the two weeks off we had to take, I’d get back to operational fitness. But for now, I was staying schtum. No way was I mentioning this to anybody. Not even to Stephen, unless it got worse.

  “Uno?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, why not? We can complete a game in an hour, probably.”

  I moved from the window, going to the cabinet to fetch the cards. Stephen pulled down the table flap from the wall as well as the folding seat. I joined him and did likewise. As he shuffled and then dealt the cards, I found my eyes drifting back to the window. Stephen notices.

  “Boy, you’re antsy. That eager to grab those mai tais?”

  “You know it,” I joked back.”

  “I can’t wait to see all those gorgeous people on the beach,” he sighed.

  “You know we live right by a beach. In fact, the beach is less than two blocks from my house.”

  “Yeah, and that’s cool, but it’s not Waikiki cool. Besides, last time I picked up a beach babe at the beach by your house, they turned out to be a space junkie. He was ready to move in and walk me down the aisle fifteen minutes after we did the horizontal tango. It gets awkward. I saw him two weeks ago at the auto parts store and had to pretend that I didn’t and duck out without the headlight bulbs I needed.”

  I laughed. “Okay, yeah, I remember that guy. Lyle was his name, right? Came to the base the day after and tried to get on to bring his ‘Poopsie’ some lunch?”

  “It was ‘Hubsies’, but yes.”

  We played a game and were wondering if we had enough time for another as it seemed the Olympia was a bit later than promised. Or not, as Stephen looked out the window on this side of the capsule and stood up in excitement. “Hey, I see the ship!”

  “Sam, open a channel and hail them,” I called out.

  “Opening a channel.” The briefest of pauses, then, ”This is Adventurer IV calling the USS Olympia.”

  A crackle, then, “Hello, Adventurer. This is Captain Emmanuel Lewisham of the USS Olympia. We’re here to take you on your cruise. Please be advised that the shuffleboard deck is currently under reconstruction and that the coffee is terrible.”

  “Copy that, Olympia. We’ll steer clear of the coffee.”

  More banter followed as the ship came within range to launch a raft. A quick tap on the escape hatch door let us know they were ready for us to come out. Stephen went out first and I followed him. I stared. The blonde was back, this time wearing the same NASA coveralls that Stephen and I wore.”

  “Hey, look, the brass sent somebody out this time,” Stephen whispered to me. “I’ve never seen her before, think she’s a civilian?”

  I stared at him. “You see her, too?” I hissed.

  He looked at me askance. “Well, yeah, why?”

  “Shhhhh!” I shushed him, making a frantic gesture as I did so. I turned a million megawatt smile and beamed at both the strange woman if indeed that is what she was, and the raft crew. “I’ll tell you later. It’s crazy.”

  Stephen shrugged at me. “Hi guys, thanks for picking us up.”

  “Our pleasure. I hate to ask, but can I have a picture taken with you later? And if I get it printed out, will you autograph it for me? My kid brother is nuts about the space program. I can’t wait for him to find out I was on your retrieval crew,” a young seaman gushed.

  “Sure,” Stephen said magnanimously.”Darren will, too, won’t you, Dare?”

  “Hm? Oh, yes,” I said distractedly, trying to not cause any alarm aboard the small craft while trying to also see if the female had her antennae hidden in her hair.

  “We sure were surprised to see you had a third passenger, they told us to just expect two. I know you guys are adrenaline junkies strapping on rockets and shit but that is seriously dangerous, just going outside and perching on the Pegasus like that. A wave could have knocked her into the ocean or anything.”

  Stephen turned to look at me, his eyes wide and mouth open in astonishment. I shook my head and mouthed, “Later,” at him.

  “Yes, well, she was a last minute addition,” I said smoothly. She nodded quietly at my words. “I’m afraid you guys can’t tell anyone she was even here. It’s top secret.”

  The young sailors looked awed. “Yes, sir, we know how to keep our mouths shut,” The one who had admonished our mysterious stowaway said.

  Nothing more was said as we reached the ship and they winched us aboard.

  Chapter 5

  Jeannie

  Hedgie had been right. I shouldn’t have bought that Silexian one man cruiser from that Fribnar trader. When he set up a used cruiser lot in our city, I should have listened to my gut. It had told me too not trust anyone who had such old cruisers all parked in a row behind a windsock tethered to a blower. A windsock made to look like an eight armed Zegrax alien wearing a rather absurd looking hat, no less.

  But then Mikap came back from where she’d gone to live among the Gonbonees and made all the social rounds among our old friends. They toasted her and they shared their own stories about life among the Static and there I was, the last of those spawned in our clan’s pond to not go anywhere. It wasn’t fair! I had been the top of our class in shifting. I could hold any shape for up to twelve hours without having to revert back to a semi-liquid state. I even learned how to ‘ingest’ food. Oh, I don’t mean just put in an approximation of a mouth and let it slither around inside. No, I could ‘chew’ and ‘swallow’, and then actually ‘digest’ it, melding my most basic essences into it and making it a part of me, storing it as energy within my cells. See? I told you I was talented. Usually one doesn’t learn that until they’re at least four hundred years old and I’m only a hundred and thirteen.

  Anyways, my friend Zagneesh asked me to help him come buy a cruiser with some money he’d made morphine for Statics at some high end party at one of the embassies. I was shocked when he brought me to the Silexian’s dealership. Then I saw it. It was cute! Sue, it was older than the rest, but who needed big? As long as it was airtight and flew, I was okay with it. And the price on the windshield! I had that much in my credit bank account. I double checked the controls were of a familiar type and that the engine class fell within my pilot license rating. Squee! They were and did!

  I left there the proud owner of my very own cruiser. Zagneesh found his own cruiser and we both waved at each other before climbing into our cockpits, closing the hatch, and flying off. When I reached home, Hedgie took one look at my cruiser and told me what a piece of crap he thought it was.

  “Fine! You want me to get this off our dock? I will!” I stomped back to my cruiser and climbed in. “I’m going to go on a tour of the Statics like I always wanted to do and you talked me out of. I’m going and I’ll send you a comm when I get to the first planet I decide to stop at!”

  Ignoring his shouts, I lowered the hatch and started my engine. He stomped off, back inside our dwelling. I know it sounds weird, but we do have houses and stuff. It’s hard to interact with the environments we live in unless we take the form of a staic, you know, and it’d be boring to just stay as a puddle.

  When my navigation system went out, I really should have sat tight and put out a distress beacon. I refused to accept defeat and return home, however, so, I picked a direction and zoomed on. I never even saw the wormhole until I was already going into it. When my ship began to fly apart, I sealed myself into the escape bottle and waited for us to exit, praying
someone would spot the debris. I popped out in the middle of a debris field. Then I saw it, and actual craft. My bottle smacked right into it and popped open. Yes! I was saved! I peeked inside. They looked like Yertle's only an odd color. I assumed that form and waited for one of them to look my direction and let me in. Surely, they’d noticed me? I mean, my bottle made quite a clang. It wasn’t small by any means, being a model suitable for one to five of my kind.

  “How rude! They could invite me in!” I morphed a tether and tied myself to the ship where there was a suitable anchor point as I had begun to drift. A short while later, I became alarmed. The planet was growing closer and they hadn’t opened the hatch to let me in. I felt the hull begin to heat. I looked around desperately. There! I spotted a vent of some kind. I made my way to it and reabsorbed my tether. I moved into my semi-liquid state and wriggled my way in, finding a cranny to settle into where I wouldn’t find, myself flung out. I hardened myself, taking on the characteristics of ceramic heat shielding as I felt the heat from atmospheric re-entry. Then we hit the water and I oozed out, taking their form once more. This time, one of them saw me! I waved, wriggling my antennae excitedly.

  He reeled back in surprise. I blinked as the other one came into view. Then it dawned on me. These weren’t Yertlys at all., they just looked similar. I pulled the antennae back in. I glanced around. I should have paid more attention. This wasn’t some old tech they were playing about with. This was an uncontacted species! This is why he was scared. What was I going to do? If this was the best tech they had, how was I ever going to get home?

  “Okay, just calm down,” I told myself.”First things first, get a better look at what they're wearing so you can blend in. Then wait for them to come out or whatever.”

  I peered inside. They were staring at some cards, playing some type of game. I copied their single piece clothing the best I could, right down to the funny squiggles on some patch or other on one side of the chest area. Then I sat down on the hull once more and waited. Then I waited some more. I was just about to knock to see if they were ever going to come out when a large seafaring vessel came into view. It actually was partly in the water. Oh boy, they definitely were low tech. I was stranded. When some more of their kind came from the ship in a raft and motioned for me to come aboard, I did. It wasn’t quite the rescue I’d envisioned, but hey, it beat floating on a tin can in the middle of a seemingly endless sea.