In Space...

In Space... A full stop is not necessarily followed by a capital letter.

'If another dang asteroid flings itself at the ship Captain, we'll be lucky to be moving anywhere for sometime,' AJ said with his brown eyes looking over at Captain Zaine pensively.

Captain Zaine combed his large hand through his messy, short dark hair, something he did when he was nervous or flustered, followed by wiping the excess product that the hand collected on to his uniform. The stare from his deep violet eyes could almost pierce the thick glass that stood between him and the hundreds of large clustering rocks, pummeling through the darkness of space on the other side.

He firmly placed his hands on his hips and spun around to face his crew; they could see the sweat run down between the pecs of his muscular chest as he had his vest unzipped half way down and never wore a shirt underneath. He was like any another Whitbaylorith, vain and full of himself. They were one of the most attractive races in all the galaxies by far, they knew it and flaunted it.

His crew all stood at their posts, each had a mixed opinion on their current situation but not dared to move or make a sound, as even a whisper would be picked up by the Captain's pointy ears that heard everything.

'Who's idea was it to go through the damn asteroid belt?' Captain Zaine boomed, his voice still ringing in the crews head after he finished speaking.

'I believe the priestess referred to it as a "short cut",' Curtis grinned, holding on to his console of flashing lights for dear life.

'Answer me this future freak. Who is this ship's navigation specialist? Me! I know what I'm doing!' Sudury snapped back, reorganizing her massive black beehive of hair towering on top of her head, the whole time her eye glaring back at Curtis. Curtis attempted a stare down with her but knowing full well he'd be defeated turned to face the Captain.

'The good news is, shields are ready to razzle. Prepare for complete full stop in twenty microds. At least some of us know what they are doing,' Curtis announced giving the captain a little wink, 'All brace for full stop in 15...'

As the crew attempted to scramble and grab hold of the closest station, chair, doorway, power console or anything they could the ship jolted harshly to a sudden halt, throwing the crew members around the control room.

After a few groans and moans of pain, and once they were all sure the ship had fully stopped, the crew made their way back to their feet.

'Twenty microds? I am almost positive Mr. Young, no, I am completely positive you said twenty microds.' Captain Zaine confirmed, dusting himself off as he got to his feet and glared over at Curtis.

'Sorry Cap, my timing may have been a little off that time.'

'That time?' Sudury said under her breath. Her long black hair had now come completely loose and covering the front of her face.

'You are a time traveler are you not? The only time traveler from the planet known as Earth you remind us. Therefore am I wrong in thinking, "timing" was meant to be your thing?' Captain Zaine asked.

'So clearly I'm not a good one, did you forget about my broken time machine in your cargo hold?'

'Ummm this is Mirina in medical. Hi, so did we just crash in to something again?' the sweet voice of a woman came through the speakers.

'Since when has there been a medical on my ship?'

'Oh Captain Zaine, as your first officer I believe I had to make a formal decision and create one. Actually more pretend there is one, you see the thing is... I just felt sorry for her and wanted her to feel useful.' AJ explained as he walked over to a panel on the wall labeled 'Ship-wide communication'.

'You Earth males and your pathetic displays of affection; especially for a blonde female of any species, who find it difficult to understand the concept of gravity and still believes there is a little man that lives in the refrigeration unit that turns the light on and off.' Sudury said, glaring at AJ as she once again reorganized her hair.

'Not all of us Earth males, priestess,' Curtis added.

AJ just shook his head, his light brown neatly parted hair bouncing as he did, then fell perfectly back in place. He pressed a little green button and spoke in to the speaker box, 'Attention crew! It is all ok, we just have stopped for a short time, please go back to your normal routine.'

'Roger that,' Mirina replied, followed by a short pause then she continued, 'Man my job is so laid back they actually think I'm doing work down here...wow what is that flashy light thing? Oh I think I forgot to turn the talky thing off.' There was a large crushing sound through the speaker box then silence.

'Remind me why she's on my ship again?' Captain Zaine asked.

'She's a thief captain, they come in extremely handy for acquiring certain things one does not like to part with.' Sudury explained, finally finishing her weave.

'I said we didn't need her and should have left her on the rock where we found her', Curtis snickered, glancing up from a shiny surface where he was restyling his multi colored shaggy hair. Curtis was the strangest looking of the crew and it didn't stop at his black, brown, blonde, red and purple streaked hair that was too long to be short but too short to be long. Or the shiny silver and purple time traveler's spacesuit he wore. Or the gadget he had strapped around his wrist that beeped randomly for no reason at all. Maybe it was the weirdness of the random events he talked about that apparently would happen in the future. It was probably the whole package that is Curtis Young; the only human time traveler from the planet known as Earth that made him strange. Whatever it was he was definitely strange.

'Enough bickering!' Captain Zaine said taking charge. 'What we need is a plan. Fast. Preferably before space pirates come and mistake us for spare parts. What is the status on the Supersonic Turbo Rapid drive?'

'Out of fuel Captain.' AJ answered.

'Again?'

'No, still. We haven't refueled it since...'

'Oh since...' Sudury began, 'No that was something else.'

'We have a Supersonic Turbo Rapid drive, rad.' Curtis added.

'Shields are active so they will protect us a little. Weapons available looks like 3 torpedoes, 47% laser power, 3 shots left on the distracter and the aurora cannon at full.' Zaine looked up from the console he was checking and glanced across at Sundry, 'Is there a space station close by?'

'Negative Captain,'

'Mr. Young how many wild cards do you have left?'

'Two Captain... But I think I should warn you...'

The captain chose to ignore what Curtis was saying and cut him off.

'So the Fortuitous has been through some tough scraps but she's a good ship and she will get as through this. A few little rocks aren't going to tear her apart.'

'They aren't little rocks though Captain. They're massive asteroids. Some at least half the size of our ship. All we need is one on either side of us at the same time and we'll be crushed like a Thrillazod under a Funarian's third foot. So tell me, do we have an escape plan?' Sudury asked.

'Ok this is what we will do...'