Starship Armstrong - Season 2

Part 17 - Sides (VII)

"Commander Gibson to the Armstrong, do you read? Armstrong, do you read me? Commander Gibson to the Mir, do you read? Mir come in Mir?"

Nothing. Commander Gibson realized his communicator was useless.

Both the Commander and Ensign Gul's crash-bubbles had come down in the waters of a decently sized river. Now the two floated along with the current, somewhat comically. Ensign Gul's bubble kept threatening to tip and leave him upside-down.

"We're going to have to swim for it, Ensign," said Commander Gibson "On three we'll release our straps and deactivate the bubbles. 1... 2... 3..."

The two crash bubbles seemed to pop, and unceremoniously dumped the two men in the water. The crash chairs quickly sunk to the bottom of the river.

Gibson and Gul swam to the shore. Cold and dripping wet they pulled themselves back onto dry land.

Gibson looked around while Gul tried to wring out his uniform a bit.

"We should follow the river," said Gibson, finally "It's our best chance to find a settlement of some kind."

"Lead the way, Commander," said Gul.

After following the river for a little over a standard hour they saw a man in the distance, fishing in the river. He was wearing a wide brimmed straw hat and seemed to have a relatively sophisticated fishing rod. He waved at them.

"Let's hope they speak Martian here," said Gul.

"Hey there!" yelled Commander Gibson.

"Hullo!" the fisherman yelled back "Are you two Libertine or Alliance?"

"Neither," said Gibson.

"I don't know what they are," said Gul.

Gibson and Gul had gotten close enough to continue the conversation at a normal volume.

"Haha. You two, I like," said the fisherman "Where do you hail from then, with your strange clothes and exotic accents?"

"It's complicated," said Gibson.

"It's not complicated," said Gul "We're from another planet.

"Oh are you now?" smirked the fisherman "Spacemen you say? The outfits are lovely boys. And you have perfected the accent from all the old movies. I can't worry to guess why you would want to fool people in such a way but you actually had me curious for a second there. You were too eager though. Gave the space business away too easy. If you want to really catch me in some japery I need to be romanced a bit first. Make me think you're a spaceman before you bring it up yourself."

"That's why I said it was complicated," said Gibson "It is a simple statement to make but a revolutionary idea."

"Now you're getting it," said the man "So what can I do for you two spacemen?"

"We came to your planet in a shuttlecraft," Gibson began.

"Naturally," the fisherman interjected.

"And it crashed, likely due to some aberrations we detected earlier in your atmosphere,"

"Why wouldn't it?" said the fisherman.

"Right before the two of us were ejected two of our crew mates were still on the shuttle. If they weren't able to eject in time they could have been inside it when it crashed. Do you have any idea of where that could be? Any news of something falling from the sky?"

"I don't believe so, spaceman, I think I would have remembered that if someone had mentioned it," replied the fisherman.

"Can you point us towards the nearest population center then?" asked Gibson.

"Well," said the man "You could keep following this river you're following a ways and eventually you'll find a little hamlet called Manhattan. But if you really want to pull the wool over someone's eyes, if you want a real challenge, there's probably five times as many soldiers as there are people in Manhattan camped up by the bridge a ways off in that direction," he pointed.

"If I were to call anything around here a 'population center' that'd be it. Not since Fountainhead."

"A military encampment," Gibson thought aloud, "If anyone will have reports of the crash it will be them."

"I think you're right," said Gul.

"Well then that's the way you should be a-walking," said the fisherman.

"Thanks for the help," said Gibson.

"Listen, boys, you may not be very convincing spacemen, but you have commitment and sometimes that's enough. Good luck with whatever you're up to."