Starship Armstrong - Season 3

Part 63 - Old Habits (V)

Mupallidat-Tiamat was excited to head to Starship Armstrong immediately, but the outsiders wanted to sleep for the night and leave the next morning. It was a little worrying how out of shape most of them were.

She found sleeping space for them in the Operations-caste House of Unwed. McAfree reacted to the news like she had just been informed of her own execution.

"Every time. Every time we end up in some mud hut in the furthest backwater in the galaxy. Why am I even here? Why does the entire Science Department have to come down every time we want to survey a planet?"

Ah!, thought Mupallidat-Tiamat, McAfree is Science-caste. That's why she's such a little priss. Calling a sturdy wooden building like this a 'mud hut'.

"It's not that bad," said Lieutenant-Commander, the only one of the outsiders with any sense.

"I hate you and I hate this place," said McAfree.

Mupallidat-Tiamat left Lieutenant-Commander to deal with McAfree. She headed back to her own family's compound to sleep in her own bed.

* * *

Mupallidat-Tiamat woke the outsiders a little after sunrise, once it became clear they weren't going to get up themselves. They hiked back to where the great metal "shuttle" had been left. Mupallidat-Tiamat half expected she had dreamed the thing but there it was.

"Listen," said Lieutenant-Commander, "before you get inside I need to explain to you what's going to happen. Our Starship isn't on the ground. It's in space. Up in the sky among the stars. This shuttle is going to take us there. It's quite safe there's no need to worry."

"You live in a Starship in the sky?" asked Mupallidat-Tiamat. She couldn't hide the condescension in her voice.

"You'll see for yourself," said Lieutenant-Commander. "Just don't worry when it happens."

These outsiders were easily, without question, the strangest people she had ever met. She was really anxious to learn what was really going on with them. It was such a gift that she would get to see with her own eyes what this Starship Armstrong actually looked like.

"I am not afraid," she said. "Can we go now?"

"Get on in the shuttle," said Lieutenant-Commander.

No one touched it, but the shuttle hissed like giant snake and the door on the side slid open. Cautiously, looking around the whole time, Mupallidat-Tiamat stepped inside. The others got in behind her.

The interior of the thing was unbelievable. It was like a tiny starship!

"Is this Starship Armstrong?" she asked.

"No," said Lieutenant-Commander, patiently. "This is a shuttle. It's called the Vostok II."

Lieutenant-Commander sat down in a seat in the front of the shuttle. She pressed several buttons.

"What's going to happen now?" asked Mupallidat-Tiamat. "I don't understand."

"You will in a moment," said Lieutenant-Commander.

She took hold of something with both hands and the entire shuttle began to rise into the sky! Mupallidat-Tiamat pressed her face against the windows. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it for herself. The ground below became smaller and smaller, soon mountains and lakes were so tiny they looked like she could pick them up.

Then the speed increased, such speed that she couldn't imagine it. Just as promised the shuttle had launched itself straight into the sky. It had been just after noon when they left but here they were among the stars.

Mupallidat-Tiamat sat back in her seat, wide-eyed.

"How?" she asked distantly.

"It's called science," sneered Dr. Kang, sitting just behind her.

"Your own Starship used to fly in space just like this," said Lieutenant-Commander. "Based on what we've seen I'm guessing it crashed on your planet and your people are the descendants of the crew."

The old stories. The ancestors had sent the Starship from the sky... It was all so terrifyingly plausible.