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been found so quickly.
    He knew the ship had been hit because the artificial gravity went out. He floated freely, as did the mechanized alien beings.
    The first mate said, “They took out our aft cannons, Captain. We’re defenseless from the rear unless we use manual controls.”
    “Get a specimen from the planet and then jump out of here. But skip our next destination. They’ll probably be waiting for us there too. There’s a chance we might be able to circle back later.”
    Now Chris knew he was right about the ship. It could only go where it was pre-programmed to go. He couldn’t help but wonder why it had been designed that way.
    Immediately a strange creature appeared on the monitor, newly abducted from the planet below. The captain didn’t even bother to greet it before telling the crew to get them the fuck out of there.

Irate Captain
     
    They immediately jumped to another region of space. The gravity generator kicked back on and Chris fell to the floor with a dull thud.
    The captain was agitated , so he didn’t mince words with the newly arrived specimen. He told it that if it didn’t comply to his demands it would be jettisoned into space.
    It was a pale yellow , round creature with pink, mean-looking barbs all over its body. It had no head that Chris could discern so it had few features he could identify with.
    It ate the pills by pushing them into its body with wide, splayed -out appendages, and then, after a few minutes, a weird gas erupted from it like mist from a lake. The gas settled at the floor and the creature then put the translator into its body.
    Chris had to wrap his mind around the fact that the creature expelled its waste in mist form.
    The captain took off his football helmet device and said directly to the creature, “You will walk the length of the corridor and I will help you go into stasis. Do not fight me. Do not ask any questions. Do you understand?”
    In what sounded to Chris like perfect English, the creature said, “Yes, I understand.”
    The captain turned to his first m ate and said, “I want this Earth-man’s stasis pod fixed too. We’re dealing with too much and we’re too close to completing our mission to have loose ends running around on our ship.”
    Chris said meekly, “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. I haven’t been running around this ship.”
    “You were her e when the Gray got into our systems and discovered our flight plan. You were here when it torched the back-up DNA. You were standing right here when it escaped.”
    “So what? How does that make me a liability? If I wasn’t here, he’d have done everything exactly the same way.”
    “You were in a position to help and you decided to do nothing. Maybe you’re not a liability, but you sure aren’t contributing to the success of the mission. Keep your mouth shut until your stasis pod can be prepared.”
    Chris had had enough of the condescension. He said, “Screw it then. Just put me in a different pod. I know you have thousands of others.”
    “Only one is suited for your kind. Like I said, shut up and let us work to get you out from under our feet.”
    Angrily, he shot back with, “Oh, fuck you. You can’t talk to me like that. I didn’t even want to be here, asshole.”
    “But now we’re stuck with you.”
    Chris was too upset to quit so easily. He said, “Your stupid mission is going to fail anyway. You’d have to have a screw loose to think you can design God out of spare parts. You failed once and you’re going to fail again.”
    “Did the Gray speak to you?” There was anger and trepidation in the captain’s voice.
    Chris shook his head. “Why? What does the Gray know about this that you’re not telling me?”
    “I fear I’ve already told you too much. Your capacity for knowledge is clearly struggling against the ramifications of our plans. You’re too dumb to understand, so you’ve made assumptions that aren’t true.”
    Chris was pissed about being told he was