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visage filled the screen. Behind him, the secondary command crew began running through the Cagliostro’s diagnostics as every command crew did upon starting their shift. “We’re all set on our end Captain, we’ll take care of your ship, I promise. Good hunting, boss!”
    Mark smiled aboard the Stargrazer and he replied, “Thanks Miles, hopefully we’ll be the hunters and not the huntees.”
    With that the Stargrazer exited the Cagliostro’s shuttle deck and disappeared into the depths of space, accelerating towards the fourth planet from the systems sun.
    “Anything we oughta know about this place?” Dan Sledge asked.
    “It’s hot down there.” Red replied, “Like a hundred and five in the shade, but it’s like Arizona, a dry heat.” He snickered sarcastically.
    “Our uniforms will keep us cool enough,” Mark began, stealing an annoyed glance at Red, “the thermal venting system will pull the heat from our bodies keeping us at least ten degrees cooler than our surroundings. It’s not much but it’s better than nothing. The ships hatch will be code locked to each of our suits. Only we can enter and exit. They’ll have to cut through the hatch to get into her. So we should be safe from thieves and spies, I hope.” He add ed.
    The Stargrazer sped towards the planet in question, exiting hyper -warp just past the planet’s first moons trajectory. Casually Ariel thumbed up the comm and began speaking, “This is the ‘Stargrazer’ requesting permission to land at the spaceport in region 2.5 on planetary grid.”
    There was no answer at first . She tilted her head quizzically and shrugged her shoulders towards Mark, who waved his hand as if to say ‘relax’. The comm unit suddenly sprang to life as alien words were barked from it several times before the translator was able to catch up, matching inflection with syntax, until the beings voice on the other side suddenly became clear.
    “This is space port command for spaceport Z- 59; please state your business here,” the voice ordered.
    Ariel immediately replied, “This is the Spaceship Stargrazer requesting permission to land. We are seeking additional provisions for our extended journey back to our own solar system, as well as a few days rest on a planet’s surface among other races and peoples.”
    The voice was silent a moment, then two, as if having a conversation with someone nearby before finally replying, “Very well Stargrazer, proceed to landing pad N-157. A landing beam will guide you in.”
    “Thank you , Spaceport command.” Ariel answered before thumbing off the communications unit.
    “We’re in.” She offered to Mark.
    “Yeah, I know.” He paused a second then added, “That’s what I’m worried about.”
    “Why are you worried?” Ariel asked.
    “It seems a bit too easy. They have no idea who we are or where we’re from, yet they have no trouble at all inviting us in. I expected a bit more resistance to our landing here, that’s all.”
    The landing beam made contact with the little ship before it broke atmosphere and helped direct them as they began its descent. The Stargrazer descended through the atmosphere, as the heat of reentry made the wings glow on either side of the sleek craft, turning them a bright yellow with heat, before they finally cooled as the ship slowed enough and vectored into its heading towards the spaceport.
    Soon, the ‘grazer was slowing enough that it shed all of the excess heat it had built up upon re-entry. Some had been converted to energy and stored, but the powerful magno-disc engines created energy for power as well as flight ability. It was a win-win science.  Within minutes the ship hovered above a landing spot and descended for a feather soft vertical landing.
    “Should we take our bags with us?” Eddie asked.
    “No, the plan is to stay here tonight, within the ship. I’m not interested in looking for whatever passes as an inn at least for a day or two. Let’s do some shopping and