We were six days into our journey, and I was
sitting at my desk in the captain’s quarters studying an intriguing,
informative, riveting, and exciting book on successful propagation of seeds,
when my concentration was disturbed by a loud beeping emanating from the
bridge.
“What the bloody hell is that?” I exclaimed calmly
as I jumped up and raced onto the bridge.
My eyes darted from one monitor to the next
as I tried to work out what was wrong, but all the readings were in the green.
Then I spotted a flashing green symbol on one of the monitors to the left of
the main control panels; I didn’t know what the symbol meant. I put on the
headphones in the hope that they might help me to discern what the hell was
going on, and they barked in my ears as the beeping stopped.
“Hey, Drew, are you out there? It’s Nick
calling. How’s your summer holiday going? Over”
“Hi, Nick, everything is fine so far. We are
well on our way to Earth now. Over.”
I looked at the monitor that had been
flashing while I waited for Nick’s reply and noted that it wasn’t flashing
anymore. I assumed it had been telling me of an incoming radio call and made a
mental note to remember that flashing symbol.
“How are you getting on with Dick? Is he
still alive? Over.”
“Actually, I haven’t seen much of him or
Courtney since we launched. This is a big ship, so we could go for days, even
weeks, without seeing them if we wanted to…and we want to. They have obviously
found a room filled with computers and other electronic toys to keep them
amused. How are things back on Mars? Over.”
Dick and Courtney raced onto the bridge
while I was awaiting Nick’s reply. Dick asked,
“What’s going on? What was that beeping all
about?”
“It’s OK; it was an incoming radio call from
Nick. I am still talking to him.”
“Nice and peaceful without you lot here, and
my rum isn’t disappearing as quickly. Well, I guess I better let you get back
to your piloting thing or whatever the hell you were doing. I will talk to you
again soon. Take care. Over and out.”
“Roger that. I will call you on our return
journey. Drew out.”
I then turned to the geek pair,
“Sorry, it took me a while to work out what
the hell was going on until I stumbled on the answer quite by accident,” I
explained.
“Brilliant! Well done!”
Dick said in his annoyingly sarcastic tone,
as he and Courtney turned and left the bridge.
As the door slid shut behind them, I looked
at Mel and asked quietly,
“So where exactly did you hide my pistol?”
She laughed and hooked my arm in hers.
“Let’s go eat; I’m hungry.”
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