The Fur Flies

 
The Fur Flies
Idwal Everrett Mining Engineer
John Keats  Fighter Pilot
Quibet Furry Ferret
 
Out in the Debris Field
 
Idwal had been about to board his newly aquired mining shuttle when a brash young gun with what appeared to be a ferret up his flight suit introduced himself and declared his intention of riding shotgun on Idwal's sortie.  Extra armament and another pair of eyes were welcome so with a mental shrug Idwal let the jet jockey come along..........
 
Now lets read on ..........
 
The debris field was huge with bits from micro dust to apartment size blocks churning around just any old how.  Idwal was glad he was in a mining shuttle with the 'dozer blade attachment.  As long as he faced front very little would even dent the ship.  His so called guardian, well, Idwal looked over and could hardly believe his eyes. The guy was actually flying some wierd Terra throwback.  Idwal had seen ships like it in old movies but they were solid air flyers in those.  Idwal wondered how the guy kept it flying.  Idwal flicked his comms switch
"John, I dont want to alarm you, but were entering the Debris field, there are small bullet meteorites heading this way""Hey there Idwal.. no worries, we have shields, they can stop them""Are you sure ? You don't appear to have yours activated.."John checked his button. It was blue, it was on when the shields were active, off when they wernt. It was currently on."Im sure there Idwal. Dont worry""Umm, actually John" started Quilibet"Yeah?""Umm, the shield battery appears to of been.. umm. removed..."John froze. Without the shields his ship was sitting in open terrain."Are you sure Quil.. i mean, the lights on...""Yes im sure.. I don't know why.. but..."A small hole suddenly appeared in the front screen, followed nanoseconds later by another in the console to the right of his head. He felt the sudden pull of vaccumed space as another hole appeared, this time shooting out the weapons control module on the side.

Then all hell broke loose as Keats began to chatter furiously on the comm.  He had major problems with shield malfunction and within seconds he was bellowing"Idwal! Open your airlock.. NOW! Im taking damage, you were right, my shields arn---" The line cut.  Idwal looked as the fighter began to shred panels"John?"Another bullet meteortie shot the communications, setting it into a frizzling electrical fire. He had to ditch the Endymion... his pride and joy... He wrestled the control stick and headed towards the Freighter."Quil... stick to me, were going to eject!""But we have no shields either""Still, we have a better chance out there, were gonna get onboard the mining shuttle"As the Endymion grew closer to it, he readied on the Eject button. The vacuum of space was tretcherous, nto to be taken lightly, but still, his only chance was to get into the now open airlock. He hit the eject button  and instantly, the tug of vacuum lifted as he was sent towards the airlock. The Shielding on the freighter stopped any furtherbullet meteorites, but the Endymion was lost and it hurtled without control towards the dead planet. John watched from the closing airlock, a tear in his eye.
"Wow!" said Idwal as the jet jockey tumbled onto the flight deck "That old crate of yours is so full of hole your granny could sieve carrots in it."    At that moment the fighter blossomed inot flame and became part of the debris field. "Wow!" said Idwal again and looking at his new passenger thought he could detect a moistness around the eyes.  "Okay" said Idwal not wishing to dwell on private grief " We need a few samples and then hopefully the mainframe will have sorted out what actually happened."  As he reached across to activate the collection buckets three red lights pinged and a thin nasal voice said
"The license to operate this vehicle is revoked. All systems will shut down in approximately one minute."
"WHAT!" said Idwal "What are you on about?"
The voice took on a prim and disapproving tone. "The hirer of the vehicle has introduced furry dice inot the vehicle. This is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!"
"Furry dice? Furry dice? What ....ah...........!"
Idwal caught sight of Keat's ferret. " No! No! negative to that we do NOT have furry dice aboard!" said Idwal rapidly. He turned and shouted to Keats, "Shit Keat's! The goddam security system has sensed your furry friend! Is there anything you can do about this?"
" I'm sorry" said the voice taking on a nasty edge " But my sensors clearly detect the presence of fur on the flight deck.  Forty seconds to complete shutdown and clamping.  The hirer shall of course be liable to all expenses incurred in the retrieval and unclamping of the vehicle."
"Keats!" said Idwal "Do something!"