Salinas V

“Well, it looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while,” I said.

Hudson and I were standing in front of the Danger Sled. We had a fairly rough landing but we were OK. Aside from the warp drive, my ship seemed OK, too.

“Yeah, so what happened?” Hudson had his right hand clutched against his shirt.

“This thing failed.” I held up a piece of the warp drive. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen one of these power converters fail.”

“So can your Emergency Repair Droid fix it?”

“Unfortunately, no,” I answered. “The ERD-21 said that the component needs to be replaced.”

“To bad, man.” Hudson squinted towards the sunset. “So can we get a replacement on this planet? Where are we anyway?”

“The charts say that we’re on Salinas V,” I answered. I looked out towards the vast field in front of us. A stream trickled past and several duck-like birds kicked around squawking in it. “Looks like it’s mostly an agricultural planet but there’s gotta be someplace to get parts.”

“Well the sooner we get out of here, the better I say.” Hudson mumbled, still clutching his hand against his shirt.

“Here we go. According to the map, there’s a town just a few clicks from here. You know, the funny thing is…” I looked at the converter. “This thing looks like it’s been chewed through. Just look at this wiring.”

“Chewed… through…? Oh man, uh… really?”

“Yeah. Say Hudson, what are you holding anyway?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s see it.”

“I said I’m not holdin’ anything.” The marine turned his shoulder to try to keep whatever he was holding away from me.

“Come on, Hudson,” I pressed.

“Alright,” he conceded and held his hand out. A small, fuzzy creature was in it.

“A space mouse? Those rodents chew through everything!”

“Yeah, but look how cute he is,” Hudson insisted. “Hey little buddy, want some cheese? You’re so cute, I think I’ll call you George.”

“Aw geez, Hudson, give me a break, will ya?” I groaned. “That thing chewed up the converter.”

“Look at this face.” The private held the mouse in front of me. “How can you be mad at a cute little guy like this?”

“Alright fine.” I swerved my head away from the rodent. “Just keep that thing away from my ship.”

“Okeedokee. Say Jon, I’m getting kind of hungry. Do we have anything to eat?”

“I checked. All we have are beans.”

“I like beans!” Hudson said excitedly. “Do we have ketchup, too?”

“No, we don’t. I checked.”

“Aw,” he kicked a couple pebbles into the water. “Fine. I’ll just eat beans without ketchup.”

“Whatever. OK, here’s the plan. It’s sunset now, so we’ll just have dinner and sack out. Tomorrow morning, we can head into town.”

“And I can bring George?”

“You can bring George. Just keep him away from my ship,” I reminded him.