The Solid Matter Energy Converter rumbled. Peri didn’t know what a Solid Matter whatsit was, but he didn’t like it when it rumbled. It was rumbling. Rumblings always meant, inevitably preceded, the red lights and sirens. Peri didn’t care for the sirens either, but the flashing red lights did make him think of home. Here they came.
“Emergency! Emergency!” a voice shouted over the intercom.
The engineer came racing in. Shouting a slew of curses, he began a furious attack against the buttons. They clicked and beeped under the siren, and the engineer swore as the captain shouted at him.
Then it was quiet. The red lights were gone. The engineer slumped into his chair.
“Captain,” he said into a little microphone.
The captain’s voice boomed. “What the hell is going on down there?”
“Sir,” the engineer said, rubbing his brow. “The SMEC’s held together by bubblegum and a bobby-pin at this point. We need repairs.”
“That’s what I pay you for.”
“And I need parts, replacements. We’re going to blow up out here.”
Neither spoke. Peri watched the SMEC for rumbles.
“How long?”
“Now, two weeks ago. The next time you try to outrun your creditors, it’ll be the good Lord looking at our ledgers.”
Peri wondered what they were saying, what it all meant. Crawling along the floor, he came up and licked the engineer’s hand.
“Hey Peri,” the engineer said, patting what amounted to the creature’s head. “Did the sirens scare you? Scare me. We’ll get home,” he said. “We’ll get home.”
Tale Told 