"Okay, one more time. Explain to me exactly what happened," Mike grumbled as he adjusted his pajama top.
Tom swiveled towards Mike. "Well, Crow and I were playing our weekly canasta game.."
Mike interrupted, raising his hand. "Wait a sec. The sleepy-eyed guy programmed you to know how to play canasta?"
Crow chirped, "Yep. In between the downloads for heroes of dentistry and non-euclidian physics."
Tom queried, "I thought it was after the Rockford Files trivia."
Crow shook his head. "No. That came after the light operetta."
Mike growled. "Nevermind. I don't care any more. Just continue."
Tom nodded. Somehow. "Well, I had just scored a huge meld and that's when the airlock opened and the astronauts came in."
Crow added, "They said that they needed to bring us back to Earth, ASAP."
"So, you came and grabbed me," Mike stated.
Crow shook his head. "Well, they were tired from the trip, so Gypsy fixed them some tea."
Tom chimed in, "And sandwiches. They were hungry too. Plus they had been eating that dehydrated stuff since launch."
"So, then you came and got me?"
"Well, no," Crow said. "About then Mythbusters came on. It was a new one too, so we watched that for a while."
Tom added, "And they were running a marathon..."
"And that's..."
"Then we played some Halo. Tom lost, of course."
"I don't have working arms, Crow. I don't know why you keep demanding that we play..."
"So, then you came and got me."
Crow replied. "They were kind of tired, so they took a nap."
Mike sighed, heavily. "So, you had time to do all this but yet you didn't have time to tell me so that I could change out of my pajamas?"
"Well, yeah."
"Why?"
Tom plainly stated, "We'd thought it would be funny."
Mike sighed again, even more heavily. He began to speak again, only to be interrupted by the voice of the flight navigator.
"We will be landing in five minutes. Please prepare yourself for reentry."
Mike glared at the robots. "We'll discuss this later." The trio then spent the remainder of the descent in silence. Well, Mike did at least, thanks to the 10 Gs of force pummelling ever fiber of his being. Crow and Tom had a lively discussion about the symbolism in "Chairman of the Board."
* * * *
As the shuttle hatch opened, Mike shakily stepped though the hatch and onto terra firma again for the first time in many years. Tom and Crow followed close behind.
"Well, this seems to be some sort of office park," Mike quizzically said.
Tom quipped, "Wow. NASA's really downsized."
A voice in the distance replied. "I'm afraid that we're not with the government, Mr. Nelson."
Mike peered off into the distance and spotted an approaching silhouette obscurred by the glare of the sodium lights. "I'm sorry, but I naturally assumed that the government would be the only group sending astronauts."
The voice chuckled and responded warmly. "I'm afraid that we're a private entity, Mr. Nelson."
The figure strode into the cicrle of illumination provided by the nearest floodlight, revealing the form of a shapely woman in her early thirties. .
Mike unconciously stood a bit straighter. "My friends call me Mike."
Her eyes danced merrily as she walked towards Mike. "Mine call me Angie."
"Angie?"
She gave a quick nod, her eyes dancing merrily. "Welcome home, Mike."
"Oh. Er, thank you," Mike yammered as he stared at the newcomer.
She smiled radiantly. "I realize taht you're a bit disoriented from all of this Mike, but I'm afraid that I have something to discuss with you. Would you mind folowing me to my office?"
Mike blinked for a moment and then seemed to return from his daze. "Oh, of course."
She beamed again. "Thank you. Carlos? Adrian? Can you escort Mr. Servo and Mr. Robot to the entertainment room, please? MIke, please follow me."
She gave quick motion with her hand, emphacizing her request for Mike to follow and the pair headed towards a nearby building. Behind them, the bots eagerly began to pester their escorts.
"An entertainment room? Do you have a TV?"
"And snacks?"
"How about a foosball table?"
"Or a hot tub?"
"You guys ever play Jenga?"
"How about Catan? It has sheep in it..."
"Oooh. I know this great card game called Canasta..."
* * * *
Mike followed the comely Angie into a nearby building, down a hallway and into a rather spacious, if dimly lit, office.
Angie motioned to a chair. "I apologize for the lighting. We're having a bit of trouble with the electrical system. Please, make yourself comfortable."
Mike nodded as he sat. "Thank you. You're most kind."
Angie smiled again as she eated herself behind the room's desk.. "Well, thank you. It's a bit rare for me to receive a compliment."
Mike titled his head quizzically. "Really? I can't imagine why. You seem like a perfectly nice individual."
She beamed in response. "Thank you again."
Mike replied, "I really have to thank you for getting us down from there."
Angie returned, "Oh it was no trouble at all."
Mike hesitated for a moment, then haltingly asked, "I have to ask, what happened to Pearl?"
Angie replied puzzledly, "What do you mean?"
"Well, Pearl did have us trapped up in that satellite for a lot of years and I just figured that something must have happened to her if we're down here. She wasn't burned at the stake, was she? Because the guys down at the Circle K by Castle Forrester kept threatening to do that..."
Angie tossed off a laugh. "Oh, Ms. Forrester is fine, Mike. She got a job offer from someone in the film industry. Last that I heard, she was off producing some film about Chihuahuas. "
Mike was a bit taken aback. "Oh. Well, I had been wondering why we hadn't gotten any movies recently. What about Observer?"
"He's working for Gordon Ramsey as a sous chef. He says it's a bit calmer than his old job."
"And Bobo?"
"Senator Bobo?"
"Nevermind." Mike settled back into his chair. "So, they just abandoned their torture of us and left us up there?"
Angie shook her head again. "Not exactly. Ms. Forrester was approached by someone who wanted to continue her son's research. Apparently she'd been a student of his back at Minnesota AM & M."
Mike blanched as a sinking feeling descended into his stomach. "I'm not familiar with that school..."
Angie brightly replied. "Minnesota Agicultural Mechanical and Mad Science. One of the most widely respected colleges in the field of Mad Science. Sure, technically it should be AM& MS, but it's traditiona to drop the S..."
Mike gulped. "You seem awfully knowledgable about it, Angie..."
She grinned preditorially. "Class of '96. And call me Doctor Jolie. See, Pearl and I had a discussion and, well, I believe the phrase is 'I now own your ass.'" She chuckled again, this time with an added tinge of madness behind the laugh. "Tell me, Mike. Have you ever seen a film called "The Adventures of Pluto Nash? I think you'll really enjoy it..."
First draft. Not edited. Not contest entry. Just thrown together before I sleep to add to Torgo's concerns.
Poll
Topic: Fan Fic Competition (Read 6470 times)