Main Characters
Blackjack – Bling species - Looks like a fat parrot with zebra stripes. Male. Has arms and legs. Eats, drinks, and breathes somewhat like humans.
Pokher – Tippity species - Looks like a lizard walking upright with a swordfish for a face. Eats, drinks, and breathes somewhat like a human. Female
Blue – Swig Species - Floating, pulsing ball. Female. Communicates via color changes. Moves objects with telekinesis. Absorbs nutrients from various plants and animals by touching them and absorbing them. Also absorbs water.
Tom - Human
Pixel – Species is part synthetic, so was originally created by another, unknown species. Are found in many parts of the universe. Pixel was created on Planet Bling (hence knowing Blackjack) Consists of trillions of particles, part biological, part synthetic. Male. Absorbs energy from the atmosphere. Doesn’t eat, drink, or breathe.
Episode 4
Scene 1
In the Rec Room of The Blazing Muffin, Blackjack and Pixel are playing a game called “Ringfish” with Pokher. Tom comes in and sees just as Blackjack has a near miss at Pokher’s swordfish nose.
Blackjack: Ah, so close!
Tom: What are you guys doing?
Pixel: We’re playing “Ringfish”.
Tom: Can I play?
Pixel: Sure, why not? I’m sure Pokher won’t mind. It just means she gets to eat more. Basically, you take a ringfish and try to land it on Pokher’s nose.
Tom: So I’m throwing fish at her face?
Blackjack: That’s the essence of the game, yes. But she enjoys it. Don’t you Pokher?
Pokher: Used to play it all the time on my home world, Planet Tippity.
Tom picks up a ringfish.
Tom (freaked out): Ew! So slimy!
Blackjack (mocking): Amateur!
Tom launches the ringfish and it snags perfectly on Pokher’s nose. She happily gobbles it up.
Pixel: Beginner’s luck!
Pokher: I’m starting to like this new guy.
Tom: You guys have weird ways to pass time.
Pixel: Weird? Really? Humans have some strange ways of passing time.
Tom: Like what?
Pixel: Like watching fictional shows that always have a ruling class in the foundation of the story.
Blackjack: Truly mind-blowing.
Tom: That’s true, I guess. You don’t have fiction stories where you’re from?
Blackjack: On my world, Planet Bling, we love fictional stories, but they always take place in an anarchy-based society.
They’re interrupted by an audio message from Blue, who is on the bridge steering the ship.
Blue: You guys might wanna get up here.
Blackjack: What’s wrong?
Blue: Just come up here.
They all walk to the bridge.
Blue: We’re approaching Planet Minus.
Blackjack (upset): What?! That’s exactly what you were not supposed to do!
Pokher (scolding): You had one job!
Blue: I blame the computer.
Computer: Leave me out of this.
Tom: What’s wrong with Planet Minus?
Pixel: Nothing wrong with the planet itself. The problem is that it’s a big mining area in this sector, and so the CUPGASS has a star base nearby.
Computer: Speaking of CUPGASS, one of their imperial cruisers is cutting us off, charging weapons, and calling.
Blackjack: All stop. Shields up to max. I guess we’ll have a chat.
Admiral Illu: I am Admiral Illu of the Coalition of United Planets Galaxies, and Star Systems.
General Sion: And I am General Sion. You have an unidentified ship and are crossing into restricted space.
Blackjack: I am not obligated to identify myself to anyone. We had a simple navigational error. (gives side-eye to Blue) I’ve done nothing wrong. You two, on the other hand, are cutting off my path and aiming weapons at me.
Admiral Illu: This is the exclusive mining zone for CUPGASS members only.
Blackjack: By the looks of all the silly decorations on your uniforms, you probably boss a lot of people around. I am not one of those people.
General Sion: Our sensors indicate that you have unlicensed and banned technologies on your ship. Prepare to be boarded.
Blackjack: Computer, cut communications with CUPGASS ship.
Screen goes blank.
Pokher: Think they’re bluffing?
Blackjack: Probably not a bluff.
Blue: I sent out a distress signal with details of our situation to all free ships in the area.
Blackjack: Any response?
Pixel: Not yet.
Tom: Are they trying to board us?
Blackjack: They can’t with our shields up.
Tom: So they’re gonna shoot us.
Pokher: That’s the assumption. And we can’t shoot first.
Computer: Not a problem. They’re shooting at us.
Blackjack: Pixel, do your thing.
Pixel: Taking evasive maneuver accidental rendezvous alpha.
Tom: What the heck does that mean?
Pixel: Not now, Tom!
Pokher: They’re targeting our shields with shield scatter ray guns.
Tom: Why do all weapons have such long-winded names?
Everyone ignores Tom.
Pixel: We’re getting a message from a Ritmo ship.
Computer: Hey, how did you get that message before me?
Pokher: This is no time for jealousy, computer!
Blackjack: Remind me to program jealousy out of the computer later. What’s the message?
Pixel: They’ve given us a code to use in our frequency generator. They say the frequency it creates will disable their shields while making it look like a simple power surge.
Blackjack: How long will their shields be down?
Pixel: Less than a second, but long enough to get a shot at them.
Pokher: Ok, when you fire the frequency at their shields, launch a quantum-flip torpedo at them.
Computer: Quantum-flip torpedo launch system is down.
Blackjack (disgusted): Still? I thought we had that fixed.
Computer: Our shields are under fifty percent. You might wanna hurry up.
Blackjack: Ok, disable their shields, launch the anti-engine heat resistant goo gun at their engines, then book it out of here at Zip Factor Eight.
Pixel: Initiating frequency, firing goo gun.
There is a flash from the CUPGASS ship as their shields momentarily go offline. At the same time, enormous balls of heat-resistant goo land on their engines.
Pixel: It worked! We’re out of here!
The Blazing Muffin streaks away.
Pixel: There is something else coming up on sensors near the CUPGASS ship.
Computer: It’s the Mosquito Armada. They’re back.
Blackjack: Are they attacking the CUPGASS ship?
Computer: It’s hard to get a lot of detail from this range, but it appears so.
Tom: Is this their first encounter?
Pokher: As far as we know.
Tom: Violent gangs with fancy titles fighting each other. Sounds a lot like humans on Earth.
Blackjack: Pixel, set up a rendezvous with the Ritmo ships. We owe them one, and maybe we can head over to Planet Ritmo for a bit.
Tom has thoughtful look on face.
Blue: What is it, Tom?
Tom: That word, Ritmo. It sounds familiar. (pause) Oh yeah! I remember. “Ritmo” means “Rhythm” in Spanish, an Earth language. What are the odds of that?
Pixel: Ask the Ritmos yourself. We’ll be meeting up with one of their ships, the Instrumentalis, in ten minutes.
To be continued…..
Thanks for your time and attention!
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