Dress to kilt

Ship, when you closed the cargo door, were you trying to crush me?

Yes. I promised Florence I would no longer try to kill you. Closing the door on you was estimated to be non fatal.

Estimated?

You are not human. I do not accurately know your tolerances. Some trial and error will be necessary.

I would like to thank you, captain. I have never felt the urge to experiment before.

[!1.2]YOU'RE NOT WELCOME!

Dress to kilt

Before Sam, I did not understand the phrase “the beatings shall continue until morale improves.” Now I do.

Seeing it applied has improved my morale considerably.

Dress to kilt

Ow! Ow! Hi Florence, we're back.

Ow! I see that you're busy. Ow! Uhm, we'll go now so that we don't disturb you. Ow!

In hindsight, an injured scavenger should not go bursting into the lair of a large predator.

Ahh! Run faster, Sam! Here she comes!

Dress to kilt

Florence runs faster than us!

No worries. She's chasing a professional. We'll lose her right here.

Ship, close the interior door to the cargo bay… NOW!

I think your timing was off.

On the contrary, my timing was perfect.

Dress to kilt

Excuse me. I couldn't help but notice the leader of my ship and the next in command are fighting.

Now is this something we can solve by calm discussion like rational beings, or can this only be solved though violence and body parts flying about?

Calm discussion. That works for us, right Helix?

Florence is good at keeping things civilized, because she makes it so clear what will happen if things get uncivilized.

Dress to kilt

What is this about?

Sam and I are in total agreement. I have to hit him because of..

COLD SLEEP! We were wondering how long it takes to put a person back into cold sleep.

The drugs used for that are very hard on the body. You're talking five to seven years between cold sleeps.

Five to seven years?! The star ship she needs to be on leaves in three days!

Helix, stop hitting Sam. Give me that stick. Drop it. Drop it.

Florence, it might be safer for me if you let Helix keep the stick.

Dress to kilt

You're going to need your stuff. That means I can stop hitting Sam and put your things in your cabin.

Five to seven years. I thought people could be unfrozen and refrozen like popsicles.

Now I have an engineer, and whoever actually contracted for Florence doesn't. This is going to change both our priorities.

For instance, I need to figure out how not to get blamed for this.

popsicle – Мороженое на палочке с фруктовыми вкусовыми добавками. Первоначально товарный знак компании “Попсикл индастриз” [Popsicle Industries Co.]: от loliPOP + iCICLE

Dress to kilt

Other than ships carrying messages, humans don't have Faster Than Light communications. If I can hide Florence until the star ship leaves, I'll be in good shape.

With luck, she won't be missed until they check at her true destination. That information will move along with the star ship until it comes back here in one year, two months, and seven days.

Then everything hits the fan. Fraud. Grand theft. Dognapping. Maybe even cruelty to animals.

That sounds like a good day for me to call in sick.

Dress to kilt

The roof panels are back in place. Now we do a hydrostatic test. We seal the ship and pump it up to twice atmospheric pressure. Then we monitor how fast pressure drops. Sam should be here for this.

My other problem is Florence finding out what I've done. That could result in great bodily harm to me.

Sam, all ship exits have been sealed. Please report to the bridge.

What was that noise? It sounds like a squid screaming.

Oh, that's the captain. You can tell because it sounds like a little girl squid.

Dress to kilt

Have to hide, have to hide. But how can I escape someone who can track me by scent?

Ah! The air intake duct! If I hide in there, my scent will be evenly distributed through the ship.

Now what did the earth hero “Winnie the Pooh” do when he got stuck like this? Oh, that's right! He got eaten by a tiger!