Elan
Ifsh Plains

It was an odd place for a starship. The Ifsh’Dfrill sat atop a meticulously terraced hill. At each step of the terrace, a group of Elowan were planted in some of the richest topsoil on Elan. They were sedate and still, moving only when rustled by breeze or to follow the sun across the sky. Ifsh’Dfrill was a colony ship. It was custom configured to carry the headfruit-bearing young of the Elowan race. Upon close inspection, it was clear that the Elowan growing on the hill were not planted in the normal fashion. They were contained in ceramic composite modules. In turn, the modules were planted in the ground. Moving them would be fairly easy. Dfrill is an Elowan word. The loose translation to Terranprime is "plowshare."

New Scotland
The Vell Bralis Nova Orbital City
Commerce and Transport, temporary facility

"We keep getting the same message, 'you have been delayed, we were not programmed for this contingency,'" complained Elizabei Hurgumsa. She was quite exasperated. "Who the hell was in charge of reprogramming these damned things, anyway? They've reverted to base line protocols!" It was too much for her Veloxi friend who found her frustration uproarious. Rixxa'bzrg laughed and kept repeating "you have been damned, we were not reprogrammed for this hell." Elizabei switched off the translator, which didn't help much.

New Scotland
The Vell Bralis Nova Orbital City
Auxiliary Command Center

"What do you mean 'there is no Inspector Boz Grabow?' He showed me his Interstel badge," demanded Kerhman Bilrie. Chief Inspector Biv Lugg explained that the badge he'd seen was probably a fake. He spent the next twenty minutes calming Dr. Bilrie.

Deep Space, The Dead Zone
Aboard ISS Belfast Windfall

The trip had been started on exactly sixteen minutes notice. Commander Grx'bzzgah, awakened with the rest of the command officers, had plotted and executed the course in an evil mood. Abandoning all his manners, he hacked up baddick stalk all over the nav console and sucked it back up, continuing his computations the entire time. Once the engines had catapulted the ship in the general direction, Commander Grx'bzzgah, Third Hex Master, Grand Order of the Fourth Hive of Arth stomped off the bridge and was not seen there again for a full day. Biggs watched the automatic hatch shut, then muttered something about 'Elvix' and some building somewhere.

When the issue arose as to the actual urgency of the entire matter, Lieutenant Newark just grinned. Hilsfar told her to explain in the morning. Aside from the two duty officers, everyone returned to quarters.

----------
Next: "The Lunch"

This stuff is all eerily familiar for some reason.

"Hilsfar & Company: Because It Is Your Destiny"