Hippy entered the main control center of the spaceship. It was a round room
with an upper level observation deck for manual control of the craft while
in space. All available wall space was crammed with monitors, buttons and
levers. Squibcheese observed hippy entering the ship and offered
to oxygenate the atmosphere.
A gust of wind blasted out behind Hippy as Squibcheese put his finger to
the button. His stalked eyes swivelled to observe Joner and Sniffy behind
him with teeth bared and their skateboard decks held to his chin!
"Better make that air, Bloat ball!" hissed Joner through the gaps
between his teeth.
"For your care, we will exchange air", rhymed Burkle, who was seated at
around table in the center of the room. The table, the trio observed, could
have been from the living room from any office or living room of any Earth
house. It had cigarettes, an ashtray, a cup of hot coffee and a couple of
pens on it.
Deciding not to ask questions, the three sat down, Joner helping himself to
the coffee, Sniffy taking up a pen to scratch his name in the tables
surface and Hippy sat anxiously in front of the cigarettes and tried to
keep his hands occupied (as he had only shortly before resolved to give up
the vice, if the broken exhaust problem should be resolved).
"....Been shopping on Earth then?" he asked looking up from the things
more familiar to the grotesquely weird aliens.
"Shopping on Earth?" Squibcheese puzzled and looked to Burkle for
support.
"Hippy jumped as Burkes� eyes retracted into his head and reappeared
with little green slugs on and exclaimed....
"TO BROWSE!"
The three humans sat silent for a moment (Joner in mid slurp of his
coffee), then at a flinch of an eye all hands darted to the smokes as they
chorused.....
"Yeah.....lucky we all smoke!"

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