Honk!” The damage alarm was louder than the pings and klonks of the meteorite shower our scout ship had accidentally encountered on our emergence from hyperspace. “A puncture! We’re losing energy,” Kikinee shrilled. “Teer! Noot! Take evasive action,” the Vmmm’s voice hummed over the intercom. “I will fix the puncture.” Teer waved at me to take piloting as she worked at her computer. I did my best to guide our scout ship around the biggest meteorites. There was no time to set up a course. I punched us back into hyperdrive, and the screens smeared as our engines took us between dimensions. With no idea where we were going, I yelled to our navigator, “Thisko, can’t you—” “Navigational computer is down,” Thisko said, five of his eight tentacles working away. “At least if we drop out of hyper around a planet,” came Smelch’s mournful hoot, “we won’t have to spend five long hours in the Room for Reviewing Actions.” Kikinee waved at a cable that had shaken loose when the first big rock hit the ship, and chirped, “Quiet, Smelch, and give me a hand with that gravity-link.”
