Mappin' all these huge planets sure takes the ?b? out of boredom!

Here we are on a new planet?and it?s covered with ore! So, I says, ?welcome to Oredom? to Agnus, and she looks at me kinda strange. Guess she?s not workin? on that humor program?or the boredom one, either. No matter.

?LaDy will eat good tonight, ?I tell Agnus, and she smiles at me. I do so love it when that woman smiles. My universe lights up somethin? fierce.

Fortunate for us, we set down close to a minin? operation. Agnus hadn?t read any higher life signs -- this was a surprise -- so she set her scanner for more basic life forms while I looked around.

The camp was abandoned. There was some kind of crawler and a weird-lookin? contraption that was probably a driller. Enough shovels and picks and other mining tools to last us for a long time. I piled a few of those up, looked to see what else I could salvage.

Off to the side was one of them livin? quarters pods. The door was hangin? open, like it had been tore off or somethin?. What could have done that?

I felt a chill, hopin? that there weren?t any critters that could do a body harm. Agnus hadn?t registered any weird natural phenomena in this quadrant. But what?s unnatural to us may not register. Definitely a quandary.

While Agnus made her way ?round the camp taking readings, I poked around in the pod to see if there were any signs of the former inhabitants?or anything we could use. There weren?t nothin??not even a log book to tell us who?d been there.

There was a table set in the back, though, with plates heaped high with some dried-up mash. I wondered if somethin? spooked ?em. Maybe the food. I took a sniff, but with all the dust in the air, all I could do was sneeze somethin? fierce.

There were sleepin? bags and all sorts of jackets and stuff, but the dust had got ?em?and who knows what might be in that dust?

?Shaula??

I headed back outside, catch up to Agnus. She?s standin? there with her eyes closed. ?I am detecting life signs.?

?Maybe the miners are alive? Down in the shaft?? I shudder, wonderin? how we?d get down there. No doubt we could rig somethin? to git down there, but--

Agnus shook her head, pointed to a cascadin' pile of gray rock and shards of debris. ?They?re coming from over there.?

Agnus and I made our way toward it, then around the opening. Careful, I kept repeatin? to myself. That mine shaft looked mighty deep. I didn?t take to the idea of goin? barrelin? down that shaft no way no how. "The generator must still be on." There was this whirrin? sound comin? from the dark hole.

I don?t think Agnus felt it, but the closer we got to the opening, the more my skin got all tingly. She scanned the area. Rock and more rock, so devoid of color that when I looked up, I gasped aloud.

There, all aglow and pulsin? all orange like, and oh-so-much bigger than last time we saw it?our tag-a-long pup, SID.

?Look Agnus?it?s SID!?

Just like a woman, she ignored me, and kept on scannin?. A one-track mind when there?s work to be done, that?s my Agnus.

She squatted down and sorted through those clods fast and furious. I moved out of the way. That woman was on a mission! Some were black as the night sky with silver flecks and striations. Others were dull green, but when the moonlight touched them just so, they were iridescent!

I stooped down beside her, which was kinda hard in my all-terrain suit, to follow her lead, occasionally looking over my shoulder at SID, who was startin? to get a bit agitated. Maybe that?s why the miners left -- SID done spooked them.

Agnus? hand darted out to surround a sparkly stone. She brought it close to her face, smiled.

?What you smilin? at? Find a precious gem or somethin?? Somethin? yummy for LaDy? Kin I see it??

?The stone grows warm in my hand, Shaula. I was not aware that inorganic matter behaved this way. Therefore, I conclude that this is not inorganic, but organic matter.?

I looked at the sparkly green rock in her hands. ?Agnus, you?re speakin? in circles.?

?I am sorry to confuse you, Shaula. This rock is growing warm in my hand. I think it is alive and intelligent. Perhaps it is the indigenous species for this planet. This situation calls for futher study.?

She handed the rock to me, and I swear it nestled right in, all nice and warm and snuggly. Then it started to change its color to magenta, pulsing like a warnin? light.

?Hey, now that's just spooky. Maybe I should just put it down,? I says to Agnus, ?what if it?s dangerous??

?While I cannot assure you that it is not,? Agnus says, takin? the rock from me, ?I do not feel that it is.?

?Womanly intuition, huh? Well, it looks like you?ve got yourself a baby rock, then!? I chuckled, slapped my knee. Well I?ll be star-swiped. Me and Agnus got ourselves a baby.

We was gloatin? over the new addition to our little family when SID?s shadow loomed closer. It was flashin? patterns of orange light all frantic like.

?Look Shaula?the rock is communicating to SID.?

I looked back-and-forth from the baby rock to SID. Sure enough, SID pulsed orange, and the baby pulsed orange. SID flashed purple, and the baby flashed purple back. SID undulated different shades of blue, and so did that baby.

"Whoa!" Who would have thunk this was possible?

Wonder what sort of advice ma would give me now? What would she think of Flash, our baby rock?

Until next time.....

Shaula Randolf, Star Pilot: 3rd Class, Agnus, and Flash

pilot

had me a hound dog
never fetched or barked a once
not like a pet rock

pilot