[dumbluck]

dumbluck stares out of the taxi window as it passes by the Cantina. There, sitting in the parking lot amidst several dozen other ships of every imaginable shape, all bearing "For Sale" signs, sits his personal Light Cruiser. Every day he curses himself for abandoning it there in his paniced flight. But now, all seems quiet once again. It is time to attempt to retrieve that which was left behind.

dumbluck orders the cab to stop by the side of the road, pays his toll, and exits the small escort class vessel. With a sputter from its antique, first generation Ion Engines, the taxi rattles off into the night. dumbluck turns to the task at hand: how to retrieve his spacecraft from the confines of the Cantina without losing what is left of his wits in the process. Again, dumbluck chooses to rely on stealth.

As he creeps thru the gate into the outskirts of the lot, not much cover presents itself. On his Last visit, this did not present a problem, for the large dinosaur had been sleeping. Unfortunately for dumbluck, that is not the case tonight. Just as he reaches the first cluster of vehicles (all of which seem to be for sale), dumbluck is pLastered with a blinding spotlight. At the same time, an automated voice begins it's sales pitch.

"Greetings, patron. As you can see, this sleek and stylish Battlecruiser comes equiped with the latest in Quantum Torpedo firepower...."

Of coarse, all this commotion instantly catches the dinosaur's attention, and just one sniff with it highly evolved sense of smell tells it that a stranger is about. Since even in a dinosaur's primative mind 1 + 1 = 2, the dinosaur advances with great rapidity (relative to our diminuative hero) on dumbluck's position.

dumbluck quickly moves off to hide behind another vessel, this one a dreadnought. But as he approaches it, the dreadnought initiates it's own automated sales pitch. As this occurs again and again, it allows the dinosaur to easily track dumbluck's movements. Soon, all semblence of stealth is abandoned as the cat and mouse movements quickly turn in the cat's (or in this case, the dinosaur's) favor.

But all is not lost, for our intrepid hero still has one key advantage: brainpower. And so by carefully choosing his route, dumbluck manages to stay ahead of the dinosaur, although not by much. Finally, dumbluck reaches his LC, much out of breath and pumped full of adrenaline. Just as he begins to punch in the entryway access code, the dinosaur finally catches sight of him. With a roar, it charges.

Fortunately, dumbluck left an emergency automated liftoff command series in the flight computer, and he makes good use of it this day. Before the dinosaur has taken 10 steps (which is a considerable distance, nonetheless), the LC is airborn and out of reach. As dumbluck slips into the command seat and brings the controls to manual flight, a Fluffy Bunny opens the door to the cantina in order to see what all the commotion is about. Seeing this, the dinosaur eases it's fuming frustrations with a light snack.

[ September 06, 2002, 12:59: Message edited by: dumbluck ]