The Warubozu Usagi

11:59 pm

Parked on Mars at Colony 0011 near Promethei, between the Niger and Harmakhis Vallis

While most people would have shunned the purchase of a microship that stalled on a test flight, the Black Flea crew was thrilled. They got a massive discount allowing them to purchase heated split leather seats with built-in massage, a pair of big-ass screens, and an espresso machine with a dedicated water tank. After roughly 20 hours of nonstop work, the crew of the Black Flea have mostly completed the refurbishment and modifications to their newest addition to the family, the Baby Black Flea.

WU: I'm so tired, but it was all worth it.

S: How can you be tired? All you did was some minor body work and paint the ship's exterior.

WU: Hey, I replaced the interior carpeting, changed the lights, put in the espresso machine, and installed the seats!

S: (sarcastically) Wooo, so much work!

WU: You bet it was.

S: No, I was being...

SM: Syvil, are you finished with installing the cloak?

S: Just waiting on testing after the engines are hooked up and ready to fire.

SM: Cool. I only have the reprogramming of the engine modules left before I'm ready to flash to the ECMs. Oh, and adding the sensor modules to the main unit inputs. Did you route the wiring?

S: I left that to Red.

RP: Heard my name. What's up?

SM: Sensor wiring — where are we at?

RP: Done.

WU: So...a couple of hours left?

RP: More like a half-day. We still haven't tested anything.

S: Warui, go procure 160 rounds of 40mm ammo, would you?

WU: High-explosive, depleted Uranium, smart, or plain?

S: Hmm.

RP: Get the smart ammo! Oh shoot, we need to install a wireless programming interface for the four guns. Nevermind.

S: High-explosives.

WU: Roger that. So, what should I tell Doogé? Tomorrow?

S: Are you going to call him?

WU: Yeah. I was going to speak to him about invoicing this microship and all the mods to get reimbursed.

S: Are you serious?

WU: Of course. I think we should save our money so we can establish The Black Flea Station homestead project.

SM: No we're not.

WU: Come on Shoko, think about how much space you'll have to build all sorts of things.

S: Warui, when you begged us to join you on the Black Flea, you told us we were going to have the most amazing shiplife journey in the galaxy.

WU: Uh huh.

S: What's changed?

WU: That's still the plan, but I think we should have someplace ready if we decide to quit.

S: With you at the helm, we're more likely to die.

WU: (without batting an eye) Sure. That's why we all have accounts with BrainCopy.

SM: When was the last time we refreshed our backups?

RP: Two months?

WU: Look we'll be “alive” for forever. So I thought we should have a place on a piece of rock. I even have a tagline for it: “The future of today starts tomorrow.”

RP: Ooh, I like that.

WU: Right? We'll be the frontier of freedom on Mars, a bastion of Utopia.

S: But, how can you build a village when we're not even going to be there most of the time?

WU: Well, I don't expect to open it until 2099 so we've got lots of time.

S: Baka. Enough talk about your station. Go get the ammo.

WU: Hai, okaasan!

S: (whacks Wu-chan on the arm) Urusai, ojiisan!

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— The Warubozu Usagi