Chapter 6 - The Flying Billboard

Commander Morgan Black...

I was sitting on the bed just staring at that little piece of plastic. I was now a licensed space pilot.

You gotta be kiddin' me!

I wasn't ready to fly a real ship! I wasn't ready for any of this!

Beep went the door.

"The ceremony is about to begin Commander Black. Are you ready sir?" asked the spiffy young man at the door.

Sigh...

"Umm... Ya... Ya, I guess so." I said, following the spiffy young man.

The door whooshed closed behind me.

I was led down through the station to the main docking port, and for a while, I was too much in awe to remember how scared I was.

From squashed looking Adders, to the mind numbing Anacondas, ships of every imaginable shape and size squatted about the immense cavern of the docking bay, like giant brooding toads.

And I was a teeny tiny little fly.

Asps, Cobras, Pythons. I was sensing a theme here.

Suddenly, camera drones and reporters were swarming around me. We stopped in front of a large shape. Something huge and covered with a giant canvas tarp.

Major Montgomery was standing there, his medals gleaming. He held his arm out to me theatrically.

"Commander Black! On behalf of Mutogen Food Corporation, and the Lave Galcop space station, I would like to present you with your brand new custom Cobra Mark Three!" He said with a flourish.

"Custom...?" I thought. They had never said anything about custom...

Major Montgomery pulled a long rope that had been dangling next to him.

The giant canvas fell to the floor.

Picorecorders and camera drones clicked and hummed.

It was...

It was absolutely...

What it was, was a brand new Cobra Mark Three, painted fluorescent orange, with a giant MUTOGEN FOOD CORPORATION logo painted diagonally across it in equally fluorescent purple. It also featured different varieties of muto-fruit with smiling cartoon faces, dancing and prancing around on the hull. Each of which brandished a sign or speech bubble, proclaiming the benefits of eating Mutogen's genetically mutated fruit products.

What it was, was horrendous. A flying fluorescent neon billboard.

"Well Commander, what do you think?" asked Major Montgomery, smiling at the reporters and cameras.

Every lens and microphone was now pointed at me.

Gulp

I could feel a trickle of perspiration run down my back as I made a superhuman effort to pull the corners of my mouth into the semblance of a smile.

"It's um... It's umm... Great." I finally managed somewhat weakly.

"Ha ha!" Major Montgomery slapped me on the back almost hard enough to knock the wind out of me. "You hear that folks? He likes it!"

Everyone clapped and cheered.

"Well son, only one thing left to do now." said Major Montgomery.

He held out a key ring, with a single key attached.

"Time to take her for a spin!" Major Montgomery said energetically.

My hand reached out of its' own accord and took the key.

I felt numb.

A dock mechanic in splotchy overalls motioned me to follow him, and led me to a hatch on the underside of the neon Cobra.

He punched a large red button above our heads, and the hatch fell open with a loud clang. A ladder telescoped down to the ground in front of me.

The mechanic leaned close and whispered. "All ya gotta do lad, is head out to the docking buoy, wait there fer twenty or thirty minutes, and then head on back in. All these reporter people will be gone by then."

He gave me a gentle pat on the back, and then a little push to coax me up the ladder.

I began climbing.