The Pill

The Pill

Never again would I mix Alussian Thumper Swea t with Vodka,or at least that clear gutt burning liquid they sold at this godforsaken bar right at the edge of Roid field 994 .

Well they called it Vodka, but perhaps it was meant to scrub deck plates.

A whole standard month worth of wages blown on booze and nothing to take home but the mother of all hang overs.

I wasn’t even sure howI made it to this, even for an asteroid miner base low class greasy spoon.

'''The being behind the counter was cheerful enough. Judging by his green shell and four arm airs, a Trelea.'''

Never trust your credits with a Trelea, they say so why was I trusting this fella with my breakfast?

'''Well the green guy was cheap, and I figured something spicy, greasy and hot might either cure or kill me. '''

Leisure hours were over soon and I had to go back busting my back scratching scoop out of floating rocks, 

Whatever it was the non humanoid concocted on his grill wasn’t too bad at all.

'''A titanic Glorian, with arms that would have made King Kong proud and a face apparently cut out of the same rock I busted day in and day out, with less skill than a three year old trying to sculpt a face out of play doh, took his plate and grunted with a voice that seemed to originate at the bottom of a steel barrel. “Gea, I said 45 Gnubi Eggs. I count  only thirty! trying to cheat me?”'''

'''“No,no Gea count wrong. Accident it is.”'''

'''The cook added a scoop of peach sized purple balls, oozing in a yellowish liquid. I was certain some  of them moved.'''

'''The big fellow was satisfied and left. '''

The cook pointed at my empty plate.

'''“You like? Me make more!” said Gea, '''

'''You have to admit, for a Trelea, he was a good cook. Enthusiastic, boisterous, and really, really annoying. “No Gea, I can’t eat any more. It’s good, but I’m human, we take time to digest our food.”'''

“How long to digest?” Gea asked, sautéing some sort of plant.

“Um, four, six hours…” I estimated.

'''He pulled the pan off the stove and put two of his arms on his hips. “Four to six hours? No good! No good! I fix!”'''

“Can you fix a hang over the size of this Roid?”

“It fix!

I sat there while he rummaged through his bags and pulled out a pill.

“Eat this, fix your problem,” 

'''“It’s nor one of these egg things right? I don’t want to end up like Sylon with Katalian Eels busting out of his guts.”'''

“No, no is Union, best science in Universe.”

“OK, what did that do?” I asked.

'''“I don’t know. they say it fixes humans. I am not human.”'''

I knew I was still drunk,how could I possibly trust a Trelean and swallow a pill of…”

'''Wait a minute, This feels great! No headache and not a bit tired. I suddenly felt as if I could carve the minerals of a whole month worth in just a day. And I was hungry!'''

'''“Alright Gea, that did the trick. Must been some detox stuff. Get me another plate of that funky grizzle with lots of splatter, whatever that brown goop is.”'''

--”--

'''Dr. Fein, woke in the depressing hotel room,with only one light element working, but that was a blessing. The dim light mercyful hid the more disgusting features oif the room.'''

'''Of all places, his ISAH drive had to quit here in the proverbial middle of no-where. Well technically most space counted for the middle of nowhere, but failed system A5564 at the fringe region of the Orion arm, just before the gap across to the Perseus arm could be used as prime example for deslate.'''

He was lucky enough that there was a mining colony in that asteroid rich,planet less system dominated by a tired red star, exhausting its last hydrogen.

They did tow his Asurga III - Karthanian Swift to a large rock with a miner base inside.

'''He was also able to make a GalNet call, but the next spaceport with dock and repair  facilities was almost 1500 light years away. '''

The mining post manager offered him to load his ship onto the next freighter, which was due in only three weeks.

Three weeks here?

'''He was supposed to present his latest development, the Mega Metabolizer at the 455th conference of Xeno Physiologists. '''

IIf he could only remember where he left it....