Hell Ship

Sai-ias

I felt a tingle of anxiety down my central spine.

I was walking through the grasslands near the savannah, to join Quipu and Lirilla. And as I approached Quipu, I saw his heads flick uncontrollably, for a just a moment. And I noticed an excited light in his five pairs of eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, puzzled.

“Something’s happening-” said Quipu One.

“-with the ship,” said Quipu Two.

“How can you tell?” I asked.

The heads replied, babblingly:

“The engine noise.”

“The force of artificial gravity.”

“The clarity of the light.”

“The density of [Quipu used a word I could not fathom].”

“You can detect all that?” I asked.

“Perhaps we have collided,” said Quipu One, “with an object in space-”

“Or been attacked by,” said Quipu Three.

“Some other vessel,” said Quipu Four.

“The light is degrading; the power sources are being diverted. The Hell Ship is in trouble. One way or another, it is experiencing some kind of appalling catastrophe,” said Quipu Five triumphantly.