And then it all stopped.

Tessa stumbled a bit as her feet hit solid ground once more. “Would anybody,” she panted, “care to explain what just happened?”

“We just hitched a ride from the ship I picked up on a sub-ether scanner,” Connie explained calmly. Most of the time questions regarding the blatantly obvious, which she noticed was quite frequent among humans, irritated Connie, but considering the current situation & the present company she kept, these questions were expected. “I’m not sure where the ship’s from,” she continued, “so we better stay low-key.”

Perry nodded in agreement. “There’s not much worse in the Universe than getting caught on a ship that doesn’t exactly welcome hitchhikers, especially the handful of hitchhikers from this sector of the galaxy.”

“Peachy.” Tessa heaved a sigh. “Thanks for that, really calmed me down. You two ever consider going into stress counseling?”

Connie gave Perry a look. “What?” he squawked defensively, matter-of-factly adjusting his glasses. “I’m just saying…”