Keep Flying *Redone after Prompt*

The crew had eaten it's final meal and then hopped into the grey and white tubular sleep chambers so that they could transverse the first part of the journey to the outer most moons of Langor. There was nothing more to do after laying her eggs but to buzz up and down the dimly lit hallways of the cee em seventy eight oh nine information collection class ship while the crew slept the coma aided by cryogenics in a small room off the main bridge. The slight hum of the ship was lulling and the fly was able to sink into a restive state of mind after completing her main life's focus. She would be the proud mother of nearly two thousand children in a matter of days. 1

She had wandered from hall to hall and from the deck to the ceiling of the ship with nearly nothing to eat but the bits of protein and sugar left by the restless crew. There was just enough to lay her thousands of eggs in the food compactor and then to keep alive. Landing on a palm scanner that would be used to open the automatic door, the female fly rubbed her back smaller legs together in a bored way. And she stayed bored until the ship rocked roughly to the port side, the jerking motion nearly dislodging her hold on the smooth surface of the reader in it's shocking manner. 2

Suddenly there were flashing lights and sirens that vibrated through the very air. Agitated, the fly rose off into the hall as the door swooshed open. She looked down from a grated tile in the ceiling as the entire crew, who were staggering on limbs that hadn't been used in a week, rushed through the narrow door and down the passage the veered suddenly in the other direction. Slightly annoyed at the ruckus, but curious if there would be food, she followed the five crew members to the bridge, buzzing low and out of sight. 3

"What the hell is going on?" barked the one she had termed as Attention Hound, shaking his chestnut curls until they tickled his ears. He shouted a lot and got to sit in the chair in the center of the room, while stabbing at a blinking console with his sausage shaped fingers. "What did we hit?"4

"You mean what hit us!" Busty Nerd shouted back, pushing her lank blond bangs out of her cornflower blue eyes that swam with tired emotion behind her glasses. Her coral painted nails skidded across the keys as she called up information from two different sections of the ship. The ship bucked and shimmied, metal groaning like a lust filled lover. 5

"Are we under attack? Is it possible?" asked a nervous Mousy Overeater. The fly landed on the collar of the very short, very large woman's grey jumpsuit, nearly blending in with the long black pigtails. The fly buzzed in irritation and flew away when Sensitive Bookworm, who was all the ship's doc, brushed at her landing spot with a small smile at the shaking girl. 6

"Probably not, right Captain? We are flying the colors that announces that we are on a peaceful, information gathering mission only." Attention Hound ignored Bookworm as he read what was flashing in green and white alphanumeric sequences that caused the lines in between his thick brows to deepen. "Captain! I said, I am sure everything is okay!"7

"Shut up, Doc! Jonesy, pull up the aft combinational thruster and toss it to my screen. They way we are rockin' and rollin' it must have been blown somehow. And find out if we got vid on what the hell is out there!" 8

The fly swam in lazy circles over the head of the last crew member, Ass Kicker, who was bent over another console and his spindly looking fingers danced in a rhythmic tattoo over the grey keys. The fly landed near the screen and watched through the faceted eyes of her species as the tall black man grinned at the stats that scrolled across the screen. Only it was not a grin of celebration, but one of grim realization. "Cap, check it out. Arthropod." 9

The whole crew swung their heads as a single mind to stare at Ass Kicker, who was oblivious to the fear that stained the entire cabin. He kept up his tippy-tapity maneuvers over the keys, and shook his head in denial only to nod in a defeated way a few seconds later. "Yeah, damnit, definitely 'Pods. At least two...no wait three...shit! Five Tick class fighters and maybe two Scorpion class destroyers out there." 10

"We...that can't be right," Nerd whispered, a shaking hand slowly traveling up to cover her still painted mouth. "We're no where near 'Pod space. Captain? Killiston? The course we have set takes us light years form the furthest Arthropod base camp." 11

"Yeah, I set the course myself. It can't be 'Pod. You have to be wrong, Jonsey," Mouse quivered, turning to press her pale face into Bookworm's under developed shoulder. 12

Hound nodded along with Mouse, cutting a look at Nerd for a few seconds before the weight of his stare landed on Ass Kicker. " 'Pod's don't go searching for trouble since the war. There hasn't been an attack from a single 'Pod in at least three decades, Jonsey. Killiston is right, we are too far from a base for them to be 'Pod. Hell, even a Spider Crab cruiser couldn't reach out here." 13

Ass Kicker turned to finally look at him, the frantic look in his eyes gleaming even as he was paling under his mahogany skin. "Ya think that after the fucking war that I don't know 'Pod when I see fucking 'Pod! You think that you pansy asses that were busy at the pointless Uni or in the stupid Academy when the real dirty fighting at the end of the war was happening and people were screaming and dying in ways that would make a grown man weep and give him nightmares for the rest of his life so that he was unable to sleep without the aid of something mind fuzzing and you want to tell me that I dont know what 'Pod look like!" He gestured so wildly that he seemed to be nearly fighting off the unseen enemies of his past. 14

"Jonsey! Pull it together!" Hound barked, even as he fisted his shaking hands. "Alright, it's 'Pod. So that means... what?"15

"That means we are dead."16

The fly floated on the thermals that buffeted out of the life support systems vents. The ominous feeling of the crew was echoed with each shake of the small craft. She watched as each member seemed to aimless drift from console to console, screen to screen offering comfort to those that sought it and ignoring those that refused it. She settled on the crew, feeling the emotions shaking through the fiber of each person until her little body nearly shut down from the overwhelming dread she could nearly taste. The ship sped through the endless black, buffeted by the endless attacks of the humanoids most feared enemy. She thought of her children that would never make it past their mushy maggot stage. She thought of the mate she would never see again. She thought of the waste of her time if she could never again lay eggs or spit on some solid wasted food to eat it later. 17

She also had a few thoughts that thrummed through her tiny body with a very odd sense of glory as she also thought of the 'Pod that were swatting at the annoying humans, some of who wept in terror. And that thought kept her hovering in glee until the ship blew apart amid pointless SOS calls and delicious screams.