Duzzies

Duzzies by P.S. Gifford

-Sci-Fi – 1 Page –

The prompt was Starlight- and I was thirty nine. It is short and admittedly clumsy- I found it on line- but aspects of it I do appreciate. I admit forgetting all about it. Felt I owed it one more airing. Perhaps, just perhaps I say, it is worthy to revisit, rewrite and let myeself expand upon it.

‘What a way to spend my fortieth birthday,’ Sam thought as he stared at the flashing calendar on the bottom of his screen – March 7th 2134. He stretched awkwardly in his pilot seat, ‘still, I have got to pay the bills, and when I arrive back on Earth in six days, boy will there be a party!’ Blitz, his beloved catog licks the back of his hand reassuringly. It had been a stroke of genius when he had cloned his last dog and cat into one perfect pet after their death’s, and this was going to be the first of a long succession of identical Blitz’s.

“Where did life go wrong Blitz?” The catog affectionately gazed up at his beloved master, as if comprehending every word.

“Forty years old and still driving a goddamn intergalactic transporter, this was not the plan I had in mind growing up…I was going to be someone. I was going to be a writer- the next S.P. Griffin.”

Sam examined the co-ordinates and seemed satisfied. The first delivery stop will be in less than an hour, to the planet Duzzel. He always liked the Duzzies; they were such a friendly race. Same smiled as he remembered being back at the academy as a young boy learning all about them. When Earth began expanding into the universe under the pretense of manifest destiny they had invaded dozens of small neighboring planets and Duzzel was one of the first. Their lovely small planet once was so beautiful. It, many decades before Earth had discovered it, was covered in blue trees, purple flowers and orange soil that glistened under the planet’s two suns. However, as he had been taught it, the paradise quickly transformed, under the guidance of humans, into the Universe’s second largest galactic toxic dump. The Duzzies had simply smiled, as all this transpired, and welcomed them enthusiastically upon each dumping.

He set the controls to auto command, ‘just time for a micro-nap Blitz,’ he mused sleepily.

An hour later Sam’s seat vibrated him gently awake and he checked his monitor. ‘Good’ he thought as he noted the grey planet quickly approaching, ‘just on schedule.’

Sam made radio contact; English had long since been the intergalactic official language.

“This is Sam Farnaby asking permission to dock.”

At the other end of the receiver as he heard abundant cheering and clapping.

‘Those Duzzies are just so darn nice, Earth could learn a lot from them,’ he considered.

A few minutes later the thousand ton cargo ship docked at the distribution center in Garup- the capital of the small planet Duzzel. This was an exciting time for his employee; as these were the first deliveries of the company’s new product. For years there had only been one beer available in the Universe, having long brought up all of the tastier competition. Duzzel had been a great market to capture, five years ago they did not even know what alcohol was, and now they were some of the biggest drinkers in the known, and quite probably even the unknown, universe. Gallons of the frothy liquid were eagerly consumed by the average Duzzie each week. Just as the beautiful landscape began to transform so too were the Duzzies …

Sam suddenly got alarmed by the sight, and brought his transporter to a sudden halt. Surely something was wrong, terribly wrong. A small army of Duzzies were descending on his ship, grasping a variety of pointed tools, and they were hissing uncontrollably with their flabby nostrils flared. There usual smiling faces were gone, replaced by ugly snarls and grimaces.

“Oh my God!” Sam realized they are acting like drunken Earthlings hooligans.

The Duzzies gleefully demolished the ship, seemingly just for the sport in it. As they smashed, and painted strange logos on the stainless steel walls they began singing songs that suspiciously sounded, to Sam, English rugby ones. One Duzzie raised a long pole over Sam’s head. Sam curled up in a ball and began to sob. Blitz licked his cheek as the Duzzie looked on. The Duzzie hissed the turned to join his comrades start unloading the cargo from the ship, cases and cases of the company’s new beer-Starlight!

__._,_.___

Originally posted 03/31/2011

More Sci-Fi Stories…

P.S. Gifford

P.S. Gifford is a published horror author of great talent. He started submitting stories around 2005. His short stories are by far some of the best and most entertaining that I have read. Around that time he was invited to write columns which are titled "Paperback Writer."

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