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bishu Captain.

The powers that be have asked me to pick a crew for a mission to Jupiter. The crew were old friends of mine we have made a few trips into space. We could rely on each other. Time and experiences had welded us together into a tight team. Each knew what was to be done, orders were more like friendly words or please not some stiff command from above. Make no mistake I was in charge of this mission and it was not going to be a sloppy command. I myself would have enough work in my own field of research, my one thought was whom should I delegate my command to. One after the other of my crew went through my brain. It was then that I thought of my old friend and mate bishu. Yes bishu was my man, his training and long years of service warranted promotion to a higher position. Bishu was my man. That evening during our meal I tapped on my wine glass and all stopped their talking and I had every man’s attention. I told the crew that bishu was my second in command and was responsible for the running of the space ship. The spontaneous clapping told me that I had chosen well. The rest of the evening turned into a discussion on how well the choice of mine was. Bishu had many long years of Service, he was a fully qualified space engineer.

The following morning bishu followed the custom that I had established. The world Flag was saluted by each crewmember. Then and only then research work was for all. The space ship more or less flew itself. The Pilot pointed the nose of the ship in the right direction a number of instruments and machines kept it on its course. Bishu had a small laboratory in the Pilot’s cabin. The pilots cabin held a bed a table and a comfortable chair for bishu’s personal comfort the rest of the cabin held a small laboratory. Not much room but at least the Pilot’s cabin was always occupied. The thrust of the powerful ex-gravitation motors could be felt all over the ship the Newtonite steel vibrated slightly under the immense pressure.

A wall of screens showing the space in front of the ship ran along the front wall of the pilots cabin. The shock came to us all when the ship suddenly swung at speed to the left. The tannoy system came to life and the cool, calm collected voice of Captain bishu told us that he had avoided what looked like a mile wide bank of cloud similar to a heavy North Sea fog. Each of the crew all scientists now included the study of this new phenomenon where nothing was expected. From out of the bank of fog long thin what looked like octopus’s tentacles wandered over the outside of the space ship. Cameras of the latest brand took picture after picture. The question now, was we in contact with a form of alien life? Would this alien life be of a peaceful nature? Bishu was showing that he was the Captain a form of screen operated from the Pilots cabin showed pictures of the earth with pictures of babies being breast-fed by their mothers.  Fathers playing with the children gave I thought the alien race some sort of feeling that we were a peaceful folk. This was in my opinion the best way to show that we were a peaceful friendly race. Then the second surprise came from the cloud a series of pictures. It took quite a while before we realised what we were being shown. The tentacles were in reality the arms and legs of these to us weird looking creatures. The head was a round lump with two very large eyes. No nose or any sign of a breathing apparatus.

One of the scientists then had an idea. A conveyor belt that was used to bring equipment and other necessities on board was swung over to the cloud after a few moments one of the alien creatures was seen to be making its way across and over to our ship. As soon as its tentacle like arm or leg touched the ship pictures flooded my head. Reports came through from each department all were being fed pictures of the life of the alien race. They called themselves Morbits. Communication was through a form of thought reading or telecommunication these creatures had no mouths, food was taken through the skin. These alien creatures had travelled in this cloud all over the known universe. They communicated with other races of which there are many, though mental power they needed nothing. Machinery and any form of weapons were unknown to them. For personal protection they had the use of their tentacles and the power of their thought transfers. We wished each other a Bon Voyage and we on bishu’s command went about our business, the thrust of the antigravity motors pushing us ever on to Jupiter. More about Jupiter in another story Bern.