he'd run into Ding at least once. The tired old hull glinted brightly in the morning Ramalama. The skids were shiny new titanium upgrades, quite possibly the loderunner equival

, its owners or crew, and secondly, the ship wasn't going anywhere. Not till it was

n lighting around the number plates, or those annoying little blue lights on the windscreen washer nozzles. Ultra-violet light tubes on the undercarriage o

ere, dressed as before, in a pair of old denims and a tweed shirt. The dark maw of the ships' hold l

ome a

before adding under

two corridors crossed the open space where they adjoined the two sides of the ship, where, presumably, all the other places on the ship were. It wasn't very neat or we

Skooch." Deire apologized sheepis

grey. The sides were dull and not very clean, the carpets, where there were any, were frayed and worn. Stuff seemed to have been trodden into them, stuff the autocleaner droids coul

now, we have to pack 'em in real tight, or they

e cargo-master." Tim com

m a regretful look, before adding by

giving him a

ian Flam

tting the picture

to the cages too. Owners had to claim from insurance. Nasty business. Took days to collect all the bi

ly." Tim

nted danger pay after that – and asbestos suits. Y'have any idea what th

at is kin

ttle singed around the nostrils and beak and other more delicate places – which were usually bright pink, like the thing had been grazing on raw chilies all week long. Small scrawny wings sat high up on its back and seemed to do little more than fan the flames than anything else. It had raw acetone for blood, and walked around the surface of its home planet, Florpavia, eating

he female of the species. The males just moped around, looking for females and suffering acute indigestion and passing gas. For the most part they did nothing more menacing than sleeping all day and blowing smoke-rings from both ends. Trouble is they were far too nervous and, due to the digestive problems, had a dangerous tendency to explode without warn