Chronicles of a Sleepy Rabite

Kierns looked up from his engineering magazine when he heard a tone from the panel by his desk. Three red dots flashed at him from the engine room, indicating that there was a potential problem with the engine. Kierns frowned and put the magazine down, and walked briskly to the engine room to see what the problem could be.

At first glance, nothing was wrong. The ether, coloured a light pink due to the exchange of gases and ether through the engine, swirled as usual through various parts of the engine. Kierns watched for a while, and after a while, the engine “choked” for a brief moment before resuming the normal ethereal flow.

Puzzled, Kierns ran the usual diagnostics, but he didn’t need to go far before a lithe, eel-like creature swam out of one of the conduits and hovered lazily in the ether surrounding the core.

Kierns blinked at the etherfish and relaxed a little — at least there was nothing wrong with the engine.

“Hi, you.” He made tickle motions at the etherfish, who seemed extremely happy at the attention. “C’mon, you don’t belong in there.”

“Thbbpt.” The etherfish teasingly raspberried Kierns and swam lazily through another duct, making the engine hiccup again.

“… please?” Attracted to the ethereal energy created inside the engine, etherfish were almost impossible to get out of cores and similar devices. He’s once seen a generator explode on Risidor III because a colony of etherfish had been living inside it. While they weren’t inherently bad, they definitely could cause problems.

Kierns sighed and stared hard at his engine. After a moment, he went down to the galley and returned with a mask and a large, globe-like bottle that seemed to have once contained copious amounts of alcohol.

“Okay, you. I really don’t want to have to do this, but…” Kierns shut down part of the engine, which made the etherfish blink in confusion. He put on the mask, then unhooked one of the exhausts. Ether spilled out in the engine room, and unable to resist the pull, the etherfish closed its eyes as it started shooting towards the nasty oxygen.

“Gotcha.” Kierns grinned behind the mask as he caught the etherfish in the bottle before it hit air and quickly stoppered it once it was full of fish and ether. The etherfish swam dazedly as Kierns reconnected the conduit and allowed the core to refill with ether from outside the ship. After a moment, the ether disipated from the engine room, allowing Kierns to breathe normally again.

“Now…” He swirled the bottle a little. “What do I do with you?” It was pretty unheard of to keep an etherfish as a pet, but he figured with a nice, large glass globe and plenty of etherium, he might be able to have a friend, if it would let him…