The Moment Before

“Now, now,” said the captain, as the nervous officer fiddled with the scope. “I’m sure that’s probably just a flight of ducks passing underneath us. No need to get quacky!” He laughed his usual burbling laugh at his own joke. A weak echo of laughter arose from the other officers on the bridge.

The officer closed his eyes. The puns. Always the puns. Always the casual dismissal of the danger. Captain Zornok had never taken their mission seriously. One of these days he was going to rip his console right out of its place and fling it right at the captain’s head. He would enjoy that. He would not enjoy the inevitable court-martial.

Instead, he took a breath and adjusted a small dial. “Oh, look, it is a flight of ducks, you’re right. Not a human aircraft. We haven’t been spotted yet. Bravo, sir. Excellent job.”

“Oh, don’t simper,” Zornok said. “It’s annoying. Now then, let’s continue our patrol, shall we?”

“Yes, sir,” the officer said, slumping in his chair, his tentacles reaching weakly for his controls.

The ship moved forward. Its viewscreen showed a park below, a couple strolling along a walk, the girl flashing a winsome smile at her gentleman, a man being walked by a dog in a sweater the exact color of a cranberry, a flock of children gathering about a snowcone kiosk.

“They do look like terribly easy prey, don’t they?” Zornok said, leaning over at the viewscreen.

“Yes, sir,” the officer agreed. “Almost too easy. Maybe we could try the planet over; I hear the Venusians-”

“Shut up,” Zornok said. “Make ready the guns and prepare to fire on my mark.”

The officer sighed. He’d been to Earth once, in one of the initial reconnaissance missions. He’d spent quite a lot of time lying by himself alone in a forest vale, looking up at the stars, wondering what the humans would think if they knew they had enemies so close over their heads, wondering how they would react when the inevitable attack began. He’d also wandered about a nearby city for a while trying to find the answer to that question. He still wasn’t sure.

“Fire,” Zornok said, leaning back in his comfortable chair.

The officer pushed the appropriate buttons. He tried not to think about it.

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Editorial Note: This story was written for the October

Fictionistas

prompt, which was to use the following words in a story: vale, simper, fling, cranberry, kiosk, winsome, prey, and quacky.