Author's Note  4-3-92
	This Groso story follows directly after Mangus: Back Again For The First
Time which  first appeared in Furversion #4 way back in the mid 80's.
Right after that story I started writing another funnier story.  Many
people complained about the Mangus story saying that the central plot
complication was stupid and idiotic.  I tend to look at it and say that the
Gethronians were bureaucratically callous.  This story, or at least the
first two pages of it, were written in the 80's and the rest of the pages
were written in 1992.  I hope you like this story as it returns much of the
humor to the series which was so absent in the last story.  For those of
you who must have more Groso there is a 40 page plus story in Behind the
Blue Door (a Doctor Who zine) that came out in the late 80's.  After Mangus
and it's dismal response I stopped using the characters for a while.  We
almost did another video using the characters, but that flick was delayed
so I would have time to make our Doctor Who vid Those Darn Daleks.   I am
planing on turning that story into a medium length story sometime soon.
The next piece of Groso fiction that you will probably see (it is to
laugh), and I already have three pages of it done, is Lost Shopping Mall Of
The Gods. I'll let you figure out what it is like.

INCIDENT AT EROTICOM SIX

	Groso walked onto the bridge of the Clarksville,  stepped up on the
command section and plopped himself into the form fitting command couch.
>From there he could look down and observe what all the other bridge
personnel were doing.  Some years earlier when he was much lazier that he
was feeling today he had had dome shaped mirrors placed up in the upper
recesses of the bridge.  These allowed Groso to watch not only anyone who
might try to sneak up on him, but to see the faces of those who were facing
away from him.  With all of the black paneling and black painted metal on
the bridge few of the crew had ever noticed them.  This fact had somewhat
annoyed Groso at first.  His crew was trained be alert for anything, yet
they never even bothered to look around at their surroundings, except for
Mangus who's reflection Groso now viewed in one of the mirrors as he
strolled into the room.  Not that it would be easy for anyone to enter the
bridge unnoticed as the metal grating and lose plates creaked and groaned
when ever anyone walked onto it.  Mangus was the lightest member of the
crew as a result of his thin hallow bones that allowed flight for many of
his race.
	Groso watched as Mangus walked preoccupied into the map room. and vanished
from  sight.  Groso noted the fact that Mangus had seemed different since
he had returned from his leave to his home planet.  Groso wondered what had
happened on his home world.  Offsiders were of course welcome there, but
there were some things that one just did not ask about.  But then Groso was
not just any one, he was a Gethronian, one of the bluntest of all the
sentient creatures in the galaxy.  Needless to say few Gethronians entered
the diplomatic core.
	"Hey Mangus!" Groso hollered into the room just off the bridge "Come here
for a minute."  If you hadn't noticed Groso isn't exactly what you would
call and "Old Salt".  Oh sure he wore a uniform, but the respect and
dignity that went with it was still hanging in the closet collecting moths.
	"What is it?" Mangus queried as he entered the room while still
preoccupied entering figures on a data pad.  Groso liked the fact that his
bridge members still plotted the course of the ship by hand.  The computers
could plot the course much much faster, but by hand it took hours to do.
The truth of the mater was that is the crew left the ship to run itself
they would be bored to death.  There's only so many times that you can view
the same tapes.
	Most people would have figured some nice way of putting the following
expression.  Perhaps wording it so that it would have less effect or making
it more polite. "So did you and you girl get it on or what?"
	Mangus just stared at Groso for a moment forgetting how many times Groso ha
d pulled him from the jaws of death and how many times Mangus wished he
could have let Groso be eaten by those very same jaws.  His primal
instincts were hard to control, but he realized that Groso really was a
good friend even if he was a bit annoying at times, and that he really
wanted to tell all of the experiences of his week on his home planet.
Mangus wanted to speak, but all he managed was a small squawk.
	"Oops! I'm being to straightforward again.  Sorry Mangus.  Would you care
for a drink? I'll buy said Groso as his large body tried to hop
energetically from the couch, but only managed to ooze off.
	"No thanks." Mangus said with his thought elsewhere.
	"Well I think I'll have one anyway.  Witzen, You want a drink?" Groso said
trying to save face.
	"I'm driving!" Witzen replied looking up from the vid book  he was reading.
	"The ship will be OK it can fly itself come on" Groso said as Mangus
walked back into the map room.
	"Well as long as you're buying..." Witzen said putting down the book being
certain to make a save of his position.
* * * *
	"You know Witzen, Mangus hasn't been the same since his leave on his home
planet." Groso Observed, "Perhaps I should give him some more time off
	"Gee Groso I don't think I can stomach another sonic screwdriver." Witzen
said as he slumped further over the bar.  Thomas pulled the plate of
pretzels from under his drooping head fearing the worst.
	"Oh come now Witzen we've only had five, or was it seven?  You know
Witzen, Mangus hasn't been the same since his leave on his home planet.
Perhaps I should give him some more time off.   Oh well anyhow you..."
Groso began to mumble but was interrupted by the sound of Witzen's human
head impacting with the bar.  Groso noticing this, and always one to never
overlook an opportunity called out, "Separate checks please!"

* * * *
	
	Mangus wandered off the bridge several hours later. Their course to their
next destination plotted by hand and fed into the ships computer.  He
slumped into his room and collapsed into his nest. He  proceeded to stare
at the hologram of Marnine which was the only thing he had brought back for
his  home planet.  It showed her soaring through the air, wings
outstretched in flight.  Mangus stared intently at the hologram until his
eyes drooped an he fell into an uneasy sleep.
	The next morning he awoke to a knock at his door.  When he opened it he
found a message waiting for him.  Only Groso would actually hand write a
message an stick it with chewing gum to the door instead of using the ships
computerized message system.
	 Mangus read the message which said: 'Mangus you seem really grotted out
take another two weeks off. Have fun and come back in a better mood.'  A
short time later Mangus was off for a long leave on his home planet.
* * * *

	"Well Witzen I think it's time that we all get a little leave time." Groso
said waving  his arm in what he perceived to be a generous motion. "Set
course for.. " Groso stopped in mid thought.
	"How about Eroticom Six!" Witzen said with a twisted smile on his face and
bizarre thoughts filling his head.
	"Is it good?" Groso asked having never been there.
	"Good? I could tell you stories that would put hair on your tongue!"
Witzen said as he quietly  plotted in the course.
	"I already  have a hairy tongue." Muttered Groso. "Set course for Eroticom
Six."

* * * *

	Mangus had a strangely peaceful trip back to his home planet. The battles
seemed to be entering a quiet period. The Valarians were entering what
seemed to be a dormant period where only sporadic attacks rather than the
full out offensives that had cost so many of his friends lives. The war had
been going since before he was born, and he had never known life without
war.  Rather than take Witzen's fighter Mangus had taken an armored four
man shuttle.  It was quite a bit slower than Witzen's fighter but it was
also much larger and Mangus would need that extra space if he was to put
his plans into action.   As Mangus touched down he was glad that he had
signaled ahead to Marnine's place.  She would be there waiting for him at
the gate.
* * * *

	"Groso we've established orbit" Witzen said with a boyish grin on his face.
	"This had better be better than our last leave Witzen" Groso said with
memories of the past filling his head.
	"Honest  Groso, and besides how was I supposed to know that last place
specialized in servicing gastropodia!"
	"Well at least we could have left without sampling the local cuisine!"
	"You'll love this place Groso they have all sorts of interesting
lifeforms." Witzen said as he got up from his slightly damp console and
started towards the door.
	"For your rank's sake, I certainly hope so" Groso mumbled as he slid off
his control couch and walked off the bridge.

	A short time later Groso and crew had assembled on the flight deck.  Groso
hated this place.  It was so big.  Not that big places bothered him, but it
reminded him that his ship wasn't actually much of a ship at all.  It had
been built as a part of a decoy effort to confuse the Valarians.  It only
had been given minimum equipment and materials and then sent into  space to
confuse the enemy.  That was something which Groso did very well.
	Groso walked up the short plank to the hatch of the Amac Star and turned
to look at his crew.  Witzen, Smitty, Corko, PI2, and even Thomas were
ready waiting, and in some cases drooling.
	"Stop Drooling Witzen!" Groso yelled.  Gee that felt good he thought to
himself.  He hadn't yelled at anyone  in over an hour.
	"Sorry, Groso." Witzen replied and wiped some of the saliva away from his
face and onto his uniform.
	"Now let's go have some fun!" he said as he dashed into the shuttle and
started to fire up the engines.  There was a bit of a hustle and bustle to
get into the drop ship on the crew's part (a bit is all you can have with
five crew, unless they are the Marx Bros. and luckily, though Groso, they
had not been assigned to his ship.).
	Groso was already strapped into the flight couch before he noticed PI2 was
on board with him. "What are you doing?"
	"I'm a member of the crew!" PI2 announced with a bit of electronic sarcasm.
	"Get back on the ship." Groso growled "What would happen if the Valarians
showed up?  I for one don't want to be caught with my pants down."
	"Gee.. I thought that was the idea." Witzen chuckled as he pushed the
floating bot back out through the airlock and and down at the pilots
console.
	Groso was about to respond but was distracted by the straps on the command
couch.  They were made of industrial strength velcro.  Leave it to the
Gethronians to make the straps out of the  material with the velcro hooks.
Groso had grabbed on the straps to make sure they were tight and his hairy
hands were now securely fastened.  Groso had a decision to make and boy did
he hate to make decisions.   The smell of burning grease was noticed as the
rusty gears of Groso's mind ground out another dilemma.  he could ask for
help in removing his hands from the straps which might prove to be
humiliating at the very least, or he could look macho by holding onto the
straps.  Groso suddenly could not remember what the dilemma was.  His hands
would be freed by the impact of Witzen's rough landing on Eroticom 6.
Groso looked back over at his sidekick and realized that he had been
waiting for his brave commander to say something intensely interesting.  In
fast Witzen had been politely waiting throughout the entire  plot
exposition.  Groso thought of all the corny ways of saying 'let's go' from
the standard issue 'go for it' to the slightly eccentric line that he had
picked up from one of Witzen's favorite videos "The Blues Brothers" and
finally cane up with something to say. " Kumquat bmug to the excelsior
trombone !" Groso cried out.
	Witzen stared up at his commanding officer.  The writer must have had an
attack of some sort.  Groso realizing his non-sequitor mistake tried to
reach up to pull handle to start the drop sequence.  However his hand was
effectively immobilized by the velcro holding his fur.  Witzen finally
snapped out of it and pulled the drop handle wondering all the while if he
was going to regret telling his commander about this place.
	The sudden loss of gravity had already started Groso wishing that Witzen
had never told  him about this place.   Then Witzen fired the main
thrusters and Groso started to feel a deep resentment towards his
subordinate.  Groso realized why he had thought he had a dilemma earlier as
he discovered that his straps had indeed not been fastened securely.  His
hairy body flipped up and over his couch.  Had it not been for the velcro
holding onto the fur on his hands he would have been as flat as a flapcat.
Witzen heard the obscenities as his commander flew past him towards the
back of the shuttle.  He fired the breaking engines almost as a reflex.
Groso soon reached the end of his velcro bungi cord just as the ship slowed
and reversed direction.  Groso went hurling back towards the front of the
cabin from wince he had come.  It was all Witzen could do to keep from
laughing as he pulled his commanders posterior out of the main view port in
which it had embedded itself.

		********

	PI2 drifted around the bridge watching the erratic flight path of the
shuttle.  PI2's brain realized that Groso must have forgotten to secure his
straps again.   Driven to the point of insanity by intense boredom, which
was  a short drive for any member of this crew, PI2 decided that he would
make the most of the lull in the narrative action on his part by exploring
the officers personal effects and reading their private mail.  He was
floating off the bridge when the comm circuits started to chime.  PI2
floated over and picked up the headset with his single arm.  PI2 postulated
that the most likely possibility was that the rest of the crew had wrecked
the ship and needed him to come to the rescue.  He was rather surprised in
his own electronic way when the gruff voice on the other end of the
connection turned out to belong not to his fearsome commander but to the
even more fearsome  Rear Admiral Hind.  PI2's posotronic brain began to
spin when the Admiral informed him that he would be arriving shortly for an
inspection.  If PI2 had been endowed with a mouth it would have been
grinning  by the time the Admiral broke the connection.
		
		**********

	Groso knew that they must be nearing their destination as Witzen's saliva
production increased dramatically.  Groso was now securely fastened back
into his couch and was pondering what sort of females might lie in wait for
him this evening. Witzen must have been thinking similar distracting
thoughts as he suddenly fired the breaking rockets as they approached
Eroticom 6.
	Luckily Eroticom 6 was a small asteroid rather than a planet as it's pull
on the ship was hardly noticeable.   Witzen slowed the ship even further as
they entered the asteroid's docking port but not quite enough to avoid the
back of the docking bay as the Amac Star lightly crashed into the wall.
An emergency team, such as it was, rushed out to check the damage.  Upon
arriving at the scene they saw Witzen emerging from the ship and hit him up
for an unpaid damage bill form the last time he visited.
	 "He's the commanding officer here and gave the orders for landing the
ship!" Witzen pointed out his command officer as Groso emerged from the
ship holding his head and his stomach.  Groso was rather disoriented so
Witzen took advantage of the situation.  "Groso, these men have heard about
your war exploits and would like your autograph."
	 Groso always one to blow his own horn managed to smile at the rescue team
as they handed him  a pad with very tiny writing all over it.  "Witzen, are
you sure this is an autograph book?"
	"Sure it is" Witzen weaseled
	"What is all this fine print?" The furry Gethronian queried.
	"It's just serves to authenticate the authenticness of your autograph."
	"Well I can't argue with that." Groso mumbled as the scrawled a large and
rather ornate "X" onto the place on the piece of paper where Witzen was
pointing at.  Groso signed his life away without realizing it.  Smitty and
Corko squeezed by their commander and the others on the very narrow landing
ramp and wandered off in search of wild women.  Groso wondered what sort of
women Smitty could  find, however having never seen him without his
breathing apparatus he had no idea actually what he looked like so perhaps
he was quite good looking.
	"Well let's get going!" Sevesa said as he pushed his way past Witzen and
Groso and the rescue crew to reach the bottom of the ramp.
	"Don't be such a tourist, Sevesa!" Groso bellowed after the bartender as
he raced across the cavernous expanse of the docking port.  "Some people
are just born tourists" Groso said as he adjusted the strap on his camera.
	
		*******
	Mangus was not doing too bad.  He and Marnine had taken in a rather
unusual movie at the local art theater.  They had been having a week long
festival featuring movies made on other planets that dealt with flying
creatures.  Unfortunately Marnine had chosen "The Bird Man Of Alcatraz" as
her choice and the results had been less than Mangus had hoped for.
	As they left the theater Mangus tried to remedy the situation by making
small talk.  "So, what did you think of the movie?"
	"I though it would have something to do with a humanoid bird so I was
rather disappointed.  Do you really have Terans on your ship?"
	Mangus thought about his answer for a moment not wanting to put Marnine
off and yet thinking about his plans for the future with her. "Well they're
not so bad once you get used to them.  They're sort of like hairless
Gethronians without the tendency to shout all the time."
	"Well they seemed an interesting species in the film.  Perhaps I will meet
one some day." Marnine chirped.
	"I dare say you will meet one some day." Mangus said mysteriously.
	"What does that mean?"
	"Well, what I mean is that Terans are bound to play a bigger part in this
war and eventually some of them will come to this planet.  I mean, with the
Valarians already gaining ground in this sector  eventually the fight might
come to this planet and..." Mangus trailed off.  Mangus suddenly realized
that his chances for a romantic evening  were dramatically decreasing.
	"Let's go home and you can meet my parents." Marnine suggested.
	Mangus now knew he was not in for a good time whatsoever.  His thoughts
suddenly turned to his friends and crewmates on the Clarksville and how
they were out protecting the universe at that very moment.
		********
	"Hey Witzen, this sure beats protecting the universe." Groso noted at they
approached the Denebian Slime Devil Ranch.  A rather unusual name for a
rather unusual house, or so Witzen had informed them.  They passed many
places of selling different types of food as well as shops selling various
marital aids.  Witzen briefly vanished into one of the shops and came out
few minutes later.
	"Nothing interest you Witzen?" Groso asked.
	"No I bought a few things but I had them taken back to the Amac Star.  I
don't want to schlep anything that large around with me."
	Although Groso continued to badger him but Witzen would not reveal to
Groso what he had bought.  Groso resigned himself to  hoping for a peak
into the package once they returned to the Amac Star.
	Eroticom 6 evidently  existed solely  by the the profession that was the
oldest, and as Witzen lead them further into the catacombs through the
asteroid Groso and company saw little else.  There were parlors that dealt
specifically with one race .  There were parlors dedicated to one
particular fetish or another.  Then there were those establishments which
were both race and fetish specific.  Groso looked into a few of these
through the windows but the further into the asteroid they went the more
unusual the scene spread out before them became.  As Groso passed another
one he read the sign above the door. "Uggh! Mr. Shell's house of radula
rituals for gastropodia?" Groso stopped to rest for a minute in from of
this shop and motioned for the others to stop also.  "Have you ever got it
on with a slug Witzen?"
	"No I have not." Witzen responded.
	" I guess their slime would muck up my fur anyway." Groso said
ponderously. 	"Don't worry Groso the Denebian Slime Devil Ranch is one of
the nicest places I have ever found." Witzen reassured his commander with a
smile.
	"Yeah and I guess you've been to most of these?" Sevesa posed his
rhetorical ribbing.
	"They even have a well stocked bar." Witzen said grinning.
	"Well that's different.  Why didn't you say so in the first place!" Sevesa
exclaimed as he started to salivate again.
	"And they even have room service!" Witzen pointed out to Groso.
	"I sure hope that they would.  I hate doing it in public." Groso grumbled.
	"No I mean they have a kitchen and will deliver food to your private
room." Witzen responded.
	"Well that certainly sounds better." Groso said with a smile as if to say
'I meant to say that' when he obviously had not.
	Witzen turned and asked  directions from a local working girl who had been
watching them for the past few minutes.  She pointed a tendril down the
way they were headed.
"So how much longer is it?" Sevesa asked Witzen.
	"I wouldn't know I don't do slugs " the working girl responded.
	"No I mean how much longer before we get there."
	"It's only a few minutes walk from here." she said.
	As they started walking again  thoughts of friends that were absent played
upon the Witzen's mind "I wonder if  Mangus is having a good time?  Hey
look at that place over there Groso.  Doesn't that look like fun?"  Witzen
said pointing at a rather unusual building.
	"Nah, bungi cords and anti gravity fields aren't for me.
		******
	"Dad, Mom, this is my lover Mangus." Marnine said as she gave him a slight
push towards  her parents.  Mangus stuck out his arm and wished she had
mentioned their names.
	"How do you do?" Mangus asked politely as his hand was pumped up and down
by a rather large avion.
	"How I do it is none of your business!" he answered back in an unfriendly tone.
	Great and he's hard of hearing too.  "What I meant is how are you." Mangus
shouted.
	"I've got to go use the little girls statue now.  You just make yourself
at home Mangus." Marnine said as she vanished into another room.
	The mother was still staring at Mangus' lack of wing like appendages.
"They cut them off when I was drafted." Mangus explained and realized that
he had put his foot further into his beak.
	"Well now that you have told us that why don't we have some dinner." the
father announced.
	Mangus was not having a very good time.
		
		******
	Groso was rather surprised to see the inside of the Denebian Slime Devil
Ranch.  From the outside it had looked just like a hundred other places
that they had passed on the way but the inside was fantastic. Groso was
admiring the material that the structure was built of when Witzen wandered
over.
	"What is this stuff, Witzen?" Groso asked as he ran his hand along a pillar.
	
	"It's wood.  It is made of the dead husks of large plants form Earth."
Witzen had long ago figured how to phrase a response that his commander
could understand.  "Anyway I can't believe you would spend your time here
admiring the architecture with all of the fun to be had here. I mean just
look at all these loose women!"
	"I think  'loose women' was a term that went out quite a long time ago."
	"Well what is the current rage for describing these girls?" Witzen asked.
Witzen hated to be reminded that he was from a slightly backwards planet.
	As if on cue a lovely looking female wandered over to where Witzen and
Groso were standing. "We like to be referred to as 'User Friendly'."  She
was similar in appearance to Witzen Groso thought to himself, except for
the lack of body hair.  She wrapped an arm around Witzen.
	"I think my friend here would like to see a menu." Witzen ventured smiling
towards the woman.
	"I'm not really hungry yet, perhaps later." Groso muttered looking the
unusual humanoid up and down.  Groso also noticed that her hands ended in
long tentacle like appendages.
	She giggled slightly and handed two menus to Witzen and then walked off to
find someone else.
 	"Groso, these aren't ordinary menus."
	"So you're telling me these are not ordinary menus?" Groso asked.
	"Yes, they are not ordinary menus." Witzen responded.
	"Well what sort of menus are they!" Groso said raising his voice.
	The girl with the unusual appendages heard Groso and seeing that his
friend had not manages to get the idea across to him returned to explain it
to him.  "These 'special' menus as your friend calls them are not of food
but rather of the services they we offer to our clientele. The combinations
are given names of foods from earth"
	Groso grabbed a menu from  Witzen and studied it in earnest.  There were
so many possibilities to choose from.  Eventually he whittled down his
choices to two items.
	"I can't decide between the Belgium Waffle and the French Dip. What would
you recommend?" Groso asked as he glanced over some of the more tasty
photographs shown in the menu.
	"Both are quite nice.  The waffle comes with your choice of three toppings
from  our specialty topping menu." she said wrapping and unwrapping her
tentacles around the stack of menus held in her appendages.
	"Anything we should try to avoid?" Witzen asked
	"Well personally I'd stay away from the Seafood section of the menu, and I
would not dream of touching the escargot." she said with a shudder.
	"In that case I'll have the  waffle with cool whip, marshmallows, and
peanut butter." Groso ordered saliva dripping from his lips.
	 The girl pulled out a pad and began to scrawl with a writing implement
"Did you want creamy or extra chunky peanut butter?" she asked
	"Extra chunky!" Groso exclaimed showing a fiendish smile.
	She then turned to Witzen.  "What would you like this evening?"
	"I would like the blue plate special." Witzen said smiling at the girl who
made started writing on another tag.
	Sevesa returned form the bar and glancing quickly at a menu ordered the
gaspachio soup.
	"Are you sure you want the gaspachio soup?" she asked Sevesa with a look
of concern on her face. Sevesa nodded yes and took the tag she gave him.
She then gave him direction to get to his room.  She then repeated the
process with Groso who wandered off the same direction that Sevesa had
went.
	"You get your choice of partners with the blue plate special." She said
smiling at Witzen.
	"Well then shall we dine?" Witzen said grinning a smile that would have
put Donnie or Marie to shame.
		******
	"Now let me see if I have this correct you want to take our daughter back
to your ship with you" said the father who Mangus had come to know as Mr.
Omar over the course of the evening and several embarrassing moments.
Dinner to say the least had not gone well.
	"That's right.  Our ship is assigned far from the front lines protecting
some of the more backwards planets.  She would be very safe."  Mangus
explained.
	Give me a good reason why she should not stay here on her home world." Mr.
Omar said in a subdued tone.
	"Intelligence reports indicate that the Valarians  next strategic target
will be this planet." Mangus said rather somberly. "Please don't reveal
this information to anyone else."  Mangus was glad that Mrs. Omar and
Marnine were doing the dishes in the other room.
	Mr. Omar  sat back and closed his eyes for a long time.  His beak twitched
slightly from time to time.  Then he leaned forward and grabbed Mangus by
the shoulders in an iron grip.  "You're not just making this up are you?"
he asked in earnest.  He knew that a sandy planet like theirs would make
for perfect breeding conditions for the Valarians.
	"Sir, my only thoughts are that Marnine would be safer on our battle
cruiser than here in her own home."  Mangus said with more than a bit of
irony.
	"I'll need to talk with my wife for a few minutes in private."
	Mangus nodded in ascent.  Mr. Omar walked into the kitchen and shortly
Marnine came back out.  Mangus was waiting on the front perch when she
found him.
	"So Marnine, have you ever wanted to travel?"
	Mangus did his best over the next few minutes to convincer her to leave
her home planet without telling her the horrible secret he was keeping.
		******
	     PI2 was having a great time in the officer's quarters rummaging
through the private effects of the crew.  Some of the item were
interesting, others positively baffled him.  He read through Groso's
journal and private letters that he had received.  Groso himself could not
read or write well and relied on a computer to read and transcribe his
messages. PI2 made copies of a few of the more useful letters that he
found.  He was having such an interesting time that he did not hear the
alert messages that sounded on the bridge and since no one ordered an alert
status  the ships automatic defenses were not activated.  "I can use this
letter to blackmail Groso the next time he tries to leave me behind
somewhere." PI2 noted.
		*******
	Groso was just starting to 'sink his teeth' into his waffle when the room
lurched to one side and started shaking.  "It must be love!" Groso cried
out.
	"No, it's an attack." shouted one of his partners.
	Groso tried to grab parts of his uniform but failed completely so he
grabbed his blaster and fled the room with the rest of his waffle in tow.
	Panic reigned in the longue area near the entrance. Groso met Witzen who
had managed to get his pants on.  "We must be under attack," Witzen shouted
above the panic of the screaming prostitutes and their terrified clients.
"And we can't contact the Clarksville from this deep underground."
	"That would explain why PI2  didn't warn us." Groso shouted back.
	Sevesa appeared pulling on some underwear.  He had his blaster in hand and
more unusual that that he was covered in snow.
	"Please don't leave me here!" The girl with the tentacled hands was
holding tightly onto Witzen.
	 Groso was not the most observant of creatures  but it suddenly struck him
that the Valarians would not even bother to take prisoners, even creatures
like these.  "You! How many work this house?" He asked the madame a
brightly dressed  and rather heavy set female of indeterminate species.
	"About twenty seven maybe twenty eight." She said as the last of her
frightened clients left the longue running towards their respective docking
ports. "Please save us we have no way of getting off this rock!"
	Groso pulled out his blaster and fired it a few times to get the crowd's
attention.  "Our shuttle has just about enough room for all of you.  I can
offer you passage to a nearby planet aboard the U.G.G Clarksville, however
as the only warship in orbit you might want to find another way off. Follow
me!" Groso shouted as he rushed out the entrance.
	"What if we can't fit all of them on the Amac Star?" Witzen asked Groso as
they raced up the long tunnel that they had come down earlier.
	"Then we'll leave you behind." Groso shouted back.
	Sevesa ran up along side of Groso and Witzen and shouted, "Why didn't you
tell me that gispachio soup was served cold!" as he brushed the remaining
snow off of his slightly blue skin.
	"Shut up and keep running!" Groso bellowed as another blast shook the asteroid.
		********
	Mangus and Marnine stood on the front perch of the Omar dwelling.  Mr.
Omar looked very old in the morning light and in light of the information
that Mangus had confided in him.  He had managed to convince Marnine
without telling her the reason for it.  Her world was fairly isolated from
travelers and she actually wanted to see space for herself.  Not to mention
that she really did not want to be separated from her mate for any period
of time.  For the first time since concocting the scheme he wondered what
Groso would do to him for bringing a civilian aboard the ship, but Mangus
had a plan for this too, although it was a rather flimsy one at best, but
then Groso's thinking abilities were equally flimsy.
	"We'll miss you." Mrs. Omar said hugging her daughter and giving her a
peck on her cheek.
	"You take good care of our daughter, and be careful yourself" Mr. Omar
said shaking Mangus' hand.
	"Don't worry she will be quite safe on the Clarksville.  In fact I bet the
commander is sitting in his couch reading reports right now." Mangus said.
		******
	Groso met up with the other crew members at a junction in the tunnel
shortly before they entered the main hangar. Witzen reported the weight
load of the refugees that were following. "I think we can pull it off but
it will take some fancy flying to outmaneuver their fighters in a shuttle
with that much mass."
	"In that case I'll do the flying." Groso growled at his sidekick.
	As they reached the docking port the extent of the damage became evident.
Although the docking port was not hit it had suffered some minor damage and
several small fires had erupted near the entrance.  Groso surveyed the
damage and then spotted the Valarians.  They were advancing from the other
side of the docking port.  Evidently they had entered the asteroid form the
opposite side that they had been in.  Groso told the others to wait in the
tunnel.  He felt very strange as he normally let Witzen or Mangus do all of
the dirty work but he was feeling very brave.  Perhaps it was the new
uniform that he had pulled out of the closet this morning for the
expedition.  Groso quickly inspected it and discovered that he was indeed
feeling a draft.  I knew I should have put my clothes back on.  Oh well the
Valarians won't mind if the person who kills them is clothed or not.
	"What are you waiting for Groso?" Sevesa said from around the corner.
	"Just stay here and go a little ways back from the entrance.  It might get
messy for a while" Groso said just before he leapt out into the open and
started his run towards the Amac Star.  Witzen tossed a blast grenade into
a pile of storage crates to distract the attention of the Valarians.
	The resulting explosion did indeed get the attention of the Valarians as
the storage crates turned out to be packed with some sort of combustibles.
The resulting explosion also caused the field  holding the atmosphere in
the dock to momentarily falter.  Massive amounts of oxygen and anything
else not nailed down were sucked out into space.  Luckily for Groso he was
not near the opening to space.  not so lucky for Groso was the fact that
the Valarians were lucky and were not sucked out into space.  Groso
continued his dash towards the Amac Star.  The Valarians eventually
recovered and saw Groso coming towards them.  Perhaps it was the blast was
still effecting them or perhaps it was the sight of a naked Gethronian with
a blaster in hand charging towards them that shocked them for just long
enough for Groso to reach the Amac Star.  Groso rushed into the ship and
strapped himself into the pilot's couch.  Groso realized that getting the
Velcro off of his fur would prove to be very painful.  He suddenly
wondered, as he activated the weapons and engines, weather or not there was
any hair depilatory on the Clarksville.
	 Groso didn't have long to wonder as the Valarians shots were bouncing off
the side of the ship.  he turned on the auto cannon but after getting off
only two shots and  destroying only one Valarian it jammed.  Groso uttered
a slew of colorful metaphors.  However today was Groso's lucky day as the
field holding the air in the dock failed for good and the resulting vacuum
pulled the Amac Star towards the opening into space and right over the
bodies of the Advancing Valarians.  Their bodies splintered into millions
of pieces.  Groso suddenly had that nagging feeling that he was forgetting
something then he remembered, "The women!" he shouted as the fired Up the
Amac star and headed right at the entrance to the lower levels.
	The Impact of the  Amac Star startled the women who were already holding
on for their lives as air was sucked from the center of the asteroid out
into space.  The Front of the Amac Star collided and jammed itself into the
entrance way and the front hatch opened. In a frenzy not unlike a Who
concert the women and crew members rushed into the waiting shuttle.
	"Ouch!  That's going to be painful to get off Groso." Witzen noted as he
grabbed a control couch.
	"Yeah.  hey! Maybe I can get a purple heart for removing velcro from fur
in the line of duty!" Groso said as the last of the women popped through
the hatch which Smitty closed behind her.  Somehow Smitty had managed to
get all his clothes during the emergency Groso noted to himself.
	 "Hold on!" said Groso melodramatically as he turned off the thrusters
holding the ship in front of the tunnel.
	Like a cork out of a bottle the Amac Star was hurled out of the docking
port and into the fleet of Valarian attack ships. Groso spun the ship
wildly throwing crew and beautiful women around in the sudden absence of
gravity.  Groso had to remove a few women from his lap before he could go
on flying the ship, but never being very good at ordinal thinking Groso
turned the thrusters on before trying to remove the girls.  This turned out
to solve both problems rather quickly as the women on his lap left flying
quickly through the air towards the back of the ship as he had done earlier
in the day.  The ship collided  and destroyed several Valarian fighters who
were coming in for an attack and happened to get in the way of the Amac
Star as it sped on towards the Clarksville.
	As they approached the Clarksville they could tell that the automatic
defense systems had been activated  by PI2 and a battle was raging around
their ship as well.  Several fighters were on their tail firing the
occasional blasts which collided with the thick plating on the back of the
Amac Star.
	"PI2  on my command open bay 17's door halfway and then close it again.
You got that straight?" Groso yelled into the mic. on the couch arm.
	"Waiting for your mark, sir." came the metallic voice.
	The Clarksville was well over a mile in length and Groso had to think
about the size of the door and their rapidly accelerating speed.  If we was
going too fast the breaking thrusters would not function properly.  The
door would only be open at it's widest for a second before it started to
close again.
	"We'll never be able to stop in time.  Not at this speed." Witzen wined.
	"Now! PI2, Open the bay door!" Groso yelled as several more hits found
their mark on the back of the shuttle.
	The bay door started to open.  Unfortunately PI2 got confused and open the
door to bay 18 instead.
	Groso cursed as he adjusted the ship to find it's new target.  Bolts of
energy were now hitting the front of the Amac Star from the fighters who
had been attacking the Clarksville.  Faster and faster Groso pushed the
Shuttle.  The door reached it's halfway point and started to descend again.
The Amac star reached the door and flew below it with only a foot or two
of clearance.  The fighters following behind arrived a but too late and
impacted with the closing door.
	Groso had to do something to stop the Amac Star and he had an idea.  He
fired the attitude thrusters and flipped the ship upside down. The people
in the shuttle were either getting used to his treatment or they were
unconscious because there were very few screams of complaint during this
maneuver.  Hurtling backwards and upside down towards the opposite wall of
the ship he fired all the rear thruster flat out.  This did the trick for
the Amac Star slowed such that the impact was only about as severe as one
of Witzen's normal landings.
	Groso felt pretty good about saving the lives of all these people. Except
now he was hanging upside down form the ceiling being held in place by the
sticky part of the velcro straps in a heavily damaged shuttle with no
clothes on.   It could be worse Groso thought to himself as he shut down
all the Amac Star's systems.  Mangus could be hear to gawk at me.
	As if on cue the bay door opened again and Groso had a great view,
although from an upside down vantage point, of Mangus' shuttle as it slide
across the floor of the flight deck towards them.
	"Hang on everyone! Here we go again!" Groso shouted just before the
smaller shuttle collided with theirs.  As the incoming shuttle impacted
with the Amac Star a large package hit Groso in the head.
	When Groso regained consciousness a few moments later his first sight was
of Mangus looking up at him.  He was, as Groso feared, laughing.  "Having a
routine day I see sir."  Mangus chuckled.
	 Witzen picked up a large package and handed it to Mangus. "Here, I picked
this up for you on Eroticom 6." Witzen said grinning.
	"What is it?" Mangus asked as he peeled back the plain brown wraping.
	"It's a  personal anti gravity field and several bungi cords.  I figured
that there wasn't much roon for flying on the ship but floating might be
just a good for you and.." Witzen's seech was cut short by a quick jab in
the ribs.
	Mangus looked up at Groso and laughed again at the unusual sight.  Groso
was angry and ordered everyone out of the shuttle.
	 When everyone was gone he realized that he could not free himself and he
had to yell for help.  A few of the working  creatures took pity and found
a container of some form of lubricant which they covered the stuck parts of
Groso's fur in order to free him and in the process Groso even managed to
enjoy the attention that they showed him.  At least some people were
grateful for what he had gone through.  When he finally stuck his head from
the shuttle, or what remained of it, he was one tired and slightly slimy
Gethronian.  None of the crew had left the flight deck.  They were all
standing around with the working creatures that they had rescued form
Eroticom 6.
	Mangus came over to where Groso was sitting on the edge of the shuttle.
"Groso, I would like you to me my mate, Lt. Marnine"
	Marnine, dressed in a stolen uniform, reached out and shook the
commander's slimy hand.  She giggled slightly at his state of undress.
	"Nice to meet you miss." Groso  said as he tried to hide his nakedness.
	Witzen walked over and along with Mangus helped his commander down form
the edge of the shuttle.  "It could be worse you know."
	"I suppose so." Groso started, "I mean  an admiral could walk in and find
my ship overrun with strange half naked creatures and the commander of the
ship without a uniform and covered in a sweet smelling and quite tasty
sexual lubricant."
	Groso started to laugh but just then a nearby door opened and PI2 floated
in followed by Rear Admiral Hind and his entourage.
	Mangus and Witzen both turned to look at their commander and asked in
unison, "Could it get any worse than this, Groso?"

		The End