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everybody laughed like hippos!

      – This is really very funny, sir!

      – You bet! We thought so, too, but it’s not as funny as that, Hans, and you will know why one day!

      – Then I had been serving for several years on a large ship as an assistant captain, and then they gave me some kind of jalopy, a pathetic ruin with a robot navigator. What a bore he was! But gradually we’ve got used to each other! Sometimes he even sends me his greetings! He’s quite old for a robot, dodges mandatory upgrades… What’s flashing on your screen?

      – Some small objects on the course, like asteroids, sir!

      – Have we entered the field of gravity of some star?

      – There is no star around on the indicator, sir!

      – Instant acceleration, Hans!

      – Why, sir?

      – Don’t ask idiotic questions, do it! I’ll chart a course

      and you take the console, you will be the captain for a few minutes! Just don’t press anything in a hurry!

      – Yes, sir, I’ll be careful!

      – Seems we have slipped through!

      – What was that, sir?

      – We flew straight to the event horizon of the black hole. A little more, we would not be able to escape and would be smeared over this very horizon…

      – I can’t understand how it happened sir…

      – Mark in the log: unidentifiable black hole in the square, put the coordinates, let them figure it out! Be careful, Hans! Do you know what is the main difference between a navigator and a captain?

      – I daren’t know sir

      – The captain can always say to the navigator: “Be careful!”

      Radish

      – Hans, what’s that on your food tray?

      – Common radish, sir!

      – Real radish? Where did you get it? We are in another galaxy!

      – It grew up in the greenhouse, in the laboratory, sir!

      – You’re out of your mind, Hans! There can be any sort of viruses there!

      – Not in a separate container, sir! I put it away from the rest. It is absolutely lovely!

      – Have you tried it?

      – Not yet, but the analyzer gives a complete match to the standard of the species Raphanus sativus.

      – Be careful with it, there are at least three days of flight to the nearest window of opportunity. What should I do with you if something goes wrong?

      – I took all the precautions, sir!

      – I can imagine! So, how does it taste?

      – In my opinion, it is not any different from porridge number one, only more water. Crunchy… It’s funny, sir.

      – No wonder, it’s tasteless, it’s from the greenhouse. There is nothing in it but water.

      – I added organic fertilizers, sir.

      – More reason for me to worry, Hans! Don’t eat more than one!

      – I probably won’t, sir. Porridge with flavor modifiers is much better in my opinion.

      – Let me spread it with the taste of pamplemousse. Have you ever seen a pamplemousse?

      – Is it like a cow with big horns, sir?

      – Don’t confuse moose and pamplemousse, Hans. Pamplemousse is fruit, in my opinion.

      – And how do you like it with that taste?

      – Only the devil knows what it is or may be!

      – I tend to agree with you, sir? Do we have a moose-flavored additive?

      – Follow the course, Hans!

      – Yes, sir!

      Mosquitoes

      – Sir, we’ve got mosquitoes!

      – Mosquitoes, onboard?

      – Yes sir. I seem to have seen one!

      – You seemed or you saw?

      – I saw, sir! And heard, sir, it was buzzing right above my ear…

      – This may be very serious, Hans, who knows what shit they can transmit! We don’t need to drop sick with some cosmic fever in another galaxy!

      – This may be very serious, sir!

      – I said it first, Hans! Where do you think they came from?

      – Cargo bay or the Russians, sir!

      – Where do we get the Russians from?

      – Mosquitoes, sir, from Siberia!

      – This is very serious, Hans, they must be hungry!

      – Hungry, sir, and opposed to us, I know, these Russians…

      – Leave agitation aside, give me the temperature and humidity in the compartments!

      – On the screen, sir!

      – I don’t like the parameters there, Hans, but the mosquitos can be anywhere now: they fly, you know!

      – That’s for sure, sir, they fly and buzz all night, they don’t let you sleep, these Russian snarling and squeaking mosquitoes, they are clearly plotting something!

      – Did a mosquito bite you?

      – Not yet, sir, I resisted their evil propaganda!

      – Give a good blow through all compartments, lower the temperature – they should be sucked into the filter! We’ll have to chill out, Hans! Send a message to the center, tell them we have got unprecedented complications, details after the elimination of the incident!

      – Aren’t we making an elephant out of a fly, sir?

      – Do we have flies as well?

      – Only in the laboratory, not too many!

      – Count them all, Hans! They may be related to the mosquitoes!

      – Sir!

      – Yes, Hans!

      – We have a toad in the laboratory!

      – I don’t understand how it may help!

      – But they are antagonists, sir, the toads eat them!

      – Mosquitoes or flies?

      – Both species, sir!

      – Hans, go negotiate with the toad! What I’m saying… Incite it to catch mosquitoes for us!

      – I’ll fetch it right now, sir!

      …

      – What have you got now?

      – It thinks, sir!

      – “It thinks”! Can your toad think?

      – Yes sir!

      – And how do you know?

      – It sits silently and pouts!

      – Am I dreaming?

      – No, sir, it’s an ex…

      – Tell your toad again, more persistently!

      …

      – It refuses most strongly, sir! It also insists that it be mentioned in all conversations as “she”.

      – Why?

      – She

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