[Danger Service Episode 27? What, you expect these to be in some sort of order?]

Tonan laughed. His purple skin set off his white healer's robes. "But, look! I finally found all 7 seasons of Danger Service! Let's watch some! I also got tirabe, and all of us can eat it!" A wave and a pink globe formed. Little green seeds popped in it, like popcorn. We all watched and enjoyed the wonderful smell, like sweet kettle corn. His deep purple eyes twinkled.

Mom walked in. "What's that? It smells good!" I hope he didn't buy that with our trade balance!" She had blond hair today, to her shoulders. Her brown eyes spat fire.

Dad came in, too. Tanon waved bowls to both of them, and to all of us. My parents did say thank you but left. We all ate tirabe and watched Danger Service and laughed.

Diplomat Dangerous, a yellow-skinned Zheien, walked down a muddy street. Red mud. His twin-toed feet got stuck. "Oops, I should nae be here. A dorna cart will run over me!" He pulled, and the mud slurped. Finally, he got a foot free, but when he pulled the other one, it got stuck again.

Fubret laughed. "This is supposed to be Elshar Mashai, but that's Georgia! See the pine trees? My team used to watch--" He rubbed his head. Those round scars were still there. I felt bad that we couldn't erase them, not on Fubret, or Ron, or Los Fa.

Tenon reached for his head, but Brit put a hand up. She checked him. "Does your head hurt, Fubret?"

"No. Empty. I should know this."

I pulled him into a group hug. "Just enjoy it, Fubret. You don't have to know it."

His Thordes pal Diplomat Dubious grabbed him under the arms. "I'll get you out! Oops!" Now he was stuck, too.

A covered wagon came racing down the road with two horses pulling it.

Diplomat Dangerous tried to move and sank in more. "Nae! We will be killed!"

Diplomat Dubious held his hands up. "I'll save us! I'll stop the dornas!"

The Zheien shook his head and looked up at the sky. "You tried this in Episode 3, and it nae worked."

He put his hands out flat but sideways.

"Episode 26. It nae worked."

He turned the hands so they pointed down.

The wagon got closer, then the horses got stuck.

"Slopfahi! Heileai!! Don't go there!!" They stopped, and he went over, headfirst. His legs waved in the air.

Dangerous tried to grab a cowboy boot. Couldn't reach it. "Dubious, do something!!"

He turned his hands so they were flat and pointing outwards.

Dangerous looked up.

The legs stopped waving and went rigid.

Suddenly, a farmer in a field nearby noticed him. He unhitched his plow and led his horse over. "Son, I think you gotta problem."

Dangerous noticed him. "You think?"

Like a cowboy, the farmer roped the legs and had his horse pull the man out.

"Heileai!! Slopfahi!! Oh, hello. Pach ay, I'm covered in slopmach!! That makes me a--"

All of them looked at the camera. "Slopfah!!"

"I'll never be able to go home to my father!! What's a trader to do??"

Dubious looked at him and finally put his hands down. "We need a biome tech. It's easy, you just carry jars of goo all day. Anybody can do it! Biome Tech Glamorous got married last week, so we need a new one. All we need now is a Biome Engineer. Ours left to do an episode of –

They all chorus "Traders In Spaaaace!"

"--and they hired him!"

The farmer shook his head. "I used to be a Biome Engineer back in the DOS days."

They all face the camera. "The wha??"

The man laughed. "Y'all don't even know what DOS is??" He guffawed. "DOS is that old operatin' system that ancient computers used back in 1988--"

A caption reads Two Hours Later.

"And you type in a number. Hexadecimal, they called it."

Dangerous and Dubious are leaning on each other, asleep. Dubious slips, and they startle awake.

Trader Asha sits up. "I think I'll join DS and be a Biome Tech!"

Farmer drops the reins on the horse and takes the harness off him. "I think I'll join DS and be a Biome Engineer! Things couldn't have changed that much in only 30 years!"

Asha points. "There's the ship! Let's go!" They get on the horse and ride away, bareback.

Dangerous and Dubious look at each other. "Wait! Wait! You have to take us! That's--"

Both look at the camera. "Dangerous!!"

The gray ship wobbles up into the sky, then comes down with a bang beside them. Mud splashes everywhere. Hands pull the two diplomats into the ship and it wobbles up again.

"Where we going?"

"I nae know. Your dorna is giving manual calcs."

"He don't know how to pilot! He's eating."

They all scream.

"This concludes yet another episode of Danger Service. Next week in Episode 28, Diplomat Dangerous will say--"

Diplomat Dangerous is standing on a wooden table, surrounded by a bunch of drunk men sloshing blue liquid in laboratory flasks. "You are all drunken!! Why should I waste time in explanation? Sign my treaty! Then your people will nae starve!"

They all give a cheer and fall over. Dangerous shrugs and goes to each man, puts a quill in his hand and makes him sign. Then, signs it.

The closing credits include Jehosaphat the Wonder Horse as Himself.

– from Rainbow's Start, available on Amazon Kindle. Molly's Miracle Colonies is a rewrite of this, but doesn't include Danger Service. Maybe the sequel will :)