"You suck at driving!" Tegan yelled. "Next time you want to race Vigarians, leave me out! You couldn't even manage the gravity sling-shot."

"You're alive. Quit complaining!" Lat fired back. "It's the third planet, who cares, no cops. Check the reactor." Angry, Teagan swiped at the screens zooming in, moving out, checking readings. "Well, the good news is the reactor shut down. The bad news is, we have a nasty flux tilt."

"And that would mean?" Lat asked, getting up.

"Core power distribution is way off," Tegan said. "I'll dumb it down, too much power on the left and nothing on the right."

"So, we limp through space. No big deal."

"The ship is a ball. We can only roll around in a circle!" Tegan yelled. Calming himself, "Check the control rods in fuel assembly 2."

Lat moved to the back of the craft, spewing out a litany of Phoban cuss words.

Tegan waited, checking the external view screen, inspecting the exterior panels and where they were. Tall, thick torsoed, multi-armed creatures, he assumed locals, stood around them, silent and still. Their long, black, bent, and twisted arms reached high above, motionless. Even zooming in, he could not tell if they were asleep or dead. They didn't seem interested in the ship.

Tegan scanned the ground around the ship. The sphere they were in was partially buried in the dirt. They would need to clear the base in a vertical without hitting any locales, no need to piss them off, whatever they were. "Doesn't look like you damaged the external shielding."

"Crap, Number six might be bent," Lat yelled from the back. "I think I can get the assembly cage up." Moments later, Lat shouted, "it's cracked! Leaking really bad!" The rod was only the diameter of a finger and the length of an arm; it would bleed enough radiation to keep them puking all the way back to Phobus - if they made it.

Tegan ran to the back and helped Lat secure the assembly, a circular cage with nine fuel rods. Carefully, Lat worked at the bent rod, finally wiggling it out. "Now what?" he said.

"Take it outside. We don't need it. Let the locals can deal with it," Tegan said excitedly as he punched a code into the exit panel. Three triangle-shaped external panels, lifted from the sphere, opening a hatch out to the planet.

Lat tried not to gag as he carefully carried the glowing rod away from the ship. He could feel the locals stare as he dropped it, puked, and ran back. Closing the hatch, he checked Tegan had locked the power assembly into the reactor and raced to the pilot's seat. Slamming in codes, he got the ship off the planet and back into space.

"That place is creepy! Think the locals will be pissed we littered?" Lat asked.

"Nah, does it look like they care. The trash in orbit, trash all over the planet, one more piece won't mean a thing."