“Good morning sleepyhead!” Dienna said just before shoveling a chicken nugget into her mouth.

     “What kind of food is this?” Corazon asked. She was surprised to see normal – looking Earth food on a spaceship.

     “Easy to carry around in a ship.” Twilight replied. “But it takes a while to prepare it.”

     “Felicia and I helped him fix it.” Tia said. “And he’s right. It does take a lot of effort.”

     “Oh, I see.” Corazon said as she dug into her mixed vegetables.

     “When are we stopping, again?” Giselle asked.

     “Tomorrow.” Twilight replied. “Sometime around 14 hundred hours.”

     “When is that?” Corazon asked.

     “Two in the afternoon.” Dienna replied. “It’s military time.”
     “Oh.” Corazon replied just before she took a sip of her milk.

     “About those rooms,” Tia said. “Are you sure that’s all we get?”

     “I told you it wouldn’t be glamorous.” Twilight replied. “A bed, a bureau, and shower.”

     “Do you think I could plug a radio in there somewhere?” Corazon asked.

     “You probably could, but you wouldn’t get your normal stations.” Twilight Wisher warned.

     “Huh?” Corazon was confused.

     “Radio stations are transmitted by satellites and translators.” Felicia supplied the answer. “The satellites are turned only towards Earth. You wouldn’t be able to pick up any stations way out here.”

     “Oh, I see.” Corazon said, glumly returning to her food.

     “We might be able to hook up a CD player.” Giselle suggested.

     “What’s a CD?” Twilight asked.

     “Like a cassette tape.” Dienna bluntly said through a mouthful of mixed vegetables.

     “What’s a cassette tape?” Twilight asked.

     Tia explained, “You record music on it and then it plays it back on a tape player or a CD player.”

     “Oh, they use chips in other parts of the galaxy.” Twilight told them.

     “You mean like potato chips?” Giselle asked.

     “No,” Twilight replied.  “I mean like small boxes. About this big.” He made a two-inch, by two-inch square with his fingers. “You put them into a device called a chipper and you get music.”

     “Cool.” Corazon said.

     “Well, I’m done.” Dienna put down her napkin. “Mr. Wisher, is there a way that I could practice shooting targets with that system up there?”

     “No.” Twilight Wisher replied. “But there is a training system that you could use. And you all can call me Twilight.”

     “Okay.” Dienna said. “Hurry up, Corazon. We’re going to work on your shooting abilities.”

     “I thought I did well.” Corazon protested.

     “You did, but not well enough for my tastes.” Dienna said. “If you’re going to be my gun partner I want you to be as good as I am.”

     “I don’t think anyone could be as good as you.” Tia said.

     “Well some people,” Dienna glared at Corazon. “Should come pretty close.”

     “Sorry.” Corazon said after eating her last chicken nugget. “I just don’t play war games as much as you do.”

     “War games?” Twilight was confused.

     “On Earth,” Dienna explained. “We have things called video games.”

     “Video games?” Twilight asked.

     “On computers.” Corazon told him.

     “You all have computers? But they’re so big!” Twilight exclaimed.

     “The were big.” Tia said. “Technology has come a long way since you were last on Earth. The computers are about the size of a small television and you have a keyboard.”

     “What’s a keyboard?” Twilight asked.

     “It’s a board.” Dienna said.

     “And it has buttons on it.” Corazon added.

     “Each of the buttons had a letter, number, or word on it.” Giselle said.

     “Yeah,” Felicia joined in. “They give you the alphabet, the first ten numbers, including zero, and some keyboard commands.”

     “What are keyboard commands?” Twilight asked.

     “Things like ‘delete’, ‘enter’, ‘alt’, ‘control’, and ‘tab’.” Tia said.

     “Oh.” Twilight said. “They’re somewhat like bertaps on Drenks. It’s pretty much the same thing, only smaller.”

     “Like a laptop?” Tia asked.

     “What’s laptop?” Twilight asked.

     “A small computer.” Felicia said.

     “Then, I think so.” Twilight said. “But wouldn’t all those computers you have your homes be laptops, then?”

     “A laptop is small compared to our home computers.” Felicia said.

     “How much smaller?” Twilight asked.

     “They’re a little bigger than a file folder, and about an inch thick.” Felicia said.

     “That’s up to the manufacturer.” Tia replied. “Though they tend to be black.”

     “Oh.” Twilight gulped down the last of his milk. “You all will have to tell me all about how the Earth has advanced in the past couple of decades.”

     “Don’t worry,” Dienna said. “I’m sure we’ll get around to it sometime. Now, about that training system?”

     “Oh, yes, of course,” He cleared his throat and stood up. “But first, because Felicia, Tia and myself fixed dinner, you three get to do the dishes.”

     Dienna groaned. Giselle just took her dishes to the sink and rinsed them first.

     Corazon smiled and said. “I guess that practice will just have to wait.” Dienna growled.

     “Guess we better not give her anything glass.” Giselle quietly said to Corazon. “She might break it.”

     “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Corazon said with a giggle. “Come on, Dienna!” She shouted into the dining room. “The sooner we start, the sooner we finish!”

     “Coming!” Still grumbling, Dienna picked up the last of the dishes that were on the table and went into the kitchen.