Inflated Fates: A Mission in Space

The spaceship Argo was a massive, multi-leveled flying city. Its construction had taken many years, but now it floated towards Earth carrying one million animals to start their new lives on the planet below.

The crew had been through a lot together. They had struggled with a brutal storm; they had spent days searching for supplies that were lost at sea; and they had gone hungry in the weeks after the storm when food supplies were running short.

But now, those days were behind them. The sun shone brightly on Earth as it rose into view. There was something so fetching about seeing the planet up close. It was such an odd shape and yet strangely familiar too. As if you could look at it long enough and see where you lived and recognize things from your life back home.

"I don't believe we're here," said Captain Bucky as he stared at the planet through his telescope, "I can't believe it."

"It's real enough," said Judy, who was Bucky's first mate and first officer of the Argo, "We've made it."

"Yes, I know that," said Captain Bucky, "But I thought we'd be dead months ago. Our supplies ran out during that terrible storm. And then there was that mysterious illness that took hold after the storm ended."

"That's true," said Dr Skinner, who was walking past and overheard the conversation, "You were all very lucky to survive."

Dr Skinner was the ship's doctor and he knew how close the animals had come to dying during that terrible time after the storm. In fact everyone had been affected by the illness in some way or other; weight gain, inflation and erotic assets were just some of the symptoms they'd suffered from during those dark times. But Dr Skinner was keen to put all of that behind him now they'd reached their destination safely. He didn't want to think about those days anymore than he had to, not when there was so much work still to be done before they reached shore. The animals would have to be quarantined for a month once they landed - that's what he'd been told - so there would be plenty of time for him to do his job properly then. Plenty of time indeed...