Chapter 2:
Talking Corgis
*Manga reads right to left.
As Morrachi gazed at her hand, the strange static returned, momentarily distorting her surroundings. She checked herself, patting down her body to ensure everything was back to normal. "Huh, it seems everything's fine now," she remarked. Turning her attention to Twilight, she noticed he was sizzling slightly but otherwise unharmed. Then, a peculiar sound caught her ears. "What's that?" she wondered aloud, leaning closer to Twilight. To her surprise, his mouth seemed to be broadcasting a radio conversation between two announcers. Quickly shutting his mouth, the radio chatter ceased. Curiosity got the better of her, so she playfully opened and closed his mouth again, confirming that the radio was indeed emanating from him. Amused, she playfully tapped him on the head to make it stop. "Oh! That's interesting!"
At that moment, the ship's communication panel lit up, signaling an incoming call. The display showed "Incoming call from Headquarters." Worried about Morrachi's well-being, a voice on the other end asked, "Morrachi, come in. Are you all right?! We lost track of your ship for a moment. Everything okay?" She reassured them, "Yes, I'm fine, but something strange happened." The voice explained that she had likely encountered a harmless black hole flare, causing the space static and unusual experiences. Apparently, other pilots had reported similar incidents but had returned to normal afterward. They encouraged her to report it if it happened again, so they could document it. The voice added, "And don't worry, we'll check in on you if you disappear again, just for safety." Grateful for the information, Morrachi thanked them and ended the call.
"Well, that's something," Morrachi said, turning around to survey her surroundings once more. Satisfied that everything had returned to normal, she quipped, "Wish they had given me a heads up about this before I took the job, yikes!" Suddenly, the ship came to an abrupt stop, causing her to faceplant into the floor. Twilight started barking chaotically in response. Frustrated, Morrachi exclaimed, "Oh, for crying out loud, what now!?" Rushing to the front of the ship, she peered out the window to investigate the cause of the unexpected halt.
As it turned out, they had encountered a forcefield, or rather, an off-the-trail hologram ad. Annoyed, she reversed the ship to break free from the holographic advertisement for interstellar mental health therapy. "Seriously?" she grumbled, "It's like they knew I was coming." Chuckling at the irony, she encouraged Twilight, "Come on, buddy, time to resume our journey." With that, the ship accelerated towards a sign that read "Java."