Of the eclectic coterie to disembark at La Cantina, only two elected for the safety of the spacecraft Tabris Ruzgar. No surprise there, as the parted ways drew from a logic rift between evolved and synthetic lifeforms; a wordless agreement to disagree, one group left behind on Eqiko-4’s spur-station and cantina roundwhich the galaxy unfamiliar morphed, the other secured in the presumed shelter of Eti’s transport. As for arcanely-animated Kukull, unburdened by motive, it sat rapt and rocky in celestial observation, quite forgotten in the hole it ate through the spaceport tarmac.

[i]“Are you shh—errrrp, sure?”[/i] Eti slurred, not yet sober in the wake of his milk binge. He’d nearly fallen on his way to the helm, but the articulating aerogel interior squeezed comfortably around his brief frame, much like a big fluffy translucent white pillow.

[i]“Quite sure,”[/i] intoned the Tabris Ruzgar’s artificial intelligence, optimistic and calm.

[i]“How leaving Eqi—eqik—fraaaak. Cantina, but not in the right galaxy?”[/i] Eti pondered as he irresolutely struggled against the shuttle’s built-in safety systems. Perplexed, he raised a sharp black claw and supported the nub of his chin.

[i]“Your thinking pose? Really? And we’re abandoning them, of course,”[/i] Tob Ydrian, aka ‘Boomslang’, grumbled, as he looked through the viewport at the spur-station,[i] “Xo’pil and the others. Probably won’t miss Ulu’gol, bad luck, that unlucky sot. Kirri, either. Okay, most of the organics. Still, damn.”[/i]

[i]“But what fate!”[/i] Eti exclaimed, his clenched paw vaulted forward in a dramatic pose, [i]“Take us somewhere, Ruzgar. A galaxy far, far, faaaar away. Through a wooooormhole, maybe! The closest one!”[/i]

[i]“Affirmative,”[/i] replied the Ruzgar. Then, as lithe as a cream and vermilion metal microraptor, it tucked its four wings and surged through the night sky, a faint prismatic coma emitted by its primary thruster.

[i]“What, no! Belay that, Ruzgar!”[/i] Boomslang huffed, [i]“We don’t know where a random wormhole might take us!”[/i]

Contrariwise, the Ruzgar implored, [i]“Sorry, Captain Eti has given his order. Please sit back and relax for the duration of our flight! Entering spatial anomaly in 32 minutes and 67 seconds, approximately.”[/i]

Boomslang glanced across the cabin at Eti, but his travel companion was already slumped over and unconscious. He looked very much like a toy, a small soft stuffed animal, stitches and all, fashioned in the likeness of a red panda and anthropomorphized as a valiant gunslinger adorned in a red leather trenchcoat, bandoleers, and belts replete with flashy brass buckles and silk straps.

[i]“Frick’n Cizrans, why’d they make us—and choose to make us ridiculous?”[/i] Boomslang muttered rhetorically to himself, crossed his arms, and settled in for the ride.

. . . . . . . 
. . .

— 32 minutes and 66 seconds later:

Eti opened his eyes, fully sober and recharged. Boomslang snored across the cabin, self-propelled into an automated sleep to bypass the boredom of interstellar travel. Everything seemed normal.

Eti blinked.

Everything seemed abnormal. Once-smooth surfaces were overlain by a twine-like substance. Textures once unique all exhibited an odd sense of sameness. Boomslang was somehow even more adorable than before, like one of the cheap toys made for children of one of the Cizran’s biological slave species kept around—well, Eti wasn’t sure why. 

[i]“Ruzgar, status?”[/i] Eti inquired, momentarily disoriented.

[i]“Well, I’m glad you asked!”[/i] the Ruzgar replied excitedly, [i]“As requested, we’ve entered the nearest wormhole. I am attempting transit, but there’s been a probabilistic mishap. We are no longer in space nor time. What we see is neither real nor unreal, but it does appear to be yarn. A royal yarn wedding. A temporary pseudo-reality manifesting around us until we finish transit.”[/i]

[i]“In that case I’m going to disembark and explore. Principles of Entanglement Cosmogony, once the probability field collapses, we’ll revert to our pre-pseudo environment states and relative locations.”[/i]

With that, Eti disembarked the spaceship.