Random 4

One evening in 1899, three men called Alfred and their mate Jack took a walk in London's East End, stopping off at a few pubs along the way, with the unstated aim of soliciting prostitutes for a bit of how's-your-father. Alf, the eldest of the group, frolicked regularly with the whores of Limehouse, and his wife Mabel had a pox to show for it. She knew what he got up to, of course, but she said nothing. What could she say?

They sank a couple of pints in the Old Parr's Head, a couple in the Green Man, and another couple in the Queen's Arms. Brendan, the Irish landlord of the latter venue, seeing them for the men on the make they were, watered their ale aggressively, but even so they were pretty tipsy when they staggered out onto the Commercial Road and into the hansom cab from outer space.

"Where to, gents?"

"Take us to the river. St Katherine's Docks, or perhaps Wapping Wall."

"Right you are, sir." The cabbie wasn't going anywhere of the kind, but he let them settle in and get vaguely comfortable before he took to the skies.

They were unconscious, of course, when he brought them to the spaceship. Unconscious and having terrible dreams; which were nothing to what awaited them when they awoke.

Things after that were rather difficult for quite a long time.
Posted by matt at September 10, 2005 12:10 AM