We’ve all heard it said. By a friend; in books or movies. Something like 'I've fallen in love with an angel'.
Well, I actually have.
I’m Helen Silitto, for what it’s worth, the captain of the space trashcan 'Eliminator IV'. I say for what it’s worth because despite the size of the cumbersome brute there’s only three of us on board. Five, if you count Daisy the irritatingly-human ship’s computer and Clarence the resident ginger tom.
There’s Hog (Howard Oswald Grant, get it?) who’s actually pretty fit. We’ve got a bit of a ‘thing’ going on…don’t tell the federation, it’s frowned upon.
And theres our techy, Leroy. That’s not his real name either, he’ll be mortified if he knew I’m telling you that it’s William Smith, because it really doesn’t go with his image.
He’s an out-and-out rasta man – complete with dreadlocks and Bob Marley obsession. He’s so far out of time that when I first met him I had to ask what a rasta was – it is 2075 after all.
And finally me – the youngest captain in the federation. And I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but at 38 years old I am about to experience an emotional, professional and sexual awakening.
So that’s us, and just another day collecting space junk.
Except it wasn’t to be ‘just another day’.