A Midsummer's Night Dream . . . IN SPACE!
an excerpt

A Midsummer’s Night Dream . . . IN SPACE!

Titus rubbed his hand along the smooth Uranian steel of the boats hull, his fingertips gently caressing the [depressions] of the soldered bolts. The vibrations rumbling through the hull as the mechanicals hurried to complete construction on time.

“Well, well, Master. Titus,” The voice carried down the dockside over the rumblings, clatter, and assorted noise.”

“Mr. Snug! How fare you these glorious days?”

“Glorious, indeed!” Snug removed the tam from his head, nodding to Titus.” I see that you have found her. What do you think?”

“She is a beautiful ship.” Titus turned from Snug towards the bustle surrounding the ship. “Will the work be completed in time?”

Snug followed Titus’ gaze to the welders bright flashes. “Oh, of course of course my lord. We have three days till launch and my men will not be late for the Queen.”

“The Queens,” Titus corrected, turning to the short man. “And a King, too.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Snug’s grip on his hat grew tighter. “The [navigator’s] have observed the suntides, and the launch conditions will be perfect. The Pyramus and Thisbe will make the trip to the Jubilee as scheduled. You can count on my men for that.” Snug stomp his foot on the wooden decking of the pier as he made his point. “No finer ship has plied the heaven’s than my Pyramus and Thisbe, and a fine gift she will make for the Queen.”

A wide grin crossed Titus’ face as he reached out and gave a friendly slap to Snug’s shoulder. “Ah, that she will my friend. That she will.”

“Take cover!” a voice bellowed from deckside. And Quince raced across the deck. With one hand out she vaulted over the railing nearly colliding with the two men. She rose to her feet, pulling the mechanics hat back into place “Get down!” she roared knocking the two men off their feet and joining them on the ground. A rush of many bootsteps passed the three on the ground.

Titus had just begun to raise his head , “What on Earth .” when his words were drowned by an explosion from the deck. A shower of debris rained on the prone figures.

Quince sat up, brushing dust and flakes of metal from her sleeves and hair. She gazed at the thick oily smoke rising from the deck. She turned to the large man who was rising next to her.

“What did you go and do that for?”

“You said to raise the pressure to 20, so that we can get the word done in time.” The man rose. “We are two days behind so I raised the pressure to 40 as it would get us done in half the time.”

Word count 461 - I am so far behind! And where did this Titus character come from?? He's not in the Shakespeare version or any of my pre-plotting!