Transcript
In a ship’s shuttle bay, an ensign with a data pad is staring in shock at the two shuttles sitting in the bay. A commander approaches with a friendly smile.
Commander: How’s the inventory going?
Ensign: We have two shuttles.
Commander: Well, yes, we had two shuttles when we set out for deep space.
Ensign: According to the logs, we’ve destroyed five.
They stare at each other.
The commander gestures awkwardly toward the shuttles.
Commander: Well… obviously we can make them.
Ensign: We made one. We spent all month working on it together, and then we crashed it into a moon.
The commander takes the data pad and reassuringly puts a hand on the ensign’s shoulder.
Commander: Alright, don’t panic.
Commander: Since we’re supposed to have negative two shuttles, we’ll just convert these to antimatter, sign off on the inventory, and call it a day!
P.S. Our bills are paid by our wonderful patrons. Could you chip in?
Hello there, Voyager… :-D
And Space 1999.
Battlestar Galactica too
Inventory taking at its finest – great comic again, Bunny and Chris!
Ya see?
This is why you should never take inventory
Plot twist: one is a mimic.
The plot twist is that both shuttles are mimics, as were the previous two.
Oh, this is brilliant! I can’t properly express how happy it made me, but congrats!
I am a bit confused about this… whats the joke?
I think it’s a subtle one about how correcting the, relatively minor, inventory issue by converting matter to antimatter, in an uncontrolled environment, would cause a big explosive problem.
The joke is that bureaucracy is foolish enough to destroy two functional shuttles because that’s easier than having the inventory out of balance. As well as a mathematical joke, in that converting the shuttles to anti-shuttles will make the math balance.
Want a greatly funny story about inventories on space ships? Read Allamagoosa from Eric Frank Russell.