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xiphiasAfter the successful test of the brand-new hyperdrive, Captain Feghoot got a chance to meet the lead researcher of the team that developed it.
"What I don't understand, Dr. Fagan, is how you realized that the stable subspace strings that Dr. Poccator postulated would actually be strong enough to use for propulsion. How did you know that his theory would create a hyperspace tunnel? What led you to choose that direction of research over all the other competing methods that your team developed?"
"Well," Dr. Fagan replied, "You've got to pick a Poccator tube, boys. You've got to pick a Poccator tube."
"What I don't understand, Dr. Fagan, is how you realized that the stable subspace strings that Dr. Poccator postulated would actually be strong enough to use for propulsion. How did you know that his theory would create a hyperspace tunnel? What led you to choose that direction of research over all the other competing methods that your team developed?"
"Well," Dr. Fagan replied, "You've got to pick a Poccator tube, boys. You've got to pick a Poccator tube."
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I'm lost
Date: 2006-02-10 02:33 am (UTC)I'm sorry, even reading it aloud I don't get it. Maybe it's because I'm carefully pronouncing each word in the entire story, but the only homonym I can find is Poccator tube, but I still don't get it.
Oops, I think I finally got it, when I thought of it in terms of Star Trek or Men in Black. It's been a long day. I think that I'm going to go to bed now.
Re: I'm lost
Date: 2006-02-10 02:40 am (UTC)A Feghoot is a science fiction short-short story based around a terrible pun. Usually explaining the exploits of the famed Captain Feghoot, Space Explorer.
Re: I'm lost
Date: 2006-02-11 03:04 am (UTC)Re: I'm lost
Date: 2006-02-11 04:37 am (UTC)To explain the joke, just so you don't have to be left out (obviously, once you explain it, it's not funny any more -- but it's even WORSE to just not have the referent and have it NOT explained. . . )
The character of Fagin, in the musical, has one song where he's teaching Oliver and the other kids how to steal, and the chorus is, "You've got to pick a pocket or two, boys, you've got to pick a pocker or two."
It's a pretty distinctive line if you've ever heard the song, so that's what the pun turns on.
Re: I'm lost
Date: 2006-02-11 04:12 pm (UTC)