Art by Teegar

...Uhura left Sulu looking at the rack of swords outside the shop, jangling the chains that secured them to the stall. Inside it was dark. The shelves were overfull of things no one could conceivably want to buy: ugly paperweights, lumpish vases, brass objects of dubious usefulness and no aesthetic merit. She was about to turn around and go back out into the daylight when a glint of something bright caught her eye from the darkest corner furthest from the window. She moved towards it. She still couldn't quite make it out but she had an impression of eyes... Tribbles, she reminded herself under her breath. If it was alive there was no way she was interested. Something made of feathers brushed at her face. She looked up at a stuffed bird of prey on a perch... no, a reassembled bird of prey, badly put together with plumage from several different species. She coughed a little at the dust she'd dislodged. Now she had reached her goal. A hand lettered sign hung from a nail above a narrow bookcase. 'Alein in a botle' it declared. The shelves were crowded with squat jars, each one topped with a cheerful little circle of gingham fabric in one of several different colours. She picked up a jar and squinted to see inside in the poor light. A humanoid figure, perhaps three inches long, sat hunched miserably on a rustic log. Its eyes were picked out with something shiny enough to catch even the scant illumination in the shop, but beyond that the lieutenant couldn't make out much detail. She carried the jar over towards the door and looked more closely.

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