Life With Althaar

In which the citizens of the Fairgrounds try to figure out the rules and limits of living under the new "suggestions" from the Fugulnari Advisory Committee. While Fugulnari agent Mrs. Frondrinax has her own problems in a new assignment creating a trade deal with the Bee People, Commander Torianna finds herself in a now mostly formal position, John B and Stella rarely get to see each other because of interference in their work schedules by the new management, drunk and arrogant Fugulnari cause problems at The Electric Egg, and H.F. searches desperately to find a safe place where Miss Sophie can now do her business.

In which John tries to share the Halloween tradition of watching scary movies with Althaar, and only succeeds in truly terrifying his friend with the mere idea that Humans could rise from the grave, as zombies are a completely and literally alien idea to all non-Human species. Meanwhile, controversial broadcaster Beaux Several arrives on the Fairgrounds after damaging several other civilizations by "just asking questions," and promptly charms and angers the locals in roughly equal amounts, while causing more trouble by promoting the Mrs. Frondrinax-created rumor that Humans actually can control the dead. And the other species on the Fairgrounds begin to form some Human-hating angry mobs.

In which Chip returns to The Electric Egg after a quick errand to find an immense booze fight in progress among just about everyone we know on The Fairgrounds. In attempting to sort out how the fight began, we are presented with eight flashbacks from amongst the crew, none of which actually in themselves do much to illuminate how the fight happened, but all of them revealing much about each character and how they see everyone else on The Fairgrounds and how they believe they are see and treated by all the others.

In which the "Steves" from an annoying but highly motivated and skilled capitalist species, the Dilurians, come to The Fairgrounds, renting a downshifted and unused level, from which they proceed to wreak havoc across the entire space station. As their new business, Cadabra, expands rapidly from selling personalized smells, they begin, in less than a day, to gentrify across the station, wiping out all the beloved homegrown businesses and replacing them with more-convenient apps providing far worse service. On top of it, Commander Torianna discovers she will have to avert an actual massacre as the Dilurians attempt to expand into the sector of the Pudendar, a proud and exiled species of warrior artists uninterested in and offended by the commercial offerings.

In which The Syndicate comes to The Fairgrounds to make Chip Frinkel an offer he can't refuse concerning his bar, The Electric Egg: a seemingly innocent offer of a pool table. However, more turns out to be riding on the table, and a game of SuperNova on it, than first appears. Meanwhile, Althaar becomes addicted to binge-watching 21st-Century television shows.

Althaar himself presents for you a collection of eight musical highlights from Season 1 of LIFE WITH ALTHAAR!

In which all the main characters are trapped in the disreputable bar The Electric Egg after their Christmas party when the security doors seal as several station-threatening disasters suddenly rampage. Between all of their various skills, and while stuck where they are, they must come up with a solution that will repair the tiny loose wire behind it all, which is on the other side of the station, before the Fairgrounds explodes or the residents are all eaten by the predatory xenomorphs that have emerged from their usual home in the vents. Meanwhile, the bar regulars are getting stir-crazy, and the entertainment options are limited.

In which John B attempts a simple errand: returning the talking (and annoying) 3-headed "Cockathreece" that he was sent instead of the goldfish he wanted from one side of a station level to the other in under an hour. But of course, it's The Fairgrounds, which means a complicated set of detours around a scavenger hunt, broken elevators, threats from cookie-selling ScoutBots, a full-on battle between Sanitation Fusiliers and the deadly Vent Biters, an anti-gravity Twister match, and a rowboat trip to The Old Mill (who puts a lake in a space station?). All while enduring the insults of the relentless Cockathreece.

In which we discover WHO is responsible for the pineapple juice that's filling up The Fairgrounds, WHAT Robots do for "tension relief," WHERE the zero-gravity Twister competition will be held if the pineapple juice can't be removed, WHEN the painfully shy Magnosians are able to mate, and HOW Althaar will learn about the "human sexing!" Answers involve weightless SCUBA diving among said pineapple juice, the exchange of vital internal parts, a lot of incredibly potent alcohol, and a much regretted favor.

In which disaster strikes The Fairgrounds (but doesn't it always?) when a mysterious incapacitating disease strikes every non-Human on the station - including the Robots - leaving a skeleton crew to try and run the HEC and cure the disease before life-support functions totally fail. Will the Humans do it before time runs out? What disgusting things does Human comfort food do to a sick lltorian? Will John B get a date with the amazonian Sanitation Fusilier of his dreams? And why is Andrew McCarthyBot not affected by the disease?

In which an unfamiliar ship lands on The Fairgrounds, turning out to contain two "scien-technicians" from the species known as "The Luck Navigators," whose entire technology is based on riding waves of Luck and it's opposite, which they refer to by the technical term "Suck." Unfortunately, the extreme amount of suck on the station has trapped them, and chaos descends as The Fairgrounds is beset by events, large and small, of extreme good and bad fortune, which the Luck Navigators predict will end in a disastrous singularity, the Suckhole. Is John B actually at the center of it all, and is he empirically the unluckiest being in the galaxy? And will the impending disaster be averted if Commander Torianna blasts John out of an airlock? And how is this all affecting open mic night at The Electric Egg?

In which the omnipresent (and possibly omnipotent), multidimensional Lt. Frall chooses to finally take some time off, but sends a future version of themself back in time to take their place and be present again when The Fairgrounds' senior staff is visited by The Fidorians, a friendly, dog-like species that turns out to have a surprisingly dark side, as the demand the return of an unknown item known to be on the station. Perhaps Sherlock HolmesBot and his associate Veronica Gardens can help find the mysterious mcguffin. Meanwhile, The Electric Egg runs afoul of the all-powerful Musicians Union, and must placate their rep, Mo Stolber, if they don't want to be shut down.

In which John B. arrives at The Fairgrounds, a space station in the Teegarden's System commonly known as the unluckiest place in Human space, and finds himself living with Althaar, the nicest being you'd ever want to meet, from a species whose very presence in any way causes Humans to react instinctively with fear, panic, and nausea. As John goes about his new day and job on the Fairgrounds, he meets many of the other beings who have wound up there, and discovers that even the simplest day-to-day existence on the station is basically a death-defying act.