The Sandman in Space


Matti Nukkunen floated in the sky hanging to his umbrella. His mission was,
once again, to give the small children of the city their normal sleeping-sand
dosages. He eyed the little badge on his chest with pride. It had yellow text
on a blue background and it read:
  "Sandman Organisation, medium-class sandman M. Nukkunen"
  Matti had left the umbrella hangar of the organisation headquarters a moment
ago after first filling his cargo bay full from the organisation's sleeping-
sand supplies.

"Now, let's take this calmly", he thought to himself, "first I pull the handle
on the umbrella and then I slowly open the cargo bay doors." A yellow, glowing
powder started to flow out of the containers attached to the umbrella. Matti
pulled the gasmask up to his face.
  After a small, circular flight round he was ready to return to headquarters.
He shut the umbrella's containers and took the gasmask off his face. Suddenly
he felt a weird sensation of being lost. He checked with his compass and
noticed he was moving directly upwards. The headquarters was in an entirely
different direction. This won't do at all, he thought.
  With tremendous will-power (and a few lead weights) Matti did get his
umbrella to land on the ground.

"Now look here, umbrella, if you want to fly to space, then okay, but it isn't
so easy", he said. The umbrella rotated in the air, dumbfounded.
  "There's no air in space, you know, only a void, and if I were to go there
without a spacesuit, then phuh - I'm dead - and you'll have no pilot any more."
Matti got the umbrella to know that he needed a spacesuit.
  After dressing in the spacesuit Matti started the umbrella's engines and shot
off to space. Why, he didn't know, but these umbrellas were always having new
ideas. The umbrella was flying at a threatening pace towards the Moon. Matti
had time to pull the emergency brake just before they would have crashed into a
space shuttle.
  The shuttle's cargo bay opened and a robot arm came out, which took the
suspicious-looking travellers inside the shuttle.

"What are you doing here?" they were asked.
  "I don't know, ask the umbrella", answered Matti.
  The umbrella was asked, and its radar screen showed to have located a huge
vein of sleeping-sand on the Moon. Because it was programmed to move there as
soon as possible, it had just been following orders. The space shuttle landed
on the Moon and the sleeping-sand minings were started.
  A long time passed, until the shuttle's cargo bay was full of sleeping-sand.
There was still much left of the vein, but there wasn't any more room in the
cargo bay. The shuttle left Matti, his trusty umbrella and the sleeping-sand in
the Sandman Organisation's headquarters.

Inside the organisation's headqurters the sandman commader stepped in front of
Matti. After he had asked why Matti was late Matti told him that he had dug up
a great sleeping-sand vein on the Moon.
  "For this merit", said the commander, "you M. Nukkunen are promoted to senior
sandman officer and your pay will rise 25 %."
  "Aw, I wasn't so important", explained Matti, "it was my umbrella that
located the vein."
  Because of this very reason Matti Nukkunen's umbrella is now enjoying its
free time in a private hangar digesting its fuel in the enlarged tanks that
have been made specially for it. It has received a greater circulation area and
is very proud of its profession.