TRIBBLE TROUBLE
One little Tribble,
“It’s looking kind of blue,
Do you think perhaps it’s hungry?”
How cute! Now there’s two.
Two little Tribbles,
Eat a little more
Of that yummy quadrotriticale;
“Oh look, now there’s four!”
Four little Tribbles,
“Maybe they should wait
a while before they feed again?”
Count them and there’s eight.
Eight little Tribbles,
Looking kind of lean;
“Quick somebody stop them!”
Too late – they’re sixteen.
Sixteen little Tribbles,
Surely this can’t go on all day?
But the Tribbles keep on nibbling,
They’re not going to go away,
Until that Quadrotriticale’s all gone,
At which stage we should see,
Not one, or two, or sixty-four,
But (No! This just can’t be!)
If they double every hour,
In a very little while,
2028 Tribbles
will be squabbling in a pile.
And then, six hours after that,
I’m afraid that there will be,
145,792 of them
looking up at me…
Quick somebody do something!
We’ve got to end this somehow;
“Hello, Karg and Qualach Exterminators,
We need you here right now!”
“You’re afraid it will take you three days to come?
I’m sorry – this just won’t wait.
We’ve got a Tribble problem here, and
three days from now will be two days too late.”
It’s funny how his attitude changed,
As I explained to him our plight.
I could almost swear I heard that Klingon purr
As he said “We’ll be there by tonight.”
The Klingons arrived at midnight,
Their word was good as their bond.
And a quarter of a million Tribbles,
Trembled to hear them come.
For the Klingons had brought Glommers,
And the Klingons had brought guns,
(both phasers and disrupters)
And Tribble Traps by the tonne.
They deployed them through the station,
Catching Tribbles by the score,
While the Glommer teams roamed freely,
Consuming thousands more.
Less than an hour after they arrived,
They declared their job was done.
There was nary a Tribble left in sight,
They’d dealt with every one.
I handed them their money,
And sent them on their way,
(given the magnitude of the problem
their price seemed quite reasonable to pay)
But, no sooner had they left,
Than I heard a quiet purr;
And out from the darkest corner,
Crept a tiny ball of fur.
I looked at that tiny Tribble,
And the Tribble looked at me.
I picked it up and held it,
And it gave a little ‘Cree’.
Should I call the Klingons back
to remove this furry ball?
Could I bring myself to do it?
It was the last one of them all.
It looked so sweet and innocent,
As it cuddled up to me and purred,
If you’d asked me to describe it then
‘Cute’ would be the only possible word.
“It’s alright little one,” I said,
As my conscience began to burn,
Then I walked over to the Com panel –
And asked the Klingons to return.
By Karen Johnson 
Post in Forums 
Nov 21, 2005 @ 06:49:39
i will get back to it
