"I'm sorry!" Zigan wailed to the court. "I'll do anything! Just don't send me there!"

The panel of five glared down at him. He had to crane his neck to see their disapproving frowns - the Nachshelak race believed firmly in high platforms to emphasise superiority.

"It's too late for apologies, Zigan," he heard the cool voice of the Intergalactic Judge, Supreme High Mistress Dalia, say. "Perhaps you should have thought twice about misplacing your employer's pet. Earth will be a most suitable punishment, don't you agree?"

"I didn't lose Iggy on purpose, though," he said yet again.

"Flies are the most exotic of species, exported at great risk from Earth," Migal snapped, seated on Dalia's right. "You know this, Master Zigan. You read the contract, I'm sure."

He paused, glaring at him. "You did read the contract?"

"Oh, yes, of course," said Zigan hastily.

If there's one thing his species abhorred, it was rule-breakers. The rebels. The outlaws. People who skimmed through the standard 80 000 page document upon signing an agreement to housesit his employer's pet, for example. He wasn't about to make his sentence worse, though.

"What was line one of page 1050?" Jylek grinned at him from above, and Zigal inwardly cursed him to share his confinement on Earth.

"Oh, I have a...memory disability," he improvised. It had been known to happen among the Nachshelak. "Can hardly remember what I ate for lunch this time last year. Terrible burden."

"Silence," Dalia interjected. "Your lies will only make this worse."

Zigal forced himself to be silent and stared at his claws.

"Go to your right, Zigal," she ordered him. "The reincarnation process will begin shortly. Make the best of your next life, and try to remember this lesson when you rejoin the Nachshelak."

The process was quick - a step in the chamber, a flick of a button by the official who had strapped him firmly to a Reincarnation Pod. As he began to lose consciousness, Zigal resigned himself to his fate. With luck, he'd wake up as a Great Dane. He'd seen pictures. Of all the unsightly creatures on Earth, they most resembled the majestic Nachshelak.

He woke up slowly, and found his view distorted by a shimmering substance. Water? He flicked his eyes, a thrill of horror shooting through his new body. He tried to see his body, and succeeded only in wiggling upside down. He caught a glimpse of an orange tail.

"Now, remember, Suzie," he heard a voice from far away, and saw a blurry figure on the other side of the glass. "You have to feed it every day. Your dad and I think this will be a nice way to teach you about pets before we get the dog, ok?"

Zigal tried to scream, a stream of bubbles escaping from his mouth instead.

"Oh, look Mummy, it's smiling!"

"Oh, goldfish just do that, sweetie," he heard the voice say. "But maybe it is. You never know what they're thinking, really."