Space Relations Pt. 23

"They're afraid of something." Cruz guessed. "They're not afraid for us, but more for themselves."

"I agree with that." Mary nodded. "Captain Pang was so terrified that her empath was constantly soothing her with waves of peace. That La Penn guy, he was more of a hard-ass who could hold a good poker face. That's why she didn't say anything and let him do all the talking."

"Why wouldn't they tell us straight out?" Washington wondered.

"I don't know." Mary shrugged. "Something happened to them, and now it went away. They're worried that it might happen again, because they will have a lot of trouble with everyone outside the Beagle if it does happen again. That's all the info I was able to gather. You know, I kind of like being a little spy like this! Oh, yeah!"

"Could it have something to do with the hallucination where you thought Pang was a man instead of a woman?"

"That wasn't a hallucination, Captain." Mary replied.

"You're telling me that Pang was a woman, turned into a man, and turned back into a woman?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I'm sticking to my guns. Pang was a man!"

"No wonder Pang didn't say anything." Cruz surmised. "Imagine if something like that took place here on our ship. We might be trying to keep that 'unusual hallucination,' as they called it, out of the public eye just as adamantly. It would be utterly humiliating for ship full of hard-nosed eggheads if their commanding officer started to spontaneously change his or her sex."

"That's freaky, isn't it?" Mary asked. Her eyes gaped wide, but a second later she was covering her mouth and giggling like a schoolgirl.

"That poor woman." Cruz smirked. "One day she's normal, and the next day she's got something dangling between her legs. I'm sure I'd want to keep the matter hidden myself, if something similar happened to me. Can you imagine if something like that got out into the public, Captain? You go into the john and your wanker is suddenly missing and you've got rose petals instead? Or what about you Mary, if you discovered you had a Johnson where your muffin is now."

"I'd say, woo-hoo!" Mary exclaimed.

As his science officers went into puerile hysterics, Washington tapped his fingers on his armrest. He would ask Thor to go through the conversation with the Beagle with him, in the case they could pick up anything new. "You know, I think I'll put our ship into quarantine as well. We'll ask the California to take us into their dock, the same as the Beagle is doing. We'll be confined until we reach the Neptune."

"See, Captain, see what I mean?" Mary told him. "You don't want us walking around on the California because you're afraid we might embarrass you with the kittens."

"Now imagine how much more embarrassed Captain Pang would be, if it became known she once had the old pork and beans."

Washington could only shake his head, as his two underlings cracked up again.