Mr. Jones interrupted the proceedings and the lights came on. “ Your honor at this point I would like to have the charges dropped. It must seem obvious to this court that the crew of the DVD only had honorable intentions towards the people of Tarrago.”
Mr. Smith was quick to interrupt. “ Mr. Jones is speaking out of turn. Just because the crew started out with honorable intentions does not mean anything. It is what happened after this is what we are interested in. The time space continuum will still be disrupted.”
The judge thrust his gavel heavily onto his desk. “ Mr. Jones you are out of order, we will continue with the evidence and try to control yourself. Some of us would like to go home today.”
“ Yes your honor.” Mr. Jones exclaimed. As he turned around to take his seat he winked at the bemused Captain.
The room darkened once more and the holographic image continued.
Now the captain and some of the crew were beaming onto the planet and there was a small gathering to meet them. As the captain and the others materialized the man known as Elgin246 stepped forward to greet them.
* * * *
At this point Mr. Brown paused the images and explained that he would go forward in time to where the crew started to beam down to the planet surface.
He advanced the time to more than six hours and the captain watched as three crewmembers materialized. The captain recognised them as cadets who had been assigned to the ship for just six months further technical training and experience before they were to go back to Star Fleet for further training. They had not been able to return however when the DVD became stranded in the Beta quadrant.
They were all about the same age and had become almost inseparable in their off time. The only male was Steve who everybody called Flip, a nickname he had had since he was small. The two girls were known as Scout (which was her real name) and Tiny who was quite short for her age.
As they walked into the city they all seemed to be excited and eager, all talking at once and pointing out things of interest.
Suddenly they stopped.
“ Let’s have some fun today!” said Flip. “ I mean let’s really have some fun! We’ve been cooped up on that star ship for years now and we have a few days to do whatever we like.”
“ Don’t forget the rules though,” Tiny reminded. “ We don’t want to get into trouble.”
Flip raised his hand to his brow. “ The rules! Are you joking? They only told us that to keep us in line. I never heard so much rubbish.”
Scout punched him in the arm at hearing this. “ We are on an alien world and we have to respect the customs of this world.” Tiny nodded her head.
Flip continued. “ You can’t possibly be serious, we can only speak to even numbered people unless the odd numbered people are serving us or rendering some type of assistance? These are the most ridiculous rules I have ever heard in my life.”
“ Nevertheless you will obey them or you can go and have fun by yourself.” Scout was becoming angry with him. “ You do want to be a Star Fleet officer someday don’t you? I’m surprised you made it this far with the attitude you display sometimes.”
Tiny backed Scout up. “ I agree with Scout, we can have fun but we must obey the rules.”
Flip gave them both a disapproving look. “ I can’t believe this, but don’t worry I will observe the rules.” He bent his fingers mockingly as he said the word ‘rules’. Then he changed the subject. “ Let’s go and find a place to eat, I’m very hungry. They gave us some currency from this planet, let’s try some of the local food.”
At hearing this Scout gave a sigh of relief. “ That sounds like a good idea, I’m hungry too.”
The three of them found a large and busy food market. The colour and noise was confusing at first but the very air of excitement was affecting them all. They looked around with smiling interest. Many of the stalls offered exotic and unusual food, which often smelled very peculiar.
Flip stopped walking suddenly and turned to the two girls. “ Do you think the people running these stalls are odd numbered people? How are we supposed to tell one from the other?”
Scout rolled her eyes. “ It is permissible to talk to odd numbered people if they are in a serving position. We spoke about this before.”
“ Okay, okay! I still think these rules are lame but I will abide by them.”
They walked over to one of the stalls. Tiny spoke in her little shrill voice. “ What type food are you selling please?”
The girl’s skin was a vibrant blue colour. Her lips were full and pale. She had a wide face with lots of dark hair curling right down to her waist in thick rope-like curls. “ I am selling vissume, it is a type of local beetle that many people like to eat.” The girl recognised that they were aliens and added politely, “ Would you care to sample one?”
She put one on some paper and held it out to them. Tiny took it from her and the three of them studied it very closely.
“ Flip you try it first,” said Scout. “ Tell us if you like it.”
“ It’s a beetle, you try it first. I’ve never eaten a beetle in my life.”
“ I’ll try it.” Tiny finally decided. She looked at the beetle and took a little bite.
“ How was it?” Scout asked. She noticed Tiny had a blank expression.
“ Nice… different. Not bad at all. I would eat it again.”
Flip took the beetle and took a bite. On chewing it he found that it tasted awful. “ That’s disgusting!” he exclaimed, spitting it out. “ I thought you said it was nice.”
Tiny burst out laughing. “ If I told you that it was awful, you never would have tried it.” She kept on laughing.
The girl in the stall was watching this and look puzzled. “ Will you be wanting to buy some more Vissume?”
“ No thank you.” Scout replied. “ Would you be able to tell us where a popular eating place would be, one where we could sit down at a table?”
The girl replied straight away. “ If you walk straight up this street and then around the corner there is a very nice eating place, it is called Vsnjw.”
“ Thank you!” Scout replied.
The girl looked puzzled again. “ What does thank you mean? Nobody ever said that to me before.”
They stared at her. “ It is an expression of gratitude.” Tiny explained. The girl continued to stare. It was obvious she was not familiar with gratitude of any kind.
Scout wasn’t sure how to explain further but before she did Flip whisked her away.
“ Remember the rules, just let it go.” They all walked off towards the restaurant.
On rounding the corner they could clearly see the restaurant called Vsnjw just down the street. It seemed to be very popular as many people were seated inside.
“ Welcome to Vsnjw!” said a girl as they walked through the door. She also had a blue skin, pale lips and rope-like curls down her back. Her face was wide and her pale eyes were large and slanted.
“ That’s easy for you to say!” joked Flip. He shut up when the girl merely stared at him.
“ My friends and I would like to have a table inside please,” Flip said.
“ A table for three,” said the girl and led them deep into the restaurant. The atmosphere was very noisy, with voices clamoring to be heard above the din coming from the area where several men were cooking in a sectioned off commercial kitchen.
Scout noticed Captain Hemorrhoid sitting with Lieutenant Beani-Poohs. They were sitting just a few tables from where they were finally seated. On being seated all three were handed menus which they studied straight away.
“ I don’t think I like this place,” said Tiny, looking around with a frown. “ I can hardly hear myself think it’s so noisy, and I can’t make heads or tails of this menu.”
“ The Captain seems to like it.” Scout looked over to show the others where he was sitting. “ Flip go over and ask the Captain what we should order.”
“ No, you go, he’ll think I’m stupid.” He protest
ed.
“ You’re the longest serving cadet, I think you should go.”
Before he could argue Flip felt a hand on his shoulder. The Captain had walked over to say hello.
“ Here we have the future of Star Fleet.” He mocked. “ Are you three having a nice time?”
“ Yes we are Captain,” said Tiny with a small shy smile.“ Thank you for asking.”
“ We do however have something you could help us with.” Scout glanced hopefully up at him from under her lashes.
“ Do you mean the menu? The Lieutenant and myself also had difficulty with it.”
“ What did you order?” asked Flip.
“ We asked for the specialty of the house and I must say it was very nice, whatever it was. Be careful not to order any Vissume, the local people like it but it looks just like some type of beetle.”
Flip found it hard not to laugh at hearing this.
“ Oh and be careful, this restaurant is a little expensive, we found.” He turned to walk away. “ Enjoy yourselves, who knows how long it will be before we have shore leave again.”
A minute later he and Lieutenant Beani-Poohs left the restaurant.
“ Isn’t he nice?” Scout beamed. “ I’ll bet some Captains wouldn’t even bother to say hello to cadets like us. He took the time and trouble to make sure we were alright.”
Flip rolled his eyes. “ Not this again, sometimes I think you have some sort of crush on the Captain. In the twentieth century they would call what you have, puppy love.”
Scout was offended. “ That’s absurd. I do not have a crush on him.”
“ He is handsome though.” Tiny nodded dreamily. “ He has very kind eyes.”
Scout instantly agreed. “ Yes his eyes are very kind. The Lieutenant is a very lucky woman…” She was about the say more when the waitress came back to the table.
“ Are you ready to order?”
Flip was relieved to have the subject changed. “ Yes we are, we’ll have three specialties of the house.”
“ Would you like to order drinks as well?”
“ What do you recommend?”
“ The Vissume juice is very nice and we have some Palpa which is very popular.”
Flip wasn’t sure what to say. “ Bring us three Palpas and three glasses of water.”
“ Very good sir.”
Flip was sure he didn’t want to continue the conversation the girls were engaging in before the food was ordered so he started a different one.
“ You know I think I can tell the difference between the odd people and the even people.”
Scout nodded her head. “ Yes I think I have worked it out as well. The even numbered people have light green skin with thin faces and little hair. They have large ears too. The odd numbered people have blue skin with wide faces, pale lips, sometimes pale eyes and lots of thick curling hair.”
“ We must be as clever as each other, to work it out.” Flip felt proud of himself.
“ I worked it out a long time ago.” Tiny scoffed. “ I just never said anything. I mean, can it be any more obvious?”
“ Sure you did.” Flip mocked.
“ Oh please… what am I, dumb or something? You can see it as plain as that woman’s blue skin…” She fell silent as the waitress arrived with the drinks.
Tiny took a sniff of her drink. “ I think I’m just going to drink the water, this Palpa smells strange."
“ Nonsense!” Flip said picking up his glass. “ Remember we are exploring strange new worlds, this means finding out about their culture and their food. I admit I wasn’t all to keen on the Vissume but I intend to drink this beverage.” He raised the glass to his lips and took a large swallow. The others looked on as he sat in silence thinking about what he had just tasted.
“ How was it?” Scout asked. “ Be truthful, no tricks please.”
“ I liked it.” He announced. “ I really did. After this glass I may have another. It has a surprising flavour. I don’t think I can even describe it.”
Scout tried her drink next and Tiny tried hers last. Before long they were ordering another round. It was tasty, refreshing and the odd spicy yet sweet flavour began to grow on them. Their meals arrived soon after this. It was hard to describe the food… some of it could have been a vegetable or a meat…it was hard to tell but it was so tasty and they enjoyed everything so much that they decided have some desert as well.
They ordered a purple looking dish that looked like a fruit but almost melted on the tongue. It was served with a strange pungent smelling sauce that coated it just like sticky honey but had a tart flavour not unlike citrus.
By the time dinner was over they were all feeling very full. The service had been excellent and they were thrilled with their first experience of the local culture.
“ Yum,” Tiny licked the last of her dessert off her spoon. “ I don’t know what that was but it was delicious! Have you noticed that they like to mix two opposing flavours together?”
“ Yes,” Scout nodded, “ not to mention that the worst smelling dishes are the tastiest.”
“ It’s certainly played havoc with our misconceptions about alien food,” Flip agreed.
“ I wonder how much this will be? The Captain said this place could be expensive.” Tiny asked.
“ It’s a good thing we all pooled the money we were given,” said Scout. “ Flip you should ask for the bill so we can pay it and get out of here. I need to walk off this meal.”
“ Yes I will.” He responded. He was feeling around in his pocket.
“ That’s funny.” He said. “ I can’t feel the money in my pockets.”
“ I hope you’re not being funny again.” Scout complained. “ Try a different pocket.”
Just then the waitress came and put the bill on the table and walked away.
Tiny picked it up and looked it over. “ It’s not such a high bill, twenty-five credits for all three of us."
Scout was beginning to worry as Flip began to search his other pockets. “ Didn’t you find the money yet?”
Flip tuned red and made a gulping noise. “ I remember what happened now.”
“ What would that be?” Scout was not impressed.
“ After you gave me your money I was looking at my pants and without thinking I changed them for a clean pair. The money is back on board the ship.”
Scout stared. “ Tell us you are joking.”
“ Sorry, no. It’s a natural mistake.”
“ I knew I shouldn’t have trusted all your talk about pocket pickers and kept my own money on me.”
Tiny sighed. “ I usually keep it in my bra…now I don’t have a single credit on me.”
Flip ran his hand through his hair. “ Look, I didn’t mean it. I’m sure they will understand… I just have to go and get the money.”
“ We don’t know how reasonable they will be about it,” Scout countered. “ Where I come from, the manager would call for the local authorities to sort it out. I sure hope they don’t lock us up for this.”
“ Perhaps they would allow me to beam back up to the ship and get the money from my other pants while you wait here.” Flip suggested.
Scout was appalled at the predicament. “ We could only try.”
Tiny chewed her lips, “ Oh dear, this is just terrible.”
Scout signaled to the waitress to come over to the table and explained to her what had happened. At hearing the story the expressionless waitress asked them to please wait at the table. She went to an office and a few minutes later a man with a thin green face walked to their table. He did not look friendly or happy.
“ I am the owner of this eating place, my name is Tseb2864. I understand you have no credits to pay for your meals.”
Flip answered in a careful and respectful tone. “ If you could give me fifteen minutes I will get the money for you. I mislaid it and just have to go back to my ship and get it. I changed clothes and the money was accidentally left behind. We have every intention of payi
ng for the excellent service here.”
“ That will not be possible. This has happened before and the parties responsible never returned.”
“ You can trust me, I promise I will come straight back with your money. My friends are willing to stay here until I return.”
Tiny and Scout nodded but Tseb2864 shook his head. His expression was even grimmer now than before.
“ No, I do not accept your terms. You can work off what you owe me, all three of you. I will require the three of you to work twelve hours each and then you can pay the rest tomorrow. Tomorrow you can pay me ten credits, at that time I will trust you to retrieve the money. Do I make myself clear?”
The three cadets were appalled. They stared at him. “ Please you don’t have to do this,” Scout protested. “ We will stay here as guarantor for him. When he returns you will have your money. He can beam onto the ship and be back before you know it. Please...”
“ That is not acceptable. I do not trust Other Worlders. You have the means to disappear and I will be without my credits. We will have no more discussion about this. You will report to the kitchen now and start work. Nomis6402 will tell you what you have to do.”
Flip went to speak, but Tseb2864 cut him off. “ If you say one more word I will send for the authorities, they do not treat people like you very well. Also give me all devices you have for communication. We will not have you talking to Other Worlders such as yourselves until your debt is paid.”
They looked at one another in dismay. Flip nodded and they reluctantly followed the waitress to the kitchen.
“ Here’s an other nice mess you’ve gotten me into,” said Scout scowling at Flip.
Flip rolled his eyes, “ No one could mistake you as a female, you sure know how to play the guilty game...look, you know I didn’t mean it.”
“ There will be no talking.” Another man with a thin green face scolded them as he turned towards them.
The kitchen was large and very busy, there was a crew of six chefs preparing food and many servers walking in and out with trays. Scout spotted a small female youth with a thin green face washing what looked to be some kind of seafood and she was puzzled from what she had heard about alien culture of this planet.
The man with the thin green face walked over to what looked like a communication device and spoke for a few moments and then came back to the three cadets. “ I am Nomis6402 and I am the only person you are permitted to speak with while you work your twelve hours for us. Do I make myself clear?”
“ Crystal!” Flip replied with a smirk.
“ Because you are new I will let that jest pass, do not test me again or you will find yourself on the floor. Now the three of you can start washing pots and pans to start you off. There is enough work to last almost an hour then I will be back to give you more work.”
The three cadets were all assigned to the area of engineering on board the DVD and were not used to washing dishes or pots as replicators usually did this for them. They stared in horror at the piles of smelly, dirty dishes, some with food still on them. The water had been made extremely hot and all the pots were very dirty and took a lot of work to scrape and wash them clean.
After just one hour the three of them were very tired and could not believe they still had eleven hours to go until the debt would be paid back. There was no climate control of any kind in the kitchen area and they were perspiring heavily already. Around the kitchen area they could see more and more people arriving to eat their meals and the noise level never decreased for even a second. It was clear that there were going to be many more dishes and pots to wash.
As Flip was working he whispered to Scout. “ I think these aliens are going to kill me with all this work.”
Suddenly he was pulled violently backwards as Scout screamed and his head exploded, just before darkness swallowed him up...
The next he knew he was waking up in a cool storeroom and he had a painful bruise on the side of his head.
He was not alone. A small green female alien was sitting on a box of provisions, studying him curiously. She smiled at him.
“ How does your head feel? He really hit you hard.”
Flip was shocked. “ Do you mean that Nomis person hit me?”
The girl waved her arms around. “ Keep your voice down or he will do it again.”
“ I’d like to see him try! If I had seen him coming it would be a different story, he would be the one lying in here now.”
“ He’s very tough. He used to pick fights with odds just for fun and he always won. I advise you to be careful.”
“ Well I’m very good with my fists. I’ll show him if he comes at me again.”
The girl fell silent for a moment and was studying him. “ You and the others have strange coloured skin, where do you come from?”
He groaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position. He felt a little dizzy but it passed quickly and he looked around the storeroom.
“ We come from Earth, it’s a planet in the Alpha Quadrant. It’s many light years from here.” He answered as looked for a way out. Clearly he and the girl had been locked in.
“ The Alpha what? You sure do talk strange.”
Flip checked the translator clipped to his collar. It appeared to be working fine.
“ Let’s just say it’s a long way from here. We are on our way back home. It’s just taking much longer than we thought it would.” He paused. “ May I ask you a question?”
“ If you like.” She smiled.
“ I saw that you were working when we came into the kitchen and you are an even person. I thought the odd people did the menial work. Is there a reason why you were doing this?”
She started to laugh. “ I am Nomis6402’s daughter and he is training me to do his job for the day when I take over from him. He believes that a person in charge should know how to do all the different jobs in the kitchen. I do not serve in the eating area though. No even will ever serve another even, it is just not done. But I must have a working knowledge of all the functions of each department in order to manage a business efficiently.”
Flip nodded his head. Even though this girl looked so different he could feel himself being drawn to her. She was very attractive he thought.
“ Why are you in here?” he asked.
She grinned. “ I took some personal time when I should have been supervising the cleaning of the personal grooming areas. I do not like that part of the job. It smells in there.”
“ Oh, well I can understand that.”
She kept on smiling at him, which made him slightly uncomfortable, so he asked another question. “ What is your name?”
“ I am Ynnej648622. How are you called?”
“ My friends call me Flip.”
She looked puzzled. “ Flip? Just Flip, no numerical designation?”
“ I’m afraid not. Where I come from we just have names with no numbers.”
“ How do you tell the servants from the masters then?”
Before Flip could answer the door burst open and Nomis6402 walked in. “ You have missed twenty minutes of work and you will make up this time before you leave here. Now get back to work and this time, no talking.”
Flip looked up at the man and considered taking him on but he was already in enough trouble. Nomis6402 was standing over him with hostile eyes as if daring Flip to react so that he could pound into him some more.
Flip looked at the girl's sympathetic eyes, then he got up painfully and walked back to the kitchen without a word.
Scout and Tiny said nothing but they were both glad to see him.
Mr. Brown now spanned over the next lot of hours until they were finished working in the kitchen.