With apologies to Heath Ledger. May he not be rolling in his grave.
A Cultural Anthropologist’s Tale
“Rikki, c’mon, we shouldn’t be doing this!” The three boys were sneaking through the woods outside of the capital city, staying mainly in the shadows as they walked.
“Delor, I know what he said. If we go to him in the daytime someone might see us and discover he’s out here. But I’m telling you, he’s going to want to know about this right away! What if he’s in Gereliad when our army attacks? He could be caught up in the fighting! And if he’s wounded and taken to a doctor…” Rikki let his voice trail off.
The third boy, Melnon, had stayed out of the conversation so far. He tended to be quiet by nature but he spoke up now. “That would be the end of it, Delor, and you know it as well as me. The government would find out he’s not one of us and who knows what would happen then!” Delor looked abashed and scratched his ear with his tail.
“I guess you’re right.” The vestigial wings under his arms flapped once, signifying his concession.
Rikki’s forceful personality ploughed right over any further objections his two companions might have had. “Ok, then, let’s get a move on!” He stomped off deeper into the forest, Delor and Melnon pressing hard to keep him in sight.
The boys continued on for over an hour before reaching the hidden glen that was their destination. The trees formed a canopy around the open area, concealing it from prying eyes. This was a necessary condition for, in the center, sat a craft unlike any other known on this world of Surrakesh. It gleamed with a coating of white interrupted only by a wide red stripe running length-wise and a series of alien numbers near the nose. When they had met the year before its owner had told the boys it was called a “shuttle”. The boys approached it now, Rikki leading the way and calling for its owner.
“Lieutenant Jacobs! Lieutenant! We have something you need to know!” Only the small gralls could be heard from their perches in the surrounding trees. As the boys drew closer to the craft they could see its ramp was extended.
“Maybe he’s on another trip,” Delor commented nervously. Rikki strode up to the ramp and stopped suddenly, his tale stiff in the air behind him.
“By the Gods, no!” he exclaimed. The other two boys hurried over to him. When they saw what lay on the ground, they, too, stopped, horrified. At the bottom of the ramp lay the body of the alien, Lieutenant Jacobs. His head lay at an unnatural angle and his tail was tangled in his legs. A small pool of strangely-colored red blood had congealed around his head. Shaking off his shock, Rikki bent to examine the tail. The fur covering had torn slightly and he could see bits of wire and the strange material Jacobs had called “plastic” visible through the rent. “It looks like his tail was some kind of mechanism. A part of his disguise, I suppose. I think something went wrong and it tripped him.”
Melnon was squatting down, looking at the bloody pool. “I knew he was from another world but seeing blood this color just seems weird,” he remarked. He glanced up at Rikki. “What are we going to do now?” For a moment, Rikki looked lost but then a gleam came into his eyes and he said,
“First, we have to bury Lieutenant Jacobs. Then we have to turn on his ‘cloaking device’ so no one sees his ‘shuttle’. And then I have to send the next report to Starfleet Command on his behalf.” His two friends gaped at him.
“You’re mad!” Melnon exclaimed.
“How are you going to do that?” Delor asked at the same time.
“While you two were snug in your perches at night I’ve been coming out here to talk to Lieutenant Jacobs. Since my mother died my father walks through life as though blind, not noticing if I come or go.” Melnon and Delor looked away at the mention of Rikki’s deceased mother. “I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know the Lieutenant and his job. He taught me how to run his ‘Computer’, “the unfamiliar word came out harshly, “And I think I can finish his job for him.”
Delor just stared at Rikki but Melnon, the oldest of the three, climbed to his feet, declaiming, “This alien was trained to study other civilizations. There’s no way you can take his place!” Rikki just grinned at him with that cock-sure grin they knew too well. It was the same grin he’d used when they were little to convince them to release a cage full of gralls into the temple during services.
“That’s the beauty of it, Melnon. We already live here! How tough can it be?”
Melnon felt his heart dropping to his stomachs. He sighed and gestured for Delor to help with the dead alien’s body. “C’mon,” he said gruffly, “We gotta bury this before someone comes along.” Gesturing to Rikki as he stood beside the strange craft, he continued, “And you’d better make that thing disappear or we’ll have a witch hunt on our hands, sure as I’m standing here.” Rikki grinned harder and dashed into the shuttle. A moment later, the craft wavered and vanished from sight, replaced by the open glen. Melnon and Delor started to walk towards the creek down in the tree line but Delor tripped on nothing visible and dropped his side of the corpse. Muttering deprecations under his breath, he picked the fur-covered legs up again and continued towards the creek.
Inside the shuttle, Rikki took a seat in front of the communications panel. He’d seen Jacobs do this dozens of times before. “Computer, recording mode.”
A disembodied voice answered, “Working.”
Rikki began dictating his report on the upcoming sneak attack by Massacar on Gereliad. Before he had finished Melnon and Delor returned, cursing and swearing as they barked their shins on the invisible ramp. Rikki refrained from laughing at them and, when the report was finished, gave an order to the ship’s computer. “Computer, remove all background noises and translate this report into Federation Standard. Then transmit the report under Lieutenant Jacob’s name to Starfleet Command.” After the computer confirmed his orders he turned to his two friends. “See, that wasn’t so hard,” he said. “I told you I learned a lot from our alien friend.” Changing his tone, he asked, “Did you bury him?” Melnon nodded.
“Then we jumped in the creek,” Delor added, “We had to get the dirt and that weird-looking blood out of our fur.”
“Good,” Rikki said. “I’ve decided to keep doing his work for him. I need you, Melnon, to return to Massacar and learn all you can about the up-coming war. Delor, I’m going to need you to go to Celerise. Tell your parents you want to stay with your cousin, Banar, so you don’t get conscripted into the army. Celerise should remain neutral in the fighting that’s to come so you’ll be safe. I want both of you to tell me what’s going on. Not just the big news but the little things too. Jacobs seemed fascinated by the little differences between the city-states. I want you to tell me everything you can learn about things like that.”
“Oh, and I’m to just nip out and come tell you what’s all about things like that, am I?” Delor asked sarcastically.
“Yeah, Rikki, what do you think? That I’m going to be allowed to come and go as I please in the middle of a war? I doubt the city guards are going to see it so reasonably!” Melnon sounded almost bitter.
Rikki grinned his famous grin. Holding up a pair of gold, arrow-shaped ornaments he said, “I’ll show you how to use these. You’ll be able to talk to me without leaving your comfy perches.” Melnon looked at him skeptically.
****************
Echo Station
Commodore Stiles strode into Admiral Kirk’s office. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, Henry, have a seat. I want to talk to you about Jacobs. I’ve been reading his recent reports from Surrakesh. Absolutely amazing detail there!”
Stiles looked confused. “I’m sorry, sir. Surrakesh?”
“Beta Niobi Four. Jacobs is giving us an unbelievable wealth of detail on the culture and politics of the society there. I haven’t seen a report like this in years. It rivals some of the ones you used to give me, back in the day!” The famous admiral’s voice boomed across the office. A sour look passed fleetingly across Stile’s face.
“Sir, I haven’t been keeping close tabs on Jacobs but his reports have been average at best.”
“Well, I’m telling you he’s got something special. I’m a little concerned, though. He says that war has broken out between the city-state he’s staying in and a neighboring state. I sent him a message asking if he wanted to be extracted but he’s refused. Nevertheless, I want you to stay abreast of the situation. If things get hairy you can send the Excelsior to get him out. The Science Division can’t afford to lose an anthropologist of his caliber.” The Admiral’s tone brooked no objection from Stiles.
“I have noticed nothing special about the man but if you say he bears watching I will, of course, keep an eye on him,” Henry responded. He rose to leave.
“Make sure you do,” Kirk said. As the door closed he muttered,”Kissass!”
***************
“…and the Prime Alcar has ordered their surrender. I think Delor should get out of Celerise. The word here is that they could be next,” Melnon concluded. Rikki held the combadge in his hand a moment without speaking.
“Ok, Melnon, I’ll tell him,” Rikki said. “Talk to you later.” After relaying the message to Delor, Rikki turned to the comm screen. A pending message was making a red light flash. Rikki punched the correct button and Commodore Stile’s voice echoed throughout the shuttle cabin.
“We are becoming a bit concerned, Jacobs. Your recent reports indicate that general warfare could break out. Our sociologists say the trends are right for the conflict to spread beyond, um, Gereliad to adjoining areas. If that happens we are going to send the Excelsior to pull you out. Kirk is too enamored of your recent rush of brains to the head to let you risk being killed.” Rikki hit the pause button and considered this new development. He thought about what might happen when Starfleet Command discovered who’d been sending the reports. Then he thought about the evenings spent with Lieutenant Jacobs. He’d told Rikki that after the boys had stumbled across him while on a fishing trip at the creek he should have left. He’d trusted them to do the right thing, though, and let him take his observations without telling anyone that there was an alien in their midst. They’d been helping him for over a year before he died, bringing him bits of current information as well as telling him the stories and myths they’d learned at their parents’ feet. Rikki thought of the man, born on another planet, who’d let himself be changed into one of them so he could learn about them. He’d traveled across a vast distance only to die while learning about the lives of strangers. His family didn’t even know he was dead. Rikki sighed and said,
“Computer, recording mode. Extraction requested. Send message.” He sighed again and powered down the lights. Through the passage of night he sat there in a prison of his own making.
Commodore Stiles and Admiral Kirk beamed down to the concealed glen together. Glancing about, they saw nothing but foliage. Then the shuttle Salt River wavered into view. The ramp dropped down and a small, simian-looking biped stepped out wearing rough homespun trousers and a vest. He walked up to the two Starfleet officers and came to attention in front of them. Unseen by the two humans, a pair of natives lurked in the tree line, staring at the hairless monkeys...
Admiral Kirk glanced at the combadge on the simian’s vest. “Lieutenant Jacobs, I presume.” He held out his hand.
Without breaking pose or reacting to their unusual looks, Rikki responded, “Admiral, I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Jacobs perished accidentally six of your months ago. My name is Rikki, sir. Rikki the Tailor’s Son.” He reached out and shook the stunned admiral’s hand as Jacobs had taught him.
Commodore gasped in shock. “You’re a native! Admiral, the Prime Directive is obviously compromised. We need to get a cultural reconstruction team in here as soon as possible. Why, do you realize Jacobs may very well have started the current cycle of warfare?” As Admiral Kirk stood, his mouth hanging open, Rikki responded,
“Oh, that’s a pile of dung! The damn war would have happened anyway-in fact, it did! Jacobs was dead before it even started!” Rikki snarled at Stiles, making him take a step back. Admiral Kirk shook his head as if to clear it.
“Are you telling me that you, a native, have been sending those reports back to us for the last six months?”
Rikki gave the Admiral his grin and Kirk couldn’t help but respond in kind. “Well, I had a little help from my friends. And Computer.” He waved towards the tree line and Delor and Melnon fearfully approached. Admiral Kirk gazed in the direction Rikki’s arm pointed and watched the two young men as they walked closer. Then he turned back towards Rikki.
“Computer? Oh, yes, harrumph, of course,” he replied, stifling a laugh. Stiles stood stock still, eyes glazing over. “You know, Mr. Tailor’s Son, your world is under the No Contact protocols.” Rikki nodded sadly.
“Yes, I know. I had many hours to study Computer’s database. I understand the rules. I even sort of understand why you have them.” His voice was bleak as he spoke.
“However,” the admiral continued, “You and your friends have learned too much, too much about Jacobs’s mission here and too much about our society. I think it might be a good idea to ask you a simple question. Would you like to come with us? It would mean leaving your families behind but I think we could find a place for you.”
Melnon looked at the Admiral suspiciously. “And if we say, ‘No!’ what happens then?” He and Delor began edging away from the Starfleet officers.
Kirk looked confused for a moment and then laughed. “Nothing, actually. There are only three of you and, once we are gone, who will believe we were ever here? Tell who you want, no one will listen. But my offer is real. Come with us and you can see the whole galaxy!”
Melnon shook his head. “I have a girl, Admiral. I think I’d like to stay. Thank you, though.” He glanced at Delor.
“I, uh, well, I’m sure the stars are beautiful and all, at least they look that way at night but…” He trailed off, looking at Rikki miserably. “I’m sorry, mate. It’s just not for me.”
Kirk turned directly towards Rikki. “So, what do you think?”
Rikki looked back at his friends. Melnon smiled. Delor did what he did in place of a smile. “This could be fun,” Rikki said.
“Admiral, this is highly irregular!” Stiles protested.
“But it is my decision to make.” Kirk’s voice was hard, flat and cold. Stiles said nothing more. Waving his arm at the Salt River, Kirk said,” Mr. Tailor’s Son, if you are coming…” Rikki hugged his two friends.
“I, um…” Delor punched him in the shoulder.
“Go have fun, you grall. Fly amongst the stars.”
Melnon gave him a hug.“Live well, my friend,” he said.
The two Starfleet officers and the future citizen of the Federation walked towards the shuttle.
A Cultural Anthropologist’s Tale
“Rikki, c’mon, we shouldn’t be doing this!” The three boys were sneaking through the woods outside of the capital city, staying mainly in the shadows as they walked.
“Delor, I know what he said. If we go to him in the daytime someone might see us and discover he’s out here. But I’m telling you, he’s going to want to know about this right away! What if he’s in Gereliad when our army attacks? He could be caught up in the fighting! And if he’s wounded and taken to a doctor…” Rikki let his voice trail off.
The third boy, Melnon, had stayed out of the conversation so far. He tended to be quiet by nature but he spoke up now. “That would be the end of it, Delor, and you know it as well as me. The government would find out he’s not one of us and who knows what would happen then!” Delor looked abashed and scratched his ear with his tail.
“I guess you’re right.” The vestigial wings under his arms flapped once, signifying his concession.
Rikki’s forceful personality ploughed right over any further objections his two companions might have had. “Ok, then, let’s get a move on!” He stomped off deeper into the forest, Delor and Melnon pressing hard to keep him in sight.
The boys continued on for over an hour before reaching the hidden glen that was their destination. The trees formed a canopy around the open area, concealing it from prying eyes. This was a necessary condition for, in the center, sat a craft unlike any other known on this world of Surrakesh. It gleamed with a coating of white interrupted only by a wide red stripe running length-wise and a series of alien numbers near the nose. When they had met the year before its owner had told the boys it was called a “shuttle”. The boys approached it now, Rikki leading the way and calling for its owner.
“Lieutenant Jacobs! Lieutenant! We have something you need to know!” Only the small gralls could be heard from their perches in the surrounding trees. As the boys drew closer to the craft they could see its ramp was extended.
“Maybe he’s on another trip,” Delor commented nervously. Rikki strode up to the ramp and stopped suddenly, his tale stiff in the air behind him.
“By the Gods, no!” he exclaimed. The other two boys hurried over to him. When they saw what lay on the ground, they, too, stopped, horrified. At the bottom of the ramp lay the body of the alien, Lieutenant Jacobs. His head lay at an unnatural angle and his tail was tangled in his legs. A small pool of strangely-colored red blood had congealed around his head. Shaking off his shock, Rikki bent to examine the tail. The fur covering had torn slightly and he could see bits of wire and the strange material Jacobs had called “plastic” visible through the rent. “It looks like his tail was some kind of mechanism. A part of his disguise, I suppose. I think something went wrong and it tripped him.”
Melnon was squatting down, looking at the bloody pool. “I knew he was from another world but seeing blood this color just seems weird,” he remarked. He glanced up at Rikki. “What are we going to do now?” For a moment, Rikki looked lost but then a gleam came into his eyes and he said,
“First, we have to bury Lieutenant Jacobs. Then we have to turn on his ‘cloaking device’ so no one sees his ‘shuttle’. And then I have to send the next report to Starfleet Command on his behalf.” His two friends gaped at him.
“You’re mad!” Melnon exclaimed.
“How are you going to do that?” Delor asked at the same time.
“While you two were snug in your perches at night I’ve been coming out here to talk to Lieutenant Jacobs. Since my mother died my father walks through life as though blind, not noticing if I come or go.” Melnon and Delor looked away at the mention of Rikki’s deceased mother. “I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know the Lieutenant and his job. He taught me how to run his ‘Computer’, “the unfamiliar word came out harshly, “And I think I can finish his job for him.”
Delor just stared at Rikki but Melnon, the oldest of the three, climbed to his feet, declaiming, “This alien was trained to study other civilizations. There’s no way you can take his place!” Rikki just grinned at him with that cock-sure grin they knew too well. It was the same grin he’d used when they were little to convince them to release a cage full of gralls into the temple during services.
“That’s the beauty of it, Melnon. We already live here! How tough can it be?”
Melnon felt his heart dropping to his stomachs. He sighed and gestured for Delor to help with the dead alien’s body. “C’mon,” he said gruffly, “We gotta bury this before someone comes along.” Gesturing to Rikki as he stood beside the strange craft, he continued, “And you’d better make that thing disappear or we’ll have a witch hunt on our hands, sure as I’m standing here.” Rikki grinned harder and dashed into the shuttle. A moment later, the craft wavered and vanished from sight, replaced by the open glen. Melnon and Delor started to walk towards the creek down in the tree line but Delor tripped on nothing visible and dropped his side of the corpse. Muttering deprecations under his breath, he picked the fur-covered legs up again and continued towards the creek.
Inside the shuttle, Rikki took a seat in front of the communications panel. He’d seen Jacobs do this dozens of times before. “Computer, recording mode.”
A disembodied voice answered, “Working.”
Rikki began dictating his report on the upcoming sneak attack by Massacar on Gereliad. Before he had finished Melnon and Delor returned, cursing and swearing as they barked their shins on the invisible ramp. Rikki refrained from laughing at them and, when the report was finished, gave an order to the ship’s computer. “Computer, remove all background noises and translate this report into Federation Standard. Then transmit the report under Lieutenant Jacob’s name to Starfleet Command.” After the computer confirmed his orders he turned to his two friends. “See, that wasn’t so hard,” he said. “I told you I learned a lot from our alien friend.” Changing his tone, he asked, “Did you bury him?” Melnon nodded.
“Then we jumped in the creek,” Delor added, “We had to get the dirt and that weird-looking blood out of our fur.”
“Good,” Rikki said. “I’ve decided to keep doing his work for him. I need you, Melnon, to return to Massacar and learn all you can about the up-coming war. Delor, I’m going to need you to go to Celerise. Tell your parents you want to stay with your cousin, Banar, so you don’t get conscripted into the army. Celerise should remain neutral in the fighting that’s to come so you’ll be safe. I want both of you to tell me what’s going on. Not just the big news but the little things too. Jacobs seemed fascinated by the little differences between the city-states. I want you to tell me everything you can learn about things like that.”
“Oh, and I’m to just nip out and come tell you what’s all about things like that, am I?” Delor asked sarcastically.
“Yeah, Rikki, what do you think? That I’m going to be allowed to come and go as I please in the middle of a war? I doubt the city guards are going to see it so reasonably!” Melnon sounded almost bitter.
Rikki grinned his famous grin. Holding up a pair of gold, arrow-shaped ornaments he said, “I’ll show you how to use these. You’ll be able to talk to me without leaving your comfy perches.” Melnon looked at him skeptically.
****************
Echo Station
Commodore Stiles strode into Admiral Kirk’s office. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, Henry, have a seat. I want to talk to you about Jacobs. I’ve been reading his recent reports from Surrakesh. Absolutely amazing detail there!”
Stiles looked confused. “I’m sorry, sir. Surrakesh?”
“Beta Niobi Four. Jacobs is giving us an unbelievable wealth of detail on the culture and politics of the society there. I haven’t seen a report like this in years. It rivals some of the ones you used to give me, back in the day!” The famous admiral’s voice boomed across the office. A sour look passed fleetingly across Stile’s face.
“Sir, I haven’t been keeping close tabs on Jacobs but his reports have been average at best.”
“Well, I’m telling you he’s got something special. I’m a little concerned, though. He says that war has broken out between the city-state he’s staying in and a neighboring state. I sent him a message asking if he wanted to be extracted but he’s refused. Nevertheless, I want you to stay abreast of the situation. If things get hairy you can send the Excelsior to get him out. The Science Division can’t afford to lose an anthropologist of his caliber.” The Admiral’s tone brooked no objection from Stiles.
“I have noticed nothing special about the man but if you say he bears watching I will, of course, keep an eye on him,” Henry responded. He rose to leave.
“Make sure you do,” Kirk said. As the door closed he muttered,”Kissass!”
***************
“…and the Prime Alcar has ordered their surrender. I think Delor should get out of Celerise. The word here is that they could be next,” Melnon concluded. Rikki held the combadge in his hand a moment without speaking.
“Ok, Melnon, I’ll tell him,” Rikki said. “Talk to you later.” After relaying the message to Delor, Rikki turned to the comm screen. A pending message was making a red light flash. Rikki punched the correct button and Commodore Stile’s voice echoed throughout the shuttle cabin.
“We are becoming a bit concerned, Jacobs. Your recent reports indicate that general warfare could break out. Our sociologists say the trends are right for the conflict to spread beyond, um, Gereliad to adjoining areas. If that happens we are going to send the Excelsior to pull you out. Kirk is too enamored of your recent rush of brains to the head to let you risk being killed.” Rikki hit the pause button and considered this new development. He thought about what might happen when Starfleet Command discovered who’d been sending the reports. Then he thought about the evenings spent with Lieutenant Jacobs. He’d told Rikki that after the boys had stumbled across him while on a fishing trip at the creek he should have left. He’d trusted them to do the right thing, though, and let him take his observations without telling anyone that there was an alien in their midst. They’d been helping him for over a year before he died, bringing him bits of current information as well as telling him the stories and myths they’d learned at their parents’ feet. Rikki thought of the man, born on another planet, who’d let himself be changed into one of them so he could learn about them. He’d traveled across a vast distance only to die while learning about the lives of strangers. His family didn’t even know he was dead. Rikki sighed and said,
“Computer, recording mode. Extraction requested. Send message.” He sighed again and powered down the lights. Through the passage of night he sat there in a prison of his own making.
Commodore Stiles and Admiral Kirk beamed down to the concealed glen together. Glancing about, they saw nothing but foliage. Then the shuttle Salt River wavered into view. The ramp dropped down and a small, simian-looking biped stepped out wearing rough homespun trousers and a vest. He walked up to the two Starfleet officers and came to attention in front of them. Unseen by the two humans, a pair of natives lurked in the tree line, staring at the hairless monkeys...
Admiral Kirk glanced at the combadge on the simian’s vest. “Lieutenant Jacobs, I presume.” He held out his hand.
Without breaking pose or reacting to their unusual looks, Rikki responded, “Admiral, I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Jacobs perished accidentally six of your months ago. My name is Rikki, sir. Rikki the Tailor’s Son.” He reached out and shook the stunned admiral’s hand as Jacobs had taught him.
Commodore gasped in shock. “You’re a native! Admiral, the Prime Directive is obviously compromised. We need to get a cultural reconstruction team in here as soon as possible. Why, do you realize Jacobs may very well have started the current cycle of warfare?” As Admiral Kirk stood, his mouth hanging open, Rikki responded,
“Oh, that’s a pile of dung! The damn war would have happened anyway-in fact, it did! Jacobs was dead before it even started!” Rikki snarled at Stiles, making him take a step back. Admiral Kirk shook his head as if to clear it.
“Are you telling me that you, a native, have been sending those reports back to us for the last six months?”
Rikki gave the Admiral his grin and Kirk couldn’t help but respond in kind. “Well, I had a little help from my friends. And Computer.” He waved towards the tree line and Delor and Melnon fearfully approached. Admiral Kirk gazed in the direction Rikki’s arm pointed and watched the two young men as they walked closer. Then he turned back towards Rikki.
“Computer? Oh, yes, harrumph, of course,” he replied, stifling a laugh. Stiles stood stock still, eyes glazing over. “You know, Mr. Tailor’s Son, your world is under the No Contact protocols.” Rikki nodded sadly.
“Yes, I know. I had many hours to study Computer’s database. I understand the rules. I even sort of understand why you have them.” His voice was bleak as he spoke.
“However,” the admiral continued, “You and your friends have learned too much, too much about Jacobs’s mission here and too much about our society. I think it might be a good idea to ask you a simple question. Would you like to come with us? It would mean leaving your families behind but I think we could find a place for you.”
Melnon looked at the Admiral suspiciously. “And if we say, ‘No!’ what happens then?” He and Delor began edging away from the Starfleet officers.
Kirk looked confused for a moment and then laughed. “Nothing, actually. There are only three of you and, once we are gone, who will believe we were ever here? Tell who you want, no one will listen. But my offer is real. Come with us and you can see the whole galaxy!”
Melnon shook his head. “I have a girl, Admiral. I think I’d like to stay. Thank you, though.” He glanced at Delor.
“I, uh, well, I’m sure the stars are beautiful and all, at least they look that way at night but…” He trailed off, looking at Rikki miserably. “I’m sorry, mate. It’s just not for me.”
Kirk turned directly towards Rikki. “So, what do you think?”
Rikki looked back at his friends. Melnon smiled. Delor did what he did in place of a smile. “This could be fun,” Rikki said.
“Admiral, this is highly irregular!” Stiles protested.
“But it is my decision to make.” Kirk’s voice was hard, flat and cold. Stiles said nothing more. Waving his arm at the Salt River, Kirk said,” Mr. Tailor’s Son, if you are coming…” Rikki hugged his two friends.
“I, um…” Delor punched him in the shoulder.
“Go have fun, you grall. Fly amongst the stars.”
Melnon gave him a hug.“Live well, my friend,” he said.
The two Starfleet officers and the future citizen of the Federation walked towards the shuttle.
