SD 02/22/03 - "The Captain's Big Secret?" aka "Welcome to our Planet, Now Go Home!" #6 - Finally a refuge in the middle of this madness.
The "Sanctuary Speakeasy" is a world apart from the rest of this place. The food is actually fit for sapient consumption, and wide variety of meats and fruits & vegetables too. Men and women freely mix, and it looks like half the people here are of normal height. I thought they were all tourists, but overhearing another conversation, one mentioned she'd been here for a year since being placed here by some beaurucrat.
There was a bar in the middle, an actual 21st Century fast-food restaraunt bought and moved to here from Earth in one corner, in another corner a dance floor, in a third holosuites, a fourth had a stairwell lit with red lights leading to rooms usable as hotel rooms or whatever a couple wanted to do in private, of which I later heard anything beyond holding hands is illegal on this world. We got a decent meal at the restaraunt corner, and proceeded to eat. K'Lynxyl was obviously happy to get some real meat. Brundle had to "prepare" his food in private. Just the thought of it was the only mar in this dining experience.
At one point, someone pointed out a picture on the wall, one of the "Employee of the month" photos. It was a "burger-flipper" from the 21st Century, but, he bore an uncanny resemblance to me. His boss glarring at him, an Eisenkeister, looked a lot like Ironbottom. An amazing coincidence! I do get this feeling of familiarity and fear looking at it, but why?
We got to meet the owner and proprieter of the place, a Ferrengi named Grog. He had heard of us and some of our misadventures, and was glad to have us around. Dammers had some questions about the world, about why it was so messed up. The Ferrengi mentioned many of the Federation's politicians whom made our economy centrally-planned came from here. But here, they chose to go further, passing laws against what they felt was potentially harmful in the name of "protection," while transfering all power to themselves and stripping away the public's political power.
After the questions, he mentioned he had a "private message" for Dammers, so he directed him to his office. Lera dragged me onto the dance floor while K'Lynxyl and Tempres had a chat. I think Lott and Brundle went to a holosuite. While the "love hotel" rooms were also in their direction, why would they use one? As for Lera, I keep forgetting how strong she can come on, wanting to drag me into the holosuite.
This act seemed cute when she was winking at me when I was the Tactical Officer and the XO. But now it seems ... flat. It's not her looks, she is quite a cutie, and the ears give her a slightly exotic air. But her personality ... she practically begs me to make love to her, even during serious manners, and even when there's a crisis going on before our eyes. "This is the 'Freedom,' (crises) happen all the time" she once remarked. She's a good science officer, finding details others miss, but her "people skills" leave something to be desired. Her nudist quirk only complicates the matter further.
A relationship is off in any case due to her being XO and me the Captian. If she somehow wasn't, I don't know. I keep looking for something in her personality other than "will you sleep with me?" and her wanting to bare it all in front of the universe, and while once in a while I find some spark, it's soon estinguished. *sigh* Many guys would find her the perfect woman. Maybe I was simply raised to see them differently, or maybe that joke about what prolonged stress does to male hormones is true.
I don't know what to do. I can't give in and have us both court-martialed, or at least end up trapped in an unhappy marriage. Yet her crying at my rebuffs, no matter how polite and gentle I try to be drives me crazy. It's sometimes a relief when the next crisis takes my mind off the matter.
Speaking of crying, she pouted and left when I wouldn't give in and headed to the bar. I wasn't the only one having trouble. Dammers and K'Lynxyl were having a spat of some kind. Then Demian went crazy, saying something about "hamsters" and then throwing his babies' carriage against the bar counter. An angry customer confronted him over a spilled drink, and when Tempres punched him dragged him outside. Well, he asked for it that time.
The doorman just asked me to come over. I thought I heard a siren a moment ago. I hope that had nothing to do with Demian.