For a few moments there was a silence at the table.
He took another drink. “ There is something about me that I have never told you before.”
“ Oh really! You’re not Captain Hemorrhoid, you’re his evil twin?” she chuckled.
The Captain laughed, relieved that they seemed to be back to their normal relaxed selves. “ I was married once, not many people know about that.”
“ I had no idea, what happened?” she was frankly stunned and trying to hide it.
The Captain shrugged.
“ She was my childhood sweetheart and we were inseparable. We knew we would be together from the age of eight or nine and we were married as soon as we were old enough. I thought that no one would ever know me the way that she did or I, her. We had only been married about two weeks, in fact we were just back from the honeymoon when we started having trouble.
The Captain shifted in his chair, a little embarrassed. “ Inexplicably she began saying that she thought we had rushed into the marriage and that she was unhappy that she would never be able to experience interactions with other men, that we were so young to be tied down for the rest of our lives. She moaned about this for almost six months and one day I came home and she was gone. She had moved out while I was at the academy. She divorced me soon after that and I have been disillusioned about getting married ever since. I am very easily wary of any potential relationship.”
Beani-Poohs listened to his story and felt empathy for him. “ Don’t worry,” she said “ I’m not going anywhere. We’ll take things at a snail pace from now on and I’ll get you some thick socks if you need them.”
“ What?” the Captain looked puzzled.
“ For your cold feet.”
The Captain breathed a sigh of relief. Her humour was one of the things he liked best about her. That and her understanding nature. All in all it had gone much better than he could have hoped.
* * * *
Beani-Poohs and Lid-Lidia were both at Manzanna’s door early the next morning.
“ Come in,” he called. He had been waiting for them.
Beani-Poohs didn’t wait for them to be settled before she asked. “ Please tell us what is your decision?”
“ My answer is yes, I cannot pass up an opportunity to see my daughter. In fact tomorrow seems so far away, it cannot happen fast enough for me now. When can we begin?”
The two girls both smiled at each other. “ This going to be such fun,” said Lid-Lidia.
“ We’ll get started right after breakfast,” said Beani-Poohs “ one of us will come back and take you to Deck 12 to get your hair done and a manicure. Then we will have a fitting for your Ambassador outfit. In the meantime Mr. Base is going to program holodeck 2 to be our ballroom for the reception. So have your breakfast and we’ll be back in an hour.”
Manzanna nodded his head. “ I am so anxious to get started, I do not know if I will be able to eat.”
Four hours later Manzanna walked out of his dressing room with his Ambassador outfit on. He walked up and down so those present could see if they approved of the style of the outfit.
“ It looks good to me,’ said the Captain “ I would think he was an ambassador if he beamed onto my ship.”
“ Do you like the way we have had his hair cut?” asked Beani-Poohs.
“ Yes it’s almost like he’s a new man. He doesn’t resemble the man that transported here yesterday at all.”
“ Do you really think so Captain?” asked Manzanna. “ I still feel the same as before. I do hope you are right, it is so very important to me.”
Lid-Lidia smiled at him. “ I agree with the Captain you certainly do look like an ambassador now. So once you learn to act like one nobody will doubt you for a moment.”
The Captain pushed his Comm badge. “ Mr. Base, how is the holodeck coming along?
“ I have almost finished the programming. It will be a grand looking ballroom and I have programmed servants to announce guests, to serve hors d’oeuvres and others who will look after drinks.”
“ What about music, did you think of that?”
“ Yes sir! I have programmed a whole orchestra who will play waltzes, theatrical pieces and modern music as well. I think we will have something for everybody.”
“ Thankyou Mr. Base it looks like everything is going very well.” He tapped his Comm Badge.
“ Now Manzanna take off your outfit so it will stay in good shape for tomorrow. Lieutenant Beani-Poohs will you arrange for the Sub-Commander to instruct us all in the customs in this situation? Especially Manzanna, who will have a few hours of study ahead of him.”
“ Aye, aye sir!” she replied.
* * * *
By the next day everything had been thought of and all preparations were in order for the reception. Manzanna had managed to contact his daughter and invite her and her fiancée as well as her fiancée’s family and their wedding guests.
So with a few minutes before the guests arrived Manzanna was visibly nervous.
“ I do hope I do not do anything to make my daughter ashamed of me tonight,” he said to Ensign Lid-Lidia who was fast becoming his very good friend.
“ I’m sure you won’t, you’ve worked so hard during this time that I’m certain everything will run very smoothly.”
Manzanna nodded at her without speaking, he was becoming emotional again.
A few minutes later Manzanna’s daughter beamed onto the ship along with her fiancée and his family.
When Manzanna saw her he walked straight towards her with tears in his eyes.
“ Bex my beautiful girl, here you are all grown up. Come and hug your Papa.”
She ran towards him and the two embraced. Manzanna had never felt so happy.
Bex was a small girl with a dimple on one side of her face and she had the same egg type head that her father had whereas her fiancée was taller with a very thin face and a pencil thin moustache. He and his family had flat heads.
“ Father!” said Bex “ It is so good to see you after all these years. I have waited so long for this day. This is Maiz, my fiancée, and over here is Naranja his father and Toronja his mother. Three other youths stood behind them. “ These are Maiz’s brothers and sisters.” She proceeded to do the introductions.
The Captain and a few officers were present to greet the guests and they all bowed, as was the custom of the planet.
“ Let us all proceed now to the ballroom where we will begin our reception,” said the Captain.
“ Captain,” said Naranja, the father of Maiz. “ I have some other friends arriving but I fear that they will be slightly delayed. I think they will be here in an hour or two…I beg your forgiveness for their unavoidable delay”
“ No problem at all, we will beam them up when they are ready and some of my crew will escort them to the reception.”
“ Thankyou Captain, you are very gracious, I don’t think I caught your last name.”
“ My name is Angus Hemorrhoid but please don’t hold my name against me. I suppose that’s why I’m not married, nobody wanted to be Mrs. Hemorrhoid.”
The Captain laughed while Naranja gave him a strange look.
“ So how do you know Ambassador Manzanna?” he asked “ I have heard you are from the Alpha quadrant.”
“ It’s true we are from that part of the galaxy and as for Manzanna, we have offered him transport to another destination.”
The Captain cleared his throat. It was, after all, perfectly true.
“ You are giving him transport to another planet?”
“ Yes we are, to, err….” the Captain stumbled.
“ To Karrool,” said Manzanna, who was standing nearby.
“ Oh yes, Karrool. I keep forgetting the names of planets in this quadrant.” The Captain laughed.
On entering the ballroom drinks were served and soft music started to play.
“ Father may I speak to you privately?” Bex said to her father.
“ Certainly,” he said “you are the one I mostly wanted to see anyway.”
They walked over to the other side of the ballroom.
“ Father I am so happy to see you but I have to ask, why did you not come to my graduation two years ago?”
Manzanna looked ashamed. “ I wanted to and I tried my best but I was just not able to be there. My duties keep me so busy.”
” Too busy for your only daughter? “ She looked up at him and laid her hand softly on his arm. “ I did not tell you this Father, but I had planned to leave Salvaje and go with you after the ceremony. I was very distressed when you did not come. For years while I was at school I dreamed of the time when I would be with you again and we would not be separated any more. For as long as I can remember it was all I could think about.”
Manzanna looked choked up. “ I am sorry Bex, my darling daughter! I had no idea of your plans. I have always wanted us to be together as well. If you were not getting married you could come with me now.”
To see father and daughter so obviously feeling emotional choked up more than one person at the reception. The crewmembers averted their eyes discreetly and tried not to eavesdrop but unfortunately not all the guests felt the same.
Before she could answer, her fiancée Maiz had walked over. “ Bex! “ he reproved her sternly, “ As the bride to be you have duties to perform. You are being rude conversing when you should be circulating and welcoming each guest personally. Please come join me now and we shall perform our duties together.”
“ Please Maiz, I was talking to my father. I have not seen him for years,” She looked up at him pleadingly, “ Please understand. We have so much to talk about and so little time together. I may not see him again for years.”
Manzanna nodded, “ It is so. You will have her for the rest of her life but I may only have these precious moments with my one and only child.”
He did not relent. “ The customs must be observed.”
He took her arm and walked her away from her father and as they walked he looked back and gave Manzanna a stern look.
Some of the guests seemed unconcerned with this behaviour but the crewmembers were in full sympathy with Manzanna, who was looking worried and hurt.
“ So Captain how long have you been in the Beta Quadrant?” asked Naranja.
“ We first came into the quadrant about a year ago in a different space ship and then I was given command of this state of the art vessel and asked to come back and do some up to date charting of the planets and the stars. This time around we have been here about four months.”
“ So what do you think of our quadrant so far?”
“ It’s been interesting, about two months ago we visited a planet they call Ponderosa where the people who live there are like spirits and can create almost anything with there minds. Then we went to a planet called Kardella which I don’t remember all that vividly, but the people there like to play games.”
“ Oh yes I have heard of Kardella, people I know who have been there say you can’t hardly breath from an awful smell that fills the air."
“ Something about that sounds familiar.” The captain agreed.
Just then dinner was announced.
Everybody picked up their drink and strolled into a very large room with a huge dining table, which spanned almost the entire length of the room. High back chairs were positioned all around the table. Within a few minutes everybody was seated at the banquet table and the food waiters came in to serve.
On seeing the food Naranja’s wife stood up. “ Salvaje women like to serve their men,” she said. “ It is a custom on our planet.”
At first Bex had not stood up but when she received a look of displeasure from her fiancée she stood up to serve him.
Manzanna hid his displeasure as he watched his daughter serve this conceited looking man. He had been so excited earlier to see her and now he was worried his daughter was going to marry a man he did not like at all.
He wondered that he might be making this kind of conclusion about the man too quickly. He would be watching Maiz closely for the rest of the night.
* * * *
They had just finished dinner and were walking back to the ballroom when the other guests were announced. When Manzanna saw one of the arrivals he grabbed Lid-Lidia by the arm and led her back to the dining room.
“ Is something wrong?” asked Lid-Lidia “ I have noticed you have been looking a little worried during dinner.”
Manzanna took another look through the doorway and turned back to Lid-Lidia.
“ One of the men who just arrived is the wealthy store owner I told you about the other day.”
“ Are you sure?” She was stunned.
“ Yes I will never forget his face. If he sees me this charade is over and he will call the authorities to come up here and arrest me. I was nervous before but now I can not stop shaking.”
Lid-Lidia rubbed his arm. “ Look just stay here for the moment and I will tell the Captain and the Lieutenant. They will know what we can do. Please don’t lose control, it won’t do you any good. We will work this out.”
She walked over to the Captain and whispered a few words in his ear and then she did the same with Beani-Poohs.
The Captain promptly left the room whereas Beani-Poohs walked over to the dining room with Lid-Lidia.
“ Manzanna the Ensign has told us your trouble and I have some advice for
you,” said Beani-Poohs.
“ Where did the Captain go?”
“ Don’t worry about that. Now I want you to take a deep breath and go in there and introduce yourself to the new guests.”
“ But he will recognise me.”
“ That might happen but if you are convincing as the Ambassador he may not. He may be confused but not have the courage to challenge you. It is a risk we must take. You can’t hide in here or the other guests will be suspicious something is wrong”
“ You can not be serious. The moment he sees my face and my egg shaped head he will remember me. I can guarantee it. Everything will be ruined and my darling daughter will never want to see me again.”
“ Manzanna pull yourself together. Do you remember all the training you had yesterday on how to be an Ambassador? The Sub-Commander spent a very long instructing you.”
“ Yes she did.”
“ Now you have to become an Ambassador for real. You can do this. Tonight you ARE an Ambassador. You have to become an actor and play the part of your life.”
“ Do you really think I can do this?”
“ Do you remember when we first met and you were charging your weapons the other day? You were aggressive and you looked aggressive. Now you have to step up again and be an Ambassador. Now go.”
With that she gave Manzanna a push to make him walk out the door.
Manzanna took a deep breath and walked quickly over to the guests. “ My apologies. I was elsewhere with other guests when you arrived. My name is Manzanna and I am the father of Bex.” He stood tall in his regal robes and spoke with real authority. No one looking at him would believe him to be anything else but an ambassador.
The wealthy storeowner shook his hand. “ My name is Cebolla and this is my wife Zanahoria.” He also introduced some other people.
Manzanna bowed towards the man’s wife, as he did this Bex came and stood beside him.
Cebolla looked Manzanna straight in the face. “ You look familiar to me, have we met before? Perhaps you have been to Salvaje before on a diplomatic visit?”
Manzanna looked the man straight in his eyes. “ No, I would have remembered if we had. I have never come to Salvaje in a diplomatic capacity.” he said with perfect truth.
Just then the Captain walked back into the room and more introductions were made.
A few minutes later the Captain stepped up in front of the orchestra. “ May I please have your attention?”
The noisy room quieted down as the guests stopped to listen.
The Captain con
tinued. “ On behalf of myself and the crew we are very happy to have you all here tonight. I would also like to say congratulations to the engaged couple. We have some entertainment for you now. Our own Doctor Flusher has said he would sing us a couple of songs. He is going to sing some tunes from an old earth favorite ‘South Pacific’, but he will start with an operatic song from ‘La Boheme’. After that we will have the orchestra play some waltz tunes so we can dance.”
With that the Doctor took the to the stage and launched into song. The aliens looked mildly amused with his over the top manner.
* * * *
Maiz took Bex by the hand and led her onto the dance floor when the orchestra started to play a waltz. Though they were not waltzing the steps fitted together with the music perfectly.
Manzanna was watching and he hoped he would be able to spend some more time with his daughter before they departed.
Almost all of the guests were dancing except for Cebolla the storeowner, he kept looking at Manzanna and he was not smiling. When the first waltz was over Manzanna quickly walked over to his daughter and asked her if she wanted to dance with him.
“ It is a custom on our planet that the woman will dance with her husband, ”said Maiz arrogantly.
“ You are not married yet,” Manzanna replied, nettled and trying to be polite, “ surely you don’t begrudge a daughter dancing with her own father.”
With that he grabbed Bex and danced off with her. She gave a startled little laugh and then beamed up at her father.
“ I am sorry we have not had a chance to talk much tonight.” He said.
“ I regret this too Father,” she said, looking up at him adoringly, “ this evening is just too short I feel. There is not enough time!”
“ I am thinking the same thing.”
“ After all these years I wish we could have more time together. Maiz is already talking about leaving. I am afraid the customs of this planet are very important to him and his family and the agreement to marry means I am already in wifely submission to Maiz.”
Manzanna thought for a moment. “ I might be able to persuade the Captain into orbiting the planet for another day. Then you can beam up here tomorrow on your own and we can talk.”
“ Oh Father if only I could! But Maiz would never let me do that. On the planet Salvaje being engaged is almost the same as being married and on this planet a man dominates his wife. He says the past is the past and while I should show you all appropriate honour, my place is now with him and I must obey his wish to put him and our life first, from now on.”
Star Yawns Episode 4. By David & Sabine Williams. Smashwords Edition Copyright 2012 Page 3