“Captain, can you confirm or deny the rumor?”
“Tgfrblt!”
“I’m calling Security right now, do you hear me?”
“Who you calling Security?”
“Come on, let’s go see the action at the roulette tables!”
“Will everybody please shut up for one freaking minute?” The voice booming through the loudspeaker behind the comm console made everyone in the room jump and turn to look. There was Mother, standing at the console with a mike in her hand, glaring at the room. Suddenly realizing that six pairs of eyes and one Galaxy-wide network holocam were pointing at her, she gave a little shriek and ducked back behind the console almost as if someone had grabbed the collar of her jumpsuit and yanked her down.
In the silence came Phule’s voice: “Well, time to go see about that free lunch,” and before anyone could respond, he was out the door. Not that anyone was paying particular attention to anything except Mother’s uncharacteristic outburst.
“Uh, did you wanna say somethin’, Mother?” said Chocolate Harry very sheepishly.
“She say it already, but people weren’t listening,” said Tusk-anini, shrugging. “Now it too late.”
“Too late for what?” said Lieutenant Snipe, making one more try to control the rapidly deteriorating situation.
“Yes, too late for what?” said Phule, slipping quietly into the room. He was wearing a legion jumpsuit that, for the first time in anyone’s memory, seemed not to have been cleaned and pressed within the last twenty-four hours.
“Cap’n!” said Chocolate Harry. He stared for a moment, then shook his head. “That’s two of the fastest clothes changes I’ve ever seen, dude. You gonna have to tell me how you did that.”