~*

"What does this button do?" A girl with golden hair asked innocently, before Malcolm had a chance to reply she pointed at another, "what about this one? And this one? And this one? And this one?" The other children were milled around her wide eyed.

"Uh, nothing." Malcolm smiled, "they're just for decoration."

"So that means we can press them right?" Another child asked.

"What?" Malcolm cried out, "no!"

"Miss Ajla said we could touch anything that wasn't real," one girl said batting emerald eyelashes. "And if they're for decoration then that means they're not real."

Malcolm racked his brain for a reply, "they're special decorations that only grown ups can touch." The children stared blankly at him for a moment before nodding.

Malcolm let out a deep sigh of relief.

"My mom has one of these!" A girl named Dyanna pointed at a phazor, "she used it on one of her husbands and now she's in jail." Dyanna grinned, "but that's okay cause I have seven other Daddy's to look after me."

"Well…isn't that precious."

"You sound funny," another child named Kuinn pointed out, "your voice is weird."

"That's because I have an accent."

"You got an accident?" Kuinn repeated.

"No an accent, I'm from somewhere far away. That's why I sound—speak differently."

"Oh," Kuinn replied as if he understood.

"My Dad knows a Klingon once," someone spoke up.

"They yell a lot and kick stuff," Dyanna said matter-of-factly.

"They have big guns, even bigger than this ship!"

"Yeah and they talk funny too!" Kuinn cried out laughing somewhat maniacally.

"Gaaah mock, taaa daaa naaaaa!" Mikal added in, "that's Klingon for I'm going to kick your butt!"

"No it most certainly is not," Malcolm said taking Mikal's shoulder. "I think that was Klingon for Love and Peace."

"No it wasn't!"

"They don't even believe in Love and Peace!"

"I don't even know what those words mean," a little girl mumbled softly.

Malcolm closed his eyes and smiled brightly, "who wants a story?"

"OH!" All the kids exclaimed.

"I do!"

"Oh me!"

"I love stories!"

"Once my Dad—"

"Come on tell us!"

Malcolm smiled as best he could before sitting down on the ground, "okay kids sit down." All the kids anxiously sat around him and Dyanna sat in his lap. They all stared at him with wide eyes and even wider smiles. All those pointy teeth were making him nervous.

"Well," Malcolm cleared his throat, "back on Earth there's a story about three little pigs, and a big bad wolf…"