Chapter Nine: Exchanges
"Hello, Doctor," Hoshi greeted as she strolled into sickbay.
"Good morning, Ensign," Phlox replied. "What can I do for you?" He was feeding his Pyrithian bat.
"I wanted to see how you were doing." She sat on a biobed.
"I seem to be in tact."
She tilted her head. Phlox was quieter than usual; something was bothering him.
"How was the Interspecies Medical Exchange?"
He stiffened.
"Ah, yes." He turned to Hoshi. "It was…eventful. I'm just very glad to be back…on board." He smiled.
"What are you smiling about?" Hoshi asked. She knew something was troubling him; she could see through his fake smile.
"Nothing." He sighed. "I've learned one thing that's as universal as languages."
"What's that?"
"Prejudice."
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Hoshi sat in the mess hall, eating her breakfast, as Travis and Malcolm conversed. She jabbed at her half-cooked eggs, watching runny yolk drip to her sausage and bacon. She hadn't paid attention to whatever the two were bumbling about.
"So, Hoshi," Travis said. "What do you think?"
"Wha?" Hoshi looked up from her plate, catching the curious glances of both men.
"Yoohoo!" Travis waved his hand. "Where have you been? We were talking about placing bets on Trip."
"Bets?" Hoshi asked.
"It seems," Malcolm said, "that our commander has found a new liking. Feezal, the doctor's wife, or should I say, one of them…"
Travis snorted. Hoshi rolled her eyes.
Malcolm cleared his throat. "As I was saying…Feezal seems to be spending quite some time with Trip."
"Installing the new neutron microscope in sickbay," Travis said.
"Without the doctor's supervision," Malcolm inserted. The two were eye-to-eye.
"But Trip knows she's taken," Travis added.
"But the doctor has many wives, what'll be the difference if she—"
"What are you guys talking about?" Hoshi asked, annoyed. She took a sip of her orange juice.
"We were placing bets on who would seduce who first," Travis explained.
The second she heard 'seduce' she spit out her juice. Malcolm and Travis closed their eyes when they were sprinkled in the face.
"What in bloody…"
"What the…"
Hoshi covered her mouth in shock. "I am so sorry!" She quickly handed them both napkins.
"See you both on the bridge." Before either man could respond, she dashed out of the mess.