"Here I am!" shouted Leela, who had suddenly walked into the meeting room with Mildred at his side.
"Hooray!" said Zoidberg. "I spoke, and he appeared! Now, has anyone seen Jimmy Hoffa?"
"Hey, check out Shirley Temple," said Amy, gawking at Mildred.
"What's Zapp doing here?" asked Leela.
As the group of friends shot questions back and forth, Zapp stared in astonishment at Mildred's face. Not content with merely looking, he rudely grasped her chin and yanked her head back and forth, carefully scrutinizing both sides. His eyes displayed both outrage and pity.
"What is it, Captain Brannigan?" said Zoidberg.
Zapp released his grip on Mildred's head. "This woman is an abomination," he declared.
"Brannigan?" said Mildred in wonder. "You're Captain Zapp Brannigan?"
"Not to you," said Zapp harshly. "Get out of my sight."
Zoidberg, curious, stood and fastened his claw around Mildred's face; the red-haired girl endured the treatment stoically. "Odds bodkins!" exclaimed the lobster. "You're right, captain. The round face, the low cheekbones, the thin lips, the freckles…she's obviously part Gungan."
While Zoidberg, Amy, and Delta pressed Mildred for details about herself, Leela and Fry stood to one side and talked privately. "So, who gets to ask a question first?" said Fry.
"You," replied Leela, "since you're a lady."
"Okay," said Fry. "What're you doing with a strange girl who has the same name as my grandmother?"
"She was my ride home," Leela told him. "I accidentally fell off a treadmill, and she followed me to the hospital."
"Fell off a treadmill?" said Fry, stunned. "In my body?"
"I must've inherited your clumsiness," said Leela with a shrug. As she shrugged, Fry's elbow knocked over and broke a vase filled with daffodils. "So, how do you like wearing a dress?"
"It could become a habit," said Fry.
"You look pretty sexy in it," Leela remarked. "I'll bet the men found you irresistible."
"Not really," said Fry. "Amy and I came right back here after we found Zapp. We didn't even get to dance."
"What was Zapp doing at the club, anyway?" Leela wanted to know.
Brannigan strode forward and answered the question himself. "As I explained to the lovely lady, I was cured of my violent temperament by means of a revolutionary therapy."
"What therapy?" Leela asked him. "And who administered it?"
"I don't know his name," said Zapp, "but I can…"
You never saw my face, uttered a voice in his head.
Leela and Fry were surprised at Zapp's sudden expression of astonishment.
Who are you? thought the spaceman.
Tell them you never saw my face, the voice spoke.
Zapp lowered his eyes. "I, er, never saw his face," he said quietly.
All right, I told them, he thought. Now what's this all about?
I'll tell you later, said the mysterious voice. Maybe after your dinner date with the cyclops.
"Oh, that's right," Zapp said aloud. "Leela, I believe I invited you to dinner tomorrow."
Both Leela and Fry gaped at the captain. Then they gaped at each other.
Then Leela folded Fry's arms. "Leave Leela the hell alone," she told Zapp.
Inside Leela's head, Fry's mind bubbled with unfamiliar feelings. I don't know if Leela's objection is real or fake, it thought. All I know is what her body is telling me—yes, yes, yes!
"Yes, Zapp," Fry blurted out. "We've had our differences, but I'm willing to give us another shot. I will go to dinner with you tomorrow."
Leela's mouth fell so far open that Fry's tonsils were visible from space.
"Call me," said Fry, tapping on his wrist console.
"You just made the sexiest decision of your life," said Zapp with a lustful smile.
As the captain walked away whistling, Leela caught Fry by his plunging neckline. "You are not going out with Zapp Brannigan!" she snapped. "I absolutely forbid it!"
"It's all part of the plan," said Fry flippantly.
"There are plenty of men you could pretend to screw around with," said Leela, shaking her own body vigorously. "Zapp is not one of them. Break the date!"
"Stop it before you hurt yourself," said Fry.
To be continued
