Star Trek: Strange New Worlds... "Spiff's Rift..."
Summary: Spaceman Spiff takes on the crew of the Enterprise...
Note: After a recent Calvin and Hobbes meme, I just had to...
Part VIII...
"Nice car..." Susie noted, a bit grimly.
"Yeah...Only six years old, I'm doing way better financially these days." Ms. Singh grinned. "My cousin sold me his Honda and it's been running pretty well, fingers crossed. Afraid teachers' salaries aren't in the Cadillac range unless the Caddy is about fifteen. How do you like it, Calvin?"
The ace reporter, knowing when to keep his cards close to his chest, replied in a few well-chosen words. "It's nice."
"My advice is, don't go into teaching unless you don't mind six and plus year old cars and the like. So..." Ms. Singh eyed the pair via her rear-view mirror. "You have been going to school together a long while?"
"Since kindergarten..." Susie, a bit curtly.
Appears Singh's stooge is not completely happy with her employer...Calvin Calvin noted coolly.
Potentially...Useful.
"And you live right next to each other? That must be nice."
"Not always..." Susie replied. Calvin, a bit startled.
That was my line.
"No? Isn't Calvin always the perfect gentleman?" coy smile in mirror.
Arggh...Calvin concealed a gasp.
"No." Susie, firmly.
"Calvin?" Ms. Singh, amused. "You've not been a perfect knight and gentleman around Susie? For shame."
Playing with me, eh? He thought.
"He can be pretty mean..." Susie, coldly.
Madam? I am shocked. Shocked. Though kinda pleased. Glad to know my counterpart's not a pushover, our intrepid reporter noted to himself.
"Mean? Calvin, can you be mean?" Ms. Singh grinned in mirror at him.
"I have long heard of Spiff's reputation for cold ruthlessness, but I'd thought the humans of this era followed a chivalric code, Mr. Calvin." Commander Singh coyly noted. Wickedly evil flash of eyes.
"Susie's silly sometimes." There. A cool, succinct response, fully exposing my contempt for...
"I'm not silly!" Susie cried. A tear running.
"Calvin...That is a bit mean. Though to be fair, Susie. I have heard you call him goofy during recess and lunch."
"Exactly." Calvin nodded.
Case...Closed.
"It's just 'cause he is goofy sometimes. But I don't mind that...It's when he's mean to me." Susie paused.
"Maybe sometimes, I'm a little mean back...But that's just cause he's so mean. I like..." she stopped.
Ooops.
Hmmn...Calvin pondered. And, of course...Arggh.
She likes us, Hobbes beamed.
NOOO!
"Oh?" Commander Singh leered into the reflective monitor of her craft, cleverly disguised as a contemporary Honda. "So, you like Calvin? This pitiful stand-in? Or the real one?"
"I just mean...I like some of his stories and stuff. When he lets me play with him." Susie, a little feebly.
"But then he gets so mean and I just wanna..." gritting of teeth, brushing back her dark bangs.
"Yeah..." Ms. Singh nodded. "I used to have that same problem with Chris Pike when we were kids back in our old neighborhood in Buffalo. He was always making up these Star Trek adventures to play...Sometimes he'd..." she continued as Calvin stared...
Principal Pike...?
Susie equally startled in her way...
"The principal?" she asked.
"Yeah...We lived next door to each other then. He just drove me crazy when he'd take his robot and stalk off to do his stories alone just when I was thinking we were having fun. Used to get so mad at him...Couple of times I really let him have it."
"You did?" mutual echo...
"Well, I was bigger than him then. In fact, don't tell anyone..." she made a careful turn in the street. "I was sort of a bully for a little while. Kids had pushed me around and I learned some self-defense stuff. Phew, I was angry then. But Chris talked me out of it. And what with the way he acted sometimes I was too busy beating on kids trying to bother him..." smile in mirror. Susie and Calvin staring...
"So, it hurt when he shut me out. Don't shut Susie out, Calvin. Let her in, not always, but enough she knows how much you..."
Calvin blanching...
"If my minion has failed me and succumbed to Calvin's charms, I have no further use for her." Commander Singh coolly noted. "She'll be dealt with after I deal with Calvin...And his descendant, my true opponent, Spaceman Spiff."
"So, he makes up these stories about himself and they're fun sometimes..." Susie began.
"Hey!" Calvin fumed. The intrepid reporter realizing the Derkins dame had somehow acquired dangerous intel on Calvin.
She had to be silenced, somehow.
"Oh...You mean like being a duplicate?" Ms. Singh grinned.
"That was real!" Calvin insisted.
This fiend is cleverer than I realized. And Derkins more crafty than I or Calvin had ever guessed.
"Well...One of the reasons I liked Chris then was I kinda was into that, making up characters and stories that I loved to try to live like. When I was your age I once spent a whole semester pretending to be my twin sister. Which I don't have." Ms. Singh chuckled a bit. "Drove my mother, my teachers, and Chris crazy. Not to mention all the other girls avoided me. Though Chris kind of liked my dedication to the character and ended up going along with it. It was really nice." Warm smile at the memory.
"I myself have infiltrated Spiff's Galactic Federation as a spy, pretending to be human." Singh, leered. "It was quite easy."
"I like to play fairy princess by night and hardnosed career woman by day..." Susie noted. "But Calvin always wants to do his own stuff."
That's the Calvin I know...Strong and independent...Calvin Calvin nodded.
"Yeah, it can be hard." Ms. Singh noted. "Though you do have to give Calvin his space to learn about himself. But that's why I say don't shut Susie out, Calvin. You may only have so much time together, my mother and I had to move a year or so later. That was really hard. To lose Chris. We tried to stay in touch but hard to do when you move far away."
"What happened with you and Mr. Pike?" Susie, fascinated.
Calvin, unable to avoid a certain degree of interest...Listening.
Hobbes on the edge of his seat...
"I tracked him down at college and have never let him go since." Ms. Singh grinned. "And...Now, we're engaged."
Holy guacamole! Hobbes, rather pleased.
Calvin...Horrified.
"I should do that with..." Susie began.
"I can walk from here! Thanks!" Calvin cried. "Pull over, please!"
"Hang on, we're almost at Susie's." Ms. Singh noted calmly.
"The knowledge of a secret alliance with the Galactic President is something I require you keep from Spaceman Spiff, Mr. Calvin." Commander Singh, coolly.
"We'll be letting people know a little later. Chris and I both want to settle in." Ms. Singh explained. "But it's fine if you tell anyone, no big secret."
"It will mean your death, should you expose this, Mr. Calvin." Commander Singh noted coldly. "However, though your feelings hardly matter, I can assure you it poses no threat to the Galactic Federation. In fact, it may be a path to peace. But it must, for now, remained concealed."
"Well, we won't tell until you and Mr. Pike do, right Calvin?" Susie eyed Calvin who eyed her. What?
Oh... "Sure. I wouldn't think my posse would be interested anyway."
"Posse?" Susie eyed him incredulously. "What, you and Hobbes?"
I'm hurt by that faint sound of contempt in my girl's voice...Hobbes noted.
...