The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 5: All Good People
Scene 9: Turquoise

.
Don't surround yourself with yourself...

.

5.9
Turquoise

Sakura Nakamura Holland was once again commanding the Puppy, this time with Major Janet Carter at the helm. Both women were doing their nails, which was rather odd, considering the large, muscular, African American woman never wore nail polish and the U.S.S. Beagle's Dean of Ship was always immaculately made up before she let anyone set eyes on her.

.

"I don't think I've ever seen you wear any kind of make-up," Sakura observed.

"You normally use clear lacquer with a white stripe after the quick," Janet Carter observed. "And you did that this morning… Why change to black now?"

Sakura suddenly stopped, leaving six of her nails a glossy black, three their original combination of clear lacquer below the quick with a white stripe beyond the quick, and one nail, the index finger of her right hand, halfway in the transition from white to black.

She turned sharply to see the other three passengers, Falok from the Vulcan Science Academy, the assistant director of the Beagle's UFP delegation, Erok Gruex, who was a member of the rarely seen vrish people, and Fish Head, an archeologist from Olympia, Washington, all busily painting their nails a glossy black. Well, in Gruex's case, his talons...

.

"All Stop! Bring us to station keeping!"

.

Major Carter had the presence of mind to hand the tiny bottle of black, glossy nail polish, along with the cap/applicator, to Sakura before reaching to the controls. As Carter brought the Puppy to station keeping, Sakura turned her chair to look at the other passengers. "Stop that and close those bottles." She emphasized her order by lidding first the bottle Carter had handed her, then lidding the one she had been using.

It took a moment for it to register with her that she had observed each person on board requesting the replicator to create a bottle of nail polish for them. All three of her civilian passengers stopped, then looked at their own nails in confusion.

Sakura turned back to her console and entered a quick series of commands. "All ships, this is Dean Sakura Nakamura Holland. Please bring all probes to station keeping, remove all robotic explorers from any archeological sites, and cease all probing activities. Commodore Yui, Captain Carter, Skip, please enter conference mode. All other teams, please monitor the conference."

.

Major Carter's older cousin, Captain Rhonda Carter, was the first to respond. "This is the U.S.S. Escort, Rhonda Carter commanding, what is the nature of the emergency?"

"Rhonda?" asked Janet Carter. "When did you start wearing green eye shadow?"

"Never," Captain Carter responded. "I always wear blue. Sets off my eyes."

"You're wearing green now. And I've never seen you wear nail polish of any kind." Major Carter held up her hands, waggled her fingers - 4 polished black, 5 unpolished, and her left thumb partly polished.

Her older cousin held up her hands and looked in blank confusion at her own nails - all glossy black.

At this point Commodore Yui Song came into the conversation. "I caught part of that, what is this about fingernail polish?"

"Look at your nails, Song," said Sakura. "And is that Trader Pel sitting next to you? Look at his…"

Yui Song looked first, uncomprehendingly, at Pel's glossy, black nails, then, in increasing shock at her own. "Ew, I hate black nail polish. It's just so…" She didn't finish that sentence as General Krank came into the conversation from the helm of the Bluebird.

"Would someone like to explain this to me?" The elderly klingon held up his hands, displaying black nail polish, then gestured with all ten fingers to his eyelids, the garish British Racing Green eyeshadow contrasting wildly with his skin.

Captain Skip Howard of the U.S.S. Beagle was the last to check in, lounging scandalously on the vulcan-built ship's command throne - like some insouciant emperor imported from some bygone era.

.

"SKIP?!"

.

The accusatory tone was amplified by the choir of voices who launched his name like some sort of invective.

"I've been monitoring," Skip Howard replied. "Ten?"

Skip Howard's visage was replaced with that of the betazoid doctor, Tentis Uto. Uto's nails were also glossy black and he was wearing British Racing Green eyeshadow. "It has to be some sort of unconscious telepathic simpatico. I'm reviewing our recent diet from Serrat Prime. I'm thinking, maybe, mushrooms?"

Skip Howard touched a control and his image replaced the bald, betazoid doctor in the conference. "Okay… But here's the fork in your soup…" Captain Howard held up his hands to display his nails, gestured toward his own eyeshadow:

.

Turquoise.

.

5.9