A Bad Day At Work
“I hate this stupid planet!” thought Francine as she caught a whiff of the damp fetid air that found its way through the airlock as an arriving delegation of Terpids made their way into the Federation base on the swamp planet of Maug.
Francine had been stuck there for five weeks as she waited for her boss to finishing negotiating a Federation trade deal with the Terpids, the smelly swamp people who called this disgusting planet home.
Boredom and homesickness had conspired to get her feeling a bit down, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Today however, it seemed that she had stumbled upon the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. While helping her boss, Commissioner Diane Wilhelm, prepare her notes for the days negotiations, Francine had been shocked when the Commissioner casually mentioned that she would need to head out of the base into the foul swamp.
“I’m going to need you to suit up and go out with Colonel Arthur and his sampling crew to help make sure they take good accurate samples so we can determine the quality of the Feldyzium we are trying to trade for.”
“But what’s wrong with the samples the Terpids already brought us?” asked Francine in a definite state of apprehension.
“We need to double check the samples ourselves. We don’t know these…” the Commissioner paused to choose her words carefully, “...these… ...people…. We don’t know these beings or how they operate, so I have decided it is better if we get our eyes on the material and take our own samples. And by ‘our eyes’ I mean yours and Colonel Arthur’s, of course. I know I can rely on you both.”
“Exactly,” replied Francine in a voice just short of desperation, “You can rely on us both, so there is no reason for me to go along, Colonel Arthur is completely capable of doing this on his own.”
“Possibly,” replied the Commissioner distractedly, “but I prefer to have you both out there. Two heads are better than one, you know.”
Realizing it was futile to protest any longer, Francine had acquiesced with a bow of her head and Commissioner Wilhelm had taken her notes and rushed off to the meeting room.
And now Francine found herself struggling into her full body atmospheric shield suit and breathing apparatus and wondering how she was going to deal with her phobia of walking in dark or murky water. She never thought she would have to face up to her admittedly strange irrational fear while working in the diplomatic corps, but her she was, and she could feel the panic building.
Maybe it was time to have a sudden case of the flu…
