The Girl in the Tank: Galactic Consortium, Season 1

Episode Three: Spiders and Clackers, Ch. 5

Dan felt a spring in his step. There were several reasons, day five and his radiation sickness was slowly fading. Cheyenne got her new "eyes" or something almost as good. But truth be told, a pit in his stomach, a weight he hadn't even been aware of carrying was lifting.

Dan couldn't even remember when the first person picked up on the fact that words like gay or lesbian didn't exist in the Consortium language. That didn't mean they didn't have people like that, or so his gay friends all maintained. He'd believed that, but it was hard, a test of faith.

His discussion with Cheyenne and her healers had lifted that. They didn't have the words because they didn't see it as an important distinction. If a man fell in love with a man, or a woman with a woman, did it even matter? If they preferred one sex over another, did that matter?

When you saw it through their lens it made sense. They had technology to change bodies to a much greater extent than anything on earth. They had alien species and while inter species romance wasn't common, it wasn't unknown. If you compared two men being in love to a man and an alien, well gay didn't seem that remarkable.

A smattering of the crew were gathering in the lounge. Dan grabbed a drink and joined Jensen, Kleppie and several others at the back, watching news. It was the Consortium channel.

"We got tired of earth news," Kleppie explained, "too much FUD."

FUD, fear, uncertainty and doubt. The earth news was full of it these days. The economy was tanking, the conservatives were buzzing with conspiracies about the Consortium and the mainstream news was spinning the conflict with China for all it was worth.

"So what's on their news?" Dan asked.

"Currently it's the top ten Holi snit fits," Kleppie laughed. Earth newscaster were expected to act with a certain dignity. The Consortium, at least the ones they had met, seemed to delight in Holi's eccentric behavior on camera.

"What have I missed?" Dan asked.

"So far when they announced that Sarasvat had been named to this expedition, he ran out of the studio dancing he was so excited. And he ranted for ten minutes about some guy convincing his girlfriend to go skinny dipping in a holding tank and contaminating several hundreds of gallons of water on the base ship."

The commercial ended and Dan watched along as they counted down the best over reactions from Holi. The winner was, surprisingly, Captain Ganaka's poisoning by earth leaders right after their arrival.

It had turned out to be nothing worse than a reaction to several food additives, substances that the Consortium didn't have and his body couldn't handle. "Why would they put that in their food?" the announcer wondered. Ganaka had spent a couple of hours in a med-tank recovering from his ordeal. Holi, and others on board the ship, had felt that Ganaka should have sent diplomats in first, men better trained to not over react.

It had not been the poisoning that had led to an over reaction from Holi but the recovery. Holi was an enthusiast for pod rocket racing, a fast and dangerous sport in the Consortium. He had even owned his own pod, in the other galaxy. He had crashed it and spent several weeks in a tank recovering. "Two hours! Two hours!" he ranted at the screen. "Come'on. Toughen up, Captain."

"It's good to know they aren't all that keen on Ganaka, either," Jensen commented.

"Ain't that the truth," Dan said, "makes you think real peace is possible, seeing their civilians. Ain't so different than us. Oh, an they hooked Cheyenne's nerves up to an pair of goggles so she can see."

"Awesome!" Kleppie said. "Damn, they have some tech, huh? You've seen Fox's arm?"

"Yeah, she's getting them tomorrow."