“Rhade, you’re looking and smelling unusually clean this morning,” replied Beka as Rhade entered the bar and sat next to her at the table.

“You would not believe what happened to me last night!” Rhade was still fuming from his previous encounter with Q.

“Oh gee, let me guess…another tramp? Two? Three? No, wait…you had a whole group of them at your place last night. They tackled you and proceeded to force you into the torturous and altogether unfamiliar routine of bathing. Right?”

“At least I don’t like to be blindfolded,” sneered Rhade in response.

“Blindfolded? Who was blindfolded?” asked Trance as she, Dylan, Doyle, and Harper joined the two and sat down. Immediately Beka pulled out a deck of cards and began to deal.

“Nobody was blindfolded, Trance.” Expecting a crass remark from Rhade, Beka glared at the Nietzschean as if to say ‘don’t go there’. Rhade only continued fuming and brooding silently.

Dylan looked concerned. “What happened, Rhade?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Was it Q?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Rhade pulled away from the table so abruptly that it almost overturned. He wheeled around and stomped to the bar and sat down on the stool. Realizing the foul mood Rhade was in, in a flash Harper was behind the bar; pulling out a bottle of the strongest whiskey he could find to quell the temper of the hotheaded Nietzschean, he poured it into a glass and left the bottle on the counter for Rhade to imbibe to his heart’s content.

“What was that all about?” asked Doyle.

“Dunno. I do know he is looking incredibly cleaner than usual, though,” replied Beka with a mischievous gleam in her eye. “Maybe someone has finally introduced him to something called shampoo.”

“He’s not that bad, Beka,” said Trance.

“Wanna bet? I had to sit next to him on the Maru during our last trip together. He’s not the prim and proper Rhade we used to know.”

“Time and circumstances change everyone, Beka…even you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I hate to say it…but I can kinda smell you right now.”

“Me?? No way! Really?” Beka raised up one arm and sniffed.

“Just a little,” replied Trance with some embarrassment. “It’s not your fault any more than Rhade’s. Water is scarce here. That could be a serious problem for someone trying to maintain their cleanliness.”

“True. But you, Trance…how do you stay so fresh and clean?” wondered Beka.

“I’m the avatar of a sun…I don’t need to bathe like the rest of you.”

“I’m an android…I don’t need to bathe, either,” replied Doyle.

“You two are so lucky. And you, Dylan? You’re a Paradine. What do you do about personal hygiene?”

“The same thing I’ve always done, Beka. Excuse me.” Dylan was becoming more and more uncomfortable with the conversation between Beka, Trance, and Doyle. While he wasn’t usually threatened by the girl talk that often took place on Andromeda, on Seefra it was quite a different story. On Andromeda, the women would often lock themselves away in someone’s quarters, chattering the night away about who knows what (though he had his suspicions). Here on Seefra, however, it was done in broad daylight, and right in front of him. This made him feel more than a little uncomfortable, especially considering they were delving into some very personal and intimate matters – his personal hygiene. While Dylan didn’t think he was too overly odorous, nevertheless the lack of water on Seefra-1 had made him more than a little self-conscious about his condition on more than one occasion. Not that it mattered – he usually didn’t get any women anyway, and the ones that flanked Rhade didn’t seem to mind one way or another. As Dylan walked past Rhade, still sitting at the bar, the doors to the bar opened to let in yet another patron. As the doors closed again, the resultant breeze made Dylan catch a whiff of Rhade’s scent, which was now quite pleasant with the odor of fragrant soap and shampoo.

‘Great, now the man not only looks good in leather, but he smells good too,’ thought Dylan to himself. ‘There will never be any action for me on Seefra-1. I have got to find a way off this stinking planet and back to the old life I used to love – full of adventure, beautiful women, and a Nietzschean who knows his manners when speaking to a Captain.’

Dylan walked out of the bar in a huff.

Back at the table, Beka, Trance, and Doyle continued playing cards and talking girl talk amongst themselves.

“You know, it’s about time we ditched these men and had some action of our own…like we used to,” stated Beka with a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“My memory is foggy about our past, Beka…you know that,” replied Trance with a sad smile.

“Oh yeah, that’s right…I forgot. Well, it’s about time we conjure up some new memories – just us gals. Whaddya say? You two in?”

“You mean ‘ladies day out on the town’?” asked Trance.

“What is that?” Doyle processed her database for information.

“Come on, I’ll take the Maru. I know where we can find some action in Boyagen.”

Doyle looked concerned. “Beka, that’s dangerous. You know how they are on Boyagen when it comes to outsiders…shoot first, ask questions later.”

“So we’ll disguise ourselves as locals. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Doyle still looked suspicious. “I suppose I should go along for protection. Besides, we never know when that ‘Q’ person or whatever he is might show up again.”

“Well, let’s just hope if and when he does, he doesn’t take on the persona of my Uncle Sid. That was just disturbing.” Beka shuddered involuntarily when she thought about the previous encounter with the being called ‘Q’.

“I could use a change of scenery,” stated Trance with a childish twinkle in her eye.

“That’s the spirit!” Beka replied exuberantly as she gathered the cards together and put them in her pocket. “Come on gals, let’s ditch this rathole!”

The three got up and walked out of the bar in a flash, stopping only long enough to get a whiff of Rhade’s present condition, who was still sitting at the bar sulking.

“Mmm, nice…he smells like roses,” replied Trance with a sweet smile.
 

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