The huge pool was very quiet this time during the night shift. Most of the crew was asleep and the huge room holding the pool was empty. Laraan padded in on bare feet. The pool belonged to the gym area, which had holoprojectors so the EMH could appear should there be an accident. Not a lot of people seemed to realise what that meant.

Truth be told, there were times when she missed her home planet Heel. The temperature here was almost as high as at home and the humid air reminded her a bit of home.

“Computer start holo-projection of Heleen night sky.” she said. The Computer beeped an affirmative and the ceiling above the pool changed into a canopy of huge leavy jungle-trees. Between them the 6 moons of Heel and countless stars were in the night sky, throwing a soft glow into the room. THe songs of night birds and a light breeze ruffling the large leaves lazily sounded and all this was reflected in the waters of the large pool.

Laraan took a deep breath and let the towl drop, standing there fully naked. Of course for human eyes she wouldn’t look naked at all, the red, filigree tattoo-like swirls and designs covering every inch of her fair skin, except for her face, were even more in contrast on her skin by the soft glow of Heel’s moons in the night sky.

Oh how wonderful it was to be without human clothes again, feel the air on her skin, the warmth and soon the soft water. She stepped to the edge of the pool and dove gracefully head-first into the water.

• Laraan, CNS