[snip]

Joe looked from Cross to Del Wolf with a worried expression for a moment before speaking. “Mister Del Wolf as I recall from the taste of that last meal and our briefing earlier anyway the people on this habitat as far as we know at present anyway hardly ever if ever go to the planets in this system .” Joe rubbed his chin and asked Cross , “Am I wrong doctor?”

Cross could confirm from what they had heard those on the habitat rarely if ever went planet side. Based on what they had heard or seen on scans it was usually short stints on sublight capable system crafts to mine ore or the like from the planets or moons.

With hands behind her back and eyes lowered down Cross simple replied ‘’ No Cmdr you are not wrong’‘.

Joe shrugged and looked from Cross to Del Wolf and said, “Ah well, what’s done is done. No need to be crying over spilled cocoa I guess. “

Still in the same posture Cross was heard whispering ‘’I hope its as simple as you make it out to be and it won’t be the mothers who do the crying ‘’ she thought about the likelihood course of action the doctor might need to take, that could arise or occur resulting in an event of undesirable consequence.

Cross tried her best not to be so pessimistic and instead focus on the mothers with their tin foil hats and children running around .Her attention went back to the mother ‘’Why does everyone wear those hats? A fashion or necessity ? ‘’ she asked .Was Cross mistaken that Sal did not wear one or was there the probability that she simple forgot.

Cross actually would realize after her thought about Sal that she was misremembering, Sal did indeed wear a tin foil hat just like everyone else here, as did Dol. Nothing stood out to separate them above others. She’d also recall Dol mentioning during the brief buffet exchange that the hat’s were an evolution symbol over 600 years old from a time when their ancestors had been enslaved by another species. These hats were like a collar of sorts, and way to separate the slaves from the masters. But as Dol had explained they had eventually overthrown their masters and escaped on ships to eventually after a long time settle here in this system. The hats remained now more as a memory of their past, but now were a symbol of cultural pride and freedom for these people, not a symbol of slavery.

Cross gave an embarrassing smile when she remembered what Dol had said.

”..Oh, it is a symbol of long ago when our ancestors had been enslaved by another alien race on our planet. We eventually overthrew them and escaped on several ships to eventually arrive here and establish this habitat from the remains of those ships and over time build it to what it is now. We now wear these as a sign of freedom, and pride, not as a symbol of slavery..” The woman said confirming what Cross would recall from Dol.

‘’That’s truly remarkable, after so much time has passed your people have not forgotten and wears it as a reminder of being free’’ Cross replied .She was so sceptical about them in the beginning and what was their true hidden agenda, underlying intentions and motives had been but now apart from feeling guilty Cross was actually warming up to them.

The time cross was talking with the women Lance was Learning the game the kids were playing. Lance was learning the rules to the game it was similar to duck duck goose on earth. The kids seem to enjoy playing with someone new the other men and women saw there kids having fun with the new comer and smiled about it.

The doctor looked on watching Lance playing along side the children, she guessed the child inside him never died and was amused. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and Cross found herself relaxed to the point were she interacted more with the parents, though had no desire to approach the children.

‘’Are the children well behaved and when they are not how do you normally discipline them? How do you respond to pleasant and satisfactory behavior ? ‘’ at that point she glared at Joe but soon remembered she had her own closet full of skeletons.

Joe was beginning to feel that feeling in the pit of his stomach that he used to get in his younger days when someone was coming up behind him with the intention of leaving a sizable dent in his head. For at no time in his life had two plus two ever equaled five! “Excuse me a moment, he said as he raised a finger. “I’ve never been good at politics, history and all that so I don’t think I’m following yours. You say you defeated the people on your planet that had enslaved you. But instead of staying on your own planet only a few ships were loaded up and escaped?” Joe looked around and then smiled at Sall as he finished saying, “Excuse me but it may be my species talking but it seems that the end result is that you’ve enslaved yourselves. I mean the habitat is impressive, but one could have been everywhere on it by the time one was an adult. And there are no wild places. Nothing to watch changing, or strange animals to see. “

Cross rolled her eyes ,just when she felt comfortable enough and was letting her guard down and feeling at ease ,the Cmdr decided to throw it out of the window..so to speak.

‘’If I’m correct Dol had said that prisoners are send on the planet in mines to work and also those who rebel will have to be rehabilitated before being accepted back on the Habitat isn’t that so Sal?’’ Cross asked which for a moment felt a shiver running down her spine on remembering Earth’s history.

And then those darn hats, the doctor wanted to examine one for herself just to be sure it was not affecting these people line of thoughts.

Cara spoke up to try to calm the situation. “But don’t we also wear funny medals and strange hats sometimes on special occasions too? There are many races within the membership of the Federation of Planets that wear items that are symbols expressing, or indicating affinity to, religious or political or cultural affiliations. We have always been careful to be sensitive to their beliefs and customs, even when those symbols have tended to marginalise the wearer, or remove their dignity. On some planets we have found there was forced body mutilation, or even state sanctioned filicide and uxoricide, but it is really not our place to impose our own cultural beliefs upon different cultures and civilisations. We are not some kind of galactic cultural police force out to ostracise the transgressors of whatever ideology that we deem is civilised behaviour. In the history of Earth, it would put us in the same boat as the Spanish Inquisition, the Taliban and Colonel Green! We can only listen to witnesses, try to understand the social context, and to educate without imposition. To do otherwise would make us just as bad as those we would hope to change! “

Cara Meow, Ship’s Anthropologist