[snip]

As the doors swished open Cross stepped on the bridge making her way to Joe ‘’ Cmdr they are down there ‘’ from her tone it was obvious the female doctor was not so enthusiastic about the prospect and outlook of this mission ‘’ Anyway house call....how are you feeling Sir ?’’ she asked with the medical tricoder in hand.

Joe was pleasantly surprised at Cross’s sudden appearance on the bridge. Joe turned hearing Cross’s voice and then saw her face. Answering her as he smiled at her stern expression he said to her, “I’m fine and dandy. Ready to go dancing until the dawn comes around Miri ! And how about yourself? ” He looked at her medical equipment and smiled as he shook his head saying, “something tells me that was not a serious question. You’re going to check me over, anyway, aren’t you?”

Cara Meow entered the Bridge a short while later, her tail still bandaged up. She felt as if she was interrupting something between Joe and Miriam, but when she looked over at NE Marconi he gave her a blank look back. “I just want to check somehing,” she announced,” walking across to the Science console, “Never know, ii might be important.” She put her eye up to the Scope and adjusted the dial on the side. “Ah! Yes!” she said to no one. “That’s interesting!”

Joe watched Cara wondering what the devil she was up to. Frowning with an amused smile on his face Joe spoke to Cara saying, “What is it, Lieutenant? You can’t just come in here, say something like that and leave. What’s interesting? Tell me quick before Lieutenant Cross finds that I may be eligible for an autopsy.”

Cross was about to say something to Joe when Cara entered,then she was going to tell Cara to stay so she could also check her over but on hearing what she said the female doctor stopped wondering what was so interesting maybe those infected would eventually loose their minds .

“Oh! I doubt that you would find it that interesting,” Cara replied, “it’s just this macro theory that my old professor had developed about the understanding of fashion as a sociological phenomenon. The Captain asked me to make up some suitable clothing for the landing party and so I’ve discovered that within this society there might be a reconstruction of identity by these natives from the regularised stable cultural norms embedded within their decaying society which would prove he was right… I’ll have to write this up and send it back to him immediately!”

Joe smiled and said, "Well if that's a fancy way of saying that they'll wear anything that comes to hand then I'd have to agree with you! At least from what I saw. The trending fashion seems to be let's sew enough together to cover ourselves."

Cross had seen Hunter wearing a cap and he was the only crew member who had one ,she thought for awhile then shrugged her shoulders ‘’I hope he doesn’t get killed, anyway Cara would you stay here so I can check you after the Cmdr?’’ .

“Certainly!” replied Cara.

Now the doctor turned her attention to Joe ‘’Tell me do you feel any pain? fatigue ?or anything else out of the ordinary?’’ she asked while started scanning ‘’ I also need to take a blood sample to check any changes in your immune system ‘’.

Joe sat back in the chair and smiled as he shook his head. Finally recovering from all smart aleck answers he could have given Cross He started to answer her saying, ” No , no and once again no. And why the blood? ” He asked. “Are you afraid I might be turned into some sort of beast?”

Cross scrutinized Joe’s facial features with those red eyes of hers ‘’What kind of a beast Cmdr? ‘’ she asked ‘’Just like the story of the Beauty and the Beast, who when he started to fall in love turned into a handsome man, anyway leave the blood sample for me to analyze . Right now your job is in the Captain’s chair and do keep an eye for anything unusual like a Klingon ‘s ship appearing out of nowhere .Apparently from the scan nothing seem to have changed much from the last time I examined you’‘.

Cara looked into the Scope again. After a while she spoke again. “There are a lot of native life-signs moving towards the landing party!” she told the XO. “I’m sure they have it in hand, but I was wondering whether it was a mistake ofr us not to be down there. Cross is the most experienced Doctor. You have your new extra powerful hearing, and I have my super powerful tail. We are wasted up here.”

• Cara Meow