“And this room could be easily converted into a nursery for your new baby, once Mrs Easter gives birth,” the real estate agent said.

“Call me Doris, please, I’m not Mrs Easter,” Doris said with a laugh as she patted her stomach.

“What,” the bumpy headed alien said, turning to George, “you haven’t married her? Man, you off worlders are strange!”

“Marry her?” George asked, flabbergasted, “she’s my PA, why would I marry her, that wouldn’t be very professional.”

“Well, you got her pregnant, and she’s going to have your …” the purple scaled alien said.

“What?” George asked angrily, causing the alien to expand its head like that of a blowfish, “I thought we’d left all that behind!”

Doris reached out a hand and touched her boss on the shoulder, “quiet, George, you’ll disturb the baby, and the kicking and punching and so forth is already quite pronounced with any assistance. Officer, I’m happy with things as they are. George is a great help, but marriage isn’t on the horizon, neither would it be right. I liked the kitchen, there’s a room for Charles to study in, in addition to his bedroom, and enough other rooms for us to be comfortable. The reception area is large enough to entertain in. Enough for us to be together or apart as necessary.”

“Why is it called the upper room?” Charles asked.

“Well,” the alien said, its head back to its normal size, and its skin becoming an almost maroon colour, “a comet struck Oed V quite a number of years ago. Some of the residents, 13 in total, met in a room at the top of a four story building to have a meeting, to break bread and to farewell their leader before he left to return to his home planet. Rumour has it that one of 13 had wanted to take the group in a new direction and was planning on killing their leader. He may have been working on behalf of the Vren or Romulans or some other hostile species. As fate would have it, the would be traitor was himself betrayed, the doors to the room were locked and part of the comet on entering the atmosphere sheared off from the remainder of the comet and struck the building. All 13 men who were inside the room were killed. This house was built here and was named ‘The Upper Room’ in remembrance of those men.”

“So, is another comet strike likely any time soon,” George asked.

“Not likely, Mr Easter,” the alien answered, “that would be as unlikely as a human being raised by Klingons on Quo’nos, or three Klingon brothers not being mad or crazy, but actually having a god they serve, or a former borg drone being Governor of Oed V.”

“Well, the Governor was a borg drone at one stage,” George said, “I know that for certain, I’ve met the man.”

“And I heard that three Klingons are here claiming to be brothers and serving some god,” Charles added, “the kid I heard that from also said there was some public washing and nudity occurring at the same time. Wish I could have seen that.”

“And Velarcia in Fire Safety mentioned to me that Hili in Operational Management told her that Jookboks in Maintenance overheard Tom from Public Housing Services state that the new CIO here is in fact a human that adopted by and raised by Klingons on Quo’nos,” Doris stated.

“Oh, so maybe this place will be struck by a comet,” the alien said, “I can show you more houses, if you want.”

“Ah, no,” George said quickly, “I’m sure you’ve got others you want to show houses to, if Charles and Doris are in agreement with me, I think we can say we’ll take ‘The Upper Room’ as our house. Nice and close to Rabbitus Memorial School for Charles, the Sacred Heart Hospital for Doris for when her time comes and work for both Doris and myself. Any objections?” He directed this question to Charles and Doris.

Both his companions shook their heads and he said, “sign the Upper Room over to us, my good friend … oh, what is your name, by the way?”

“Sesom-Divad-Soma, Mr Easter,” the alien said, “I’m the last of my kind, when I end, my species are no more.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” George said, meaning what he said, “if there’s anything we can do …”

“There’s nothing anyone can do,” Sesom-Divad-Soma, its face turning blue, “I don’t know what my people call ourselves, I just know that I am not ready to end my species yet. Thank you for taking over the Upper Room, Mr Easter, Doris, Charles, the files should be to you momentarily, and as you’re all involved in Construction & Operations, you know the importance of lodging maintenance requests with the department.”

The alien cycled its way out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door. Watching the way its circular appendage in place of the legs of most other species navigated the stairs with ease impressed George enormously.

“I hope I can find out a way to help him,” George muttered, and then looked around the room, “well, let’s arrange for the furniture, and get Charles enrolled in Rabbitus Memorial School.”

“Or, I could continue on with correspondence via subspace,” Charles said, a hopeful note in his voice.

“Nonsense,” George said, “there’s a school here, and it’ll do you good to mix with people your own age, make some friends.”

“As you wish,” Charles said, resignation in his voice.

-George Easter, Doris and Charles with special guest appearance by Sesom-Divad-Soma