Space Relations Pt. 01

"Sure." The other man nodded. "You can just call me Cruz. That's what everybody around here calls me, except for the jealous people who work here that call me hoser. Follow me, sir."

A few short minutes later, both men could be seen walking on the neat green grass that surrounded the convalescent home. As they walked, Washington glanced over at the orderly, able to take a closer look at his features now that he didn't feel apprehensive over the possibility of being assaulted by an octogenarian. Cruz was Hispanic, right around thirty years of age, of a stocky build and with a tidy haircut and soft cheeks.

"Are you checking me out, sir?" Cruz asked.

"No, no, not at all." Washington answered.

"Because if you are, I'll have you know that I only swing one way, and one way only. That is to the Conservative Right. I in no way, shape or form swing toward the more Liberal Left."

"That's good to know." Washington nodded. "Actually, I may have been checking you out after all. My records only indicate a vague explanation of your professional education. May I ask what your specialty is?"

"Analytical Xeno-Morphology." Cruz replied. "I've extensively studied all of the known alien species, especially the ones that are on the outer reaches of the galaxy and that we presently know very little about. I know everything there is to know about their attitudes and behaviors toward the human race from the infrequent contacts we've had with them. I hope to one day find myself on board a starship that might take me out there, so that I can put my vast trove of knowledge to good use."

"That is exactly what I'm looking for." Washington was impressed. He looked over at the looming structure of the nursing home. "I just don't see what a man of your obvious caliber and expertise is doing here, at this place."

"I also have a Master's Degree in Human Sexuality." Cruz added.

"Let me rephrase that last question." Washington tried to be tactful. "What is it that you did wrong to end up here? Whom did you piss off?"

"Oh, that." Cruz looked embarrassed. "Well, I screwed Admiral Cocksander's forty-year old trophy wife..."

Washington sniggered. Admiral Cocksander was such a jerk that he was known around the academy, unofficially, as Admiral Cocksucker.

"...and his twenty year old daughter..."

Washington's eyes opened wide.

"...and his sixty year old mother."

Washington's eyes opened even wider.

"I even managed to get them all in the same room together." Cruz revealed. "Unfortunately, that room just happened to be the admiral's office. When he walked in a couple of hours later, it resulted in quite a bit of bedlam, as you might assume. I still have a couple of pictures from that day, if you'd like to see the ones I have left. The MPs took all the good ones away when they arrested me. That's how I ended up getting assigned at this old folks' home, anyway."

Washington was starting to like this guy, in a strictly non-sexual sort of way of course, because it took a lot of balls to do something like that to Admiral Cocksander. "I have a proposition for you, Mr. Cruz. I'm looking to staff a crew for a small vessel that I've recently been commissioned to command. We'll be going to the farthest known ends of the universe, and perhaps even beyond. Would you be interested in joining up?"

It was Cruz' turn to gaze at the nursing home. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'd have to leave this place behind. As you saw inside, I'm becoming quite popular here. They've even started bussing in people from other nursing homes now. We were going to start a new program called Fun With Diapers, just next week."

"You don't have to give me an answer right this moment, but I'd appreciate it if you got back with me in a day or two." Washington automatically reached out with his right hand, until he remembered what Cruz had done earlier. Quickly, he switched over to his left. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Cruz."

The two men heartily shook hands, and a moment later parted paths.

Date: January 3

Location: Santee, San Diego County, California.

In many ways, Lieutenant Washington's destination for the following day was the polar opposite of the nursing home. It was into the parking lot of a small daycare center that he guided his car, a center loosely affiliated with Space Corps. Well, very, very loosely affiliated.

There was no receptionist around to greet him, so Washington walked right on inside. He soon came to a colorful facsimile of a classroom, populated by about fifteen young children. The person watching over the youngsters was a pretty young lady with sandy blonde hair. Her exemplary cleavage was on display thanks to a V-neck, pink fuzzy sweater. The woman's extra tight denim skirt ended halfway across the thighs, further revealing her nicely tanned legs. Ankle-high socks in pink, and white sneakers with pink laces finished off her cute outfit.

At the moment, the children were all sitting on the floor with their legs crossed, as was their guardian. Strangely enough, nobody was uttering a word in the entire room. It was kind of eerie for Washington to take the scene in, because other than an occasional long breath from one of the young ones, the lieutenant could have sworn that the room was frozen solid.

The woman spoke up so abruptly, that she made Washington jump. She pointed directly at one particular student. "Drew has the correct answer. Go ahead and step over to the chalkboard, Drew, and give yourself a star. Good job, Drew. Everybody clap for Drew! Yay!"

She said this very excitedly. Once she started clapping her hands together, the rest of the children followed suit. One grinning young man stood up from the group. In a child's casual amble, he strode over to the chalkboard and did as he was told.

"Okay, now who needs to go to the bathroom?" The blonde asked. "Remember to concentrate, just like I showed you, okay? Are you ready?"

All of the children nodded, as if they were enjoying the game they were playing.

"Begin."

Washington observed the scene with more than a little fascination.

After about one minute, the blonde started pointing out select students. "You, you, you and you, can go to the bathroom. Remember to hold hands while you walk down the hall, to go together in pairs, and not to stray anywhere else. Got it, buckos?"

The kids nodded and gaily walked off.

Washington cleared his throat.

The pretty blonde casually turned in his direction. Once she noted his spiffy Space Corps duds, she got to her feet.

"Don't say a word. Don't even think a word." She said as she stepped closer and stared intently into Washington's face. "I see... I see George Washington crossing the Delaware. No, wait. Your last name is Washington. I also see the Washington monument. Oh, wow! You have a nine-inch penis!"

Washington glanced down at his crotch, but there was no bulge visible. He was stunned by the woman's psychic abilities. "How could you possibly guess that?"

"Mary, what's a penis?" One of the little girls asked, as she walked over to the woman's side.

The blonde looked shocked. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" She turned toward the kid and crouched down until their eyes were level. "That's a word we don't use until we're much, much older. I want you to forget that I said that word, or I'll erase your memory and you won't be able to remember who your parents are. Okay, sweetie? Now, go on and find yourself a coloring book or something. That's a good girl!"

The child happily ran off.

"Can you really do that? Erase someone's memory?" Washington asked.

"No." The blonde shook her head. "But saying that helps me keep the children in line. Why do I keep seeing the word 'Boom' in my head?"

"That's also part of my name." Washington stretched out his hand, and proudly gave the woman his full name and title.

The blonde returned the greeting. "I'm Mary Wattakunt, but please call me Mary."

"You are a mind reader?"

"Yes." Mary nodded. "I can read minds, and I have excellent success when my targets are concentrating on a specific subject, but I'm at about fifty-fifty when they're not. Occasionally, I can also project my emotions or somebody else's emotions on another person. Every once in while, I can even catch a glimpse of probable future events, but I'm not very reliable on this last part because it can be so random."

"Mary, can you tell me why I'm here?"

"Uh, something about hiring." She speculated, when she suddenly perked up. "You're thinking about hiring me? If it pays more than this place, I'm in!"

"Well, before I get to the point of offering you a position," Washington said. "I'd like to know if you have any training with off-world subjects."

"Oh, yeah!" Mary nodded. "I spent two years studying extraterrestrial biology and their thinking patterns. One of those years was in the field, where I translated the thoughts of alien friendlies into English for Space Corps.

"I see. I read in your history that you were assigned to spend a year as a counselor for space pilots coming back from combat, but that you were terminated after being at that post for only four months." Washington commented. "Would you care to explain why you were relieved of the position so early?"

Mary looked embarrassed. She shrugged. "It kind of just happened. I had a group of about ten pilots. We got to talking about how hard it was to readjust to a civilian lifestyle, after having been out in space for a tour or two. Some of the pilots thought I was attractive and one thing led to another..."

"So you were terminated for sleeping with one of the pilots?"

"Not just one." Mary blushed. "I slept with all ten. That's why Space Corps assigned me to this place, to keep me out of trouble."

"I see." Washington nodded. It was becoming more and more apparent to him that the academy was trying to push as many misfits and rejects onto the Space Relations, and into the deepest recesses of space, right along with him.

"I am not a slut!" Mary snapped at him. "I'm just nice!"

"But I didn't even think that!" Washington defended himself.

"Well, not yet, but you will once you get back in your car." Mary explained.

It had been bad enough when Washington had to watch his mouth at the academy. With this bright young lady, he'd have to start watching his mind as well. But then again, he considered, so would anyone else that came in contact with him, if Mary were at his side. She could be a very powerful tool, when...

"When you're talking to the higher-ups from Space Corps." Mary finished his sentence for him. "You might as well have a scrolling banner over your head, you know that?"

And she has such nice tits, Washington thought.

"I heard that, too."

Will you consider being part of my crew? He thought at her.

"Maybe."

Will you consider strutting around on my starship while topless?

Mary mulled this over. "Maybe. Well, okay."

Washington thought of his phone number, and mentally asked her to call if she was interested. Without saying another word, he turned and left the center.

When he slid back into his car, he did in fact think that Mary was a bit of a slut, but it wasn't in a negative connotation at all. It was in a hot and sexy sort of way. He looked back toward the day care center, growing uneasy when he saw Mary staring back at him through the center's large plate glass window. He waved, she waved back, and he quickly drove out of the parking lot before she could read any more of his erotic thoughts.