trans_9 | Keeping Occupied

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Keeping Occupied

Cale stood in the media library in one of the pod-rooms, the broken pod-room, to be exact. His brow was creased and his nose scrunched up as he concentrated on the bizarre-looking terminal on the wall. He pressed one of the buttons and got a low ‘beep’ in reply, but the screen remained blank. He tried another. Another beep, still blank. He frowned but he wasn’t giving up. With practically nothing to do on this ship—what with the medbay taken over by the crabby green guy and this being the only other area left on the ship (the sensoriums were almost in constant use by other crew members) with any kind of identifiable technological aspect to it, Cale was determined to at least keep himself busy. And busy meant trying to TURN THAT DAMN SONG OFF!

Over and over the thing had repeated. Never stopping. Never giving even a moment’s break, and with the door wide open and it playing full volume, it was impossible to concentrate anywhere else in the media library—which is what he’d been trying to do earlier. Now, he was determined to fix what was broken…or at least drive himself crazy trying.

Beep. Beep-beep. Beep. Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep. Beep.

There! Right there! He’d had it. It went away but he’d still had it, if only for an instant. The screen flashed for just a moment and then went black again. He was making progress, getting closer. It was just a matter of time before that painstakingly awful song was gone for good.

“Yeah, and you thought I couldn’t do it, didn’t you,” Cale said aloud, apparently speaking to the troublesome terminal. “Well, I’ve got news for you buddy, I am about to own you.”

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Another chill ran up Cale's spine. "Wow...I feel kind of gross now. Dirty."

"...why?"

"Because, I was starting to think..." And then he realized what he was about to say before he said it. THANKFULLY! "...uh...nothing. No reason. Nevermind."

"Think what?" Now she's curious.

"Nothing."

He shifted awkward in his seat.

She pokes him in the side.

"C'mon, fess up."

"No! It's nothing."

He tried to dodge her poking, to no avail.

"Stop that! I'm serious. I wasn't thinking anything."

There's more poking. It devolves to downright tickling. The plantsuits are thin enough that it can be felt.

And there is laughing. Yes, even nineteen year old boys from a thousand years in the future are ticklish. "Stop it!" he repeated several times, first insisting and eventually devolving into pleading for her to quit.

"OKAY! Okay. Okay, okay. I'll tell you. I'll tell you," he finally relented when his pleas for mercy went unheard.

She's smirking at him--and half on top of him by now.

"What were you gonna say?"

"I was gonna say... That you... You know, that you..."

He's obviously having trouble with this. Give him a break, he's nineteen and has barely seen another human--much less a female--in fifteen years.

"That I'm what?" she leans in a little closer, curious.

"That you're...you know...," he was stalling. When he finally said it, it was little more than a mumbled. "...hot."

He may have even coughed in a lame attempt to cover it up.

She laughs.

"And the idea that I could be ten times older than your grandma, timeline-wise, freaks you out, huh."

She pokes him in the chest.

"Well, I'm probably from another world, so timelines mean squat." She tucks her hair behind her ear in a gesture that's oddly...bashful, for her, and rather unconscious on her part.

"How do you know?" he asks, referring to her apparent certainty that they're from completely different worlds. Finding Grandma cute wasn't exactly something Cale was comfortable with, nor was it something that he'd expected. Oh, Crap! Kate and Cassie were from the past, too. And he thought they were cute, too!

Of course, the fact that Leela--Grandma Numero Uno--was half laying on him didn't make things any easier.

"I mean, why are you so certain?"

"Actually, I'm, not. Stacy, are Cale and I from the same universes?"

||Negative.||

She just arches an eyebrow at him.

There is a very loud, audible gulp from Cale as Stacy confirms that he and Leela are from completely different universes. Meaning the whole 'thousand-year age difference' was apparently not that big of a deal.

He starts to lean back away from her and opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted when the music in the room suddenly changes...AGAIN...

But he didn't touch anything this time. (Nothing! He swears!) So who the hell changed it?

It's...Bender Stack. One of the AI's. Oh, and look, he's got a sense of humor!

...
Ha-Ha! Well now, we call this the act of mating
But there are several other very important differences
Between human beings and animals that you should know about

I'd appreciate your input

Sweat baby sweat baby sex is a Texas drought
Me and you do the kind of stuff that only Prince would sing about
So put your hands down my pants and I'll bet you'll feel nuts...

If the sudden change in music wasn't enough to startle him, the hyper-sexual lyrics of the replacement were enough to send Cale sliding onto the floor with a dull--muffled by Stacy's fleshy nature--thud.

Leela's laughing so hard she can't stop.

"What the fuck did you do to the music player?"

She's laughing so hard she's almost crying.

"NOTHING!!!" Cale insisted. Adamantly so. "I swear, I didn't touch anything! Nothing!"

You and me baby me ain't nothin' but mammals
So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel
Do it again now
You and me baby me ain't nothin' but mammals
So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel
Gettin' horny now

"Wait wait. I think these rooms respond to mood, so..." She laughs. "What mood were you in?"

"Uh...um...uh..." Cale stammers. "I was uh...you know...in... That's personal."

Still laughing, Leela gets up and looks a the Media player herself.

"And you tried to fix it and all, right? Hmm..."

"Yeah, I tried to turn it off..." Cale insisted.

...Love the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket
Like the lost catacombs of Egypt only God knows where we stuck it...

"Not change it to this!"

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