Truth or Dare. Part 2.

“Nova, could you be a little less emo.  This is going to be fun,”  Gwen called back over her shoulder as she strode down the corridor.

“I was having fun already,” grumbled Terinu.

“Pfft!  Oggling at your own reflection in the glass is not having fun, it's just weird.”

“I was not.... grrr, never mind.”

They stopped outside the door to the rec room located a tier below and aft to the lounge.  The rec room had been claimed as the unofficial teenage area early in the flight just as the main lounge upstairs had been sequestered by the adults.  It was a comfortable arrangement that boded for a minimum of friction.

          Gwendolyn stopped and palmed the door open.

“Hey Teri,” called a friendly male voice from inside.

“Oh hi Matt,” answered Terinu addressing the blonde teenage boy slouched on one of the sofas.  “I thought ya' were busy studyin'?”

          "See, I told you I had a surprise for you," smirked Gwen as she crossed

the floor.

“Yeah I was.  But I need to take a break from probability calculus before my head exploded and this sounded like fun.”  He waved at the spot next to him.  “Come sit down.”

“I got them,” Joleen, a pretty creo girl with a brightly dyed pink top knot called over to them from the servery.  Triumphantly she held up two vac bottles of wine.

          “Excellent,” grinned Gwen.  “Did you have any problems?”

“Nope, the chill storage opened up just like you said it would,” replied Joleen.  Her expression became serious.  “Are you sure that nobody's going to find out we took them.  I wouldn't want to upset Captain Brushtail, he's always been so nice to me.”

“Don't worry, it's all spiff,” replied Gwen winking at the gray skinned girl.  “I hacked into the ship manifest just before and changed the stock numbers.  No one will even know they even existed.”  She took one of the bottles and tossed it at Matt.  “Here, make yourself useful.”

“So,” said Terinu.  “Yer finally using that cyber gliding shit fer something worthwhile.  Nicking plonk is a good start.”

Gwen stuck her tongue out at the ferin boy.  “I'll have you know I've been hacking systems since I could fire up a log in.”

Matt caught the bottle and clipped back the seal.  He studied the label.  “What is this stuff anyway?  It looks expensive,” he said offering the bottle to Terinu.

“Hold it, guys,” commanded Gwen as she palmed open the cupboard next to the chiller.  “We're civilized here.  Cups please.”

          She passed four glasses to Joleen who lined them up on the games table in front of Matt.  Matt shrugged and obligingly filled the glasses.

“Have you had wine before?”  Gwen asked Joleen.

The creo girl nodded.  “Oh yes.  My family serve quwender wine with our evening meals.  It's a little darker than this one.”  She swirled her glass.

“So creo kids are allowed to drink?” asked Gwen.

“Well not little kids,” Joleen replied.  “You can only consume alcohol after you’ve reached your fourteenth year.  And you’re supposed to be supervised by a guardian until your twentieth year.  This is a bit naughty.”  She giggled and took an experimental sip of her wine and licked her lips.  “What about human children?”

Gwen shrugged.  “You've got to be eighteen, and it doesn't matter whether you're around adults or not.  But there are still some sub cultures where you have to wait 'til you're twenty-one.”

Joleen's eyes widened.  “Twenty-one?  Really?  Gee, that sounds extreme.”  She pointed to Gwen's glass.  “Don't your parents mind that you are ignoring their cultural practices?”

Gwen snorted.  “My mum would kill me if she knew.  But then I've already got a death warrant because of this.”  She tapped behind her left ear where the stainless steel circle of the cyber glider port nestled snugly into her skull.  The port had been implanted there courtesy of her previous 'boyfriend' who had tried to sell her to the ardactavians as an unregistered cyber- glider.  “Not to mention me running off to join the vulpine navy.  I think a little alcohol right now will be the least of her worries.  Besides, it'll make this game more fun."

          "So what is this game you've dragged me in here for?" asked Terinu.

          Gwen knelt by the centre table and tapped a code onto its plexi-glass surface.  A panel mounted in the centre slid back and a small black box rose up flush with the table top and clicked into place.  "It's a traditional Earth game called Truth or Dare," she explained.

          "That sounds interesting," said Joleen settling into the sofa on Gwen's right.  "How do you play it?"

          "Oh it's fun," reassured Gwen as she punched a set of commands into the black box.  She fished out the data chip from her pocket and inserted it into the slot on the top of the box.  The box gave a short musical chime.  "Unit primed.  Truth or Dare Galactic.  Please input players."

          "The rules are simple," continued Gwen.  "We're all assigned a player number and take a turn each round. When it's your turn you nominate whether you want to answer a question or do a dare.  For each question you answer honestly or each dare you complete you get a point.  The first person to have five points at the end of a round wins."

          "That sounds easy enough," said Matt.

          Gwen grinned mischievously.  "Believe me it's a lot harder than it sounds.  The questions can get a bit, well, personal, and you don't always want to answer them."

          "So," Terinu shrugged.  "Then ya' just don't answer 'em."

          "But if you don't answer them you lose the chance to earn a point," replied Gwen.

          "Then just make something up.  Who'd know the difference," retorted Terinu.

          Gwen rummaged through her back pack.  "I've got something for you.  Here, hold out your hand."

          Terinu obligingly lifted his right hand.  Gwen grasped it and looped a bracelet over his fingers and pushed the stretchy band over his hand until it fit snugly around his wrist.

          "That's why you have these."

          She delved back into the back pack and took out three more bracelets and handed two to Joleen and Matt.  Terinu inspected the one she had given him.  It was composed a thin silvery cord set with a single dull black bead which rested at the base of his thumb.

          "What are these for, Gwen?" asked Matt as he obligingly slipped his bracelet on.

          "They're biological sensors," explained Gwen.  "They've been programmed to pick up body fluctuations that indicate you're not telling the truth.  The black node turns red if it senses you're lying.  This way nobody can get away with cheating on a truth question."

          "Oh my, really?"  Giggled Joleen.  "I hope I don't get asked anything too embarrassing."

          Gwen nudged the creo girl.  "That's half the fun.  Besides you don't know what you will be asked.  The games console randomly generates all the questions and dares and awards the points."

          "So," Terinu fingered his bracelet.  "What do ya' get if ya' win?"

          "We have to decide that," Gwen looked thoughful.  "Any ideas?" She looked from Terinu to Matt.

          Matt shrugged.  "Dunno'.  When me and Teri had a bet the loser usually ended up doing some of the others worst work assignments."

          Terinu nodded.  " 'cept we'd always end up helping each other out anyway."

          Gwen rested her chin on her hands.  "That could work.  The winner could have all their chores done by the rest of us."

          Matt shook his head.  "You've forgotten that we're going on a holiday at some fancy resort.  I don't reckon there's gonna' be that many chores to do."

          Joleen sat up suddenly inspired.  "I know, I know.  What about if the winner gets to pick the first holiday activity we do?"

          Terinu shuddered, "No way, I don't think I could stand goin' on a' all day shoppin' jaunt if Gwen won."

          Gwen stuck her tongue out at him.  "And what's your idea of a fun activity: stuffing your face at the nearest fruit cooler bar and climbing a tree to sleep it off?"

          "What's wrong with that?" Terinu flicked his tail.  "Blake said we were supposed to be relaxin'.  Well that's relaxin'."

          Joleen's eyes shone with excitement.  "Captain Brushtail told me there's a multi-system zoo just a mono rail ride away from where we're staying.  He says they have real elephants from earth.  I would just die to see a real elephant."      

          "I'd like to see an ocean," said Matt thoughtfully.  He nudged Terinu.  "Ever since you told me about the beach and the water that goes all the way to the horizon I've been wanting to see it for myself.  I can't even imagine it"

          “And I’ll sunbake on the sand and you can run around with the tanning spray canister....”  Gwen sat up suddenly.  “That’s it.  The person with the lowest score has to be a slave for the winner for a week!”

          “Oh,” Joleen’s eyes went wide.  “A whole week, that’s the entire holiday.”

          “Yes but think about it,” Gwen grasped Joleen’s arm.  “Wouldn’t it be radiant to have one of the boys do everything you tell them to for the next seven days?”

          “And what’s so different about that,” sniffed Terinu.  “Yer always orderin’ us about like the yer the fraggin’ Queen of Ardactavia.”

          “What’s that, space rat?” Gwen smirked at Terinu, “Did you say you’re frightened you’ll lose?”

          “To you?  Ha!  That’ll happen when the galaxy collapses,” Terinu replied.

                He thought for a minute. “Though it would be kind’a fun to have ya’ fetchin’ an’ carryin’ fer me fer a change.”

          “You’ve got to win first,” said Gwen.  She turned to Matt.  “How about it, is that good with you?”

          Matt shrugged and leaned back into the sofa.  “I’ll go along with the majority.  How hard can it be?  What about you, Jo?”

          Joleen teased a lock of bright magenta hair from her top knot.  “If you’re okay with it then I guess I am too.”  She smiled and nodded.  “It sounds like fun.  Yes, I agree.”

          “It’s settled then.”  Gwen started tapping the names of the players into the console.  “The loser has to be the winners slave for the entire holidays.”