Cadet Girlfriend

She buys alien face powder for the sparkle. It makes the general she has loved since she was a teenager say so out loud, in front of his crew.

Second Lieutenant Rosemarie Mortlock works as the best communications officer on the starship Zoastra. She translates alien languages, trades insults with the flight crew, and hides one fact from everyone aboard. She joined the EarthSeekers mission to be near Marcus Aurelius. On Planet Persia her guide sells her Dilorithum Dust and swears the cosmetic never works on anybody.

Brigadier General Marcus Aurelius met Rosemarie when she was a teenager chugging beers in the barn with her cousins. Her father created this mission. Marcus commands the ship, and he decided years ago that wanting her would cost them both too much. Then she walks onto his flight deck wearing Persian powder, and everything he buried comes out of his mouth.

The dust carries an airborne compound that pushes a man to act on what he already feels. Marcus reads that as a trick, accuses her of drugging him, and storms out of sickbay. Rosemarie washes her face, straightens her shoulders, and reports for her shift.

Then the crew refuses to fly. Every station empties. Captain Cross and Lieutenant Rex walk off their posts, and Major Grace Newman tells the general plainly that the whole ship wants him to fix it.

Narrated by Victoria Pinder in an AI digital voice.