School Trip

Posted on Fri Jul 24th, 2026 @ 8:03pm by Paislee Kellan & Lieutenant Tuhjer Mil & Mindy Mist

2,013 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 2: Mine of Taurus
Location: Diplomatic Office

Paislee looked to Miss Gable, their holographic teacher, who led the nine students through the starship to the Diplomatic office. She turned to Mindy.

"Cheeks and Twiggy would have learned a lot today." Paislee whispered. "They are always arguing with each other." She shook her head. "I got in a lot of trouble for bringing them and Daddy said if I do it again they will be on lockdown."

"He won't do that to them," Mindy said. "I wanted to bring Wizzer but mommy said dogs can;t go to school. But he did, He went to doggie be good school,"

Paislee shook her head. "He had that look. The one my brother says it would be a cold day in hell before he changed his mind!"

"Paislee!" Miss Gable frowned. "We do not use colorful metaphors at school."

Paislee sighed. "Yes Miss Gable. She looked at Mindy and then back to their teacher "Are we there yet?"

""Yes." Miss Gable said tonelessly. "Everyone be on your best behavior." She rang the buzzer and waited for an answer.

The doors slid open. Tuhjer stood at the entrance to the Diplomatic Office.

"Good morning Miss Gable. Welcome to the Diplomatic Office. Please, come on in. "

"Thank you, Lieutenant Mil." Miss Gable spoke. She led the nine children in and had them gather to one side. "Children." she began. "Lieutenant Mil is the head of the Diplomatic Department. Who knows what a diplomat does?"

Paislee raised her hand. "When two kids are fightin over a toy they make them share, give them some juice boxes and everyone has to say that sharing is caring."

"What a delightful way to put it. Yes, we try to resolve disagreements by finding a way for both sides to benefit and ultimately cooperate. We are all very different and don't always agree. Disagreements can lead to conflicts and ultimately people could get hurt or even better killed, all because of a disagreement which could have been resolved if both parties had just sat down and talked. "

Tuhjer replied

"Yeah! Miss Gable says we have to use our talking words instead of pushing when we get mad. last week, me and my friend Mindy both wanted the exact same blue crayon, and we almost got into a big fight. But then we decided to share! I colored my sky blue first, and then she colored her ocean blue second. Nobody got hurt, and we both got to draw cool pictures. I don't like when people yell or hurt each other. Sitting down and sharing is much better. Do you want to see my dinosaur drawing?" She started to pull a wrinkled paper out of her pocket.

"That is not necessary." Miss Gable spoke in monotone. "Mindy, would you like to ask Lieutenant Tuhjer a question?"

"What does a diplomatic officer do? Is that like fixing things we there is a disagreement or a fight?" Mindy asked.


" Miss Gable, sorry to be a cause of any issues but Tuhjer is my first name so technically I am Lieutenant Mil." He then turned to Paislee. " You can show me your drawing later, I'd love to see it. "

"You may show Lieutenant Mil your drawing." Miss Gable instructed Paislee.

Paislee pulled out the paper and opened it up. She held out the drawing. The dinosaur was an intricate drawing which Paislee had taken great detail with. She had decided to put her own flair to it and colored it purple and orange. "His name is Oliver."

" You have a very creative flare, Paislee. It's excellent. I'm not very good at drawing but my second host was a well known artist on Trill, called Telena. "

"What's a host?" Paislee asked. She had never heard of that before.

Tuhjer hadn't considered that the young girl might be unfamiliar with his race and their terminology.

"On my world, little creatures called symbionts live inside a host, a person like me, and together we are one individual. When I'm gone, the symbiont has a new host and shares my memories and experiences with them, and so on. There's a lot more to it than that though." He looked at Miss Gable for guidance.

"You have something living in you?" Mindy asked puzzled. "Mommy told me I was in her tummy before I was born, will you have a new baby too?"

Paislee's grin spread wide. "A baby!" She looked at the diplomatic officer. "You must be excited."

Miss Gable moved forward. "No," she said matter-of-factly. "In the world Lieutenant Mil comes from, he shares his body with what they call symbionts. It is a way of life for them."

"Sooooo." Paislee's eyes widened. "Kind of like Cheeks or Twiggy living inside me!" She wasn't sure she would like that. Her hamsters talked way too much, and they didn't like ketchup. To her, that was just wrong.

"Or my doggie living inside me? He's full of energy; I don't think I'd like that either. Mommy says she doesn't know who is more lively, me or Wizzer," Mindy commented.

Tuhjer chuckled. "A symbiont isn't an active entity when inside a host, in terms of movement. They are more active when they are younger, before they can be joined to a host, when they live in their natural habitat, the pools in the Caves of Mak'ala. Anyway, we seem to be moving off topic regarding the Diplomatic Office."

"Yes." Miss Gable spoke up. "Let us get back onto the topic."

"What made you become a diplomat?" Paislee asked. She was curious. When she grew up, she wanted to be a security officer so she could fight the bad guys and keep people safe.

"Disagreements happen all the time, over the littlest things to the really big things, and there really needs to be a better way of dealing with disagreements than resulting in conflict where lives could be lost and/or irrevocably changed. That is where the diplomat comes in. I never liked hearing about conflicts on my own homeworld or on other planets when I was your age, and I decided that I wanted to find ways to solve things and prevent wars. Unfortunately, there is only so far a diplomat can go, and if two sides are hell-bent on fighting, they will find an excuse. But it's the job of the diplomatic corps to do whatever we can to make them really think about it and hopefully sit down and talk. "

"I want to try and help create a better future for you to grow up into."

"I like that." Paislee said with a smile. "And I think you are a good person." She paused. "Do you want to come to dinner one night at my home? My daddy says I can have friends over. We can be friends, can't we?" She thought her Daddy needed to meet him and see what a good job he had.

"I would be honoured to join you and your father for dinner. Thank you for asking me and of course we can be friends. "

Paislee looked to Miss Gable. "This is the best school trip." Her eyes went to Mindy. "Isn't it?"

Mindy nodded, "I learned a lot and I can't wait to tell my mommy. Thank you for this field trip."

Paislee looked to Lieutenant Mil. "Have you visited a lot of places and helped them become friends?"

" I have. Not always as successful as I would have liked but in most cases I have managed to get both sides to see things from eachother's point of view and move them towards an understanding. "

"My Daddy and Mommy think I need to eat green stuff like broccoli and peas." Paislee continued. "How do I get them to free me?"

He looked confused. "Free you? "

"From having to eat them." Paislee looked over to Mindy. "I need a little help here!"

" Oh I see. I take it you dislike these vegetables. Have you told your parents that you don't like them? Are there any vegetables you do like? I don't want to be a problem but you do need to eat a healthy diet. Whatever you want to be when you grow up, you stand a better chance of you are strong and healthy as well as knowledgeable." Tuhjer replied.

"Some vegetables are yucky, my mommy thinks I need to eat peas and spinach, When mommy isn't looking I put them in my napkin and feed them to Wizzer," Mindy said. "Can you tell my mommy that I don't like peas and spinach so I don't have to eat them?"

" Okay, I guess I can do that. But, she's your mummy so she will want to talk to you about it. "

Paislee smiled widely. This was working out really well. "I can see how being a diplomat makes you happy. You get rid of other peoples bad stuff."

"I guess so but sometimes I have to find a way for people to better cope with the bad stuff. There are times that the bad just can't be removed so it has to be managed. "

"Will you tell my mommy I don't have to eat yucky vegetables too?" Mindy asked.

“I can’t really tell your mum that. What I can do is help explain what you don't want to eat, but I’m not a medical professional. You really do need to talk to her about vegetables. There are so many different ways to prepare them, and you might not have found the one you like yet. I’m the same; there are vegetables I’ll only eat if they’re cooked a certain way. You’re both growing girls, and good nutrition is important. We often have to do things we might not like because it's good for us or it's for the greater good and benefits others. Think about it like this. Eating a good diet helps you grow up strong. You can then strive to be what you want to be when you're older and then be good at it. Ultimately, this benefits you and the greater good.

"You sound like my mommy and daddy." Paislee said with a sigh. "It's that diplomacy stuff, isn't it?" She was thinking it might not be all that fun after all.

"I am sorry Paislee. I can't really order your mommy and daddy to do things. You have to talk to your mommy and daddy about things. See their point of view and try to find a common ground. If you don't like certain vegetables, say so.". He was feeling out of his depth. Tuhjer didn't have any children of his own. He had experiences of his previous hosts and their children but somehow he was struggling.

"Well." Paislee said with a loud sigh. "I guess it isn't really that bad." She looked to Mindy. "And I like Spinach in a salad."

"There are positives and possibilities in every situation. The trick is to find them and make the best of what you've got. However, " he smiled " I'm not sure about spinach in a salad."

"Spinach is better when it's not cooked." Paislee wrinlked up her nose. "If I had to eat it cooked, I would toss my cookies." Her eyes met his. "And it wouldn't be oatmeal raisin."


"I understand you perfectly. I don't like it cooked either. Never had it fresh in salad. "

"I'll tell mommy to make it when you come to dinner." Paislee smiled widely. "Do you like dino nuggets?"

" Absolutely with plenty of ketchup."

Paislee jumped up and down a little excited. "And french fries! I will talk to mommy when I get home!"

"We only have ten minutes of class left." Miss Gable stated matter of factedly. She looked to Lieutenant Mil. "Thank you for allowing our visit. It has been quite educational."

"Thanks Mister Mil." Paislee spoke up. "You rock at school trips!"

" Thank you all for coming. It's been great to meet you all. "

And so ends their first school trip. Stay tuned for future advengtures as they visit a department near you.

 

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