Rumors

 Month 14 Day 24

1710 Hours

Drake McGregor

 Counting the groom and himself, Drake only managed to round up 5 players for Smitty's bachelor party. Surprisingly, none of the 3 he had talked into coming had been invited to the wedding. Can't imagine who he has invited. But at least everybody brought booze, so there should be enough of that.

Truth to tell, these are probably not people Smitty feels very close to. But then, who does he feel close to, except Anna? And I didn't think it appropriate to invite a woman to a bachelor party.

It was a mixed bag of officers in attendance, and Drake wasn't sure what to expect of the evening. Dr Fong was the ship's psychiatrist, and didn't get invited to many small parties, not that Drake knew of, anyway. Commander Moor, First Officer, was usually on duty during the evening shift, but was off duty today. Drake didn't like his attitude toward women, particularly underlings, so he only invited him from sheer desperation. And Lieutenant Commander Ngu of Security—Winthrop's replacement—hadn't been aboard long enough to make friends. Drake had been thinking for some time that he should at least introduce himself to the man, on a non-professional level.

Everybody was seated around the table, having congratulated Smitty on his upcoming nuptials, and Drake made sure everybody had a drink as Smitty shuffled the cards.

"So," Ngu said after sipping his drink. "What rule variations do you follow on the Fireball?"

"Depends who you're playing with," Smitty answered, and then proceeded to enumerate the variations he played with when he was dealing. Since dealing would rotate around the table, it would be up to each man to declare what variants were in play during his deal.

They played a couple hands while Drake tried to figure out how to introduce the subject he had in mind, but it turned out Ngu beat him to it. "I've been hearing mutterings of the silliest rumor since I came aboard. I could almost think I was still assigned to Mars."

"There's always rumors," Moor stated. "I long ago learned to ignore them."

"I'd rather track down the person who started them and give them a tongue-lashing," Smitty stated with a frown. "At the very least, remind the person I caught relaying the rumor that such habits are discouraged on the Fireball."

Dr Fong added his take. "Unfortunately, rumors are gossip, and gossip seems to be a normal part of human society."

"What rumor has you thinking you're back on Mars?" Drake asked. He did want to discuss rumors, but not Martian rumors.

Or so Drake thought. "This rumor is that some poor crew member finds herself in that age-old position of being with child, without being married."

Drake choked on his sip of whiskey. This was the exact rumor he wanted to discuss, but he hadn't been going to tackle it head on. He coughed and asked, "Why does that make you think of Mars?"

"Mars has trouble keeping the anti-pregnancy shots effective. They don't seem to know what the problem is, but one young lady came up pregnant only 6 months after she had her shot. They're trying to keep the whole thing quiet, but it's getting to the point where women don't want to be assigned there."

"I can't blame them," Fong stated. "That always has been a burden that lands squarely on the woman."

Smitty drank his entire half-glass of rum in one swallow and began to pour himself another. "I thought the shots were effective for 2 years."

"They are," Drake told him. "At least, I haven't gotten any official memo stating anything different."

"Oh, it's only on Mars," Ngu stated. "And only the last 3 years or so. At least, that's the only place I've heard about it. That's why I'm bringing it up here. It surprised me to hear that rumor on a spaceship."

"Well, I'm not aware of anybody being pregnant on the Fireball," Drake said deliberately, and was aware that Smitty gave him a long glance. "I certainly think somebody would have told me if something that unexpected happened to one of our crew." There, that should settle the matter.

"What if she's hiding it?" Moor asked. "No husband means she'd be drummed out of the service by 3 months. She may be trying to find a husband, or just trying to figure out what she's going to do."

Blast Moor. I just wanted to make a blanket statement and move on to another subject.

Fong rearranged his cards. "So you think this particular rumor might be true?"

"Well, not necessarily," Moor said, his cards temporarily forgotten. "Just considering the possibility. It seems I did hear about one such pregnancy on a spaceship a few years back."

"I didn't," Drake spoke up. "There would have been a big study about why the shots failed, and some kind of remedy—or at least a warning—would have been circulated. Officially. I just flat don't believe it. According to statistics, that would be a rare case on a spaceship. I don't know what's happening on Mars, but the efficacy of the shots is 99.9% for men. I bring that up because it takes 2 to start a pregnancy, and it's only 1 man in 1000 who would be capable. That's about 1 man for every 3 to 4 spaceships."

"It would only take one man," Smitty commented, still rearranging his cards.

Is he even paying attention? He knows math better than that! "Well, the efficacy for women is even better; only 1 woman out 5000 will have it fail. That's about 1 per 10 ships. Now, what's the chances that one fertile man and one fertile woman will be on the same ship, and get together to produce a pregnancy?"

Ngu gave a low whistle. "Well, I knew the odds were low."

"But not impossible," Moor added.

Smitty folded his cards and lay them on the table face down to regard Drake. "Actually, that question should be, what are the odds that one of 5 fertile men and 1 fertile woman get assigned to the same ship and get together in a way that could produce a pregnancy."

"The odds are still blasted low," Drake insisted.

"Statistics are tricky," Smitty returned. "Then don't preclude the possibility that all 5 fertile men wind up on the same ship as the 1 fertile woman." He took a sip from his rum. "Now, can we get back to playing cards?"

The subject was changed after that, and Drake couldn't be sure if Smitty believed Mac was pregnant or not. Nor did he know if the statistics had made any impression on the engineer. But after a few more hands of cards, and a few more drinks, he ceased caring. At least for that night.