2234 work in progress

Ik'hi

Ik'hi woke up in her bed, she hadn't slept this good for a while so she decided to doze a few more minutes before she'd open her eyes. The last thing she could remember was that the Captain told her and Dart that they were free of their duties, she must have fallen asleep and someone had carried her to her bed. Ik'hi tried to roll onto her back but something was blocking her from doing it, she shrugged it off for now and was happy she finally had some time off. 

Wait, what was that noise? Ik'hi opened her eyes and almost had a heart attack when she saw the ship's AI robot Charles float almost directly over her next to her bed.

"Good morning, miss Ik'hi, I hope you had a good sleep", Ik'hi still couldn't get used to his mechanic voice, after all he looked almost like a real dolphin.

"Hm? Yeah, it was good, but that's not why you're here, is it?"

"Certainly not, Miss, Mechanic Ikeda ordered me to check on you, after all, as I have heard, you fell asleep very sudden yesterday."

"I was just very tired, Charles, now let me doze off for a few more minutes..."

"Immeadiatly, Miss, but I have a question about current events regarding you and Officer Dart, if you allow."

Ik'hi just looked at him a little confused.

"Shoot." 

"Thank you, miss, say, is the current arrangement of yours part of the natural mating process?"

"W-what?", Ik'hi stared at him in complete confusion now. How could this AI think there was anything going on between her and Dart?

"Well, you know", Charles pointed at something at the lower end of the bed.

Ik'hi looked around and now she suddenly realised why she wasn't able to turn on her back. There was Dart, sleeping peacefully, half curled up against the back of her tailfin. Ik'hi would've turned red out of embarassment if she could.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed the personal time of you two, Miss, but would you-", Ik'hi had gotten out of bed and just slapped him with her tailfin.

"I know I can not feel pain but: Ouch."

She just stared at him now angrily, Charles immeadiatly knew he should better shut up.

"What exactly did Ikeda tell you?" Ik'hi swam closer to him.

"Mechanic Ikeda told me to go check on the both of you. She also noted that I'd find something interesting here, although I'm not certain what Mechanic Ikeda implied with this." 

Ik'hi thought for a few seconds.

"When did Dart fall asleep yesterday?", she just wanted to be 100% sure.

"At the same time as you, Miss."

Her suspicion was confirmed, Ikeda played a prank on them, with the plan of sending Charles to embarrass the both of them. He might be an AI, but he still had a lot to learn, and he tried to adapt to his dolphin appearance, hence he always tried to find out more about them with every chance he got. Ikeda knew exactly that this would happen. Well, Ik'hi had to admit that Ikeda got them. She sighed.

"No it's not part of any mating process Charles, it's called a sleepover, now scram before I bite your tail off for being so naive!" 

"I'm sorry, miss, I will not bother you any longer." 

Charles quickly left the room. Meanwhile Ik'hi turned her attention at Dart, still sleeping peacefully. His bed was just above hers, but trying to put him there would be pointless. Looking at the time however, she decided to wake him up, breakfast time had already passed. Then she decided to get at least something to laugh out of this prank.