Kent had time to take a quick shower and change his uniform before he was paged to go to the Captain’s quarters immediately. This was undoubtedly the further questioning Matthews had warned him about. He went quickly and found the officiators seated around the Captain’s desk with Matthews when he arrived, with an empty chair for him.

“Sit down, Lieutenant,” Young invited, “and let me hasten to inform you that this is quite an unofficial inquiry at the moment. It is not being recorded. At this stage we merely wish to find out how the entire crew of this ship found out this particular piece of ranked information. Captain Matthews assures us that to the best of his knowledge, it was not through any word or action on his part. Perhaps you can tell us? Please speak freely.”

Kent hesitated for a moment while he tried to gather his thoughts and emotions together. The Colonel waited patiently. “Yes sir. It was in fact quite by accident. If you recall, about two months ago a memo was sent out to all restricted ships concerning the incident on P108 Reval.” Young nodded.

“Well, Medical Officer Simonsen asked for information on all oms... er... homosexuals on the ship. He asked Sergeant Jonson for this. Unfortunately, as well as listing all men under Sergeant’s rank it also listed Captain Matthews, the ranking circuit was evidently bypassed. Regrettably, Sergeant Jonson was unable to keep the information secret and it was around the ship in no time. I might add, sir, that Sergeant Jonson’s lack of discretion under stress is one of the main reasons he is unlikely to progress to Lieutenant. Furthermore the computer has since been reprogrammed and is now working perfectly.”

Young nodded, relieved. “That seems perfectly clear, Lieutenant. I don’t think we need to take any further action on that point. Now the next issue is rather more serious. It will be in a great measure up to the three of us to determine whether this leakage has had a sufficiently adverse effect on the crew and officers of this ship to warrant disbanding it, at least partially. I’d like you now to answer the following questions as truthfully as you can. I would not normally discuss your Captain with you in this fashion, but I see no way to avoid it. I may indeed have to summon other men to verify you. Firstly, could you describe the reaction to that piece of news, to the best of your knowledge?”

“Well sir, I was in the common room with about thirty other men when somebody burst in and broke the news. At first they didn’t believe it, and then they didn’t want to and then there was confusion and embarrassment and dismay and... and all the rest of it. You could almost feel the demoralisation. I’m afraid I wasn’t much use there at all, I was just stunned. All I could seem to think of was ...,” he hesitated and Young prodded him. “Go on, Lieutenant, that’s exactly what we need to know.”

Kent glanced at Matthews who was watching him intently. “... was that a few day ago I had told him to his face I thought oms were filthy and ought to be shot. Well, what nipped the panic in the bud was a short speech by one of the men. He just stood up and said that the Captain had saved his life and that as far as he was concerned it made absolutely no difference to him whether he was an om or not. That shamed them all I think and they swung the other way. In fact I... I was ostracised by the entire crew because I wouldn’t agree that the Captain being an om was all right.”

Matthews started and gave Kent a twisted smile, so that’s what it had all been about!

“Just as the ostracism was becoming a... a bit of a problem, one of the ringleaders came to see me and apologised.” Kent smiled wryly. “He told me that the men had realised that if the Captain couldn’t help what he was, then I couldn’t help what I was. After that it just faded into the background until Major Harper came along.”

“That’s very pleasing, Lieutenant, though the thing now is the depth of their acceptance. Ending persecution of you goes a long way in favour of indicating a workable level of tolerance. What do you think would be the reaction if Captain Matthews wanted a... a private relationship with one of the crew?” Mathews sat forward abruptly, about to protest but Young waved him back.

Kent smiled slightly, “That’s easy, he’d probably get a long list of volunteers to choose from!” Young smiled too, then added seriously. “What about yourself? Do you really mean what you said to Major Harper, or was it just because he was an insulting intruder?”

Kent swallowed. Could this day get any more embarrassing?

“Really Colonel!” interjected Matthews, angrily. “Does he have to answer that?”

“Why not?” answered Young simply. Matthews fell into a restive silence. Kent wondered frantically what to say and told the truth.

“I meant it, sir”

“Yet the thought of others, including your Captain, hearing you say so was obviously a great ordeal for you.”

“Yes sir. I... I guess I’m not very brave.”

The other ship’s captain spoke for the first time. “Lieutenant, I too have great difficulty tolerating any form of homosexuality and I’d like to tell you that you’re braver than I am.”

“Uh... thank you, sir.”

By this time Kent was scarlet with embarrassment and Colonel Young took pity on him. He looked around the room. “Well gentlemen, I think we can safely agree to leave this ship as it is,” he paused. “Just one thing, Luke, you wouldn’t prefer a transfer would you? Because now the ice on this thing is broken, you’re going to find it incredibly hard to keep aloof, and you’ll need to be so careful that I’m afraid you’ll find the worst trouble is still to come.”

For a moment Kent thought that Matthews was going to choke with outrage but he fought himself under control and said tightly, “I think I am still capable of handling my ship, Colonel.”

Young was unabashed. “Very good, Captain. In that case we will take our departure as soon as possible. No doubt you’ll be relieved to hear that Harper goes with us. Good afternoon. Lieutenant.” Young got to his feet and went out. Matthews waited for the other officers to leave and then followed without glancing at Kent.