You\'ve Got Mail... (Part 3)

Who: Zodar
Where: On the way to the main Engineering office.
 
"Clearance... Clearance... Must get clearance for the aliens with... unclear motives. DAMN!" Chris looked down at the letter. "This is going to be harder to sell to a senior officer than I originally thought."
 
Space Corps Directive #34/a: ANY visitors, human or not, are to be cleared with quarantine, unless an official arrival date has been set with a JMC officer no less than 3 days prior to the actual arrival or in special circumstances (See: SCD #34/b).
Space Corps Directive #34/b: Urgent need of a bathroom does not pass for a special circumstance.

Space Corps Directive #34/c: However, urgent need of a bathroom does pass for a special circumstance if the urgent need of a bathroom is endangering the crew.
 
Chris visualised the last one over in his head again...
 
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew..." He said aloud.
 
Zodar briskly walked into the main engineering office and rummaged through the files in a nearby cabinet.
He was looking for the standard clearance documents that the department head was supposed to give to crewmembers upon request. The document then was to be signed by a) the captain, b) a department head, or c) the next best ranking officer.
Suddenly Zodar stopped his search and a huge smile grew across his face.
"YES!" He hissed and took off to find the captain.
 
On the way, he 'bumped' into Alota Chrysler.
By bumped, I mean he full-on ran into her, sending paper flying and Chris into a doorway.
A little dazed, Alota regained her bearings and scanned the hall for the idiot that ran into her.
 
"WHERE'S THAT IDIOT THAT RAN INTO ME?!" she yelled from the floor.
Chris popped his head out of the room he had ricocheted into and put on his best 'Damn, I'm so sorry, can I buy you a beer?' face - a slight variation on his puppy dog face which, to be brutally honest, looked more like a train wreck than a dog.
"Sorry..." was all Chris was able to squeak out before running over and helping her to her feet.
"No harm done."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, I'll live. So anyway, why are you running through the halls like a maniac on a caffeine buzz? Happy hour at Parrott's was over half an hour ago."
Chris looked down to the floor at his clearance document than he needed a signature on. It now had the dirty mark of a work boot square in the centre of it. Chris had unknowingly stepped on it.
"Crap!" he yelled, dropping onto one knee and desperately dusting the dirt off the paper.
"What's that?"
"It's a clearance form that I need Niples to sign, do you know where he is?"
"Not exactly."
"Damn! Is White Wolf around?"
"No. Everyone's off on amazing adventures that probably involve beer planets or alternate dimensions. Lucky bastards." Alota looked down at the piece of paper in Chris' hand. "Hey, can I see that?" said Alota motioning for the paper.
"Well, yeah, ok." said Chris handing the document to her. She examined it for a moment.
"Hmm... Well, according to this, I can sign this thing for you."
Chris' eyes lit up, "You can?"
"Yep. Have you got a pen?"
Zodar searched his pockets and eventually found a blue pen.
"Actually, can I have that for a second?" Chris asked, taking the clearance document back. He crossed out the default 'Seymour Niples' on the signature bit, scribbled 'Alota Chrysler' above it and handed the form back with a grin.
"Thanks, I was going to do that anyway, but I guess it saves me the trouble." Said Alota, using Chris' back for a desk, signing the paper.
"No problem." said Chris, who was enjoying the weird sensation of the point of the pen moving randomly on his back.
Alota finished and handed the form back to Chris.
"Thankyou so much for that."
"No problem. By the way, who is actually going to be boarding the ship, and what do they have to do with you?"
Chris decided on the more mysterious approach.
"Wouldn't you like to know..."
His mind shouted at him for such a stupid answer. He tried again, this time, straightforward.
"They are a group of royal aliens who didn't really say why they were coming to see me. Funny really. They could be flesh eating monsters or something for all I know."
"Well, it would liven things up around here, that's for sure..."
 
<To Be Continued>