Vila was at it again, with yet another barbarous delta holiday. Avon peered in at the greenery and gaudy decorations in the Rest Room. "Which one is it this time?"

"Christ Mass," Gan said, from his position at a table, studying a vid-text. Avon blinked at the red and white furry costume the big man was wearing. "I'm Father Christ Mass."

"Whatever that means," Avon muttered. "I only hope there aren't any eggs involved."

Jenna looked up from her lounge chair and grimaced. "Don't remind me. It took me days to track down the smell. Why he hid one under my bed I'll never know."

Avon grinned. "Possibly he was hoping to drive you to seek refuge elsewhere."

Jenna smiled back at Avon. "It wouldn't have worked. I'd share with Cally, first."

Cally smiled enigmatically from her lotus position on the floor and Avon wisely didn't comment. He started to enter the room, intending to get a cup of coffee.

"Wait!" Jenna pointed at the doorway above Avon's head. "If you pass under that, you're supposed to give someone a kiss."

Avon looked up at the ball of greenery, dotted with white berries. "Ah, suddenly I see the attraction of this particular holiday tradition for Vila. Well, I'm game if you are."

Jenna laughed and got up. "Why not. Vila's been hanging them up all over the ship and kissing everyone. He even kissed Zen and Blake. I imagine that's why Blake decided to spend the rest of the day in his cabin, planning a mission. Pick a berry."

Avon blinked. "Ah, I see, there's a limit then. When you run out of berries, there are no more kisses?"

"Right."

Avon picked the berry. "Do I get my kiss now?"

"Vila says you have to eat it."

Avon looked at the berry and shrugged. "Zen's replicators won't make anything harmful." He swallowed the berry whole and kissed Jenna thoroughly, and dramatically, while Cally sent telepathic giggles to both him and Jenna.

Gan watched for a few moments, then returned to perusing his text on first aid. He paused with his finger on an illustration and frowned. "Vila did get Zen to make that stuff, didn't he?"

Jenna stepped back from Avon, flushed and grinning. "No, actually, he said this was genuine Earth-stock plant-life, picked up on our last shore leave on Terraten. Missle-tow?"

Gan went pale. "Jenna! Mistletoe berries are poisonous!"

Avon went pale, then red. "I'll kill Vila."

"You may not have to." Cally had uncurled instantly and was now up and reading over Gan's shoulder. "Less than three berries isn't likely to require treatment... but Vila..." She shook her head. "We have to find him immediately."


"Where can that idiot be!" Avon glanced around Vila's room. Breaking in past Vila's personal lock had taken nearly ten minutes, and his temper hadn't been improved by the delay. He slammed the wall comm. "He's not in the galley or his room."

Gan's voice came from the unit. "Nor the flight deck."

"Nor the medical unit," Cally added. "Jenna's searching the hold now; I'm going to join her, it's a large area."

Blake said, "Engine room and sub-control room are clear. If he's in one of the service crawlways..." Blake sounded grim.

Avon was thinking furiously. "He'd have to hear the intercom wherever he is. He's either too drunk or..."

"We'll find him," Gan said, "I'm going to ask Zen."

"Pointless. I already did." Avon shook his head. "The ship's too large. Face it, Vila's as good as dead."

"NO!" There was a thump which no one had difficulty identifying as Blake's fist slamming into the bulkhead. "Gan! Tell Zen to sound a shipwide evacuation alarm! Tell him to say..."

"There's been an overload in the engines and the ship's about to blow?" Avon suggested. He left Vila's room at a run, knowing where to go.

"Yes! Do it, Gan!" Blake ordered.


Cally smiled and began putting away the medical supplies. "You're going to be all right, Vila."

"Avon saved you, you know," Gan said cheerily as he plumped Vila's pillow in the medical unit. The entire crew had gathered in the medical unit to get the final verdict. Vila had been very ill for most of the night.

"I merely happened to be closest to the evacuation capsules when you came staggering out of your cubbyhole like a drunken rat leaving the ship. It was Blake's idea, and Gan sounded the alarm." Avon grinned from his position near the hallway, arms crossed and leaning against the bulkhead. "So I can't take all the blame."

"I'd say you made a mistake, but I know you didn't." Vila looked around at his crewmates. "It was terrible! My whole body was weak and I was seeing double." He rubbed his belly. "I was sick; I was hallucinating and worst of all I was so confused I didn't know what to do!"

Avon nodded. "Yes, and that's on a good day for you."

Vila scowled at Avon. "Now, look here!"

Blake laughed and clapped Vila on the shoulder. "You're not fit for fighting with Avon at the moment."

Vila and Avon looked at Blake blankly and said, simultaneously, "Fighting?"