Author : Robbie Kowalski

“Hey Marv, have you ever wondered where all the shit goes once you flush the toilet?”

“I don’t know Joe.” Marv said unenthusiastically as he tried to figure out a crossword puzzle.

“Man all that added weight to ship definitely adds up over a period of time. Couple of thousand people per ship. One shit per day. Tons of extra baggage.”

Marv scratched his head and muttered, “Nine down starts with I ends with-”

“Hey Marv are you listening? I think we have a real crisis on our hands. Tons of shit could be barreling down on us at any second. One system failure and boosh. Death by brown tsunami.”

“Inspector? No. Ingenuity? No.”

“Marvin!” Joe yelled from his work console.

“What!?” Marvin yelled back startled.

“We got a real situation here. The walls are closing in man. I can feel it. One solar flare and pop goes the weasel. I ain’t dying in this death trap of a septic tank.”

“Imbecilic.” Marvin growled. “No.”

“Huh?” Joe replied as he turned side to side looking at the walls nervously.

“Look lugnuts. We are on a spaceship that goes faster than light and can reach the end of the galaxy in a blink of an eye. You’re telling me that the engineers who designed such a vessel are going to short change the pride of the human fleet in the waste management area?”

“Well you never know Marv. There was that thing on the Chernobyl.”

“Comparing a core meltdown on a dilapidated ship to a crap tank explosion on this ship is beyond-” Marvin looked at Joe and decided not to deride him any further. He was his best friend on the ship, after all.

“Oh never mind.” And he went back to his crossword.

“So you think they jettison it out an airlock or something? Sounds ecologically unsound. Shit just floating around the galaxy. What if it hits a ship? Could be a real catastrophe. I can see the headlines now, Poop Hits Ship:Kills All Aboard.”

“Sounds like a real constipated issue.” Marvin smirked.

“I’m serious Marv. What if it did hit a ship?”

“If it is shot out of an airlock which I think it isn’t, it’s probably burned up in our warp wake. Nothing can survive going out into the warp stream. You know that.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“But if they don’t shoot it out an airlock then where do they keep it?”

“Probably recycle it somehow. They recycle everything else around here. Wouldn’t surprise me if they use it to make something else.” Marvin said while he agonized over his crossword puzzle.

“Recycle it?” Joe pondered. “You mean I might be wearing shit laced uniforms or sitting on shit cushioned seats?”

“Maybe even faeces lined computer board switches for that extra fiber strength.” Marvin grinned.

“Ha ha, not funny.” Joe said as he inspected his console and uniform.“Well they definitely do something with it. I just can’t think of what.”

Suddenly, a hologram of a chef from the kitchen staff projected into the room.

“Hey guys, Ron from kitchen speaking, just wanted to tell you about our special for today, Hash Brown Casserole. It came out spectacularly. So, anybody hungry?”

“Ignorance. Ignorance is bliss.”