They wanted to jump right in on 'debriefing' me, while I savored breakfast. The CIA guy got on my bad side right away. "Sergeant Bishop, any information you have regarding events offworld are considered top secret, and you are prohibited from-"

"Oh, screw this." Skippy said disparagingly. "Hey, you monkeys are all dumb to me, but you seem particularly stupid. Here's a news flash for you: we arrived here on a Thuranin star carrier that uses a Kristang frigate as a spare tire. None of your bullshit supposed secrets down here mean a damn thing any more, and you just can't stand that, can you? The only info worth keeping secret around here is in Colonel Joe's head and in my databanks, and if you want any info out of me, you can make yourself useful, and freshen up Joe's coffee cup."

The CIA guy thought Skippy was joking. Which pissed Skippy off. "Hey, shithead. If you dumb hairless monkeys want any info out of me, you get your lazy ass out of that chair right now, and get my buddy a cup of coffee. I don't see you moving!"

I held out my coffee cup. The two Army guys were about to bust a gut trying not to laugh, as the red-faced CIA guy got me a fresh cup of coffee. I took my time with the last piece of toast, and talked only to the Army guys. "Sirs, what do you want to know first?"

After breakfast, which didn't last nearly as long as I'd liked, Skippy had an appointment with a group of scientists, which he had grudgingly agreed to in order to get it over with. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was not looking forward to being questioned by the equivalent of bacteria, even if some of them were Nobel prize winning bacteria. "Oh, this is going to suuuuuuuuuuck," he grumbled to me as I walked down the hallway to the conference room. "You know that you're too dumb to understand anything about the universe, so you don't ask stupid questions. These pompous monkeys are only going to waste my time. Sheee-it. Better get this over with."

Skippy had clearly been hanging around me too long.

I agreed with him when we got to the conference room, it was crowded with scientists, security people, and audio-video equipment. They had a table set up, surrounded by microphones and cameras, I set Skippy carefully down on the table, and wished him luck.