<\/p>\n
\u2015 Lewis Carroll,<\/em> Through the Looking-Glass, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was one other little matter that needed to be cleared up.\u00a0 Once it was, I began to feel like my new life might actually start to fall in place.<\/p>\n Men\u2019s personal needs, I\u2019ve always noted, are few: some soap, a brush and a razor and they\u2019re good to go.<\/p>\n But what about women?<\/p>\n I\u2019d already taken notice that women in this new century were not only in good physical shape, but looked good, too, with what appeared to be a lot of freedom and individuality in how they made themselves that way.\u00a0 Granted, it had been a while since I\u2019d had reason to do much about my own appearance, but I certainly had my share of ego, and I didn\u2019t really want to be the drabbest girl on the block.<\/p>\n And of course, women\u2019s bodies have always required more general maintenance.\u00a0 Yet Wovaki\u2019s welcome package of supplies had been the equivalent of what the airlines used to dole out when they\u2019d lost your luggage and left you stranded in some foreign city. \u00a0A toothbrush and some shaving foam.\u00a0 I once actually had an emergency kit that provided me a pair of men\u2019s briefs.<\/p>\n Only another woman would know these things, so when I met Uhura for drinks in the recreation area the next night, I got right to the point.<\/p>\n Marilyn had come over to join us.\u00a0 I addressed my question to both of them.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I said, making a note of Uhura\u2019s impeccable grooming, and Marilyn\u2019s deft use of makeup, \u201cwhat does a girl have to do to get some mascara around this place?\u201d<\/p>\n The two of them looked at each other and laughed.\u00a0 For some reason, Marilyn gestured at Uhura as she grinned in reply, \u201cInagi Thweet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInagi Thweet?\u201d\u00a0 I repeated, clueless.<\/p>\n Uhura was still laughing.\u00a0 \u201cThe greatest, most unsung, scientific mind of our century,\u201d she grinned.\u00a0 \u201cShe invented the Female Replicating Utility Grooming System.\u00a0 It was so brilliant, though, everyone just calls it after her, Inagi Thweet.\u201d<\/p>\n Uhura went on to explain. \u00a0Inagi Thweet was an Earth woman, a scientist, who\u2019d spent prolonged periods in space.\u00a0 Based on her own experience, she\u2019d invented the device that was now simply known by her own name.\u00a0 It was the most ingenious contraption, and had become standard issue on all Starfleet ships, largely due to the efforts of Uhura herself and a few other females, who\u2019d actively lobbied to have the items included in ship\u2019s stores.\u00a0 The things were too intricate to be easily replicated, and most ships\u2019 engineering departments didn\u2019t want to mess with them, since they served such unofficial – but oh, so essential\u00a0 – functions.<\/p>\n And just what was an \u201cInagi Thweet\u201d?<\/p>\n They looked at each other and agreed: they couldn\u2019t describe it.\u00a0 I\u2019d have to see for myself.\u00a0 Marilyn ran up to her room and fetched her own.\u00a0 She set the thing on the table, and I looked at it curiously, but had no clue from its appearance what to do with it.<\/p>\n It was an object about the size of a small loaf of bread, sleek-looking and, to my untrained eyes, simply a solid white object.<\/p>\n I was so wrong.<\/p>\n It would have been a best-seller on the Home Shopping Network.\u00a0 A cross between a mini-replicator and a Swiss Army Knife, it had all kinds of little openings, drawers and hatches, and contained\u00a0 – or could manufacture – everything any woman could want, for any bodily maintenance.\u00a0 The Inagi Thweet provided the tools and substances to deal with anything that needed to be plucked, buffed, tweezed, brushed, exfoliated, painted, polished, lacquered, absorbed, wiped, perfumed, disinfected, depilatoried, filed, clipped, tinted, colored, waxed, shaved, shaded, shaped, removed, enhanced, curled, straightened, freshened, steam-cleaned, soothed, plumped, highlighted, tightened, covered up, flossed, glossed or moisturized.<\/p>\n In other words, a gal\u2019s best friend, in one handy package.\u00a0 Every woman in space had an Inagi Thweet.\u00a0 Uhura laughed again and said it wasn\u2019t surprising Wovaki hadn\u2019t thought to supply me with one.\u00a0 Wovaki didn\u2019t exactly subscribe to many womanly functions.\u00a0 Uhura made a call, and my very own Inagi Thweet was awaiting me when I got back to my room.<\/p>\n This century was definitely looking up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n < previous\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 next ><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 next > \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHe said he would come in,’ the White Queen went on, `because he was looking for a hippopotamus. Now, as it happened, there wasn’t such a thing in the house, that … Continue reading ![\"300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17\"](\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHe said he would come in,’ the White Queen went on,<\/em>
\n `because he was looking for a hippopotamus.<\/em>
\n Now, as it happened, there wasn’t such a thing<\/em>
\n in the house, that morning.’<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Is there generally?’ Alice asked in an astonished tone.<\/em>
\n Well, only on Thursdays,’ said the Queen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\nand What Alice Found There<\/i> <\/i><\/p>\n