Challenge #02297-F107: Wait for the Sanitation Cycle
I imagine the first few times Humans encountered other species there where a few, biological problems. I mean, at least one person must have touched something without testing it first. -- Anon Guest
There is a general rule for space: never enter an untrusted area without your livesuit. The corollary, of course, is: don't trust anywhere. Even the cleansing booths have to be checked thoroughly for compatibility before you should try bathing in them.
Some species can't go near the solid form of salt. Some species can't abide theobromine. Some species are averse to light. Finding one definitive means of cleansing oneself is complicated at best and impossible at worse. There are species that bathe in fine dust. There are species whose lungs are shredded to a bloody pulp in fine dust. There are species for whom the mixture known commonly as soap is deathly toxic.
In space, there's a multitude of reasons to be careful in the shower.
There have been a multitude of attempts to assure everyone's safety when bathing. After all, there are numerous species whose unwashed essences are toxic to others. Being clean is simply another courtesy and neglecting it can lead to assault charges.
They attempted segregated cleansing spaces, but after three species and fifteen genders, that got problematic. They attempted to allow people to self-regulate their cleansing, and faced lawsuits from cogniscents too tired, too dazed, or too lazy to check the previous settings before they entered a booth. They attempted video tutorials, which the jaded and the impatient skipped.
The current solution is the scanner/booth combo. Travelling citizens of the alliance have to go through decon anyway, so the decon booth with all its stringent procedures became adapted into the modern cleansing booth. The only difference is that the cleanser is toned down to less rigorous extremes of cleanliness. The in-built scanner reads the subject within, and uses the results to provide menu options limited to what would be found preferable in that species. From there, even the most determined, most addled, or mostly asleep can only give themselves a mild, unpleasant, but ultimately unharmful surprise.
Evacuating waste whilst inside, though considered bad form, is tolerated on the basis that everything washed off is recycled one way or another in the end. Since it takes longer for a booth to eradicate solid waste, patrons are politely sequestered until such waste is absorbed by the sanitation process.
That, studies have found, is more than enough to stop them doing it the next time.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Elenathewise]
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