Nimlets
Breakaway + 8 yrs, 5 mos
Sandra lay on her back in bed staring up at the darkened ceiling, awake before Alan as usual. She was meticulously going through the day ahead, thinking through known plans and preparing contingencies for the unexpected. She and Alan were going to have a rare opportunity to get away together for the day and she did not want any last minute problems to interfere.
"Sandra, love, go with the flow, will you?"
She jumped a centimeter, her heart skipping at least two or three beats. The voice from the dark seemed wide awake.
"It's a routine survey flight. Scanners show clear space and Alpha has been as quiet as a churchmouse for months now."
She rolled over to face him, her heart finally beating normally again.
"How long have you been awake?"
"Long enough to hear the wheels in your head spin in circles."
Although their bedroom was almost pitch black except for the muted glow from the chronometer on the commpost, Sandra knew Alan was laughing at her from the tone in his voice.
"I am just..."
"You're just over-planning again. Relax. It'll be a fun day. Just you, me and an Eagle." Alan reached out his hand and caressed Sandra's face, not so incidentally getting his bearings.
"But..." Sandra was unable to say more as Alan rolled on top of her pressing her back into the bed and proceeded to kiss her into silence. His hands worked their way under her sleep-shirt and his leg slipped between hers.
"It'll be like a day out of school." Alan whispered as he started to kiss Sandra's neck and his hands reached down to slip off her panties. "Didn't you ever play hooky, Sahn?"
"Absolutely not." Sandra was briefly put out that he would think her capable of such a thing.
"Ah. Well then, love, a late tutorial is definitely in order."
Alan's efforts were working. Sandra was relaxing into the moment, her hands began winding behind Alan's neckwhen the indignant howls of a hungry three-month-old split the air.
"Damn," Alan muttered, as he flopped over onto his back, his all too apparent interest starting to flag. "Whose idea was it to have a second one?"
"I believe yours."
"Yeah, well, maybe. But I seem to recall you being a willing participant."
Sandra laughed as she kissed Alan lightly on the lips. "Perhaps later tonight." She left a light, trailing caress down the length of his body as she rose from the bed, turned on a light and slipped on a robe. "Danae will be up next."
Alan pushed himself up and walked over to the closet to grab a uniform for the day. He looked back at Sandra with a lascivious glance. "Maybe we won't have to wait that long. The Eagle's do have autopilots, you know."
"Alan." Sandra shook her head in mild reproof as she left to feed the hungry infant. If she had never played 'hooky', that most certainly was not a consideration.
The morning passed quickly. Two small bodies were fed and dressed and supplies prepared for a day in the crche. And except for the shower having only tepid water, and the small kitchen food warmer not working, all was uneventful.
Alan headed to Reconnaissance to check in and run the morning's systems checks while Sandra took the children to the Command level crche. Today Maya and a reclamations tech were supervising. Danae slipped her hand out of Sandra's and ran toward Maya in delight.
"Aunt Maya!" The tiny three-and-a-half year old girl hugged the woman with delight and then looked around. "Lysee here?"
"Yes, over by the toy box."
Maya straightened as the little girl ran off to join her sister. She briefly watched the two silver-haired girls play and then turned and walked toward Sandra, holding her hands out to take Richard.
"Are you looking forward to your day off, Sandra? Tony said you and Alan had plans."
Sandra nodded with a smile. "A day playing 'hooky', as Alan would have."
Maya looked lost at the colloquial phrase, but before she could ask, the reclamation tech let out a muffled oath. Both women looked over in surprise.
"Sorry, the latch fell off when I tried to open the door. I wasn't expecting it."
Sandra turned back to face Maya only to almost trip over three-year-old Stephen Koenig now standing immediately in front of her.
"Nimlets," the brown-haired boy said solemnly as he watched the man try to repair the latch. He looked up at Sandra. "You're going to fly in an Eagle with Uncle Alan today, right Aunt Sandra?"
"Yes."
"Watch out for the nimlets."
At that, the little boy turned and dashed off to return to his playfellows. Sandra looked at Maya with bemusement and shrugged. "I do not know either. Perhaps it is an American saying he learned from John or Helena."
After a few more moments chatting with Maya about children and work, Sandra said her farewells to Danae and Richard and left. She avoided the temptation to check in at Command Center and instead headed straight toward Reconnaissance.
Sandra sometimes still couldn't believe she had the right and was even expected to fly an Eagle on a regular basis. At least when she wasn't noticeably pregnant. What would her father have said to that? Lawrence Benes had only grudgingly acknowledged that astronauts were a necessary evil, but he had always discouraged Sandra from associating casually with them. Rather unsuccessfully thought Sandra, wistfully recalling Peter Rockwell. Sandra recalled her father's pedantic lectures that astronauts were just pilots with a cocky attitude and little formal education. From the Nobel Laureate's view, anything less than a doctorate was barely worth considering.
As she entered Alan's domain, Sandra felt her excitement grow. Her Papa would have met his match in Alan, she was sure. Alan would have worn him down with cheerful determination. Alan never mentioned his educational degrees, but he had in fact earned a doctorate as a member of the LRSO. He had done most of the research and writing while on his deep space mission to Mars back in the late 1990's. He had honestly admitted to her that it was for the sole purpose of getting the better postings awarded by the space commission, but it was nonetheless an honorably earned degree. It was an ironic twist of fate that his research into the population genetics of small, isolated communities would be what his children's future was based upon.
"'Morning, Sandra."
Sandra looked over to her right to the work consoles for the Reconnaissance staff. The Chief of Eagle Maintenance, Miriam Fenster, was standing and walking toward her with a datapad in hand. Sandra was never exactly sure how to regard Miriam, and it seemed to run both ways. The tall, thin graying woman seemed to regard Sandra with a certain suspicion, although she hid it politely enough.
Sandra and Miriam had rarely if ever crossed paths before Sandra started flight training with Alan four and a half years ago. Outside Reconnaissance, Sandra's position ranked Miriam's, but when Sandra was here on Miriam's territory as a very junior level pilot, the Chief could effectively ground her with a word in Alan's ear. That Sandra was married to Alan simply made the matter more complex. Sandra usually relied on politeness and tact.
"Good morning, Miriam. How are you today?"
"Nothing to complain about. Alan's gone ahead to Pad 4. Told me to send you his way when I saw you."
Sandra smiled, nodded her head and headed toward the main pilot's ready room to pick up her flight suit. While most Alphans could simply requisition one of the standard-sized suits, Sandra felt swamped in even the small ones and preferred her custom made suit if at all possible. She could feel Miriam watch her leave.
After finally finding her flight suit stored in the wrong cubical, Sandra boarded the Eagle and stowed her suit and helmet. There was whistling coming from the direction of the command module. Sandra grimaced slightly. Only Alan could be that off-key. Closing up the transporter pod, she headed forward.
"Eagle 13 to Command Center. As soon as my co-pilot arrives I want to be off. Everything clear from your end?"
"Negative, Alan. We read a red tell-tale from your left rear landing pod. Please verify."
"What? All green here. I'll double check."
Alan looked up from his recheck at Sandra's arrival and smiled. "A small glitch, Sahn. Check the computer readings on the left rear pod, would you?"
Sandra slid into the co-pilot's seat and did as was requested.
"Computer confirms all is nominal."
Alan shrugged and hit the reset. His green light stayed green.
"That did it Eagle 13, you are now clear for lift off."
"Good enough, Alpha. We'll be home before Sandra's curfew."
Alan grinned at Sandra who shook her head at his informality but then smiled. Alan's cheerfulness and high spirits were infectious.
"Alright, newbie. You take her up. I want it as smooth as that last take-off in the simulator."
"You mean the take-off where I later crashed into the random piece of space debris that no sensor detected and that had no logical reason to be there?"
"Yeah, that's the one. You were doing real well up till then."
Sandra snorted softly. "Well enough that you had to cheat."
"I'll never admit to that, Sahn." But Alan's easy grin was admission enough.
"Engaging main motors." Sandra at least was going to stick with protocol. The Eagle thrummed to life and lifted effortlessly.
~~~~~~~~
The first task on their day's itinerary was a quick overflight of the staging area for the six small alien craft Sandra and the Commander had 'brought' back with them nine months prior from an unexpected rendezvous with a space lattice encompassing thousands of ships. No intelligent life had been contacted, but later review of the visual records had found signs of a sort of 'life', but it was still unclear if it had been organic or mechanical.
Research and engineering teams trying to get into the ships had so far come up empty-handed, but no one had completely given up hope yet. Just like with the remains scavenged from Gwent and Dione's ship, not to mention the ship the Commander and Tony had brought back through that space warp, all potential resources were thoroughly investigated and recycled to maintain Alpha. Some projects just took more time, but Alpha had that in abundance at present.
"Come on, Sahn. Let's land and go on a walkabout. We can get a closer look at those little beauties." The gleam in Alan's eye was hard to resist.
Sandra nodded and obtained clearance from Command Center. Once landed and the engines powered down, she followed Alan back to suit up.
"Damn. I don't believe this."
Sandra turned about and looked at Alan. He was holding up the two gloves that attached to the flight suit.
"They're both left handed!"
Sandra chuckled at his expression. So very much like a child whose favorite toy has just been taken away.
"Better we find out now than when we really need your suit in one piece, Alan."
Sandra removed her suit as Alan muttered several uniquely Australian curses she thought best to ignore. Back in the command module, Alan plopped down in his seat and stared longingly at the mysterious and sleek alien craft.
The remote visual inspection and telemetry readings from the monitors posted around the small ships revealed the same lack of new information that had plagued their evaluation since the ships had arrived on their own initiative trailing behind Eagle 1. Alan chewed on his lower lip as he looked out the forward view ports. He really wanted to get inside those ships and poke around, but since they couldn't verify the interiors were safe, he hesitated to bring one into an Eagle Bay until they could get a good look-see out here.
"Sahn, it's like being given a Christmas present and then being told you have to wait until Great-Aunt Agatha arrives to open it, and not knowing when the old thing will make it. Or if she ever will."
"You have a Great-Aunt Agatha?" Sandra asked with amusement for Alan's frustration, although she shared it. She wanted the chance to explore the ships' computers, or whatever such equivalent was there.
"Doesn't everyone? Always the last to arrive for the holiday and no one can start anything fun until she arrives."
"Grand-mama Sophie, but yes, I understand."
"Well, let's get going." Alan opened a link with Command Center and notified them Eagle 13 was going to briefly return to pick up a right-hand suit glove and then head out on the routine survey.
"Affirmative, Eagle 13. Your glove will be waiting at Pad 4. Try to behave yourselves," Bill Fraser signed off with an audible smile.
Alan's mild irritation faded as he watched Sandra deftly handle the Eagle's short hop back to Alpha, landing precisely on mark.
"Nice landing, Sahn. I'll be right back." He pushed out of his seat and quickly retrieved the proper glove from an apologetic Miriam waiting in the boarding tube car. Alan quickly made sure the glove attached and then closed up the pod and returned to the front.
"Let's go, Sandra. Times a-wasting."
Lift off was unremarkable and they quickly put empty space between themselves and Alpha. Alan set the auto-pilot and turned to his co-pilot.
"Come on, love, let's get some lunch and then we'll put the bird out through a proper test run." Alan got up and held a hand down for Sandra who took it readily. He helped her up and then led the way back.
"Here, let me, Alan." Sandra slipped past Alan in the narrow walkway and attempted to precede him to the food prep area. Even with something as simple as a food-warmer, Alan's cooking skills were unreliable. Her forward momentum was checked when Alan took her arm and pulled her back to him. He started nibbling along Sandra's neck.
"No kids, no interruptions, Sahn. Lunch can wait."
Sandra pivoted gracefully in Alan's arms and smiled as she reached her arms up around his neck. She did not think she could comfortably acquiesce to Alan's earlier suggestion to make love in an Eagle Command Center would undoubtedly interrupt at just the wrong time but she could see nothing wrong with kissing. She was pulling his head down to hers when the loud growl from Alan's stomach broke the mood. Sandra chuckled at the expression of betrayal on Alan's face.
"Did you eat this morning, Alan?"
Alan looked surprised for a moment as he thought back. "Of course I did, Sahn, well, maybe I did feed Danae but, nah, I guess I didn't. When I couldn't make a hot cup of coffee," he shrugged, "I guess I just skipped it."
"Lunch, then, is next on the agenda." Sandra kissed Alan on the cheek and led the way to the back of the Eagle.
Sandra looked in the storage compartment and saw all the meals were the same. That was unusual. There was typically a small variety in the meals stored. She took out two of the prepared trays and set them in the warmer to heat. The alarm chirped soon enough and she carried the food to the small counter space Alan had already set up. The next few moments were spent on exploring the lunch offering.
Alan looked up from his food, an unhappy expression on his face.
"Ah, Sahn, are these what I think they are?"
Sandra nodded with a grimace. As soon as she had uncovered the heated trays she knew there was a problem. "I am afraid so. And there are no other selections."
Alan groaned. He was a committed omnivore, but he quite simply hated, loathed and detested mushrooms in any shape, form or consistency. He placed the large, stuffed mushrooms on Sandra's plate and stole her bread. She wouldn't eat much of it anyway.
"Can I lodge an official protest with Helena? This is an outright attempt at food poisoning."
Sandra laughed as she passed over her corncob half to join the bread on Alan's plate. Even at his most pathetic, Alan had the ability to make her laugh. "I doubt it was intentional. Most of us regard this as a rare treat."
"Yeah, well, there's no accounting for taste."
For once, Alan finished eating before Sandra. Resigned to starving to death, he patted his less than full stomach and left for the command module to check on the flight's status.
~~~~~~~~
Two and a half hours later, Eagle 13 was now at the furthest point of their short-range survey trip. Alan had left the piloting to Sandra and had critically watched her performance. He was pleased. In truth, he knew he cut her less slack than he did the other new pilots, although she had always risen to his expectations. Fraser and the other senior pilots had often told him to lighten up some.
"Nice going, Sandra." Alan thought of some interesting surprises he could toss her way on the way back and started to enter the parameters into his console. He just needed to distract her from seeing what he was doing. Sandra missed little.
"If the height regs had been different, would you have gone out for the astronaut's corp? The space commission was actively looking for female pilots after the War."
Sandra kept her eyes on her controls. "Perhaps. But I would have had to face my father's disapproval."
Alan knew Sandra's mother had been a commercial pilot and had encouraged Sandra to earn her own light airplane pilot's license at the age of sixteen. Dr. Benes, however, had been another matter.
"After my mother's plane was brought down by terrorists, Papa only flew when necessary." Sandra looked over to Alan with solemn eyes. "He did not like astronauts, for all that his interstellar transmitter would be used by them to communicate with Earth." She shrugged at her father's nonsensical bias.
"What did he think of Peter, then? If memory serves me, he was a pretty good Eagle pilot. Was supposed to rotate up to Alpha in October for a couple of months." Alan was frankly curious. Sandra still didn't talk about her family all that much.
Sandra shook her head. "Papa did not care for him. He kept introducing me to research fellows, even after Peter and I became engaged."
"Maybe us being lost out here does have an upside, Sahn." Alan grinned at Sandra's look of disbelief. "Think what your father would've made of me! Come on, time to turn around and head back home."
Sandra started the maneuver to reorient the Eagle when a completely unexpected eruption of multicolored sparks showered from the central console spectacularly filling the small space. Both pilots started to cough violently at the acrid smoke filling the air.
"Emergency procedures!" Alan ordered calmly as he grabbed an extinguisher and smothered the small fire.
The Eagle bobbled slightly, but Sandra shunted control around the affected circuits and quickly regained control. The air filtration system kicked into high gear to clear the air.
"You alright, Sahn?" Alan saw her nod yes through the clearing haze. "Alright, then what in bloody hell caused that?" Alan started a diagnostic run. Nothing he had just entered should have done that.
"Alpha to Eagle 13, you alright up there? We have a string of malfunctions lighting up down here." Fraser sounded concerned.
"Affirmative Alpha," Sandra reassured. "We have the Eagle back under control but do not yet understand why the" she checked her readouts, "the back-up navigation system shorted." Sandra looked at Alan who raised an eyebrow in concurrence. "We are heading in. ETA 3 hours."
"Do you need any help?" That was the Commander's voice.
Sandra looked at Alan. He shook his head no.
"Not at present, Commander. We will keep you apprised."
"Affirmative. I want the next check-in in twenty minutes."
"Affirmative, Alpha. Eagle 13 out."
For the next half-hour, both Alan and Sandra ran systems checks and could find no obvious source of the malfunction. Amazingly, the damage turned out to be minor, but Alan still planned on one of them remaining in the command module at all times until the Eagle was safely back on Alpha.
"So much for our day of hooky, Sahn." Alan smiled a lopsided smile and held a hand out to her.
Sandra smiled slightly as she reached out and took the offered hand. "No matter, we can still enjoy the peace and quiet."
They spent the next two hours watching the distance home lessen steadily. Alan filled the time with stories of other minor Eagle mishaps, mostly humorous and all at his own expense.
"And they still assigned you to Alpha?" Sandra asked amazed after one story that involved breaking at least a dozen regulations and violating at least one significant international covenant.
Alan grinned at her. "I never did anything really illegal, and I never got caught."
Sandra shook her head in amazement. Smuggling up his favorite chair had come close, though.
"Sandra, watch the bird. I'm going back and suiting up. Just in case."
Sandra filled the time with the next scheduled report to Alpha. Helena included a welcomed update on the children.
"I don't believe it!"
Alan stomped into the command module wearing his flight suit and holding his helmet. "The bloody helmet seal won't take."
Sandra stood and took the helmet. She could see no faults visually and passed it back to Alan to put on. It appeared to settle properly, but the final safety lock would not completely engage. No self-respecting astronaut would trust the suit in its current state in anything short of an outright emergency, although the odds did favor the redundant safety systems working adequately.
"Sandra, suit up and let's check yours. Again." She nodded and slipped past Alan to do so. Her suit worked fine.
The remaining flight was tense as both pilots waited for the next malfunction to hit. However, the final approach was only remarkable for a red tell-tale on the landing pod. The front right this time.
"Eagle 13 to Command Center. We're down. I want this Eagle gone over thoroughly before anyone takes it out again."
"Affirmative, Alan. I'll inform Miriam." Fraser sounded glad not to be in her shoes right about now.
Alan closed the line as Sandra powered down the main motors. He looked over to her. "Sorry, love. Wasn't quite the day I expected."
"We did have it together, though."
Alan got up and helped Sandra out. They headed back to prepare to disembark. The doors to the boarding tube still had a red no-go light showing. Alan's commlock chirped.
"Alan, we have another slight problem."
"What is it now, Miriam?" Even Alan's easy-going temperament was showing signs of fraying.
"The boarding tube seals are not confirmed as engaged and I am unable to reposition the tube." Miriam flinched when she heard Alan's muttered oath. All these minor malfunctions made her team simply look awful. "The seals are probably alright, but protocol demands full suits before I open the doors." She flinched again as Alan colorfully commented on the impracticality of that suggestion. "Orwe can retract the tube enough manually so you can move the Eagle to another pad. Or, I could send someone with a new suit while you two wait inside the command moduleor," Miriam fully intended to continue spinning out options until Alan heard one he liked.
Sandra interrupted Alan before he could make a comment he would regret later. "Miriam, how long to confirm the seals?"
"To get suited, out there and make a full visual and scanner inspection? Maybe an hour." Miriam wasn't about to let anyone else make that determination.
"We will wait, Miriam. Take the time you need. Benes out."
~~~~~~~~
When the channel closed, Miriam sighed with relief and slumped back in her chair. She'd have to cut Sandra some slack after deflecting Alan's anger like that. Really, she wasn't a half bad pilot. Better than some they'd had at Breakaway. 'Course, those idiots were mostly dead now. Miriam sighed again. Alan had had to settle down with someone eventually. Best it was with someone who appreciated her Eagles.
Miriam headed over to get a heavy duty orange suit. As she pulled on the legs she chuckled to think of what could be going on in Eagle 13 for the next hour. Maybe a slow, thorough inspection was in order. And she'd knock before opening any doors.
~~~~~~~~
"How the hell did all these faults make it past inspection?" Alan fumed as he paced inside the transporter pod.
While his rare anger was real, it paled in comparison to the tempers Sandra had coped with from the Commander in Main Mission or Command Center over the years. But she handled Alan the same way: staying calm, focused and not getting flustered. Of course, she could come up with a plan of action that would be unacceptable in her usual domain. She smiled at Alan and gestured to the seat next to her.
"Nimlets."
"What?" Alan looked at Sandra, incomprehension written plainly on his face. He took the offered seat and slumped down discouraged. He rested his head back against the seat and stared at the ceiling of the Eagle. He was hungry, tired and frustrated and unable to do a damn thing about it.
"Nimlets. Stephen Koenig warned me this morning to watch out for the nimlets.' And it appears we have found them, or they us.
Alan closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm hungry, Sahn. Unless we can catch one and cook it for dinner, I'm still not understanding you."
Sandra took off her commlock and keyed in a command level code not routinely used by the pilots. She pointed her commlock at the doors and nodded her head at the confirmatory beep from the onboard computer.
"What are you doing, Sahn?"
"In training, we are taught to always have a back-up plan, or several, for any flight action, true?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you were the one to suggest a back-up action for today's flight. This morning, in our quarters."
Alan sat up slightly and looked at Sandra for a moment, but then a lazy smile crossed his face and he reached out to touch Sandra's face.
"I did, didn't I?"
"Even if Miriam finishes her inspection early, Computer will not open the doors until I release them. We may play 'hooky' without fear of interruption, I do believe." Sandra felt slightly smug. She'd show the good Captain that she was not quite incapable of 'going with the flow' when occasion allowed.
Alan took off his commlock and without breaking eye contact with Sandra checked in with Command Center and advised them all was well and that the next scheduled check-in would be in an hour.
"Now they will talk," Sandra laughed with a faint blush.
"Let them." Alan held out his hand to Sandra and led the way back to the sleeping bunks. He opened the door with his commlock and turned on the lights. With some doubt, he peered cautiously into the small space. Everything back here still looked alright. Space was tight but two could share, especially when one was Sandra-sized. Leaving the door open, he pulled Sandra in behind him. Knowing she would prefer the lights off, Alan pressed the toggle to dim them. The lights stayed bright.
Sandra leaned against the wall and simply had to laugh at their predicament. "Nimlets, indeed."
Alan grumbled something incomprehensible and reached up and manually disconnected the light panel. In the now dim room, he reached out and gathered the laughing Sandra to him. He turned her face toward him for a kiss, but before he could follow through he simply had to ask.
"Sahn, so what the hell is a nimlet?"
20 July 2006
MGK