Through the Hourglass Darkly (by Kerris & Gage)

[Gage Silver 0]

It was still over a day until they went back into the rift. Kerris sighed and looked up, following the lines in the ceiling for a few steps before looking back straight. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, eager to get to the mess hall. It had been a long night of barely any sleep, and she knew that today her thoughts would be much of the same. What if they all died? She felt as if she had so much left to live for.

 

Where it concerned him personally, Gage couldn’t help feeling apathetic to the Creek’s latest plight: he’d made peace with not making it home a long time ago. He didn’t crave death, but living? That was a complicated subject; the death of his wife had changed a lot of things. Unlike Commander Wesley, he hadn’t the insane amount of luck or even the opportunity to rescue the person most important to him; he often wished he had, but wishful thinking was just that. That this rift could potentially reverse that clock was something he couldn’t risk considering; for the sake of his sanity she had to remain lost. Forever. He’d found ways to keep living after his wife, but one thing never changed: he always felt he belonged wherever strife existed, whether near or far away from so-called home; and if his number came up, he wouldn’t hesitate to answer that call. He’d make peace with any outcome as long as he was doing the right thing.

 

As Kerris got her tray of food, she was frowning. She didn't like to think that she would never see her family or her home again, or even the Others. She shook her head as she picked out a bottle of water, considering it. Back home, they had to dig for water, or use their well if the need was dire. But here? A bottle. All she had to do was open the cap. The prospect almost made her laugh every time.

 

She wiggled her nose and set the bottle on her tray, her eyes searching through the room.

 

Gage sat at a corner table, arms loosely folded and head bowed, shoulders steadily rising and falling over an untouched tray of food and idle icommanche. Pride had spurred him to work additional watches after Cass rebuked him for considering a break; now he was playing catch-up. But had he known the personal motive that fueled her bite and apparent obsession with that rift, the situation might have turned out differently.

 

Most of the tables were full of the crew eating breakfast, so Kerris's eyes scanned them over, searching for someone she knew. Her eyes fell to Gage, who was sitting alone, in the corner. She smiled a little, thinking that he might be good company, and walked over. She sat down in the seat across the table from him, clearing her throat. 'Hello there,' she said, unsure of what else to say, and feeling very unoriginal.

 

With a jerk, Gage woke in a groggy stupor and blinked at his food before looking at Kerris. “Auh,” he sounded, rubbing his rough, unshaven face and sore neck as he straightened in his seat. “Thought I was dreaming for a second.”

 

Kerris covered her mouth quickly as a giggle escaped her. ‘I'm sorry,' she said. ‘I hadn't realised you were sleeping.’ She picked up her bottle of water and opened it, taking a long drink. ‘Rough night?’

 

“Like Einstein meets Little Shop of Horrors,” he replied, smirking. “You ever see temporal equations grow pixie wings ‘n’ fly?”

 

Kerris furrowed her eyebrows, thoroughly puzzled. 'I'm afraid the only part of that I understood was temporal equations,' she said. 'And I could never imagine them... Flying.' She swirled her eggs around on her plate, mixing them with her hot sauce.

 

“Frightening experience,” he remarked dryly; “After awhile Velocity and square roots start to look like horns, and they’re madly zippin’ around your head to Apocalyptica’s cover of Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King.” He watched her play with her eggs and glanced at his tray of cold food with a frown.

 

“What’ve you been up to?”

 

Thinking she needed to spend some time looking up a lot of what he just said on the extranet, she shrugged, stuffing a forkful of eggs in her mouth to buy a few seconds to think. 'Well, I spent some time with my fighter down in the hangar after I left engineering, then I tried to sleep. Didn't work out too well.' She shrugged again. 'I'd ask you the same, but it sounds like you slept as much as I did.'

 

“Naw, I slept like a baby,” Gage retorted. “What’s your excuse?”

 

She shrugged again, almost ashamed of her thoughts. 'I know we checked and rechecked and did all those Sims... But still my thoughts won't let me be.' She paused. 'I tried writing a letter home, but it never sounded right. How do I explain this in a letter?'

 

Gage stared at her a long minute, grin draining from his face. “You write the first important thing you think of and stop over-thinking it. Nobody’ll care much if you were poetic about it; just that you said what was important.”

 

She shook her head. 'That's not what I meant. I meant, trying to explain what happened, how we got here, who everyone is... Its a lot harder than it sounds.' She took another bite, but her stomach turned over. 'I was never good with words. My brother got that talent. I'm good with my hands. Give me something that's broke or that you need reverse engineered and I can do it, no problem. But if I had to explain it?' She shook her head. 'Forget it. The words jumble.'

 

Gage smiled a bit. “Funny thing about family: they understand you better than anybody else.” Mariah knew, she knew I wasn’t happy unless I was out here playin’ cowboys ‘n’ indians, he recalled darkly. The next of kin to The Wayward Wind.

 

“Just write the first thing you think of; guarantee they’ll get it.”

 

She smiled a little in return. 'I sure hope so.' She took another drink, pondering. 'I've never heard you speak of your family. Do you have siblings? Your parents, grandparents?'

 

“A brother,” he replied casually, eyes on his glass of orange juice as he lifted it.

 

'That's something we have in common then,' she said, smiling a little more. 'Is he a...' she trailed off, thinking of the right word. 'twin? Or just from the same parents?'

 

Gage couldn’t help a grin as he swallowed a mouthful of juice. “Yeah, same parents; my younger brother.”

 

'Were you close... Or rather, are you?'

 

He considered the question, briefly tilting his head. “I guess. Don’t see a lot of him or his family, but he’s always kept a spot for me on the ranch.”

 

She grinned a little, remembering talking about the ranch. 'Oh, right, the ranch,' she said, amused. 'I know that most humans don't live with their family for long. How do you keep in touch?'

 

Gage rubbed his jaw again. It helps if you’re in the same timeline, he thought, but refrained from making that untimely joke. “Email, mostly,” he said and admitted sheepishly; “Think they remember to write more than I do.”

 

He changed the focus. “What about you? How long did you live with your family before you signed up?”

 

Kerris rummaged around in her eggs again. 'I lived with my parents for under a year. That's when Het and I got our own room.' She looked up quickly. 'He's my hatch-mate. Repsha live with their parents until their parents have another clutch.' She shrugged again. 'I still see them everyday, but its been over 30 cycles that we've been living on our own.'

 

“30 cycles, eh? Gotta lotta little Kerrises ‘n’ Hets runnin’ around?” he asked, gesturing like he’d placed his hand on an invisible child’s head.

 

Kerris cleared her throat and looked down at her plate, keeping her eyes on her food. 'He's not my mate,' she explained. 'but your question is... Expected.' she shoveled eggs into her mouth, then swallowed. 'No, no children.' She thought about saying about her thoughts of experiments. 'You?'

 

Gage clearly realized his gaffe, cringing apologetically; then Kerris turned the unwanted question on him and he set his orange juice down. “No,” he answered, "haven't had the chance."

 

Kerris watched as his orange juice swayed in its glass, then looked up, gazing into his eyes briefly. She had the sudden urge to pry into his mind, but she suppressed it. 'Say we get out of this, will you make time?'

 

“No one to make time with,” he said with finality.

 

'Oh,' she said quietly, wishing she had her face covered as her cheeks reddened. 'I didn't mean to pry.' She shoved some more food into her mouth, then said, 'Before I left for the Academy, I had... I don't know what he was. But no more of my kind off-planet.'

 

“Sounds rough,” Gage droned, wondering how they’d stumbled into this depressing subject and how to get out of it. ****, if all I can think of right now are stupid jokes.

 

“It’s settled then,” he remarked after an awkward moment.

 

She stared at him, unclear what in the world the human was referring to. 'Did something need settling?'

 

“You do. We have to get you home now,” he explained, smiling. “Can’t have you lost out here when there’s someone to get back to.”

 

She let out a breath, trying to get her heartrate back down. 'I've been back home. I love my home, but I chose to leave. I want to be out here.' She shrugged. 'Doesn't mean I never want to go home- I like the option- but I am in love with space, humans, Romulans,' she chuckled a little. 'Especially when I look like a human.'

 

Gage smirked. “Fooled me,” he admitted, idly twisting his glass around.

 

She shrugged. 'I am still getting used to...' she waved her hand around. 'Everything. Human quirks and the way you talk- point: did you mean, I fooled you with looking like a human, or with me enjoying space?'

 

“Yeah,” Gage answered.

 

Kerris laughed, grinning. 'I think you enjoy confusing me.'

 

Gage quietly chuckled and lifted his glass of juice to his mouth as he nodded. “Guilty.”

 

Kerris swirled the water around in the jug, still smiling. 'Sometimes I like someone sitting down and explaining things. But I like learning on my own too. You gave me a lot of things to look up, that's for sure.' She looked down, flicking a fleck of pepper into the wall behind him. 'I can't wait to fly again.'

 

For the second time, Gage stamped out a joke about flying lizards and painfully choked on the last of his orange juice. “You can always ask,” he coughed, deciding it was safer to avoid the topic of flying for the moment.

 

'Captain said we're grounded in this... Timeline.' She shrugged, looking at him, again wondering his thoughts. 'These cows on your ranch, can... Do you talk to them?'

 

He laughed. “Yeah, but cows aren’t good for conversin’: all they think about is ‘moovin’ over to the next pasture.”

 

She stared at him, unsure why he was laughing. 'They are as dumb as those on my planet then. All they think about is food, ######ting, and when the bulls are going to visit. I make it a point to not waste the energy on them.'

 

“Wasted energy, yeah,” Gage said, laughter subsiding as he changed the subject. “I need some real sleep before those temporal equations grow fat ‘n’ start mooing at me.”

 

Kerris nodded smally. 'Go and count fat, moooving equations. I am going to have my nose pressed to my computer screen.'

 

Gage smiled and stood, taking his unfinished tray with him. “Night, Kerris.” He paused on his way to the trash, adding: “Or day; I’m not sure.”

 

'Good night, Gage,' she said, nodding to him.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Gage Silver