A/N: Quick update – yay!
Keeping Distance
Chapter 6;
Breakfast and The Badlands
'Day 3' had been uneventful. Despite Skye's pushing Lucas hadn't opened up again about his mother and after 20 minutes of his still silence she'd given up asking. Then again he hadn't got angry with her either, nor seemed to regret what he had shared, so she knew she was making headway. They spent the day transferring Lucas' etchings onto the computer system, he doing the drawings and she adding the equations and minor details. They worked for 45 minutes before Jim came in to check Skye was still alive. He seemed surprised to find not only was she breathing, but they were working well together. Well, as well as dead silence could be, the only sounds papers moving and the click-click of Skye's typing. She didn't even ask Lucas to clarify something if she couldn't read it or thought it wrong, not quick to kill the (not at all uncomfortable) silence. But though they worked well Jim insisted Skye call it a day. So, without a word, Skye went with him begrudgingly.
'Day 4' started differently. Her morning shift at the Infirmary had been moved to the afternoon so she headed to Lab 2 just after breakfast to find Lucas poring over his computer, breakfast untouched next to him. "Eat your breakfast," was the first thing Skye said as she walked in. Lucas looked up with a frown. She motioned to the cereal. "Eat it." She said with a smile.
He cast his eyes skyward but stood and picked up his breakfast. "Sorry mom." He muttered sarcastically. Skye just grinned and sat down where he'd just been. "Something's wrong with it." He motioned with his spoon, his mouth full of cereal, and Skye fought back a disgusted frown.
"What's this one for?" She asked, moving her finger over the computer touchpad so the equation, a large sphere with lines and numbers through it, rotated.
"It's part 6 of 14 parts that make up the location equation. I ran it through The Eye when you left yesterday and it couldn't read part 7 to 14 because there's an error here somewhere." Skye leaned forward on her hand and assessed the equation, knowing most problems were simple and that Lucas had likely just overthought it. He spoke again. "You were supposed to be insulted when I called you 'mom'." He suddenly sounded a lot like a child, disappointed when none of his friends laughed at his anecdote.
Skye glanced back at him. "Why would I? After what you told me about your mom it sounds more like a compliment." Her finger scanned the computer as she looked back at it, missing Lucas' smile, and gave a light laugh as she saw the mistake. "Here. You didn't carry the one." Clearing the calculation from that point on she continued. "Okay, and now…" She paused. "Square root of 64?"
"Eight." Lucas muttered.
"That's right." She tapped in the 8 and the equation was complete again. She stood. "Wanna check?" Lucas nodded and moved to sit with his cereal. Skye watched him check it. "Why did you tell me about her?" He grunted through a mouthful of cereal and Skye took it to mean 'who?'. "Your mom. You didn't have to tell me. You could have said 'rack off Bucket' and threatened me some more. Instead you've been, well, human."
Lucas turned, putting down his breakfast. "Honestly? You were right – I wanted to talk about her. She's the reason I'm doing this. As for 'being human', well, everyone likes a pretty assistant." He raised his eyebrows with a smirk.
"So, this is just to get what you want? All this 'being nice, joking' stuff?" She couldn't hide the disappointment. She knew she couldn't 'solve' him but she thought she could soften him at least, not just for the Commander's sake, but everyone's. But once again it seemed she was stuck in a Lucas game. "Would you rather keep fighting?" He asked. "Because that's a lot of energy and it doesn't get the Portal rebuilt."
"I know but I thought when you told me about your mom that you were, I don't know…"
"Opening up to you in a step towards becoming a good guy?" He hid the scoff but Skye knew it was there in the back of his throat. "Bucket – you're a smart girl and no one else can stand to be near me, that's why I keep you around. If you want me to pretend you're fixing me then I'll do it, but in the end you keep your friends close and your enemies closer… and I haven't decided which one you are yet." He tapped the screen, ignoring her crestfallen expression. "This is correct. Well done." He put down his cereal and copied the equation onto a portable core. Skye watched it copy and initialize wordlessly and Lucas seemed to sense her mood. He looked back at her and, for the first time she'd ever heard from him, he spoke like the 25-year-old he was instead of the 'disgruntled child' shtick he usually pulled. It made him seem less mad which, in turn, made him also seem more dangerous. 'Sick' or 'twisted' was an easy tag. This normality though, it proved that he wasn't nuts – he chose to act the way he did. "I'm going to be frank with you because you deserve that." She listened, enraptured by his calm voice and bright green eyes looking at her like a teacher does a student. "We work well together, you're smart and the only one I've ever trusted with my work. I can't do this alone in 5 weeks, but if we work together we can do it. And we both want this. So, let's be adult about this. In five weeks the Portal could be reopened, your friends could be safe, and I'll be contently locked back in the Brig. Or your people could be dead and you'll still be sitting here trying to fix in weeks what it took eleven years to break." Skye's eyes fell. "I repeat; I'm not sorry I can't be who you want me to be Bucket, but I can give you some of what you want. I can give you the Portal reopened and your cure gathered." He turned back as the computer beeped and he withdrew the core. "Now, tell me that's enough and you'll stop this silliness and work with me, or else you can go and not come back."
And that was it. There was no room for debate, nothing Skye could say, and she knew she had to agree to what he said. "Ok." She stepped forward and took the Pyrethrium Core from his hand. "I'll run this through The Eye right now."
She headed for the door as Lucas added one last thing. "Thank you Bucket." No creepy tone, no whisper, just a genuine 'thank you'. Unfortunately it didn't make Skye feel any less like she'd just agreed to play Poker with The Devil.
…
"Skye!" Leaving The Eye with Lucas' formatted core, Skye glanced up at the familiar voice, and smiled warmly at the sight of Josh. He jogged up to her and motioned to the device in her hand. "Taylor got you running errands for him now?"
She shrugged. "Just running calculations through The Eye, all I've ever been good at."
Josh shook his head. "That's not all you're good at." Skye fought back a light blush. She could tell herself that the crush she'd had on Josh when he first came to Terra Nova was gone, but that would be a lie, and she'd had enough of lying to herself. He motioned to the Orchard. "Graham wanted to know when you'll next be fruit-picking. It took me five minutes to convince him you hadn't quit."
Skye smiled sadly. After the mess with Lucas the first time Skye had been given the part-time fruit-picking job under the tutelage of Graham, a mid-40s man who was one of the few people that didn't look at Skye like she was the scum of the Earth, the way many did around Terra Nova. Skye the Sixer spy, hated by all it seemed, except Graham. He seemed to understand that she'd had to. The pair grew close, working long hours in the Orchards, and Skye saw Graham as a father figure, or maybe more the big brother she'd never had. "I miss him." She admitted softly.
"You should go see him. Stuff Taylor, he can do his own job." Though Josh knew why Lucas was here, his animosity to the man could not be any more obvious, the teenager still smarting from the death of his girlfriend. He had yet to open up to Skye about Kara, the same way Skye didn't talk about her short but torrid history with Lucas, and it seemed to make their friendship stronger somehow. Skye guessed it was the trust between them, the fact neither needed details, though both seemed to know the other was there if they did want to talk. "He's the genius after all."
Skye gave a soft laugh. "He thinks he is, but yesterday he had trouble with a capped pen, and it was like early man." She impersonated Lucas smacking a pen against an invisible table before her. Josh laughed but the humour wore off quickly and Skye's smile fell a little. "Tell Graham I have Thursday afternoon off, I'll come see him then, but I need to get these equations done. It's all paper and numbers stage at the moment and I can help." She paused. "I have to help."
"I know." Josh smiled and touched her hand. "Come by mine tonight? Bring your mom. Mom's cooking and she always, always, makes too much. Plus Maddy's bringing Reynolds and I need an ally."
Skye snickered. "Against what?"
"The board games that will invariably come out. We can do a duel escape strategy – your mom will get tired, I'll help you walk her home, and not come back until Zoe's won every game and dad's eye-threatened Reynolds into losing every time." He grinned.
"You don't want me there, you just want a 'get out' clause."
Josh shrugged. "At least I'm honest about what I want from you." It was humourous as ever but Skye knew there were undertones of 'unlike Lucas' in there and she just smiled softly. He motioned back towards the work crew starting towards the gates. "I have to go OTG for the day, problems at Outpost 5 that need my attention, so you'll have to tell me now if I…"
"I'll be there." Skye said quickly.
Josh smiled. "Good." He backed up. "7 o'clock?" She nodded. "And go see Graham." Skye made an ugly face. "That's hot."
Skye just laughed as he walked off with a wave behind him. When he was gone she let out a soft sigh. With Josh things were simple, more fun, despite everything they'd gone through. She wished everything was like that, but it never would be. Lucas had assured her of that earlier. Made it clear that the peace Terra Nova had once promised was nothing more than a pipedream.
…
Carter leaned against a tree, catching his breath, eyeing the forest around him warily. Years out here had taught him that being alone was never a good thing, but he had no choice, there simply was no one else. The Terra Novans had taken the rest of the group he'd set out with and now he was heading towards The Badlands alone. He'd been walking/driving/running for the last 2 ½ days but he was getting close. He knew it from the way the forest cleared out and the smell of dirt picked up. He'd only been to The Badlands once before and was glad he'd always had a knack for remembering routes. After leaving Snakehead Falls during the Terra Novans' attack he'd headed back to Sixer Camp, a 3-hour run, where he'd gathered up a Rover and made for The Badlands. That had ended a day and a half later when the Rover simply ran out of fuel. He discarded it and kept going on foot. Carter's resilience was what made him so valuable to the Sixers and he knew it. He was Mira's right-hand man and right now he was heading back to her side.
"Stop!"
The voice was a welcome one, as hostile as it sounded, when Carter pushed himself off the tree and took three steps forward. He stopped moving and held up his hands. "Scott Carter, head of security for the Sixers." He eyed the tree line but saw no movement. "Find Mira."
"Weapons down." Carter lowered his hands too when he heard that voice. Mira's – one he hadn't heard in three months, not since the Sixers and the Phoenix Group were driven back into the forest after losing Terra Nova. Calmly as ever the tall dark-skinned woman stepped out onto the clearing where Carter stood. "You're alone?"
"They got everyone."
Mira frowned. "That certainly wasn't the plan." She narrowed her eyes. "But Taylor's in?"
He nodded. "Just as we suspected – they used the Tate girl."
Mira frowned. "I don't know yet whether Lucas' knowledge of her is a good or a bad sign." Carter gave a light frown. "Let's just say I'm not so sure he won't be easily compromised."
"You doubt his abilities to reopen the Portal?" Mira shook her head at Carter's question. "What then?"
"His reason for doing it." She fished a bottle of water from her hip. "Drink this and walk with me. Hooper doesn't need to know how many Terra Nova captured. He'll do something stupid like barge in there and get them out."
"Does he know the plan at all?"
Mira gave him a knowing look; a look that said 'you've known me for years, do you really have to ask that?' and Carter hid a smile. "He knows enough." She stuck her hands in her pockets. "And if Taylor sticks to the mission then it's all he'll need to know until that Portal is reopen and we're back to 2149."