Sorry this chapter is a little late, but hurrah to me for starting my new job and finally qualifying. Only downer is that the new job is keeping me very busy at the moment, but I shall try and keep up the regular (ish) posting

Chapter 37

There was a large gathering in the cargo area as the marines were debriefed on their duties for the day. In the middle of the large room still stood the ship, which was surrounded by computer experts who were all trying to hook up their computers. So far they had had no success. The problems were that firstly, they couldn't get the power in the raptor to switch on and secondly, the computer systems were completely incompatible with anything they had. It was incredibly frustrating to have so much technology at their fingertips without being able to harness it.

Swanson was leading the team that was attempting to hot wire into the alien systems without success. In another meeting, the powers-that-be had agreed that now was the time to get their guests involved. They would be brought up two at a time to work on repairing the ship and would be constantly flanked by three marines each. Further marines would also stand guard around the room. They knew it was risky to allow their guests to use potentially dangerous equipment, but without them they would probably never get it to work.

Brunette and Blue Eyes were the first to be brought up with Ford and three other guards escorting them. They both gazed around the large room as they were brought inside before fixing their eyes on the ship. Brunette whispered something to Blue Eyes and he nodded in response.

Swanson walked up excitedly to the guests and ushered them over to the ship enthusiastically. A translation computer had been set up in front of the ship so that he could talk to them. Others had also been set up around the room.

"Thank you for coming up here," he said with a keen grin and shook their hands. He didn't seem to care about the strange glances they gave back at him as the machine translated his words.

"We didn't really have a choice," replied Brunette sharply.

"I'm sorry?" asked Swanson innocently.

"We didn't ask to be brought up here," added Brunette. "Like always, you lot just came into our rooms and took us away without telling us anything."

"Oh, right, well err..."

"That's enough, Lieutenant," said Blue Eyes stepping in, making Brunette look away. He then turned his attention back to Swanson, "what can we help you with? You have us all dressed up here so I'm guessing you want us to help you with something." Before being brought up to the cargo area, Brunette and Blue Eyes had been given some of the onsite engineer's overalls, which were all-in-one and dark blue with a zip down the middle.

As soon as the translation had finished Swanson smiled, "we seem to be having a bit of trouble talking to your ship."

"Well that would be because we locked down the computer."

Swanson nodded, "Right, I figured as much. Could you unlock it?"

"Not until you tell me why."

Ford stepped in, aware that their guests had been kept in the dark since the last meeting. "We want to try and get in contact with your people."

Blue Eyes stared at him for a moment before answering, "so you believe us now?"

"Our caution has never really been about whether or not we believe you, but if we can trust you. You wouldn't be up here if we still considered you to be an imminent threat."

"And the dozens of armed guards?"

"We're not completely naive," said Ford with a smile. "You have technology we cannot even begin to comprehend, which our own computers cannot decipher, so understand our caution."

Blue Eyes nodded and then turned to Brunette, "are you okay with this or do you want me to look at the raptor?"

"I can look after my own bird sir," she replied sharply.

Blue Eyes looked at her with disapproval, "then assess the damage she took in the crash and get back to me."

Ford watched as Brunette saluted sharply. She hesitated slightly and then walked over to the ship flanked by her marine guards. "What the frak have you done to my bird?" she exclaimed a few minutes later, her hands on her hips.

"You were in a crash, remember?" said one of the other engineers.

"Yeah, but it didn't look this bad before you stripped it apart," she ranted, not caring that the computer was having difficulty keeping up. "The safety panel is missing underneath, which is pretty much suicidal if you don't know what you're doing, there are wires going everywhere inside, and why the frak did someone attach wires to the soap dispenser? Some frakker has also readjusted my chair; it took me weeks to get that thing just right."

She soon had the other engineers running around after her, pulling out the superfluous wires whilst she made comments about everything they did. Ford watched on slightly amused, this was the most he had seen Brunette interact with someone since her capture. She was evidently quite a feisty woman, not that different from Blondie. He wondered if all of the women from the "Twelve Colonies" were as strong minded. If they were, it could make things very interesting. He liked that sort of woman; it was what he like so much about Caroline.

A few hours later and Blue Eyes was busy assisting Swanson, explaining what each individual piece of equipment was and what it was for. Ford walked over as they reached Blondie's table.

"So this is your wife's property?" asked Swanson as eager as ever.

"Yeah, she always likes to be over prepared."

"She was carrying three guns, why did she need the knife?" asked Ford stepping in.

"Sometimes you run out of bullets," answered Blue Eyes with a small smile.

"Right, so this clothing she was wearing looks to be a bullet-proof type of vest. Looks like she was heading into some action, care to tell us about that?"

"Not really."

"Your wife told me before that your ship had made an emergency jump which brought you here, what was going on?" asked Ford persistently.

"I thought you were done with the endless questions?"

Ford picked up one of the handguns from the table, knowing there were no bullets in the chamber, examining it thoughtfully before putting it down again. "It just concerns me that's all. So can you unlock the computer for us?"

Blue Eyes seemed to think for a moment and then picked up an object from his wife's table before walking over to the ship. He stepped inside, closely followed by Swanson and Ford, with the marines standing just outside. He walked up to what seemed to be the main computer systems for the ship and slotted in the object before flipping a sequence of switches.

It took only seconds for the consol to power up and then the ship emitted a low humming sound as it came to life.

Ford laughed briefly, "I don't know how many times I've stared at that object and wondered what it was for."

"You would never have broken the code even you had known," replied Blue Eyes. He sat in the chair in front of the consol and began flipping more switches until a screen lit up, which reminded Ford of their own radar system.

"What is that?" asked Swanson.

"Dradis," replied Blue Eyes. "This should tell us if any of our ships are in the vicinity or any enemy ships."

"There's nothing coming up."

"No, because we're on the surface of a planet with too much interference. It was a long shot anyway." Brunette then entered the ship and walked over to the front seats. After watching their guests being locked up for weeks on end it was strange to see them taking control, interacting with each other normally. "Racetrack, how is she doing?" asked Blue Eyes.

"They've frakked it up sir. I'm not sure if I can get her off the ground again."

"Well, keep trying, or we'll never get back to the Pegasus."

"Yes sir, but I need more help. See if you can get Skulls up here." Brunette then walked away out of the ship and down the wing. She then used a board to slide in underneath the ship.

Blue Eyes continued to fiddle with a number of switches. A few moments later and Ford could hear a crackling sound. He watched as Blue Eyes grabbed what looked to be a headset and spoke into the microphone, "Pegasus this Major Adama do you copy? Pegasus if you're out there please respond." But there was no response.

Swanson felt the disappointment wash over him, "so they're not out there?"

"Not necessarily, this only has a limited range. If you want my opinion, you're going to have to fly the raptor out there to get a signal."

The ship went quiet for a few moments before Ford spoke, "so you're suggesting we simply fly a ship out of our atmosphere and into space. I hate to inform you but I'm afraid we're running low on astronauts."

"Well you have six people in your custody who all know how to fly her."

Ford laughed slightly, "right. I said we trusted you, but letting you loose with a ship, I don't think so."

"Then we might never communicate with our people."

Ford stood back in silence as Blue Eyes continued to try and get the communication systems up and running. After a few minutes he left the scientist with Blue Eyes and the marine guards and strolled out of the ship to the cargo area.

He knew that another conversation was needed with his superiors.

A few hours later and Ford found Caroline in her usual place, sitting observing their guests. She seemed to spend hours in her armchair just watching, even if all they were doing was sleeping. Brunette and Blue Eyes had been allowed to stay with the ship for several hours before being taken back to their rooms.

"How are they doing?" asked Ford.

Caroline looked up to him from her chair and smiled, "fine, Brunette is sleeping soundly. Looks like the little trip down to the cargo bay did her some good."

"She did a lot of work. I think the ship belongs to her."

Caroline nodded, "her and Leg's names were on the side."

"Blue Eyes kindly informed me that all of them know how to fly the ship and to take it out beyond the Earth's atmosphere is the only way they would be able to communicate with their people," he said expecting her to be shocked at the suggestion.

"Perhaps it is," said Caroline.

As much as Ford trusted and wanted to believe their guests' story, it was so incredible and he had no idea what was really going on in their minds. Caroline on the other hand seemed to trust them without question or reservation. "I'm guessing you think we can trust them to go out in a ship?"

"With an escort of course. If you'd allow a few of them to take the ship with a marine contingent they wouldn't want anything to happen to the comrades still kept back here, so they'd behave."

Ford didn't respond, he hoped as much. Looking on inside the rooms he saw through one of the windows the outline of two persons in Blondie's bed. "Are those two at it again?" he asked.

"Yep, hence why the lights have been dimmed down."

"Do the higher ups know about this yet?"

"No, why?" asked Caroline unsure what Ford was getting at.

"You're a scientist and a doctor Carrie, and surely well aware of the repercussions of allowing two people to have sex."

His use of the word "sex" made the hairs on the Caroline's am stand on end, "They're adults and know what they're doing."

"Or does part of you hope that a certain something will happen?" he was nearly whispering into her ear now, but his words did not seem playful anymore and they irritated her.

"What the frak are you insinuating?"

"Frak? Shit, you're even beginning to talk like them now Carrie, what's the matter with you?"

"What?" she replied with a shrug. "It sounds politer I guess."

"How long have we been friends Carrie? I know when something's wrong, you sit here day after day just watching."

"I'm fine," she replied unconvincingly. Ford looked at her intently, in a way that made her feel as if he could read her mind. "I've been thinking a lot that's all."

"About?"

"About what I want to do with my life."

"What do you mean, what to with my life? You're what, 28? You've already reached the top of your career and you're a qualified doctor and scientist. What more could you possibly want?"

"To be out there," she said gesturing to nothing in particular.

Ford chuckled slightly, but not happily, "you want to go out into space?"

"Their lives out there seem so exciting, living on other worlds, seeing other stars."

"Their worlds were completely destroyed, everyone they had ever loved were killed, and they're living and working just to survive."

Carrie felt the guilt hit her, "you think I don't know that? Perhaps "exciting" isn't the word they would use, but for me, it's where I want to be."

Ford walked back up to the glass partitions, looking in at their guests. Blue Eyes and Blondie seemed to have settled down and were lying entwined in their bed even though it was only early evening.

What he couldn't say to Caroline was that he desired to be far away too. Before he had come to see her, he had been in a meeting with his superiors. He had put forward Blue Eye's proposition.

It had been accepted in part.

Ford had volunteered immediately for the mission, whatever it would end up being. They hadn't arranged all of the details yet, merely giving him the nod that he would be on board that ship when it was launched. They were already considering having one of the guests escort them into the atmosphere, that guest being Brunette. She seemed the least volatile out of the six. Ford wasn't quite so convinced, sometimes the silent ones could suddenly flip, but he hadn't voiced this opinion.

"What are you thinking?" asked Caroline suddenly behind him. He turned and met her gaze, a little too close to be safe.

"Just thinking about the future."

His attention was suddenly drawn back to the rooms as Blondie shuffled out of the bed pulling a blanket around her as she went. Despite covering up her modesty she then dropped the towel when she reached the shower cubicle and turned on the water. A few moments later Blue Eyes joined her. They stood flush against each other face to face, hiding each other as the water cascaded across them, their foreheads together.

Ford had to walk away from the windows, feeling as if he was invading their privacy and also seething with jealousy at their happiness. He wondered how they had met, what journey they had gone through together to reach this point. He selfishly hoped that the path hadn't been completely smooth, that way people like him had a hope of finding someone so special.

"Look Carrie, there's..." he began but was interrupted by Swanson as he came storming into the room.

"We've got a problem," he said loudly and then did a double take at the windows. "Hello, who put those two together?" he said with smile, "I need to come up here more often."

"What's the problem?" asked Ford guiding Swanson away from the windows. It took him a moment to draw his attention back.

"Well, as you know our "guests" didn't have a very private landing."

Ford and Caroline both nodded in agreement. Unfortunately the ship had appeared on radar over the English Channel, but it didn't come into eye-shot below the cloud line until it was over London. Even more unfortunately, it had been captured by a Japanese tourist who was filming Tower Bridge. The footage had been leaked all over the internet before it could be stopped. Thousands of conspiracy theory websites had been set up with millions joining in the discussion of what the mysterious UFO was. The Government had acted quickly, locking down the footage and releasing a statement that the footage was merely a light aircraft in distress that was trying to land at Stanstead airport. But the public were not convinced.

"So what's the problem?" asked Caroline.

"The ship crashed on the edge of a forest. What we didn't know at the time was that a camera had been set up in some undergrowth to film the wildlife."

"Shit, didn't someone check the area?" exclaimed Ford, ready to kick someone's incompetent arse.

"Of course they did, but it was a fair distance away and disguised to fool animals, but the zoom on the camera was pretty good."

"What's the damage?"

"We've already locked down the person who released the footage, but with today's internet it's already spread. We've got an expert deleting as much as they can, which is just adding fuel to the speculation that the footage is legitimate."

"What can you see?"

"The ship making an impossibly hard landing, but still staying in one piece laid out on its side. Then one by one, each of our "guests" climbing out of the hatch, pretty much uninjured. If the footage had stopped then we could have got away with it, seeing as they look human."

"But..."

"But then the army turns up, followed by many people in bio-hazard suits. Fortunately the area was sealed inside big tents so all the camera can see is a big white canvas and you can't see our "guests" being taken away in a bio-hazard vehicle."

"Great, the conspiracy theorists should be going crazy right now."

"There are about three hundred of them staging a sit out in front of Westminster; they've got banners and are screaming for the Government to tell them the truth."

"Perhaps we should tell them," said Caroline and then walked away out of the room leaving Ford and Swanson staring after her.

"She's ah, tenacious." said Swanson. Ford didn't respond as he carried on watching the exit where Caroline had stormed away. "Is she seeing anyone by any chance?"

That grabbed Ford's attention, "what? Um, yeah I think she is, very serious, been with him for years." It scared him how easy the lies came out.

"Too bad. Anyway, I've got to get back to the chiefs. They want some more theories on spaceflight, the likelihoods of getting the ship up into space blah blah blah."

"Is that within the remit of your expertise?"

"No. I'm just making educational guesses. As far as I'm concerned the real experts are behind that glass." He shrugged his shoulders, took one last glance towards the windows and then started to walk away. "They're not shy are they?" he said rhetorically and then left.

Ford couldn't believe his jealousy at hearing another man voice his interest in Caroline. He'd liked her since he met her, but had never stomached the courage to do anything about it. What if he went away to the stars and never saw her again?

That thought stayed with him long into the night and through to the next morning.

The following day it was the turn of Blondie and Mr Robot, who had now been re-nicknamed by Caroline to Rugby due to his love for the sport. They were brought up to the cargo area to work on the ship. Even though they now knew their guest's real names and called them such to their face, they still continued to use the nicknames when out of earshot.

The marine guards had been given a lecture to be extra vigilant around the female, reminding them of her escape bid a few weeks earlier.

It was clear when they were brought to the cargo area that Blondie and Rugby were good friends. They had greeted each other warmly and laughed at each other's overalls. When they reached the translation computers Ford greeted them. All night, his last conversation with Caroline had played over and over in his head and he was tired and cranky.

"There are many guards in here," he said, addressing Blondie. "And just so you know, I've made sure you have two extra guards just following you. One false move and you get a tranquilizer dart straight in the butt. And believe me when I say it can make you go numb for ages."

Blondie grinned, "awww thanks, I'm flattered you've gone to so much trouble just for me, really."

Ford could appreciate what Blue Eye's saw in her. Apart from obviously being attractive, she definitely had a magnet personality.

He looked on as Rugby nudged her and then asked. "What did you do Kara, or can I guess?"

Blondie grinned again, "I may have made a little escaped bid."

"A little?" interrupted Ford harshly. "You knocked someone out, took another person hostage, wreaked havoc throughout the building and let's not forget pushing me through a pane of glass."

Rugby didn't seem to be shocked by Ford's revelation, instead he chuckled slightly, "I figured when all the alarms sounded that it would have something to do with you." Blondie nudged him back and they walked over to the ship.

They set about repairing the ship straight away. Rugby concentrated on the inside of the ship, whilst Blondie went around resealing and checking the hull. The marines had stepped away slightly and grabbed a fire extinguisher when she turned on the blow torch, but her attention seemed to be totally focused on repairing the ship and not making her escape.

Ford was wandering around the room when he heard Blondie letting out what he could only imagine was a number of expletives. He walked over to her and saw her struggling with a panel. "Can I help?" he asked, but the translation computer was too far away to translate. It worked best when around the front of the ship. Ford was about to go and fetch one of them when Blondie grabbed his arm and motioned to the large panel. He grabbed hold of it and pressed down as she welded one side into place, before motioning his hands away as she welded the rest.

He then followed her as she walked back round to the front of the ship. She also seemed to be aware that the translation computer was around at the front.

"Thanks," she said without much conviction.

"You're welcome," replied Ford. "So, um, you seem a bit..." He cut himself off, not quite sure what to say. He would have liked to strike up a normal conversation, but she didn't seem in the mood for a general chat.

"What?" she asked after the machine had translated.

"Tetchy," he finished, but the computer had difficulty translating. "Sorry, I meant irritable."

"Try being locked away, kept from your own children," she said, trying to turn away from him and walk away, but he followed her doggedly. Blondie seemed to try and continue working on the ship, getting more and more frustrated as Ford tried to talk to her, to apologise.

"Will you just talk to me?" he asked again, not entirely sure why he was pursuing her so intently. He was irritable and part of him wanted to pick a fight with someone.

Blondie seemed to be trying to ignore him and walk away but the marines stopped her from going too far. "Frak," she cussed.

Impatiently Ford grabbed at her arm and pulled her towards him, she retaliated straight away landing a strong right hook to his jaw that knocked his head backwards sharply. The marines acted fast, grabbing for her and tackling her straight to the floor without a struggle.

"Hey," came a call from inside the ship and Ford turned to see Rugby coming out. Despite his foreboding presence the marines quickly blocked his path. He pointed to Ford, "you're the one who wouldn't leave her alone."

Ford conceded the point and signalled to the marines to step away from the woman who was still on the floor. Ford held out his arm and she grabbed it, rising from the floor quickly. "I apologise," he said sincerely.

"Don't worry about it," she replied and dusted herself down. Rugby seemed contented that things had calmed and went back inside the ship. Blondie also carried on working, kneeling down by a dented panel at the side. "I swear this was dented before we crashed, it should be fine."

"I don't think the powers-that-be will take you at your word on that," said Ford half-heartedly, trying to lighten the mood, whilst at the same time nursing an aching jaw.

"Well I doubt any amount of paint will fully cover up the many scorch marks, but she'll fly, trust me on that, these things are very resilient," she said with a smile and wrapped her knuckles on the side.

"Did the marines hurt you?" asked Ford, feeling suddenly guilty.

"No, I'm built of more resilient stuff too."

"I hope we can get in contact with your ship soon, you're children are up there aren't they?"

Blondie nodded, "Lee and I always knew this might happen, but..." she shook her head as if trying to get rid of the thought, "never mind."

"Come on, let's get rid of that dent and then we'll try and paint away the scorch marks," he said as friendly as possible making Blondie laugh slightly.

"Hey, what happened to the tranquilizer shooting me in the butt threat?"

Ford smiled at the woman as she jested, "didn't want to waste a dart."

They started to work on the dent, but then Blondie went suddenly serious. "So are we going to be allowed to go home or not?" she asked with a touch of sadness.

"I hope so," was all Ford could reply.

Up above there was a galleried walkway that encircled the entire cargo area. It was above the floodlights that lit up the room, which meant it was difficult to see Caroline looking over the banister, watching. She had seen how Ford had practically wound up Blondie, deserving the right hook that she had given him. The woman had not struggled as the marines grabbed her and pinned her to the floor.

Part of her wanted to go down and slap Ford hard around the face, another part was to take hold of him and ask what was wrong and the final part of her just wanted to grab and kiss him.

Quietly Caroline backed away from the banister and walked back to watch the rest of their guests in their rooms, the solitude bringing comfort.

It was later that evening when everything seemed to calm down. The guests had feasted on a large roast dinner, which had gone down very well with all of them. Caroline was now watching as they were now relaxing and resting in their rooms, but this evening she was not alone. Relaxing in chairs next to her was Ford and Swanson, the former seeming to have cheered up a bit and the latter digging into his own helping of roast beef with Yorkshire puddings.

The higher powers were too busy arguing between themselves to care about what their guests were doing anymore, so Caroline had allowed Rugby to spend some time with his wife and Legs was allowed to visit Brunette. It was nice to see them looking happier as they ate their dinner. Afterwards Legs and Brunette sat talking at their little table, obviously friendly but nothing more.

Blue Eyes sat up at the end of the small bed with Blondie curled up in his lap. He stroked his hands through the ends of her hair as they watched the silent TV screen. Blondie didn't seem to be watching much as she doodled away on the paper Caroline had given to them weeks earlier. She looked to be drawing a sketch of her children.

Everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to a caption stating "breaking news," which flagged up on the television screen. Blue Eyes sat up more alert and tapped Blondie on the shoulder, making her drop her pencil, as they saw the blurry image of their home ship flash up on the screen.

Ford quickly dashed over to their own television set and switched it on with the sound turned up to loud. The slogan "hoax or proof" flashed up underneath a well tailored female reporter. They had missed the beginning of her spiel, listening in as the footage suddenly flashed back to the image of the ship.

"Amongst rumours and speculation, this amazing footage was captured by an amateur astronomer mere months after video footage of an unidentified aircraft flying over South East England," she said. "The image is currently being scrutinized, with some saying it is just a hoax but with others claiming this is actual irrefutable proof that there is life beyond our World."

"Shit," exclaimed Ford. He knew too well that the picture was indeed that of the ship their guests had called the Pegasus. It also meant that the ship had returned recently, perhaps it was still up there?

They watched on as did Blue Eyes and Blondie as the reporter talked through the various images that had spread like wild fire throughout the internet. Caroline wondered if the couple were thinking the same as them, whether they realised just how much their crash-landing onto the planet meant for the inhabitants of Earth. Were they familiar with life from other worlds too? Were there other aliens out there that were completely different from them? She knew that those answers would only come when their guests contacted their people.

But then what would the rest of the world do? One thing was for certain, nothing would ever be the same again.