CHAPTER SEVEN: MERRY VALENTINE'S
"Don't you guys have festivals on Talark too?" Dita asked Hibiki.
"Yeah, but…it's nothing like this." Bart answered for him, remembering the dull military parades and propaganda rallies back home. He remembered one where they played an old video of women whipping men and eating them, shivering at the thought.
The entire ship was decked out in flowers, silly string and bells. According to Dita, the Nirvana was celebrating Christmas, a holiday from the old era. A giant tree stood in the middle of the main hall where they stood, decorated with ribbons and a crescent moon on top. Parfait and her crew were fiddling around with machines at the tree's base, machines which she claimed could create snow. There was some more buzz about a comet that would be passing nearby. Some crew members were already crowding windows to see what was still a speck in the sky. Gascgone with her usual panache had already set up a screen in the middle, where she said Santa would appear. Jura and Barnett were off, manning the stage where Magno (a.k.a. Santa) would appear.
"Looks like everyone's in a good mood." Pyoro commented.
"I don't see Meia , Ed or Duerro. Where did they go?" Hibiki scanned the hall.
"I think Duerro' s fishing around the storage area again. Weirdo." Bart snorted.
They decided to follow Duerro and entered the storage room, a dark and damp location not far from the hall. Sure enough, Duerro was in there, rummaging through a dusty old chest. He paused to examine some of the items, notably a video recorder and a few tapes. Next to him sat a picture of what used to be Santa Claus , the jolly old man holding up two children and his trademark bag of goodies.
"Doctor, what is that?" Pyoro asked him about the artifacts.
"I sincerely believe that this holiday meant something to the colonists. These things are proof of another kind of past. I just wish I could play these tapes."
"Didn't know you were into this stuff, McPhail," Hibiki used his surname.
"Mr. Alien, the comet's coming out soon. We'd better go or we'll miss it!" Dita interjected, pulling Hibiki out of the room together with Pyoro.
"I don't suppose you have any plans, Bart."
"As a matter of fact, I do. Tonight is the night. Lucky for me, I remember my grandfather's manners, " he said with a smirk. BC was all alone on the bridge doing some telemetry. While she had said that she would attend the main event later, Bart wanted to do something else before anyone else saw her.
Meia sat alone in her cockpit, pressing buttons and clicking switches just for the sake of pressing buttons and clicking switches. She never liked any kind of social gatherings; the fact that she had escaped her own birthday celebrations on many a previous year being testament to that. The hangar was silent as all the techs had gone to the hall, either to ogle at the comet or help Gascgone with the preparations. The tomb-like atmosphere was much to Meia' s liking, far away from the noise of Christmas.
"So there you are, blue-eyes!" a familiar voice called out form below. He was in full flight attire, though the earrings were still visible together with that damn smile of his.
"Did Gascgone tell you I was here?" she asked, slightly annoyed.
"Come on now, do I need to ask anyone?" he grinned, " I thought I'd take you to check out the comet firsthand. Think of it as advanced recon or something…"
"I come here for a reason , Ed."
"And I'm here for a reason too, blue-eyes," he chirped, using the low gravity to jump up to her cockpit. She sighed and gently pushed him away.
"There's no escaping you…is there, Edward Van Dyke?" she shrugged.
He floated back in her direction until he was again at the rim of her cockpit.
" It'll be liberating. Come on now, even you have gotta lighten up sometime."
"Ed…." Her tone stiffened.
"I'm begging now, see?" he kneeled on the hatch. "Look, everyone's asking where you are and whatever. Sooner or later someone will be in here begging you to come. There's only one way out. There." He pointed to the space outside.
Meia looked him straight in the eye. "You are an alien, Ed. No doubt about it. An alien with a good point, though. Let's go!"
"All right, all right." Bart fumbled with his posture. He held a small box in his shaking hands and wiped his forehead with his elbow. Now was his moment, the time Bart the Big Heart would strike. BC was all by herself on the bridge, pressing away at the telemetry calculator. The bridge was dimly lit, with only a small lamp illuminating BC's workspace. Bart hunched up against the entrance, holding his small box securely.
"Um, deputy commander?" he started, poking his head round the corner.
"Come in, Bart."
So far so good.
"Err, these are the finest tablets made by my company, " he stammered, breaking the box open. A cluster of sparkling jewels came out. They glimmered in the lamp's glow, giving off every possible color in the visual spectrum.
"Thank you, Bart. Is that all?" she dryly responded.
"Actually, no!" he drew a deep breath as she looked up at him.
"Bart, I'm busy at the moment."
He didn't avert his gaze as she expected him to. Instead, he closed the box and pushed it until it was right in front of her. She looked down at the engravings , which bore Bart's family symbol, a hawk with two axes crossed behind it.
"I'd just like to say thank you…for all the support you've been giving me. I mean…I don't know why you stick up for me half the time, but I want you to know why I can't do things right sometimes…I think too much- about you."
"Thinking is a good thing, Bart." BC stood up. "Just don't let it get in the way of what's going on outside of your head."
"But it is." Bart gritted his teeth, standing in her way. "It is , BC. And it's killing me. I have to know how you feel…you damn well know how I'm feeling about you. You're not stupid…please?"
"I accept this box with my thanks. See you at the festival. I want to see the comet." She simply brushed him aside, leaving the bridge a silent, cold void for Bart. He clenched his fists and swatted the lamp aside. It fell on the floor, breaking into several pieces.
Damn it!
The Double Dread blazed towards the comet's tail, which was passing the Nirvana 's sensor boundaries. It was still following its original course, which coincidentally would lead it right past the moving Nirvana. Data showed that it would not cause much interference with the onboard systems and so far it was true. The DD 's blue thrusters caught the eye of the watching crew members, who wondered what Meia and Ed were up to.
"Never seen a comet this up close before, eh?" Ed turned to Meia. "All that dust and light make this one rather special."
"It's better out here than being in there, Ed." He didn't know if she was talking about being in the Nirvana or inside the comet. He found himself thinking he didn't have to know.
" I didn't know you guys changed the date of Christmas. It's supposed to be on the 25th of December. According to your calendar, it's February the 14th, Valentine's Day. "
"What's Valentine's Day?" Meia asked almost innocently.
He swung his chair round . "What's Valentine's Day? Only the biggest event in any man and er- woman's year. It's a day when people send flowers and stuff to people they like. Excluding family, of course. It's strictly person-to person, " he explained.
"So you're saying Santa is some kind of cupid?" Meia lifted an eyebrow, "you certainly get strange ideas on the Lunar Colonies."
Ed laughed. " No, I'm not. Santa is a fat old man giving gifts to nice kids, " he paused, "or in your case a nice old woman. Either way, we're not getting any presents in our socks out here."
"Why does your Santa put gifts in socks?" she frowned.
Ed put his finger to his mouth, looking up at the ceiling. "Now that you think of it, that's a good point. If that were the rule, women would get more gifts more of the time!"
"Hmmmph."
"Hey you two, just what do you think you're doing out there?" Gascgone' s face and voice came out over the net, " Coming back when we're all done?"
"We're going to see the inside of the comet." Meia announced.
"Yes, we're…what?" Ed's expression changed.
"We're going to put something in your sock. It is a holiday for you too."
"Inside a comet? Someone's taking me too seriously! Meiaaaaa!!!!" he screamed as the DD swerved into the comet, losing itself in the thick cloud of dust. Ed held on for dear life as Meia steered the Double Dread into the heart of the dirty snowball.
"Happy Valentine's Day," she grinned.
Ed's heart was beating double time as rocks flew past the DD, some nicking the fins. The dust made the DD unsteady, but Meia deftly twisted and turned her way into the dead center of the comet. The screens were crackling; it looked like the dust was finally interfering with communications.
Meia flicked the fuzzy dice that Ed had installed earlier. "We're dead center."
The center was surprisingly calm, an eye in the rocky storm that was the comet. Despite the chaos around it, DD held steady in the narrow calm zone just behind the core.
"And we're alone, too. " Ed continued the conversation. "Then again, I should have expected this from that time with the asteroid," he said, remembering their first outing in the Double Dread.
"Ed…" Meia had a subdued look on her face. "I want to know something. Why are you so different from everyone else?"
"I'm an alien's alien. I'm expected to be different. " Ed folded his arms.
"I meant the way you look at things. Everything's like a challenge to you , and I mean everything. From the Harvesters to that piano, you take everything in stride. Does the world mean so little to you?" Her tone wasn't harsh but one of curiosity.
"Get to the point, blue-eyes."
"Why are you so goddamn happy?" she grunted.
"I'm happy because I'm around people I like. Everyone's interesting to me, from Doc Duerro to the Boss. I've never been around anyone like you guys. It's all one big enlightenment process."
"That's not all, is it?" she blinked.
"Why do I get the feeling that you want me to say something to you?" Ed changed his look.
"I've never spoken to anyone as much as I have to you, for some reason. I feel like I can talk to you somehow, like you have all the answers. And that scares me," she gripped her forearms, " like nothing I've ever felt before."
"I don't have all the answers, because you don't have all the questions. I'm flattered that I'm your favorite conversation partner, but I guess I do the thing I do because …well, I dunno…I just do," he rubbed his outstretched fist on her shoulder, then swinging his chair around so he had his back to her. "Don't think about it too much."
"Ed?" she got up and crept towards him, "what are you thinking right now?"
Before he could answer, he was swung round by the chair so quickly his legs were thrown in the air. Meia hugged him, resting her head on his chest. The large chair managed to fit both of them as Eddie held her close, inhaling the sweet smell of her hair . To her, he felt so warm and welcoming, his arms protectively wrapped around her back and shoulders. She heard his heart beat in his chest, the warmest part of all. His warm breath moved softly over her cheek as she snuggled up to him in the chair. She didn't care what happened next. Ed was there for her now; there was no way she would let go. This part man part machine daredevil now meant something to her for reasons she could never explain, even to herself.
"I'm thinking of you, Meia," he whispered softly in her ear. She held him tighter in response. " Don't worry, blue-eyes. I'm here to stay. Count on it."
"Eddie? "
"Yeah?"
"Is this as far as it can go?" she asked, staring at the walls.
"I…I have no idea. Guess we both have to ask ourselves…but for now, just relax." he exhaled, stroking her hair.
Everyone oohed and ahhed as the comet made its pass alongside the Nirvana, a brilliant white plume of dust and light passing through. Gascgone fought five of her techs just to get a glimpse as it passed by while Magno, dressed in the Santa suit smiled as the gifts were doled out. Parfait had managed to fix the snow machines, which were churning out the stuff. She was holding Duerro' s gift to her, a painting he engineered to link to her blood flow. Bart was sulking in a corner while Pyoro was fumbling around with Duerro' s tapes as Barnett and Jura exchanged gifts ,hugs and kisses for the umpteenth time. When the comet passed through, they saw the familiar sight of the Double Dread in its wake. It was disturbingly static, and the comet had scrambled communications with Ed and Meia. They saw the Blue Victory scrambling to catch up to them with Gascgone' s support ship nearby.
"Leader, are you alright?" Dita called. The monitor was crackling and Hibiki was trying every channel in the book to no avail. "Gascgone, what's wrong?"
"We're picking up their heat signals…it's weird though, they're too close together to make any sense. Take a look at this infrared scan."
They were about to when Ed 's voice came over the audio speakers.
"Don't you dare, you perverts," he scolded.
"WHAT are you doing down there?!" Hibiki screamed, flushing red.
"None of your business. Shoo!" Meia made herself heard as the DD sped away.
"What the heck…? How are we gonna catch up to them now?" Hibiki groaned. The Double Dread 's thrusters left the Blue Victory cold its wake.
Ed gazed fondly at Meia. "Now where were we?"
She squeezed his hand. "I think we were here, " she pointed ,unzipping the upper part of his suit and lying on his bare chest. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep to the comforting sounds of his heartbeat. He kissed her forehead and held her in his arms, soon falling asleep himself after setting the auto pilot.
The next day was filled with cleanup duty, the crew manning brooms, mops and dusters. Parfait was busy hanging Duerro' s painting in her quarters, wondering which side was up. She would have asked him, but he was busy with a mini-outbreak of gastric illness, probably caused by Jura and Barnett sharing too much cake. Meia and Ed had returned from their trip to the comet acting strange, as if some strange mojo was at work. On the bridge, things were back to normal as everyone save BC were at their posts. Bart was the only one who wasn't talking about yesterday's party, quietly going about his business alone in the helm room. In walked BC with her usual strut as she made her systems check. Her face appeared on Bart's screen.
"How's things in the helm?"
"Fine, vice commander." he coldly replied, not even looking at her, "everything's A-class superfine." He was about to close the connection when he overheard Ezra's voice on the comm.
"That's a beautiful necklace, vice commander. Who gave it to you?"
"Why, Bart did."
He turned to see BC wearing a small necklace around her neck, made out of the jewel pellets he had given her earlier. She also had bracelets made out of the pellets, which she had made into rainbow patterns. The look on his face was priceless.
"Vice commander…is that…?"
"Bart- don't think. Just don't think. Do, " she winked.
Let me think about YOU for a while, Bart.
The Nirvana wobbled and shook as Bart's loud and tearful reaction affected the helm.