Chapter 4 - "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip"
DAY 2 (cont.)
"Kal, if our signal can't break through the electromagnetic field of the ring, we'll be stranded here for good," Diana repeated.
Clark actually could think in a lot of things worse than a "Gilligan's Island" situation with this woman, but he also had his responsibilities and obligations. An entire world to protect. Somehow that series' musical theme began to play inside his head involuntarily. 'Oh, no. Now I'm Homer Simpson,' he thought.
"Hmmm. Yeah. The solution would be to move the beacon far from the influence of the field," he voiced instead. "Unfortunately, the farthest I can lift from this ground at this moment is a yard and a half."
"I can go," Diana said with absolute certainty. "The longest I can stand space conditions without gear, though, is an hour, an hour and a half, at most," calculated the Princess. "It should be enough. The problem is I didn't pinpoint the location of the beacon when I finally released it. I was otherwise engaged." She shrugged.
"You would probably spend more time than you have trying to locate the device. And our gear burned when we entered the atmosphere. How good are you at sewing," he joked. Diana pushed him, making him lose his balance "Hey," he protested.
She ignored him. "I could perform a methodic search for it in several trips until I find it."
"That's an idea," he said. "How will you know when your time is up?" The idea of her floating in orbit forever didn't appeal him.
"That's your part." She looked at him. He had a puzzled look on his face "You forget this friend here," she said, tapping her Lasso affectionately."...can strech indefinitely. All I have to do is tie it to my waist and you give it a pull from down here when I run out of time."
"BEFORE you run out of time," he corrected her.
"Right."
"Excellent!" He applauded with his bandaged hands. "We have our course of action! Still, I say we accommodate ourselves in this place as good as possible before we do anything else."
"First of all I need to see your wounds, Phantom. Let's go inside." They picked up the blanket and the few things they used for breakfast and moved inside the Javelin.
Incredibly, the burns on his face and hands were already halfway to recovery. She applied another dose of the aloe-vera cream (the last, since the pot was meant for first aid only and not prolonged treatment) but decided to leave them uncovered to let the air and sunlight do their part. Even under a red sun, kryptonians were able to absorb its radiation and draw energy from it. It wouldn't be as beneficial as a yellow sun's, but it would do, nonetheless.
"Hey, I look like Two-Face," he said, looking at his reflection on an inoperative console monitor. "Now I will go mad and turn into an evil bastard. Muah-ha-ha!" He raised his hands as claws, menacing Diana.
"Kal! Shut up! Don't even joke about it! You don't look anything like him," she strongly reprimanded him. "And your beautiful face will be back as it was in no time, you'll see!" 'Oh, Gaea. Did I say 'beautiful,' she thought, blushing.
He felt horrible. "Sorry, Di. I was just goofing around. I know I'll be fine, thanks to you." He smiled at her.
Her face was half mad, half embarrassed, and definitely lovely.
Oh, he heard her, alright, and he knew this outburst was more than friendly concern. He was discovering strong feelings towards her, and she didn't seem indifferent to him either, but as long as there was a possibility of being rescued, he decided he couldn't act upon them. He had his share of problems by having a relationship with a co-worker. The bitterness between Lois and him was still so harsh that he requested Perry a position as foreign correspondent. He wouldn't let that happen with Diana. Ever. She was too important for him. Yet sometimes the desire of..., no. 'Cool down your jets, Kent,' he ordered himself. Somewhere inside his head sounded, "...for a three hour tour, a three hour tour..." 'Stop it! Oh, boy, I'm really loosing it.'
"How about we find a place to set up camp," he asked, shaking those thoughts away.
"I believe I already have the perfect spot. Why don't you go to the Command Room as I take us there?" When Clark took position at the command room, Diana lifted the Javelin and flew them pass the forest to a clearing, one hundred yards from the pond. This time, before they landed, Clark deployed the landing gear. After landing the vessel she went where Clark was getting out of the vessel and said, "She seems a lot less heavy when her momentum hasn't been exponentially augmented by acceleration."
Clark took a side of the hull and tried to pick it up "Nngggh! Okay, from now on, I'm leaving the heavy lifting to you."
"Kal, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to rub it in your face," the Princess apologized.
"'I'm sorry' is a phrase I don't want to hear from you as long as we stay here," he warned her "Our gifts never were something to be ashamed of. You've never apologized for them before others, so. please, don't do it with me because I don't have mine at the moment."
"I'm sorry, I...I...
I'll be silent now" she said lowering her eyes
"Hmmm, you do that." he gave her a serious look, but then he smiled. Turning his back to her as he was getting back inside, he exclaimed, raising his arms and trying to fake the voice of a little kid, "Oh, Wonder Woman. You are so big and strong and I'm such a little, defenseless boy" and began to laugh.
"Shut up!" She slapped his shoulder lightly. She knew that behind all these attempts at comedy, there was something heavier going on inside. The loss of his powers couldn't be as inconsequential as he made it seem. She would let it pass as unnoticed for now.
"We can't make our living accommodations in here," he said looking at the barracks room of the Javelin. "It's too small and we'll be really cramped."
"I agree. We can use this as sleeping chambers, but We'll have to temporarily set up a tent outside to shelter us and our things from the elements," she pointed out. "I say we first make an inventory, to see what assets do we have"
"You start with that. I will check Bruce's stasis pod and disconnect all non essential systems, so the battery will last longer," he told her. "We must know how long we have until the Javelin batteries start failing."
She nodded.
The Javelin's inhabitable chambers were two. At the front, 4.5 meters long, 2.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall, was the arrowhead-shaped Command Room, where every system, control and interface that operated the ship were, with five positions: The Command chair, center bow, where the helm and main weapon controls were, behind and port side of it was the Science Console, where all tests, scans and analyses took place, and beside it, the Systems Console, where all systems of the ship were being monitored constantly. starboard to the Control Chair was the Navigation Console, where all routes and flight plans were laid out and monitored, before sending them to the controls of the Command Chair and beside it the Tactical Console, where secondary weapon control and battle layout resided. At the back of the room was the the food and beverage supplying machine and a hatch, connecting to the barracks room.
The barracks room was where off duty personnel rested and took breaks. It was a 5 meters long by 3.5 meters. wide and 2.5 meters high room, with two couchettes at each side (total four) 1 meter deep. Under each couchette was a sliding compartment to store clothes and personal effects of the crew. At the entrance, at each side of the connecting hatch, there were two standing stasis pods for emergencies. At stern, stood a small table bolted to the wall with two stools and port to it, was the hatch to the rest room, with a chemical toilet, a sink and a shower. At the other side of the table, the access airlock, which communicated with the outside, and the closet with four EVA suits. Over the table, embedded in the stern wall, was a locker with hand-held instruments for exploration, hand weaponry and a first-aid kit.
As Diana went through the compartments to find things they could use, she found a strip of condoms inside a sunglasses case. "These men. Even on a mission they expect to have some. So typically male," she thought, frowning. Turning the case around, she saw the name "Kori" written on the back "Oops! 'Silly, you women-so very adept at wrongly faulting men, not seeing you're alone to blame for faults you plant in man's mind,'" she recited mentally, changing the gender of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz famous words. At the back of her own drawer she encountered a deck of cards "Kal, I've found the solution for boring times," she said, waving the cards.
"Good thing for you I can't use my X-ray vision, or I'd rob you naked," he joked.
"Would you cheat?" She was aghast. "Have you ever?"
"It depends on how big the pot is." After a pause he laughed. "Nah! I'm joking. I would never cheat, especially on you. Be warned, though, I was taught by the best poker player in all Finney County, one Mr. Jonathan Kent."
"Warn yourself. I'm not bad either. Remember that one of the things that make me a fine fighter is my ability to read people's intentions. But I don't need to rob you naked, I've seen all there's to see when I sponge-bathed you." Realizing that she just said that last sentence out loud she went 'Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea!' in her head.
"You sponge-bathed me?" 'Oh, my gosh' Clark thought 'That's so awesome-embarrassing-hot-naughty-horrible-kinky-inappropriate-sexy-cool...'the non scorched part of his face got scarlet.
"Y-you were burning in fever! I had to cool you down somehow! I-I was nursing you!" The Princess tried to keep her cool, but her face was red hot. 'Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea, Oh, Gaea!'
"Yes...o-of course, of course...thank you," he babbled. Trying to make the awkward moment go away, he commented "Speaking of X-Ray vision, I wish I could use it now on Bruce, to see if there's something we can do to help him."
Thankful for the change of subject, Diana explained, "For what I saw, he is beyond our possibilities of helping him. He needs serious care. Professional attention and, at least, a couple of sessions under the Purple Ray." She then asked, "How long before we have to worry about the batteries?"
"I've downloaded all of the useful data to this tablet, for as long as we can use it, and shut down every system other than the stasis pod. According to the computer, it should last about 1000 days, give or take a week," he informed her.
"A thousand days, that's about 2 years and nine months. Hopefully, we'll be home long before that," she said trying to show confidence.
"Sure we will," he responded.
"So this is the tale of the castaways,
They're here for a long, long time,
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb."
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