To Find Themselves

The colors swirled around her as she flew down the tubes. Oddly enough, she had early on mastered the skill of a smooth landing. Only once this entire year did she fall off balance and that was only because the Doppelganger was in the jump tubes. But despite this fact, she still couldn’t master remaining undizzy.

Rosie stood still for two seconds, as the ship spun ‘round her view. When everything finally came into focus, she sighed in disgust. “I’m sure that I punched in the ComPost,” she muttered, eyeing the corridors of the hallway as if they were fiends. One glance to the right confirmed that she was just outside the room. They also portrayed another crewmate, late for Command Post Training.

”Hi Bova!” The Mercurian said lightly, contemplating a friendly remark. “Your science project must be really interesting to make you late to CPT.”

Bova turned to face the girl. “Knock it off Rosie,” he mumbled. “I’ve been through enough today.”

”Oh!” Rosie cried out sympathetically. “What’s wrong?”

”Nothing,” Bova said grimly, then suddenly stamped his foot into the ground and turned to her full force. “Nothing except that I’ve been patronized all day!”

Rosie was drawn aback. By the time she could speak again, the ComPost doors jerked open and Goddard stared down at the smallest of his crew. “Mr. Bova, Miss. Ianni, what is the meaning of this?!” he admonished angrily. “For three days in a row, I find you late to Command Post Training. Just because it has been a tad dull around here does not give you a right to discard your duties!”

Rosie and Bova stood dumbfounded. Finally Rosie whispered, “I’m sorry, Commander, it won’t happen again.”

Goddard nodded at her approvingly as she slipped past him and entered the room. His gaze sharpened on the young Urasian. “Well?”

”Sorry, Commander, won’t happen again.” Bova mumbled.

”Not good enough.” Goddard interjected.

”But you let Rosie get away with that!” the boy protested.

”Well Rosie hasn’t been late to all of her classes for the last week as well!” was Goddard’s response. His face eased in concern. “What’s going on with you?”

Bova ground his teeth teeth together. “Nothing,” he muttered, barely audible. Gathering up his nerve, he walked past the Commander and into the ComPost.

’Just get your act together, OK?” Goddard called after him.

Bova inwardly groaned as his crewmates turned to look at him. “Yes sir,” the boy spat out, not caring if he sounded respectful or not.

Luckilly for the young Urasian, his classmates returned their gazes to the front of the room as Goddard strode in. Hastily, Bova made his way to his console as his commanding officer approached the helm. “Well now since we’re all here,” Goddard said, “I would like to make it clear that tardiness to this training session is inexcusable. What if we were in the middle of a crisis?” Goddard sighed. “I hate to say it but I’m siding with Ms. Davenport this time. Any further lateness to this session will be rewarded with two demerits.”

The cadets groaned in unison but Goddard stayed firm. “Nice going, babies.” Harlan muttered under his peath. Rosie turned a deep shade of ruby and Bova flared up. Just wait, the young boy thought menacingly, Just wait until some crisis DOES occurs and I handle it better than all of you combined! The we’ll see who the ‘baby’ is!

Suddenly a new thought surfaced to Bova’s mind. Is it Harlan challenging your authority… or are you?

The Urasian sat aback, a little surprised by this foreign thought. But before he had time to contemplate it’s meaning he was thrown to the ground, along with many other things, as something crashed into the Christa.

Harlan Band scrambled to his feet, his eyes surveying the damage in disbelief. “Oh no,” he whispered as his gaze fell to a crashed support beam in the middle of the room. “Radu! Help me lift this thing!”

Instantly, the loyal Andromedan was by his crewmate’s side. They each grabbed one end of the beam and hoisted it up. What they saw underneath made their eyes go white in fright.

’Commander!” Harlan cried. Leaving Radu to the beam he touched his officers lifeless body. “Rosie! Get the Commander to the medlab!”

”That won’t do much good,” Suzee said shakily. “The medlab’s machinery is offline and life support is on audio power.”

”No!” Harlan cried. “But we can still put him in the healing chamber, right? That has to be running!”

”Yeah, it’s a part of life support so it’s running. Barely.” Suzee sighed. “I’ll help you carry him to the medlab, Rosie.”

”No.” Harlan was firm. “We need you here. Bova can help her.”

Bova gaped at his crewmate. “But-“

”Bova, act your age for once and help Rosie!” Harlan yelled.

Harlan’s statement twisted Bova’s stomach. “Act your age, act your age…” Apparently ‘acting my age’ is being the maintenance crew when disaster strikes! He sighed in disgust but went to help Rosie carry the Commander out of the depis.

”Careful!” Harlan cried. “Oh, and once he’s taken care of find Ms. Davenport.” The doors slid shut behind the two smallest cadets.

”What else is offline?” Harlan asked with a sinking feeling as Radu gently lowered the beam.

Suzee checked her console, her face mirroring Harlan’s thoughts. “Helm, engineering and communications are reduced to audio power. Navigation and tactical are completely off line. Gravity is out in the engine room, the team room and the galley. View screen on audio power, intercom offline…” Her voice waned as she looked at her crewmate helplessly.

’Well let’s find out what did this to us,” Harlan said grimly. “Screen on.”

The picture was wavy, blurry or both. But it was clear to the threesome that it portrayed a Spung killcruiser, weapons aimed towards the Christa. And it looked as though it were about to fire again!

Without thinking twice, Harlan preformed a graceful backflip to behind his console and jerked the ship out of the way of the torpedo. The cadets issued a sigh of relief.

”Something tells me that our luck won’t last for long,” Radu said shakily. “I suggest that we take a hyper jump.”

”The ship doesn’t have enough power for that.” Suzee reported. “We’ll have to-“

”Take a blind hyper jump.” Harlan interjected.

Suzee gasped. “We don’t have enough power for that either! We’ll have to land on a nearby planet!”

”Correction. If we land on a planet, the Spung’ll just blow us to bits from the skies. At least with a blind hyper jump we could lose them. As for the power, we may just have enough. We won’t need to worry about powering up the view screen and navigation is off line anyway. What do we have to lose?”

Suzee and Radu were pensive. Finally, the Yensidian said slowly, “It just might work.”

Harlan sighed in relief at his idea being accepted. “Good,” he responded, “I’ll call Rosie to check on Goddard and report the blind hyper jump.”

Rosie. There was something about her that was making Suzee edgy. Has she told a secret, gotten Suzee in trouble… the Yensidian couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Meanwhile, the comlink fizzled and cackled in Harlan’s hand, adding another thing wrong with the technology surrounding them. “Rosie?” he called. “Are you there?”

A silence emerged for a few seconds. Finally Rosie spoke, sounding faint and distorted. “I’m here, Harlan.”

”Get Goddard secured. We’re taking a blind hyper jump.” With that, Harlan ended the link.

….. as Suzee suddenly came to a realization. “Oh my gosh, I get it! Why didn’t Rosie notify us of that Spung killcruiser? It was definitely close enough for our scanners to pick up.”

Radu looked at her in surprise. “You aren’t suggesting that Rosie-“

”We have no time for that now!” Harlan yelled. “The ship is firing up again!”

Rosie forgotten, Suzee’s fingers moved swiftly along her console. ‘The engines are on audio power. They’re about as fired up as they’re going to get.”

”Fine.” Harlan’s face was grim. “Let’s see if we can make it through this ride.” With a jerk, he pushed down the steering lever.

Immediately the colors portrayed on the view screen mused into neon orange. The ship rocketed and the cadets hung onto their consoles for support, to scared to say anything. For what seemed like hours, the Christa remained in this state. Finally the vipation waned away and the colors turned back to black. Swiftly Harlan pulled up the lever and the ship came to a complete halt.

For a few minutes, no one spoke. When Harlan finally took initiative he snatched up his comlink. “You OK down there Rosie?”

The transmission was of even poorer quality this time. “We’re…pppssshhtt… ine….pppsshhhtt…. lan. pssht… u ga…ppsshhtt…. s quite a… ppssshhhttt…. care.” The weak transmission ended there.

Harlan looked at Radu helplessly. “I didn’t catch any of that. Did you?”

”She said they were fine,” Radu reported.

”Good.” Harlan sighed. “Could you check out the area around us, Suzee?”

”Sure thing.” The girl advanced to Rosie’s console. “Screen on,” she commanded as she began moving her hands along the crystals.

’Our scanners are picking up weak signals of a small moon about five minutes from here. The view screen will be picking it up in just a few seconds.”

True to her declaration, three seconds later, and a small rock mass suddenly popped up in the middle of the screen. Harlan looked at the girl approvingly. “Not bad.”

Suzee beamed, relieved that the subject was temporarily on something carefree. “Well, of course I knew that the Christa’s healing capacities would feed their powers to the view screen,” she boasted.

”I see.” Harlan turned back to the screen. “Well let’s see if we can land this thing.”

The Christa made a slow progression towards the moon. After Harlan had reported the event to Rosie and had gotten Goddard’s current status all was quiet onboard. Those five minutes seemed like five hours to the anxious crew. Once they had finally landed on the moon, grief settled on the cadets like a thick blanket. In the silence Harlan picked up his comlink. “Rosie, Bova, get up here now.”

Seconds later the jump tubes deposited the two crewmates. Bova was too annoyed and Rosie too happy to notice their crewmates angry faces.

’We found Ms. Davenport and she was fine, just a little thrown off by this turn of events. She’s recovering in her quarters. The Commander’s doing great; he should be out of the healing chamber in two weeks, or less the quicker we get life support up to full power.”

A small silence emerged until Radu finally swallowed and stepped up to his friend. “Rosie... why didn’t you warn us of the Spung killcruiser?”

Rosie’s stomach twisted. “What Spung killcruiser…”

”The one that attacked us, putting our systems off line, putting the Commander in a coma, the one no more than a kilometer away from us!” Suzee yelled.

’What killcruiser?” Rosie repeated, speeding to her console. Crouching behind it as though it was a shield, she began typing away, pulling forth recent memory banks. “There is nothing in here about a Spung killcruiser!”

”So? It erased itself!” Suzee yelled, totally annoyed. ‘What did you think, that a torpedo would hit us yet everything would be perfectly preserved?”

”Well, then check Bova’s console!” Rosie cried, voice shaking.

’Bova’s console is off line, thanks to your incompetence!” Suzee shouted.

The girl’s words hurt like an icy blast to her Mercurian skin. Without another word, the girl fled from the room.

”Auuuggghhh!” Suzee vented. She turned to her crewmates, face clenched. “If I see that girl again, someone please help me refrain from killing her!”

”That goes double for me,” Harlan muttered, eyeing Rosie’s console dangerously.

Suzee nodded approvingly and then turned to Bova, cold and rigid. “Well how about you? Surely tactical picked up the scanner’s findings.”

Bova was defiant. “I didn’t pick up anything!” he protested. “Face it; you’re blaming this on Rosie and me ‘cause you don’t wanna face facts that you guys got us into this mess!”

’Bova that is the most childish thing I have ever heard of in my life!” Suzee interjected. “Much more suitable for someone of your age to do, not mine!”

Bova’s face reddened in fury. “Just incase you forgot, your Excellency,” he said sarcastically, his voice rising with every word. “If we were to all follow by our own planet’s system of aging, then we would all be equal!” Poiling over in rage, Bova slapped in a destination on the jump tubes and shot down.

A wave of heat blasted the boy as he emerged from his flight. This confusion dimmed his anger as he looked for the out-of-place source. To his surprise, he found that he had landed in the girls’ bunkroom, about a foot away from Rosie, who was seated on her bed, her body shaking with sobs. At the sounds of the jump tubes her head shot up and Bova could clearly see it’s deep red glow. “What are you doing in here?” The girl wavered.

The boy fumbled for words. “I…I punched in the wrong code by mistake,” he stammered.

”Oh.” The girl’s head dropped again. “I thought that Suzee sent you in here to yell at me or something.”

”Rosie…” Bova swallowed nervously. “Why didn’t you notify us?”

Rosie fixed on him the most horrified look. “I… I didn’t know!” she cried out. “If the scanners picked up anything they certainly didn’t notify me about it!”

Bova rocked back on his heels, a little surprised at his crewmate’s outburst. Simple logic emphasized the point that Rosie was lying; the killcruiser was more than close enough to the Christa to be detected. And yet… Bova couldn’t imagine Rosie keeping something from the crew, not something this important anyway.

Suddenly a new argument in Rosie’s defense came to the boy’s mind. Often enough under any type of circumstance, Bova would tell a bizarre truth to his crewmates, which they would discard because of his young looks. Like the fact that his own console hadn’t any report of a close by killcruiser…

”Rosie?” Bova said distantly. “I believe you.”

Rosie’s horror turned to surprise. “But how?” she asked in astonishment. ‘Surely you know that it was close enough for our scanners to detect-“

”I trust you Rosie.” Bova interjected. “I’ve been in too many life-and-death situations involving communication or scanning to think otherwise.”

Rosie’s heart melted at this. “Thank you Bova,” she whispered. “That really means a lot to me.” Gingerly she reached her hand out. Automatically, Bova grasped it and the two-some let their empace touch Rosie’s bunk, only about an inch or so from the girl’s feet. For a moment or two, they stayed locked in that position.

But suddenly the sound system emitted a large bit of static. Then Suzee’s voice sounded crossly, “Bova and Rosie, since we have now put the intercom back on line, could you please stop sulking and help us repair this ship?!” Some more static was heard as Suzee closed off the link.

Rosie scrambled to her feet as Bova smiled sarcastically. “Well. we’d better get up there before they inflict some of their ‘elderly authority’ on us.” Punching in the ComPost Bova slid down the tubes Rosie following.

From a dark shadow underneath of Rosie’s bed, a pown furry mouse-like animal scampered up the bedclothes and stopped to rest where Bova and Rosie had seconds before placed their clenched hands.

The day progressed slowly, mostly spent on gathering information about the moon that the Christa had landed on and setting an electrical fence around the ship. Once Thelma’s damage had been repaired, she helped the cadets get the gravity, med supplies, and view screen restored and life support functioning properly. Suzee was the only one besides the android that could fix the consoles but by the time that the crews’ work had reached that point Suzee complained of fatigue and Davenport deemed it time for the cadets to go to bed. “We’ll continue our work tomorrow,” she said. ‘Meanwhile you’d best rest up and I’d best check up on Commander Goddard.”

”Umm… Ms. Davenport?” Rosie tentatively stepped forward. “Don’t you think that I should check up on the Commander? After all, I am kind of like the doctor around here.” As soon as she said it, the girl clamped up, feeling foolish.

Suzee glared at her coldly. “Oh sure. So you can screw up yet again.”

”Suzee!” Davenport scolded. But as she turned to face the Mercurian, her expression did not lighten. “I do not think so, Rosie. You should wait for a…. more appropriate time to resume your practice.”

Rosie opened her mouth to protest but after a harsh look from the “elder authority” as Bova had epiteted them earlier, she shut it. Morosely, she followed her crewmates down the jump tubes.

Sleep clung heavily to the girl that night, heavily for both her and Bova. Such a force drew both of their eyes shut luring them into the deepest slumber…

…a kind of sleep that is hard to wake up from as the cadets found out the next day.

Bova groaned and tossed in his sleep. Drowsily he opened his lids and his blurry vision confirmed that he was alone in his bunkroom. Another usual beginning to another boring day.

Once Bova had dragged himself through a shower and yanked a push through his hair he descended down the corridors, eager to face his favorite part of the day. About halfway towards his place of enjoyment, he bumped into Rosie who for once shared his messy appearance. “What’s eating you?” he asked casually.

Rosie looked towards the ground. ‘I couldn’t sleep last night,” she mumbled and then walked on, leaving Bova to marvel over her behavior. This was the first time that the girl had let her sporadic “pessimistic side” last for over one day.

By the time that the two- some had made it to the galley, their classmates and teacher had moved on to the classroom. “Weird,” Bova muttered, “this is the first time that I can remember missing a meal.”

Rosie nodded silently, while synthesizing some food. Over the next ten minutes Bova watched the girl slowly transform back into herself. Maybe it was the nourishment, maybe it was the fact that the pressure from yesterday was off her…. all Bova could really account for was watching her drag her feet into the galley, and then ten minutes later watching her skip merrily out.

Her skipping apuptly halted as the two-some reached their classroom. Suzee Harlan and Radu, all of whom were deeply engrossed in their lessons, turned to stare at Rosie and Bova as Davenport strode rigidly up to them. “Just where have you two been?” she demanded, exasperated. ‘I have been up all night with the Commander and your classmates have endured just as much as you have yet we have managed to keep on schedule!”

”So I slept through class in my bunkroom rather then in the classroom,” Bova mumbled. “Doesn’t make much difference.”

Unfortunately his teacher had heard him. “I do not appreciate your humor, Mr. Bova,” she chided. “Now you have two options; ethier live up to your obligations or pay the penalty!”

Her speech was followed by a small silence. Finally Rosie poke in, “Oh don’t blame Bova, Ms. Davenport. He and I both need to get used to this new environment. I’d say by now that we’ve adapted enough and will be on schedule from now on.”

”You had better be,” Davenport said, “Because for the last week, even from before we landed on this moon, you two have been going through what you call adapting!” Without another word she turned her back on the smallest cadets.

”Now,” she sighed, inhaling deeply, “I trust that your presentations from Earther William Sheksphere’s Romeo and Juliet are ready to be preformed?”

Bova felt a sting to his arm as Rosie grasped onto it. “What presentations?” She whispered.

Bova shrugged dully. “I don’t know.”

”Now Suzee, Harlan and Radu are first, acting out the tomb scene.” Davenport instructed while Bova and Rosie hastily took their seats. “Gentlemen, have you decided who will play Romeo and who Paris?”

”I’m Romeo,” the two boys said simultaneously. They stared at each other and then started arguing while Suzee looked on, a hint of a smile playing on her face.

This is weird behavior, even for them… Bova mused. But before he could delve further into this matter, he heard the teacher say “I can see that you are not prepared.” She gestured for the squabbling students to take their seats. “Rosie, Bova? Are you ready with the balcony scene?”

’What presentation?” Bova chortled, “Even Rosie, who is attentive in class, doesn’t know what you’re talking about!”

”Oh really?” Davenport folded her arms across her chest. “Neither of you have any recollection of what I spent the entire afternoon class yesterday talking about?” Harlan, Suzee and even Radu nodded, backing up their teacher.

”Oh shut-up!” Bova sneered apuptly losing his good humor, “Since when have you three paid any attention in class anyway?”

The boy was rewarded with cold glares from his classmates and his teacher finally losing her temper. She had endured a rough landing on a seemingly uninhabited moon, seen Commander Goddard in a coma, and finally, the Urasian’s impertinence was the last straw. “Mr. Bova, I have had it up to here with you!” she screamed. “All week long, you have only proven to be an immature nuisance! I will not tolerate your presence in this classroom any longer! You are hereby dismissed from all of your duties for the rest of the day!”

As Bova gaped and the others snickered, Rosie found herself rising up to the unfair punishment. “But Ms. Davenport, that’s not fair!” she argued. “Bova made one mistake and the others started teasing him!”

Davenport stared at the girl harshly. “For your outspokenness, Miss Ianni, I reward you the same punishment! Now both of you get out of my sight!”

”Oh, we’ll get out of your sight all right,” Bova muttered dangerously. With a sudden thrust he grabbed Rosie’s wrist and ran out of the room. His actions barely registering in his head, he dragged the girl through the corridors and out onto the moon. Behind him he heard the angry shouts from his crewmates and Rosie’s surprised gasps, all of which motivated him further. Motivated him to do the unthinkable- to run away.

After throwing a dare devil look over his shoulder, he turned to find the air in front of him shimmering like a waterfall. He held his peath in awe, squinted his eyes trying to see through the gas to no avail. Then he got an idea.

”Bova, don’t!” Rosie cried in between gasps as she saw him bending to run. “We haven’t tracked this region yet!”

But Bova just gave her a look of crazed excitement. “They want us out of their sight, Rosie,” he said, voice shaking. “Now they’re gonna get it.” And with a leap, he sprinted into the gas, Rosie bobbing in behind him. The gas swallowed up the two life forms, fizzled up and diminished, portraying what it had concealed, an area vast and bare.

Pain rung in the boy’s head as he slowly opened his eyes. The landscape was barren with pown sand, not at all like his home planet, Uranus, not at all like the Starcademy, not at all like the Christa, and not at all like the moon that his ship had recently landed on. But for the time being, his memory stopped at that landing. But then he remembered. Running away.

Rosie. After a week of being blamed and patronized he had taken the girl and run through some sort of energy force. It must have transported me here he realized. Since the moon was alive with plants, not at all like this place. Hastily the boy scrambled to his feet and spun around. Nowhere did he see the gas that had lured him in.

Rosie. Man, what was it about her that was bugging him? Suddenly it clicked- he had entered the force field grasping her hand, now she was gone from his sight. “Rosie?!” he cried out desperately. “Where are you?”

There was a sudden crunching of sand from behind him, which the boy turned to confront. There stood Rosie, her arms folded across her chest authoritatively. “Now since we’ve caused enough trouble to be thrown out of the Starcademy,” she drawled, surprising her companion as well as herself. “Do you think that we could head back to the Christa?”

Ignoring her comment Bova sighed in relief. “Oh Rosie, I thought I’d lost you.”

”Not yet.” Rosie shivered and looked around critically. “But we’re not lost, are we?”

”Sure looks that way to me,” he said, stepping up to her. “So what should we do?”

”I don’t know.” Rosie sighed.

”Well then think!” Bova started to pace. There has to be a way out of here, there has to be a logical way out!”

Rosie looked at him in surprise. “That sounds like a Mercurian way of thinking,” she commented.

”Yeah, I guess I’m a scientist at heart.” Bova admitted, then stared at her with intensity. “It’s just always nice to know that there are reasons in this universe, logic to solve every problem. Sometimes I’m afraid that my reasoning is incorrect so-“

”So what?” Rosie asked.

Bova looked to the ground. “So sometimes, to protect myself from failure, I make myself believe that it won’t work out.” He mumbled. A few seconds later, the surprise sunk in. This was the first time that he had admitted that to anyone.

And Rosie realized it. For a few moments she simply stood, facing the boy, wondering what to do, what to say. As she stood pondering she felt a drop of liquid drop to her head.

Rosie gaped in horror but no sound came out. She tried to flick the liquid off of her, but before she had a chance to, it evaporated.

”What’s wrong?” Bova asked, noting her expression and movements.

”S- something fell on my head,” Rosie replied shakily. “A liquid, it evaporated. Oh Bova, do you think that it was poisonous?” Before the Urasian could answer the girl gasped at her words. “How could I say that? How could I assume that it was poisonous? After al, it evaporated into my skin and I’m still alive-“

”Rosie!” Bova held out his hand, signaling for her to be quiet. He stood stiffly, feeling the drops of liquid pelt his skin. Gathering up his nerve, he tasted one. After a few seconds he realized, “It’s water!”

Water, Rosie thought. There is something important about water… “Oh my gosh!” she realized slowly. “Bova! You’re a genius! Water! Remember our training sessions back at the Starcademy? Our instructors always said ‘If you have been stranded on a seemingly uninhabited planet the first thing that you should do is search for a bed of water and follow it’s flow! ‘Cause where there’s water, there’s life!’”

”Yeah,” Bova said critically. “But one thing that our instructors failed to consider is that out of the Sol System, life might come in different forms and require different energy sources.”

Rosie threw her arms into the air. “Oh really?!” she cried. “Can you think of one?”

The boy was silent. “Just as I thought.” Rosie sighed. “Bova, I’m sure that our instructors were aware of that fact. But since we currently don’t know what that element is we have to stick by what we do know. Water is the source of life. Now are you with me? Or are you just going to let that fear you were talking about dominate in your head and not get anywhere?”

Bova stared at the girl in astonishment. For the first time since he can remember, her positive outlook on life seemed logical, productive. “OK,” he said, impressed. “But one last question. How are we supposed to find a water bed?”

Rosie pondered over this question. “Are instructors must have taught us about this…” she mused.

Bova lightened. “You’re right! That made me remember- where there’s rain, there’s water beds! And where there’s waterbeds, there’s life…unless-” Bova’s face dropped. “unless the rain’s too sporadic to support them.”

”No, Bova, don’t doubt yourself! It’s a good idea!” Rosie assured him, squinting through the drizzle. “And look- there’s a stream right over there!”

She pointed past the rapidly densing rain to the spot which had caught her attention. A pownish vein, located at the top of a small hill, was pimming to a milliliter above land and trickled down the elevation. Excited, the cadets ran to follow it.

Sure enough, after racing a few feet, the murky stream widened into a crevice, about the size of a human hand. The force of wind and gravity forced the water further, going so fast that the crewmates could hardly track the velocity. When they finally scampered up, their eyes went wide in jubilation.

For up ahead the stream had joined into a river. “Rosie!” Bova cried, temporarily ignoring his pessimistic side. “You were right!”

”No,” Rosie interjected, smiling poadly. “You were.” She smiled placidly at her crewmate.

But suddenly a movement caught the Mercurian’s glance. “Bova look!” what’s that?”

”How should I know?” Bova asked, but sounded interested.

Before Rosie could utter a single word, something popped out of the water. Startled, the two some jumped back. After Rosie got over her shock, she gasped. “Oh it’s so cute!” she cooed.

Bova, who had shut his eyes tightly to shield himself from the horror, opened them in disbelief. In front of him stood a pown, fury, mouse like animal. “It’s small…” Bova mused. “But it could be dangerous.”

”Nonsence!” Rosie dismissed his thoughts with a firm head shake. “How could you accuse that of such a cute little… thing?” She bent down to pick it up.

”Rosie! Don’t!” Bova warned. But it was too late. Rosie had already closed her hand protectively around the little creature. “See? It’s fine.”

Bova threw his arms up in disgust. “Well, then don’t blame me if it kills you.” He said, exasperated.

”Oh don’t say that!” Rosie cried. “You’ll hurt it’s feelings!” As if to comfort her little pet she glanced down into her hand and gasped in shock. “Bova! It’s shivering!”

”Maybe it’s about to die.” Bova said as unemotionally as he could.

To his surprise the girl took him seriously. “Oh no! We’ve got to help it!”

”Rosie, don’t be so gullible. I was joking.” Bova said with a chuckle.”

Rosie stared at him agape. “Bova, death is nothing to joke about!” she chided. “Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought that you noticed something seriously wrong with this creature!” She stared at it, shivering in her hand. “If only I had some medical supplies with me…” she sighed. “Without a scanner I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find out what’s wrong.”

”Rosie, we’re alone and lost and at least I’m hungry. We have no time to worry about this thing.”

”Bova, haven’t you ever heard of the Earther expression ‘treat others as you’d like to be treated’?” Rosie lectured.

While Bova muttered “no” Rosie continued, “That’s the reason why I wanna become a doctor. Well one of the reasons.” She giggled uncertainly. “I guess when I see a smaller creature hurt my heart just goes out to it.” She glanced at her crew mate to see if he’d deem her stupid.

But the boy seemed deeply engrossed in his own musings. “If only Harlan, Suzee and Radu shared that sentiment,” he finally mummered.

Rosie could feel herself boiling over in agitation and before she could stop herself she blew out a sharp peath of air. Bova turned to her. “What?”

”Is that all you can think about?!” she sputtered. “How our crew mates have wronged us? Honestly, Bova, I haven’t met a Urasian as unproductive as you in his pessimism!”

While her crew mate stared Rosie continued, “Now here you have a chance to help something out, but all you can think about is how you have never been helped. Jeez, Bova, I never thought you were so self- pitying!”

”Well you should talk!” Bova cried, finally defending himself. “After they treated you rough for the ‘scanning incident’ all you could do is bawl and feel sorry for yourself!”

Rosie’s face turned crimson. “That was one time!” she screamed. “At least I don’t go around, feeling sorry for myself days afterwards!”

Something about that statement made Bova’s stomach drop. He turned a cold shoulder on the girl, took a few strides and stubbornly sat down on the ground.

Rosie stood, bewildered by his behavior. “What are you doing?”

”Leave me alone,” came the reply. “It wouldn’t do much good to get away from you since I’d probably get even more lost but that doesn’t mean that I have to talk to you.”

That statement hit her hard in the chest. “Bova, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” she said earnestly.

”Just leave me alone,” the boy repeated.

Rosie sighed and looked down at the creature. “There has to be a way that I can help you.” She told it. “Perhaps you can show me how.” Gently she lowered the creature to the ground.

Instantly the creature stopped shivering. It gracefully scampered up into the crook of Bova’s arm. Then, much to Rosie’s surprise, it made a soft purring sound.

The girl laughed aloud. Perhaps there was some unwritten understanding between her and this creature but she suddenly felt as though she completely understood the reasons for it’s movements. The creature was shivering because she and Bova were arguing.

”What?” Bova forced himself to speak.

”I think that the creature likes you,” the girl said. “I think that it likes you… and me.”

Bova stared at her bemusedly. “What are you talking about?”

Rosie felt herself blush. “I think… I think that it was shivering because we were fighting,” she managed to get out. “Maybe it reacts to hostile tones, maybe… maybe it just didn’t want to see us mad at each other.”

Bova continued to stare at her. Finally he said slowly, “It’s not really helping matters much, by arguing.”

Rosie nodded, approaching him. “So… what are we gonna do?”

A small silence ensued. Finally Bova sighed, “The same thing that we’ve been doing for the last two years.” He answered, picking up the creature. “Go home.”

A few minutes later, the now threesome were strolling along the edge of the river, muttering to themselves. Rationality was easier to come by now that they had the goal of following the waterbed but unfortunately, none of it led them out of their predicament.

”If only we had an electro-compass; Ms. Davenport said we should never go anywhere without one-“

”Now, if we follow the river, it’ll be sure to take us back to the marshland where the Christa landed-“

”But that could take days!” Rosie wailed. “Months!”

”Possibly years,” Bova said dryly.

That bit of information was a little too much for the young Mercurian. Her temperature rising, she flopped down on the ground and began to cry.

”Rosie-“ Bova faltered, debating whether he should move towards her comfortingly, or give her a piece of his mind.

”Get up, Rosie,” he snapped, choosing the latter. Babies, babies, babies- Harlan’s taunt lived on in his head. “Bawling like a baby won’t get us home!”

Rosie turned to stare at him. “I’m sorry!” she cried. “I just don’t know what to do!”

”Well then is Harlan right about us?” Bova burst out. “The others- they think we’re nothing. Incompetent.” He spat out the word. “Are they right?”

Rosie struggled to keep her powers under control. “Who’s challenging your maturity, Bova,” she finally got out. “Harlan, or you?”

Bova drew back as though she had touched him with her insulated skin. Is Harlan challenging your authority… or are you? His thoughts from yesterday came flooding back to him.

Odd, last time I checked, Urasians didn’t seem to have any oracular powers… he mused somewhat sarcastically. So what prompted Rosie to say what I was thinking?

On the outside, though, he was indignant. “You should talk,” he countered again. “You’re always desperate to please.”

Oddly enough, Rosie was quiet. She turned back to the ground in front of her, body still, and Bova felt a sudden note of panic as he realized that Rosie was rarely quiet. Whatever emotion she reacts with, she always… reacts.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Rosie suddenly spoke. “You’re right,” she said softly. “I’ve been sulking around since we landed here… because everyone’s mad at me. I hate to have them mad at me! It’s like I’m dependent on their opinions.”

Apuptly, Rosie stood up and whirled around to face Bova. “I didn’t mess up in the ComPost,” she declared. “My console didn’t register the killcruiser. No matter what they say, it wasn’t me.”

”That’s the spirit, Rosie,” Bova affirmed, much more emotionally than usual. “None of them- the Commander, Ms. Davenport- Harlan, Radu, Suzee- none of them should shape our realities. We know who we are, not them.” The young Urasian suddenly felt a lurch in his stomach and found himself continuing “It doesn’t matter whether Harlan calls me a baby or not. It matters what I think about myself.”

The creature in Bova’s hand started chirping loudly and scampered down his leg.

Rosie smiled uncertainly. “I don’t know why, but I feel better.”

”Yeah,” Bova said absently, still somewhat aloof. “Like we got a load off our chests.” The twosome stood silent, sharing the moment.

Suddenly, the creature scampered across the ground and dove into the water. “What the…” Bova said, snapping back to reality.

Something in Rosie’s mind seemed to click, as though she and this creature were communicating through same pain waves. “Bova, I think… I think it’s trying to lead us home!”

”What?” Bova asked, bewildered again.

”Don’t ask me why but I think-“

”Shh!” Abruptly, Bova shushed her, squinting beyond the opposite bank. “I think… I think… is the air up there shimmering?”

Rosie caught on. “You mean like the thing you pulled us through?”

”Yeah,” Bova answered. “Rosie, I think you’re right! The creature’s trying to lead us back! Let’s go!”

Without thinking twice, the twosome dove into the water, finding it to be surprisingly lukewarm. The feel of it cleansed the dirt from their skin and eased their tensions…

Seconds later, they scrambled onto the opposite bank. Sure enough, a translucent ripple, identical to the one near the Christa, shone before them.

”It might take us back to where we started, or worse…” Bova mused, his pessimism returning.

”No, Bova,” Rosie argued, feeling not so much optimistic as strangely confident. “This is it. I know it is. Look at the creature.”

Bova looked down to where Rosie was pointing. Sure enough, the creature was chirping and scampering around like it did when it led them into the river. “I think you’re right,” the boy said again, feeling oddly calm. Thinking it best to repeat their earlier actions, he took Rosie’s hand. “Let’s go home.”

Bova opened his eyes. “Rosie…” he mumbled. “Rosie, did we make it?”

”Bova?” a soft voice came from his left. Fearing imminent danger, the Urasian leapt out of his bed, how did I get into bed? and found himself face to face with Radu.

”Bova, are you OK?” the Andromedan asked uncertainly. “You were talking in your sleep.”

In my sleep… “How did I get here?” Bova demanded.

Radu looked at him strangely. “You’ve been here since last night,” he said strangely, as though he feared his crewmate was suffering from the “space fever” he so often prophesized. “Since Ms. Davenport ordered us to bed.”

Ordered us to bed… but that was nearly 24 hours ago! Trying to grasp onto the truth of his sense of time, Bova stammered “Radu, did- did I- get up- any time during the night? Did you hear me?”

”No,” Radu said, feeling perplexed. “Well, I did hear you- hardly got to sleep with all the racket you were making, tossing and turning in your sleep. But you never left, not even for your midnight snack.”

A dream, Bova realized vaguely. It was all a dream.

Radu, noticing how the Urasian became aloof, took a hesitant step towards the boy. “Are you… OK, Bova? Do you need anything?”

”No,” Bova mumbled, more to himself than his crewmate. “Just a cold shower. A long cold shower.”

”Well… Harlan should be out in a minute. If…if you don’t need me, I’ll be heading off to the galley.” Radu spared his friend one last hesitant look before heading out the door.

As they hissed shut behind him, Bova thought Should I tell Rosie? His usual sarcastic chuckle escaped him. Nah. She probably slept like a baby. She’d think I’m nuts if I told her this.

”Bova!” Rosie shot up. “Bova, where are you? Where am I?” She looked down and felt her heart rushing up her chest in shock. The bunkroom? Her bed-sheets were twisted about her. What am I doing in the bunkroom? Did we make it back?

Her eyes took inventory over her surroundings, her stuffed animals on their shelves, Suzee’s engineering equipment, Suzee’s bed, primly made and pushed into the wall.

”We made it back!” Rosie said aloud. But somehow she didn’t feel relieved, just… out of place.

Suzee, unlike her crewmates, had risen early to continue work on the repairs. She wasn’t in the ComPost, though, tinkering away at the consoles, but in the main engine room. She claimed (though there really was no need; Thelma was the only one around) that she wanted to check the protomix master for blowouts, but was really driven here by her closest friend, Catalina. The Saturnian had been frantically trying to capture her attention, since before the attack but Suzee, unlike her friend, was hardly comfortable talking to someone who resembled air to everyone else. Finally, though, Cat’s nagging had become too persistent to ignore, so she “dragged” the Saturnian to the engine room for privacy.

”What, Cat?” she said, exasperated. “I’m sorry I haven’t had more of a chance to talk to you but we’re in the middle of a crisis here!”

”Perhaps you wouldn’t be in it if you’d listened to me earlier,” Catalina said, unable to keep a hint of smugness from her voice.

Suzee turned to stare at her. “What do you mean?”

Catalina let her words sink in for a little longer before continuing “Suzee, did you run your routine scans over the ComPost consoles last week?”

”Yeah,” Suzee said automatically. “Engineering, navigation and helm.”

”What about scanning and tactical?”

Suzee’s stomach dropped. She’d wanted to get to them, she remembered, but Harlan, accompanied, as usual, by his bravado, had chosen that moment to challenge her to a Minbar Chess game and Suzee, unable to watch the Earther gloat over his past victories, had accepted. By the time she’d finally beaten him, Ms. Davenport crossly ordered them to bed, so Suzee convinced herself…

”…that the scanning and tactical stations were fine,” she said aloud. “That they were too remote to have any problems.”

”Exactly,” Cat declared. “And yesterday, you blamed Bova and Rosie for not alerting you about the killcruiser. Well, did you ever stop to consider that maybe the consoles were the ones with the problems?”

”That’s preposterous!” Suzee sputtered indignantly. “You just don’t want to admit that those kids are to blame! Besides, what could have gotten into their stations since the time I did check them, just two weeks ago?”

”How about a virus?” Cat suggested smoothly.

Suzee’s face turned white. A virus… yes, I suppose that’s possible, though unlikely. And there’s no way to know who caused what damage to their systems now- Spung or virus. She repeated her last thought to Catalina.

”But Thelma knows,” the Saturnian countered. “She knows most everything that goes on in this ship’s systems, and at what time.”

”Yes,” Suzee said absently, upset that her friend had a point. Did I wrongly accuse Bova and Rosie? “Thelma!”

”Yes?” the android responded, on the scene in a flash as usual.

”Were… were there any viruses in the tactical and scanning consoles? Before the killcruiser attack?”

Thelma turned away from the Yensidian as she searched her memory banks. “Yes,” she answered finally. “There was one virus, the Confundus Virus, which entered the scanning and tactical computers at approximately 0800 hours yesterday. It’s properties are taking systems offline while maintaining the appearance of being fully functional.”

Thelma blinked and Suzee’s heart dropped. That was before the attack… “Why didn’t you notify me of this sooner?” she demanded, relieved at being back in her authoritarian role.

Thelma’s joints twisted in what could be discerned as an expression of puzzlement. “You never asked.”

”There, you see?” Catalina said smugly, hands on hips.

But Suzee barely seemed to hear her. “I’ve got to apologize,” she admitted and raced out of the room.

By the time she got to the corridor outside of the girls’ bunkroom, (Rosie had been tossing and turning when she left) Suzee slowed to a hesitant walk. Apologizing, making mistakes… these things didn’t come easily to the young engineering genius. Ashamed, she remembered her last few years on Yensid, disgusted at the easy levels of Cat’s classes, assured that if she ever got dumped on this dimension, she would rule the show in prowess.

How debilitating it was to be proven wrong.

Outside the door now, Suzee took a deep breath and ran her hand along the controls.

Rosie gasped and spun around. She’d gotten off to a late start after waking so violently from what she was now, fully awake, forced to identify as a dream. She’d meandered through her shower, slowly dressed, and was now in the process of making her bed. The back of her mind was furious with her; this was class time and she was cutting! But the scorned girl in her was still filled with some sort of emotional fatigue- no doubt due to the attack, being blamed, and the dream- and she reasoned that if by some small chance, Ms. Davenport opted to leave the Commander’s side and teach, she wouldn’t want the Mercurian around. Rosie’s reasoning seemed to be confirmed when the inner-ship communications devices remained silent for an hour. But now here was Suzee, standing by the doorway. Rosie’s stomach clenched. Was the Yensidian here to drag her to class? Blame her for something else?

”Rosie,” Suzee began, and the Mercurian was surprised to hear a note of reluctance in her voice. “I… I was just going over the memory banks of your console with Thelma.”

Rosie said nothing, her heart beating hard.

”It seems… it seems that a virus entered your station… before the attack.” Suzee forced the words out, feeling guilty. “So… you were telling the truth when you said the scanner’s didn’t pick up that killcruiser.”

A giddy feeling was creeping over Rosie’s body. She fought hard to keep her powers in check.

”I’m sorry, Rosie,” the words rushed out. “I didn’t detect the virus until it was too late. It’s my fault, not yours. I’m so sorry.”

Rosie opened her mouth, now fighting to keep her jubilation down. She’s not mad! She doesn’t blame me! “It’s alright, Suzee,” she finally heard herself saying. “I knew that I didn’t fail to report that killcruiser. It really doesn’t matter what you thought, no offense or anything.” She giggled uncertainly. “I knew I was innocent.”

”That’s… good, Rosie,” Suzee said, feeling puzzled. What happened to the eager-to-please Mercurian? “I guess I’ll be going now.” Feeling awkward, she walked out the door, and nearly bumped into Bova, attempting to knock. Shooting the Urasian a surprised look, she muttered him a hurried apology as well before skirting down the hall.

Bova slowly advanced into the room. Rosie’s eyes were locked on his. Maybe she does know… “What was that all about?” he got out.

”Suzee did it,” Rosie said, unable to keep the relief out of her voice any longer. “She and Thelma found out we didn’t cause the attack. There’s a virus in our computers.”

”That’s… great, Rosie,” Bova said, but his thoughts were really elsewhere. He gathered the courage to force them out. “Rosie… last night…”

The smile vanished from Rosie’s face. “You mean the dream?” she whispered.

”Yeah,” Bova replied, feeling a jolt pass through him. Were he and Rosie on the same wavelength or something? “You dreamt it.”

”Yeah.” A thought suddenly came to her. “D’you think… I mean metaphorically… in the dream… something was trying to help us find ourselves?” She turned away, feeling foolish.

After a moment, when Bova didn’t respond, she felt strangely compelled to continue, “I mean today- when Suzee was apologizing- it was like I didn’t need it; I knew I was innocent and that was enough.”

”Yeah…” Bova said absently. “You went through that in the dream.”

Rosie smiled teasingly. “So maybe next time Harlan makes fun of you, you’ll be able to use what you learned and keep your cool.”

Bova allowed a smile to play on his lips. “Yeah,” he repeated. “I guess I will. It doesn’t matter what stupid things they say. We’ve proved ourselves to be their equals many times. Besides…” his smile turned into a grin. “After today, I think they’ll be a little less quick to blame us.”

Rosie laughed, then turned back to her bed, smoothing out the creases in her sheets. Automatically, Bova moved to help her. Their hands met on the same spot where they’d lain the day before. Half aware of this fact, they stared at each other.

Then Bova chuckled in his usual sarcastic way. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s go to the galley.”

”Ah, you and your first love, Bova,” Rosie teased as they made their way out the door.

The furry mouse-like creature scampered out of the darkness, making it’s way to the spot still warm by Bova and Rosie’s touch. Resting a moment, it squeaked happily before disappearing back into the shadows.

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