GW 500 Fic - TEI
Aug. 25th, 2004 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tripoverhercatsChallenge: #35 - Expectation
Author: Tripsoverhercats
Title: TEI
Rating: G
Pairings: None
Word Count: 636
The kid had been onboard for two weeks now, and he was everywhere. Pick up a deck plate on an inspection round, and there he was, covered in grease and enthralled at the whirring piece of machinery in front of him. Turn a corner and he’d be investigating an emergency locker, firing a thousand questions at whatever poor crewmember he’d managed to latch onto. He threw himself into everything, determined to prove to the Sweepers that letting him stay was worth their while. The only time Duo was still was when he slept, curled up in the air vent inside the small berth he’d been given.
Today he was perched on the captain’s chair on the bridge, thin arms wrapped around his knees and eyes peering around under the ever present ball cap. Howard had dumped him there with a firm, “Just watch and don’t ask questions until we’re done.” As far as Duo could figure out, the Sweepers were on a rush delivery to L-4 which involved a lot of maneuvering. He was leaving L-2. In a few minutes, they would be whipping around the moon and head for Earth, where another slingshot would aim them for the other colony cluster.
Duo listened to the pilots count off the burn time as the moon rolled away underneath them. He’d never been this close to the moon before, but even at forty miles, it was still a giant gray-white rock.
“Burn complete in 3, 2, 1, shutdown!” The Sweeper crew moved in perfect synch with the ship’s computers, and the little cargo hauler obediently slipped into its new course. The surface below them plunged into shadow as they passed the sun line, illuminated only by the few sparse facilities that dotted the back side of the moon.
“Burn’s good, captain.” The pilot reported. “Right on course for the Earth - L4 slingshot.”
“Excellent,” Howard replied, and he gave Duo a secretive grin. “Now for my very favorite part!” The old man’s eyes gleamed with expectation over those crazy sunglasses. The rest of the bridge crew gave theatrical groans, whatever the old man was so excited about, it was apparently well known. Duo sighed and dug his chin into his knees, impatient to be given permission to leave the chair.
“OK, lights out!” Howard called. “The floor show is about to begin!” A Sweeper toggled all the overhead lights off, leaving only the dim bulbs from the consoles to combat the sudden darkness that engulfed them.
Duo was about to speak up and ask what the hell was going on when the forward window erupted into light. Leaping out of the darkness of the shrouded moon, a sphere of incredible blue and white bloomed before them.
Duo was never so glad of the darkness as he was right now. His eyes had to be bulging completely out of his head, and he was sure that his jaw had dropped down somewhere by his feet. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life, even the stained glass window that Sister Helen had been so proud of was a pale imitation of this fantastic thing. The colors, the swirling, it was like turning a corner in one of the slums of his childhood and running into a living jewel.
“What… is that, is that the Earth?” There was a dim recollection of photographs from the few months of schooling, but it had never looked like this!
Howard’s voice was low and revenant, “Earthrise, my boy. Only coming from L2 do you ever get to see this.” The old man looked down at his newest charge, and in the reflected shine of the mother planet, he could see all the careful defenses stripped away and for a moment, Duo looked on in wonder with a child’s eyes.
http://www.brandalhouse.com/images/hans/space/Earth_rise.jpg
http://www.definity-systems.net/~apw/astro/images/lagrange.jpg
A/N: After finding a map of the Earth/Moon Lagrange points, it became clear that Duo (or any other L2 inhabitant) had never seen the Earth before he left with the Sweepers. The moon is forever in the way. No wonder it’s the throwaway colony.
Author: Tripsoverhercats
Title: TEI
Rating: G
Pairings: None
Word Count: 636
The kid had been onboard for two weeks now, and he was everywhere. Pick up a deck plate on an inspection round, and there he was, covered in grease and enthralled at the whirring piece of machinery in front of him. Turn a corner and he’d be investigating an emergency locker, firing a thousand questions at whatever poor crewmember he’d managed to latch onto. He threw himself into everything, determined to prove to the Sweepers that letting him stay was worth their while. The only time Duo was still was when he slept, curled up in the air vent inside the small berth he’d been given.
Today he was perched on the captain’s chair on the bridge, thin arms wrapped around his knees and eyes peering around under the ever present ball cap. Howard had dumped him there with a firm, “Just watch and don’t ask questions until we’re done.” As far as Duo could figure out, the Sweepers were on a rush delivery to L-4 which involved a lot of maneuvering. He was leaving L-2. In a few minutes, they would be whipping around the moon and head for Earth, where another slingshot would aim them for the other colony cluster.
Duo listened to the pilots count off the burn time as the moon rolled away underneath them. He’d never been this close to the moon before, but even at forty miles, it was still a giant gray-white rock.
“Burn complete in 3, 2, 1, shutdown!” The Sweeper crew moved in perfect synch with the ship’s computers, and the little cargo hauler obediently slipped into its new course. The surface below them plunged into shadow as they passed the sun line, illuminated only by the few sparse facilities that dotted the back side of the moon.
“Burn’s good, captain.” The pilot reported. “Right on course for the Earth - L4 slingshot.”
“Excellent,” Howard replied, and he gave Duo a secretive grin. “Now for my very favorite part!” The old man’s eyes gleamed with expectation over those crazy sunglasses. The rest of the bridge crew gave theatrical groans, whatever the old man was so excited about, it was apparently well known. Duo sighed and dug his chin into his knees, impatient to be given permission to leave the chair.
“OK, lights out!” Howard called. “The floor show is about to begin!” A Sweeper toggled all the overhead lights off, leaving only the dim bulbs from the consoles to combat the sudden darkness that engulfed them.
Duo was about to speak up and ask what the hell was going on when the forward window erupted into light. Leaping out of the darkness of the shrouded moon, a sphere of incredible blue and white bloomed before them.
Duo was never so glad of the darkness as he was right now. His eyes had to be bulging completely out of his head, and he was sure that his jaw had dropped down somewhere by his feet. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life, even the stained glass window that Sister Helen had been so proud of was a pale imitation of this fantastic thing. The colors, the swirling, it was like turning a corner in one of the slums of his childhood and running into a living jewel.
“What… is that, is that the Earth?” There was a dim recollection of photographs from the few months of schooling, but it had never looked like this!
Howard’s voice was low and revenant, “Earthrise, my boy. Only coming from L2 do you ever get to see this.” The old man looked down at his newest charge, and in the reflected shine of the mother planet, he could see all the careful defenses stripped away and for a moment, Duo looked on in wonder with a child’s eyes.
http://www.brandalhouse.com/images/hans/space/Earth_rise.jpg
http://www.definity-systems.net/~apw/astro/images/lagrange.jpg
A/N: After finding a map of the Earth/Moon Lagrange points, it became clear that Duo (or any other L2 inhabitant) had never seen the Earth before he left with the Sweepers. The moon is forever in the way. No wonder it’s the throwaway colony.