I hear the Himalayas are quite tall this time of year. -- Vila Restal, Blake's 7
A Mind Occasionally Voyaging

Category: Writing

Fiction: Star Trek: Darkness Visible, Part 7

Previously on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

The viewscreen flickered, digital artifacts rolling across the image as the video processors struggled to correct for the signal lost to the massive damage across the ship. Pike squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of the impossible.

“Christopher Pike. You’re still alive, my old friend.”

La’an took a step toward the screen. The color drained from her face. “Is that…” she tried.

“Khan?” Pike asked, uncertain.

“So, you still remember me, Admiral,” Khan mused. “I cannot help but be touched. I, of course, still remember you.”

“Khan?” Pike asked again. “What is this? How? Why?”

“Surely I have made my meaning plain, Admiral,” Khan smiled. “I mean to avenge myself upon you. First, I deprive your ship of power and when I swing around, I mean to deprive you of your life. But for now, you live, and so I wanted you to know who it was who had beaten you.”

It took Pike a second to compose himself. That break gave La’an time to lose the battle she was fighting for self-control. She stepped into the frame of the viewscreen. “Khan. Noonien. Singh.” There was another word, too. Her lips formed it but she could put no sound behind it. “Monster.”

“You destroyed that colony. Killed all those people,” she accused.

Khan regarded the interloper with haughty curiosity. “I don’t know you,” he said. “And yet, your face is not unfamiliar.”

Her features twisted into rage. “Commander La’an Noonien-Singh,” she said through clenched teeth.

Khan smiled. “Of course. You’re from Mannu’s line, aren’t you? A reunion of many sorts. Truly this is an auspicious occasion.”

“Murderer,” she spat. “There were four thousand people on Salius.”

Khan’s smile twisted into a sneer. “I merely liberated a political prisoner from unjust confinement.”

He made a beckoning gesture to his side, and Una Chin-Riley stepped into the frame of the viewscreen. “Sorry, Chris,” she said, her face expressionless. “I wish there had been another way. Do the smart thing. There’s too much blood on your hands already. You were never good at protecting your right.”

He refused to look Una in the eye and focused on Khan instead. “Okay, Khan. It’s me you want. There’s no reason for more bloodshed. I’ll have myself beamed aboard. Spare the others.”

Khan lifted his chin slightly to look down his nose at his abased adversary. “I see the years have not diminished your noble spirit,” he said, “Allow me to make a counter-proposal. I will accept your terms, only if, in addition to yourself, you hand over all your data and materials regarding the project called Genesis.”

“What’s Genesis?” Pike asked, playing dumb.

“Do not insult my intelligence, Admiral,” Khan said. “We observed your flight path from Regula. Had I known you would go there first, we could have avoided this… unpleasantness.”

Pike started to reply, but Khan cut him off. “And furthermore, you are to be delivered to me personally by my beloved scion, Commander Noonien-Singh.” He raised a hand, preemptively silencing Pike’s protest. “I assure you no harm will come to the commander.”

“Time,” Pike struggled. “We need some time to retrieve the data.”

“I give you sixty seconds, Admiral,” Khan said.

By now, Doctor Chapel and a medical team were moving the most severely injured to the turbolift. “Clear the bridge,” Pike ordered. As the cadets joined the wounded in the turbolift, Pike stood, tugged at his shirt to straighten it, then turned away from the viewscreen.

“Admiral, I can’t allow you to-” La’an started.

“Keep nodding,” Pike whispered, “Like I’m giving orders. Nyota-” he looked to Uhura and drew his finger across his throat. She silenced the transmission.

“I can’t believe Una would help Khan,” Pike said.

“She’s been locked up for thirty years, Chris,” Sam said. “Even longer than Khan. She may not be the person you remember.”

“Protecting your right,” Pike repeated. “She said protecting your right. All the hits we took were to port.” He moved to Xon’s station and tried to pretend he was operating the computer. “Can we reroute the starboard capacitor banks directly to phaser control?”

“Forty-five seconds,” Khan announced. Pike nodded urgently at the screen.

“That would give us sufficient power for perhaps two shots,” Xon said.

“Not enough against their shields,” La’an said.

“But,” Pike said, “If he’s going to beam me aboard, he’ll need to lower his shields, just for a second.”

“I don’t know if we can time it that tight,” Sam said. “The state we’re in.”

“We don’t have a lot of choice,” said Pike. “How the hell does he know about Genesis?”

“Khan indicated that he had been to Regula,” Xon observed. “Logic indicates that he was also responsible for the loss of communication with Regula One.”

“Jim…” Sam said.

“Admiral,” Khan prompted. Pike nodded for Uhura to restore communications.

“Khan, please,” Pike said. “The bridge is smashed. We’re working on it, but the computers…”

“Time is a luxury you don’t have, Admiral.”

Pike turned away again. “Prepare to send the data,” he said. “It’s unlikely we have anything in our files that he doesn’t already know. It might buy us a little time.”

When Pike looked back at the viewscreen, one of Khan’s lieutenants had moved into the picture and was whispering something to him. Khan suddenly sprang to his feet and with an angry gesture, cut his transmission.

“The hell?” Sam said.

“Reliant is breaking off,” Sulu said, puzzled. The viewscreen showed the other ship turning.

“Admiral,” Xon said, “I have another vessel on sensors. It’s Galileo.”

Fiction: Star Trek: Darkness Visible, Part 6

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“What’s going on here?” Pike asked. “Go to yellow alert.”

“Energize defensive fields,” Sam ordered. Heavy shutters closed around the dome of the bridge.

“Getting a voice message,” Uhura said. “They say their Chambers coil is overloaded, it’s interfering with communications.”

Pike looked to Xon. He gave a quick shake of his head. “No irregularities detected.”

Khan looked to Una beside him and summoned a schematic view of the Enterprise. He indicated a spot on the secondary hull of the ship. “I mean to strike them here,” he said. “Your thoughts?”

She thought a moment. “That would disable main power. It would take a miracle worker in engineering to recover,” she said, then pointed at a spot a few decks higher, behind the forward torpedo launcher. “But if you strike them here,” she explained, “Main cooling will also be compromised. Even if they are able to repair the core, they wouldn’t be able to operate for more than a few minutes at a time.”

Khan sensed something else. “And?” he asked.

She conceded. “Main engineering is heavily staffed. This section is almost entirely empty. An attack here would disable Enterprise while minimizing casualties.”

A few of Khan’s crew laughed derisively, but she continued. “Pike is an idealist with a martyr complex. The fewer people you kill, the more he’ll believe he can save.” She fixed her eyes on Khan’s. “I assume you’d prefer he surrender himself to you than to kill him unseen from a distance.”

“Time to Salius?” Jim Kirk asked.

“Two hours, seventeen minutes at top speed,” Saavik said.

Kirk grimaced. “We don’t have that kind of time. Why so long? It’s not that far.”

“A direct flight plan on one five three mark four crosses the Mutara Nebula. It would be unsafe to cross in a vessel this size. Time to divert around the nebula is substantial.”

“I can handle it,” Ortegas said, taking the pilot’s seat. She rubbed the side of her head uncomfortably. “Like riding a bike.”

Kirk nodded. “Captain Terrell,” he said, “Can you man communications? We need to raise Enterprise as soon as we’re in range.”

Khan looked back to the viewscreen. “Have they raised shields?”

“No, my lord.”

“Raise ours.” The tactical display emitted audible beeps as Reliant’s image was outlined in white to indicate the defensive barrier.

Aboard the Enterprise, Xon reported, “Reliant raising shields, Admiral.”

Pike’s brow furrowed, but still he hesitated. On Reliant, Khan ordered Joachim to lock phasers.

“They are locking phasers,” Xon observed.

Pike rose from his chair. “Raise shields!”

Too late. Khan had already given the order to fire. Two red flashes lashed out from Reliant’s portside phaser array, slicing into the neck of the Enterprise. Though spared a direct hit, plasma from the severed conduits backwashed into main engineering. The cadets broke ranks, fleeing in terror as walls of ionized gasses swept through the compartment. Fireballs exploded from consoles on the bridge, and Pike was thrown to the floor hard.

Far below, a DOT-9 maintenance robot sensed the change in temperature and broke off from its duties to lock itself down in a protected alcove. Once the danger had passed, it released itself. The charred remains of an animal it had been pursuing twitched in the maintenance tunnel. The DOT’s pest control protocols gave preference to nonlethal catch-and-release methods, but indicated in this case that it should euthanize the animal. It would prove unnecessary. With the last of its waning strength, one of the creature’s remaining limbs stretched out and pointed with clear intent to an area further down the conduit, concealed by a crossing conduit junction before it fell still. The DOT scanned the place the creature had indicated. The DOT-9 had only limited capacity for self-determination and decision making, but its subroutines allowed it to analyze behavior and draw conclusions. It now had a working model for why its previous pest removal strategies had failed. Its maintenance and animal-handling subroutines weighted the preservation and protection of exotic species. So it hovered down the tunnel, opened its maintenance cover, and loaded the clutch of tardigrade eggs into its chest compartment.

“Sulu, shields!” Pike demanded as Sam helped him back to his feet.

“It’s no good, sir,” Sulu protested. “I can’t get power.”

“Engineering! We need auxiliary power.”

The tannoy crackled with interference. “Barely hanging-” the engineer’s voice kept dropping out. “Main energizer is down. Main cooling- Need to vent plasma before we…”

Pike looked to La’an. “Damage report?”

La’an pulled up the ship’s schematic. “This is… This is impossibly accurate. They knew exactly the best place to hit us.”

“Who?” Pike demanded. “Why?”

“Whoever they are, we’re no match on auxiliary power,” Sam said.

“On screen. La’an, get those shields up,” Pike ordered. Reliant had come around in a circle and crossed in front of the Enterprise. “Sulu, evasive maneuvers!” Pike barked as a torpedo fired from Reliant’s stern.

“Brace for impact!” Sam shouted. Sulu struggled to turn the large, crippled ship. The ship rolled just enough that Reliant’s torpedo smashed into the portside section of Enterprise’s saucer rather than the bridge itself. All the same, the force of the impact threw Pike and Sam to the deck. Mitchell and two cadets were launched from their positions and Sulu only narrowly avoided the same fate.

“What’s left?” Pike demanded.

“Just the battery,” came the response from engineering. “I can have auxiliary power in a few minutes.”

“We don’t have a few minutes,” La’an protested.

“Phasers?” Pike asked.

La’an checked the tactical console. “Not until auxiliary power is on-line.”

Uhura’s fingers flew over the communications console. “Admiral,” she said, “The commander Reliant is signaling. He wishes to discuss terms of our surrender.”

Pike took a look around the damaged bridge. All activity had stopped, all eyes on him. Everyone was battered. Mitchell was unconscious. His own lip was bleeding. “On screen,” he said.

“Admiral?” Uhura asked for confirmation, surprised.

“Do it. While we still have a ship to surrender.”

To Be Continued…

Fiction: Star Trek: Darkness Visible, Part 4

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“Rigor hasn’t set in, no fixed lividity,” Doctor M’Benga said, examining another of the bodies they had cut down. McCoy checked another body with his tricorder, his hand still shaking from the ordeal.

Jim studied one of the bodies. “I know him,” he said, a cold feeling rising in his chest.

“Admiral Marcus,” Saavik said. “Starfleet Special Security Projects.” She moved away.

“Marcus?” McCoy asked. “As in-”

Jim nodded. “Carol’s father. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on much, but still…”

“Captain Kirk,” Saavik called. She’d opened a locker.

Jim let out a little gasp of surprise. “Bones, help me.”

They worked together to lift the dazed but still-breathing figures out of the locker. Jim noted the captain’s pips on the older man. “I’m Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Reno.”

“Terrell,” the man managed, his eyes not quite managing to fix on Kirk. “Reliant.”

“Reliant? Where’s Doctor Marcus? And Genesis?” Jim pressed.

“He couldn’t find them. Even the data banks were empty. Wanted to tear the place apart.”

“Who? Who did this? Where’s your ship, your crew?” Jim demanded.

As Saavik helped the other survivor to her feet, M’Benga dropped his tricorder in surprise. “Erica?”

“It was Khan,” she said. “Ceti Alpha Five. He took the ship. Left the crew behind. He had these…” She touched her ear. “Things. Made us do things. Say things.”

“He tortured these people. Went wild. Slit their throats. He wanted Genesis,” Terrell said.

Jim didn’t understand. “Who’s Khan?”

****

“Approaching Salius Six,” Sulu announced as the Enterprise dropped out of warp.

“Standard orbit. Nyota, open a channel.”

“Sir, I’m not getting anything,” Uhura responded.

“I am unable to detect the colony,” Xon said.

Sam stepped to the science station beside him and checked the instruments. “Chris, you need to see this.”

In his younger days, Pike would’ve jumped to his feet. Age made it more pragmatic for him to order Xon’s display transferred to the main viewscreen instead.

The image of Salius VI below was replaced by a close view of a blackened crater. Informational overlays indicated points of impact and outlined a debris field. The prominent caption “ZERO LIFE SIGNS” flashed at the bottom of the screen.

“My God,” Sulu gasped. “It’s… gone.”

“Una…” Pike said. Composing himself, he barked, “What the hell happened here?”

“Romulans,” La’an spat. “Must be.”

“I am not detecting any traces of plasma residue,” Xon said. “The damage patterns are consistent with photon torpedoes.”

“Incoming encryted message from Starfleet Command,” Uhura said. “Wait… Sir, I’m having trouble with reception.”

****

“Did he make it down here?” Kirk asked as he surveyed the transporter room.

“Don’t think so,” Ortegas said. “He spent most of his time trying to beat information out of people.”

“Butcher,” M’Benga said, angrily.

“But he left without finding whatever it was he came here for,” Saavik reflected. “Illogical.”

“I don’t think he was firing on all thrusters,” Ortegas said, bitterly.

“Or,” Kirk mused, “He found something else. Something that changed the plan.” He was studying the transporter controls. “The unit’s been left on. Which means no one was left to turn it off.”

“Those people back there bought escape time for Genesis with their lives,” McCoy said.

Saavik checked the controls and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “This is not logical. These coordinates are deep inside Regula, a planetoid we know to be lifeless.”

“If Stage Two was completed, it was going to be underground,” Kirk remembered. “It was going to be underground, she said.”

“Stage two of what?” Saavik asked.

He didn’t answer. “Commander Ortegas, are you fit to pilot a shuttlecraft?”

She cracked her neck. “It’s been a few years, but I can manage it.”

Jim gestured to McCoy, Terrell and Ortegas. “Put Galileo on stand-by. We may need to get out of here in a hurry.” To the others, he said, “You’re with me. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” M’Benga asked.

“Where they went,” Jim said, indicating the transporter controls.

McCoy spoke up. “What if they went nowhere?”

Jim forced his trademark smile. “Then if you’re very quick, you might get the chance to say ‘I told you so.'”

****

“It’s no use, sir,” Uhura said. “I’m being jammed on all long-range frequencies.”

“Xon?” Pike asked.

The science officer checked his console. “The interference is not the result of a natural phenomenon, nor is it a byproduct of the destruction of the Salius facility. The logical conclusion is that communications with Starfleet command are being blocked deliberately, by some entity with detailed knowledge of Starfleet subspace communication protocols.”

“If the Romulans have cracked code three, we’re in big trouble,” Sam said. “Uhura, can you reconstruct the message?”

“Working on it now, sir.”

****

“Genesis, I presume,” M’Benga said. The device, a tall cylinder of a design half-way between a deep space probe and a photon torpedo, still stood on the transporter pad beside a computer unit.

“Captain,” Saavik warned.

Kirk looked up to see a dark-haired scientist pointing a phaser at them. “Phasers down!” he demanded.

Before Kirk could respond, a younger, blond man appeared beside the first. “You!” he demanded, and launched himself at Kirk. They struggled a moment, but despite his age, Kirk was the superior fighter. “Where’s Doctor Marcus?” he demanded, forcing the young man to the floor.

“I’m Doctor Marcus!” he insisted. Kirk released him in surprise.

“Jim!”

Kirk looked back to the doorway to see Carol Marcus. When he looked back to the young man wriggling out of his grip, he recognized her features in him. And more…

“David?” he asked.

He retreated to his mother’s side. “Mother!” he protested. “They killed everyone we left behind. They killed grandpa.”

“Oh David,” she said. “Of course they didn’t. It wasn’t them. Jim, what is all of this about, what happened up there?”

“It’s a long story,” Kirk said. He looked around and adopted an impish smile. “Got anything to eat?”

Fiction: Star Trek: Darkness Visible, Part 2

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

“I don’t know you.” The man had long, white hair and a face harshly weathered by years of hard living, but his muscular physique screamed impossible physical prowess. He turned from Terrell to Ortegas. A rivulet of blood made its way from the corner of her mouth, evidence she she was not on her knees willingly.

“But you. I never forget a face. Erica Ortegas, isn’t it? I never thought to see you again.”

“You know him? Who is this man?” Captain Terrell asked.

“Khan. Noonien. Singh.” Erica said through clenched teeth. “Augment. War criminal. Escaped from the Eugenics wars on a sleeper ship.”

“What do you want with us?” Terrell asked. “I demand-”

Khan cut him off with a backhand. “You are in a position to demand nothing!” he spat. But his tone quickly took on a false joviality as he waved about the cargo container. “But I am in a position to grant…. Nothing. What you see is all that remains of the ship’s company and crew of the Botany Bay, marooned here twenty years ago by Captain Christopher Pike.”

“Listen, you men and women, you have a…”

“Captain, Captain… Save your strength. These people have sworn to live and die at my command two hundred years before you were born. Did she never tell you?” He gave Ortegas a disappointed look. “To amuse your captain?” His eyes narrowed with barely-contained rage. “She never told you how the Enterprise picked up the Botany Bay, lost in space for hundreds of years, myself and the ship’s company in cryogenic freeze?”

“I’ve never even met Admiral Pike.”

“Admiral?” Khan’s teeth flashed and he forced his words out between them. “She never told you how Admiral Pike sent seventy of us…” He wagged a cautionary finger, “In direct contravention of your own laws regarding the genetically augmented… Sent seventy of us into exile on this barren sand heap with only the contents of these cargo bays to sustain us?”

“He’s lying,” Ortegas spat. “Ceti Alpha Five was a hard world, but it wasn’t like this.”

Khan grabbed the handle on her chest pack and hoisted Ortegas to her feet by it. “This is Ceti Alpha Five!” he shouted into her face.

She crumpled to the floor when he released her. His voice retook a forced calm. “Ceti Alpha Six exploded six months after we were left here. The gravitational shift affected the entire system. Destroyed the ecosystem of this planet. An event of that magnitude would have been visible to your Starfleet’s deep space observatories. Rescue would have been possible…. But then, no one knew we were here, did they? Your Admiral Pike never thought to check on our progress, until now…”

He put something together. “You didn’t expect to find me. You thought this was Ceti Alpha Six. You… Didn’t even notice… Why are you here?”

Ortegas and Terrell exchanged a quick glance. She shook her head. Don’t tell him.

Khan nodded to himself. “There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to…”

Pike took a sip of his martini and went back to chopping onions. “They’re pretty green, Sam,” he said, “Blew up the simulator room and you with it.”

He set the knife down as he saw the look on his former science officer’s face as he entered the kitchen. “Chris,” he said, “I’ve just heard from Jim. Something… Weird has happened. He needs a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” Pike asked.

“He wants to borrow a starship.”

“Sir. May I speak?”

Khan waved his helmsman over. “What is it?”

“We’re all with you, sir, but consider this. We are free. We have a ship and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha Five. You have proved your superior intellect, and defeated the plans of Admiral Pike. You do not need to defeat him again. We could go anywhere, do anything.”

Khan scoffed. “What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and courage never to submit or yield: and what is else not to be overcome? Set course for Salius.”

Captain James T. Kirk materialized in the transporter room of the USS Enterprise along with his first officer and chief medical officer. Protocol dictated that the he should greet the Admiral first, but Jim Kirk was never one for protocol, and went first to give his brother a quick hug and thank him for the old-fashioned bound copy of To Kill a Mockingbird Sam had sent him for his birthday. Pike ignored the slight; he was happy enough to greet an old friend first. “It’s been too long, La’an,” he said. “How are things at the front?”

“Admiral,” she said, in a warm but tired tone. “I don’t know if this war is ever going to end.”

“Admiral Pike,” Jim said. “It’s good to see you. Have you met Bones?”

“Leonard McCoy,” the doctor said. “Chief Medical Officer of the USS Reno and too old for this.”

“Sam told me you need to get to a classified research station?” Pike asked. “What’s this about?”

Jim moved closer to Pike and lowered his voice. “I received an urgent message from an… old friend. Something very strange is going on involving a classified project called Genesis. She was ordered to hand over the whole kit and kaboodle. And she says the orders came from you personally.”

“Me?” Pike asked. “I’ve never even heard of Genesis.”

“No one has,” Jim said. “Not officially. I can’t get through now. Something is jamming them. The Reno is still under repairs; she won’t have warp until Tuesday.”

“You could raise this through channels,” Sam said. “I don’t know why you’d bring this to us.”

“Look, Admiral, I realize this is a big ask. But all I need is a ride. Someone who can sign off on a visit to Regula One. I need to go there. Personally,” Jim said. “Sam… It’s Carol. And David.”

Pike looked to Sam for clarification. Sam looked haunted. He guided Pike a few steps away. “Sam,” Pike started, “I don’t know what this is about, but-”

“It’s his kid,” Sam said. “David is Jim’s son. Chris… I need you to do this.”

“Sam, I understand. I can pull some strings, get him on the next-”

“Chris, please. I need… You. I need you to take command, and get us to Regula One.”

“Me? Sam, it’s your ship now.”

Sam sighed deeply. “Chris… I’m fine taking a ship full of cadets out on a training mission. But this isn’t me. And… Look, Chris. Ever since Aurelan and the boys… Chris, I’m compromised here. I chose Starfleet over family and I’ve paid for it every day.” Sam’s wife and younger children had died to space parasites on Deneva, and his third son had been lost on the Romulan front a few years ago.

Before Pike could answer, the tannoy chirped. Uhura’s voice issued from the public address system. “Captain Kirk, incoming priority message from Starfleet command.”

Sam stepped to the nearest terminal and pulled it up. With a confused look, he said, “Jim, I’m sorry. Regula One is going to have to wait. We’ve received a priority one distress signal from Salius Six. We’re the only ship in range that isn’t already committed to the Romulan campaign.”

Pike saw Jim tense, and put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “The Salius system is near Regula. Come with us. We can do a quick fly-by on the way.”

The Enterprise was clearing spacedock by the time Pike and the Kirks reached the bridge. Saavik yielded the captain’s chair, clearly expecting Sam to take it. He stepped away and gave Pike an encouraging nod. Pike closed his eyes briefly and took a sharp breath. “Nyota, open shipwide. All hands, an emergency situation has arisen. By order of Starfleet Command, as of now, eighteen hundred hours, I am assuming command of this vessel. Duty officer so note in the ship’s log. I know that none of you were expecting this. I’m sorry. I’m gonna have you to ask you to grow up a little sooner than you expected.”

He sat. “Mister… Sulu is it?”

“Aye, sir.”

“Set course for the Salius system by way of Regula. Prepare for warp speed.”

“Ready, sir.”

“Hit it.”

To Be Continued…

Fiction: Star Trek: Darkness Visible, Part 1

Previously, on A Mind Occasionally Voyaging…

(I’m actually imagining a whole alternate version of TWOK now with Pike, which perhaps I will write out at length later)

 

“Captain’s log, Stardate 8130.3. Starship Enterprise on training mission to Gamma Hydra, section 14. Co-ordinates twenty-two, eighty-seven, four. Approaching Neutral Zone. All systems normal and functioning.”

The commander switched off the log recorded as the helmsman announced their crossing into the next sector. “Project parabolic course to avoid entering Neutral Zone,” she ordered. Her breifing had warned of increased activity in this section.

“Captain,” said Commander Uhura from behind her, “I’m getting something on the distress channel. Audio only.”

“On speakers.”

Even with her sensitive ears, she struggled to make out the distorted transmission. “… Kobayashi Maru… Ninteen… Out of Altair Six. We have struck a gravitic mine…. Lost all power… Hull… Many casualties. Our position is Gamma Hydra, section ten.”

“In the Neutral Zone,” the captain observed, quietly.

“Hull penetrated,” the voice crackled between increasing bursts of static. “Life support… Can you assist us, Enterprise? … Assist…”

She pulled up the registry data on the Kobayashi Maru. Almost four hundred people aboard. Damn. “Mister Sulu, plot an intercept course.”

“May I remind the Captain that entering the Neutral Zone in a time of war…”

“I’m aware of my responsibilities.”

Sulu nodded. “Understood. Two minutes to intercept.” The computer chimed a warning as they crossed into disputed space.

“Stand by transporter room,” the commander ordered.

“I’ve lost their signal,” Uhura warned.

An alert klaxon sounded. At the conn, Lieutenant Commander Mitchell announced, “Romulan warbirds decloaking, Captain. Four of them.”

“Evasive maneuvers,” the commander barked. “Raise shields. Red alert. Uhura, tell them we’re on a rescue mission.”

“They’re jamming all frequencies.”

The Vulcan science officer coolly said, “The Romulans do not respect humanitarian aid and will interpret our actions as a sign of weakness.”

“They’re firing!” Mitchell exclaimed. Three of the four ships launched their plasma weapons. Even at this range…

“Brace for impact. Return fire.”

The ship shook and the lights dimmed. Her first officer tumbled to the floor and lay still as the bridge reeled. No ship could withstand that much firepower for long; that Enterprise had survived at all was purely down to Romulan eagerness. If they had remained cloaked a minute longer, let Enterprise draw just a bit closer…

She demanded a damage report, knowing it was pointless. “Can we return fire?”

“No power to weapons, Captain,” said the science officer before his console exploded behind him, sending him to the floor as well.

“We’re dead in space,” Mitchell observed. The fourth ship was closing for the kill. The commander realized that it had held back for this moment; the other three ships would need a minute to recharge.

“Signal our surrender,” said the commander, resigned.

“We’re still being jammed, Captain,” Uhura reminded her.

Between flickers, the viewscreen showed the fourth Romulan bearing down on them. A bright ball of plasma was forming in the raptor-prowl. “Then activate escape pods. Send out the log buoy. Abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship.”

The red alert klaxon fell silent. From somewhere beyond the bridge, a tired voice called, “That’s enough. Open it up.”

With a mechanical whir, the viewscreen slid away. Admiral Pike stepped through the smoke onto the bridge. “Any suggestions, Admiral?” the commander asked.

Pike regarded her with tired eyes. “Keep fighting, Mister Saavik,” he said. “Being taken prisoner by the Romulans is… Worse than death.” She flinched visibly at that.

The science officer and first officer got up from the deck. “No comment on my performance?” the first officer asked.

Pike forced a smile. “I’m no drama critic, Sam.” He nodded to the science officer. “But I thought you were very convincing Mister Xon.”

“Thank you, sir,” he said. “I have been practicing my technique.”

“Permission to speak candidly?” Saavik asked.

“Granted.”

“I don’t believe this was a fair test of my command abilities.”

“Why not?”

“Because there was no way to win.”

Pike looked off into the distance. “There are some fates you just can’t escape, Mister Saavik. The best you can do is…. Move them around.” The deep lines around his eyes seemed to grow even deeper. “It’s important that you learn that now, here, and not out there, not when there are lives-” his voice caught in his throat.

He looked away, back to Sam. “Debrief at sixteen-hundred,” he said. “Oh, and Sam, wish your brother a happy birthday for me.”

“First officer’s log, Stardate 8130.4. Starship Reliant on orbital approach to Ceti Alpha VI, in connection with Project Genesis. We are continuing our search for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis Experiment. So far no success. Who’d have thought it would be this hard to find nothing.”

Commander Ortegas rose from the chair as the captain entered the bridge. “Standard orbit,” he said. “Any change in surface scan?”

“Negative,” said the helmsman. “Limited atmosphere, dominated by craylon gas, sand and high velocity winds. It’s incapable of supporting lifeforms.”

Ortegas cringed. “Does it have to be completely lifeless?”

“Don’t tell me,” Captain Terrell sighed.

“Minor energy flux on one dynoscanner.”

“Damn. Are you sure? Maybe the scanner’s out of adjustment.”

“Maybe it’s something we could transplant?” Ortegas offered.

Terrell glanced over to the communications officer. “Open a channel to Regula One.” He looked back to Ortegas. “You know what she’s going to say, Erica.” He sighed. “But I’m as tired of this as you are. Suit up. If it’s something we can move…”

“Don’t have kittens, mom. Genesis is going to work. They’ll remember you in one breath with Newton, Ramerez, Soong…”

Carol Marcus sighed. “Thanks a lot. No respect from my offspring.”

“Par for the course,” David smirked. “Is grandpa still planning to receive the project update in person?” She caught something uncomfortable in his tone.

“What is it?”

He shrugged. “Every time we have dealings with Starfleet, I get nervous. Even at the best of times, we are dealing with something that could be perverted into a dreadful weapon. And with this war… Remember that overgrown boy scout you used to hang out with? A hothead like that…”

She raised an eyebrow. “Jim Kirk was many things, but he was never a boy scout.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Terrell said. The cargo module had been kitted out as a survival shelter, but if there had been a crash… “Where’s the rest of the ship?” The place was packed tight with supplies, enough that he was having trouble locating any sort of hull marking. Finally, he pushed aside a copy of Paradise Lost and looked at the bare wall behind it. “One seven zero one. Enterprise,” he read off the wall. “Erica, isn’t that your old-”

Ortegas picked up an old fashioned leather-bound log book and turned it over. She read the name stamped in gold leaf on the front. “S.S. Botany Bay…” A cold chill grabbed her. “Botany Bay? Oh no.” She dropped the book and grabbed Terrell roughly. “We’ve got to get out of here, Captain. Now.”

“Erica?”

“No time,” she barked, shoving his helmet back at him.

Too late. The cargo module’s hatch clicked open.

To Be Continued…

The Non-Infringing Super Pals

Evelyn loves that Alexa can make up bedtime stories that insert her as a character. But she’s frustrated that Alexa’s repertoire is limited to stories not about her favorite TV-Y7 superhero team. So I agreed to cobble together something that her music player could use to make up and read her self-insert superhero stories. And because why not, I’ve put a version on my website, though this version has for understandable reasons been modified to use Original Characters Do Not Steal. Enjoy:

(Reload this article to get a new story)

Celebrate Italian-American Heritage

Normally this time of year, I remind everyone to celebrate the historical figure named Columbus who is credited with discovering something on account of being the first European man to notice, despite the fact that the locals had been well aware of it forever: Renaldus Columbus, “discoverer” of the clitoris.

But this year, I’m going to try something else…

Just, uh, one thing, sir. Now, you said that you discovered this whole continent. And I’ve been going around and around in my head. Now my wife, she says I’m making a big deal out of nothing. But I just can’t stop thinking about it. It’s these little inconsistencies, sir. They drive me crazy. Because you said that you discovered this continent in 1492, but now I’m hearing that there’s this group of indigenous peoples who came over on the land bridge, ten thousand years ago. Now what do you think about that, sir? How can you discover a continent in 1492 when there’s already been people there for ten thousand years? It just doesn’t add up, sir.

And speaking of not adding up. You said that you thought you were in India, because everyone else believed the world was flat. But sir, the circumference of the Earth was determined by Eratosthenes of Alexandria to be 25,000 miles. And okay, sure, he was off by a little bit, but sir, but for you to have thought you were in India, you would have had to believe the circumference of the Earth was only 16,000 miles. That’s got me scratching my head, sir. You’re an educated man, but you under-estimated the size of the Earth by a third, two thousand years after Eratosthenes? Now me, I get lost going across town to Joe’s Diner. You ever been to Joe’s? They make a bowl of chili, you’ve got to- but never mind. I’m just saying that I get lost. But I don’t get ten thousand miles lost. And you, sir, you’d been sailing since you were what, ten? And you expect me to believe you missed India by ten thousand miles and didn’t notice?

I don’t believe it sir. I think you were working a scam, sir. Because I called around to all the courts of Europe. And I found out they’d all heard from you and your crazy plan to “Go East by going West.” And they all told you to take a hike, because everyone in the Age of Exploration business knows that if the Earth is 25,000 miles around, the only way you could survive the western route to India would be if there was a continent in the middle where you could resupply. I believe you saw that there was a new king and queen in Spain, eager to make a name for themselves, so you went to them, and you told them the same cockamamie story you told all the other royal houses of Europe, and you cut a third off the size of the Earth to make it sound legitimate, and you planned to take the money and run. But you got caught, didn’t you, sir. You got caught with your three ships out in the middle of the Atlantic on a voyage you couldn’t possibly survive, except that you just happened to get lucky and find this continent, sir. And so to cover up the scam, you told everyone that you’d “discovered” it, and you launched a campaign of colonization and genocide lasting for centuries. Isn’t that correct, sir?

Happy Columbo’s Day.

Fiction: Dark Reverie

A small fragment this week because I’m feeling a little stuck writing it. It’s part of an idea that came into my head a while back, but fits in pretty late in the story. This started out in my head as normal prose, but it had some very obviously ludic elements so I leaned into that and found the idea sort of gently trending toward a place that’s somewhere between Psychonauts, Persona, Silent Hill and Disco Elysium, only slightly hornier. Anyway, we’ll see where it ends up.

Glass in hand, Ian took a step back from the bar. Some ways off, near the dance floor, he caught a glimpse of her. She hadn’t seen him yet. He wondered if she’d actually expected him to show up when she’d mentioned it. He steeled himself to make his way over and say hi. On his third step, he passed through the shadow of a wiry man in a leather shirt.

Ian swayed, almost knocked over by it. A wave of malice unlike anything he’d ever felt before. He stumbled away, looking for a place to sit. There was an open corner booth, secluded enough. He slipped into it. He tried not to stare, but took a quick glance at the wiry man. There was a sort of dark smudge around him now, almost like a thick black outline were traced around him. Ian gave a quick look around himself. The noise and crowd was its own kind of privacy. Not ideal, perhaps, but he felt a strong urgency that wouldn’t let this wait. He touched the mark on his wrist and traced out the sigil of communication with his finger on the tabletop.

“What are you doing? We’re not expecting a check-in until tomorrow.” Ugh. He was hoping he’d get Keith back. Were they keeping them apart for some reason? Donna always sounded so judgmental.

“I saw something,” he told her. “By accident. And it’s weird.”

“I’m bringing your location up now. We’re not tracking anything in your area. Are you some kind of magnet for this? We’re supposed to be the ones sending you out. I’ve never seen anyone have two random encounters in a week, let alone three. Use the tracking sigil on it and we’ll follow up tomorrow. No point in causing trouble now.”

“It’s weird, though,” Ian told her as he drew the lines and swirls of a tracking sigil. “It felt a lot stronger than anything I’ve felt before. And now I’m seeing things.”

“Seeing things?” Donna asked. That her tone had switched from annoyance to alarm was not lost on Ian. “Seeing what?”

“Not sure. A kind of black halo?” He glanced back at the man. Something about his body language rubbed Ian wrong.

“Stop. Don’t finish the sigil,” Donna said forcefully. “You should get out of there.”

“What?” Ian asked. She’d been just a hair too slow; he’d finished forming the sigil as she’d spoken. Everything went sideways for a second as he was overcome by a flood of nausea and anger. The man looked up suddenly and… Was he sniffing the air? He didn’t seem to notice Ian specifically, but something had alerted him.

“He’s about to do something. I need to-”

“You need to stop and leave, right now,” Donna said, forcefully. “This isn’t for you.”

Before Ian could respond, he was hit by another wave of malice. Without quite processing how, knowledge forced its way into his mind. The wiry man, or the thing inside him, was hunting. Looking for prey. It was going to do- Ian physically recoiled at the feelings leaking from the black halo. The dark thing was looking toward the dance floor. Looking toward-

“No time. He’s going to hurt someone. I have to…”

“You can’t,” Donna demanded, but Ian was already tracing the sigil. “Bullocks,” she grumbled. Her voice was fading. “Hold on-“

Fiction: Winnie-the-Pooh and Geocaching (is) Through

The exciting conclusion, built around a punchline I did not, in fact, have planned from the start, but which only came to me while writing the previous part.

In Which a Party is Held, and the Geode is Finally Caught.

Rabbit had such a good time on his geocaching Expotition that he immediately told all of his friends and relations. And when one has as many friends and relations as Rabbit, well, suddenly geocaching had become less of a Expotition and more of a Popular Fad.

As you will recall, the button left by the Piglet had been collected by Eeyore in return for a ribbon, which had gone to Owl, who left a quill in its place. Meanwhile, the spring left by Tigger was traded by Rabbit for a gardening glove,

Lightning McQueen Temporary TattooThe next day, the feather was taken by Early, who left in its place one of the nicest bottle caps in his bottle cap collection. The bottle cap was taken later that day by Late, who thought it would make a good birthday present for his brother Early, as he collected bottle caps. Late left a temporary tattoo of Lightning McQueen.

The gardening glove went to Henry Rush, the beetle, who felt it would be a lovely summer home. In its place, he left a guitar pick. The guitar pick, in due course, was taken by Small, who left a highly detailed 1:87 scale model of the 1987 Progress Rail EMD-SD70ACe-T4 Locomotive Unit 7240 out of Houston.

Even Lottie the otter took a turn, as did Gopher, despite not being in the book, and Beaver, and Kessie the Bluebird, and Lumpy, and even Penguin. And then, once all the animals of the Hundred Acre Wood had taken a turn at finding the Geocache, Christopher Robin himself found it. He signed the book, and took the very pretty rock that had been left there by Winnie-the-Pooh, and in its place he left… Well, actually, I’m not going to tell you what he left, because as far as I know, it is there still, and if some day you happen to be geocaching in the Hundred Acre Wood, you just might be the one to find it yourself, and then wouldn’t it be a lovely surprise?

The good stuff: 10% juice, 20% sugar, 80% water, and so Extra that it adds up to 110% and no one cares.

Because he saw how much all of his friends had enjoyed learning about Geocaching, Christopher Robin decided to throw a party in honor of Evelyn (and Red Zoomer) to thank her for introducing them to this grand new game. There was honey, and haycorns, and thistles, and carrots – both raw and cooked, as someone had heard Evelyn preferred her carrots cooked – and extract of malt, and little cocktail toasts with butter and sugar sprinkles, and American pasteurized processed cheese food product, and plenty of Tropical Fantasy Fruit Punch.

Everyone had tremendous fun at the party. There was dancing, and games, and music, and everyone sang, “For She’s A Jolly Good Fellow” along with other public domain songs, and then they all settled in to talk about the various treasures they had each found in the geocache and how much fun it was to go on a special expotition.

Presently, Roo decided to demonstrate a new bounce he’d been working on, except that it didn’t quite go to plan, with Roo ending up on entirely the wrong side of the picnic table and everything which had been on top of it being sent into a sort of very general disarray. And among the things which were sent into disarray was the very pretty rock which Winnie-the-Pooh had left in the geocache, and which Christopher Robin had subsequently taken out of it. And the sort of disarray it was sent into involved bouncing off the ceiling and then hurtling toward the floor, only with Piglet somewhere in the middle, such that he would have received a very severe bonk on the head, had Evelyn not been there to catch it instead.

“Oh thank goodness,” Piglet said. “I should have had a very nasty bump. Thank you, Evelyn.”

But Evelyn looked at the very pretty rock in her hand and said, “Oh dear. The rock must have broken when it hit the ceiling.” And she showed everyone how there was now a crack running the entire length of the rock, and as she held it up, the whole thing fell apart into two pieces. “Christopher Robin, I’m sorry your rock got broken,” Evelyn said. But the others looked surprised.

To everyone’s wonder and amazement, the rock was hollow. Moreover, the inside of the rock was lined with tiny red crystals. Owl flapped his wings in surprise. “I say,” he declared, “I do believe that is a-”

A geode
I am reasonably sure this is an artificially produced geode, but never mind that.

“It’s a geode,” Christopher Robin declared. “They taught us about them in school. Do you know what this means?” Everyone sort of nodded understandingly as if they all understood exactly what it meant, but then started to shuffle nervously because they very much hoped no one was going to ask them to actually say what it meant.

But finally, Edward Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, Pooh Bear (Pooh for short), Friend of Piglet (FoP), Rabbit’s Companion (RC), Eeyore’s Comforter and Tail-Finder (ECaTF),  Pole Discoverer (PD) and Geocache Finder (GF), spoke up. “It means,” he said, in a suitably impressed sort of voice, “That Evelyn has Caught the Geode. The Geode has been Caught. By Evelyn.”

“My friends,” Christopher Robin announced, “All our hard work Geode-Catching has finally payed off. Today, Evelyn has caught the geode!” And everyone gave three cheers for Evelyn, and if they hadn’t already been having a party, they would have thrown a party for her. And Christopher Robin told Evelyn that even though the Very Pretty Stone had been his geocache treasure, he would very much like for her to keep half of it, while he kept the other half, so that wherever they were, they could look at their half of the geode and remember this adventure.

And so she did.

 

Fiction: Winnie-the-Pooh and Geocaching Hoo

In Which Evelyn Learns How To Button a Button, and Owl Gives an Etymology Lesson

As it was only a little past lunchtime when Piglet had left Evelyn and Red Zoomer to their own devices, girl and scooter decided – though really it was mostly Evelyn doing the deciding – to spend a bit more time in the Hundred Acre Wood that day and see what other friends they could meet. So she turned southward, and before long, came to the part of the wood known as Pooh Corner, where the old gray donkey Eeyore had once built himself a house, and a short while later, his friends had disassembled it and then built it again.

And there, thankfully where it had been left the second time, was the little house, and there, beside it, was Eeyore, gloomily munching on some thistles. “Hello Eeyore,” said Evelyn.

Eeyore said nothing, but looked up from his thistles and glanced about himself, then returned to them with a gloomy sigh. “Would you like to find some treasure?” Evelyn asked.

Again, the donkey looked up, and looked all about himself, and gave another gloomy sigh. “I beg your pardon, small child,” he finally said. “But you seem to be looking for someone.”

“I’m saying hello to you, Eeyore,” Evelyn said, patiently. “I want to take you on an adventure.”

“Ah,” said Eeyore. “I fear you are mistaken. It’s Pooh Bear you want. Visitors to this wood are always looking for him.”

“No, Eeyore, I was looking for you.”

“Piglet then,” said the donkey. “He’s not so well known as Pooh, of course, but charming in his way.”

“Eeyore,” said Evelyn, “I’ve already visited with Pooh, and Piglet, and Tigger too. And now I want you to come with me to find treasure.”

“Me?” asked Eeyore, not at all convinced.

“You,” Evelyn repeated.

Eeyore turned around in a circle, just to be certain, then gave a little nod of resignation. “I suppose it must be, then,” he said. And off they went.

Evelyn was by this point getting quite good at finding the shady spot quite near the north pole, but she made a great show of checking her map, for Eeyore’s benefit. When they finally got there, Eeyore looked around the place and sighed. “I see,” he said. “I understand now. Finding a treasure is an Expotition which calls for Brain. And Pooh, and Piglet, and Tigger, and even Little Roo, well, they are of course quite agreeable for spending a lazy afternoon playing Pooh Sticks or catching butterflies. But they haven’t a single brain between them, just fluff. This, I think, is a job that calls for some other animal. I shall set myself to it.”

And so he did. He set himself to the search with all the speed and vigor of a tired old gray donkey. And quite some time passed as he looked all around the shady spot, under leaves, and between blades of grass, and on top of mushrooms. Evelyn passed the time by trying to teach herself to climb trees (without much success) and how to button buttons (with a little more success), and by sometimes making a loud “Ahem” sound while tapping the fallen log with her foot.

But eventually, as it was starting to get a bit late, Evelyn said, “Eeyore, have you tried looking inside this log?”

“What?” said Eeyore. “What’s that? How is anyone to search for treasure with these constant interruptions? Here I am, just about to search inside this fallen log, when all of a sudden, I am interrupted. Honestly.” Then, Eeyore looked inside the log, and nodded very sagely to himself. “Aha,” he said.

“Have you found something?” Evelyn said, as casually as she could, given how long this particular Expotition had taken.

“I have found A Something,” Eeyore said. “Of a very suspicious kind.”

Evelyn helped Eeyore take the jar out of the log and declared, “Eeyore, you’ve found the treasure!”

“Have I?” he asked.

“Yes, look,” Evelyn said, and opened the jar. And there inside, Eeyore saw all the various treasures, such as the pretty rock from Pooh, and Tigger’s spring, and Roo’s marbles, and Piglet’s button.

“Oh,” said Eeyore, with a little longing look in his eye. “Well I don’t suppose… No, no, it could never be…”

“What is it, Eeyore?” asked Evelyn. “Would you like a piece of treasure?”

“It’s just… If no one would object… That button…”

Evelyn took the button out of the jar. It was the one that Piglet had put in that morning. “Do you want the button, Eeyore?” she asked.

Eeyore looked over his shoulder. “I think that a button like that would be just the thing to attach my tail. Nails can be fickle things, you know.” Evelyn looked at Eeyore’s backside and saw that his tail was held on with a nail, and could tell that it would take only a very little bit of pulling for the nail to come out.

“You could have the button, Eeyore,” Evelyn said. “If you have something to trade.”

“Hm,” said Eeyore. “Hm indeed. Aha.” And he took out a length of ribbon. “I had been saving this ribbon to replace my tail in the event I lost it again,” he explained. “But with that button, I don’t expect I’ll be needing it any more.”

Evelyn agreed that the ribbon would be a very grand thing to trade for the button. So she put the ribbon in the jar and took out the button. And while Eeyore was writing his name in the log book, Evelyn, who, as you will recall, had just been practicing a little while ago, buttoned the button onto Eeyore’s tail so that it was fixed firmly to him and wouldn’t fall off.

Once the treasure was safely put away back in its log, Eeyore swished his tail a few times, and nodded contentedly. “Thank you, small child,” he said. “You have done a great kindness to an old donkey.”

“You’re very welcome, Eeyore,” said Evelyn.

And so Eeyore went back about his business, and as it was getting late, Evelyn went home for the night. But the next morning, she returned to the Hundred Acre Wood, and this time, she made her way to The Chestnuts, and climbed up to the house of Owl. The sign on Owl’s door read, “PLES RING IF AN RNSER IS REQIRD. PLES CNOKE IF AN RNSER IS NOT REQID.” Evelyn could not read this sign, but it hardly mattered as there did not seem to be a bell pull anyway, so Evelyn knocked on Owl’s door.

“Hoo-oo’s there?” called the voice of Owl from behind the door.

“It’s Evelyn,” Evelyn said. “And you’re Owl.”

“Hm, yes,” said Owl as he opened the door. “You must be the little girl who has been taking all the animals in the wood on an Expotition?”

“Yes. I want you take you to find a Geode Catch,” she said.

“Ah,” said Owl. “Hm. Yes. The spotted or herbacious Geocache. Geode, From the Greek, geodes.” He took down a book from his shelf and consulted it, very importantly, then turned it the right way up and consulted it more. “Meaning a sort of hollow rock with crystals lining the inside. And catch from the Anglo-Norman cachier, meaning… Hm… Um… To… To catch. I see. Yes. Well, we’d best be off then,” he said.

And so they were. And along the way, they happened upon Rabbit, who had been busy gardening all week, and thought that an Expotition to find a Geocache would be a good way to pass the time while he waited for his carrots to sprout. So along they went, once again, to the shady spot quite near the North Pole.

Owl found a convenient branch and busied himself with searching in all the high places, in between breaks to tell the story of his cousin Owlsworth, who once caught a geode that was hidden underneath a stage by the lake. Evelyn thought it was very lucky that the treasure was not hidden somewhere up high, because with all the story-telling, Owl got very little actual looking done.

Rabbit, meanwhile, looked in all the low places: between the flowers, and under the leaves and he even dug a few small holes, being something of an expert at digging. But before long, he looked in the hole in the log, and up he came with the treasure. “You found the treasure, Rabbit!” Evelyn exclaimed.

“Well so I did,” said Rabbit. “Let’s see what’s inside.” Evelyn helped him open the jar, and they looked at the treasures inside.

“Oh no,” Evelyn said. “The pen got lost. Now you can’t write your names in the book.”

“I believe I can help with that,” said Owl, and took one of his feathers to use as a quill pen. He flapped down from the convenient branch and wrote his name in the book, WOL. Then he gave the quill pen to Rabbit, to write his name. Once signing the book was done, Owl put the feather in the jar for the next person to use, and added a second feather as a treasure to trade. In return, he took the ribbon that Eeyore had left, because it would make a very nice bell-pull.

Rabbit looked in the jar as well, and after a bit, he saw the spring. “Why, I plant my carrots in the spring,” he said. “This spring is the perfect thing to put on my mantle to remind me of how much I like spring. Whenever I look at it, I’ll remember that when springtime comes along, I have to plant my carrots.”

Evelyn thought that was very funny, because the spring had been left by Tigger, and Evelyn knew that Tigger and Rabbit didn’t always get along. So it was very funny to her that Rabbit would be so excited to have one of Tigger’s springs. In its place, Rabbit left his extra gardening glove.

Rabbit was so excited to put his new spring on his mantle that he hopped straight off home once they had put the geocache back in its hiding place. Owl began to tell a story about his great aunt Muriel, who owned a pen shop specializing in quill pens, but Evelyn suddenly remembered that she had wanted to visit the bridge to nowhere near the lake, and so she said goodbye to Owl and headed home.