Alien Warfare

Watching Chris, I could believe he'd been a cat in his last lifetime.

It's the way he's sprawled on the floor, body bonelessly contorted as he combats the alien life forms lurking down there with the single-minded tenacity of a kitten with it's first mouse, squeezing himself into gaps that are surely far too small for his frame.

He senses my presence, slithering back to greet me with a broad grin and a thousand dust bunnies, holding his lost prize.

I shudder reflexively. There is no way in hell I'd ever crawl under his sofa like that.

It's too scary.

Three Wise Monkeys

What a revolting development.

One bomb and we're crippled.

Chris can't see, flashblinded.

Backup can't talk, jaw shattered.

I can't hear, deafened.

Teamwork.

We can do this.

Chris and I know the way each other think. Backup's worked with us enough to fit right in.

Chris and Backup talk with their hands.

I translate Backup for Chris.

I see them tense, know we have company.

Chris asks the question, friend or foe?

Backup gives the answer and I translate.

Foe.

Chris shoots at sound, I shoot at vision, Backup coordinates us all.

What a team.

We can take on anything.

Terminal Velocity

Wind screaming past my ears as we drop unfettered towards the ocean below. Exhilerating freedom of freefall shoots adrenaline firing through me and I don't want to end the shattering rush.

Nothing like it.

Never want it to end.

The crack as Sam's `chute opens.

For a split second I'm tempted as the adrenaline sings.

But inevitably, I pull the cord.

A snap and rustle and the rush stops hard.

A few seconds and we hit with a blast.

Warm coccoon of water, welcoming and embracing, soothing and calming as a lover.

Nothing like it.

Never want it to end.

Shell-shocked

She looks around the neat and tidy flat, eyes dead and face expressionless.

She won't be coming here again.

Just like she won't be going to the chaotic apartment on Church Road again either.

Nothing will ever be the same, and she doesn't know what to do.

She moves like an automaton through the minutes, hours, days waiting for someone to tell her it was all a horrible mistake, an illusion, a hallucination.

It wasn't.

Somewhere deep beneath the shock, she knows.

She was there when her two best friends failed.

She was there when it all went to hell.

The Bitch is Back

Nervous excitement on an emotional high breeds a fluttering stomach.

A deep breath, and I enter the Control Room.

People look up, some smiling, some surprised, some thought I was gone forever.

Backup greets me with a warm hug.

A cup of coffee just how I like it precedes Curtis with his shy smile.

Civility shatters with Richards' welcoming bellow .

An arm around my waist, and Keel chucks my cheek.

Spencer indicates my new desk with a flourish.

Silence falls.

"Rebecca, welcome back." Malone pauses. "Work, please, ladies and gentlemen!"

I've been away too long.

But now I'm back.