Erasyl: having a boy to boy talk with Leroy Midday, the next day. Erasyl and Leroy were sitting on the seats of an outdoor table, the ocean visible on one side, their rental accommodation on the other. For the moment, no one else was around. This is my chance to talk about a few things not suitable for any other audience. "I know that we aren't supposed to take too much notice, but, when we go swimming we are in the public after all, and..." "Yeah, I know, the ladies look stunning in their bathing costumes, don't they?" said Leroy. "I'll say. Although Devina and Maggie always wear shirts even with swimming." said Erasyl. "I think Maggie is just a little bit conscious of the fact that she's not as well endowed as the others." "I still think she looks gorgeous." said Erasyl. "Indeed. As does Kaydence. Even if she is wearing a one piece." "And the two sweethearts look wonderful also. Hmm, so they are still not sleeping together, even if they are sleeping next to each other." said Erasyl. "Yeah. But still, it is impressive to see how far they have gotten in their relationship. After all, neither of us have any near that sort of relationship with anyone..." "Hmm, you're sweet on Kaydence, but..." "Yes, I know, I can't do anything about it until she regains her emotional maturity. Which may take several years." "And, not meaning to be too negative or anything, but there is no guarantee that by the time she recovers she will be interested in you." said Erasyl. "I know, I know." "And you're prepared to wait that time and ignore all others, on the mere chance of succeeding?" A pause from Leroy. "Yes, I am. Because of what I did in the past, I feel it would be appropriate to help someone else recover before I think about my own happiness. And she certainly needs the help." "A hero as always." "I don't see anything wrong with that..." said Leroy, getting slightly defensive. "No, that's fine, that's fine, I wasn't meaning to disparage you or anything." "Hmm. And, of course, you're keen on Maggie, ain't you?" "It's not much of a secret is it?" "No, it certainly isn't. Say, unlike when you first joined us, ah, do you still, as it were, notice all of us. Like, including me?" said Leroy. He said this with the expression of someone who had just slammed down a coffee mug on top of a questionable insect, and was now gingerly lifting it up to see what he had actually caught. Erasyl energetically shook his head. "No, definitely not! I do have some sense, you know! As soon as I get the message that someone is not interested in me, I don't regard them in that light. That refers to anyone, let alone the people in our group." Leroy relaxed back to normal and grinned. "Yeah, especially with anyone in our group. Like Adalace. Or Sarsaparilla." "My God, I'm not suicidal." said Erasyl. Leroy, enjoying the current theme, kept going. "Or even one of the murderous Girls in Pink!" "I'm still not suicidal! And of course, not Kaydence. And, most definitely, Juniper is also totally off bounds." "Ah, yes." Leroy stopped grinning and looked gloomy. "Yeah, most definitely not Juniper." They stopped talking and watched the scenery for a while. A tourist boat drifted past; some joggers, chatting to each other, pounded along the shore path, otherwise it was quiet. Maggie popped out of the front door and looked in their direction. "Hey, Leroy! Kaydence and the two Scary Ladies are going shopping, and they want you to join them. Well, Kaydence wants you to join them; Adalace seems to be somewhat ambivalent about the matter." Leroy popped out of his seat, "See ya!" and raced to the front door. Maggie casually sauntered over and plonked herself down in the same place that Leroy had just vacated. "So, what were you talking about? Probably girls, I'll bet." she said and she lifted her legs and put her feet on the table. Damn, she's wearing jeans, so there's no display of anything interesting. But, I suppose, she wouldn't sit like that if she was wearing a short skirt. Sigh. But, at least she is talking with me. And looking pretty relaxed about it. "Well, now, how did you guess?" "Two teenage boys by themselves? What else?" She laughed. "Also bet you you're regretting I'm not wearing a short skirt, hey?" With just the slightest tinge of red on his face, Erasyl replied. "Ah, well, that was another lucky guess, wasn't it? Er, I hope I don't get into trouble. Again." Maggie made a show of examining the fingernails of her hands. "I suppose I can let you go on that one. Actually, provided you remain very discreet about it, I'm fine with you admiring my good looks. As long as you don't get obnoxious and obvious about it, mind you!" "Oh, thanks." Oh wow! She's actually OK about me admiring her gorgeous figure! Although, when you think of it, it's no more than what any random man passing by in public can do... But still, I'll take it!" There was a reasonably companionable silence, as they watched a few sailing boats slowly tack across the water. "Say, Maggie, ah, how are you, err, coping with, you know what?" said Erasyl. She visibly sagged, and put her feet down on the ground. "I keep on getting the creeps. Especially when I wake up in the middle of the night. Up until now I've never, to my knowledge, met someone who was raped, but, but, the feeling that I might have been raped by that utter sleazy creep gives me nightmares. And the idea that I would have been so brainwashed that I would have welcomed it, that really gives me the creeps!" "Yeah. It's the same with me. Every time I have nothing of importance to deal with, my thoughts go back to that horrible little shit. And the memory of how it felt to be mind raped by him. I get so tired of repeatedly having to make effort not to freak out, it gets tiring." They both turned towards each other, and without much conscious thinking, they held hands. "I hope to hell those unknown authorities don't let him out of their control." said Maggie. "Oh my god, wouldn't that be bad." They continued to hold hands for a while, until they finally got too embarrassed to continue. So Maggie stood up and smoothed out creases in her jeans. "And, everyone else are going to visit the aquarium complex, then we are going to meet up with the others for morning tea, wanna come along?" she said. "Sure!" Erasyl: Being sent on an errand The layout of the Aquarium Complex was, well, complex. There were above ground tanks of all sizes with exotic fish in them, there were underwater transparent tunnels along the ocean bed to allow the public to see the local denizens of the sea; there were entertainment areas and food halls. The aquarium was located at the edge of the dome, and looking out one could see the huge thirty-metre high processing plants, where the water, mined from beneath the Martian crust, was processed and piped to the dome itself. Past the plants were cliff faces, soaring up eleven kilometres to the normal Martian surface. Inside the dome, next to the aquarium area, was a maze of channels and locks and huge pipes where the influx of the water was controlled and directed to their correct destinations. "Eeeek!" squealed Juniper, "That octopus is looking right at me! He's intelligent!" Indeed, the octopus did appear to be bright enough to separate out individual people and was obviously tracking Juniper with its big eyes. Fortunately, it was on the other side of a thick pane of glass, on the sea bottom, ten metres down from the surface. Devina was spooked as well. "Let's just skip the rest and head back to the surface, shall we?" Maggie was made of sterner stuff. She walked right up the patch of glass that the octopus was climbing on, and waved to it. The octopus closed its eyes and slowly scuttled away. "Oh, what a shame, he doesn't like you." said Erasyl, who was at Maggie's side, with a safe one metre separation. He got a very displeased look back. "Since everyone is gathering back up at the surface look out position, how about you be the one to race off and buy our morning tea?" she said. We both know she is deliberately using my affection for her to manipulate me into fetching the food, but, well, she is talking to me, so... "OK, OK, I suppose I can collect everybody's orders." A minute later, they were sitting in a semi-enclosed gazebo, overlooking the sea, and Erasyl was busy twitch typing into his memo pad what everyone wanted. Those wristbands were very useful for all sorts of things. "I think I'll have a large slice of watermelon." said Francesca, who was obviously enjoying being waited upon. "It was so nice of Maggie to volunteer you, wasn't it?" she continued, big smile on half of her face. Erasyl rolled his eyes. "Yeah, for sure, but I think I might have trouble carrying all of this back..." "No problems, how about I kindly volunteer Tamara to help you?" said Francesca. Tamara jumped slightly, rising ten centimetres slowly into the air and back down again. "Ah, I'm not sure..." "Oh, rubbish, it will do you good. I mean, Erasyl is a nice boy after all, there's no need to be shy." Still looking reluctant but not enough to complain about it, she nodded her agreement and looked at Erasyl. "OK, let's go to feed this hungry mob." he said. Naturally, nobody had any doubt about who was paying for all of this. This is just a little uncomfortable. Erasyl was walking in front, following the directions to the food hall. Tamara was silently trailing three metres behind him. Do I turn around and try to talk to her - or just accept the status quo? After all, I do know that things are complicated for her. Just then, they came to a junction in the path. A sign pointed to the right, saying 'Food Hall'. On the other side was a gate, currently open, with a sign saying 'Water Inlet Sluices - No public access.' So we turn right and... Erasyl's thoughts were disrupted when a small child, running at high speed and not looking where she was going, crashed into Tamara's legs. "Jessibelle! Stop running away!" The little girl promptly started crying as an old looking lady, leaning on a crutch, hobbled up towards them at high speed. This was another advantage of a low gravity. Little old ladies with a dodgy leg might still need a crutch, but they can get around pretty fast none the less. Tamara knelt down and smiled at the girl. That is, she tried. She's really not doing a very good job of it, is she? The girl actually stopped crying and stepped away from Tamara, bringing her closer to Erasyl. Who also knelt down and smiled. The girl tentatively smiled back at him, nervously looked over her shoulder at Tamara still trying to smile, and decided to stick right up close to Erasyl. At least until the old lady arrived. "Oh dear! Jessibelle is always charging around and running away from granny, aren't you?" she said. She looked at both of them, then turned to Tamara. "My apologies, young lady, I hope you weren't hurt?" "Ah, no..." Granny got a good grip on Jessibelle's hand, and started to firmly lead her back the way Erasyl and Tamara had just come. Leaving these two still kneeling on the ground, facing each other. However Tamara wasn't looking at Erasyl, she was looking to the side and down. She looks, what, lost? Sad? That's right, she lost her little sister. She must have loved her so much, and she died because no adult cared to intervene. "Tamara? When you're ready we can continue." Let's keep it simple, shall we? There's nothing I can do to help her. Nothing at all, except to try and not make things any worse. She nodded her head slightly, and they both stood up. And continued to the food hall, with Erasyl in the lead and Tamara trailing by a good three metres. My God, this lot is awkward to carry. And it's only for morning tea! They were now coming back from the food hall to the same junction. Erasyl was carrying a large flat cardboard tray filled with plates of cakes and other prepared food, while Tamara was carrying two shopping bags. One of them contained half a watermelon. Struth, if this was Earth I'll be struggling to carry this weight in a flat orientation all the way back. He stopped and moved the tray around, attempting to get a better balance. At this point, he saw the granny, rapidly moving towards him. "Sorry! Have you seen Jessibelle? She ran away again. My, that girl is such a pain." "Ah, no?" said Erasyl. "And I worry she might have gone through the gate..." said granny. "Have you contacted Emergency Control and asked them to track her location via her wrist band?" "Of course I have, do you think I'm stupid! But they said that the repeater network in this location was taken down due to construction, and it hasn't been repaired yet. So their estimation of her location is only accurate to about half a kilometre." I'm beginning to get some idea about why she is always running away. But, anyway. He put down his tray of food, and looked at Tamara, just as she looked at him. She nodded slightly. "She's must have gone through the gate, since she's in that direction, about two hundred metres." she said, pointing to the gate side. She also put down her shopping. "How about you look after our stuff, and we go and investigate?" said Erasyl, looking at granny. Finding the girl was easy. Tamara pointed diagonally to the right, away from the path behind the gate, so they merely ran down it until they came to another junction, then turned right. There were buildings in the way, so they could not go in a straight line. Another hundred metres and there she was. Standing on a narrow track that ran on the top of a sluice gate, holding onto the railing. Unfortunately, there was just a tiny problem. She was on the other side of a six-metre channel. And the channel was filled with fast flowing water. Presumably, it was being pumped from the processing plants outside the dome and was doing its bit to fill up the internal ocean. "How the hell did she get there? Oh, right." said Erasyl. The sluice gates, which came as a pair, were still moving apart, as they opened up to let the water through. The girl must have walked across the top of the gates just before they started to open. "Now what do we do..." said Erasyl, getting flustered and just a little bit panicked Fortunately Tamara was more even headed. After all, she was used to being in life and death situations. Although normally it entailed her protecting her own life and sending others to their death. Possibly figuring that a sluice gate opening might be manually controlled, she looked around and was lucky to find what appeared to be an operations office shack, half hidden behind some fencing and other buildings. Why is Tamara is running away from the girl, ah! she's found someone. "Hey, you stupid man, there's a girl stuck on that sluice gate!" Tamara, that's not really the best way to ask for help. And, that look she gave him... "What? And, who are you to... Oh, shit, there is a girl stuck on the sluice gate!" The man frantically jumped back into his shack. The sluice gates stopped moving, and then started to close again. Erasyl, being the closest, ran to the gate on his side, and hopped aboard. Gripping the rail, he watched the water running very fast past the opening between the two now closing gates. It's just as well I not scared of deep water. Especially when it is running so fast. And getting faster as the gates close. Wow, its positively foaming now as the gates come right together. By now the gates were closed, and the little girl was within a meter of him. He made an effort of will, and loosened his grip on his side of the railing, stepped past the join and extended his hand to the girl. She looks pretty scared. Right now the water is still and calm. Not at all like what it was when it is flowing past at full speed. "Hello dear. There's nothing to worry about, the water has stopped. Here, take my hand, there's nothing scary any more." Yep, definitely nothing scary... Although the water still looks pretty deep on the up channel side... Let's just get back to shore, OK? The man remained in his shack. Coward. He's probably hoping we won't file an official report. Or maybe he doesn't want to meet Tamara again. He half led and half dragged the girl along the top of the gate and back to land and right up to Tamara. He let go of her hand and stood there, staring back at the sluice way. Maybe I am just a little bit nervous of deep water. Just a little - oh bloody hell I hope I never get that close to deep running water again... At this point he noticed, far too late to do anything about it, that the little girl had been looking at him for reassurance and comfort. However, it appeared that she did not see any of that in Erasyl's face. Damn, I missed my chance to comfort her... Tamara knelt down as the girl turned to her. Now that's a change, Tamara has managed a genuine smile for once. Jessibelle was happy to take it. She put her arms around Tamara, who slowly returned the hug. "There now, you're OK now." said Tamara. "Hmm, hmm" said Jessibelle. What if I just keep my distance and let them have their moment. Oh my, Tamara has some tears in her eyes. "Miss, I'm fine now," said the girl, "And, why are you crying?" She was showing all the signs of wanting to let the hug go and start back to granny, but Tamara kept on holding it. "Ah, no particular reason. Say, why don't we go back now?" Tamara looked at Erasyl, but he kept pretending he was not noticing anything. So Tamara let go of Jessibelle, stood up, took her hand and together they walked back, with Erasyl trailing behind. Granny was still waiting where they had left her, guarding their morning tea. "Jessibelle! You ran away again!" Jessibelle looked as if she might get upset again, so Tamara grabbed two ice creams from their snacks. "Here, have an ice cream each, it's all right, we don't mind." Granny's anger dissipated as she accepted one. Jessibelle showed no hesitation in accepting the other. "Say, was there any trouble when you found her?" asked Granny. "Nyah, she had just gotten lost." said Erasyl, getting in before anyone else could say anything. After some thanks, granny took Jessibelle's hand and they walked away, happily eating their free ice creams. Tamara sat down next to the food, and picked another ice cream, the last one since, the rest of the crew had ordered cakes or drinks. Or watermelon. She started to eat it, then looked up at Erasyl. Was that a smile she just gave me? Even if it was brief. It's a bloody sight better than the usual blank face or angry look she normally gives me. And what do I say now... "I think that what I'm eating now was Maggie's, isn't it?" said Tamara. "Ah, yes." "And the ones I gave away were, Adalace's and Sarsaparilla’s?" "Yes again." She ate a few more mouthfuls, then looked up at Erasyl again. She was not exactly smiling, but she did look relaxed. "How about you go back and buy some more? After all, you wouldn't want to gain their anger at having their food eaten, would you?" But, I didn't give away their food! But, on the other hand even Tamara is now smiling at me. We both know she is deliberately setting me up to do the hard work... "Sure! I'll be right back!" He left on the double. After all, the mob back there were still waiting. Tamara: Looking forward. Later the day, the three Girls in Pink had a little chat amongst themselves as they did some jogging to build up their exercise quotas. They already knew about the rescue since it was discussed during morning tea. "Hugging that little girl; it was the first time I had really hugged anyone since my sister. I had thought that I had totally lost the ability to do so. But, it was so, so warm. And nice." said Tamara. Their shoes crunched on the light gravel path they were following. "It reminded me that I once had the ambition of being a teacher. A primary grade school teacher. But, after I left home and moved to Verdant, my initial attempts to enter some sort of teacher training were all rejected." More jogging. "And then I met Francesca, and, of course, there were no opportunities for hugging small children from the work she did. Do you think that they, whoever they were, were deliberately pushing me to join Francesca by closing off any other option?" "Hmm, quite possibly." said Francesca. Thud, thud, thud, went their shoes on the path. "Then, in that case, when Teylon's quest is brought to some sort of conclusion, I'm going to try again to enter teacher training. After all, things seem to happen around him, previously impossible things start becoming possible after all. For the first time since my sister's death, I’m beginning to feel the smallest amount of optimism for my future." Another gap in the conversation. "Well, you know, now that I think of things, it is a possibility that my choice of work was also manipulated by those anonymous bastards. I actually wanted to work on a tunnel mining team. My little pink fire balls can be quite useful in certain circumstances." said Francesca, "So, who knows, maybe I'll end up there, after all." They kept running. "Say, Devina, what do you think about your future?" said Francesca. "Sorry. But I see nothing in my future. Nothing. Killing my father has closed it off; there is nothing left to look forward to. My only hope is to see Juniper get better, to help her regain he memories and her own future. But after that, well if this Angel of Death stuff is for real, then my soul will just be dragged off to hell." said Devina. "But, Devina, looking after Juniper is a worthwhile goal in its own right. Even after Juniper is better, can't you at least be her companion? Or friend, or something?" said Francesca. "No. I am not worthy of such a thing. How can I be? If she found out about me, she won't want to know me anymore." "Ah, well, OK." But, will Juniper get better? Teylon is supposed to only last until his quest is completed. Devina can't see herself being around for all that long. So, in that case, who will be looking after Juniper? Who can look after Juniper? Tamara, and the others, continued jogging, without saying anything more, until their perpetually demanding exercise quotas were satisfied. Adalace: Hello mum and dad. The very next day Adalace got an email. Oh crap. My mum and dad are passing through and have decided to visit me and my friends. And it's this afternoon. I wish I had never mentioned that I was going on a holiday... Deep breath. Right. I can do it. It's only my parents, after all. "Come in, mum, dad." She gave a hug to both of them. "We have business to attend to, so we can only stay a little while, but we decided we'll really like to see your friends. In a week or so time we can have a private visit." said mum. "Well, ah, this is my friendship group." said Adalace, waving her hand to encompass the eleven other people in the room. "Ah, yes?" said dad. Both parents were standing there, not looking very relaxed, and watching with bemusement the throng of strangers. "Hmm. Anyway, this man is Teylon, he's sort of the - err - leader? Or something. Whatever. He's generously paying for our holiday." "Greetings!" said Teylon. As usual, he was wearing smart casual clothes, and even in holiday mode, he appeared to be the very model of a responsible mature adult. He confidently walked up and shook the hands of both parents. "I actually feel honoured to be part of your daughter's social group. We all think highly of her." "Oh, thanks." said mum. Both mum and dad looked gratified. And slightly puzzled. This is going to take all day if I don't watch out. "And this is Sarawatch, our local Watch Office Manager." Who also shook hands cordially with the parents. "And these, ah, these are the Girls in Pink, Francesca, Tamara and Devina." Francesca was bold enough to also shake hands, the other two, making reasonable credible attempts at smiles, just greeted them with a wave of their hands. As did both Juniper and Kaydence, when they were introduced. "And these are Erasyl and Leroy and Maggie." Three teenagers grinned at the parents. The last one left was Sarsaparilla, who was standing right next to Adalace. However they were, for once, not holding hands. Well, here it goes. "And this cute little lady is Sarsaparilla. Who is my girlfriend." Sarsaparilla smiled her brightest smile, which momentarily dazzled the two parents. She then took hold of Adalace's hand. "Oh, Right, ah, so you decided you like girls?" said dad. "Yes..." "Well, then, and everyone knows about it?" said mum. "Of course. Right from the start." Mum and dad looked at each other. "And you are quite happy with this?" said dad. "Yes. I think Sarsaparilla is wonderful." Both mum and dad relaxed slightly, and both smiled. "Well, then, that's fine by us." said mum, "Isn't it dear?" "Sure, sure, I have no problems with that." said dad, nodding his head vigorously. Mum appeared to be having some thoughts, however. "Hmm, and I suppose they know all about your programming abilities..." "You bet they do!" "And it doesn't worry them?" said dad. "Of course not." said Adalace. "I assure you, I for one have no objection whatsoever to her super programming abilities!" said Maggie. "That - makes me feel relieved - hmm, what about..." said dad. "Yes, dad. I have also told them all about how I was raped. And how I get these really bad moments of rage all the time." Mum and dad looked at each other again. They were very sad, just for a moment, then cheered up. "And everyone just accepts it?" said mum. Teylon, seeing that the parents where having just the littlest bit of difficulty in processing the good news, decided to intervene. "I would like to assure you, on part of our little group, that we know Adalace well and love her, in spite of all her imperfections. Not that she has many, of course! She is truly a wonderful person, and her girlfriend Sarsaparilla is also wonderful." Mum and dad dropped the last of their stiffness and mellowed out. They allowed themselves to be invited to the table, where there was, as usual, a feast spread out and waiting for consumption. "We can't stay for long, but, ah, yes, thank you for the coffee." said mum. "Why, yes, I think I will have just one of those cakes." said dad. After some general conversation, mum thought of a question. "Say, does Sarsaparilla have an esp power?" There was a drop in the conversational sound level. "Yes, ah, quite a powerful one in fact." said Adalace. She looked nervously at Sarsaparilla. Everyone else became completely silent. "What's it called?" said dad. "Hmm, I suppose, Judgement?" said Sarsaparilla. "That's a new one to me," said dad, "I'm sure it must be one of those complicated ones. But, right now, I'm afraid we must rush off..." "Anyway, it's a great relief that our daughter has finally found some where to belong, it was a worry for a while." said mum. The parents made their farewells and departed. Adalace closed the door, walked to the sofa and collapsed onto it. Sarsaparilla followed suit and the two girls leant against each other. That wasn't so bad, after all. "One of those complicated ones?" said Sarsaparilla, "Thank God they don't know the half of it." There was a smattering of laughter.