A New Captain Scarlet story for Christmas By Cat 2 Miriam Ad Bann – better known in Spectrum as
Lieutenant Almond – stood, looking out of the observation lounge window. Skybase always floated 18,288 m above Sea level. She had contacted Lieutentant
Silver a few moments ago to ask for their current position exactly. The Australian had been surprised, but
had answered. 0.75m west of The
Syrian Sea. That made her 18,200m from her
home. That was closer than she’d been in... a long time. Down there, it would be Christmas Eve, as they called it here. They would be celebrating the Maca, eating the food that the men had made. It was disgusting, but fun. As midnight approached, they would head to the tents and light the first candle. Then they would carry it out into the desert, to their sacred places. Then the prayers would start. A song as old as the hills, dating back to at least the Middle Ages, and probably older than that. Each day had its own rituals;
some for the women, and some for the men and of course Epiphany was for the
children. It was very different from
here. There was little enough greenery in the desert, and they would have never
thought to bring any of it into their homes. Christmas was for fasting, but
here, she had learned it wasn’t the same, when she had heard several officers
here gleefully describing the food they were expecting tomorrow. “Hey.” She jumped, her hand
automatically going for her weapon. Scarlet flung his hands up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” “You didn’t,” she replied
automatically, her eyes returning to the window. Scarlet nodded. “Thought you’d be gone. Adam
left nearly three hours ago.” “After Last year, Mrs. Svenson made it very clear that this year the invitation
was ‘just for family’.” Paul was forced to smile. “Well unmasking your future
brother-in-law’s girlfriend as a religious fanatic planning to sacrifice him
does tend to put a damper on things,” Scarlet said, attempting to make a joke.
Miriam either ignored the joke or didn’t understand. “He was grateful!” she
said, angrily. “She didn’t like me anyway.” She turned to look at him. “What
about you?” she asked. “I thought you’d have left.” Paul shrugged, moving over the
deserted couch. “You heard from your brother
Ardeth?” “No. And don’t try and change
the subject.” Paul shook his head. “I’m not.” Miriam sighed. “You heard about the D’Garys?” Paul nodded. The D’Garys had
been heavily involved in the movement to help Hiran men and women defect, as
Miriam had done. Their bodies had been found pegged out in the desert two days
ago. “The house is still on radio
silence in case they talked.” She sighed. “It will be hard for everyone.” She paused and continued delicately,
“Adam heard you tell Carrie you were visiting Destiny. I admit I was surprised.” Paul sighed. “Do you know what her reaction was when
I told her what happened? ‘I told you so’. Just that. ‘I told you so’.” Miriam sighed. “I highly doubt
she accurately predicted what happened. Black returning to Mysteron Control and
Destiny being manipulated by him surprised everyone, including me.” she said.
“Anyway, sisters are required to hate their brother’s girlfriends. I detested
all the women my brothers married, admittedly with reason.” She shook her head
and wandered back over to the window, well aware of Paul’s eyes following her. “I’m literally the middle
child. Three older, three younger. Ardeth’s ten months younger than me, then
there’s Madlagen.” She shook her head. “She’s always been the rebel. Always came
in filthy from fighting with the boys, couldn’t sew to save her life,
deliberately said the wrong words in prayers.” She was smiling, though tears
could be seen in her eyes. “When I left, she’d just got married. In fact, I left
amidst the feasting for her wedding. And when I last spoke to Ardeth, he told me
she was pregnant.” She turned to face him. “In the desert, a woman has a one in ten chance of dying, bearing her first child. The risk doubles if her husband cares more for the child than its mother. I should be down there. I should be holding her hand and wiping her brow and telling her it’s going to be all right. I’d give almost anything to be there. To be with my family.” She turned away from him, her eyes closed to stop the tears leaking out. “But you can’t go back.” Silence reigned in the deserted
lounge for a few seconds, before Miriam spoke again: “There’s a plane leaving in twenty
minutes. If you hurry, you can catch it.” Paul nodded. Getting to his
feet, he rested a hand on her shoulder.
“We’ll get you home, one day.” Miriam nodded, as he left, like
she believed the lie. She watched as he headed for the plane that would take him
to Carrie’s. Moving over to the table, she
poured herself a mug of Green Tea, the traditional drink before the fasting
began. With a small sad smile, she
lifted the glass and drank the age old toast. “Next year in Zion.” Author’s NoteNext year in Zion means, next
year in the homeland. It’s kind of a wistful toast, which I admit I borrowed
from Jewish Tradisions. It seemed right for Miriam at this kind of year to be
longing to be with her family. For more information on what happened to Destiny,
please see
Five Years Gone, presently on
Fanfiction.net, but which will be published in 2009 on
this wonderful site. Thanks to Chris and her team who have been so patient with
me. Season’s Greetings to you all.
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