Night Thoughts

Who: Peter Marwood
Where: Jupiter Station
When: At Night, round about 1:00am
Peter stood by the window of Jupiter Station's Observation Deck,
looking out into Space, and at Blue Dwarf, which was sat silently in
Space. It was night, so the Station's artificial lights had been
turned down to minimum, giving the place an eerie ambience.
As he watched, Peter could see some of the tiny, one man ships
making their finishing repairs to Blue Dwarf's battered hull. Since
Earth's destruction, the ship had been unable to stop for supplies,
personnel & repairs, so had become quickly battered and damaged.
When they had pulled into Jupiter Station, the Ship was covered in
blast damage from enemy fire, Meteorite impacts, and had even lost a
Hanger Bay, due to someone crashing a large Spaceship into it, but
was written off as Collateral Damage in that Earth was saved in the
process.
Blue Dwarf now looked better than ever. The Ship exterior had been
repaired and had been given a new coat of paint (was it him, or did
the paint have a slight metallic detailing to it?). And that wasn't
all; inside Blue Dwarf, everything had been repaired, all the patch
worked circuitry and computer equipment had been repaired and
updated. The Ship was clean and bright, no longer the dank,
dilapidated nightmare it had once been. Supplies had been loaded
onboard, and the Starbug's and Blue Midget's that had been sitting
in the repair bays had been repaired and upgraded too. As well as
this they had been sent 15 more Starbug's and 10 more Blue Midget's
to bring their ship compliment up to standard.
He turned away and looked at his reflection in the chrome segment of
the wall, he was looking good. He had spent the last few hours
buying new clothes and uniforms. He'd even splashed out on what was
called a `vintage' flight jacket, made with brown leather and a wool
lining. He'd also taken the time to visit a barber, his hair and
beard having grown long and matted, he'd was now sporting a crew cut
and was clean-shaven.
But there was something inside of him, giving him a sense of
uneasiness . It was anticipation. Anticipation for the future, of
his future, what came next, where he was going ad infinitum. His
orders had come through earlier that evening. They had politely
thanked him for his part in saving Earth from the Hymenoptera, and
told him that "as of 20:00 hours" he was officially a crew member of
Blue Dwarf.
Blue Dwarf.
Home.
He liked to think of Blue Dwarf as his home now, and the crew as his
extended family. He had Alandra there, as well as his Mum. And all
the other people he had met.
He turned and exited the Viewing Gallery, made his way through
Jupiter Station and down into Blue Dwarf. He took the nearest Xpress
Elevator down to the Promenade, which was empty and quite spooky in
semi-darkness. He saw that Parrotts was open and decided to get some
drink inside him, before drifting off to bed. He opened the door and
took in the sight that beheld him.
Four young Technician's were sat in the corner, drunk out of their
mind's singing a rather lewd version of "An Old Asteroid Miner".
Various other member's were sat in their niche's, quietly sipping
from their pints. Somebody, he couldn't see who, was playing a game
of pool.
He strode up to the Bar, and noticed that Efof wasn't on duty as he
usually was. There was a young teenage girl, perhaps 17 or 18
serving. She had blonde pigtails and was reading a copy of
Cosmicpolitan (The Magazine Cosmopolitan had renamed itself this
during the 2040's to reflect Mankind's conquest of Space. Which
wasn't hard in itself as it mainly consisted of nothing.).
"Excuse me" said Peter, trying to catch the girl's attention.
"Yeah, what?" in a thick cockney accent.
"Can I get a pint of Foster's please?"
"Coming right up love" said the Cockney girl.
"Did my mo…I mean, Peggy Marwood hire you?" he inquired.
"Yeah" said the girl, as she rather badly poured the pint. "She
hired me `cos of our `shared London background'. or some other crap
like that."
She sloshed the beer down in front of Peter, who paid her the 2
dollar pounds and retired to his quiet corner. He took a sip of his
Foster's and noted it was quite good, but not good enough to cost $£-
2. He sat for a while, thinking about life and all the other things
that come to you when your awake at that time in the morning. He lit
up a cigarette, and felt someone sit on the seat next to him.
Someone he couldn't really see in the semi-darkness.
Peter turned to look at the Stranger.
In the darkness he could see that it was….
<Tag: Anyone want to come join Peter for a quiet drink?>