Gossip

<snip>
He plonked himself back down and they sat in silence for a while. During the silence it was difficult not to notice Cass and Jay staring at each other.
After a while Jade nudged him and nodded towards them.
“What's up with those two?”
“I told you, it's complicated. I'll bet Cass is glad Katrina's not here, though.”
He realised he was accidentally verging on gossip, and decided he should change the subject.

Belly fuller than it had been for days, Alex lie back, relishing his freedom, and stared up at the stars. The novelty of being planet-side was still very real, and very welcome. He could hear Plisken mumbling a story at someone and the gentle noise was comforting.

He turned his head to look up at Jade.
“Wonder what we'll do about the shuttle, and Seymour. I could do with Seymour being here right now to be honest.”
“Why? D'you have a soft spot for him?”
Alex's lip twitched at the thought.
“It's not that, he's got my blanket.”
</snip>
Jade chuckled and glanced away to frown at Cassandra who was talking in low tones to White Wolf across the other side of the campfire
“Y’know I still can’t place her face” she murmured “You sure she was on the crew?”
Alex wrinkled his nose
“No, she was never crew” he admitted, keeping his voice low “She’s pulled Jay up on that more than enough times when he tried to order her around – As she keeps telling him: She’s not crew and never will be”
Jade raised her eyebrows
“So where’s she from? How come she’s here?”
“Long story” Alex sighed and lapsed into silence, leaving Jade to turn and regard him in the firelight
“Y’know, you can’t say something like that without offering at least a half arsed effort at an explanation” she said, smiling softly
“Nah”
“Ah g’wan” Jade leaned over to gently bump him with her shoulder
“It’s be gossiping” Alex protested
“It’s only gossip if they’re not around!” Jade grinned impishly “Spill the beans boy!”
Alex thought on this for a moment, pursing his lips and weighing his options
Smeg it
“I guess you’ll hear it all eventually...” he conceded
“Good man!” Jade grinned and leaned in to listen to him, a stray lock of her dark hair falling down around her face which she scooped back behind an ear
“Dunno where she’s from” Alex began “She’s never said, although from bits of the accent I’d guess northern England; but there’s a bunch of other stuff in there too – Maybe she spent time offworld or abroad or something?”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever” Jade shrugged “Let’s have the proper dirt”
“Oh alright” Alex sighed, before nodding towards Cass who was frowning at something White Wolf was saying “That’s Brittany – The queen, I mean”
“Bollocks” Jade retorted “Looks nothing like her”
“No...” Alex tried again “She’s not the queen, but she’s like a copy or a ...a clone of the person who became the queen after the old one died”
“Wasn’t Brittany a right slag?” Jade glanced appraisively at Cass “Shagged her way through most of the Space Corp officers?”
“Not after she took over” Alex murmured darkly “She apparently ruled for ten thousand years, subjugated the entire galaxy and set the STCP up manipulate history and keep herself in power”
“Christ” Jade muttered, raising her eyebrows in surprise
“Nah – That’s Jay” Alex grinned, warming to his subject “He used to be Jesus apparently – Bit of a mix up while he was working for the STCP – Jay-sus Chryst-ler?”
“Oh... Oh right... So, that’s how they met? At the ST...whatsit?”
“STCP – Space Time Continuum Police. No...” Alex lowered his voice to a whisper “I think she caught his eye when she used to work as a stripper on the Dwarf”
“Whoa, this gets better!” Jade cackled, rubbing her hands together in delight, her eyes shining in the firelight
She glanced at Cass and then back at Alex
“You ever go see her dance?” she asked mischievously
“Nope” Alex lied
“Why not? She’s a pretty girl...”
“Well, you know... She... I…”
“You like her, don’t you?”
“Why’s everyone keep saying that?” Alex huffed, shaking his head and shuffling away from Jade on his backside
“Thought so” she grinned impishly
“She’s a friend...” Alex felt himself flushing “I wouldn’t be able to keep up - mentally that is... She’s... It’d be like a... a sister – A really bloody dangerous sister... She can be frightening...”
Jade favoured him with a disbelieving, sidelong glance
“Easy Mister Grumpy, I’m only messing” she smiled “Chrysler must like a challenge... So what’s with him and his wife anyway? They’ve been all over each other...”
“Shush…” Alex elbowed her and nodded across at Cass who was standing with an unhappy frown on her face, her arms folded defensively in front of her, obviously uncomfortable at being the centre of attention and still wearing what amounted to little more than glorified tribal underwear
“Sorry guys...” she started and paused to pull a hand out to run it nervously back through the remains of her hair “I didn’t realise you were all here for me...”
She stopped again to survey the assembled faces, lit in stark relief by the flickering campfire
“I thought you were here for the spaceport, not me” Cass tried again “It’s been weeks and I had given up hope... I... I don’t even know some of you, and yet Wolfie here tells me that you all came here to try and help me”
She took a deep, shaky breath before continuing – This apparently wasn’t coming easily
“I just wanted to say thanks and that I’m humbled, and that I... I owe you all”
Folding her arms again she cast her eyes downward and without another word, stalked across the circle around the campfire to sit down next to Jay

Raising his eyebrows, Alex blew out a low breath as he watched her walk past him
Wonders would never cease...


Folding her legs up in front of her as she sat down on the ground, Cass leaned forward to hug her knees to her chest and rest her chin on her arms, turning her head slightly to glance sidelong at Jay out of the corner of her eyes
“I’m sorry” she said after a moment and turned to look at him, her green eyes meeting his “I was stupid. I’m so sorry for everything”
Silently reaching out, she snaked a hand into one of his, their fingers intertwining in the darkness
“So sorry” she whispered