Evening

Far out across the placid sea, the setting sun shimmered its way inexorably downward towards the horizon; the dying embers of the day tinting the skies with the faintest blush of purple and gold, which, in time, developed into broad strokes of brilliant colour that stretched across the sky as far as the eye could see
For the most part the crew of the Blue Dwarf were all relaxed and happy, and after their recent travails, a day lounging in the sun had made a welcome change from being in almost constant peril
Jamie and Eve had finished the beach hut some hours earlier, and given the choice between either returning to the dank confines of the ‘Dwarf or spending the night boozing and camping out in their new accommodation, the crew had, by common consensus, opted for the latter; and it was with some anticipation that they busied themselves, preparing for their first evening on the planet
Leaving the others gathering firewood and organising the camp, Jamie had taken advantage of the rare opportunity to indulge in a little Ssala-style hunting and had ventured off into the jungle on his own. He returned a short while later with a couple of dog-sized creatures, which he had killed, skinned and gutted, and which were now slowly roasting over the fire
Cassandra and Jade returned while he was away; Cass almost immediately kicking her boots off and getting out of her shorts to go swimming in the warm sea, leaving a somewhat skittish-looking Jade to grab a beer and relax for a while in the air-conditioned cool of the Starbug

It was almost an hour later that the smell of the cooking food finally tempted Cass out of the water; and as she trudged back up the beach to collect her things, to her surprise she found Jay sat waiting in the gathering gloom with a couple of beers and a ludicrously patterned towel for her
“Thought you might need one of these” he held the towel up for her as she approached him dripping water
“Thanks” Cass smiled gratefully as she accepted it “To what do I owe this sort of treatment?”
“Well, you know - I thought I’d make sure you weren’t attacked by nocturnal sea monsters while you were swimming, and I figured you might want a towel when you were done”
“Hmm” she retorted sceptically as she carefully wrapped the towel around herself and sat down next to him
“Beer?” Jay proffered a bottle
“Thanks”
They sat in silence for a while watching the dying rays of the sunset
“It’s nice here, isn’t it?” Cass said after a moment, drawing her knees up in front of her and idly stirring the sand with her free hand
“Yeah” Jay nodded appraisively “Better than Fernando’s anyway”
“That crash landing did kinda spoil things” Cass gave him a sideways glance and smiled from behind a swig of her beer
“Piss off” he grinned “You’re all only alive because I’m as good as I am”
“I don't think I ever thanked you properly for coming to rescue me from the Haruk”
Accustomed to the somewhat mercurial way conversations tended to progress with her when her guard was down, Jay just shrugged “I'm not sure if you ever did” he said mildly
“Well...” she gave him a sideways glance and an ironic smile “Thanks”
“Least I could do” Jay took a swig of his beer “Thanks for everything you did for that nanophage cure”
This made Cass bow her head
“I'm sorry about getting you involved in that paradox chain” she murmured after a moment “It was only meant to be you and me and a few simple paradoxes” she paused to gaze at him “It’s no excuse, but if Kenneth hadn’t intersected the ‘drive’s Aoki-Kaufmann horizon...”
“No” Jay grimaced and shook his head “That’s all my fault not yours”
“Oh, don’t be daft” Cass leaned sideways to bump him with a wet shoulder
They lapsed back into a reflective silence after that; both sipping their beers as they watched the last sliver of blood red sun dip down beneath the horizon
“I miss her too” Cass said eventually
“What?”
“I miss Katrina as well - We all do
“You’ll have to excuse us all" she continued "Nobody knows what to say or how to broach the subject” she paused to chance a quick glance at him as he took another swig of his beer and gazed resolutely out at the sea.
“So...” Cass took a deep breath “I’ll say what I wish someone had said when to me when my mum died”
Surprised, Jay turned to regard her. This was new “Oh? What’s that then?”
“That I’m sorry for you loss” she said sincerely “If you want to talk or if there’s anything I can do, just ask”
Looking back at him, Cass wondered whether it would be appropriate to clasp his hands in hers or even to embrace him; but she decided against it and instead lapsed back into silence, leaving Jay to ponder her words and fiddle uncomfortably with his bottle
“Thanks” he murmured “It’s not like she’s actually dead... It just feels like it”
“As I said: I’m sorry for your loss”
“Yeah”
“To be honest, I’m surprised you’re even here with us” Cass said quietly, choosing her words with care “I thought you would have stayed with Kat; I mean it’s not like anyone would have blamed you”
Jay shrugged and drained his beer
“I’m needed here”
This made Cass start “By who?” she croaked, immediately regretting her flustered response
His eyes lost in the gathering darkness, Jay turned to regard her as a bright blue-white flash seared through the air, closely followed by a loud bang
“The fuck was that!?” Jay demanded as they both scrambled to their feet
“It was electrical” Cass stooped to snatch up her boots as the echoes of shouts drifted back towards them from the nearby camp
“C'mon...”
He was off with that, leaving Cass to shake her head at his retreating back and hurry along after him


The acrid stink of ozone and fire extinguisher propellant greeted them as they hurried through the trees towards the camp before making their way towards where they could see everyone bustling around the Starbug waving torches around in the dark
"No!" Jamie snapped at Herbie "To the right of the flux recycler. No the right!"
He was standing with his head and shoulders up inside a service hatch underneath the starbug with Herbie crouching beside him, apparently shining his torch in the wrong direction
"What happened?" Jay demanded as he approached
"We're not entirely sure" Artemis replied, his brain sloshing around in his tank as he turned to face him "There was an explosion and a fire"
"I'll tell you what happened!" Jamie growled as he ducked out from beneath the 'bug "We've got salt water in the phase intake conduits, and it’s blown damn near every relay in the ship"
"How the hell did that happen?" Cass was aghast
"Can you fix it?" Jay cut across her, eliciting a scowl of irritation
“I’ll tell you how it happened” Jamie ignored him “While you were out for your walk, Flyboy here decided it would be fun to take Phil water-skiing using a cargo crate, a length of rope and the bloody Starbug – I've never seen anything so reckless in my life!”
Caught between the urge to cuff Jay over the back of his head and to simply laugh, Cass slowly shook her head
“Yeah, but you can fix it can’t you?” Jay repeated
“Yeah, I can fix it” Jamie replied sullenly “But it’s going to take the best part of a day – Thanks for nothing!”
“Look, I swear I closed the intakes” Jay protested “I’ve been flying long enough – I know what I’m doing!”
“Yes, but in fairness,” Plisken interjected “even I thought FeBuggure was going to die when you dragged him and the cargo crate out through the treetops”
Cass smirked and glanced around, looking for Jade, but not seeing her anywhere “I guess that might explain the weird cyclone that hit us out near that pyramid we found – It was probably the backwash from the ‘bugs engines”
“Pyramid?” Jamie asked sharply
“Yeah, big weird looking stone thing” Cass shrugged “Why?”
Jamie related the contents of the message that Eve had found in the bottle to no little disquiet amongst the assembled crew
“Weird” Molly breathed when he was done “This place is definitely not inhabited right?”
“No, not at all” Artemis sloshed around in his tank “Holly was positive about... Yes, what is it dear?” he asked as the ‘missus’ shot down the Starbug’s main access ramp gesticulating wildly with 'her' claw
“No, no... Slow down dear”
It took a moment before he could make any sense of his wife’s frantic gesticulations
“I... Oh, my science! – Yes, yes, right away!” he span back to the assembled crew, his brain inside the tank struggling to keep up with the sudden movement “One of my babies has gone missing!” he gasped “Please comrades, I need your help!”
With faultless dramatic timing, the air was suddenly split with the plaintive staccato bark of an unseen animal, not far away, out in the jungle...

<tag>
Everyone:
What’s out in the jungle? – Tentacular terrors? Supernatural horrors?
Which one of Artemis’ kids has gone missing?
Where’s Jade got to?
<ooc>
Tagged those mentioned, but if you're not tagged, just assume that you're there and jump in
</ooc>
</tag>