Oh to go home!

Posted on Sat May 30th, 2020 @ 9:41pm by Vice-Consul Josephine Carlyle-Cragen

Mission: Season 3: Episode 4: Cause and Effect
Location: Earth, 1664 - Near London - Hever Castle
Timeline: MD8 - 9pm at night GMT
983 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Sitting in the sitting room at Hever Castle, Josephine was reading quietly by the roaring fire. When they had first crashed, and come across Hever Castle, they had been surprised to find it empty and locked up. It had taken them days to drag the shuttle under the cover of darkness into the Cellar and then cover the external doors up with dirt to allow the grass to grow. And after exploring the castle had found that the family who had owned it had perished in the Civil wars or fled and passed away in exile. So, they had claimed it. The had used their tech to clean up parts of the house, and reopened it, taking the family name of Humphreys to give themselves legitimacy.

She hated this, but she made the most of the situation. She had collected over the past 12 months the complete works of William Shakespeare in their original published format and along with other works by notables. She wished for a warm shower, flushing toilets and more but here she was, stuck in 1660’s with a man who pretended to be her brother but was not really, and pretending to be a lady of the manor. She had even found in the Castle own library, a copy of the Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It was securely hidden now, along with several old manuscripts and illuminated religious texts dating back to before the reformation of Henry the 8th. Worth a fortune she knew but she was more about saving them rather and selling them. She hated corsets, she hated big puffy skirts, and by the ancient deities, she HATED going to church! But she went every Sunday, with a beautiful bible they had found in the Castle they had claimed as their own, her face suitably composed and mouthed the songs, and such as required. At her feet, were the six beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniels she owned. Two were gifts from the King Himself. There were two mated pairs and she had already had two litters in the 12 months she had, owned them. And expected more. The 2 puppies were from the last litter that she had kept.

She had, made sure those she and James had hired were paid and treated well, and they had the weekends off at her insistence. When asked by a Lady at court, why, She had put forth a vague air and said ‘oh father always liked the weekends to be for family, and servants should have that time with their families as well.’ James had not disagreed, as it gave him and her both times to visit the cellar where they had hidden their unflyable shuttle, to check their supply and batteries.

As it was the weekend, she was alone in the vast castle. And as dusk had fallen, she bidded her time. She knew James would request more money soon enough and she had to make sure it was ready. Sighing as the clock struck the 9th hour she stood, glad that because she was alone, she could dress as she wished, which was in what some would call peasant garb, but it was basically a loose dress and soft boots. And her long blond hair was down and not under a wig as preferred by the court.

Moving to the far hall, her four dogs at her heels, which she and James had blocked off due to what they called ‘extremely bad damage’, she entered by the locked door, only she and James had keys, and locked the door behind her. Then she made her way down a flight of cold stone steps to another locked door. Repeating the process she found herself in a large underground cellar, and there in the middle a lot worse for wear was the Shuttle Miranda. She sighed. And moved to check on it. That was her role, other than to play the doting sister, when she really wanted to box his ears in and drag him from court. Stepping into the shuttle she moved to the cockpit and sat at her old station. She brought up the scanners and made the normal weekly scans. It was routine, so she was not paying much attention. She idly scratched a fury head and set the replicator to its routine.

Until one of the long ranger scanners pinged. Idly she leaned over to check it, thinking it was just another comet reading or asteroid about to hit the dark side of the moon. And then she froze. And stared. A starship? No WAY!

Shifting she brought the scanner to full power and focused on the ship, that was now in orbit around Saturn.

She brought the image into focus. It was a massive ship Odyssey class. And she could make out the Registry on her scans. Just. USS Elysium. She had heard of that ship. Saved. Oh they could go home! Home sounded so nice. Josephine stood and did a dance even as she considered what she was going to tell James.

Sitting back down she sent a general distress call. She hoped it would work. She dared not stay down here too long, so she left the call to repeat and left the shuttle and the Cellar, calling the dogs to her as she did so. She would leave tomorrow for the capital. She knew it would take the crew of the ship, time to figure out where, and how to come down. She could get James and get him back to Hever and then they could beam out. Beam the shuttle out and go home! Josephine raced back through the doors, locking them tightly behind her and up to her bedchamber. She built up the fire and smiled as she did so, patting the dogs as they curled up there. Soon, soon she would be home. Home! It was a delightful thought.

TBC…