Speed Limit

Posted on Sun Apr 21st, 2019 @ 8:11am by

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Bajor
1032 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

“Thank you for coming to see my sister with me”, Estelle said. “Even if my antics are sometimes tiresome. I’m glad you’re such a patient woman.” Estelle put her arm around Liorga as they slowly walked back to their shuttle. Stefanie was already at work again, she had a schedule to keep.

“Tiresome?” Liorga laughed, “Who in Hell could ever get tired of you?” She actually did understand how some people might, those with sticks in uncommon places, but her? Not a chance.

“You’re too kind”, Estelle said. She knew she went too far sometimes. “But now it’s your turn. You wanted to do something silly, and I’m game, whatever it is.”

“I’m gonna be honest, love.” Liorga started, “I don’t have a clue what I want to do. The main thing was getting to be alone with you.” The main thing? It was really the only thing. She knew it was all she thought of during her captivity.

“So, how about a cabin in the woods, by a clear lake?” Estelle suggested. “Just us, bird song and fish… maybe they’ve even got ducks on Bajor?”

“Sounds wonderful.” Liorga smiled, pulling Estelle into a deep kiss, “Who knows, maybe we find some retirement property here or something?” She had been thinking a lot about retirement, even if she knew Estelle wasn’t ready for that yet. Hell, she wasn’t sure she was even ready for it yet, but ever since busting out of Dunphy’s hideout she couldn’t deny giving it serious thought.

“And here I always thought I’d retire to Risa, eventually”, Estelle smirked. “Fly us somewhere you like? Let the shuttle be our cabin. Like one of those old mobile homes the Dutch used… a nation on Earth. Everyone had a caravan so they could up and leave when sea levels rose.” Not that anyone really believed that was the reason, but with much of the country below sea level, it was always good for that particular joke.

“Don’t know much about the Dutch.” Liorga laughed, “I only lived on Earth from fifteen on and my dad was from Detroit. However, the idea of travelling for the rest of our lives together, it is appealing.”

“It is”, Estelle agreed. “But let’s start somewhere slow and remote.” It would allow them both to recharge their batteries. As they climbed back aboard the shuttle, Estelle brought up a map. “Computer, show us all places where we may land and camp, with lakes, uninhabited.” As the display changed, Estelle asked, “What climate do you prefer?”

“I can deal with cold if you want to see some snow.” Liorga replied; that was the great thing about replicators, you never had to worry about not having the right stuff for the environment and you could still pack light.

“No, you pick what you like”, Estelle insisted. “Just make sure there won’t be hundreds of other tourists and I’ll be happy.”

“Okay, so how about in the mountains?” Liorga offered, “We’ll have to keep each other warm.”

“Yes, excellent”, Estelle agreed. She could already imagine them sitting huddled up, snuggling tightly, by a raging fire.

“Sounds perfect.” Liorga smiled, “So let’s do this. We can take a few days away from it all. Maybe we’ll do some mountain climbing.”

Estelle leaned back in the seat, much more comfortable with the idea of Liorga flying than trying to do it herself.

“Okay, so, now that I’ve picked our climate, I’ll set a destination and take you away from it all.” Liorga winked, knowing she was probably more excited than Estelle was about the whole thing. Maybe if I did this often enough, she thought, I wouldn’t want to retire.

Estelle closed her eyes for the flight. “I’ll let you surprise me. I see nothing.”

Liorga chuckled and set the autopilot, she’d let the shuttle do the work until it was time to land. In the meantime, she had other ideas, “So, you know it’s going to be like an hour and a half to our destination, how would you like to spend it?”

“How big is this planet?” Estelle wondered. “Or is there some kind of speed limit?” An hour and a half, while their flight here from the station had only taken five hours. It seemed like a deliberate slowing down. Or was that the plan?

“Hey, you let me handle the engineering and flight, huh?” Liorga playfully fired back, “Now, we’ve wasted a couple minutes of this flight, but there’s still plenty of time.”

Estelle stood and stepped behind Liorga. “Just keep your eyes on the snake… or flight path, or whatever. We do not want to crash. Concentrate.” She placed all ten fingertips on Liorga’s head and massaged the skin, as if to add emphasis.

“That’s what autopilot is for.” Liorga laughed, pulling Estelle into her lap and kissing her hard, “It’ll let me know when it’s time to land. So, basically, the time is ours.” She’d set the shuttle to a very low speed just to have more time for the two of them.

“You love to live dangerously, don’t you?” Estelle asked, though overriding her sense of this being a bad idea because she trusted that Liorga knew what she was doing.

“Ever since the night we met.” Liorga grinned wickedly.

Estelle wasn’t sure how to respond to that, she just knew it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Either way, sitting here is one of my favourite places in the universe, so I’m not complaining.” She turned away from the window to focus entirely on Liorga.

“Can I tell you something?” Liorga whispered, “It’s actually only supposed to be a thirty minute flight…”

Estelle laughed and poked her in the side. “I knew something was up! You’re worried about going skinny dipping in a mountain lake too soon?”

“No.” Liorga shook her head, “I’m worried about waiting for love until it’s too late.”

“I’m right here”, Estelle kissed her. “No waiting required.”