In-Milliways: The Importance of Proper Care of your T-Minus

[sunbaked_baker]

See, this is why Rae doesn't keep pets.

"Yeah, I know," Rae says guiltily, settling her irritated and low-powered T-Minus on the kitchen table with a generous amount of food. She makes sure it's feeding the way it should before straightening up and giving it an apologetic pat. "I'm sorry I've not been here. I left you food, but I didn't expect to be away so long, and I've been rather... preoccupied."

To say the least.

"I'll be around now, though," she reassures it (though she isn't sure how to tell if the T-Minus is reassured or not). "For a good while, I think."

After a night or two of decent sleep, she's steadier on her feet and feeling less frayed, but she is nowhere near ready to head back home again.

Satisfied that the T-Minus hasn't been irreparably harmed, but still keeping an eye on it, Rae puts her apron back on and moves to the other side of the kitchen to start pouring muffin batter (cranberry-orange) into a tray of muffin cups.

Comments

[herr_bookman]

It doesn't take long before the T-Minus is pinging its heart out, sending out messages that, judging from the time-stamps, are severely delayed.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae immediately looks over in surprise and concern. What in the- What's wrong with it? Is her T-Minus dying? Is long neglect finally killing the poor thing? It'd serve her right, Rae supposes, mistreating it as she has.

But it doesn't seem to be in any distress, apart from the pinging. And eventually even the pinging stops. Setting down the bowl of muffin batter, Rae comes over to check on the T-Minus. That's when she sees the first group of messages.

[herr_bookman]

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome

HD: Rae?
HD: Rae, it's me
HD: Autor
HD: I was drafted
HD: I'm sorry
HD: I didn't mean to have it end up like this
HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome


HD: I'm using a rifle now
HD: But I'm glad we don't have to use bows and arrows
HD: Those have a lot of drawbacks

HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

[sunbaked_baker]

The instant uplift to Rae's spirits as she'd seen Autor's name on the screen comes crashing horribly down the very next moment.

I was drafted

I'm sorry

I didn't mean to have it end up like this

She is lucky there is a chair at the table because it suddenly feels like the room is spinning. Her knees nearly give out from under her and she sits down hard in the chair, clutching awkwardly - desperately - at the T-Minus. "No, no, nonononono," she breathes, horror bitter in her throat as she scrolls down.

[herr_bookman]

The next few messages come in short bursts a week apart, as if the sender only had a few minutes to send them at the time.

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome

HD: Come on Rae
HD: Pick up, won't you?

HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome

HD: It's a good thing William Evans isn't here
HD: I'm told to 'fire at will' all the time

HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome

HD: My lieutenant used to be a submarine captain before he joined the army
HD: He likes cards
HD: But apparently he dismisses his past as 'too much bridge under the water'

HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae is having a hard time keeping her breathing even and steady. She feels ill. The sound that she makes as she reads may be a laugh, or - more likely - a sob. Trust Autor to fight off a war with puns.

But Rae knows him. She can see what the puns are.

Come on, Rae. Pick up, won't you?

She should have been here.

She should have paid more attention.

She shouldn't have left him to face this alone.

[herr_bookman]

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome

HD: Had a rough day today
HD: Thought of you
HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

heirDrosselmeyer began trolling solarGastronome


HD: Did you hear about the high-ranking military father who cloned himself?
HD: The result was a Major Faux Pa
HD: No one here would get it
HD: Because no one here knows what a clone is

HD: Pick up pick up pick up

HD: Gotta go
HD: Love you

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

The messages end there.

[sunbaked_baker]

The puns were pure Autor, but Rae's laughter gives way to tears so quickly. Those are the only messages, and the timestamp...

Pick up pick up pick up

She should have been there.

She should have been here.

She should have paid attention. Should have...

Rae felt like she was about to throw-up. Autor was a... Autor is a music student, not a soldier. He plays piano, and grows things in the garden, reads and writes and asks questions, love puns and clever alliteration, blushes easily and is secretly a hopeless romantic. And, more than anything, he's her friend.

And he had better still be alive.

Her vision blurry, her stomach in knots, Rae types frantically into the T-Minus.

solarGastronome began trolling heirDrosselmeyer

SG: Dear friggin gods and angels Autor tell me you are still alive

His request still rings in her head, as she stares at the screen and echoes the fervent sentiment: Pick up pick up pick up

[herr_bookman]

There's a delay of about ten minutes before her T-Minus pings again.

HD: Rae?
HD: Rae!
HD: Hi! I'm still alive, as you can see, haha
HD: How are you?

[sunbaked_baker]

Sick with uncertainty and dread, those ten minutes are the longest of Rae's life, and that's saying something.

Over on the counter, the muffin batter slowly warms to room temperatures and seeps through the paper muffin cups, unheeded.

Rae jumps when the T-Minus pings again in her shaking hands, a wave of teary-eyed relief crashing over her as she read the short messages, the affirmations of life. She replies in a flurry of messages, her haste and her shaking hands making her typing clumsy.

SG: AUTOR
SG: oh gods you're alive
SG: Autor youre alive, thank all the listening gods
SG: I'm so sorry
SG: I thought for so long that we were just missing eachother in the bar, or time differences between your world and the bar was messig up, and then I had to go home for afew weeks and I a
SG: I am so sorry.

[herr_bookman]

Autor offers the T-Minus screen a blink-and-you'll-miss-it smile, leaning against the clay wall of the trench. He takes his time composing his messages, ignoring the gunfire rattling above his head.

HD: Don't apologize
HD: You didn't have anything to do with this
HD: It's good to hear from you
HD: Really good
HD: There aren't any doors out here
HD: Which is unfortunate

[sunbaked_baker]

Her reply is quick and insistent, her tears burning at the corners of her eyes.

SG: We'll find the closest door here and come get you if we have to
SG: You know we will

And then, a few moments later, more slowly:

SG: It's good to hear from you too
SG: I've missed you lots
SG: The asparagus will be coming up any day now
SG: Someone's kept the garden clear of weeds

[herr_bookman]

Autor sighs, tucking his chin against his chest. He licks his chapped lips.

HD: I know you will
HD: I've missed you, too
HD: And that was kind of them
HD: I'll have to find out who it is and thank them personally
HD: When I get back
HD: It might take a while

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae laugh-sobs again, faintly, as she wipes hard at her eyes.

SG: You'll have plenty of time
SG: And probably plenty of asparagus, too
SG: The gardens are looking good
SG: Everything's green again

It's so hard to stay calm, with her stomach still in knots, her breathing still uneven. After so long, Autor is right there on the other side of the screen. So close, and still so far. Could she follow that signal to its source, as she had tried to follow Bo's message on the globenet back to its source, those years ago? That was just through Otherspace; this would be through Milliways' own weird space and then to another world, using tech from a completely different world. And there was no Aimil here to break the connection if something went wrong.

Some of her misery leaches through.

SG: Autor, you must come back
SG: Everyone has been so worried

With good reason, it turned out. Rae just wants to hug him, to hold him and know he's there and alive and still Autor.

SG: You must come back

[herr_bookman]

Autor's fingers tighten on his T-Minus. He can't do anything about her misery, and yet he still feels strangely guilty about it.

HD: I'll try
HD: I can't exactly control that
HD: But I will try
HD: Like I said, there aren't any doors out here
HD: It's all dirt and clay and trenches
HD: But I'm glad it's green where you are

[sunbaked_baker]

It'll still be green when you get here, she wants to promise him, blinking back tears and trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

War.

World War.

The Great War.

And her friend stuck in the middle of it.

SG: We'll try too

She doesn't know how, but they will.

SG: There may be something, some magic we can try
SG: And we'll find it
SG: We'll get you home, okay?

Safe and sound.

[herr_bookman]

Autor only has about a second to finish reading her messages before the screen fades. He shakes his T-Minus, knowing he should have fed it--but with what? There's not exactly sugar in his rations.

He curses his T-Minus for dying, for giving him hope, for giving him one last connection to Milliways. To Rae, his friend. He can't even tell her he loves her now.

Sighing, he tucks his now-dead T-Minus away in his pocket and picks up his gun.

[sunbaked_baker]

heirDrosselmeyer ceased trolling solarGastronome

Rae stares at her screen, disbelieving. Not letting herself believe. Not letting herself consider the implications.

SG: Okay?




She sits in the quiet kitchen with her stomach in knots, staring at the unmoving screen through tear-blurred eyes, for a long time. Hoping against hope.






SG: Autor?