Crashmas by SecondGuess

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Gentle Mary was a child

Terrians had raised her.

There she stayed, out in the wild

To mankind a stranger.

Such a girl in such a place,

At home beneath our new Earth,

Will guide Ulysses to Mooncross,

And show the Terrians our worth!

--The Martin Classic Crashmas Carols Library

The dusk was just settling in as Cameron and Uly paraded through camp, singing “Oh Come, All ye Stranded,” to summon the troops to the official Crashmas Eve festivities.

The song, an alternate to Uly’s favorite, “Oh Come out, Ye Worm Bullet” had been deemed the official official version of the song by True, who was hoping that Baines and Walman would forget the supplemental lyrics before her dad got back. He hadn't been too happy with the original version.

Trouble was, he should have been back already.

True sat alone in front of the small fire, barely burning until they would start the celebration by making a bonfire to symbolize the crash. Her dad was going to miss the lighting ceremony. He was going to miss everything.

The air around her was imperceivable, one of those strange nights when it felt to be the exact same temperature as she was. Her dad always called them “Rosie Days” cause no matter how hard he worked, he never managed to break a sweat. He’d always bust into their tent at night proclaiming that he still smelled like roses.

True knew he was kidding. Her dad had never smelled like roses in his life, but even so, she wished he’d walk into camp right now so she could give him a huge hug, and bury her face in his crazy hair. She’d settle for the licorice-tang of axel grease and Dad Sweat as long as it meant he was back. It was probably much hotter out there in the desert, anyway.

Bess had spent the morning trying to assure her that her father would make it back, and at first True had believed the Earth-Res was telling the truth. They had even ventured to the outskirts of camp to draw arrows to guide her dad home with the cool green goo Julia had discovered.

As soon as the sun began to set, however, True knew if he wasn’t here now, he’d have to stop and make camp soon. She wished she’d had Jumpers; her eyes kept playing tricks and the lingering heat kept making ripples on the horizon. Finally, Bess had gently insisted that they go back, and make the best of the Crashmas celebration.

Sighing again, True rested her chin on the bulky, oddly wrapped parcel held securely in her lap. Her father had tried to warn her that he wouldn’t be back in time, but she hadn’t wanted to face facts, and now all she wanted was for everyone to leave her alone, and let her mope.

The stupid Crashmas parade past by her again, this time having accrued Walman, Baines, Alonzo and Bess. Uly had been pestering her to march all evening, but True refused to budge. Besides, this carol was starting to bug her; it had way too many verses.

If her dad was here, he’d probably be rolling his eyes already.

“Hey True, you sure you don’t wanna march?” Separating himself from the passing processional, Alonzo plopped down next to the young girl, and True did roll her eyes then, hugging the package closer.

“Why won’t everyone just leave me alone?” She asked exasperatedly, but the pilot could tell her heart wasn’t in it. Putting an arm around her, Alonzo gave her a little squeeze.

“Your dad’ll be back tomorrow, Hon, you’ll see,” he offered softly, smiling ruefully at True’s expression of utter dejection. Her chin sunk deeper into the wrapped parcel, making the solar blanket it was wrapped in crinkle and complain.

Julia had confided in him that True was planning a special surprise for her father, although she refused to tell him what it was. Alonzo was sure that Danziger’s absence from the Crashmas Eve party was only adding insult to True’s injury.

“What have you got there?” He inquired carefully. Alonzo was half expecting a flippant Danziger answer, but a part of him sensed that maybe True had had all the mothering she could take from Julia and Bess over the last few days. If she couldn’t have her dad, maybe she just wanted a friend.

He’d known True Danziger briefly when she was a baby, and then again for a spell at six or seven when he and John had found themselves paired up for a quick six month jump to the Alpha Point barge. Although he’d never been all that good with kids, he definitely had a soft spot for John’s little girl.

Alonzo had known Danziger himself way before True, when the mechanic was fresh out of the military and full of piss and vinegar. When he ran into John years later, on a mandatory two year jump-break, he’d found a broken man trudging into a station dive, toting a baby in a pack close to his chest. It was as though Lonz was meeting a different person altogether.

His old friend Johnny had come leaps and bounds since those dark times, but he was still scarred, still different. True had grown into quite a young woman, and Alonzo knew she was the reason behind every move her father made. So, when John went scouting and solemnly caught his eye and said, “Take care of my kid.” Alonzo knew, maybe better than anyone else, how much Danziger needed her to be safe.

“It’s supposed to be a secret, but I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.” True mumbled, shifting her weight to kick at a pebble resting at the toe of her boot. “It’s a gift for my dad. I know Yale said no presents, but I don’t care. He just needs one.”

Alonzo chuckled a bit, nodding his head in agreement. Squeezing True a little tighter, he felt her give in somewhat and rest her head against his chest.

“I think you’re exactly right, True,” he assured, kicking at the pebble himself when it bumped his shoe, passing it back. “Your Dad’s sure gonna be happy to be home. It’ll be soon, you’ll see.”

“So you’re not gonna blab that I’m breakin’ the rules?” She asked, a small hint of a smile teasing the corner of her mouth. Alonzo laughed, tugging on her braid as he’d seen Danziger do with affection more times than he could ever count.

“Not if you let me in on the plan,” he leaned in furtively, checking to make sure the area was clear. “What’s this big secret present you and Julia have been working on?”

True pulled away shyly, chewing on her lip dramatically. She twirled her long braid around her finger, and if Alonzo didn’t know better he’d say she almost…flirting with him. That was a new development, one he didn’t want to ponder much more deeply, but at least he’d managed to temporarily distract True from missing her father.

“Weeeeelllllll, I dunno. Julia and I swore an oath…”

“Well, I’ll swear it, too, then!” He played along enthusiastically, drumming his hands on his knees in anticipation. “C’mon, you gotta tell me, you know I can’t stand secrets!”

True giggled a bit, her teenaged persona slipping back to her normal tom-boy self.

“You can’t tell anyone, Lonz. Comprende? Especially not Yale- especially, especially not Uly! I want my dad to be surprised, and everyone knows you’re a blabbermouth.”

Alonzo nodded seriously, holding up a hand as though he was in a Council courtroom.

“I, Alonzo Matteo Guillermo Solace, hereby do solemnly swear, on my title of Senior Cryogenics Navigation Chief for the Stations Astronautical Commision, and on my honor as a friend of John Danziger, whom I respect and admire both for his expertise as Senior Operations Chief and for his undoubted ability to whoop my ass in any physical or athletic competition--” True burst out laughing, and swatted his hand back into his lap.

“Okay, okay,” she giggled, leaning in closer for her big confession, scrunching her father’s gift closer to her chest to make room. “It’s a pillow.”

Of all the items True could have possibly named, Alonzo hadn’t expected something so mundane and practical as a pillow. True’s obvious exuberance didn’t falter, however, so he was assuming there was something more to it.

“And? What else,” Lonz prompted, when it became clear she was relishing his ignorance.

“It’s just a pillow, but it’s his pillow. Julia and I made it ’specially for him.” She smiled widely, swinging her legs.

“You’re holding out on me, aren’t ya? What’s so special about this pillow?” The parade was approaching them again, this time with almost all of the Edenites in tow. Alonzo noticed True’s slightly longing glance and wondered if she was realizing what fun she was missing, or if she was just thinking about her dad again.

At the tail end of the pageant, with flowers in her hair, Julia shot him and indulgent smile. She’d been teasing him earlier, when he’d been grumping that she’d spent nearly all of the night before with True instead of him, that he didn’t have a fatherly bone in his body. Luckily, she could see the change in True’s disposition, and decided to keep on marching, rather than poke fun at his efforts.

“Well, Julia said that I should try to think of something my dad really needed. So I was wishin’ there was a way I could build a cot that was big enough so his feet didn’t hang off the end, so he wouldn’t be tossin’ and turning and snoring all night--”

“To wake the dead.” Alonzo supplied jokingly, throwing his hands in the air with exasperation. Pretty much everyone in camp had been woken, at some point in their journey, by John’s foghorn sounding in the silence of the evening.

“Exactly! And that’s when Julia had her big “A Ha!” moment and figured the whole thing out.” Distracted again by the oncoming horde, True impulsively jumped from the log where she sat as the processional trooped by, carefully placing her dad’s present on the ground next to the log, positioning it just so.

“They’re just gonna keep on singing this shankin’ song until I march.” She proclaimed loud enough to be heard by all, shaking her head in exasperation, and she stomped off to join the parade without another word.

Alonzo chuckled as the little girl high-fived Julia as she passed, and with a pat on the butt to herd True in line, Julia peeled away from the group and sat, out-of-breath, in the spot her partner in crime had just vacated.

“Turn’s out children are human after all, huh?” She chided, pinching his side and giggling when he grabbed her, careful to steer their horseplay away from True’s precious parcel.

“You can rag on me later, Doc. Right now, I just want to know what’s so damn special about this pillow.” He settled the doctor more or less in his lap, and she smiled wide as he weightlessly lifted her.

“So she told you the secret, huh? I think someone might be developing a crush…”

She stroked his cheek, seemingly free as a bird with the celebration almost afoot.

“Well, I only got as far as “special pillow” before she finally gave up and joined the death march.” She smacked his arm. He stole a kiss.

“I figured it out, actually, it’s kind of ridiculous I didn’t think of it before. When True mentioned his snoring, it occurred to me that maybe John wasn’t just denying that he snored--”

“Which he does--”

“Of course, but that doesn’t mean he snored before. So I decided to take a peek at his charts and and compare them to the scans I made after we crash landed, and it was right there, staring me in the face, a total misalignment of the C4 and C5 brachial vertebra.”

“Obviously.” Alonzo sardonically added, reminding her with a raised eyebrow that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Well, after the crash we all suffered from various symptoms of whiplash. Because John was leaning forward over True at the moment of impact, I diagnosed his as particularly severe, but John being John he just shrugged off the pain. Eventually the muscles in his shoulders and neck adjusted to the strain, and I figured he’d just he was healing. His symptoms were gone.”

“So he’s got a crook in his neck that’s making him snore?” He asked, judiciously removing Julia from their embrace as the procession turned back in their direction.

“Basically, and when he gets back I’ll observe him to check for any evidence of sleep apnea or a breathing problem, but I think it’s a simple matter of re-training those muscles. It was a snap to mold some IntelliFoam from the old fashioned first aid supplies to Danziger’s precise measurements, since it’s not like we use that for splints now that I’ve found the bone healer recipe. It‘ll open his airway, and take the pressure off his spine.”

As the group pulled closer and began to stake out their favorite spots around the fire, True ran over to collect her cargo, and plopped herself in between the adults as though she’d never left.

“Thank God that part’s over.” She confided in them both, sounding eerily like her father. Alonzo casually removed his hand from Julia’s back pocket and scooted down to make room for the girl.

“An anti-snoring pillow, huh?” Alonzo teased her quietly as True nodded discreetly, talking out of the corner of her mouth, so as not to be spotted. Alonzo thought it was sweet that True didn’t seem to realize that there was no missing the giant present she held in her lap, and that pretty much every Edenite had quickly deduced exactly whom it was meant for, though everyone remained shrewdly silent.

“Julia said it’ll be like sleeping on a cloud, and it’ll finally shut him up. Even still, though, I just want him to feel better.” Alonzo nodded in agreement as Bess arrived behind them and hefted True, gift and all, off the log between them and into a position on the other side of Julia, where she joined the girl, stroking her hair.

“Come over here with me, Broody Betty!” The Earth-Res teased as she kissed True’s cheek affectionately. “Let’s leave the two lovebird’s alone and start this celebration off right, okay?”

True nodded, every last trace of her good humor gone. It was time to begin Crashmas, and her Dad wasn’t here. Bess’ heart went out to her, and her anger at Danziger‘s failure to keep his promise spiked. She and True had been trying, without success, to get in touch with him on Gear all day, but of course he had his set turned off. Bess hoped he was feeling guilty, and not just being a stubborn mule.

Clearing her throat dramatically, she quieted the scatted rabble that had broken out around the fire and called the group to order.

“Okay, everyone, as you all know, Crashmas Eve doesn’t officially being until we light the bonfire, which is meant to symbolize, well…”

Beside her, Morgan stood as though she’d called his name in class, moving dramatically towards the large pile of twigs and sticks yet to be added to the flames.

“Allow me, Darling.” He interrupted with a resplendent flourish of the hand. “The Crashmas Bonfire is meant to symbolize our fiery arrival here on G889, and the wonder we all felt, wherever we landed, when we left our escape pods to find fresh, clean air amongst the smoke.”

As if on cue, Walman and Cameron let out a cheer, and the excitement quickly spread into a small round of applause.

“Now, in keeping with the memory of that first evening planetside, we decided that it should be John Danziger’s job to ignite the hearth, since he built our very first campfire, and so many more to keep us warm and safe on this new and strange planet.” Morgan paused to cast True a sympathetic glance, and he felt heartened to see that the entire group missed Danziger as much as John’s own daughter did.

“Now, Danziger hasn’t really been happy about this whole Crashmas thing, and you all know that he can’t be here tonight because he’s out scouting our way, keeping guard and plotting our course. Although we all miss him very much, it seems fitting that, despite the fun that he’s missing, our Crashmas Guardian is vigilant until the end.” Grabbing the end of a long branch, he held the end into the flame until it caught. Walking deliberately, as though he was in a wedding procession, he crossed the circle until he stood in front of True, chin slumped in her hands.

“The Crashmas Committee thinks it is only just and right that, because of her impressive abilities to spread the Crashmas spirit and still keep everyone in camp in line as only a Danziger can, True be named the new Keeper of the Crashmas Flame!”

Alonzo and Julia let out a huge cheer of approval, which led to a strange series of barks and hoots from the Ops Crew, clearly pleased with Morgan’s gracious speech and True’s shocked smile.

“Really?” She asked, carefully taking the burning branch from Morgan’s hand.

“Light’er up, True!” Magus exclaimed, whooping and clapping even louder.

“Do it, True! Light it! Light it!” Uly squirmed in Yale’s lap, flapping his Crashmas Cape like bat‘s wings. With another quick peck on the cheek, Bess wordlessly placed True’s tinsel crown on her head, and steered her slowly towards the pyre.

With a final glance into the vast expanse of darkness the bled from camp in all directions, True gently touched the fire to the tinder. As the glow of the flames deepened and then began to expand, she glanced around to see Eden Advance, cheering and laughing, even as they came to celebrate the loss of their Leader.

Even as her dad spent another night alone in the wilderness.

“Do you think the fire will get big enough for my dad to see it?” She asked Bess quietly, taking the woman’s hand as she tossed her branch into the fire.

“We’ll just have to see to it, how about that? We’ll build a fire so big it’ll be brighter than the Northern Star.” Bess whispered back, leaning down to kiss the top of True’s head. The two of them lingered for a moment, watching the splendor of the flames, the entire group hushed by the warmth and beauty.

And so the first Crashmas began.

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