24.

Maria once again found herself standing in the moonlight at a crossroads, that afore told conduit between the living and the dead, a place she had believed had been no more than her imagination working overtime. She had formed a connection, a unique bond, a friendship with someone who aided her to become someone she thought she could not completely be.

That friendship, the man who showed her a new path, has died. The effects of which have surely been toying with her. It is her own unaccepted grief that has brought her here but then again, what if this connection is something other than disheartened emotion? A brief investigation of her surroundings is interrupted by a voice which speaks from behind her.

'Fancy seeing you here.'

Maria smiled and turned upon hearing the familiar male voice to see Brandon walking towards her.

'I take it I am dreaming again.'

'You are indeed.'

'That explains why I apparently do not have any burns too I presume.'

'Yeah, that planet you were on, very nasty rain.'

'How do you know about that? ... Oh, I have it, this is my dream so you know what I know, right?' asks Maria thinking back to that moment she had right before the rain began to fall.

'You may be dreaming but that does not mean that I am part of the dream. You can feel it, can't you? The last time we talked I explained that we are in a place which seems to work as a conduit between life and the afterlife. Therefore, I am more than just part of a dream, this right here is very real Maria. You really are here and so am I.'

'So, I did see you on the planet then, didn't I?'

Brandon begins to whistle and look around; avoiding directly answering that question and that in itself is an answer of its own. Maria smiled again and soon awoke before she could press things further. If she can see and talk with Brandon in dream or in a conduit as he put it then how could Brandon make an appearance on an alien world.

There is no time for anything further to be pressed in this moment for Maria wakes up. If she seeks answers then she is going to have to wait to get them. In her waking moment she discovers that she is within The Pathfinder's decontamination chamber.

'Funny dream?' asks Jeff sitting in a chair about twenty feet away from where Maria lay.

'You could say that' responds Maria as she moves painfully up into a sitting position.

The other four members of the team were in this moment all sleeping. Maria noticed she was covered with more bandaging than the other four.

'Don't worry. The doctor said there will be no permanent scarring.'

'Good. What about Cindy? Do you know if she is alright?'

'Yeah, she is fine. She dropped by earlier and of course wanted to come in. She is worried about her mom, and she will be spending the night with her friends.'

Maria wasn't sure what to make about that but figured it was better than Cindy being alone.

'Doc says that we don't need to spend the full thirty-six hours in here so we will all be out of here in about ten more hours or so. It is quite late right now, you will see her tomorrow, try and get some rest if you can, while you can.'

Jeff smiles as if to say everything is alright. Maria drifts into a daydream. She can't help but think of Carlos's murder and imagining a similar fate falling Cindy's way; however, she did manage to catch up on some much-needed sleep before the team's release from the decontamination room.

25.

The last day of the week brought the first day of a new month. Sunday the first of December and it did not seem in any way like being the first day of the month which brings Christmas. 2098 is only a few short weeks away. Again, no point in altering how time is kept, no matter the fact that Earth will never be seen again and no matter the fact how light speed transport has affected the vessel so many people are travelling upon.

The Pathfinder has continued to move forward upon its mission. The planet with the burning rain too now just being an unpleasant memory and a memory for those who shared it would hopefully soon be forgotten.

Lunch time, Cindy and David are tentatively making their way together to the mess hall.

'How is your mum doing?' asks David.

'She is fine, she is tough, you know?'

'Yeah ... look, I apologize for last night; we barely even know each other, well we do know each other. I don't normally act like that. I just think we ...'

'It's fine David. There is nothing to worry about.'

'So, we are fine, right?'

'Yep, right as rain so to speak.'

Not acid rain David hoped.

It is at this moment when they arrive at the mess hall where they are soon joined by Jasmine and Timothy. Also, at this particular moment cleaning crew number thirty two just so happen to be coming off from yet another shift. Cleaning is not the most magnificent of duties to have though in all honesty there are only three shifts a week per crew, only one of which can be claimed as being lengthy.

'Anyone fancy a bite to eat before we call it a day?' asks Angus.

'Won't say no' responds Sheila.

'I'm done, you guys go ahead. Catch up with you both soon' speaks Badger.

'What, really?'

Angus has known Badger for some time, sure they together are more like full grown misfit brothers, and each are rarely surprised by the other's words or actions though on this occasion Angus was surprised. Badger turning down lunch, leaving Angus to have lunch alone, well not completely alone, with Sheila. Where was Badger gonna go? Granted the three are coming off from a shift; Badger can't be heading back to his living quarters, can he?

Anyhow, Angus has something to say once he and Sheila sit.

'Ya know ...' says Angus, 'we've been spending some time together outside of our shifts. Yeah, you had some fun a while back, but we do have something, right? Maybe we can take things to the next level. I like you, you seem to like me, maybe even Badger can see we have something going, so I was thinking we should ... ya know ...'

'Look Angus, yeah it is good, I won't deny that but why complicate things? We don't need to rush anything. Let's just have lunch for now. I'm sure we have plenty of time to figure things out.'

Not quite the response Angus was expecting or hoping for, though for right now it will have to do. As for Badger, well indeed he did not head back to his living quarters, not right away anyway, he had something else entirely on his mind.

Despite the recommendation being put out that no one should move anywhere alone, Badger would go wandering on his own. Feeling like he needs some 'alone time' he makes his way towards one of the ship's winged walkways where he takes a few moments to stare out one of the view ports.

In a kind of a strange moment Badger moves turning a three sixty before beginning to walk with a serious determination as if something has just come over him. He walks with purpose as if there is something he needs to do, something which needs to be done sooner rather than later. Something tells him that the sooner is coming as if it were just around the corner.

Staring out that view port he has come to, Badger soon sees a bright light off in the distance. It might just be a star, but he doesn't think that it is. A couple of seconds pass and it doesn't take a genius to see that this particular light is moving. It is growing, getting larger and coming right at The Pathfinder, coming right at Badger.

No one else is in Badger's immediate vicinity so it is quite possible that no one else is seeing this moving light. Should Badger say something? Should he alert someone? Alert who? There is no time for the light moves right through the view port then right through Badger and all of a sudden Badger is no longer standing in front of a view port along one of The Pathfinder's wing walkways.

Badger is no longer on a starship; he is not even out in space. His is on a side street and it is raining. What just happened? There is no time to time about it, no time to attempt to gather his bearings for as soon as he wipes the rain from his eyes, he finds himself right back in front of a view port, drenched from having stood on a side street while it poured down rain.

So, this is how it happened? He knew it must be at least on its way now he knows something more. Thing now is, Badger needs to find a way to have it happen again.