51.

Robert and Jeff have been knocked unconscious from a crash landing they had no option other than to become a part of. Escaping a foreign version of their own ship after it became caught in the gravity of an unknown world, a world they are to be forced to survive on without prior knowledge as to if they can survive on it at all, is what has them in their current predicament.

Jeff would be the first of the two to wake. He had managed to prevent the crash landing from being anywhere near as bad as it could have been. The dark Pathfinder had come down hard and it was now in quite a number of pieces all spread out and quite the distance away from where the shuttle had come to rest. Unlike the dark Pathfinder, the shuttle is still in one piece.

Having undone his safety belt, Jeff fell out of his seat. He crawled over alongside his companion to check on his status. Robert is alive and breathing but still unconscious. As for Dan the alien, he currently is not within the shuttle. Not only that, but outside the confines of the shuttle it is quite bright, and Jeff of course was well aware of Dan's need for darkness. Before Jeff could do anything more other than check on Robert's condition, he himself passes out once again.

***

Tuesday December 24th, 2097. Maria stands once more in the strategy room staring out into space. It, by this time, has long since become a spot where she can go think and temporarily lose herself in daydream. However, at this moment her daydream would take her somewhere far away, somewhere she had been a couple of times before. She stood once again at the crossroads where Brandon's spirit first came to her, and he would come to her once more.

'I can't keep this up' Maria tells Brandon.

'Even though we have created this command team in the aftermath of having lost you, everyone still looks to me for answers. Even the team itself took a really bad blow losing Stanley. Now we have lost our chief engineer, our second-choice pilot who is or was the first choice pilot for any off ship activity and we have also lost a guest who could have been a very important addition to the crew.'

'It is nice to know I had gained so much respect in such a short period of time but Maria that respect is yours now. The reason why I wanted you as my second in command is the same reason everyone looks to you. You work hard and your calmness and intelligence along with your pure presence is an inspiration which puts others at ease. As long as you are around everyone will give one hundred percent effort. I have full confidence in you as do those around you.'

'Thing is that I am not these things, I just appear to be.'

'Maria my dear, I think therefore I am, so what you appear to be is what you actually are. You deserve the credit you currently have.'

Maria pauses for a moment.

'What about this spirit? The one you called Cormack. This is something that also still bothers me too.'

'Cindy isn't still seeing him, is she?' asks Brandon.

'No, not as far as I can tell, as it is she doesn't even seem to be able to recall anything about him at all.'

'Then there is nothing to really worry about with that at all, is there?'

'I hope not.'

'Anyway Maria, there is a reason why I have come to you here at this moment in time. I need to go away for a while, but I will still be keeping an eye on you so please do not feel like you are ever alone. For you personally there is your daughter to care for, and you are going to be a grandmother too.'

'Don't remind me' Maria says with a forced smile.

Maria had figured that a moment like this would come, and she had been dreading it. She has also come to depend on the colonel's presence for so much at this stage and her smile was now one which she forced upon her own face to help convince herself that all will be fine as well as to hide her disappointment. Before that smile could leave her face, Maria found herself back in the strategy room staring once more out into space. Brandon steps up beside her and stands to her left.

'Just one thing though before I go ...'

Brandon didn't have to ask; Maria was ready to give it up. No need to keep what her name had been a secret any longer.

'It is or was Suzanne.'

'Really? I thought it would take a lot more than that to get it out of you, and I am kind of sad too.'

'Sad, why?'

'I was expecting your original name to have been something very strange, something that I could have imagined that you could not wait to change, but Suzanne is a nice name, a pretty name for a pretty lady.'

Maria smiles again and this smile, not at all being forced, is accompanied by a little girlish giggle as well as a tear, a tear which had rolled down her cheek before she could wipe it and her eyes. She once again took up position to stare back out into space.

'Merry Christmas Suzanne ... Maria' speaks Brandon as he begins to move away.

'Merry Christmas Brandon' says Maria turning to her left then turning right round though as she can soon see there is no sign of Brandon, he has gone.

Cindy arrives into the strategy room knowing that it was the place where she would most likely be able to find her mum once her mum was not either in their quarters or in the command center. She walks up to her mother's side and wraps both her arms around her. Maria puts her left arm around her daughter, kisses her on the forehead as she has done so many times before and the two stare out into space together.

***

When Jeff came to for a second time, he would find that Robert is awake, looking perfectly well and sitting on a chair by a small round table not all so far away from where Jeff currently lays. Jeff feels tired and groggy as if he has been hit over the head with some sort of club. It's quite likely that he is suffering the effects of a concussion though he can't know this for sure.

A few moments pass and Jeff has yet to notice that he and Robert are currently not alone, this being a possible effect of a possible concussion. Jeff, as it is, has been lying on blankets on the floor of a room with which he does not recognize. For how could he know this room, he, Robert, and Dan have come to be on a world foreign to each of them. His head had been resting and still is resting on two pillows. Still lying down too, Jeff turns his head to get a better look of his surroundings. The table Robert sits next to has two other chairs by it, both of which are unoccupied.

Robert looks right at Jeff but makes no effort to go to his side upon his waking; neither does he make any attempt to talk to Jeff. The look on Robert's face suggests that he is not at all happy. Jeff suspects, initially anyhow, that what he had told Robert was quite likely still on Robert's mind and if this is so then this surely is not a moment to be holding a grudge.

It would be a couple of moments after this one when Jeff does notice for himself that he and Robert are indeed not at all alone. It would also only be at this moment that Jeff fully realizes where he is or possibly could be and the thoughts that Robert may be annoyed with him quickly go away. He sits up, half in shock, and soon begins to crawl backwards as fast as he can. It's safe to say Jeff completely fears this moment he has found himself in.

Robert gets up out of his seat to go talk to Jeff for the first time since Jeff has come around. Still looking quite unhappy Robert attempts to calm Jeff down and assure him that all is well or at least as well as well can be.

'Jeff ... Jeff ... relax ... it is alright.'

'Who are all these people?'

'If you sit up properly and relax for a minute, I will introduce you.'