Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Part 22 - The Bride Wore Chef's Whites

For months that slid into a couple of years, José stayed on the surface and farmed. Life on Speakeasy – Sandra's flippant name for the little world had stuck – was not easy, but he was able to clear his head.

On a regular basis, every month or so, a shuttle would arrive. Harvested fruits, vegetables and grains would be traded for processed foods, clothing, tools, blankets, new tents or anything else he and Verinold needed. The transfer could have been performed using the transporter, but that was deemed too impersonal. This gave the men some personal contact and was something pleasant to look forward to.

Travis would switch up, sometimes sending Bruce Chalfont or Colleen Romanov Novakovich or Sophie Creighton Hodgkins or Preston Jennings instead. The visits were little holidays for the surface dwellers, who would entertain their guests as well as they could.

José always brought his PADD into the shuttle, and synchronized its data with the vehicle's own onboard computing system. This helped to charge the PADD, but it also enabled him to pick up and drop off messages. Most of those messages were sent to Lili, who could always tell when the shuttle was on the surface as, inevitably, her inbox would be flooded.

José was pleasantly shocked when, after about a year of one-sided conversation, she began to answer him.

=/\=

On board the Enterprise, Lili received not love letters, but practical missives, full of crop reports and the results of canine training and breeding programs. After enough tales of olowa yields, she sent back a response, telling José that her mother's father had been a farmer, but of petite artisanal and designer produce. José asked questions in his return note, and a far more balanced correspondence began.

She recounted the dogs' antics and relayed ship gossip. In return, he began writing about what the procul were really like – dumber than a bag of hammers – and even, at times, the odd couple type of existence he lived with Verinold.

When he mentioned that the cherries were so good that he was afraid he would eat them all and save none for the NX-01, she baked him a cherry pie and had Cassandra Brown bring it to Speakeasy. In gratitude, José sent her a funny photograph of him and Verinold trying to herd uncooperative procul.

In late 2042, she began to realize that she missed him.

=/\=

In early 2043, Sandra decided that she had been on board long enough. She approached Hoshi. "I know you got along just fine without me at Communications. Maryam and Chip are doing great jobs. So I was thinking; I'd like to head back to Speakeasy and go back to work."

"What about your daughter?"

"Penny can stay with me until it's time to start school, I guess. That won't be for another two years or so. I guess I'll allow Tristan to come along, too," she grinned a little wickedly. "But maybe I'll go with the shot this time. I'm not so sure I want Penny to have a baby brother or sister quite so soon."

"Well, I think there's a trip scheduled today. Can you leave today? Maybe something can be worked out," Hoshi suggested.

They presented their proposal to the captain. "How does Tristan feel about all of this?" he asked.

"He'll be all right with it," Sandra assured him.

"Are you sure?" inquired the captain.

"I'll make sure, sir," she confirmed, "Look, I know how I get. The records from the last throwback are proof of that. I need to do this. That shuttle is heading back to Speakeasy today. I want to be on it."