A Holiday from the Expected
C. 2005, Grey K.
The bright sand beach was golden and hospitable, warm waves lapping along the shore and the bright yellowish-white sand bright on the shore. The palm trees ripped with a gentle back and forth motion, beckoning to the casual traveler. The islands of the warm sea stood, naked amongst the bright blue and green water, like a forest of primeval trees poking above the tree-line on an ancient mountain peak, the swelling, ebb and flow of the tide sliding easily in and out amongst the pull and push of the large silvery moon overhead that seemed to never go dark in the inky, black diamond scattered sky of the tropics.
Rial stretched against the scratchy fabric lounge chair, leaning back against its tenuous hold against the little grains of sand that held it captive on the golden beach, its demurely bent legs slowly sinking into the golden swirls beneath it like a tired lover settling in to a feather bed for the night in someone's arms.
"What the hell are we doing here?"
"I thought we were on holiday..." His reply came from a rhetorical source, his partner of so many years, Ian, a tall, lanky lupine, looking for all his years more mature then his 30 years of age. Ian's gray and white highlighted fur seemed to extend along his sides and chest, his lower body encased in a pair of downright ridiculous board shorts, which stretched almost to his knees.
"You have a funny definition of being on holiday Ian... Blown 10,000 light-years to the tiny planet just beyond the ass end of space during its renowned stupid ages... Reminds me of the original usage of the word "safe" you used just before you hit that big red button to turn the engines on...You're on holiday, I was running an experiment, if you don't mind, some of us are still aware of our standings and responsibilities. I knew you were trouble from those first magic words you said to me so long ago..."
Ian smiled softly, leaning his body toward his feline companion; "Hehe... Kiss me?"
"Hang on..." Rial smirked sourly at the lupine's head as it lolled toward him, turning his muzzle with a flick of his neck to stare out over the swirling blue-green water and azure, cloudless sky.
"You do what you like pet, but last I recall of our situation we were standing in a lab, slaving over a particular problem having to do with some ungodly complex concept as quantum field variables and such esoteric things as hyperpulse energy and dynamic stabilization fields in star-drives, then the next thing I know, here we are..."
"Which is where, exactly again?"
Ian looked slightly irked, "You know as well as I do, we seem to be in the first quarter of the 20th century, on a beach, in the middle of the an ocean, on a backwater little planetoid known in our time as Terra, but back then, or back now, whichever, temporal mechanics gives me the shrieking willies, but known now as..." He paused, trying to recall the name the navicomp had spat at him just before sensibly bursting into rainbow hued sparks as the gargantuan curve of the planet came hurtling up toward them;
"As Eeeorth or something...That isn't due to be discovered by anything more advanced then the common influenza virus for the next Two Centuries. Doing nothing but laying in the sun and looking at the native people..."
The tall lupine paused, looking thoughtfully insightful for a moment before smiling that smile that the younger male knew well and loathed;
"And this is a bad thing, then, is it..?"
"Good Gods Ian, we've been displaced by almost 300 years into a scientific stone age, lolling on some beach on an island that no one knows about, drinking and soaking up the sunshine."
"Well, sure, when it comes out of your muzzle, it sounds like a bad thing..."
The lupine shrugged softly, "We did come away from the crash with a few things intact... We can keep the troglodytes significantly impressed well into our middle ages with our flashing buttons and bright noisy shiny gee-gaws and gizmos. Brighten up pet, after all, we could be in a worse spot, we materialized about 900 miles straight up..."
"I'm aware, I glanced at the altimeter just before the engine blew up..."
"The first time, or the second?"
"The second, when it ripped loose from the moorings and made a valiant escape through the broad side of the hull, with most of our reserve power and a goodly portion of our available oxygen..." Rial gazed at his companion like he'd just been fed something particularly sour, his nose wrinkling quite cutely.
"Mmm..." Ian grunted noncommittally, "Well, hurtling through the atmosphere of a planet at Mach 4 when the debris shields fail, the engine blows up and there's a giant sucking tear in the hull definitely keeps one busy enough to not think about breathing much, dunnit?"
"Yes... As pleasant as regaining my breath was just before the wing stabilizers ripped off and we were plunged into the middle of the ocean was, I could have honestly done without it..."
"We had breath masks, it's not like we were going to drown before managing to get out of the ship, besides the water was so warm and pretty, all those fishes..."
"Yes... And the shark..."
Ian's ears quirked softly as he hmm-ed, his straw making an irritating noise as he took another draw of his almost depleted drink; "Was it really? I thought it looked more like a porpoise..."
"Porpoises don't have giant TEETH and try to make friends by biting your legs off..."
"How would you know, have you ever met a porpoise before?"
Rial issued one of his long suffering sighs, "At least the natives were friendly enough to fish us out of the drink before I became chum and you were stranded here all alone for Goddess knows how long."
"True Luv, but being the tear in space/time we created will likely carry our quantum signature, I have complete faith in the company to rescue us..."
The warm sun continued to gaze down at the two as Ian reached up, adjusting the parasol over his head, glancing around for one of the attendants, grinning as he spied one of them down at the other end of their stretch of beach, "Ahh... Salvation at last."
"Hmm?" Rial grunted softly, feeling sleepy despite himself as the gentle hiss and roar of the beach washed over him, "You say something Ian?"
"Yes, that I'm sure we'll be rescued from our lack of drinks anytime now..."
"That's not funny Ian, when do you think we can expect a search probe?"
The lanky lupine rubbed thoughtfully at his angular muzzle, stroking his chin; "Well Luv, I'd say it can't be more then a decade or two, but we could always try to hitch a lift back to the more advanced portions of the galaxy..."
"I somehow think I'd be safer staying right here then trying to make it from one end of the galaxy to the other with you of all people... I think in that light I'm starting to enjoy this little island despite the fact chances are I'll be stuck here with you for the rest of my life surrounded by Stone Age tools... That last one was made of steel for Gods' sake! Barely has the tensile strength of an icicle..."
"That's the spirit pet, and just think stone age tools, but gorgeous natives, here comes one now..."