A Matter of Balance

[Ophiuchi]

Moira Waverly was in the Veranda's kitchen, making sure the cooks didn't over-braise the carrots or make shoe leather out of the rump roast. Her husband was a wee bit late returning from the fields. She was beginning to worry.

Suddenly, she heard the screen door slam, and the hurried pounding of feet towards Reggie's den. Usually his first act on arriving home was to nuzzle her neck. Concerned, she quickly followed the footsteps, noticing some small wet spots on the floor as she passed through the sitting room. She bent to investigate..

"Reggie!! You're bleedin' all over me carpet! Wot in the name o'..."

She entered the den to see Reggie booting up several dormant systems, and pawing through old printed documents, blood oozing through a handkerchief hastily wrapped around his right hand.

"Reggie??? Dammit!"

She ran back to the kitchen, fetching some clean hand towels. Returning to the den, she gently unwrapped the handkerchief, gasping as she saw his raw, skinless palm; and his right ring finger, missing it's top joint completely.

"That's it, me boyo! Ye're not leavin' me sight until ye tell me what foolish shenanigans..."

Reggie turned to his wife and grasped her firmly by the shoulders. She gasped again as she saw his ashen face and wild eyes.

"Moira my love, I must leave immediately for Belfast. I can't explain right now, but I have discovered something over at the Uli Rouge plantation.

"I think I know why our harvest is so poor, and I must set some things in motion to investigate further."

She was confused and worried, but the urgency in his voice was all too apparent.

"But.. yer poor hand! Yer supper.." She tried to blink back the tears that were forming.

Reggie sensed Moira's anguish and concern. It helped him to calm a bit, and focus his words..

"My Darling, the food smells delicious. Pack some for me, would you? And I promise to stop by Canaria Med on my way to the spaceport and have this attended to..." The pain in his hand was indeed beginning to break through the shock of his experience.

"Now listen to me carefully. I need you to re-program all our outside bots. Send them to the Uli Rouge for sentry duty. They also need to conduct a continuous full-spectrum energy scan of the area. Uplink it directly to FnordNet in real time. Understood?" Again she nodded, smiling slightly as her "old" Reggie came to the fore again.

"I've informed Baffin of the problem, and I may have to go there from Belfast. I will be in touch constantly.

"Now scat, woman, and fix my doggy bag!" He hugged Moira fiercely, and smacked her shapely rump as she turned once more to the kitchen.

He had one more local call to make.

*Hiya Boss! What's shakin'?*

"Sophie, how many "g's" can your hide and innards take?"

*Well, my specs are rated at 100 gravities, but I've only been to 40 or so, playing around.. Why?*

"It'll have to do. Meet me at the WLLC Hanger in 15 minutes. How would you fancy a trip to Gallia?"

Wondering if "she" were programmed to sputter, or just "hoofing it", he broke the connection. Going to a closet he donned his baggy flight suit, completely forgetting to remove his blood-spattered waistcoat.

Within moments he was sprinting towards the garage, his supper in his left hand, his right hand throbbing and burning like the milltails of Hell.

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<span style="color:#339999">Reg Waverly * Moira &quot;Kentigearan&quot; Waverly * Fnordette Sophie Noir</span>



<span style="color:#66CCCC">Sophie's on the Square * Veranda Incognita</span>