“Ed, you and I are old professionals. We don’t need the bullshit that the rest need, so you have a problem, then you come to me and we sort it together. Likewise, if I need your advice, then I’ll be sure to ask for it. Just keep me in the loop with what’s happening, and I’ll leave you to deal with your end without intervention. I’ve told my officers to give you free rein, so with the possible exception of a few second lieutenants fresh from training, just get on, and do things your way. They’ll come round fast enough.”
We had the usual episodes of excessive booze, women problems and a few who smuggled drugs into the base. I deal with it all, not having to bother the boss very often, except when an example had to be made. We were marines, so we looked after our own and never washed our dirty laundry in public.
Was I frustrated?
No.
Had you asked me about that before the island then I don’t think I’d have taken the job. But now, it was made for me.
I cannot remember a time in my life when I had been more content – any life!
* * *
Gilly
Being a mother of two little girls was so knackering!
I had no idea exactly how tired I was going to be. The books were clear and very useful, except that as far as babies are concerned, very little goes by the book. Ed was fantastic, as I imagined he would have been. There are very few genetic men who had actually been mothers to three children themselves – none, I should say.
We were both tired, but my mum helped a lot in the month she was with us. We were able to get into a sort of routine and life became bearable. Mind you, as soon as you manage to inflict a routine on babies, they change the rules and it all goes to pot!
The books never talk about the shitty times!
Talk about shit!
I had no idea that something so small could produce that amount of poo! With twins, it was poo doubled. Thank God for disposable diapers.
Anyway, I was beginning to think that I’d never get to a state of un-tiredness ever again when Ed returned from work one day wearing an expression that I had come to know.
“Now?” I asked.
“Soon,” he said.
“Tell me?”
“Michael called; he has a reasonably urgent job in which he wants us both to get involved. But you need some training first, just so you aren’t being flung in the deep end. He trusts me to conduct a degree of on-the-job training when we get there, but some stuff you need to get done by them beforehand.”
“Okay, how will this happen?” I asked, looking worried.
“He’ll pick you up at five pm tomorrow and get you back a half hour later. I’ll look after the girls.”
“They can train me in half an hour?” I asked, the doubt seeping into my voice.
He looked a little weary, and his voice reflected that.
“We’ve gone through this Gigi, you’ll be outside time for the duration.”
“How long will I be gone?”
“For me, half an hour; but for you, two, perhaps three weeks.”
“I can’t leave the children for that long.”
“Gill, you won’t, remember? Half an hour, tops, even if you leave me for a year, it will still be half an hour for me and the girls.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling a little foolish, as Ed had gone through this with me a while back. “So where and when are we going?”
“We won’t know until we do the briefing together before we go.”
“I’m not sure I want to leave the girls right now.”
“I understand, but that’s why the training is happening now, so that we can be ready to go at some point in the future.”
“But…”
Honey, you’ll be fine, you’ll see. Half an hour of the girls’ time, and I’m sure I can manage until you get back. Besides, how often have you said how nice it would be to get a break and talk to some different human beings for a change?”
“I know, but…”
“No buts; just go and get what you can from the course. Then we can work together. It’ll be great, you’ll see.”
“Hmm.”
I wasn’t convinced, but, as he said, it was just half an hour.
* * *
Ed.
Michael was exactly on time, as always. Gilly was still not entirely convinced, so he spent a little time calming her down and emphasising that she would be home within half an hour at the worst.
“It all depends on the traffic. We have to drive around three miles, and then come back again.”
“I’m going to be away a lot longer,” she pointed out, regarding her small suitcase that we’d packed together.
“As far as Ed and the girls are concerned, you will be back in a jiffy, so stop worrying.”
In the end, she agreed and kissed me and the girls goodbye. The silly thing was she’d been off shopping whilst leaving the girls with me or her mother for far longer.
The girls were asleep, and so I sat down with a beer and watched the ballgame on the TV.
Twenty minutes later, the front door opened and she ran inside and straight upstairs without a word to me. Michael followed her in and grinned at me.
“How did she do?” I asked, getting off the couch.
“Brilliantly, she is a highly intelligent young woman and so coped with some of the more complex issues without blinking. She didn’t like not being with you and your daughters, though.”
“How long has it been for her?”
“Three and a half weeks. That’s not bad, for someone without the usual military or other relevant training; it is normally six or seven weeks.”
“Get yourself a drink, I’ll just go see how she is,” I said, mounting the stairs.
She was in the kids’ bedroom, kneeling between their cots, bawling her eyes out.
She looked up as I entered the room. Neither child had woken so they’d not missed their mother.
I knelt beside her, wrapping my arms around her.
“I’m so sorry, Ed, you must think I’m a silly fool.”
“Nah, I understand completely. The important thing is you’re back and we never need be apart again.”
She chuckled through her tears.
“Daft git, what happens when we get sent somewhere? We’ll just have to trust we’re not going to be long.”
“As I told you, I was away for a complete lifetime, and yet was back only seconds after I had left. The girls will never even know we’ve been away; until they get old enough to join us, that is.”
She stared at me, starting to shake her head, but then grinned suddenly.
“Imagine their friends’ faces at school when their essays on some period in history are more accurate than the damn books!”
Trust a teacher!
“Seriously, how was the course?”
“Interesting; it was a fascinating set-up. Michael explained to me where, or rather – when it was. It’s hard to imagine being outside time. Also, getting one’s head around the way people can move into time zones using proxy bodies, took some getting used to.”
“Did you do any physical stuff?”
“That was so weird, they somehow manged to implant skills into my mind without me having to do anything. I found that afterwards, I was able to do all sorts of martial arts stuff that I’d never tried before. They also enhanced the languages I already had, which was amazing. I’m fluent in nearly twenty languages now!”
“Remember, if you don’t use them, you’ll lose them!” I said.
“I don’t think so. Michael told me that the implant is very deep. I’ve these skills for life, and they’re transferable to my proxy.”
“So, you’re less reluctant to go off on a job, now?”
She made a face.
“I still would rather wait until the girls are bigger.”
“And then?”
“Huh?”
“And then you will want to wait for them to get to school age, and then through university, and then….?”
“Oh, all right, clever clogs. Maybe I’m just afraid of not getting back in one piece and leaving the girls without a mother of father.”