Maysie's Galaxy ONC 2023

Bus Ride

They rode back in two ancient school busses with modest gunner's pits welded in a few places, taking out a couple of side windows and bench seats for the smaller ones while the giant rotational one that raised off the top of the bus housed a heavily modified Gatling gun. Not that Maysie really understood those details, since she used mostly hand-helds up on the head.

She shared a seat with her rescuer--Brittany, at Ethan's command.  A couple of the men sat close and chatted, trying to draw her into their conversation, too much of it beyond her.

"So, what's your favorite song?"

Maysie knew what songs were, but Alder wasn't much of a singer and the attempt to build a working radio failed miserably when she was 10. "I can't remember any songs from before the bird's hatching."

"Bird?!"

"Where the heck have you lived that you think this is a bird?!"

"Ma'am, this is a turtle."

The guys protested and jostled each other in their normal aggressive way, forcing Maysie to realize that both Alder and Talon had been very calm men. Even looking at their commander who stayed much more at ease than these fools, he still had an energy about him that could slam into explosive action. Alder never had that--but he had been ill and never told her.

Maysie didn't know if she liked men being so physical. She could see a connection between the rowdiness of these people who weren't being violent and either man who provoked the bird into attacking.

And that was another thing. Janis didn't seek his death, but was forcing the bird into saving itself by being violently irritating. Even though she didn't like it, his aggressive behavior was an asset in his field of work.

The other man had a different intent altogether.

Maysie was going to have to watch actions and intent closely, to judge when one of these men became too much like that incident so heavily ingrained in her mind.

"I grew up on the bird's head and didn't see the back or flippers for most of my early childhood. In reality, it's as much a turtle or a bird as a platypus is a duck."

" Ooooh, put y'all losers in your place!" Brittany mocked. "Now the boss ordered us to leave her be. So, if you're trying to get under her fur, give it a rest, oi?!"

A chorus of protests met that comment, all too fast and full of stupidity.

"Why would I want a girl who calls a turtle a bird, Brittany? "

"Come on, it's going to take her at least a week to get the dead rabbit smell off her, we're just trying to be friendly!"

Maysie turned slightly pale at the way they flipped on her so quickly. This was nothing like what she knew of men.

"Are you ok?" Brittany nudged Maysie's shoulder.

"What was that about?!" Maysie couldn't reconcile what went on with any frame of reference. "I grew up alone with my father. Why did you say what you did and why did they act like that?!"

"You ever read Aesop's Fables?" Janis kept his voice low as he finally turned around in his seat. He had a black eye from his antics on the neck, but nothing else to show he was not quite sane.

"No, just the encyclopedia entry."

"Mays, it's called tu esi skaista meitene."

"Say it in English, can't you hear the American twang to her speech?! They were isolated before the hatching!" Brittany hissed, then calmly flipped to Maysie. "He  called you honey and a very beautiful girl."

The young woman blushed, faintly. "Aesop's Fables? "

"Ah, sour grapes, you know that term? Yeah, the fox wants the grapes badly but gives up and calls the grapes sour to make himself feel better." Janis explained, "You're going to have to get used to petty fools who make themselves feel better about not getting in your furs."

Maysie shuddered slightly at the thought. "Do I have to get used to it?"

Brittany laughed. "No indeed. But you should be tough against it because you could let it push you into proving them wrong --and the most direct way is sleeping with idiots, which is what they wanted in the first place. They win while being jerks. OY, ARSEHOLES! Apologize to the lady!"

Janis was the one laughing as they mumbled their apologies, then whispered where the two women could hear him. "Don't worry, women's sour grapes are far, far worse. Brittany, wouldn't a woman call that little dick energy?"

"I have before."

"Yeah, that shit emasculates immature men--some mature ones, too. Just remember it when a guy makes you feel small like that, again."

Brittany tapped Janis on the forehead. "Time's up, loverboy."

And it was, not because her savior said, but because the machine guns started firing. Maysie made the mistake of looking out the window and watched the guns mow down a hoard of men wrapped in furs, riding zebras. She could have passed for one of them.

"Why are we shooting?!" Maysie hissed at Brittany while being shoved lower in the seat.

"Because Sour Grapes is nothing compared to what those monsters will do if they get a hold of us. We've had fights with them before."

Maysie could figure out what was left unsaid far more graphically than she wanted to. She was glad to see that the guns eventually turned the zebra riders away, in search of easier prey than one that so readily bit back--not that she actually saw, squished down in the seat.

Janis was the one who announced it. "They are finally turning around. Ladies, give it about 2 minutes and you can sit back up--they are still close enough to decide that they are willing to fight some more."

Once things settled, Brittany awkwardly explained that they tried to make sure that the soldiers they sent to this end of the turtle were as masculine looking as possible because the bands on the head end of the turtle were very fond of soft features in their prey, that they would fight to the death to get close enough to check for something worth fighting for, and then would disappear once disappointed.

"So even men are in danger?"

Brittany nodded. "There's  not a single person younger than 25 on this trip."

"I'm 19." Maysie responded.

That caused Janis to flip back around again. "Well, that would be a legit reason to not be foxy with your grapes. Jeez, 19? I've not seen that side of stupid in 10 years!"

"You got older, not smarter, Jans." Brittany quipped back before he fully finished his comment. "See, nothing but bitter hags in this gang. It's better to get involved with people who see less death than we do. We respect nothing but who survives the longest."

"I'll keep that in mind, ma'am."  Maysie leaned back against the hard seat as best she could, to get comfortable.

It took almost a day to get back to the earthen ramps of the continental shelf. Just climbing that ascent was enough to change the behaviors of most of the crew she rode with. They went from crass jerks to almost normal people.

Apparently, civilization still held on the continent.  The sign that was perched on the side of the starting asphalt was white with large black lettering, simply stating WELCOME TO GIBRALTAR.

Strangely, the wall of the Mediterranean survived the shell cracking. Maysie remembered seeing the expanse of blue when she left the head. This tiny nation was what kept enough water for life to survive on the remaining continents.

But it was not her date to see the inland sea for several years to come.