I Could Smell The Roses

A Captain With A Desk Job

Well, thought Holly, that was a headache. The LEP captain was piloting a shuttle below the surface at about one in the morning. Holly usually in bed, she really shouldn't be piloting a shuttle at the 'witching hour'. She rubbed sleep out of her eyes and took a sip at her sim-coffee, which she would normally turn up her nose at. Foaly stuck his head into the cockpit.

"That gave me a headache, got any tabs in here? There's none in the first aid." Foaly sniffed

"I must insist in putting them in that box." Despite her exhaustion, Holly half smiled.

"Wouldn't you celebrate if your family member came back from the dead after being resurrected by illegal technology and a forehead of his best friend?"

"I wouldn't call Artemis your best friend, he has on the same occasion kissed you and lied to you."

Holly ignored him easily.

"Well, No." answered the centaur flatly as an answer. Holly rolled her eyes. Bringing Artemis back from the dead with time and odds against them had almost been enough to cause her to breakdown, but the party got her the closest to one ever. Holly had never had a breakdown in the short but busy LEP history. To escape she had to excuse herself to the bathroom, fly through the tiny window, then let Foaly out the back door. Even then they needed the help of Butler. Her train of thoughts was interrupted by Foaly's whinny of delight as he discovered a half full tube of painkillers in the glove compartment. Foaly munched on a couple then offered one to Holly,

"Do they help you sleep?" asked Holly. Foaly squinted at the tiny print, then nodded,

"'Contains ibuprofen'."

"I'm sold." said Holly.

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The next morning, Holly's communicator rang with a little more vigor than usual. Holly wasn't woken by the communicator, though, it simply disturbed her dreams and she rolled over. She only woke up because she rolled right off her bed.

"Foaly?" mumbled Holly as she picked herself off the floor and pressed the speaker button on the communicator after a frantic wrestle with an invisible enemy.

"Captain Short!" barked Trouble Kelp. Holly nearly groaned.

"Get your sorry backside over to headquarters, I've got a job for you!"

"One I'd rather not any do." he muttered in tones suggesting Holly wasn't supposed to hear that.

"Right away, sir." answered Holly suppressing a sigh. She terminated the call and made sure she took her time in the shower.

It was no surprise that Trouble's veins were pulsing in anger when she arrived at HQ an hour later. He simply yelled,

"Short!" before collapsing into his seat and ordered someone to get him some human whiskey.

"Sorry Trouble, traffic was horrendous." Holly answered, casually dropping into a seat opposite him. Lateness always got on Trouble's nerves, especially when an officer did it on purpose.

"Holly, we need you to help Artemis regain his memory ." Trouble said after he had a massive swig from his glass, straight and to the point as usual. Holly half choked. she opened her mouth. She had so much to say she didn't know where to begin,

"What about surface jobs?" she stammered. Trouble half smiled, it was rare that his most experienced captain got unhinged.

"If there are any surface jobs, Holly, you will be alerted. But there is a low probability that you will be sent on one; the LEP health department has ruled you healthy, mentally and physically, apart from brain exhaustion and lack of sleep. They prescribed a low stress desk job, a few sleeping pills and a relaxing holiday with frequent trips to spas and coffee shops. We think it wise that you recover from that before more surface jobs." Holly felt a confusing mix of emotions, yes, it was true she was exhausted and dreamed of a break, but on the other hand...it wasn't that she didn't enjoy Artemis' company, it was just the child prodigy was a little too...scientific. Then a sudden thought hit Holly. Artemis wasn't a child anymore. Sixteen years old. Almost adult. Of course he had gone missing for three years. That made him legally nineteen. And Foaly had added a couple of years to Artemis' body clone. Twenty-one years in all. She shivered. Her, herself was only twenty-two in human years. Only a year older than Artemis. Would the genius be a little more social? Holly didn't know. But was she did know was that Artemis was her friend. She owed him her life. And if he needed her help to regain his memory, then she promised herself she would be there, no matter how treacherous the task was. Trouble spotted the determination in Holly's eyes,