Space Challenge by Aingeal
Jan. 5th, 2007 09:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
aingeal8c.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ds_flashfictionTitle: Out of This World
Author: Aingeal (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aingeal8c)
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: PG
Summary: Ray has his suspicions about Fraser but the truth is more amazing than he ever imagined.
Notes: Pure, unadulterated crack!fic. There's no other way to describe it. Many thanks tolozenger8 for betaing the product of my chocolate overloaded brain.
Out of This World
Ray Vecchio was a good detective and not just because he had a shield that said so, nor because he’d had a pay rise – no, the reason was that he always looked for truth. If the truth was out there, Ray would find it, and that was what he was hoping to find at approximately 2.36AM one grey and depressing Monday morning just outside of Chicago.
His curiosity had been piqued by the fact his best friend, Benton Fraser, had been acting rather strangely. That wasn’t to say that Fraser acted normally most of the time, anyone who could identify the ingredients of ribs by smelling rat’s breath and who sniffed wolf piddle could not be classed as normal in the Chicago sense. But despite that, Ray had found himself in love with the Mountie, so when the Mountie began acting more strangely than normal, Ray decided to investigate.
It had started some weeks ago when he’d caught Fraser with a coat hanger, some tinfoil and the remains of his stereo on the roof of his apartment building. Fraser had made some excuse of testing the air for the possibility of a snowstorm which would have been a fine explanation had it not been June.
That was the first clue. Ray’s second clue had been the strange writing he’d found on Fraser’s desk. It wasn’t English and it wasn’t Canadian. When he asked Fraser what it was, his friend had replied it was abstract art. Ray was not convinced it was art and there had followed a debate on modern art and cubism.
Then there had been the fact Fraser seemed to disappear frequently and Ray had no idea where he was. This was unusual as Fraser tended to seek Ray out and draw him into bizarre crimes involving dog meat or strippers. That was when Ray decided he was going to start tailing his friend. The fact he was in love with said friend was purely co-incidental.
That was what had led him to a cold wet field this Monday morning. Fraser had rented a car from Gemini car rentals. That wasn’t unusual, as they seemed to be the only car rental agency in Chicago. What was unusual was Fraser renting a car to begin with. He usually asked Ray for a lift if he needed to go anywhere.
Fraser and Dief had set off in the rented vehicle (a white mid-size as it turned out) and after a brief stop-over at McDonalds (one wolf sized happy meal was purchased) they had set out of Chicago with Ray hot on their tail. He had no idea what Fraser was doing, but they drove around for hours, literally.
Now Fraser had parked the car by a small wood and he and Dief entered. Ray carefully parked up himself (no easy task since he kept the Riv’s lights off so as to not alarm Fraser) and got out, following his friend. He tried to tell himself there was a perfectly reasonable explanation involving widows and kittens but he couldn’t persuade himself.
As he neared the woods, there was a glowing of bright lights. Ray had to shield his eyes, having lost his lucky sunglasses the previous month. Gradually his eyes got used to the glowing and he could pick out red and green lights. He wandered deeper into the woods.
He reached a clearing where the source of the lights became obvious. It took a few minutes for Ray to place the shape of the object as a rhombus having not to think about geometry in any capacity for nearly 20 years. It was, however, not flat, but raised, and it was bigger than Ray had expected.
There were red lights around the edge, with a green light on top and various white lights scattered across the surface. Ray’s eyes were drawn to the entrance to the strange craft. There was a ramp and bright, white light emanating from within, so bright Ray couldn’t see inside.
He noticed some men in red suits talking to Fraser at the edge of the ramp. Ray couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they weren’t speaking English from what he could tell. Of course, the fact the object, now placed as a spacecraft, emitted a loud humming didn’t help. Ray couldn’t read lips either. It wasn't long before the men, Fraser, and Dief, made their way up the ramp and headed inside.
By this point Ray was thoroughly confused. To begin with, he didn’t know why it was a flying rhombus rather than flying saucer, but more than that, he wanted to know why his friend (incidentally, the man he loved although thus far he’d chickened out of telling him) and his friend’s wolf were boarding a strange spacecraft. It wasn’t Canadian; as far as Ray could tell, there was no maple leaf motif in sight.
The ramp began to retract and in a split second Ray ran across the clearing to it. He cursed the fact he had mud all over his rather expensive Italian shoes. Then, falling into the mud, he cursed the fact he had mud all over his expensive Armani suit. With one last superhuman effort he made a leap onto the ramp.
He wasn’t entirely sure what happened next. He remembered falling off the ramp and landing on a very hard, but fortunately mud free, floor. He remembered a similar noise to the whooshing when the door closed on Star Trek and then a thud. There was a loud rumble and then Ray blacked out.
“Ray? Are you all right?”
Ray moaned slightly and rubbed his head. He hadn’t felt this bad since he’d had his first (and last) hangover following a drinking game in High School.
“Fraser?” Ray opened his eyes and blinked. The light wasn’t as bright as it had been and the place seemed grey, and well, boring. It took a moment for Ray to realise where he was. This wasn’t how he imagined the interior of a flying saucer. He’d never even imagined a flying rhombus.
“Yes it’s me, Ray. How’s your head?”
“Sore,” Ray said, rubbing it.
“You might want to take these,” Fraser said, holding out a red pill and a blue pill.
“What are those? Aspirin?”
“Not exactly, Ray. To describe their exact pharmacology would take several hours.”
“How do I know they’re not some sort of mind drug? I take them and wake up in some weird medical lab?”
“They aren’t a mind drug, Ray. The red pill is to stop your headache and the blue pill is to prevent it reoccurring.”
Ray noticed his friend wasn’t wearing his jeans and t-shirt anymore, but had changed onto something resembling his red long johns. Ray didn’t have time to drool over the image it presented, however, as Fraser held the pills out in the palm of one hand and offered Ray a glass with the other.
“Fine, I’ll take them, but if I find myself being poked and probed in places I’d like to keep private, I’m blaming you.”
“Fair enough, Ray.”
Ray took the pills, out them into his mouth and swallowed. He downed the glass of water in one. As he did so, he found he couldn’t actually taste the water, but it was too late to worry about that as he’d already swallowed it.
“Allow yourself a few minutes, Ray and you’ll feel better. Then perhaps I can explain about all this.”
“Does it involve kittens or old widows?”
“Neither, I’m afraid, Ray, sorry.”
“Aliens, I knew it.”
“Not exactly, Ray.”
“Not exactly? You’re telling me this is some weird experiment by the Canadian government?”
“Considering we’ve just passed Jupiter on the way out of your solar system, no, Ray.”
“So we’re heading out of the solar system in a spaceship, headed for God knows where and you’re telling me this isn’t about aliens?”
“It is, Ray, at least, partly. How is your head?”
Ray was surprised to find the banging headache that had plagued him a few minutes earlier was now gone. “It’s fine, it’s gone.”
“Ah good.”
“No, don’t change the subject. Tell me what the hell this is about.”
Ray, now feeling better, stood up and wobbled for few moments before ending up on the floor again.
“The artificial gravity here can take some getting used to, Ray. It’s set at a slightly different level to that of Earth, but you should be able to adapt relatively quickly.”
Fraser offered a hand and Ray took it. Fraser pulled Ray to his feet and supported him as he stood up. Ray had to admit it was kind of nice being able to get this close to Fraser, even if his friend (and the man he’d fallen in love with) wasn’t actually human.
“So are you going to explain now?”
“Let’s take a walk, Ray,” Fraser replied and supported Ray as they took a few steps to the door facing them.
It opened with that weird Star Trek whooshing noise. Ray took a glance back as they stepped through the door and it closed behind but all the could see was grey. The corridor they were now in, however, was a little bit different. Here, the décor had been thought about more, well at least when it came to fans of low budget sci-fi flicks.
There were pipes running down the wall, with the panels of flashing lights placed at strategic intervals. There were also panels that seemed to be mostly wire and/or made of cereal boxes. The colour was lighter, less grey, more beige and silver. There was also carpet, although the light blue hue was slightly uninspired.
Ray found that Fraser was starting to let go of him more and Ray tried to be as nonchalant as possible about keeping the contact.
“You should be getting used to the gravity by now,” Fraser said as he gently let Ray stand on his own.
Fraser was right and Ray knew better than to lie to a Mountie, especially one who it turned out was an alien. “Yeah I can do this,” Ray said as he began to take steps under his own power.
They reached another door, but just as Ray was about to step through it, Fraser stopped him.
“You might want to look at this first,” Fraser said, as he led Ray to a small porthole in an enclave next to the door.
Ray peered outside and gasped. Outside he could see space, actual real space. It wasn’t like the CGI effects of Star Trek or Star Wars, where the stars whooshed past the window. They were clearly moving, and at some speed, but Ray could pick out the individual stars.
“We’ve not reached our full speed yet, Ray, but I thought you might be able to appreciate this view whilst it lasts. Once we reach our full speed you’ll hardly be able to notice anything much.”
“So who are this we? Who are you? What are you?”
“I’ll explain, Ray…”
“Yeah, all in good time. At least I’m not on a table being probed.”
“Why would we probe you, Ray?”
“You never watched any science fiction movies?”
“I have, Ray, but they aren’t very scientific.”
“That’s why they call it fiction, Benny.”
“Ah. I should show you our command centre, Ray.”
Ray tore his eyes away from the small porthole and followed Fraser through the next door.
He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, probably something like ships on earth had, or a hybrid of the star ship Enterprise and the millennium falcon. What he didn’t expect was a very cramped, very low ceiling and a room which was covered wall to wall in consoles, readouts and flashing, blinking lights.
“Benny?”
Fraser took his hand and led him further in, where there was at least space for Ray to stand up. It was then Ray noticed Diefenbaker was sitting in a chair, his eyes fixed on a screen, pressing buttons.
“Diefenbaker?”
“Yes?” the wolf replied.
“Erm… he can talk?” Ray whispered to Fraser.
“Of course, Ray. Diefenbaker comes from a highly intelligent species. On Earth he had to be careful of revealing his true identity.”
“Yeah, I can understand…” Ray looked around. “Hey! There’s no-one else in here!”
“They’ve gone on a break,” Dief answered.
“A break?!”
Fraser smiled. “I wouldn’t worry, Ray, Diefenbaker is perfectly capable of handling the ship on his own. He has over three hundred hours solo flight time.”
“Great.”
“I can give you a tour, Ray. Where we’re standing, we can see the navigation control station where Dief is sitting. Behind us are the engine readouts.”
Ray glanced around, but he could tell one readout from another; it was all gibberish to him.
“This is interesting, Ray,” Fraser said, leading Ray over to a cluster of white flashing lights. “These are our environmental settings. We can recreate the atmosphere of any planet we need. And this,” Fraser said leading Ray to yet another strange looking readout, “this is the scientific data we’re gathering as we go along.”
“What does that do?” Ray asked pointing to a large red light.
“It blinks, Ray.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. Other than that we’re not entirely sure what it does.”
“How could you not know?”
A voice spoke up from the front. “I think you better tell him, Benton Fraser.”
“Ah yes, you’re right, Dief.”
Fraser took Ray’s hand again and led him back out of the control centre. Ray hit his head. He forgot to duck.
“Okay, Fraser, I want some answers,” Ray said as Fraser led him down yet another corridor. They all looked the same to Ray, and how anyone could find their way was beyond him.
“We’re nearly there, Ray.”
“Where?”
“I thought it might be better if we talked in private,” Fraser said, and he led them into another room.
The particular room was furnished, to Ray’s surprise, like a log cabin. He touched the walls and it felt almost like wood. Logs lined the interior and there were several book cases full of books. There was an old fashioned writing desk with a rather futuristic computer on it. What really drew Ray’s attention, however, was the bed, a very large bed for one person, it was more round than square and had very nice red silk sheets on it.
“Ray?” Fraser touched his shoulder. “Would you like to sit down?”
To Ray’s ill-concealed joy, Fraser pointed to the bed. And Ray eagerly, perhaps too eagerly, sat on the edge and tried not to look like he wanted to do more than simply sit on the bed with Fraser.
“I should have explained all this to you earlier, Ray, but...”
“Where are we?”
“My quarters.”
“Ah.”
“Ray?”
Ray grinned. “Carry on, Benny, you were going to explain?”
“Yes. As I told you before, I’m not not human.”
“So are you human or not?”
“I am human, Ray, but I wasn’t born on earth.”
“That would explain lot,” Ray noted.
“My ancestors were an early form of homo sapiens sapiens but they were taken from earth by a race from the other side of the galaxy who settled them in colonies on another planet.”
“Why?”
“No-one’s entirely sure, Ray, there’ve been many theories over the years, but we’ll never know.”
“You can’t find them and ask them?”
“No, Ray, I’m afraid they’ve been extinct for several millennia.”
“You find out why?”
“Yes, they were wiped out by a race of giant squid in a terrible war.”
“You’re kidding me, right? Giant squid?”
“It’s not a joke, Ray. The giant squid were a species who did a lot of damage before they were defeated.”
“So, they died out and, what, you inherited their technology?”
“Yes, Ray, how did you know?”
“You really should watch more science fiction movies, Fraser.”
“Perhaps I should, Ray,” Fraser smiled. “We did inherit their technology and we began to explore our origins, which is how I ended up on earth.”
“So you didn’t crash-land in a meteor?”
“Why would I have done?”
“Never mind, Superman, just tell me the rest.”
“My mother was a great scientist and she chose to investigate the arctic conditions of Earth, so she settled in the Yukon.”
“Where she met your Dad?”
“Yes. They fell in love and married, but when my mother found out she was pregnant, she began to get very homesick, so she contacted our home planet.”
“What’s your home planet called, Benny?”
“Krypton, Ray.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”
“I’m not, Ray.”
“Is it made of green crystals?”
“No, Ray it’s exactly like Earth, expect we have more land. In fact, 60 percent of the surface is land.”
“Great, so your mother went back to Krypton.”
“Yes, my father came with her and I was born there, but after a few years my father became homesick and they returned to earth, where my mother died.”
“Sorry, Benny.”
“My maternal grandparents believed it was important for me to learn about my mother’s culture, so I spent time on their planet as well on Earth. When I reached the age of eighteen, I spent a few years completing my education on Krypton. I was trained in research skills; then, when I came back to Earth, I became a Mountie, which has helped me study human behaviour on Earth.”
“So, what, you’re a researcher for another planet?”
“Yes, although I find my job as a Mountie fulfilling in itself.”
“Are you going home, now?”
“Only briefly, Ray, to deliver my latest report to my superiors.”
“So you’re coming back to Earth?”
“It’s a home to me, Ray, so yes I am. And well…”
Ray noticed Fraser was blushing. “Well what?”
“There is someone very special to me on Earth and I’d prefer not to leave him.”
Ray noticed Fraser lick his lips and he tilted the man’s (for Ray was confident now that Fraser was a man and was not about to run green or have two heads) head toward him.
“Would that be me, Fraser?” Ray asked hopefully.
“Yes, Ray,” Fraser breathed.
“Good.”
Ray drew Fraser into a kiss. He felt Fraser’s arms go around him and smiled, the clothing Benny was wearing was soft, but really Ray would prefer to get Fraser out of it. He was just about to work on doing that when they were interrupted by a loud beeping.
Fraser pulled back from their kiss and let his disappointment show. He looked as disappointed as Ray felt. Fraser wandered over to the futuristic looking computer and pressed a yellow button.
“Yes?”
“Benton Fraser, I think you better come up here, there’s trouble.”
Ray recognised Dief’s voice.
“Have you got in contact with the rest of the crew?”
“They’re not answering.”
Fraser turned to Ray. “We’ll be right with you, Dief, we’ll check in the recreation room on our way.”
Ray didn’t have time to ask what was going on before he was taken by the hand and led out of Fraser’s room (and away from his bed) down several corridors to what was, Ray presumed, the recreation room.
The door opened and Fraser dragged Ray inside.
“Oh dear.”
Ray looked around and saw the rest of the crew, (he presumed they were the crew they were wearing red long johns and funny hats), slumped over a table.
“I suspect Bullturn has accidentally put sedative in the drinks again,” Fraser said.
“This happens a lot?”
“Every trip, Ray. It’s not always sedative, last time it was laxative, that was a very embarrassing trip indeed.”
“So what now?”
“If he’s given them a small dosage it could still take them several hours to wake up.”
“Great.”
“Come on, Ray,” Fraser said, taking Ray’s hand and dragging him along again.
“Where are we going?”
“The command centre, there’s an emergency.”
“How do you know?”
“The lighting has switched to violet, Ray.”
Sure enough, as they raced along the corridor, Ray noticed that the place was bathed in violet light.
“That’s bad?”
“Yes, Ray, much worse than green.”
Ray didn’t have time to ask if they had to change the bulbs when they switched colours because they were soon entering the control centre. Ray banged his head, again.
“What’s our situation, Diefenbaker?”
“We’re in trouble, there is a pirate ship headed right toward us.”
“Space pirates?” Ray asked.
“Yes. Although pirates is a misnomer as they don’t tend to plunder ships, they just destroy them.”
“We’re going to die.”
“Don’t panic, Ray, we’re not going to die.”
“It could be worse,” Dief spoke up. “They could start firing at us.”
As if to fulfil the words, the ship was rocked by what Ray worked out was some sort of shot. He thought this as he banged his head on the engineering console.
“What was that?” he asked.
“A cannonball.”
“A cannonball?”
“That’s probably how they got the name pirates,” Fraser said.
“They use cannon balls, not lasers?”
“Lasers are just light, Ray. They look interesting but unfortunately don’t do very much damage.”
“Ray, could you take command of the weapons console?”
“Which was one is that?”
“The one with the big red button,” Fraser said pointing.
Ray moved carefully over to the beeping, flashing weapons console. “Now what?”
“Raise the shields, Ray.”
“How?”
“Press the silver button, Ray.”
Ray couldn’t really tell which button was silver in the flashing violet light so he pressed the button he thought was silver only to be met by a large beeping.
“Fraser! It’s beeping!”
“You pressed the wrong button, Ray.”
“I realise that, how do I stop it?”
“Press the one next to it.”
Ray didn’t even know what colour that one was but he pressed it anyway and thankfully the beeping stopped.
“What was that?”
“You were about to eject the contents of the garbage chute.”
“Who puts the garbage chute controls on the weapons console, panel?”
“I told you, Ray we didn’t design this vessel.”
Ray finally worked out which was the silver button. “Benny! I’ve pressed the shield button.”
“Good, Ray, perhaps you’d like to fire a torpedo?”
“What are you doing over there?”
“I’m trying to stop the engine overheating.”
“Is it working?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?! We’re being attacked by space pirates, the engine is overheating and you think so?!”
“Ray, please calm down and fire a torpedo.”
“The big red button, right?”
“No, Ray, the green one.”
“Yeah why didn’t I think of that?”
“I don’t mean to rush you,” Dief called. “But they’re making another pass!”
“Okay, press the green button, I can do this,” Ray said to himself, closing his eyes and pressing the green button.
“Did you press the yellow button first?” Fraser asked.
“You said to press the green button!”
“Ah well, forget I mentioned it.”
“Fraser!”
“He means,” Dief said, “the torpedo won’t know what the target is.”
“You mean it might come after us?”
“It’s possible, Ray.”
The ship was rocked by another explosion.
“Was that the torpedo?” Ray asked.
“No, your torpedo just exploded in the middle of nowhere,” Dief said.
“Good news, Ray, I’ve stabilised the engine.”
“Well, at least that’s one less way we’ll get blown up.”
“Ray, press the garbage chute button.”
“Why?”
“Press it twice to release the garbage then press the yellow button, then the green one to launch the torpedo.”
Ray was hardly in a position to argue. So he took a deep breath and pressed the buttons Fraser had told him too. He shut his eyes waiting for the pirates to blow them up but instead he heard a loud boom, then nothing.
“It worked, Ray!”
“What worked?” Ray opened his eyes to be caught in an embrace by a very happy Fraser.
“The torpedo ignited the garbage, causing damage to their ship. They won’t be able to follow us.”
“That’s it? We’re okay?”
“Yes, Ray,” Fraser replied and gave Ray a searing kiss.
“Diefenbaker, we’ll be…”
“In your quarters. Fine, I’ll just stay here on my own.”
“Dief,” Ray began. “If you want us to stay…”
“You have fun. I’m sure the rest of the crew will wake up soon.”
“According to my estimates, approximately forty five minutes,” Fraser replied.
“So go.”
“Yes. Shall we, Ray?” Fraser offered his arm to Ray, who took it gratefully.
This time Ray remembered to duck.
An hour later they were both naked on Fraser’s lovely large bed, happily kissing and caressing each other.
“I’d ask if the earth moved for you, but we’re the ones moving.”
“We are a long way from earth.”
“So, Benny, what are we going to do, now?”
“We’re still heading for Krypton, Ray, however, we could turn back to Earth.”
“Hey, I want to see Krypton.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Besides I always wanted a honeymoon that was out of this world.”
“I think we should start now then, Ray,” Fraser replied.
“How long will it take to get there?”
“A week, Ray.”
“Then let’s make the most of it,” Ray said and he rolled over on top of Fraser once more.
Ray had to admit, it was just like making love with superman. Even more so when Fraser turned the artificial gravity off. Loving Benny was indeed out of this world.
Author: Aingeal (
aingeal8c)Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: PG
Summary: Ray has his suspicions about Fraser but the truth is more amazing than he ever imagined.
Notes: Pure, unadulterated crack!fic. There's no other way to describe it. Many thanks to
lozenger8 for betaing the product of my chocolate overloaded brain. Out of This World
Ray Vecchio was a good detective and not just because he had a shield that said so, nor because he’d had a pay rise – no, the reason was that he always looked for truth. If the truth was out there, Ray would find it, and that was what he was hoping to find at approximately 2.36AM one grey and depressing Monday morning just outside of Chicago.
His curiosity had been piqued by the fact his best friend, Benton Fraser, had been acting rather strangely. That wasn’t to say that Fraser acted normally most of the time, anyone who could identify the ingredients of ribs by smelling rat’s breath and who sniffed wolf piddle could not be classed as normal in the Chicago sense. But despite that, Ray had found himself in love with the Mountie, so when the Mountie began acting more strangely than normal, Ray decided to investigate.
It had started some weeks ago when he’d caught Fraser with a coat hanger, some tinfoil and the remains of his stereo on the roof of his apartment building. Fraser had made some excuse of testing the air for the possibility of a snowstorm which would have been a fine explanation had it not been June.
That was the first clue. Ray’s second clue had been the strange writing he’d found on Fraser’s desk. It wasn’t English and it wasn’t Canadian. When he asked Fraser what it was, his friend had replied it was abstract art. Ray was not convinced it was art and there had followed a debate on modern art and cubism.
Then there had been the fact Fraser seemed to disappear frequently and Ray had no idea where he was. This was unusual as Fraser tended to seek Ray out and draw him into bizarre crimes involving dog meat or strippers. That was when Ray decided he was going to start tailing his friend. The fact he was in love with said friend was purely co-incidental.
That was what had led him to a cold wet field this Monday morning. Fraser had rented a car from Gemini car rentals. That wasn’t unusual, as they seemed to be the only car rental agency in Chicago. What was unusual was Fraser renting a car to begin with. He usually asked Ray for a lift if he needed to go anywhere.
Fraser and Dief had set off in the rented vehicle (a white mid-size as it turned out) and after a brief stop-over at McDonalds (one wolf sized happy meal was purchased) they had set out of Chicago with Ray hot on their tail. He had no idea what Fraser was doing, but they drove around for hours, literally.
Now Fraser had parked the car by a small wood and he and Dief entered. Ray carefully parked up himself (no easy task since he kept the Riv’s lights off so as to not alarm Fraser) and got out, following his friend. He tried to tell himself there was a perfectly reasonable explanation involving widows and kittens but he couldn’t persuade himself.
As he neared the woods, there was a glowing of bright lights. Ray had to shield his eyes, having lost his lucky sunglasses the previous month. Gradually his eyes got used to the glowing and he could pick out red and green lights. He wandered deeper into the woods.
He reached a clearing where the source of the lights became obvious. It took a few minutes for Ray to place the shape of the object as a rhombus having not to think about geometry in any capacity for nearly 20 years. It was, however, not flat, but raised, and it was bigger than Ray had expected.
There were red lights around the edge, with a green light on top and various white lights scattered across the surface. Ray’s eyes were drawn to the entrance to the strange craft. There was a ramp and bright, white light emanating from within, so bright Ray couldn’t see inside.
He noticed some men in red suits talking to Fraser at the edge of the ramp. Ray couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they weren’t speaking English from what he could tell. Of course, the fact the object, now placed as a spacecraft, emitted a loud humming didn’t help. Ray couldn’t read lips either. It wasn't long before the men, Fraser, and Dief, made their way up the ramp and headed inside.
By this point Ray was thoroughly confused. To begin with, he didn’t know why it was a flying rhombus rather than flying saucer, but more than that, he wanted to know why his friend (incidentally, the man he loved although thus far he’d chickened out of telling him) and his friend’s wolf were boarding a strange spacecraft. It wasn’t Canadian; as far as Ray could tell, there was no maple leaf motif in sight.
The ramp began to retract and in a split second Ray ran across the clearing to it. He cursed the fact he had mud all over his rather expensive Italian shoes. Then, falling into the mud, he cursed the fact he had mud all over his expensive Armani suit. With one last superhuman effort he made a leap onto the ramp.
He wasn’t entirely sure what happened next. He remembered falling off the ramp and landing on a very hard, but fortunately mud free, floor. He remembered a similar noise to the whooshing when the door closed on Star Trek and then a thud. There was a loud rumble and then Ray blacked out.
“Ray? Are you all right?”
Ray moaned slightly and rubbed his head. He hadn’t felt this bad since he’d had his first (and last) hangover following a drinking game in High School.
“Fraser?” Ray opened his eyes and blinked. The light wasn’t as bright as it had been and the place seemed grey, and well, boring. It took a moment for Ray to realise where he was. This wasn’t how he imagined the interior of a flying saucer. He’d never even imagined a flying rhombus.
“Yes it’s me, Ray. How’s your head?”
“Sore,” Ray said, rubbing it.
“You might want to take these,” Fraser said, holding out a red pill and a blue pill.
“What are those? Aspirin?”
“Not exactly, Ray. To describe their exact pharmacology would take several hours.”
“How do I know they’re not some sort of mind drug? I take them and wake up in some weird medical lab?”
“They aren’t a mind drug, Ray. The red pill is to stop your headache and the blue pill is to prevent it reoccurring.”
Ray noticed his friend wasn’t wearing his jeans and t-shirt anymore, but had changed onto something resembling his red long johns. Ray didn’t have time to drool over the image it presented, however, as Fraser held the pills out in the palm of one hand and offered Ray a glass with the other.
“Fine, I’ll take them, but if I find myself being poked and probed in places I’d like to keep private, I’m blaming you.”
“Fair enough, Ray.”
Ray took the pills, out them into his mouth and swallowed. He downed the glass of water in one. As he did so, he found he couldn’t actually taste the water, but it was too late to worry about that as he’d already swallowed it.
“Allow yourself a few minutes, Ray and you’ll feel better. Then perhaps I can explain about all this.”
“Does it involve kittens or old widows?”
“Neither, I’m afraid, Ray, sorry.”
“Aliens, I knew it.”
“Not exactly, Ray.”
“Not exactly? You’re telling me this is some weird experiment by the Canadian government?”
“Considering we’ve just passed Jupiter on the way out of your solar system, no, Ray.”
“So we’re heading out of the solar system in a spaceship, headed for God knows where and you’re telling me this isn’t about aliens?”
“It is, Ray, at least, partly. How is your head?”
Ray was surprised to find the banging headache that had plagued him a few minutes earlier was now gone. “It’s fine, it’s gone.”
“Ah good.”
“No, don’t change the subject. Tell me what the hell this is about.”
Ray, now feeling better, stood up and wobbled for few moments before ending up on the floor again.
“The artificial gravity here can take some getting used to, Ray. It’s set at a slightly different level to that of Earth, but you should be able to adapt relatively quickly.”
Fraser offered a hand and Ray took it. Fraser pulled Ray to his feet and supported him as he stood up. Ray had to admit it was kind of nice being able to get this close to Fraser, even if his friend (and the man he’d fallen in love with) wasn’t actually human.
“So are you going to explain now?”
“Let’s take a walk, Ray,” Fraser replied and supported Ray as they took a few steps to the door facing them.
It opened with that weird Star Trek whooshing noise. Ray took a glance back as they stepped through the door and it closed behind but all the could see was grey. The corridor they were now in, however, was a little bit different. Here, the décor had been thought about more, well at least when it came to fans of low budget sci-fi flicks.
There were pipes running down the wall, with the panels of flashing lights placed at strategic intervals. There were also panels that seemed to be mostly wire and/or made of cereal boxes. The colour was lighter, less grey, more beige and silver. There was also carpet, although the light blue hue was slightly uninspired.
Ray found that Fraser was starting to let go of him more and Ray tried to be as nonchalant as possible about keeping the contact.
“You should be getting used to the gravity by now,” Fraser said as he gently let Ray stand on his own.
Fraser was right and Ray knew better than to lie to a Mountie, especially one who it turned out was an alien. “Yeah I can do this,” Ray said as he began to take steps under his own power.
They reached another door, but just as Ray was about to step through it, Fraser stopped him.
“You might want to look at this first,” Fraser said, as he led Ray to a small porthole in an enclave next to the door.
Ray peered outside and gasped. Outside he could see space, actual real space. It wasn’t like the CGI effects of Star Trek or Star Wars, where the stars whooshed past the window. They were clearly moving, and at some speed, but Ray could pick out the individual stars.
“We’ve not reached our full speed yet, Ray, but I thought you might be able to appreciate this view whilst it lasts. Once we reach our full speed you’ll hardly be able to notice anything much.”
“So who are this we? Who are you? What are you?”
“I’ll explain, Ray…”
“Yeah, all in good time. At least I’m not on a table being probed.”
“Why would we probe you, Ray?”
“You never watched any science fiction movies?”
“I have, Ray, but they aren’t very scientific.”
“That’s why they call it fiction, Benny.”
“Ah. I should show you our command centre, Ray.”
Ray tore his eyes away from the small porthole and followed Fraser through the next door.
He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, probably something like ships on earth had, or a hybrid of the star ship Enterprise and the millennium falcon. What he didn’t expect was a very cramped, very low ceiling and a room which was covered wall to wall in consoles, readouts and flashing, blinking lights.
“Benny?”
Fraser took his hand and led him further in, where there was at least space for Ray to stand up. It was then Ray noticed Diefenbaker was sitting in a chair, his eyes fixed on a screen, pressing buttons.
“Diefenbaker?”
“Yes?” the wolf replied.
“Erm… he can talk?” Ray whispered to Fraser.
“Of course, Ray. Diefenbaker comes from a highly intelligent species. On Earth he had to be careful of revealing his true identity.”
“Yeah, I can understand…” Ray looked around. “Hey! There’s no-one else in here!”
“They’ve gone on a break,” Dief answered.
“A break?!”
Fraser smiled. “I wouldn’t worry, Ray, Diefenbaker is perfectly capable of handling the ship on his own. He has over three hundred hours solo flight time.”
“Great.”
“I can give you a tour, Ray. Where we’re standing, we can see the navigation control station where Dief is sitting. Behind us are the engine readouts.”
Ray glanced around, but he could tell one readout from another; it was all gibberish to him.
“This is interesting, Ray,” Fraser said, leading Ray over to a cluster of white flashing lights. “These are our environmental settings. We can recreate the atmosphere of any planet we need. And this,” Fraser said leading Ray to yet another strange looking readout, “this is the scientific data we’re gathering as we go along.”
“What does that do?” Ray asked pointing to a large red light.
“It blinks, Ray.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. Other than that we’re not entirely sure what it does.”
“How could you not know?”
A voice spoke up from the front. “I think you better tell him, Benton Fraser.”
“Ah yes, you’re right, Dief.”
Fraser took Ray’s hand again and led him back out of the control centre. Ray hit his head. He forgot to duck.
“Okay, Fraser, I want some answers,” Ray said as Fraser led him down yet another corridor. They all looked the same to Ray, and how anyone could find their way was beyond him.
“We’re nearly there, Ray.”
“Where?”
“I thought it might be better if we talked in private,” Fraser said, and he led them into another room.
The particular room was furnished, to Ray’s surprise, like a log cabin. He touched the walls and it felt almost like wood. Logs lined the interior and there were several book cases full of books. There was an old fashioned writing desk with a rather futuristic computer on it. What really drew Ray’s attention, however, was the bed, a very large bed for one person, it was more round than square and had very nice red silk sheets on it.
“Ray?” Fraser touched his shoulder. “Would you like to sit down?”
To Ray’s ill-concealed joy, Fraser pointed to the bed. And Ray eagerly, perhaps too eagerly, sat on the edge and tried not to look like he wanted to do more than simply sit on the bed with Fraser.
“I should have explained all this to you earlier, Ray, but...”
“Where are we?”
“My quarters.”
“Ah.”
“Ray?”
Ray grinned. “Carry on, Benny, you were going to explain?”
“Yes. As I told you before, I’m not not human.”
“So are you human or not?”
“I am human, Ray, but I wasn’t born on earth.”
“That would explain lot,” Ray noted.
“My ancestors were an early form of homo sapiens sapiens but they were taken from earth by a race from the other side of the galaxy who settled them in colonies on another planet.”
“Why?”
“No-one’s entirely sure, Ray, there’ve been many theories over the years, but we’ll never know.”
“You can’t find them and ask them?”
“No, Ray, I’m afraid they’ve been extinct for several millennia.”
“You find out why?”
“Yes, they were wiped out by a race of giant squid in a terrible war.”
“You’re kidding me, right? Giant squid?”
“It’s not a joke, Ray. The giant squid were a species who did a lot of damage before they were defeated.”
“So, they died out and, what, you inherited their technology?”
“Yes, Ray, how did you know?”
“You really should watch more science fiction movies, Fraser.”
“Perhaps I should, Ray,” Fraser smiled. “We did inherit their technology and we began to explore our origins, which is how I ended up on earth.”
“So you didn’t crash-land in a meteor?”
“Why would I have done?”
“Never mind, Superman, just tell me the rest.”
“My mother was a great scientist and she chose to investigate the arctic conditions of Earth, so she settled in the Yukon.”
“Where she met your Dad?”
“Yes. They fell in love and married, but when my mother found out she was pregnant, she began to get very homesick, so she contacted our home planet.”
“What’s your home planet called, Benny?”
“Krypton, Ray.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”
“I’m not, Ray.”
“Is it made of green crystals?”
“No, Ray it’s exactly like Earth, expect we have more land. In fact, 60 percent of the surface is land.”
“Great, so your mother went back to Krypton.”
“Yes, my father came with her and I was born there, but after a few years my father became homesick and they returned to earth, where my mother died.”
“Sorry, Benny.”
“My maternal grandparents believed it was important for me to learn about my mother’s culture, so I spent time on their planet as well on Earth. When I reached the age of eighteen, I spent a few years completing my education on Krypton. I was trained in research skills; then, when I came back to Earth, I became a Mountie, which has helped me study human behaviour on Earth.”
“So, what, you’re a researcher for another planet?”
“Yes, although I find my job as a Mountie fulfilling in itself.”
“Are you going home, now?”
“Only briefly, Ray, to deliver my latest report to my superiors.”
“So you’re coming back to Earth?”
“It’s a home to me, Ray, so yes I am. And well…”
Ray noticed Fraser was blushing. “Well what?”
“There is someone very special to me on Earth and I’d prefer not to leave him.”
Ray noticed Fraser lick his lips and he tilted the man’s (for Ray was confident now that Fraser was a man and was not about to run green or have two heads) head toward him.
“Would that be me, Fraser?” Ray asked hopefully.
“Yes, Ray,” Fraser breathed.
“Good.”
Ray drew Fraser into a kiss. He felt Fraser’s arms go around him and smiled, the clothing Benny was wearing was soft, but really Ray would prefer to get Fraser out of it. He was just about to work on doing that when they were interrupted by a loud beeping.
Fraser pulled back from their kiss and let his disappointment show. He looked as disappointed as Ray felt. Fraser wandered over to the futuristic looking computer and pressed a yellow button.
“Yes?”
“Benton Fraser, I think you better come up here, there’s trouble.”
Ray recognised Dief’s voice.
“Have you got in contact with the rest of the crew?”
“They’re not answering.”
Fraser turned to Ray. “We’ll be right with you, Dief, we’ll check in the recreation room on our way.”
Ray didn’t have time to ask what was going on before he was taken by the hand and led out of Fraser’s room (and away from his bed) down several corridors to what was, Ray presumed, the recreation room.
The door opened and Fraser dragged Ray inside.
“Oh dear.”
Ray looked around and saw the rest of the crew, (he presumed they were the crew they were wearing red long johns and funny hats), slumped over a table.
“I suspect Bullturn has accidentally put sedative in the drinks again,” Fraser said.
“This happens a lot?”
“Every trip, Ray. It’s not always sedative, last time it was laxative, that was a very embarrassing trip indeed.”
“So what now?”
“If he’s given them a small dosage it could still take them several hours to wake up.”
“Great.”
“Come on, Ray,” Fraser said, taking Ray’s hand and dragging him along again.
“Where are we going?”
“The command centre, there’s an emergency.”
“How do you know?”
“The lighting has switched to violet, Ray.”
Sure enough, as they raced along the corridor, Ray noticed that the place was bathed in violet light.
“That’s bad?”
“Yes, Ray, much worse than green.”
Ray didn’t have time to ask if they had to change the bulbs when they switched colours because they were soon entering the control centre. Ray banged his head, again.
“What’s our situation, Diefenbaker?”
“We’re in trouble, there is a pirate ship headed right toward us.”
“Space pirates?” Ray asked.
“Yes. Although pirates is a misnomer as they don’t tend to plunder ships, they just destroy them.”
“We’re going to die.”
“Don’t panic, Ray, we’re not going to die.”
“It could be worse,” Dief spoke up. “They could start firing at us.”
As if to fulfil the words, the ship was rocked by what Ray worked out was some sort of shot. He thought this as he banged his head on the engineering console.
“What was that?” he asked.
“A cannonball.”
“A cannonball?”
“That’s probably how they got the name pirates,” Fraser said.
“They use cannon balls, not lasers?”
“Lasers are just light, Ray. They look interesting but unfortunately don’t do very much damage.”
“Ray, could you take command of the weapons console?”
“Which was one is that?”
“The one with the big red button,” Fraser said pointing.
Ray moved carefully over to the beeping, flashing weapons console. “Now what?”
“Raise the shields, Ray.”
“How?”
“Press the silver button, Ray.”
Ray couldn’t really tell which button was silver in the flashing violet light so he pressed the button he thought was silver only to be met by a large beeping.
“Fraser! It’s beeping!”
“You pressed the wrong button, Ray.”
“I realise that, how do I stop it?”
“Press the one next to it.”
Ray didn’t even know what colour that one was but he pressed it anyway and thankfully the beeping stopped.
“What was that?”
“You were about to eject the contents of the garbage chute.”
“Who puts the garbage chute controls on the weapons console, panel?”
“I told you, Ray we didn’t design this vessel.”
Ray finally worked out which was the silver button. “Benny! I’ve pressed the shield button.”
“Good, Ray, perhaps you’d like to fire a torpedo?”
“What are you doing over there?”
“I’m trying to stop the engine overheating.”
“Is it working?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?! We’re being attacked by space pirates, the engine is overheating and you think so?!”
“Ray, please calm down and fire a torpedo.”
“The big red button, right?”
“No, Ray, the green one.”
“Yeah why didn’t I think of that?”
“I don’t mean to rush you,” Dief called. “But they’re making another pass!”
“Okay, press the green button, I can do this,” Ray said to himself, closing his eyes and pressing the green button.
“Did you press the yellow button first?” Fraser asked.
“You said to press the green button!”
“Ah well, forget I mentioned it.”
“Fraser!”
“He means,” Dief said, “the torpedo won’t know what the target is.”
“You mean it might come after us?”
“It’s possible, Ray.”
The ship was rocked by another explosion.
“Was that the torpedo?” Ray asked.
“No, your torpedo just exploded in the middle of nowhere,” Dief said.
“Good news, Ray, I’ve stabilised the engine.”
“Well, at least that’s one less way we’ll get blown up.”
“Ray, press the garbage chute button.”
“Why?”
“Press it twice to release the garbage then press the yellow button, then the green one to launch the torpedo.”
Ray was hardly in a position to argue. So he took a deep breath and pressed the buttons Fraser had told him too. He shut his eyes waiting for the pirates to blow them up but instead he heard a loud boom, then nothing.
“It worked, Ray!”
“What worked?” Ray opened his eyes to be caught in an embrace by a very happy Fraser.
“The torpedo ignited the garbage, causing damage to their ship. They won’t be able to follow us.”
“That’s it? We’re okay?”
“Yes, Ray,” Fraser replied and gave Ray a searing kiss.
“Diefenbaker, we’ll be…”
“In your quarters. Fine, I’ll just stay here on my own.”
“Dief,” Ray began. “If you want us to stay…”
“You have fun. I’m sure the rest of the crew will wake up soon.”
“According to my estimates, approximately forty five minutes,” Fraser replied.
“So go.”
“Yes. Shall we, Ray?” Fraser offered his arm to Ray, who took it gratefully.
This time Ray remembered to duck.
An hour later they were both naked on Fraser’s lovely large bed, happily kissing and caressing each other.
“I’d ask if the earth moved for you, but we’re the ones moving.”
“We are a long way from earth.”
“So, Benny, what are we going to do, now?”
“We’re still heading for Krypton, Ray, however, we could turn back to Earth.”
“Hey, I want to see Krypton.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Besides I always wanted a honeymoon that was out of this world.”
“I think we should start now then, Ray,” Fraser replied.
“How long will it take to get there?”
“A week, Ray.”
“Then let’s make the most of it,” Ray said and he rolled over on top of Fraser once more.
Ray had to admit, it was just like making love with superman. Even more so when Fraser turned the artificial gravity off. Loving Benny was indeed out of this world.
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Date: 2007-01-06 11:52 am (UTC)Oh, and I think you mean release the garbage not realise the garbage.
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Date: 2007-01-06 03:23 pm (UTC)Mwhahahaha
Oh, and I think you mean release the garbage not realise the garbage.
I did and thank you. Have fixed it.
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Date: 2007-01-06 01:53 pm (UTC)*Wipes eyes*
This is great. It really is - you certainly are taking them into different places.
The style is superb too, the beginning had the feel of a fairy story, it was perfect for this story.
And you know what, it's so believable.
I loved talking Dief and his 'I'll just stay here on my own' comment.
Great story.
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Date: 2007-01-06 03:33 pm (UTC)*Wipes eyes*
This is great. It really is - you certainly are taking them into different places.
Hee hee glad you enjoyed it. Yes I seem tpo be taking them everywhere...literally.
The style is superb too, the beginning had the feel of a fairy story, it was perfect for this story.
And you know what, it's so believable.
I loved talking Dief and his 'I'll just stay here on my own' comment.
Great story.
Thank you. I have no idea what precipated it but I'm very glad it worked for you. And Dief yes I do like giving him the best lines ;-)
Thank for you fb.
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Date: 2007-01-06 04:01 pm (UTC)I'm wondering where we can expect them next :-)
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Date: 2007-01-06 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-06 09:36 pm (UTC)Oooh, I have a vague idea for an AU story, which you might like to try - maybe.
Benny is a Librarian *g* and Ray a customer who falls for the 'tall, dark and handsome' stranger when taking his nieces to the library. After that he keeps going back and back, borrowing this book and that and always seeing Benny in some way, shape or form (it's a small library), until the day he decides to check out a slightly risque book, not a gay sex book, something like Forster's Maurice, for example, and it leaves Benny wondering....
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Date: 2007-01-07 12:48 pm (UTC):-) Hee hee.
Oooh, I have a vague idea for an AU story, which you might like to try - maybe.
Ooo I do liek this idea. Benny as a librarian is so very appealing. I shall certinaly add that plot bunny to my ever growing hutch. Thank you kindly.
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Date: 2007-01-07 01:23 pm (UTC)Hee, evil Nikki gives Aingeal another plot bunny.
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Date: 2007-01-07 01:42 pm (UTC)Your icon is very appropriate. My RL bunny looks that, except her ears stick up.
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Date: 2007-01-07 04:08 pm (UTC)My icon is Evil Bob 6! He was 'gifted' to me by a couple of people of my f-list who have Evil Bob 1 and 2 and have given out 3, 4, and 5. They are greatly responsible for heavy angst and really weird plots and stuff like that. So far my Bob hasn't been too much trouble (he's wary of Gibbs's head slaps) but that state of affairs won't last long.
I say he looks too sweet to be Evil, but . . . Nice to know what your real bunny looks like. A non-fandom friend of mine has three Lion Head Rabbits (it is Lion Head, isn't? Lion something).
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Date: 2007-01-07 08:28 pm (UTC)Indeed it is. Nice to have one.
My icon is Evil Bob 6! He was 'gifted' to me by a couple of people of my f-list who have Evil Bob 1 and 2 and have given out 3, 4, and 5. They are greatly responsible for heavy angst and really weird plots and stuff like that. So far my Bob hasn't been too much trouble (he's wary of Gibbs's head slaps) but that state of affairs won't last long.
So that's what the letters stand for. And he looks as if butter wouldn't melt too. Very cheeky. Hope he doesn't give you too much grief.
I say he looks too sweet to be Evil, but . . . Nice to know what your real bunny looks like. A non-fandom friend of mine has three Lion Head Rabbits (it is Lion Head, isn't? Lion something).
Rabbits are just like, lulling you into a false sense of security. Yes it is LionHead they have manes. Hee hee.
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Date: 2007-01-08 01:14 pm (UTC)Good. I'm glad.
So that's what the letters stand for. And he looks as if butter wouldn't melt too. Very cheeky. Hope he doesn't give you too much grief.
Hee. Yes, he does indeed look far too sweet, surely he can't be that troublesome :-)
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Date: 2007-01-08 02:40 pm (UTC)Famous last words?
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Date: 2007-01-08 05:34 pm (UTC)I've written two very short death stories *sigh*
*Glares at EB6*
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Date: 2007-01-08 10:06 pm (UTC)Bad evil bunny.
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Date: 2007-01-09 02:30 pm (UTC)*Glares at bunny* - but apparently that is his mission in life ;-)
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Date: 2007-01-20 09:24 am (UTC)Yep. Can't go wrong with talking Dief.
Hahaha! And I love it that he's from Krypton!
See it explains the leaping across rooftops hee hee.
And for some reason I find it *hilarious* that Dief calls him 'Benton Fraser.' Hee.
Whoo hoo.
Glad you liked it. Thanks for reading :-)