Fic: Beach Blanket Bingo (NASA-Style)
Title: Beach Blanket Bingo (NASA-Style)
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Hotdog, Nicky, Racetrack, Dee, and Seelix
Rating: PG
Summary: Felix and Louis invite the gang on an odd little vacation to celebrate the fruits of their work with NASA. Racetrack stopped listening when she heard the word “beach.” Culture Shock 'verse.
Notes: For prophetkristy's fluff meme prompt of Gaeta, Dee, and/or Hoshi, mai tais on the beach. This is sort of in celebration of the next-to-last NASA shuttle launch, which is scheduled for next week. The tone didn’t come off nearly as cracky as my “Culture Shock” fics normally do, so it is a bit of a change of pace.
Beach Blanket Bingo (NASA-Style)
Amidst the sizeable crowd, six big lawn chairs and one little one sat it a row on the beach, their occupants staring at the night sky further down the coast.
Racetrack shivered. “You guys really need to give better packing instructions next time.”
Louis handed her a spare blanket, which she wrapped around her shoulders. He said, “It’s not my fault that you heard ‘We’ll be chilling on the beach’ when I said ‘It’ll be chilly on the beach.’”
“I heard the word ‘beach.’ Who the frak organizes a vacation to Florida and then takes everyone to the beach at night?”
Felix rolled his eyes, “Just take another blanket and relax, will you?”
“Well, I’m glad you guys invited us all,” Hotdog said. “Nicky and me are both super-stoked to see the spaceship launch. Right, Nick?”
“Uh-huh,” Nicky said, only half-way paying attention. He was having too much fun staring up into the night sky with his binoculars.
Dee got another sandwich out of the cooler, passed it to Seelix, and added, “Yeah, it was really nice of you to put this trip together, but I’m a bit surprised NASA didn’t offer you VIP viewing seats. Considering how much work you two put in on this new spacecraft design…”
“Oh, they did. The Kobol is kind of our baby, after all,” Felix said. “But they could only give us two passes, and they didn’t allow alcohol in the viewing area. Speaking of which, Racetrack, that was your responsibility…”
Racetrack pulled another cooler toward her and fished around in it for a moment. “I did, but keep in mind that I was thinking more sunshine and swimming when I made my drink selection.”
Racetrack poured some of the liquid into Seelix’s empty water bottle. Seelix sipped it and laughed. “Mai tais?”
“Complete with festive paper umbrellas,” she said, holding one out. Racetrack poured drinks for everyone (Nicky getting apple juice instead) and added the umbrellas. It wasn’t until she passed Hotdog his mai tai that she first saw what was written on his shirt.
“‘We are Among You’?” she read.
Hotdog grinned. “Finally, somebody noticed! It’s a play on those ‘They are Among Us’ alien t-shirts, except more accurate, because we’re the aliens. I thought it was pretty clever. Nicky, show her yours.”
Nicky unzipped his jacket and proudly displayed his “The Truth is Right Here!” t-shirt.
Racetrack shook her head and laughed. “Did you guys hear ‘spaceship’ and immediately think Roswell and Area 51 rather than Cape Canaveral?”
“Nah. Cape Canaveral is way more fun. We just liked the shirts.”
Dee sipped her mai tai thoughtfully. “I hate to get gloomy, but you bring up an interesting point. Do you ever feel bad about all the questions we’ve answered for the Earthers by being here?”
“What do you mean?” Louis asked.
“Take aliens, for example. Before we showed up, the Earthers didn’t know whether the universe was teeming with all sorts of different life forms or if they were it. Then we show up bearing news that there really isn’t much for life out there-a handful of planets that support simple plant and animal life, but in five years of traveling through the galaxy, we never ran into any remotely sentient new life.”
“Not to mention we’re kinda boring as far as aliens go,” Hotdog added. “I mean, yeah, I suppose it’s weird that the same species sprung up on two sides of the galaxy, but if I were an Earther, I would’ve found the weirdness of aliens with, like, multiple heads and suction cup fingers way more interesting.”
“I get it,” Felix said. “Even this launch is like that. Colonial culture took hundreds, sometimes thousands of years to answer a lot of the technological questions the other NASA scientists pose to Louis and me all the time. We can usually answer their questions in an hour. As great as giving them these big scientific leaps forward is, I do feel like I’m stealing that process of discovery from them, sometimes.”
Seelix said, “I’m glad I’m not the only one who was thinking that. I mean, doesn’t it feel weird at all that we’re here watching a spaceship launch, even though when we were kids, spaceships launched every single day? And we all used to live on one?”
Racetrack elbowed Louis gently. “You’ve been pretty quiet. What do you think?”
Louis sat silent and thoughtful for a moment before he spoke. “I don’t see it as ‘us versus them’ anymore, I guess. Yes, there will always be some little Earth quirks and customs that throw me for a loop, and I don’t think I’ll ever understand Jersey Shore or why it’s on TV at all. But our biggest hope for finding Earth was that we’d have a second chance to get things right, wasn’t it? If our technology helps our Earthling brothers and sisters get it right, too, then I think it’s a good thing.”
They all nodded to themselves, impressed with Louis’s speech. Dee broke the long, comfortable silence, saying, “I saw a lot of strategic plans when I was XO on Pegasus. Did you know that one of our contingency plans upon finding Earth involved driving all our ships into a star?”
Five jaws dropped.
“That’s crazy!” Seelix said. “Why the hell would we do that, and what moron would think that was a good idea?”
Dee shrugged mock-innocently and grinned around her mai tai straw.
Racetrack said, “Oh my gods, it was Lee, wasn’t it?”
Dee broke into a fit of giggles while everyone else groaned, until Nicky bounced up out of his chair.
“There it is! There it is!”
They saw a blinding ball of light rise from the ground farther down the beach, so bright it reflected off the waves and the clouds. Of course Nicky was excited, never having seen a liftoff before, but even the six older Colonials sat back in awe as well.
“I forgot how pretty night liftoffs could be,” Seelix murmured.
“Launches are kind of like sunsets,” Felix said, taking his eyes off the Kobol just for a moment to enjoy the look of pride and joy on Louis’s face. Louis took Felix’s hand and squeezed it. “It doesn’t matter how many times you see them. They can still take your breath away.”
Then the seven of them watched the spaceship until it arced out over the ocean and vanished from sight.
Characters: Gaeta, Hoshi, Hotdog, Nicky, Racetrack, Dee, and Seelix
Rating: PG
Summary: Felix and Louis invite the gang on an odd little vacation to celebrate the fruits of their work with NASA. Racetrack stopped listening when she heard the word “beach.” Culture Shock 'verse.
Notes: For prophetkristy's fluff meme prompt of Gaeta, Dee, and/or Hoshi, mai tais on the beach. This is sort of in celebration of the next-to-last NASA shuttle launch, which is scheduled for next week. The tone didn’t come off nearly as cracky as my “Culture Shock” fics normally do, so it is a bit of a change of pace.
Beach Blanket Bingo (NASA-Style)
Amidst the sizeable crowd, six big lawn chairs and one little one sat it a row on the beach, their occupants staring at the night sky further down the coast.
Racetrack shivered. “You guys really need to give better packing instructions next time.”
Louis handed her a spare blanket, which she wrapped around her shoulders. He said, “It’s not my fault that you heard ‘We’ll be chilling on the beach’ when I said ‘It’ll be chilly on the beach.’”
“I heard the word ‘beach.’ Who the frak organizes a vacation to Florida and then takes everyone to the beach at night?”
Felix rolled his eyes, “Just take another blanket and relax, will you?”
“Well, I’m glad you guys invited us all,” Hotdog said. “Nicky and me are both super-stoked to see the spaceship launch. Right, Nick?”
“Uh-huh,” Nicky said, only half-way paying attention. He was having too much fun staring up into the night sky with his binoculars.
Dee got another sandwich out of the cooler, passed it to Seelix, and added, “Yeah, it was really nice of you to put this trip together, but I’m a bit surprised NASA didn’t offer you VIP viewing seats. Considering how much work you two put in on this new spacecraft design…”
“Oh, they did. The Kobol is kind of our baby, after all,” Felix said. “But they could only give us two passes, and they didn’t allow alcohol in the viewing area. Speaking of which, Racetrack, that was your responsibility…”
Racetrack pulled another cooler toward her and fished around in it for a moment. “I did, but keep in mind that I was thinking more sunshine and swimming when I made my drink selection.”
Racetrack poured some of the liquid into Seelix’s empty water bottle. Seelix sipped it and laughed. “Mai tais?”
“Complete with festive paper umbrellas,” she said, holding one out. Racetrack poured drinks for everyone (Nicky getting apple juice instead) and added the umbrellas. It wasn’t until she passed Hotdog his mai tai that she first saw what was written on his shirt.
“‘We are Among You’?” she read.
Hotdog grinned. “Finally, somebody noticed! It’s a play on those ‘They are Among Us’ alien t-shirts, except more accurate, because we’re the aliens. I thought it was pretty clever. Nicky, show her yours.”
Nicky unzipped his jacket and proudly displayed his “The Truth is Right Here!” t-shirt.
Racetrack shook her head and laughed. “Did you guys hear ‘spaceship’ and immediately think Roswell and Area 51 rather than Cape Canaveral?”
“Nah. Cape Canaveral is way more fun. We just liked the shirts.”
Dee sipped her mai tai thoughtfully. “I hate to get gloomy, but you bring up an interesting point. Do you ever feel bad about all the questions we’ve answered for the Earthers by being here?”
“What do you mean?” Louis asked.
“Take aliens, for example. Before we showed up, the Earthers didn’t know whether the universe was teeming with all sorts of different life forms or if they were it. Then we show up bearing news that there really isn’t much for life out there-a handful of planets that support simple plant and animal life, but in five years of traveling through the galaxy, we never ran into any remotely sentient new life.”
“Not to mention we’re kinda boring as far as aliens go,” Hotdog added. “I mean, yeah, I suppose it’s weird that the same species sprung up on two sides of the galaxy, but if I were an Earther, I would’ve found the weirdness of aliens with, like, multiple heads and suction cup fingers way more interesting.”
“I get it,” Felix said. “Even this launch is like that. Colonial culture took hundreds, sometimes thousands of years to answer a lot of the technological questions the other NASA scientists pose to Louis and me all the time. We can usually answer their questions in an hour. As great as giving them these big scientific leaps forward is, I do feel like I’m stealing that process of discovery from them, sometimes.”
Seelix said, “I’m glad I’m not the only one who was thinking that. I mean, doesn’t it feel weird at all that we’re here watching a spaceship launch, even though when we were kids, spaceships launched every single day? And we all used to live on one?”
Racetrack elbowed Louis gently. “You’ve been pretty quiet. What do you think?”
Louis sat silent and thoughtful for a moment before he spoke. “I don’t see it as ‘us versus them’ anymore, I guess. Yes, there will always be some little Earth quirks and customs that throw me for a loop, and I don’t think I’ll ever understand Jersey Shore or why it’s on TV at all. But our biggest hope for finding Earth was that we’d have a second chance to get things right, wasn’t it? If our technology helps our Earthling brothers and sisters get it right, too, then I think it’s a good thing.”
They all nodded to themselves, impressed with Louis’s speech. Dee broke the long, comfortable silence, saying, “I saw a lot of strategic plans when I was XO on Pegasus. Did you know that one of our contingency plans upon finding Earth involved driving all our ships into a star?”
Five jaws dropped.
“That’s crazy!” Seelix said. “Why the hell would we do that, and what moron would think that was a good idea?”
Dee shrugged mock-innocently and grinned around her mai tai straw.
Racetrack said, “Oh my gods, it was Lee, wasn’t it?”
Dee broke into a fit of giggles while everyone else groaned, until Nicky bounced up out of his chair.
“There it is! There it is!”
They saw a blinding ball of light rise from the ground farther down the beach, so bright it reflected off the waves and the clouds. Of course Nicky was excited, never having seen a liftoff before, but even the six older Colonials sat back in awe as well.
“I forgot how pretty night liftoffs could be,” Seelix murmured.
“Launches are kind of like sunsets,” Felix said, taking his eyes off the Kobol just for a moment to enjoy the look of pride and joy on Louis’s face. Louis took Felix’s hand and squeezed it. “It doesn’t matter how many times you see them. They can still take your breath away.”
Then the seven of them watched the spaceship until it arced out over the ocean and vanished from sight.