Elected Hurricane Stage 4. ETA 7 Hours.
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Showered up, and weighed down with giant backpacks, they walked up to a shuttle. A wide, spacious bus with room enough for all three to walk side by side and the leg room was enough for a double bed. She was looking at a campsite, with space cooking and dining zones. It was so strange and beautiful.
Which meant…
Kate sighed internally.
Yup… There she went.
Music Paused
Their mother rushed up to the oldest and sturdiest person there, thick necked with the lines of a red wood, only more archaic. He was ancient, the others there were just old. Their mother saluted. The aged giant's gaze had clearly been in another universe. He blinked, returning to reality, and turned slowly and carefully. It reminded Kate of a tree, his once pale white skin tanned until it became another colour entirely.
He could have eaten them alive without trying like a root slowly breaking concrete.
"You look like you have words, locked tight inside. If yer will'n, we go't ears." Mother said picking up a southern best accent.
"Ma'arm." He said, his voice wood, creaking, the sound heavy enough shaking a forest.
"I learn'd te see tha eyes of service." Their mother touched his shoulder. "I know a gym ain't make these 'ere shoulders, DNA too. Ya had te keep a rifle steady and absorb shock that how ya build em muscles. Which front?"
Again, all Kate could see was tree, slowly moving through time, all to form a single head nod.
"I would've guessed one of the worst. I was Aires station myself."
For the first time the tree truly moved, the muscles in his neck gaining colour enough, it was magical.
"Mmmm…" The giant grunted.
"Afore you ask. I ain't command. I took orders as much as tha othas. Jus a grun' at tha station."
"Mmmm, you boys dere, did good work. Mmmm…" Said, doing what all the word would guess a massive tree falling in the forest alone sounded like.
"Hell yeah, we did. But." Her mother seemed to faulter there. "Took time te learn." She sighed rather heavily.
It was not the first time she'd heard her mother say the words. Kate pulled Griff up over her lap and slid him onto Mother, putting the boy between Mother and the red wood.
"You a groun' troop?" He grunted.
"Eventual'lay, tha' month, all people still alive were a little of every'thang."
"Mmm…" He gave the grunt of approval. "Two daughters dere… they been tha set of reinforcements. She touched groun and my oldest, well she was a command."
"Mm…" their mother said. "They, you know still around?"
Kate's heart sank when nothing was said for a while. Thanks to Mother's games Kate knew what was coming.
"They…" He trailed, which took ages, "Well, at least my boys are still aroun'" That got to him, it was surreal to see a tree wrinkle and furrow. "Ets te do wit me more than 'em. But it would be good te see em." He sighed, which sounded spectacular to Kate's ears.
Her mother scooped Griff up and literally rested him on top of her before she rested on top of his side. He slowly appeared to fold to them both they rested and closed her eyes.
"My Pa may 'ave known ya, you never know. Shock troopers bring a smile off your face."
"Mmmm." Came the sound of nature flowing.
"Yeah, he was small when he signed up. A year later he was bigger. When I was a little girl, I knew that me growing bigger would make my pa appear smaller, but instead he got bigger en bigger. And ya'll know how it iz. When a kid is in front of their pa, ya tend te still be a kid. He was so big he was hard te face. But he was always able to bend a knee fir us kids, en we'd always climb his leg onte his knee.
'A big strawng shock trooper like yourself knows ye have te bend the knee to see eye to eye with yor kids."
The grumble followed was like the worlds longest grunt that was either the world's longest burp or a super long growl, like a satisfied wolf, an old wolf.
An old enormous wolf that their mother was brutalising, with words only. Kate didn't fully understand. It was all grown up nonsense.
What followed was the battle of the Pluto satellite, 50 years ago.
As it turned, she was not going to just hear the story from just him, another wafishly tree of a man walked up with a walking stick. It grew and shrank, lifting and adjusting to his momentum. It let him shuffle in quick. Kate thought of the Cypress tree, which was what he became. What had started as the story of getting re-enforcements, went back in time to the activities of the gunnery station ten hours before Mr Red wood had entered the fray.
Then two bushy lady trees, Lilacs, joined in, old but young in their energy, no walking tools required. With that the battle expanded, gaining multiple dimensions, and travelled further back in time.
At one point dating as far back as a decade, the explanation involved a couple maintenance technicians working from different parts of the station. It was also a new battle, one she never got from grandfather.
It was fascinating, looking at all their faces. Kate eyed the different warriors connecting through their experiences. And of course Mother with that smile on her lips had been eyeing Kate for a while. Suddenly Kate got impression her mother was giving her a gift, a life lesson.
Not great.