An EFC Christmas: Part Five "I Wonder As I Wander"

by Seven





Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



**********



Liam could see his breath, filtered through the scarf, floating like mist on the breeze. The snow under his snoeshoes crunched and sent up puffs that swirled up his pants and melted on his lower legs.

"I'm cold," he announced.

Lili looked like she was making a face, but half her face was shrouded. "Don't worry. Once you go numb, you won't be cold anymore."

"Oh joy."

"You mean 'oh, joy to the world,'" quipped Suzanne, being towed along on her saucer by the joint efforts of Liam and Lili. Doors, a chilly Sandoval, and Da'an were bringing up the rear, holding a couple of cardboard boxes.

"This reminds me of little jaunts my brother and I went on when I was young," Doors said with a dreamy smile, crunching unceremoniously through the snow.

"How long ago was THAT?" Liam asked in an awed tone, as if Doors had made a reference to ancient Roman times.

Doors glared at him, but said nothing more.

****

Augur, wearing the thick beard and bushy wig of Professor Hemingway, sauntered into the living room. He had been relieved when Lili, sneaking breakfast up to him, had announced that Sandoval was leaving with them. It would give him the opportunity to perfect his disguise and altered way of talking.

"Professor!"

A sharp, oddly-toned voice. Augur almost wept.

Zo'or walked out of a dim alcove, holding a medical magazine in one hand. He had an oddly ingratiating smile that sent cold chills down Augur's spine.

"Ah, yes?" he said in a deep voice, quite unlike his own.

"I hear that you are a... nerve specialist," Zo'or continued smoothly, his blue eyes slitting like a cats.

"Yeeesss, why?" Augur replied, hoping that he could keep Zo'or talking. He got the impression that Zo'or was not one to forget a face, and his face would probably be on the Taelons' "Ten Most Wanted."

"I am quite interested in forming... partnerships," Zo'or said, putting an eerie stressing on the last word, "with many human medical specialists. I would be quite interested in hearing your views."

Augur almost threw up, both at what Zo'or was insinuating and with the terror that had his gut in a death grip. Vaguely, he heard himself babbling about nerves, the brain, and nerve endings, and could see Zo'or's pale face becoming increasingly confused. I gotta stop, he thought distractedly.

Before he started reciting more weird information, Augur put a hand to his forehead. "I am somewhat fatigued," he murmured. "I will retire."

Zo'or was now looking at him as if he were some odd alien fungus that he had never seen before. As Augur sprinted away, he just prayed that Zo'or didn't put two and two together...

****

"Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how cold and wet are thy branches," Liam murmured, shaking the boughs of a tree only slightly taller than he was. Suzanne squealed and covered her head as sent showers of white flakes raining down on her.

"No fair," Lili laughed, tossing snow at him. Liam curled up to shield himself from the spray of white flakes, only to get a handful in the eye from Suzanne.

"Oh no," Sandoval murmured.

Liam grabbed two handfuls of snow and hurled them into Suzanne's face, catching in her blond hair and her jacket collar. She squealed in delighted outrage and stuck her booted feet into the snow, sending a huge wad of snow straight into Lili's boots. Lili whirled, caught up a handful of snow, and aimed at Liam's head?

And missed. It shot past the protector's head and straight into Doors's face, coating him like a second skin.

Suzanne's giggle died in the middle, and was replaced by a look of horror. Liam's jaw dropped. Lili covered her eyes. Da'an simply stared, holding his cardboard box.

Doors dropped his box to the snow and reached up, wiping the snow from his eyes. They stared impassively at Lili, who was beginning to giggle incriminatingly. "Are you laughing?"

Lili pressed her fingers to her lips, her eyes shining with merriment. She shook her head, and Liam snickered, crouching down by Suzanne.

"You think this is funny, Captain?" he said slowly.

Lili nodded.

Doors nodded once, then quickly scooped up his box, sweeping a boxful of snow and hurling the huge white mass at Lili. She screamed and dropped to the ground, the snow coating her as she sank underneath it. Long limbs flailed as she struggled.

"Snow fight!" Suzanne shrieked, grabbing a handful of snow and smushing it into Liam's face. He yowled, rubbed his eyes, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her off the plastic saucer and into the snow. Doors and Lili jumped into the fray, leaving Da'an watching them with a smile. Sandoval looked like he desperately wanted to join in, but simply shouted, "Pour it down his back, Captain!"

****

Night was falling, and they still hadn't found a tree. Lili rubbed her elbows as Liam roamed through the trees, measuring them, looking them over, shaking them, and checking them for birds's nests. He absolutely refused to cut down a tree with a nest or an animal living in it.

And every tree so far was too short, too tall, too skinny, too fat, too thick or too thin. Lili had never thought Liam was such a perfectionist before, but he seemed so now. Doors, Sandoval, Da'an and Suzanne were crouched under a leafless oak tree, talking quietly. Every now and then, Sandoval would rub his icy skrill, or Doors would cough softly.

"Liam!" Lili called out, as the young hybrid looked through the boughs of a pine tree. "Just pick a tree! We have to get back!"

Liam stood and frowned. "None of them seem right."

"Just pick one. Christmas trees aren't SUPPOSED to be perfect."

Liam looked around the forest, then began to walk decisively in one direction. Lili stared at him. "Liam, where are you going?"

"Thought I'd go west, see if a star leads me to a tree," Liam said seriously, vanishing into the brush. There was a whoop of joy, making their increasingly cold companions glance up curiously.

"You can't be serious," Lili said, shaking her head.

"Lili, come on!" he called from the trees. "I found it! The tree!"

"Liam, this is ludicrous," Lili continued, walking along the newly-trodden path through the snow that Liam had forged. As she brushed the branches aside, she continued, "The chances of randomly coming across the perfect tree because of-"

She stopped. And stared.

Liam was smiling and holding up the saw, next to a perfect Christmas tree. Wreathed in snow, brilliantly green, it looked like something from the front of a Christmas card. "Well," she said quietly. "Looks like you found it."

Liam smiled, as the others came through the brush. Sandoval gripped the trunk of the tree as Liam began to saw at it. Doors smiled and rubbed a few of the needles under his nose, while Suzanne just grinned and flicked snow off it, into Liam's hair.

TO BE CONTINUED