Visitors were a Christian sect who took to the stars with the first
migrants to visit new worlds, spreading the word while seeking enlightenment,
and they had established Visitor enclaves in every corner of the known
universe, they even thrived in Mehreen space and they were the least spiritual
beings to ever draw breath.
The difference between Visitors and the established Christian Church
on earth was its spontaneity, they didn’t wait until Sunday to worship, they
did it wherever and whenever it was desired, and it didn’t need to happen in a church,
Visitors worshipped everywhere.
Visitor Parham felt blessed, and thanked God for placing him on Alwi
at the moment of Merionwen Strong’s great need, and for facilitating his
enrolment on the crew of the Tornado.
Which had given him new purpose in life at the time he was
floundering, he felt needed on the freighter, admittedly more for his cooking
than his ministering, but it felt good for him to be part of something.
Bagg, as he liked to be known, left his home world, Mars, as a young
man and set off into the stars to spread the word, and he had never returned,
and was still travelling thirty years later, and he had a lot to be thankful
for, being part of the Tornado family for one and being reacquainted with his
brother Trebreh and his family for another.
When you were a
Visitor, meeting family was one of the rarest of occasions, when there were two
Visitors in one family they were almost impossible.
Apart from his brother
Trebreh, who he hadn’t seen for twelve years, and his wife Xandra there was her
brother Ale, who was his boyhood friend and a host of nephews and nieces whom he
had not met before, in the agrarian settlement of Montrose on Eirkos, where he
and the crew were regular visitors.
But after being
reunited with his family he found himself, for the first time in his life, regretting
not having a wife and children of his own, thought his regret was short lived
as he had enough blessings in his life to count, he did though occasionally
feel lonely, especially on a ship full of couples, rare though those times
were, but he always found cooking a batch of scones helped.
On the Tornado crew’s
first visit to Eikon Minor they went into town of Gipki, they all went off in
different directions, with different needs to fill and as he often did, Bagg headed
for the
market place and went in search of the herbs, spices, dried and desiccated
fruits that he needed to replenish his cupboards.
He loved markets, even if he didn’t need many provisions he would
never give up an opportunity to stroll around among the abundance of food
stuffs on offer and allow him to indulge his passion for the exotic foods, and
his vocation in one fell swoop and when he had completed his task he headed for
the rendezvous point, which was a bar and restaurant.
He grew a couple more inches when he saw that the hostelry was named
The Visitors Rest, and it quickly became a regular spot for him and the crew.
But the Visitors Rest didn’t
take on its true significance for him until the day he met the new owner Wisma Berita, because that was the day he fell in love for the first
time.
Wisma Berita was a mature woman a
year or two younger than him and the first time he saw her he was smitten, she was
certainly not in the first flush of youth, and she was a widow who had bought
the pub from her brother in law, the previous owner, who had retired after a
health scare.
Wisma was no stranger
to hospitality, she had been doing it since she was a girl and that was where
she had met her husband, and they had run a place together until he died and
then she had run a bar on her own as well since, though not anywhere near the
size of the Rest.
She could quite easily
have lived a comfortable life with her inheritance, but chose to work instead, and
she chose Gipki because that was where she had been born and raised.
Bagg was beyond fifty in years with long white hair and a short trimmed
beard, tall and disproportionately thin, but cut an impressive figure in his
full length pale blue robe, tied at the waist with a royal blue cord and this
was beneath a full length dark blue leather jerkin, and he carried a simple
roughhewn staff which was undecorated but for a carved cruciform relief a few
inches from the top.
Wisma was still a very
attractive woman, 5ft 6 inches tall with nice legs and a trim figure, and
kaleidoscopic hair, which could appear, red, blonde, brown, blue, or black depending
upon which angle you were seeing it from.
They hit it off
immediately, maybe it was because they shared a similar sense of humour, the
same faith and a love of cooking, but in truth their mutual attraction was due
to more than them having a lot in common.
When they were on
Eikon Minor he found himself spending more and more time in the “Rest” and Wisma
spent the time he wasn’t in there wishing that he was, and it went on that way
for several months until one day when he was in the bar for lunch, after
neglecting to walk the market again.
He was sat at a table
with the Skeet brothers, Lyris and Zerrad and the latter had noticed the way Bagg
and Wisma were together and couldn’t understand why neither of them had taken
the next step.
The crew aboard the
Tornado were not averse to a bit of match making and had tried to find Bagg a
good woman but to no avail, because he hadn’t been interested, in fact, Wisma was
the first woman Bagg had been even remotely interested in since he’d been
aboard the Tornado.
But it was difficult
as he and the crew lived such a nomadic lifestyle so Bagg thought there seemed
little chance for them.
However, on that
occasion it was not a flying visit to the planet, as due to a coming together
between the Tornado and some space junk one of the Plasma Turbine Pyroclast
Engines sustained some damage which resulted in the Tornado having to stay on
Eikon Minor for three days longer than usual.
Which was why, as they
were waiting for the food to arrive, Zerrad steered the conversation towards
the weather.
“It’s beautiful out
there today” he said
“Yes” Bagg agreed “It
is”
“It should be good for
the next couple of days too” Lyris said
“Yes” he agreed again
“I know what I’d be
doing if we didn’t have repairs to make”
“What’s that then?”
Bagg asked
“I’d take Malena on a
picnic”
“A picnic” said Bagg
thoughtfully just as Wisma brought over the condiments and the cutlery.
Zerrad was watching Bagg
and he appeared to open his mouth as if to speak and then he closed it again, it
was pitiful to behold, so Lyris decided he had to act.
“Bagg was just saying
that it’s perfect weather for a picnic”
“Oh, I agree it is
perfect” Wisma said, “I do love a picnic”
“How about tomorrow?” Bagg
said croakily “just the two of us”
“Yes, that would be
lovely” said Wisma and the Skeets suddenly felt like a couple of gooseberries.
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