<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

After the matter with the pirates was resolved more or less successfully, Mina felt she deserved a vacation—preferably in a place far away from the ocean (and hardtack and grog and vitamin deficiencies) and in a time period where she'd never have to encounter another bloody corset.

(Yes, I'm zooming way ahead in the story again. So sue me. It's my prerogative.)

So HQ gave her leave to spend a few weeks on early 21st century Earth. She could even shut her communicator off as long as she promised not to do too much unauthorized mingling with the natives.

There were a few "natives" she wanted to check in on before she left for home (hence why she requested this particular era) but what HQ couldn't observe couldn't hurt them. Besides, they had her reports about the rogue wombat on file. Not her fault if they were too lazy to read them.

Speaking of home, Mina feels in her element about now.

When she and her sister were little her daddy bought them both ponies. Well, "ponies"—but they were full genetic facsims and not the patterned quadro-mounts like trainees at the Center have to put up with. Mina was always the better rider and she took no small pleasure in rubbing the fact in her sister's face.

She still misses those days, before Theia was swallowed up by her studies and they both could spend days at a time exploring their own mountains.

In her imagination she's daring that stuck-up little brat to try and keep up.

---

Artwork by  agentmoose