Another Crashed Car

[Roger May]

"Huntington?" an English accented voice said from around one of the shrubs. "Oi, that's a name I hadna heard in a while." he had a floppy straw hat over a mane of long silver grey curly hair, a dirty bandana around his neck and dirty, dusty coveralls over a black t-shirt. "That was quick, put out the call to the fam, but no one ever replied back. They kept me on to keep an eye on the place, keep the bloody hoodlums out."

Nick raised an eyebrow at the man and cleared his throat. "Well, she's a Huntington, I married into it. We're a progressive couple y'might say." he busted out his best English accent, which he rarely used because it was told to sound 'too American'.

"Ah, I had a feelin' that was the case." He nodded his head. "Yankee aren't ya? Although I know an English Rose when I see one."

Nick put her and Gale down and chuckled. "That she is. Yeah, she heard the place was available and we're just in the process of getting re-settled here."

"Wonderful, oh where are me manners? M'name's Roger. I actually teach at that Observatory over the hill, but I like to tend the old gardens around here. Sort of a meditation if you will. Not since m'neighbors got tired of me playin' my guitar at home, so I tend gardens. Always loved this place, I used to do music lessons here for one of the children, durin' the Romulan War... feels like eons ago." he turned to Alice. "And what's your specialty lass? I can see the spark of the scientific in your eyes."

[Alice Ryder]

"A bit of this and a bit of that." Alice said with a pleasant smile. "I don't like to limit myself too much but I've always found space fascinating."

[Roger May]

"Indeed, I can spend hours staring at the stars and what's even more amazing is that we can actually visit them." Roger said with a grin. "Although I do like it here, I get space sick at warp speed. Although every now and again some visitors from other worlds come here, I think they find it more comfortable than the big cities, especially if they can't speak the language and they need time to calibrate a translator. In any case, it's good to have a family here. Need more of 'em. Most of this town is pensioners and singles and widows a few families, but it's nice and quiet otherwise. Your boy will love the playground not far from here. Although this land is massive, the Huntingtons that lived here, raised fourteen children, all of them either moved to other planets, other parts of Earth... or sadly, died during the Romulan War. Nana Huntington who lived here last bemoaned that the family was all but dead. None of the official family records existed other than some random files here and there, she was worried the government would get this estate and build a sensor station or something 'boring' on it."

"That would be an utter shame." Nick said and smiled, he knew this old man, but it was clearly a 'younger' version of him. He knew he was ancient but then again, he was young by El Aurian standards. "Aye, when Alice heard that this was sitting here, she gave me those big blue eyes and reminded me that I promised her I'd bring her home. So we packed up the boy and headed here. Just got beamed down, our things will be arriving in a day or so. In the meantime... how's that pub down the way?"

"Bloody awful, go to the one across the pond. Green roof, yellow door. Run by some bloke from America, but he serves a good steak and pours a lovely pint. So, I didn't get your names... besides Alice." Roger inquired

"Nicholas and the little man is Gale. I'm an engineer and a teacher of sorts. Spent time on one of the colonies but it didn't feel like home." Nick said as he formulated as much of the backstory as he could and made sure it made sense.

"That seems to be a common feeling, too cold and sterile. Especially the ones where they literally just build 'em out of old starships. I like some history." Roger patted the side of the house and opened the door. "It may smell a wee bit, but it's been closed up for the better part of a year. Still, those are gardener's hands if I ever saw 'em Mrs. Huntington... I'm sure you'll bring life into this old place. If you need to hire some staff, I know a few good folk, but then again... that's what the boy is for isn't it? Put 'im to work." he chuckled.

[Alice Ryder]

Gales eyes went wide.

Alice laughed softly, "You can help me with the gardens."

He sighed in relief.

"Still a bit young for anything else I'd say." Alice said. "You can supervisor your father when he starts repairs. How about that my love?"

[Nick Ryder]

"That would work... hey it's what my parents did with me. Helped them fix things." Nick nodded his head. "Thank you Roger. I must say, I'm shocked at how trusting you are of us."

"Well, there aren't that many Huntingtons and few that would really want this old place, and second... I just have a good feeling about you two. I'm sure Nana would be more than pleased that you two are moving in. Anything to keep Starfleet from leveling this place for 'future use'." Roger said with a salute as he opened the door to the inner part of the house. "The power supply is in the attic, easiest way of getting it to the out buildings than tryin' to update the mid 20th Century guts. Furnace still works and there's fire places. She always liked it warm."

"So do we." Nick replied and winked at Alice. "Well water?"

"Oh heaven's no, there's muni water and there IS a well further into the land, but I sure wouldn't want to use it to lug water to the house. They mainly kept it there for the horses, there used to be horse stables, but they converted them to garages. Each of those fourteen kids had their own cars or motorbikes." Roger replied and glanced at Nick's shoes, which were the same ones he would use for riding his motorcycle on the compound. "An' there's a Norton dealer in town, if you fancy a new bike."

"That easy to tell eh?" Nick said with a laugh.

"Practically screamin' I know biker foot anywhere. Oh bollocks... " he glanced at his watch. "I'm late for class. Oh hell, not the first time and they're used to seein' me in gardening clothes." he waved as he ran out of the house. "Need anything, just ask the system for May. Roger May!"

"Told you." Nick chuckled. "Now I know why mom's dating him and sleeping with him." he shook his head. "I won't tell him. Besides he's never seen me as old as I am now. He's got face blindness like I do, I remember people, but I see so many it takes me a while to remember if I've seen you before or not. At least we know ONE person here. So... after dinner, we see if there's an actual bedroom here, otherwise, we find a furniture store."

[Alice Ryder]

“Who converts barns to garages?” Alice said in distaste. “It’s horrid.”

[Nick Ryder]

"I know... I'm almost afraid to look." Nick said with a wince. "Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're just... bad. Although, good place to leave the shuttle and whatever else we acquire while here." he pulled out a tricorder from his pocket and scanned the house. "Structure looks sound, oh good, there's a ton of furniture in the dining room and in one of the bedrooms, so we should have enough to get comfortable. Oh boy... and a couple of wardrobes full of clothes. Good thing is this is semi-rural, old stuff is probably more 'on trend' than brand new. We'll fit in like we've been here forever." he walked over to one of the cupboards in the kitchen and cocked his head. "Rations from the Earth Romulan War... could probably sell these as antiques. Gale, buddy... if you find food in the house, I wouldn't eat it. We're going to have go shopping. I could probably put in a replicator here." he opened up one of the wall cupboards. "How many places do we really need to store glassware anyway? Give us some creature comforts, but it can be locked. Replicators aren't quite as common as food synthesizers are in this era." he opened up the doors to the main living room. "Wow... that's a living room, course this place does have something like five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. One bathroom off the kitchen and one in the basement and each bedroom has its own." he studied the layout that he downloaded from the civic server. "So how much do you know about your family, in either reality?"

[Alice Ryder]

“Not a lot unfortunately.” Alice said as she looked through the cabinets. “Remember I had no idea I was some kind of a clone of my mother Nicholas. I always assumed my grandparents had died when my parents were young. My parents were more concerned with entertaining and now I know why. I also know why my father was so insistent I join Starfleet and how I went undetected for so long.”

[Nick Ryder]

"We'll have to research the Huntington family, although given that there's no one to really watch after this place other than Roger." Nick said as he looked around. "Library over here... actual books. That'll make for some fun weekend reading." he walked over to one of the fireplaces and snapped his fingers and created a small fireball. "Good oxygen flow. So, let's go get some food and then explore this place a bit more."

[Alice Ryder]

“Food sounds delightful.” Alice said and moaned softly. “Fish and chips. It’s not overly Lord and Lady like but Gale needs to experience authentic food.”