***The chapters in this are a little short on purpose, since the level of detail is a little thick, so I didn't want to make any reader's eyes glaze too badly.
Kate the wondergirl wanders a little on the island and wonders why the agreed to it. 0_o
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After getting her things squared away in her little cottage, Kate began to work on the Ferrets. It was the same dirty work that she'd always done, but doing it in this climate took some getting used to. Her long auburn hair stuck to her face and neck from the sweat as she worked. She tied it into a ponytail, and that had helped to keep it a little clean, she supposed, but she found herself thinking about just cutting it all off to be done with the trouble.
By about six o'clock in the evening, Kate had had about enough. She wandered into her cottage and looked at what was in the freezer compartment of the fridge. She cautiously examined a frozen dinner, and after checking the expiry date, she just tossed it into the microwave. It came out alright, though it was nothing special.
Kate didn't care. She'd spent a whole day at this, and now she decided that after the meal, she'd either go the whole bath route and head to bed, or, ... go for a little trip.
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Kate was back in the garage, sweating anew as she checked all of Fanny's lubricant and fluid levels. After asking for and receiving permission that morning to try to work out a single lap patrol route, as well as try to get her bearings, she was pumped. She opened the door and climbed into her scout car. She went through the pre-start list and a minute later, the starter ground out its whining song and the 6 cylinder engine was running as Kate booted her notebook and waited for the antenna to acquire a few of the Global Positioning System satellites as she kept an eye on the gauges relating to the engine and electrical systems.
With everything up, she consulted the map that she'd been given and tried to relate that to what she was looking at on her PC screen. It matched up fairly well – in a "close enough for jazz" sort of way, so she tuned one of her radios to the security gatehouse frequency that she'd scribbled down and checked in, identifying herself and her intent to drive round the Eastern beaches road and then return.
She released the parking brake and selected first gear.
After grinding around the yard a little while, she set the brake and climbed out to lock up the garage, but after that, she thought about things. She'd planned to wash off the sweat and get cleaned up anyway after this, but now Kate decided that she just had to get out of the coveralls that were sticking to her, so after a quick shower back in the cottage, she walked out wearing a bikini top and a pair of cut-off jeans as well as her work boots. She carried her coveralls anyway, in the unlikely event that Fanny broke down.
Clambering back in, she cranked Fanny over again and glanced at her map before turning out onto the main farm road. Twenty minutes later, she was idling along a pair of ruts headed down to a path that ought to take her along a few of the coves and beaches. There was still plenty of light left in the day and the drive proved interesting and not all that challenging to her, but she didn't mind a bit. She had new territory to explore now.
The time wore away as she ground along the ruts, some of which were just about at the limits of what a two-wheel drive truck might be expected to be able to handle, she came up a low rise and stopped.
She was looking at a little cove, a little bay which opened out onto the ocean, and there was the pale reddish glow of the oncoming sunset. Kate opened the driver's hatch and looked around. She didn't want to block the rutted path, since a lot of the skill of navigating something such as this with a regular vehicle depended upon one being able to keep up a bit of momentum.
If somebody came along here where she was, they'd have to stomp on the brakes and they'd likely sink into the mud and sand for it. But there was a space in between a pair of trees, she decided, so she backed in there, a little surprised that the leafy overhang hung onto Fanny's turret by the sounds of it.
She closed the driver's hatch, being careful not to let it bang and thought about the scene in front of her and almost gave in to the notion to open it up again, but there were already a couple of mosquitoes who'd made their entrance as it was. She didn't want to have to drive all the way back swatting and scratching.
Kate sat admiring the little scene for a moment, and then decided to stay for a while. She turned off the ignition and just stared as the now-ruddy fireball of the sun began to sink toward the horizon. She unfastened her seat and shoulder harness and sat up to ease herself backward into the commander's position. Reaching up, she turned on the targeting camera to watch for a few moments and as a test.
She was thinking about the next two years on this island. Kate had no expectations, but she did have a bit of a hope to maybe meet someone at least a little interesting here. It would be nice. She'd always been able to handle being a bit of a solitary soul, but, this out of the way spot on a small leeward island seemed to make her feel the want of a warm male body just a little more keenly, that was all.
She was just thinking about shutting off the camera when she thought she heard the sounds of someone running. It was just barely possible to hear from inside and that was only because there were no other sounds beside the soft hum from the drive of her notebook.
She had to listen carefully for a moment or two to be certain of it, but yes, someone was running along the dirt track in the woods along the shore, she was sure of it now. She slid down and dogged the driver's hatch, returning to dog the commander's hatch on the turret as well. She sat and wondered a little as the pace of the running slowed.
Kate didn't know if the runner had noticed the armoured scout car or not. Maybe the sight of it had caused them to slow to a stop, she didn't know. She looked at the small monitor.
She couldn't see much at first. The sun was now very near the horizon, and at this latitude, it almost seemed to be in freefall to someone from a more northerly latitude like her. She stopped down the camera to protect the sensor. As she looked, a little worried that she likely wouldn't see the runner, her jaw began to drop.
She couldn't see all that well, since he was silhouetted by the sunlight, but she did like the shape that she saw. He was almost dead center in the screen and apparently oblivious to the presence of a five ton reconnaissance vehicle a little behind him in the trees.
Kate couldn't have managed this any better to save her life, and it was just as well, too. She might have been able to get him centered a bit better, but that would have necessitated her rotating the turret a little, and that would certainly attract his attention from the whine of the transiting motor.
He stood before her, about fifty feet away and facing the same sunset scene which had caused her to look. After a few moments, he walked to the water's edge and removed his shoes and running shorts before stepping in.
Kate reasoned that her mouth must have already been open – at least a little – otherwise, she was sure that her chin would have hit the metal of the compartment with a bang. She had no idea who this was, but that didn't matter.
He was gorgeous.
She hit the record button to save this and she wondered if she dared to risk the slight sound that stepping up the magnification might make. She decided against it. He was almost too close for the optics anyway. Even so, Kate couldn't keep the grin off her face as she turned on the targeting reticule and almost laughed as she watched the crosshairs there in the screen, right over his sweet ass.
The ground sloped a little and he sank in her view as he walked away, so she adjusted and bit her lower lip a little as she heard the soft whine of the camera as it angled down a little to keep him in view.
Now that, she decided, was really nice.
