The Exchange,

Chapter 17
The exchange part 17

Chapter Description: The party continues

Sandy watched the firework display with complete awe as she sat on her mummy’s lap. They couldn’t be fireworks, it would be silly to have explosives on a space ship for fear of blowing the windows out, least that’s what she could imagine, still she had no idea what the technology of the actual ship was so maybe it wasn’t as simple as that, but the fireworks didn’t look like anything she had ever seen. Some of the colours in the fireworks she couldn’t actually describe, was it possible there were colours she had never witnessed before? Some of the noises too were alien in her association with fireworks. There were a few of the fireworks that seemed to work on negative light casting shadows across the starry backdrop and causing the brighter so called fireworks to be even more dramatic as a knock on effect. Some of the fireworks were animated, a big smiley face winked down on everyone. Sandy giggled with pure childish glee. With the firework display over the Buddy mats in the centre of each table hummed and several plates of different foods appeared on the tables.

Sandra looked at the food, realising she was actually really hungry she pointed over at the culinary delights that awaited everyone and Anya followed her eager pointing looking at the food.

"lets see what there is, maybe some of it might be suitable for you, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up kiddo" Anya ruffled Sandys head causing her hat to jingle madly, which made Andrea, Becky and the new girl at the table giggle. Sandy realised Lyce was no where to be seen and she searched the room, noticing Arlie missing too. Where had they gone all so suddenly? She held onto her new blanket tightly as her mummy pulled an empty plate towards her and loaded the plate with bits and pieces from the buffet selection on the table. Sandy was sitting on her mummys lap still and she had to scrunch up a little in order to let her mummy lean over enough to retrieve some of the food. With the food gathered Sandy looked at the mixture of foods on the plate looking forward to getting stuck into the exotic looking collection on the plate. Anya pulled a chunk off of a grey cube and handed it gently to Sandy.

"This is probably the only thing i’m going to feed you, the rest of the stuff here is probably a bit too much for you at your current stage"

Sandy took the small piece of grey cube feeling a bit put out that she was missing out on all the other cool looking stuff on her mummy’s plate. She pulled her pacifier out with her free hand and popped the small bite sized chunk into her mouth and chewed. It dissolved in her mouth really easily, creating a watery lime taste. It was refreshing but kind of bland and Sandy looked longingly at the rest of the food, feeling hungry. Sandy looked around noticing all the surrounding tables tucking into the vast amounts of food. Everyone accept Alice on the nearby table, who had her arms firmly crossed and was not participating. Sandy could hear her stating sulkily that she wasn’t hungry, but Sandy wondered whether it was more due to the fact that her heavily mittened hands would make eating tricky for Alice, and Alice seemed like the sort of person who wouldn’t want to appear inconvenienced. Sandy squirmed in her mummys lap and Anya sensed that Sandy wasn’t happy with her lack of food. Digging into the white changing bag resting beside her chair Anya produced a bottle of expressed milk, she took the protective cap off and popped the bottle into Sandys mouth. Sandy instantly stopped fussing and began to drink. Anya smiled down at her little girl, feeling pleased with herself that she had managed to recognise what it was that Sandy was needing without being able to understand her child.

Arlie returned to the table, holding Lyce’s hand who was now dressed in his new all in one wolf sleeper suit. Anya broke into a broad grin as Arlie sat down beside her. He created two plates of food one for himself and one for Lyce he then pulled Lyce onto his lap and pulled Lyce’s plate close to him.

"Tuck in Lyce, try not to get too grubby in your new outfit though"

Anya simply beamed at Lyce.

"Arn’t you just so cute. You look utterly adorable"

Lyce blushed and mutter a quiet thanks, he felt a mixture of embarrassment and yet really felt childishly giddy wearing the outfit. He loved it, and secretly he was pleased with the positive reaction from Anya, He had been more worried about people making fun of him, however everywhere he looked the adults were looking at him with big happy faces. He pulled the plate closer to him and tucked into the food on the plate, trying each item carefully enjoying sampling the different cuisine. He looked at Sandy as Anya held the baby bottle for her to drink from. He looked down at his half eaten food feeling a little guilty that Sandy wasn’t getting any, but surmised that Sandy was getting the nutrition she needed and he needed sustenance too, so he continued to eat until his plate was fairly cleaned. He wasn’t sure if he gave some of his food to Sandy he might get in trouble, he was sure if Anya wanted Sandy to eat anything from the table she would give it to Sandy herself. Lyce had left a couple of things that he hadn’t been keen on after trying a little of. The other kids at the table were pretty much finished with their plates too. The adults around the table combined their efforts and cleared all the remaining food and plates back into the middle of the table where the humming Buddy mat hummed and the remains vanished from view.

Sandy had been dozing in her mummys arms with a full belly, feeling satisfied albeit a little left out of the fun of getting to try new food. Her eyes had widened as the remains of the party food had disappeared from the centre of the table. She really needed to learn more about how this ship worked. She would ask her mummy later. She looked around the hall and wondered what was going to happen next.

The lights came up a little, or at least the Nodes hovering above each table intensified in brightness bringing the mellow ambiance up so that the rest of the hall could be seen more clearly. Some of the kids were milling around as adults chatted to one another. Becky slipped off her chair and began running around the table laughing as she did so. Kim just sighed.

"Be careful Becky, you don’t want to make yourself feel sick" Becky slowed down momentarily but soon forgot the words of her carer and began careening around the table again.

"I wanna play, Wanna play!"

A man was weaving through the tables towards the clearer end of the hall carrying a package and smiling. He spoke out loud enough for the murmuring rabble to die down.

"Any child wishing to play pass the parcel please come over here."

Anya stood up, putting the empty baby bottle back in the changing bag, Becky was already over by the man hopping excitedly from foot to foot. Anya smiled at Sandy. "Sounds like a fun game huh sweetie, lets go play shall we"

Arlie nodded. "Yeah Lyce, you go play too." He slipped Lyce down off his lap and gave his lad a gentle push towards the congregating children. With Sandy nestled in the crook of Anyas right arm Anya extended her free hand down towards Lyce.

"Lyce took it, more for morale support as they approached all the other kids who were being organised into a circle, sitting on the floor. He looked back at Arlie in alarm, Arlie simply waved reassuringly.

Anya sat down cross legged making Lyce sit on her left hand side and on her right side sat Alice, who was looking disgruntled at being made to play such a childish game but having had enough of a hard time today she had decided not to fight for the time being and just go with what was being expected of her. Anya nestled Sandy down into her lap. Sandy smiled reassuringly at Alice, who briefly smiled back before the man in the centre handed the package to one of the children. The man had a happy relaxed smile. Sandy instantly liked him

"Now you pass it along until the music stops and when it does who ever has the parcel gets to unwrap a layer, then once the music starts again you keep passing the parcel along. We keep doing this until the final layer is unwrapped and the winner gets a prize."

Sandy knew how to play pass the parcel, in fact she wondered if anyone sat in the large circle was new to the game of pass the parcel. Some of the teenaged exchange students hung back standing and watching the proceedings but not participating, as a result there were about 14 children in the circle in total.

Music started, echoing from one of the large jellyfish like nodes hovering above, and the parcel was passed from child to child, Lyce got the package he handed it to Anya who passed it on to Alice and that’s where the music stopped. Alice looked in horror at the package, then tried to unwrap a layer, Her mittened hands made it virtually impossible. Everyone watched as she struggled. Some of the older kids smirked having witnessed her humiliation earlier.

Sandy felt bad for Alice and seen as Alice was sat right beside her, Sandy leant over her mummys lap and helped pull at the wrapping paper. Together the two of them managed to pull a layer off and the music started and Alice got rid of the parcel as fast as she could. As the two of them watched the parcel travel from kid to kid around the circle, Alice spoke, audibly enough for Sandy and Anya to hear.

"Thanks for that. I owe you one"

Sandy shrugged and smiled. "Its okay. We’re all in this together right?" Anya tickled Sandy, and Sandy abruptly squealed in ticklish delight.

"Pay attention kiddo, the parcel is coming back!" The parcel was passed between the three of them again but the music didn’t stop. Sandy didn’t really touch the parcel, her mummy was doing all the work. Anya smiled at Sandy, she had been proud of her little angel helping out Alice. The parcel came round and stopped on Lyce this time. The parcel was getting smaller with each round as a layer at a time was taken off. Lyce didn’t struggle too much with his unwrapping and soon the parcel was back on its way. It took another four rounds before the final layer was unwrapped by the five year old girl that had been sat at Sandys table that Sandy didn’t know. The girl had long black hair and large glasses. She unwrapped the last layer and a set of colourful paint sticks fell out of the package signalling the end of the game. The man in the centre controlling the music node clapped. "Looks like little Nadia is our winner" Everyone clapped causing the little black haired girl to shrink away a little bit from the attention. Anya had grabbed Sandys hands and was clapping them together for her. Sandy felt silly, she was pretty sure she could clap her own hands together.

The adult in the centre collected up the bits of parcel paper then loudly announced.

"Blind mans Bluff, Can I have a volunteer please." Instantly three hands shot into the air, Beckys, Andreas and another older girl, who was closer to 10 in age. The man pointed at Andrea and she jumped up and ran up to the man. He pulled a blindfold from his pocket and tied it round Andreas head, covering her eyes so she couldn’t see. Sandy looked around at all the other kids as this was being done. Some looked nervous, some were grinning, she wondered if it was easy to tell which ones had been syruped and which ones hadn’t. Were the more extroverted ones, the ones who didn’t realise that they had been adults, were they better off? Able to socialise better due to the adult selves not constraining their childish curiosity and happiness? She looked at Alice. Was Alice suffering because of her inability to adapt? Would she be better off having her memories erased? Sandy looked down at her pudgy hands. All the kids were getting up, getting ready to play. Sandy struggled to stand in her mummys lap. Anya stood, resting Sandy lightly on her hip.

"I think you have to sit this one out kiddo. You’re too small, maybe when you’re older" Sandy felt her heart drop. Being older wasn’t just one year down the line for her, it was several, and she looked more enviously at Andrea, who, even with the blindfold now securely fastened, was able to move around with relative ease. She looked at Lyce. Lyce smiled apologetically. Then had an idea. He tugged on Anyas dress, feeling a mix of trepidation for disturbing her, but excitement at his idea.

"Anya, I..I cood carry Sandy. On my back. We could pway togeva" Anya felt warmth rush into her heart.

"Aww thats really sweet of you Lyce, but you’re just a little boy too, I doubt you’d be able to carry Sandy for very long at all. Its okay though you go ahead and we’ll cheer you on" Sandy felt miserable, even though she was an adult, even though blind mans bluff was a really childish game she really wanted to take part, to be part of what was going on. Lyce could see her disappointment and decided there and then that if Sandy couldn’t play then he wouldn’t play. He was about to say something of that ilk when Alice stood up to attention.

"I’ll carry her." Sandy and Lyce both looked at Alice in shock. She smiled at them, and for the first time it actually looked like a genuine smile.

"I owe Sandy a favour for helping me with that parcel, so i’ll carry her for this game." Anya sized Alice up, Alice being around 8 years old meant she was bigger than Lyce. Anya nodded.

"Okay Alice, but be careful with her, she’s just a baby after all."

Anya gently placed Sandy onto Alice’s back. Alice grabbed each of Sandys knee joints and Sandy flung her little arms around Alice’s neck. Feeling as balanced as they were going to get, Alice plodded over to where the rest of the kids were having Blind man Bluffs rules explained, how they had to keep avoiding Andrea, and whomever Andrea touched would then be the next to wear the blind fold. The game was just for fun, there were no prizes. Once all the kids were spread out the organising man shouted out for the game to begin. Children ran round screaming and laughing as they dipped in and out of Andreas range, trying to antagonise her but not get caught. Alice ran like the wind and Sandy couldn’t help but feel exhilarated by the speed. She’d forgotten what it had felt like to move like this. Even Alice seemed to be enjoying herself, finally feeling like a part of the family, even if it was just for the time being. Lyce and Alice worked together to keep Sandy on Alice’s back.

Anya watched from her seated position at a nearby table. She chuckled to see Sandy giggling and being allowed to participate in the game. It was difficult to tell this smiling happy child had been through so much in only a week. It was remarkable really that Sandy hadn’t simply had a mental break down. The adult woman’s ability to adapt had been truly astounding.

Arlie walked over to her table and sat down in the seat next to her. Anya had noticed him talking to Kim earlier and she smiled at Arlie, noticing a peculiar look on his face. He looked distressed. Or was it nervous?

"Arlie? Are you okay? You look ill!"

Arlie chuckled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"well you see Anya, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently..."

He gazed into her dark hazel eyes, captivated by her concerned expression, he coughed, losing his train of thought.

"You’ve been under such considerable stress recently. I was thinking about taking you out for a... treat"

He had wanted to say date but had chickened out at the last minute, he didn’t want to come on to her too strong, specially after all that had happened with Blake.

Anya’s face lit up, her concerned expression replaced by one of delight.

"Oh Arlie you don’t have to do something like that..."

Arlie shook his head. "No, Anya, really I think you deserve it. I’ve got it all planned, that’s if you want to go."

Anya was curious as to his plan but she still nodded, feeling actually really excited.

"I’d love to go, I’ll have to collect some more of Sandys things first though."

Arlies heart dropped.

"Anya...I...I meant just you and me. I spoke to Kim, she said she’d be fine with looking after the kids this afternoon and evening. Lyce, Sandy and Becky can have an evening of playing while you and me relax a little bit. It’ll be fun. I promise."

Anyas excited expression softened as she weighed up the pro’s and cons of the invitation. She didnt like leaving Sandy. Not with anyone, not after everything that had happened, but the idea of getting away from everything if only for a short while was highly appealing too. She looked at Arlie, his light green eyes studying her face, his eyebrows raised hopefully.

She nodded.

"okay. I’m in. I need to speak to Kim first to make sure she knows not to use syrup on Sandy, just because she feeds it to Becky, she might habitually slip into trying to feed it to Sandy."

Arlie nodded looking over at Kim who was now sitting at a table on her own typing on a small notepad. He had already had the exact same conversation with Kim about Lyce.

"She’s just over there." he said as he pointed in Kims direction. Anya got up and walked over to the lone woman. Arlie watched her go, then returned his attention to the children as they ran around playing the vigorous game.

Sandy by this point was getting tired and she tugged on Alices sleeve.

"Alice. I fink I wanna be put down please. I fink it might be...too much." Sandy felt a little sad that she was feeling so tired so quickly. The combination of the weeks events really did seem to have taken their toll, or was it because she had a full stomach and was under 2 years old that she needed to nap so frequently? Alice stopped mid game and slowly lowered Sandy to the floor, where Sandy stood on her own two feet in her little jingly pymatri outfit and rubbed at her eyes. Lyce had come to an abrupt halt beside the little girl and he and Alice exchanged glances.

"Sandy do you want your carer?" Alice asked, gentler than any of them had heard Alice speak before. Sandy nodded meekly, wanting her mummy. She looked around but didn’t see her, she saw Arlie though. Lyce had seen Arlie and Anya talking moments before, so he took Sandy’s hand, and Alice took the other one and they held Sandy up as the led her over to Arlie.

"Awlie? Wares Anya?" Lyce asked. "Sandys tired, she wants Anya"

Arlie looked over at Anya talking to Kim and he smiled at Sandy, picking her up by the armpits and hoisting her up onto his lap.

"Anya is talking with Beckys carer, she’ll be back in a minute. Lyce, you and Sandy are going over to Becky’s place for a play date for the rest of the day. Me and Anya have things we need to talk about and to do that properly we’re going out for the afternoon."

Lyce felt his heart drop. An entire day of Becky was going to be hard work. She was a hyperactive child and was pretty boisterous. At least he would have Sandy as back up. He looked over at Sandy. Sandy hadn’t really heard what Arlie was said, nestled in his lap she was already drifting off to sleep, struggling to stay awake, but his warmth and voice being more than enough to make her feel soothed enough to drift into slumber.

Arlie looked down at Sandy to continue to speak to the both of them and was shocked to find the baby already asleep.

"Wow. Didn’t realise I had that effect on babies." He chuckled as he watched Anya approach with Kim striding behind her a large smile plastered on her face.

Lyce couldn’t help but feel like a fish caught in a crocodiles gaze, he wasn’t sure what to make of Kim, but he guessed he was going to be finding out fairly shortly.

Arlie gently held the sleeping baby up to Anya, who mouthed the words "So sweet" before kissing her daughter on her head, then side stepping to allow Kim to walk in and pick up the sleeping baby, which she did with much relish, being gentle enough not to wake Sandy. Lyce looked at Arlie with a worried expression, was Arlie really going to leave him in the hands of this relative stranger? Anya was collecting Sandys stuff up, the white changing bag still with the Pea dragon inside and supplies, the new blanket was folded up and placed on top. Arlie had gotten Lyce’s rucksack which had his previous clothes in it, a couple of spare nappies and a few essential bits and pieces.

Alice had watched all this, feeling confused. She had actually had fun. Sandy and Lyce were good people, they seemed well adjusted considering their predicament, and they had been accepting of her, even though she had been a complete arse to everyone. She felt confusion and frustration. She didn’t know how she was supposed to be feeling. She searched the adults in the room for her carer Mark. She spotted him, he was watching her and as their eyes met, an apologetic smile flickered across his face. Alice suddenly felt an overwhelming urge for a hug, and she tried to push those thoughts from her mind. Seeing Lyce and Sandy getting love and positive attention made her wonder if being a kid again was really such a bad thing. The adult in her was disgusted at the thought, but there was something else there now, something that liked playing and cute clothes.

"I better go see my carer." She mumbled to the three adults and Lyce. With that she excused herself, heading off for that elusive hug she wanted yet despised wanting.

Lyce watched Alice go, still unsure how to view her, she was clearly struggling with her new identity, and he felt bad for her, but everyone was struggling to some extent and everyone just had to make do with what they had. He had enjoyed running around playing though, and Alices offer to help out Sandy had earned Alice a new found level of respect in Lyce’s eyes. He was snapped out of his train of thought as Arlie slapped him on the back.

"Okay kiddo, time to go to Kim’s place. Me and Anya wont be out all afternoon and evening. It’s almost 3pm now, so we should be back by 7 at the latest. Just in time to whisk you off to bed."

Lyce looked around, the party was still in full swing, but to be honest he was slightly glad to be leaving earlier rather than later, part of him didn’t want to miss anything but part of him just wanted to sit some place quietly and read. Another part of him really wanted to beg Arlie to reconsider, but he didn’t want to come across as needy.

"Be good for Kim here, and look out for Sandy okay"

Lyce nodded, he didn’t need to be told this stuff, he wasn’t actually a kid and he had already planned to be Sandy’s bodyguard.

Anya leant over Sandy once again and kissed her baby on the forehead, feeling worried about leaving her, but knowing Kim had gone through the same training as her so knew that if there was anyone on board who was as capable as Anya at looking after Sandy, it was Kim. She shot a concerned glance at Arlie who simply cheekily grinned at her. She had no idea what he had planned for this afternoon and he was confident that she was going to love it. He just hoped she would also love what he had planned to discuss.

"Ready?" He asked her in trepidation.

"Ready!" She nodded.

With a last wave to Lyce and Kim, the two of them headed out of the hall and out of sight.