Thinking about Nothing

The stars were shining brightly as Babe-Ruth snuck out of her bunk and into the grounds surrounding the base.

She looked up at the tiny, twinkling lights and sighed. She sat down on one of the marble bases and leaned against it's accompanying pillar. It was a rather cool night, but she didn't mind.
She was wearing a pair of slightly shabby yellow pajamas with a pattern of orange kitty-cats, which she hated. But they kept her warm, so she wasn't complaining.

All of the sudden, a large hand covered her mouth and another gripped her arm.
Babe-Ruth tried to scream, but the hand muffled her voice, so she struggled and tried to claw at her assailant.

The hand gripping her arm let go, but not the one over her mouth.

"BREATH maggot, it's only me."

Babe-Ruth stopped flailing and turned. Behind her was Sally, the female soldier, grinning that huge, unsettling grin of hers.

"Getchur hand offa my mouth." said Babe in as calm a voice as she could muster.

"Okay, but don't scream." replied the soldier. She took her hand away from Babe's mouth, and Babe quickly turned and spat into the grass.

"I'm gonna KILL you Sally, you scared the CRAP outta me!" she hissed, fuming at the large woman.

Sally only shrugged and took a seat beside her. She was wearing an old white nightgown. She was also bear-footed and the nightgown was short-sleeved, but she didn't seem cold. Her broad chest rose and fell rhythmically. She seemed completely at ease.

Babe on the other hand was extremely twitchy and breathing hard (although it wasn't so unusual for her).

"What, THE HELL, were you thinkin' ?" She snapped.

"I heard you going down the hall and thought you might be a spy." Sally said simply, in her deep, slightly gravely voice.

Babe turned away and shook her head, muttering "freakin' nutzo..."

"Why are you out here, anyway?" said Sally frowning at her. She was wearing her helmet. Babe mused that she'd probably put it on to deal with the spy.

"I jus' came out here ta think." Babe replied airily.

"Oh really. About what?"

"Nothin', I s'pose."

"Maggot, I seriously doubt you were thinking about nothing. You don't seem to be the type to be able to handle it."

Babe processed the larger woman's reply.

"You sayin' I'm not smart enough ta think about nuthin'?!"

"Yes."

"You callin' me stupid?!"

"No."

Babe glared.

"Ya know somethin' Sally? I knew ya were an odd egg, minute I saw ya."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Sally paused to tuck a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"What were you thinking about, beanpole?"

"Dad." said Babe. "An' Sydney."

"Sydney?"

"My sistah."

"Oh. You missin'em?"

"No way! I'm a mercenary now, I get shot for a livin', how couldja think dat I would be so soft?!"

"Soft? Missing people is not soft, Soldier."

Sally's voice was hard. Babe looked at her apprehensively.

"Sally–"

"You spoke with out thinking. It is a serious problem with people like you."

"People like me?"

"Scouts. All mouth, no brain."

"You ARE callin' me stupid!"

Babe gave Sally a punch on the arm. It was an indignant punch, not really meant to hurt or bruise, just to let the other person know that one was offended.

Sally made a sound like "tcheh" and shook her head.

"Look kid, it's an early morning tomorrow, so leave the family-missing 'til later and get some shut-eye, okay?"

Sally stood up and squared her shoulders. "I want EVERY ONE of my team members in top shape for tomorrow's match, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Babe-Ruth made her way back to her bunk and flopped into it.

Stupid soldiers. They were high-strung nut-bars, every one of them.

"Oh well..." yawned Babe as she turned over and pulled her pillow into a more comfortable position, "at least she didn't make me do a bunch'a dumb push-ups..."

Which was true. Until the next day, at any rate.