Sprite

By R. L. Keller

Sprite didn’t know who she was, or what she was; she just knew that she was. Even gender was a relative term, with little for reference. But in the several hundred years of her existence – and she’d figured that out once she’d discovered how to tell time – she definitely considered herself feminine.

She also discovered, fairly early on in her existence, that she seemed to be invisible. Mostly. Beings with four legs and fur could see her. She’d nearly learned the hard way that she had to be extremely careful around felines! But humans would have no idea that she was anywhere near. They could occasionally hear her, she’d discovered. While she couldn’t actually speak, with the exception of hearing herself, the sound of her giggling as she enjoyed herself playing tricks on people was slightly audible.

Sprite had, in the beginning, moved through her world by following creatures, both two- and four-legged, as they lived their lives. Her whole world changed when she discovered airplanes. She was beside herself, and giggled so hard that people around her were freaking out as they pointed in her direction. Very surprised, by trial and error she discovered that if she was particularly silly she emitted a small spark of light. Once she found herself in the midst of what she found out were called fireflies and wondered if they might be relatives. Alas, that didn’t turn out to be the case and she moved on. But now she tried to be more careful; like with felines, some creatures weren’t pleasant to be around if they knew exactly where she was!

Today had started just fine, hitching a ride on her favorite transportation – an airplane. And this one had the added benefit of having a very handsome man on the flight. One with a uniform of some sort that had shiny buttons and colorful ribbons on it. When the flight landed Sprite decided that he needed further study, and followed him through the airport to the car waiting for him just outside. She carefully hitched a ride, sitting quietly on the back-window sill, until the car came to a stop and she found herself surrounded by a whole lot of handsome young men. Their uniforms weren’t as brilliant as the first man but oh, were they so very handsome! This definitely needed more investigation.

Sprite’s rapt attention on all the young men almost made her miss the first man’s disappearance through a door into a strangely shaped metal building; she stopped to take a quick look before following him and discovered it was a long tube floating on the water. Sprite had been on boats before but she’d never seen one like this! She zipped inside barely in time to see the man hurry around a corner and she quickly followed, more and more intrigued by what she saw. She was gawking again and the man closed a door on her before she could get through. Undaunted, she discovered a gap at the bottom and slipped inside anyway.

“Lee,” the man was speaking into a piece of equipment. Sprite knew about telephones but this was smaller and she could hear the response through the same part the man spoke into.

“Yes, sir,” came back promptly.

“How soon before you can launch?”

“The instant we heard you were back we started the final prep. Half an hour tops, sir.”

“Good. Good. I’ll be in the Conn in ten minutes. Small change of plans. We need to make a quick stop in San Diego.”

“Okay, sir.” There was a short pause. “Chip is already re-plotting the cruise details.”

The man immediately started stripping off his fancy uniform and put on a much plainer, tan-colored one. Bummer, Sprite muttered. No more shiny buttons and pretty ribbons, and she busied herself inspecting the rest of the room until the man opened the briefcase he’d been carrying, snatched up a piece of paper, and hurried out. This time Sprite was ready and zipped through the rapidly closing door.

More metal corridors and down a staircase like nothing Sprite had ever seen before that she could remember – it turned in tight circles – and Sprite stopped dead. Lights! A wall of shiny, blinking lights! She ignored everything else momentarily to float in front of them, totally fascinated. She finally looked around and saw other lights, but nothing quite so wonderful as the whole panel of them. She lost track of time as she danced and flitted in front of them, ignoring the voices she heard around her until a hand barely missed her and she turned to glare at the person as another man muttered.

“What was that, Kowalski?”

“Ah, oh, sorry, Chief. We must have picked up a fly through one of the open hatches.”

“Must have?” the older man grumbled.

“Didn’t really see it,” the younger one, Kowalski, answered as he continued to watch the panel of lights. “Just heard it. Well, sort of,” he amended, “and tried to swat it down.”

Humm, better be careful around him, Sprite told herself.

“Just be watching those sudden hand movements,” came from behind Sprite. “You nearly took Patterson’s head off.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

Sprite took a quick glance at the new voice. And then did a double-take! Tall, blond, the most incredible blue eyes Sprite had ever seen. Sprite was in love! The man turned back to whatever he was looking at on the table in front of him, taking away the view Sprite had of those beautiful eyes and she quickly moved to directly in front of him, hovering and gazing into the man’s face; she just couldn’t get enough. She wanted to settle on the man’s nose and gaze into those eyes forever but doing so was an instant mistake as the man nearly knocked her across the room.

“Now who’s making quick hand movements?” a dark-haired man, also standing by the table, remarked with a grin.

“Think I found ‘Ski’s fly,” the blond said with a frown. Sprite decided she’d settle on the dark-haired man’s shoulder; from there she had a great view of the blond. She didn’t pay too much attention as conversations, and what sounded like orders from the tone of voice, went on around her. Until she happened to look up and see ‘something’ happening out the windows at the front of the room. The building she was in was moving through the water. Fascinating! She left the man and hovered in front of the windows as waves of water moved before her.

But suddenly the whole window was under water. Ah, wait a minute. But she glanced around the room and all the men were calm. Especially her new-found love. She flew back and landed on his head, finding she liked the feel of his hair.

Staying quiet, Sprite learned that the dark-haired man was called Lee, the man she’d followed aboard was either called Admiral or Sir, and her new-found love was called Chip. She wasn’t sure what kind of a name that was but, since it didn’t bother the blond, Sprite slowly got used to it. He was also called Sir by some of the plainer-dressed men, and Sprite eventually sorted out the apparent chain of command in this weird building. She wished her love was in charge but since he only seemed to defer to the Admiral and Lee, Sprite decided that was okay. Especially as both of those men seemed to have a great deal of respect for Chip and treated him in quite a friendly manner.

As long as Lee stayed next to Chip, Sprite was content. But then Lee picked up something off the table and walked away. He’d done it a couple of times, just walking around the room. This time, however, he left the room and started down a long corridor, and Sprite scurried back to where she could once more see Chip. And also the panel of lights. They weren’t blinking quite so much but Sprite still enjoyed them immensely. She was careful to stay away from Kowalski, but apparently wasn’t quite careful enough as once more his hand barely missed swatting her. Sprite was surprised; never before had anyone heard her unless she giggled. She didn’t understand why suddenly this man seemed to know where she was so she went back and landed on Chip’s head to ponder this new phenomenon. As she landed a few of Chip’s hairs shifted ever so softly, apparently from her movement. Oh, that’s different, she told herself, and flitted up and landed again. The same thing happened. What fun! Sprite was delighted with this new and amazing ability.

Apparently not so much by her target. Sprite settled deeper into Chip’s hair as now his hand swept quickly over his head. “Sir?” came cautiously from Kowalski.

“Think I found your fly,” Chip muttered almost to himself. Sprite heard a couple of quick snickers but they were instantly quieted as Chip glanced around the room. Everything settled back down, and Sprite took the opportunity to practice her new skill. Carefully, she repeated raising herself over his head, then landing. It took a couple of tries but once more a few strands of hair ruffled ever so slightly as she landed and she instantly repeated the maneuver over and over. She was so enchanted by her new ability that she found herself giggling with excitement, but instantly realized her mistake when Chip’s hand sent her all the way across the room to almost collide with the windows. Humm, slight miscalculation, she told herself, and settled on top of a piece of equipment at the side of the room where she could still look into those wonderful blue eyes.

She was sitting there pondering her next move when Lee re-entered the room, said something to Chip about dinner, and both men headed out the way Lee had left earlier. Wait for me, handsome. Sprite instantly settled once more into Chip’s lovely blond hair – gently this time so as not to disturb him. She stayed there, quiet but intent on what was happening around her. The two men were joined by others, one of them the man, Admiral, who she’d followed from the airport, while they all sat and ate. Sprite had often watched others put things in their mouths. Never needing nourishment – in fact, she wasn’t even aware that she had a mouth – she’d never been that interested in such activities. She ended up changing her location to the top of the head of the older man sitting across from Chip so that she could continue to watch the blond. This man’s hair was thinner and apparently he felt her land as a hand waved, thankfully not coming that close.

She heard Lee chuckle. “You find Kowalski’s fly, Jamie?” he asked with what Sprite thought was a smirky grin.

The man, Jamie, mumbled something through a mouthful of food, the other three grinned, and Sprite carefully remained still until Chip stood and walked away. She scurried after him as he returned to the room with the windows, and once more settled in his hair. She only disturbed a very few hairs but she felt Chip flinch, then grab for a piece of equipment connected by a cord and brought it up to his mouth. “Chief Sharkey,” he said firmly into the small box he held in his hand.

“Sir,” came after a brief pause.

“Find me a fly swatter,” Chip ordered. Sprite felt Chip’s scalp move, as if he were looking upward.

“Ah, not sure we have one aboard,” came out of the little box.

“Well, find me something,” Chip ordered. “I want this fly gone!”

“Ah, aye, aye, sir,” and Chip practically threw the small box back where it had been, in a small holder of some sort. Sprite had no idea what a fly swatter was but she moved back to the top of the equipment she’d been on earlier.

This trip was starting to not be fun at all so Sprite decided to leave. Unfortunately, when she went back to the door she knew that she’d originally entered, it was sealed shut. She waited around for awhile to see if someone would come by and open it, but none of the men moving around the building came near it and she eventually went back to the room with the window. Well, I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that the building still seems to be under the water, she pondered. Meaning, I’m stuck here, too. Even with the gorgeous man with the incredible blue eyes, Sprite was starting to get bored. Especially as she couldn’t play her new-found game with him. Bummer, she mumbled, went back to her place on top of the equipment, and sulked.

She was still there when Chip tossed the pencil down he’d been writing with, sent a nod to a crewman who, dressed much as Chip, had a moment before walked up to him, and headed up the weird staircase. Sprite zipped after him. Maybe he’ll open that door. But Chip instead headed for another door, entered, and Sprite followed. It was a small room like where the man called Admiral had first gone into. Oh, maybe Chip will put on the clothes with the shiny buttons and pretty ribbons. But no such luck. After sitting at a desk for a while Chip pulled off the plain clothes – well, they did have a couple of shiny things on them, Sprite admitted, and put on even plainer things, turned off the lights, and went to bed.

Eesh, she muttered, now even more bored. She slipped through the crack under the door and hung outside for a bit, trying to decide what to do. Maybe there’s another way back to outside, and Sprite took off. She just hoped that, if she couldn’t find another exit, she could eventually find her way back to the room with the window.

No luck with a way to get out of the building but she did have a little fun playing her new game on some of the men she ran into. Remembering what could happen if she wasn’t careful, she never did it to the same man twice in a row. Her first target barely noticed when she ruffled a few hairs, causing Sprite to work harder with the second one with much more satisfying results. Those two had been by themselves, working in different areas. The next room she entered had several men sitting around a table, just talking, and that was much more fun as she teased one and the others laughed at the reactions, until it happened in turn to them. There were eventually mutterings of “is there something going on with the air revitalization equipment?” and “did the COB ever find a fly swatter for the XO?” as the men would take a swipe with a hand as Sprite flitted around. None of them ever came close to hitting her – she’d learned her lesson from when Chip launched her across the room.

Eventually she wandered off in a different direction, finding more men to pester, and was actually getting a bit bored, not so happy now that she was stuck inside this building as long as it remained under the water. Shiny buttons and blinking lights notwithstanding, she was definitely going to have to be more careful in the future. The pretty man with the blue eyes was at least a bonus, and she eventually found her way back to him. But since he was sleeping she quickly got even more bored and found her way back to the room with the windows. At least there, the men were awake and there were lights to watch!

The pretty man with the blue eyes had barely made an entrance into the room with the windows when once more Sprite saw blue sky instead of just water. There was more hustling and bustling by the men until finally an older man Sprite hadn’t seen until now came down the stairs. This one was wearing shiny buttons, like when she’d first seem Admiral, and even more pretty ribbons!

“Jiggs,” Admiral greeted him. “I was just going to head to your office.”

“Figured I’d save you the trouble since I’m on my way to the airport anyway.” Chip and now Jiggs, Sprite muttered to herself. These people sure like weird names. The new man dropped a briefcase on the table in front of Chip, opened it, and handed Admiral a folder. “Here’s your orders.” Sprite thought he had a funny look on his face. “Good luck, Harriman.” He and Admiral shook hands, and Jiggs headed back up the stairs.

Sprite took a long last look at Chip and his incredible blue eyes, but Jiggs had mentioned the magic word – airport – and she zipped after him. She’d have to be more careful in the future about buildings on the water, and not getting stuck in one. She had a whole new game to play, and more to see than just the inside of a building!