smelltheashes | (no subject)

(no subject)

Dr. Vance's funeral should be over soon, as far as Anne knows. Hopefully nothing's happened to make it run overtime, not that she can think why it should. If it weren't for- well, if it weren't for Floyd it wouldn't even be a question, but Floyd actually found something on his sentry duty and it wasn't a giant ship this time, and on top of that Floyd actually did something sensible about it. And Ms. Vance, naturally, had to be told.

But you don't interrupt funerals for anything short of a Combine invasion, so...

Anne's waiting. She can be patient.

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"All right," says ten Boom. "Do you have any demo squads? I don't have a good eye for aim, but I can make a very good blast radius given a little time to work and some people to place the charges."

"Not specifically. One of our on-site scientists has developed a bomb for killing Striders, but it doesn't transport well."

"Mph. Beggars, choosers-" ten Boom shrugs. "We'll manage. How much time before you move?"

"We're convening at dawn and attacking just before sunrise," says Alyx. "We can't afford to waste time, but people need to sleep."

ten Boom nods. "Tired people make mistakes," he says seriously. "All right. I'll go where you send me, of course."

"Right. Well, unless you have any other questions, we'll see about finding you a bunk for the night."

"No, nothing, I don't think," says ten Boom. "If you have any, of course, I'll answer, too."

"Actually..."

She hesitates a moment.

"Is your name really 'ten Boom'?"

Jan doesn't quite roll his eyes, but he looks for a moment like he's going to. He's smiling, though. "Yes," he says, "yes it is. I get asked that question a lot. It means 'at the tree', or 'to the tree'. An old Dutch name, no explosions at all involved, I promise."

"You have to admit, it wouldn't make a half-bad pseudonym."

"No, it wouldn't," Ten Boom agrees. "Lucky for me, isn't it? No one would get the joke here if I was a lumberjack instead." He shakes his head. "I take the humor I can get."

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