-------------------FIRST DAY-----------------

“Is this heaven? It damn well should be” 

That’s how the thought went. The endless blue above, the clouds, and how soft they were. The clouds were observed for quite some time from below. The thoughts continued, It was strange, because they didn’t appear any closer than they did back then. Or any different. Same little clouds that always hung over the pacific? How disappointing

And this was a really rather weird heaven. Two hours now and nothing has happened. Should something happen? Some golden gates? Saint Peter making a call if you could enter, or end up somewhere else. But that only applied to people, right?

Is that fair?

Probably. Heaven was a place with god, right? People being made in his image, yada yada. People felt feelings. Had senses. They could feel… temperature. And sand. The train of thought stopped for a moment.

Sand?

So that’s what it felt like. Small. It felt small. Like the ocean. It was vast, endless, and yet you could pick up a little of it, hold it in your hand.

Hand?

Oh yeah, naturally. That’s how she felt the sand.

She? 

That’s it! A body! can’t go to heaven as anything other than a human after all. And a she, at that. It made sense, she had always been referred to as a she, even if she had never struck herself of being a woman. Did she even have a mind then? A consciousness? 

All of that had to wait. For now, it was just her hand in the sand. She picked it up, rubbed it between her thumb and her index finger. It felt nice, not rough and coarse like she imagined, but heavenly smooth. Heaven was shaping up to be a great place. And the sky was so blue. And vast! Just like the old pacific ocean. But the sky looks like that everywhere, right?

A minute passed before she could figure out she could move here eyes. First, up. But since she was looking at the sky, she must lay on her back. Up was away from the sun. 

She could look much further to her left than she could look up. There was the ocean. So she’s on a beach. A beach in heaven. Truly a place for her deserved rest. 

And then a new feeling, when the sand had all run out, she felt her own fingers. Also soft, but a completely different kind. Very pleasant. So much so she let out a sigh. A minute later she figured out she had lungs as well. Did she have to breathe manually? Didn’t that happen by itself before? 

Right now, her world consisted of sky, sea, and sand. And the sun! She could feel the sun! how it warms her. It felt really good on her skin. 

But there was a time for enjoying the sand on the beach like a little schoolgirl, and then there was enjoying heaven. There things to do, probably. But there definitely was people to meet. Franklin D Roosevelt, that was someone she’d love to meet. However, there was no one in the immediate vicinity of her, even less Roosevelt. Sand below her, and for another 10 feet or so forwards. Ocean to the left. Ocean in front of her. Ocean to the right. Deep blue, calm and seemingly endless. It sure looked heavenly, but there was also no one else here. Which was weird in and of itself. Sure good people were hard to get, but she couldn’t be alone in heaven. Roosevelt would be here!

Instead, after another little while when she figured out the pale and shapely bits underneath her were good for walking, she got a bearing on things. She was indeed on an island. A small, beautiful island. Devout of human company, or indeed any company at all, save for several hundred metal, leather and wood bits laying in the sand. 

They really couldn’t be described as anything else than “bits”. Some were nuts and bolts, just half an inch in size, while others stretched a few feet in length. Most of them seemed to have been cut up, split in pieces or otherwise disassembled, dismantled. Not destroyed by a random force, but deliberately taken apart. It sent shivers down her spine, a completely new feeling. She felt these pieces, the bits, the parts was important to her in one way or another. 

She looked at them, tried to understand them. And the boxes laying further up the beach. One of them contained a few more bits and pieces, and one was sealed shut. She had only had hands as such for a few hours, and she was still getting the hang of it. 

So for now, the second box was something she couldn't open. 

Her next point of focus was her clothes. They were as plain as plain could be. Simple, medium grey in color. A shirt with a few buttons at the top, that couldn’t really be done up, a skirt that reached her knees in the same grey cloth. It wasn’t anything she recognized, from anyone. Not that she’d ever had clothes before. 

But now that she had, she would take care of it. Sure, the material was rather thick and felt rugged. Probably. She straightened out the skirt, brushed off the sand. Should the shirt be tucked into the skirt? She tousled around with it for a moment and found that it wouldn’t work very well due to certain physical attributes.

Which did raise the question of how she looked. If she stopped and thought she’d arrive at the conclusion it was better to know herself before starting to explore what’s around her. But no such thought struck her. Curiosity did. 

The sand tickled her feet as she went down to the waterline. She smirked. It was a lovely feeling. 

Two things became apparent as she leaned over. Firstly, the aforementioned physical attributes that showed themselves when leaning over. The second was hair. Long, thick locks of hair fell off her shoulder, towards the water in a multi-shaded mess. The lighter parts almost mimicking the sand in color, while the darker shades were approaching gold. 

She had no real opinions on it, not having seen anyone else to compare it to.

With herself figured it out, her attention turned to her surroundings. The island was small, a few tens of thousands square feet or something in that size. Five minutes to walk around it all. She fell a few times in the beginning, sure. But her legs were strong, and with a little help of the palm trees that littered the edge of the beach. It didn’t take her long to have walked around the whole island. In the cover of the trees in the center was more sand and a little grass. No life, no animals, no people. No hostiles.

But this carried with it some concerning things. There was no movement. The water seemed to stay perfectly still, there was no wind. And nothing on the horizon. She couldn’t see very far though. To a normal person standing up, the horizon was just three miles away. Not that she knew that. She had never been a person before. Or have had eyes. The tranquility made her wonder if this was heaven or not. Because it damn well should be.

The biggest question that now remained was the heap of parts laying on the beach where she woke up. 

She looked at them as the sun warmed her hair. They were an enigma. Some were were finely polished, some looked as if they were broken up. There was wood and leather in there as well. And as she examined it closer, there were different metals. 

But they still made no sense to her. She considered briefly if she could make her old self out of the parts. But the sizes, the parts were all wrong.

Some of them did seem like they would interact with each other. Finely machined pieces, well made. Cogs, ball bearings, springs, nuts and bolts. 

Surely pieces of a machine. But what kind? 

The three largest pieces were rather large and flat. Two of them were angular and completely flat, with cuts in them. They seemed to follow no real pattern, just two flat pieces of metal cut up in strange ways, As she picked them up, the pieces could be put together with a fifteen degree offset. But there was no way of actually fixing them together. No bolt holes or anything that she knew could fit them together. However, the “un-angled” part of these two did have several fittings on the non-smooth, the underside that probably could be fitted or attached to something else

But as much as she looked over the slew of parts, there was just no way to continue. The first issue was she was unaware if they could be assembled into anything at all. And even if they could, she had no idea what that would be. And by some miracle she could be assured that there indeed was something that could be built out of all these parts, and she knew how to, she didn’t have any tools.

Thinking about it a little further, there wasn’t actually anything to do on this island. It was just a speck in an endless blue ocean, her and some metal parts. Trying to get away from the island wasn’t an option. She knew much too well what happened to a man left alone in the Pacific

Then that struck her. This did look an awful lot like it. The Pacific ocean. The little island, the tranquility, the tiny clouds, seemingly motionless, miles above. 

It really didn't correspond with what she thought heaven would look like. Beautiful, yes, but so very empty. Lonely. 

What a disappointment. 

But she held on to the thought. This was heaven, maybe it was just one trial left. One more thing, then rest. Someone would come, welcome her. She held onto the thought until the very second she identified her first ever threat with her ears. 

She heard it. Something she knew very well, was intricately familiar with. The Mitsubishi A6M. One single plane, far up there in the sky. Not only did it crush any of her remaining hopes this was heaven; as there were no zeroes in heaven, but she also tensed up, as if she was preparing for a brawl. 

But she had never fought as she was now. Never thrown a punch, dodged one or even attempted to. Zeroes was something the old her had dealt with, but as she was now, she couldn't do a thing. 

The little plane lazily circled above the island a few times. It seemingly had no rush at all to to do whatever it was doing. 

It circled around once, twice, three times before it had seen enough and started to fly in a direction it didn't come from. Very clever, makes it harder for a surface target to track the source of the plane. Only reason to make the source hidden, was if the source was moving. And the only airfields she knew of that moved were aircraft carriers. Which went well with the Zeroes carrier borne nature.

The offending airplane left her uneasy, once again looking at the parts on the beach, once again trying to make sense out of them. Maybe this world was not peace and quiet after all, maybe the fight continues here. But why? She had already won. 

And yet she was looking at the white painted, low winged aircraft headed into  the horizon. 

As much as she didn't like it, she was probably of little interest to it. She was just a woman now, after all. Not what she used to be. 

And as if things couldn't get more strange, she was soon accompanied by a second aircraft. This one as familiar as the last, but the good kind of familiar. Stubby fuselage, rather small and raised cockpit and a large radial engine. All wrapped in dark blue with a white star behind the wing. Unmistakably one of Grummans cats. The excellent Hellcat or the Wildcat it was derived from. 

It behaved just like the Zero before it, circling around a few times and then heading back. This time from the same direction it came from. This plane didn't have to hide the position of its base for one reason or another. 

She wasn't certain of anything right now, and withdrew from the beach, into the shades of the palm-trees, further up. 

But the tranquility returned as suddenly as it came. These two aircraft were nowhere to be seen and she was left alone with her thoughts. Which were all over the place. This didn't make sense, none of it did. 

Those planes should have seen each other, she was almost certain they were in visual range. Especially with a sea this calm, and a sky as clear as this. And yet, there was no fight. 

The next thing to happen was a figure on the horizon. In the setting sun, it was just a black outline, with the sun in its back. It did look like a human, carrying some large device on its shoulders, and moving on the water as if it was ice. 

She looked in disbelief on the approaching figure. Walking on water? Jesus could walk on water, but he probably didn't have a white, figure hugging dress. Or had long, light red hair. Or was a woman. 

‘Hello!’ The figure shouted, waving its right arm to the woman on the beach, as the left held up the contraption. She was still firmly standing on the water, albeit with what looked like big shoes, from which some water sprayed

‘Are you American?’ She shouted again

The woman on the beach genuinely had no idea. She had never been there, she had woken up on this beach, today. And yet…

‘Yeah, I think so’

She was taken back a little by her own voice. She already knew how to speak, despite never having done so before. the voice was a little deeper than she thought. More powerful

‘That's great, I'm Saratoga!’

The woman on the beach let her newly acquired brain work a few moments to remember where she had heard that name before

‘Isn't that a strange name for a girl?’

Saratoga rolled her eyes back and made a face. 

‘USS Saratoga, silly. Who are you?’

The woman on the beach was starting to wonder if things were starting to make more or less sense. 

‘Saratoga, as in Stripe-stacked Sara?’ she asked, still wearing a puzzled expression
‘Ohhh~’ Saratoga squealed with excitement, waving the contraption around. 

‘Of all things I've been called, you remember me as Stripe-stacked Sara…’
‘I just-’
‘That's interesting because I lost that stripe in 1941’ She interrupted, undaunted by the confused woman's attempts at trying to say something

‘That means you were around before ‘42, and you're bigger than I am. Which is strange, since I was the biggest ship in the US navy when I was launched’
‘Please slow down, I'm really confused’
‘Okay. I'm Saratoga. We clear so far?’
‘Yeah. Well, no. That's a ship. Was a ship. And you're-’
‘A fleet-girl. Next question?’
‘Is this some kind of joke?’

Saratoga frowned, almost looking a little offended. But she let her actions speak instead. She took the contraption she had been holding all this time, raising it up and leaning it on her shoulder, not unlike a Bazooka a foot soldier would be armed with. 

The thing itself did bear a resemblance to a Lexington class aircraft carrier, flight deck and all, but had been fitted with grips on the underside. Soon, they would bathe in the sound of fuel being turned into fire and propellers turning. A flight of four F6F Hellcats left this miniature flight deck and headed into the sun. Their landing gear was retracted and were soon flying into a fingertip formation, doing circles around the island. 

‘What in…’
‘Told you. Now, where is your rigging?’
‘Rigging?’

She gave the device a few loving taps by the aircraft elevator and smiled. 

‘If you just woke up here, you should have this stuff too. And I can get to know who you really are’
‘I don't have anything like that…’

Her brain worked overtime and eventually reminded her of the scattered parts where she woke up.

‘Come around here’ She commanded Saratoga, as she walked over to the western side of the island. Saratoga watched the sea of metal parts and looked a little concerned

‘You were scrapped…’
‘What?’
‘See…’ Saratoga continued, her cheerfulness gone with the non-existent wind

‘The actual ship Saratoga, or “steel-hull” as we call it was sunk. So when they found me, I had all my rigging intact. Some of the ships that were cut up and scrapped come back like this. But nothing this bad’
‘Wait. We? Steel hull? Come back? Where am I exactly?’

Saratoga turned her head and looked at the setting sun

‘Think we can take that back at the base? Monsters prowl these waters’
‘Yes, I saw a zero just a while ago, just before what I assume was your aircraft arrived’
‘Ah, yeah, about that… don't worry about the zeroes. They won't bother us’
‘Do they know you're one of these fleet girls? If you have Dauntlesses, you can launch-’
‘Wait. Don't bother about the zeroes for now. Priority now is getting away from here’

The woman on the beach nods slowly

‘You have a safe place to be?’
‘Yes!’ Saratoga nods enthusiastically ‘The naval district! We have everything you'd need there’
‘Safety?’
‘Safer than the ocean for sure’
‘Alright…’ The taller woman nodded slowly. ‘How far is it?’
‘Further than you can swim. But don't worry!’ Saratoga was once again smiling broadly and almost skipping around in joy ‘I got a little dinghy, and I'll tow you! Just get all those little pieces and we can set of!’
‘Tow me?’
‘Yeah, I figured you're an Essex, and-’
‘Wait’ It was Saratoga's turn to be interrupted ‘I'm not an Essex’

Saratoga looked confused

‘I'm a Yorktown’

Saratoga shifted from confused to questioning. 

‘Yorktown was sunk. Hornet was sunk. But… Just like me and Ranger, Enterprise survived the war’
‘Yeah…’ the woman on the beach nodded. ‘Enterprise’
‘As in USS Enterprise? CV-6? The “Enterprise vs Japan” Enterprise? The Grey ghost?’
‘Yeah, that Enterprise’ She felt pretty proud about herself
‘Ooookay, great’ Saratoga exclaimed. ‘Two things. First, Yorktowns are supposed to be smaller than me. Now there is some variation on that, but you’re still too big to be a Yorktown. And secondly, for now, you're an Essex, okay?’
‘Why?’
‘Please’ Saratoga did look pleading ‘I've been here a while. Just please, introduce yourself as an Essex for the time being, alright?’
‘Alright…’

Saratoga pulled out a tiny little dinghy seemingly from nowhere, just barely enough for the anything-but-petite Enterprise and the sea of her metal, wood and leather parts. But problems arose the second Saratoga tried to actually move the little boat. 

‘Uhm…’
‘I don't understand!’ Saratoga shouted ‘You're supposed to be lighter than I am!’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Damnit. So, bigger and heavier ships appear bigger and older as a general rule. And you're supposed to be like ten thousand tons lighter than me! And I have a hundred and eighty thousand horsepower!’

For reasons none of them could understand, the much heavier and more powerful Saratoga couldn't reach more than a few knots. The journey was long and mostly filled with Saratoga swearing.

Wasn’t it rude to comment, or even swear about a woman's weight? Was that even a concern to women who had previously been aircraft carriers? This was only two of the questions buzzing around in Enterprise’s head. Or the unspecified Essex as she would introduce herself as, for now. Why? She was unsure. But Sister Sara seemed to know her way around this place, whatever it was. It was probably a good idea to listen to her. 

She could see land as the first hints of sunlight started to show on the horizon. Saratoga was not only tired in a sleepy was but was starting to show signs of proper exhaustion. But she managed to get up on the small beach next to the big docks. 

‘I will-’ Saratoga sighed heavily ‘Give you the tour tomorrow’
‘It's time to rest now?’
‘God yes. I'll show you a guest room. It's mostly used for storage, but it was two beds. Iowa isn't here so it should be empty’
‘Iowa? The battleship Iowa? Is that her place?’
‘No, but she usually has- never mind, that's for another time. Or never’ She sighed heavily, trying to erase a few images from her mind

The walk from the beach to a large, brown building took just a minute. Saratoga led Enterprise inside, and flicked the lights on. The room was sparsely decorated, one very low table, some shelves, a cupboard, a bunk bed and one larger bed. 

‘That one is yours’ Saratoga pointed to the large bed. ‘There is clothes in that thing’ 

Her arm lazily pointed to another part of the room

‘If you find anything that fits. And lock the door, and please please please don't open unless it's me knocking, okay?’
‘I am capable of introducing myself’
‘I'm sure you are, but it's my responsibility. Please?’

All the energy Saratoga had when they met was completely blown away. She was really tired. Enterprise felt a little sorry for her, having dragged her along for hours

‘Alright, I'll wait for you’
‘Thank you’ she exhaled heavily ‘I'll see you tomorrow’

Now enterprise was left in a room, on a base she didn't know where it was, in an unknown country, in an unfamiliar world. Not to mention she didn't even know herself. She was supposed to be a damn aircraft carrier. And one that had earned its rest. 

She undressed, because she knew people didn't wear their normal clothes to bed. But what did they do with their clothes? Fold them, and put them somewhere. Where? And how? 

She didn't know how to fold her clothes, and it took her a good while to figure out she had to undo the zipper in the skirt to get it off her hips. She hung the two grey garments over the edge of the bed, and looked on a shelf for other clothes. They were even labeled, meaning she could take the biggest night dress they had, and still not fit into it. Why were they so small? To fit Saratoga? Or the other inhabitants of this “naval district”? 

Saratoga was a bit smaller than she was. Which was weird. The Lexington should be bigger than the Yorktown. And yet, she was taller than her. And wider. Why? 

She found out this was only one of very many questions she had. Where she was, what she was. How the hell Saratoga could launch airplanes. She figured that was all for tomorrow, and then went to bed. Which also presented her with a few questions. Firstly, which way would one have their head? 

After thinking about it a little while she decided it wouldn't matter, but kept her head towards the window. She covered herself with the exquisitely soft and smooth blanket, all the way to her neck. It felt wonderful against her skin, so much so to crack a smile out of her. She was unaware of that, though. 

And then, how does one actually start sleeping? Do you have to do something special? Breathe is a certain way? Think of something in particular? 

And after that, she would have to wake up. How does one wake up? Think a special thought? What if she didn't know and would sleep forever?

All these questions started to get pushed aside and replaced with a heavy fog in her head. For the first time in her life, she was getting tired. Her eyelids got heavy, and she was soon embraced by this elusive and mysterious “sleep”

>>>End of day 1<<<