EARTH – Universe 231 – May 19, 2020
The explosion shook the platform on the old base, the loudest of the indicators that the perimeter had been breached.
“Go, now, or it’s all been wasted. All lost. Now!” He stood at the control station, watching as the Alliance stepped into the portal. She stood by his side, watching, her eyes on the person she’d lost years ago, standing next to the one who’d taken his place.
Movement as the arachnoid electro mechanical beings came out of the side. He grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him, kissing her urgently, before whispering, “I’m sorry!” and threw her into the open portal, her scream of surprise echoing as he slammed down on the keys of the final sequence.
Location: Unknown Temporal Rift
Gray mist flashed with color, random noises, a voice, a scream, someone crying. He screamed her name as she reached for his hand, his strong calloused hand grasping hers.
She sighed, falling through this portal ripped through the stream, content finally, a few seconds to contemplate going home, away from the constant war. To be with him again. To live free of the horrors of the last few years.
The mist tore at them, turbulence ripping at her clothes, at the uniform he wore again, that she thought she’d never see again no matter what her war time compatriots had said. Cyclones and gales tore at them, grasping tendrils ripping at their hands, pulling their fingers apart. She screamed as he clawed through the air towards her and then something slammed into him.
She heard his rasping scream…….”Nooooo…….Sh…….”
The mist darkened, slowly at first, turning chilly, then colder the darker it became. No more flashes of color. Just a constant shift towards darkness, cold, until her teeth chattered, and her body jerked less and less as her defenses broke down, falling, falling, falling. Cold, frost on her nose and eyes……She fell and fell……an eternity of plummeting through endless gray cold. Pain ripped at her abdomen, at her face, at her hands. Kicks slammed into stomach, punches to the shoulder.
She thought she’d known hell, watching people, allies, friends, die or worse, be turned into monsters to serve the alien invasion. She’d been wrong. This……..this endless gray cold was hell…..to plummet forever without his touch to warm her, without her powers.
Thought flickered…….something about her power……she struggled to breathe……what would happen if she opened a portal……inside a portal……She focused…..or did she…..
Senses wide…….power, power flowing…….a calloused, strong hand……she collapsed to the floor. A floor? She tried to open her eyes, feeling the callouses, mumbling, “Brett?”.
Darkness.
Earth – Universe 999, December 1st, 2157
Flashes of light……pain, sharp pain, she groaned, “Hold her still, she’s going to hurt herself.”
Hands grabbed at her, trying to keep her from bending forward, “Hurts….please.”
“Wake the Colonel!”
“Doctor….the treatment just….”
“I know, damn it! Do it fuckin’ now. Tell the Colonel she’s going to ………”
Blackness.
She woke, moaned with the pain, and tried to turn to the side, before she vomited, crying…..screaming in pain. A arm slid behind her back, supporting her, another calloused hand taking hers…….
“Shawna, calm down, try ta relax……” more murmurs, soft, the voice scratchy, it sounded strange, but……she opened her eyes, the lights were blinding, he stood beside her, hunched over, shadowed……blurry from the tears in her eyes, she couldn’t see correctly…..
“Brett?” she gasped.
“Shawna, calm down, breathe…..you’ve got to turn it off…….its killing you…….”
“Turn…….what……off…….” a small whimper from the embatttled woman.
A sigh, the voice even more roughened, “Your power……just focus…..you’re home. No need to go anywhere…..you’re safe.”
His voice…….the voice of the man she’d loved all these years…..thought he was dead until…..he wasn’t. She signed, relaxing into his arm, “safe……I trust….
Darkness came again as she collapsed into unconsciousncess.
The colonel held her for a moment, before standing slowly, turning, taking two cautious steps back to lean against the wall. “Run the tests.”
“Colonel, you need to return to the treatment room.”
The colonel stood up straight, before walking slowly, stiffly, methodically towards the door. “As you wish, Doctor.”
Earth – Universe 999, December 1, 2157
A knock on the oiled wood of the door. A small sigh, “Enter.”
Two women entered, the first in a lab coat over old blue fatigues, the bright flourescent purple of her hair very visible, walked in and sat down, while looking at the chart, in one of two chairs facing the desk. The second woman also wore fatigues, but these were sharply starched, and her green hair complemented the black of her uniform. the ebony of her skin. Or vice versa. The differences in uniforms and color of hair and skin aside, the women appeared exactly alike. Perfect twins.
The colonel, who picked up a drink, had not put a uniform back on. Instead the officer sat in the chair, covered in a heavy cream robe, the tanned and weathered skin visible along the legs, with what appeared to be a wide range of tattoos upon the skin. The drink did not shake at all as the colonel raised it to take a sip.
“Colonel, you shouldn’t……”
“It doesn’t matter at this point, does it, Doctor?”
For just a moment, the doctor hesitated, pain flashing in her eyes, “No, no I suppose it doesn’t,” she replied wearily.
“Give me the summary.”
“Its just not….its not just medical. I don’t understand the possibilities. Either she’s been trapped there for over a century, or she’s been there for a few minutes.” Tossing the report onto the colonel’s desk, she continued in frustration, “It makes absolutely no sense, even with the fucked up trans dimensional travel possibilities assuming that she went into a portal as we suspect, and come out of one as if a little over six months had passed for her…….for her. With no food! And as far as I can tell they are all fine! All three of them!”
“And the paternity?”
“Its just no…..” a sigh and then a deep breath, “we’ve run every scan and test, drawn more blood than we should, and they all come back with similar results. Both of the babies have three DNA sources, although their are two primaries, and, if you will, a tertiary. Obviously the mother’s, and the father, and then the tertiary is the father of the other one. Its not possible by any biological standard we know. Something happened in that damn portal. I really don’t know what to predict.”
“And the paternity?” The colonel repeated the question softly.
The twins looked at each other, “Colonel…….” the doctor started before hesitating. The green haired Captain contininued, “I don’t know how its possible, even as much as the…..even as much as we had hoped, but it matches the genetic samples on file for both men.”
The colonel sat silently for a long period, before opening a drawer and pulling out a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter, “At this point, I doubt this can hurt me…..” before lighting it. After a long pull, “Are you positive that the DNA is mixed in both of the children, not just one each.”
Both women answered, “Yes,” before the doctor continued. “It’s as if….I don’t even know what to say it’s as if. The simplest way would be to say its as if the mother/father is there for each one, and then as if the……the “other father” is really….a grandparent a couple generations removed. And that makes no sense because its not really biologically possible. If it wasn’t equally ridiculous I’d say the DNA flowed through fu….some weird osmosis. It’s impossible to know which one has which……abilities. Or any. Could be puberty before its known. Could be never. Could be as soon as they are frightened.”
“They won’t survive here, correct?”
“That’s the probability. Or, if they do, they won’t be able to leave. It has to be as planned or…….even then there’s no certainty. The analysis of the timestreams just indicates the highest probability of success. As long as its done before they’re born, Colonel.”
The Colonel smiled, “Well, then I’ve got a few weeks.”
The captain spoke, wincing at the emotion in her voice, “Colonel…..” she paused, shutting the solid door, “Grandma, we can try something else. It doesn’t have to be…..you.”
The older woman smiled, “You have six weeks to find a better solution. Any closer sould be a danger to her and the babies. Get out of here. I’m going to bed.”
The dream was as it always was. Darkness in her room……..the room always changed to wherever she’d been for awhile. She awoke in the dream, the window open, the light breeze ruffling the curtains, even if the room didn’t really have a window. Always a window. Always a chair near the foot of the bed, facing the bed. She always had to focus, but then she could see. The gold rimmed eyes first. Always the eyes first, as if the eye contact made it real, slowly the rest of the body would shimmer into place, like a ghost, but she remembered when the man was really there, always there when she woke up in the middle of the night, and he could hide and appear from the shadows just fine.
“Dad, I finally found her, and the……babies. Well, she’s pregnant anyway. Finally…..I’m so tired.”
The image stood, a first, approaching the bed, approaching her, sitting down on the side, and the mattress sank as if a weight really sat upon the edge. His hand reached out to caress her face, like long ago when she was a child, brushing his fingers through her short graying hair as if it still felt wavy and long from her teenage years.
When he spoke, it was as the breeze whispered. “You’ve done it kiddo. Finally, the ones who can defeat Mokoi. To remove the stain from our family, the stain my mother created that burdens so many of us, across so many worlds and times. The evil that has taken so much from us.” He paused, leaning down to kiss her forhead like he did before, before he died. “Your mother and I…….we never had any doubt that you’d finish what we couldn’t.”
“Dad…….”
He stood up from the bed, the mattress shifting slightly, “I’ve always been here, my little ‘roo. We’ve always been here…..” That was when she saw the shadows of all her family.
As the tears ran from her eyes, the shadows shifted, fading, until only two remained, her father, and……her. “Mum?” A nod, a quick move, a kiss on the cheek, and then as she started to fade…..”I can’t wait to see you run with your brother again……I love you, fireball.”
When she woke, her pillow was wet from the tears, and a shadow of a snake briefly shown against the sheets.
Earth – Universe 999, December 3, 2157
The door opened and a weathered officer walked in, green uniform immaculate, or what she imagined was immaculate. She didn’t recognize the uniform, not that it mattered. Nobody had had time for uniforms in a long time where she’d been. She shifted slightly in the bed, wincing as the pressure on her bladder intensified.
Nodding, the officer, said, “I’d say it gets better, but it doesn’t, not until the babies are born anyway.”
Questions burned within, along with heartburn, so many questions, like what the hell
had they done to her, how the fuck was she here, where the fuck was she?
Instead, something about the woman felt familiar, looked familiar, “Who the fuck are you?”
“Does it really matter? Not like we’ve met before, well, not really.”
“Not re…..wait, you….were…..the one telling me to turn my power off…..not Brett,” and tears started streaming down her face, before she swiped at them angrily. “Fucking tears.”
The officer smiled slightly, “Yes, that’s true. As to who I am, where you are, its a very long story. Besides the pregnancy, you’ve been through what has to have been a very traumatic experience, although you and your twins are in amazing condition.”
“What experiences? What the bugfuck hell are you talking about? Who did this to me!” Her voice continued to rise until she yelled as she pointed angrily at her obviously enlarged belly.
“Well, that’s part of it. But nobody did anything to you……other than what I assume you did with the fathers several months ago.” The statement was direct, flat, not kind, but not unkind either. Just neutral.
“That makes no fucking sense, I was fighting Experion’s troops in what was left of Las Vegas six months ago.”
“If I tell you this part, can we take a walk for the rest of it? Maybe you can get dressed?” the woman asked quietly. At the sullen nod, and muttered, “Fine,” the officer continued. “Six months or so ago, your team, desperate to fight back against the continouing war with Experion, one humanity was losing, came up with a plan to try to interfere with time, to fix perceived mistakes of the past. Congratulations, it worked, sort of, when your team completed its Hail Mary time portal plan, and pulled Brett Anderson and the rest of the Alliance into the future with you, where, by the looks of it, you and Brett……..caught up on old times, in a way. It seems likely that you and another man had been……..together shortly before then.”
The white haired girl continued to sit in the bed, mouth slightly agape in shock.
“Nothing to say? I told you it was a long story. I’ll have the nurse come in and help you get dressed and you can relieve the pressure on the bladder. I’ll be back in fifteen. It will do you good to stretch your legs a bit, try to eat some normal food other than what we’ve fed you through the IVs, and whatever your body consumed while you were……missing.”
She turned but then paused at the door, half turned, and then spoke quietly without looking at the young woman, “Its nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, given circumstances it could be considered glorious. People, companions, friends, seek comfort with each other when there is little hope. When there is little hope for the future, they make decisons to act in ways that they wished they would have acted or could have acted or will live long enough to have acted. And, when the improbable occurs, the children that come afterwards can be a glorious gift, albeit a sometimes painful gift of remembrance of all that was lost.” The door slid quietly closed after she left.
She walked out, the stunned young woman, a veteran of years of combat, sitting up, eyes wide, in the bed, wondering towards whom those words had really been directed.
A nurse helped her get dressed into some clothing that would reveal less of her ass than the typical hospital gown, before taking out the IV in her arm. “Doc Thomasson says you can go without the IV for your walk. More fluids tonight though. When your ready, the colonel is waiting outside.”
After the nurse walked outside, she rested slightly on the bed. She reached out, she could feel the energy needed to pull the portal in place, but it was muted. All of a sudden, she felt a several flutters in her belly, and as she released the energy they subsided. Shock, fear, and amazement roiled through her. Slowly she took a deep breath, and with a muttered, “They haven’t killed you yet, Shawna,” stood and took halting steps that grew with steadiness until she had crossed the room and stood at th door. She opened the door and walked out.
The older woman stood stiffly with her arms clasped behind her back. Something about the stiffness indicated pain, not just the habit of a soldier she remembered from Brett before he disappeared, something Jacob had echoed in a slightly different way during the war with Experion.
As she her thoughts whirled, the colonel spoke, “I thought maybe you’d want to eat some…..well, regular food. The canteen does a decent job for hamburgers and chips. Pizza’s not bad, crust is a little thick for my tastes but…..its decent enough.”
With the mention of the food, her stomach gurgled, loudly. The colonel chuckled lightly, “Well, guess that’s an answer. Shall we?” With that she started to walk measuredly, but slowly, down the hall, setting pace that was easy enough for Shawna to waddle along with.
The colonel walked quietly for about twenty feet, before taking a left and it wasn’t long before they obviously left the medical wing, entering…..well, she couldn’t really tell but it wasn’t medical. And it was still inside.
“Its not a long walk, so we can talk after we get the food, but, there might be time for a question now.”
Thoughts swirled in Shawna’s head, but catching a slight grimace on her older woman’s face, blurted, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Not what I expected, but its not like its a secret on the base. I’m dying.”
“What? I mean……uhm.”
The colonel smiled, “I’ve not yet come to terms with it. Even after one hundred and thirty-one years, I’m still not ready to let go.”
“What? You, uh, don’t look a day over, fifty, sixty at the most. Sorry, I mean, you, uh, don’t look old enough to be dying of, you know, old fucking age.”
The officer laughed. “I’m not. I’m dying of Advanced Transphasic Melanoma.”
“That sounds like…….cancer.”
“It is. Even my body can’t heal it long term. Just delay it.”
“That……well, that sucks. How do you get it, wait, what, what do you mean you can’t heal it?”
“You get it by opening too many transphasic dimensional portals and traveling to multiple dimensions and times. And that’s one of my enhanced abilities, I guess. I can travel, and my body heals itself, usually. But it’s losing this battle.”
As they approached the door, Shawna blurted sarcastically, “Besides Colonel, how about a real name?”
The colonel paused, hand on the door, “I’ve lots of names.” Sighing, “How about one for now, Gleam Shimmer? My Australian Alliance Codename is Time Shadow.”
With that, she opened the next door into the canteen, “Shall we eat?
Too Be Continued in Lost In Time Part II
Last Dreams 