I didn't think I'd be writing anymore, because I've been blank for months. And then I watched Farscape. I suppose that's all I have to say. ;p Farscape is a crazy show with weird ideas that are so wacky... and it is full of alternate universes. This is NOT, however, a Farscape Crossover.
FRACTURED VIEWS
The change was not noticeable, at least not at first. Marcus Cole could not even say, within any degree of honesty, precisely when the difference Happened.
It was near 1400 hours. His morning had been busy with the usual mixture of waiting and watching, listening to people, and meeting with some of his contacts from Down Below. It was tedious work, sometimes boring, but he took a certain satisfaction from the process of gathering information. And he had become damn good at it.
He returned to his quarters a couple of hours after the standard lunch hour. Marcus was fairly hungry, and in an unusual stroke of ill fortune, realised well into the day that his wallet was still on the counter. His Mum had often wryly told him when he was little that he was lucky he didn't have glasses to lose.
He slid his keycard into the slot outside the door. A small red light flashed, indicating the card was not accepted. "Bugger," Marcus said through his teeth. He ran it again. The red light flashed once more, and did not turn green.
The Ranger glanced around him, out of habit, before prizing the panel off of his wall. No matter this was his apartment- it wouldn't look good for him to be breaking into something, especially if a passer-by didn't know he lived there.
He crossed several wires, pulling several more out into the open from where they hid in the shadows of the wall. After a steady five minutes of nervous working, the door opened. He placed the panel back on and stepped inside the door.
Inside was chaos to his mind. Marcus stared at the inside of his room in open-mouthed wonder: nothing he could see looked even remotely familiar.
It was not his apartment at all.
OOO
Marcus walked quickly from his quarters. A dark shade coloured his face and he wondered what the hell had gone on- the number was right and the outside was right, but he didn't live there, he couldn't. Who lived there now- and since when? Since this morning? Had he been an absolute dumbass and forgotten to pay his rent? By God, did he even pay rent anymore... didn't the Rangers cover that-? Delenn would have told him if something had changed...
None of it made any sense, but his head raced with ridiculous assumptions anyway.
He looked at his watch- at least he still had that much- and sighed. Susan would be in her office again by now. She took her lunch later than most, if she had one at all, but it was almost three. Perhaps she would know what was going on. Perhaps his quarters had been moved, and no one had been able to get a hold of him... maybe it was time for one of those wrist comms after all.
A quarter of an hour later, Marcus walked into her office. "Susan, if I may have a word-" He stopped in the doorway quite abruptly. Susan was nowhere to be seen, but Corwin was at her desk.
"Ah, Corwin. Have you seen the Commander?"
Corwin smiled benignly, but he looked confused. "The Commander, sir?" He said a little slowly. "Um, there's another one on board besides myself?" He smiled, almost a little sheepish, and pointed at his desk plaque helpfully.
Marcus looked at the plaque and blinked. Where he expected to see 'SUSAN IVANOVA, COMMANDER', he instead read Corwin's name. "Oh...right? Right. Er, yes. Have you seen Susan, then?"
Corwin grinned. "Sure, she's at her desk."
The wheels began, albeit reluctantly, to turn in the Ranger's head. He dumbly tried to reason things out- David, Commander? Why, then, if Susan was still here, who was Captain...
"Dear God," he staggered out into the hallway, and set down the corridor at a dead run.
OOO
After coaching himself ten times to open the door and walk down the hall to the Captain's office, Marcus gave up and paced. He felt mad. He was a grown man, and things like this did not happen to grown men. He wasn't in Medlab, so he couldn't blame this on a coma. He wasn't mad, couldn't be mad- after all, he'd seen his reflection in the mirror this morning, and he looked pretty good. Not that mad people couldn't be handsome too; however, if he had become instantaneously insane enough to lose his room and forget two promotions, it only seemed logical he might forget personal hygiene a la mode.
Maybe he was dreaming? Dreaming very lucidly?
He groaned with frustration and lunged to open the door. He found himself staring at the person he had come to see- yes, he was staring at her, and also at her straight shoulders that proudly displayed a Captain's bar.
"Marcus...?"
"Commaptain," he said very quickly. He stared at her. She was raising an eyebrow at him and smiling because he sounded like a fool.
"...Is something wrong with you? You don't look very... um..."
He swallowed and tried to speak at the same time. "Perfect. Couldn't be better. And yourself? John? Delenn? President Clark?"
She shook her head, barely smiling. "Forget I asked."
"Okay. Just John, then. How is John."
Susan crossed her arms across her chest. "You know how John is- Hell, it isn't as if you don't see his face on television practically every day since he forced Clark out of office and took his place. If I had a penny for every time he starts a speech with some farmlife anecdote..."
Marcus opened his mouth to speak, even though he had no idea what he was going to say. The sound of footsteps drew his mind away, and he turned to see a tall, sharply elegant blonde in Psi Corp attire coming around the corridor towards them. She looked at him only passingly, but her gaze on the Captain was warm and familiar.
"There you are, Susan. I was waiting for you." The Ranger was caught off-guard by her voice, low and thick, and tremulous. It was a rich voice, definitely one he would have remembered, but he had never seen her before.
Susan smiled, shrugging half-apologetically. "Work never ends, and Marcus was here waiting for me."
The blonde took her hand with her own gloved one and smiled. "Excuses," she said. "You always have them."
Marcus watched, amazed, as the blonde woman began to lead Susan away. "I'm sure I can make up for it somehow," Susan said back to her, her voice borderlining on the seductive. The other woman laughed.
She glanced back at Marcus. "Goodbye, Marcus."
OOO
Marcus didn't know what he felt. Maybe he felt insane. Maybe he felt like his insides were trying to rip new holes in his skin. Maybe he felt like plucking out his eyes and eating them. That at least would make a little sense. It would be normal! Oh, yes, very normal- absolutely jolly, and it would fit right in with his day!
He wandered around, occasionally running his hands through his hair in frustration. He was not mad, he was not. He had woken up this morning and things had been normal- he had received a transmission from Commander Ivanova- he had been looking forward to seeing Delenn later in the day-
Delenn. He started off again, once more at a run. He came to her quarters and glanced at the nameplate- Lennier?
Ambassador Lennier?
Marcus rang for Lennier. The placid Minbari opened the door and bowed. "An'la'shok," he said.
"Yes, Lennier, thank you and everything, but where is Delenn? Hmm? I'm not mad, but that doesn't seem to matter, does it. You're still going to say something that makes absolutely no sense, and I'm going to feel crazy, but here goes anyways, so just answer my question." He took a breath at last.
"Marcus," Lennier said calmly, "Delenn stands as the leader of the Grey Council, as she has been, and will remain so, since they recalled her and found her mission on this station to be finished."
Marcus sighed. "Bloody hell. I thought you went with her when she was tested."
Lennier's eyes widened. "Certainly not. She walked her test alone."
"But you love her!" The Ranger's hands became very expressive, and very expressively gripped the front of Lennier's robes.
"Yes," Lennier replied evenly and quietly, as he removed Marcus's hands from his front, "I do love Delenn. But I decided long ago that my place is not beside her."
Marcus shook his head. Everything was wrong. He walked away from Lennier. Several corridors away, he jumped stall walls in the market and found a corner, dark and hidden, in which he could sit. He held his head in his hands, as if he could by pressure alone keep his aching mind from flying apart, and at last he slept.
OOO