The Girl with the Eye patch
A Science Fiction Romance
Written by: FossilQueen1984
Disclaimer: Here it is, my official reboot of my Tesseract machine story. This is pure science fiction, no crossovers of any kind. That said, I only own Helene and her mother Rosamund. All other characters are the intellectual property of their respected owners.
Suggested Soundtrack: Hedwig's theme- John Williams, Overture/Ice Dance- Danny Elfman
Prologue: The Russian Supercomputer
Five year old Helene Dupont could not imagine anybody in the right mind traveling to the Soviet Union. After all, they were allied with the Germans and anybody willing to side with them were not worth the dirt they lived on. However, Mother said they were going on business and there was no way Helene would be staying back in Brussels. Briskly crossing the square in front of the Kremlin, icy sheets at wind stung the girl's rosy cheeks. "Blasted wind! Momma, I'm getting chilled, are we ever going to get there?" Her melted amber eyes met her mother's, and the woman replied they would arrive very soon.
Two blocks later, Helene and her mother Rosamund had been checked into the hotel and decided to have an early supper in the ostentatious lounge. As Rosamund sat down at the bar nursing a gin and tonic, Helene began to wander around the area. She was a beautiful little girl, with wavy chocolate locks, amber eyes and a doll like complexion. She had made her way around the outermost wall facing the main doors, when she spotted someone her age reading The New York Times. He was about her age with ginger hair and impossibly blue eyes. Could it be his parents were here also on business?
Strolling over, she inquired, "Well, is there anything interesting today?" Startled, the boy turned around and glared at the girl who had bothered him. He sharply replied that so far nothing seemed to be of interest. Helene inquired why and the boy shook his head. "How should I know? Snakes, I'm only 5 years old. My name is Augustin Berlioz, and those are my parents," he kindly replied. Helene introduced herself and asked if he knew the latest football scores. Thrilled to find a football fan, the two children discussed their favorite teams.
At last, the adults stopped mingling and gathered their children. Before getting on the elevator, Helene called out, "Au revior, Monsieur and Madam Berlioz, good night, Tintin!" Tintin's parents chuckled and he blushed. That night before turning out the lights, Pierre Berlioz inquired to his son who the girl was. Tintin explained to his father that Helene and her mother were staying at the hotel for business, like they were. Pierre nodded, turned off the light and Tintin fell asleep to the sleep learning tapes his mother packed.
Over the course of several day, Rosamund Dupont became better acquainted with Pierre and Annette Berlioz as their children spent their days inside a nearby school for high ranking families. Pierre Berlioz, a direct descendent of Hector Berlioz, was an industry magnate from Ghent and his wife Annette was from a wealthy family outside Cannes. The Berlioz family was in Russia because the Transportation Office was interested in his business strategies. Rosamund explained she had been called to Siberia for something related to quantum physics. Rather conservative, Pierre wrote this off as pure science fiction and informed Rosamund she should be teaching science.
While the adults found themselves debating business protocol in the Soviet Union via the Belgian Embassy, Tintin and Helene became good friends. Tintin thought Helene was adventurous, brave and kind. Helene thought Tintin was clever, cautious and interesting. Both of them felt like they understood where the other was coming from, so after three months a deep bond had formed between them. By now, fear of international spies had reached a fevered pitch in Stalingrad and everyone at the hotel was screened as potential threats.
"The only way to be truly secure in this day and age," Pierre pontificated as an immaculate female KGB agent walked up to them. She smiled at him, "Comrade Berlioz, you and Comrade Dupont have been cleared of being a threat to our Great Father, as have the children and your wife. That said, Inspector General Baryshnikov has extended a business holiday at one of the gulags outside Stalingrad. He is most interested in getting more resources for transportation in the area as it is rather shoddy. Shall we?" She smiled broadly and spoke kindly to Tintin and Helene about a grand adventure.
The train ride was about three hours long and the small town outside the barricaded prison was gloomy. The adults were ushered in as guests, Tintin and Helene racing to keep up with their parents. Greeting them at the command center, a tall, bony man with thinning gray hair and high cheek bones saluted them in greeting. Saluting in reply, the Belgian squadron was greeted in a friendly matter. Tintin and Helene were given hot cocoa and puzzle books sponsored by the Lenin Youth movement. Baryshnikov spoke slowly and in a hushed tone to the adults. The railroads leading in and out of the camp were sabotaged nearly every day and he going insane trying to figure it out. The Soviet camp director instructed Rosamund that a new vein of gold had been discovered on the outermost fringes of the campus. Since she was good at physics, he requested her assistance to help a team of surveyors and geologists devise the best way to dig the gold out without upsetting numerous surrounding mine shafts.
Not wanting to disappoint, Pierre and Rosamund quickly and warmly accepted the orders, swallowing disgust and terror. Annette Berlioz was allowed to spend the days with the officer's wives while Tintin and Helene were to attend the local school. Tintin and Helene refused, they did not want to become Communists. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears and they were enrolled post haste.
Days seemed to go on for eternity inside the gulag, or so it seemed to Tintin and Helene. Every morning at 7:30 am, they ate breakfast before two heavily armed guards escorted them to school. From there, it was rigorous academics in the Cyrillic alphabet. The local kids avoided them, and Tintin and Helene kept to themselves. After school was over, they would be escorted to the base and completed their homework in the command center's common area. Afterwards, Tintin would visit with his mother and tell her all about her day. Rosamund would not return to Helene's sight until dinnertime and Helene was jealous. She lodged a formal complaint, but was told her mother was doing a great service for the Soviet Union. Near to Christmas, the drafts for the new mine entrance was completed and Rosamund was allowed to spend a week with her daughter. Helene had never been so happy to see her mother as she was that afternoon. Happy times did not last much longer as Pierre and Rosamund were drafted to aid repairing the railroad line. It would be that day that would inadvertently change everything.
Rosamund was suddenly paranoid, convinced somebody was spying on her. Routes were only used once a day, maybe twice. Pierre's comments to some of the prisoners on rail line duty got him beat up, and he received thirteen stiches in his right leg in the clinic. Muttering about how unfair they were, he ambled outside the clinic when he spotted a gang of men with blowtorches and jugs of water. Yelling at them, he led them on a chase when he collided with Baryshnikov. The Soviet leader was peeved about the blood all over his new suit, but nearly had a heart attack when he saw the men dispersing.
Calling for his soldiers, the men were rounded up and shot right on the spot. Tintin and Helene, who had been playing in the snow, saw the guns fire and ran away when the storm troopers advanced. Running deeper into the woods, Helene wept openly as Tintin attempted to remain stiff lipped. In the end, this failed and they cried about the unfairness they had witnessed. As Helene stood up, she slipped down an icy ravine towards the foot to a cave. "Helene, Helene! Are you all right," Tintin called anxiously. Sliding down the slope, he called out again and embraced her when he caught up.
"Jeesh, get offa me! I told you I was okay," Helene insisted as Tintin looked around the cave. The whole cavern was composed of ice, no icicles and it turned to one side. Curiosity got the better of them and they walked along the path. As Helene skipped on ahead, Tintin spotted a bag and picked it up. Placing it in his backpack, he ran and he nearly fell on his face when gasped, "Great snakes! What is that, Helene?"
"I have no idea. It looks like a supercomputer. If it is a supercomputer, what's it doing underground?"
A joint decision was made to examine the Soviet supercomputer. It was comprised of stainless steel and granite. Jewel encrusted buttons laid along several displays that were just out of reach. Silvery strands of aluminum wiring limply meandered into a solid bedrock outcropping. Markings were etched in it, but they were not in the Cyrillic alphabet. One thing was obvious, the Soviets had no idea it was here.
"Tintin, let's press some buttons. Maybe something will happen."
"What will happen if we get in trouble? I don't want to get shot."
"We are not going to get shot. Besides, I showed you how to shoot that revolver last month, remember?"
"Oh yes, I do remember. All right then, we'll push together."
Pushing down on as many buttons as they possibly could, loud mechanical wheezes and groans erupted from the granite and steel block. Tintin and Helene jumped back in surprise and were about to abandon ship when the bedrock glowed neon hues and from it a fresh breeze could be felt. Just then, a human shaped object stepped through the doorway.
Agog at his surroundings, he spoke quietly to the children, "Well hello there, little voyagers. What are you doing in the cave all on your own?" He was tall and fair haired, and Tintin and Helene warily informed him about who they were, what they were doing and then wanted to know who he was. The man chuckled, "It doesn't matter about me, Tintin. I do think it is time for you to escort the young woman home." Helene stared at the man, how did he know about the nickname she had given Augustin?
Racing back to the camp in record time, Tintin and Helene were informed that they and their families were being sent back to Stalingrad. With the business items taken care of, Baryshnikov was sending them back. On the train, the children spoke nonstop about what had happened. While Pierre and Annette wrote it off as a daydream, Rosamund was on the brink of tears. At the hotel, Rosamund checked out and while they waited, Tintin asked, "Will I ever see you again, Helene? I found this in the cave."
The cab horn blared and Helene waved goodbye, vowing never to forget her best friend. At the Stalingrad station, Rosamund hurried her daughter on board and neither spoke until they had passed into Budapest. Remembering the bag, Helene opened it and squealed in delight. Inside the linen bag was a delicate pendant of silver interspersed with amber and mother of pearl. Rosamund informed her daughter that in the Soviet Union, such necklaces were given to the person you were destined to marry. The thought of marrying Tintin made Helene laugh, he was her friend and you couldn't marry your friend.
A patch of black ice forced Rosamund to swerve and out of nowhere a Jeep careened into them, shattering glass, metal, flesh and bone. The last noise Helene heard before passing out was a furious screech of tires and then a painful emptiness. The Hungarian responders drive the injured females to the nearest hospital. It was nearly two weeks before Helene recovered enough to make the trip back to Brussels with her mother. In the accident, glass slivers had sliced her left retina, leaving her nearly blind in her left eye, peripheral vision was spared. To add insult to injury, she had to wear an eye patch and people in public started patronizing her. Helene would snap back at them, refusing to believe she was helpless.
Back in Brussels, Rosamund's paranoia hit its peak, and on a stormy night Rosamund carried her sleeping daughter as they melted into the nearby forests. Nearing a deep gorge, Rosamund took a deep breath and flung herself in. Landing with a splash, mother sloshed in the midnight rain and soon arrived a well maintained townhouse. Ringing the front door, Rosamund was greeted by none other than her old college classmate, Georges Remi also known as Herge. Smiling softly, he offered them sanctuary. The door closed, and the storm continued to bellow outdoors.
Hours later, Rosamund introduced her daughter to their host, "Helene sweetheart, I want you to meet somebody. This is your Uncle Herge, and he is an old friend of mine." Helene gazed at him, the man who had met her and Tintin back in the Soviet countryside. Settling back into the flannel sheets, Helene silently cried fearing she would never see Tintin again.