Helga's New Life
By Churnok
Disclaimer
Lieutenant Helga Sinclair and Commander Rourke are the copyright of Disney and are used here for non-profit entertainment purposes only. All other characters and technologies are my creation but I've tried to design them so that anyone can use them as long as they send me a copy of the resulting story. Permission is given to anyone who wants to archive this story as long as they let me know first and give me a link to their site. I welcome any comments, questions, and/or constructive criticisms.
Lieutenant Helga Sinclair awoke to find herself in what she assumed was a hospital room, though it was unlike any room she had ever been in before. Years of training kept her from opening her eyes fully until she had as much information as possible. Something in the wall was beeping in time with her heartbeat. She wasn't restrained in any way, but that could just mean they didn't expect her to move much. Best to assume she was someone's prisoner until it was proven otherwise. To her left she could see curtained windows dominating one wall with what looked like daylight coming through. This told her she wasn't in Atlantis. Their light came from a different source. On the other side she could sense only one other occupant in the room. A well groomed gentleman if his smell was any indicator. She'd have to open her eyes fully to learn more about him, but first she did an inventory of her body and mind.
She was in far better health than she expected considering she had been slowly dying the last time she was conscious. She had broken several bones and was sure there was internal bleeding after Commander Rourke threw her from that balloon. It had taken the last of her strength to shoot that thing down and she was sure it was going to fall right on top of her. So why was she not only alive, but feeling sore in places where she knew she had broken bones and should be feeling intense pain. Her head was too clear for painkillers. Could she have been unconscious for that long? Who had saved her life and why? Waiting for a doctor to come in and talk with whomever else was in the room with her seemed like a waste of time since, for all she knew, he was the doctor, and in any event, she didn't think she would overhear the answers to the questions she wanted to ask. So she opened her eyes fully and turned to the man watching her.
"Who are you and what do you want with me?" she demanded.
"Ah, you're finally awake," the man said as he stood up and walked over to her. His clothes were both familiar and strange to her. At first glance he would blend in with either upper or lower class in a casual public setting, but there were subtle differences. As if his clothes weren't in style yet. His manner was that of a skilled negotiator, open and friendly, but clearly in control of himself. "And how are you feeling my dear?"
"Cut the pleasantries and answer my question."
"Ah, direct and to the point, very well. My name is Beacon, or at least that's the name I go by. As for what I want with you," he looked uncomfortable and apologetic, "I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem there. To be honest, you're here because two, I guess machine operators would be your closest term, were playing around. They wanted to see if they could open a dimensional gate just long enough to pull a human body through without pulling in the object about to crush said body. They chose you as the test subject because of your considerable beauty."
"So what, the only reason I'm alive is because I was a guinea pig for a pair of virgin geniuses who wanted my body?"
"I wouldn't call them geniuses, but otherwise that's correct. Fortunately for you, they didn't deactivate the alarm when they tried their little experiment. Seconds after they pulled you through they were surrounded by our police and you were rushed to the hospital."
"How long ago was that?"
"Yesterday," Beacon replied casually. "I was called in as soon as they figured out where you were pulled from."
"That's impossible!" Helga shouted. "I know I broke some bones in that fall. If I were brought in yesterday I would still be wrapped in bandages and so doped up on painkillers that I wouldn't be capable of coherent thought. Instead my mind is clear and I'm just painfully sore."
"Actually, if we had been limited to the medical technology of your world, you would not have survived. I hear that it was still a close call though."
"What do mean by my world? Where are we?"
"We are in a city that exists between realities, and because of our location, we have access to technology that makes the science fiction you're familiar with seem primitive. Have you ever read Jules Verne?"
"No, I had more important things on my mind."
"I thought as much. This means that you have fewer misconceptions to unlearn, but it also means that you might find a lot of things hard to grasp."
"I think you've underestimated me Mr. Beacon," Helga stated. I've already figured out that you can't send me back otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation, and I've always been quick to adapt to situations no matter how strange."
"Yes, but this time you don't have a C.O. to look to for guidance, and the world you've been abducted into is, to put it mildly, a lot more diverse than anything you could be prepared for," Beacon said with a kind but knowing smile. "And the name is simply Beacon. Prefixes tend to make people uncomfortable." At that moment a door slide open as if by its own volition, much to Helga's surprise, and a humanoid cat, in a uniform that looked like nothing Helga had ever seen before, walked in.
"Excuse me Beacon," the cat woman said in perfect, if strangely accented, English. "But our monitors told us that Miss Sinclair was awake and I wanted to know if she needed food." Helga was clearly speechless but Beacon took in the cat woman's presence as if it was normal to him.
"Leave us a couple hard copy menus of Earth foods common to the United States during the end of World War II and I'll help her chose. I'll be having lunch with her today if that's not a problem."
"Of course not, though Dr. Sival might be a bit jealous. You know how she feels about you." The feline nurse said with a smirk. At least Helga assumed she was a nurse as the feline femme walked out and came back with two menus made of a substance Helga was unfamiliar with.
"Thank you Samira," Beacon said with a smile. "I'll call when we're ready to order." The nurse smiled back and walked out as Beacon handed Helga one of the menus. "I recommend the beef stew," he said to Helga. "It's one of the hospital specialties and shouldn't give your body much trouble."
"What was that thing?" Helga demanded."
"So much for that ability to adapt," Beacon sighed in disappointment. "Samira is not a thing. She is as much a person as you are. The only real difference is that, while you and I evolved from an ape-like creature, she, and others like her, evolved from cat-like creatures. As I said, this world is more diverse than yours."
"How many humans are in this city of yours?"
Beacon smiled again, "that depends on your definition of human. Suffice it to say that about 25 percent of the city's population will look normal to you." Helga started to ask what he meant by that, but then realized she probably didn't want to know yet. She decided to trust Beacon for now and ordered the beef stew, as did he. He then showed her how to place her order via the microphone in the nurse call button. While they waited, he showed her how to use what he called the bells and whistles of her room. Some, like the controls for her bed, were operated by the push of a button. Impressive, but easy for her to accept as she used the bed controls to elevate herself into something closer to a sitting position and activated the massage function. Others, like the small movie screen that came out of the wall on command, were harder for her to deal with. All she had to do was say monitor and the screen would emerge and float in front of her without any signs of support. She could ask it for any form of information, from the written word, to radio transmissions, to movies, and it would provide them.
"I'm not sure I can get used to this," she said as she watched the screen return to its slot in the wall.
"It does take awhile to adapt. If you think it will make you feel more comfortable, we can give you an apartment designed to look like one from your world and time."
"That won't be necessary. The more I immerse myself in this world of yours the quicker I'll be able to adapt. Though I have to wonder what I can possibly do to earn a living."
Beacon thought about that for a moment before saying, "Given your military background there are plenty of professions that you can go into."
"Yeah right. If your civilian technology is any indication, your military probably has weapons that are as far beyond me as that mini movie screen."
"Actually, we don't have a military, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle most of the weapons our police force uses with no problem. They may fire stun beams instead of projectiles but they're still operated the same way as the guns and rifles you're used to, and your hand to hand combat skills are probably a match for any of our top officers."
"So I should become a policeman?"
"Or a self defense teacher. Normally we don't recruit people unless there are specific plans for them, and even then it's their choice what they want to do. The fools who brought you here, however, weren't thinking beyond the results of their experiment. So there are no plans for you and, as you've already figured out, we can't send you back. So what you do with your new life is entirely up to you."
"How much time do I have to decide?"
"Well, the doctors have recommended you stay here for a week's worth of observation and physical therapy. After that, I do know a modest hotel where you can stay until you've adjusted to our world, found yourself a place and started classes to help you learn how to function here."
"Thank you, but how can I afford to stay at a hotel, much less pay for classes, when I don't even know what you people use for money?"
Beacon dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, my employers often use this hotel for newcomers and the classes are standard procedure. The most that will be asked of you in exchange will be updates on how you're adjusting. We've never recruited anyone from your world's tech level before, so we will be making extensive observations."
"So I'm still a guinea pig," Helga sounded about as thrilled by the prospect as one would expect.
Beacon looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wouldn't say that. You're more of a visiting ambassador from a newly discovered country. People will be bending over backwards to make you as comfortable as possible. Within reason of course. We aren't going to treat you like royalty…"
"Nor would I want you to."
"And we expect you to pull your own weight eventually."
"Of course."
"We just want as much information from you as possible so that, if this ever happens again, we know how to smooth out the transition."
"Sounds fair when you put it that way. OK Beacon, you've got yourself an ambassador. I mean, it's not like I have a choice."
"We always have choices miss Sinclair," Beacon said with a smile, "it's just that sometimes an option seems so obvious that we don't see the other options we have."
At that moment Samira arrived with their lunch. It smelled delicious and Helga realized how hungry she really was as she started eating. They ate in silence while she thought about what awaited her outside this room. If the monitor hidden in the wall and the nurse were any indication, she couldn't even imagine what she was going to see out there. A part of her was terrified, which was only natural, but she hadn't become a lieutenant by letting fear of the unknown stop her. Another part was excited by the thought of what lay ahead of her. She may have been brought here as part of an experiment, but the result was that, instead of being dead and buried in some cavern under the Atlantic, she had a new life in a world with unimaginable possibilities, and she promised herself that she was going to explore as many of them as possible. "