Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: second verse, same as the first…
Author's note: All right, you've all been patient…okay, I might be exaggerating a bit. So we finally find out where House has gone…
Chapter Eleven
House awoke slowly, his head pounding fit to burst. He completely failed to stifle his groan. Damn…ever since he'd been let into Cameron's own little world, he'd been knocked out, had his brain shut down, and now this…whatever the hell this was…
He peeled his eyes open, and instantly regretted it when the sunlight stabbed into them like needles. Wait…sunlight? The last thing he remembered was that he'd been in a gloomy, stinky warehouse. House struggled to sit up, his bad leg screaming at him that it was well past time for a Vicodin. He took a good look at his surroundings, and realized he didn't know where the fuck he was.
Trees surrounded him, but they were odd – the color of their leaves was just off enough from the green he was familiar with, and their trunks were strange and spindly, like every one of them was diseased or something. They made a weird rustling noise too, when the wind blew through them; it was like listening to someone crumpling up tissue paper. It quickly got on House's nerves to hear it.
But then realized something was missing: the sounds of birds.
House got carefully to his feet. He dug in his jacket pocket for his bottle of Vicodin, dry swallowing one as he looked around some more. Even the sky looked odd; it was a little too blue, almost purple, and the clouds had a slightly lavender tinge to them. House couldn't see the sun, so it could've been chartreuse for all he knew.
"Shit, Toto…we're not in freaking Kansas anymore…" Wait, had he already used that line in his travels? He couldn't remember, but if so he'd have to get some new material!
The question was: how in the hell had he gotten there?
But the biggest question was: where the hell was Cameron?
House searched the area frantically. Cameron was nowhere to be found. Maybe what had happened to him hadn't happened to her? The last thing he remembered was seeing that bright green light coming at them. He seemed to recall that he'd begun feeling that familiar disassociation of being transported. Had she managed to jaunt to safety? Was she looking for him, even as he stood there and worried about her?
He trusted her. It came down to that. Cameron would move heaven and earth to find him, just as he'd once done for her. Plus she had John and Tim with her, and House knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that the three of them would locate him – wherever he was.
It had to be an alien planet. That was the only explanation for the strange trees and sky. But how he'd gotten there was a mystery. Perhaps that green ray had somehow done it? If he'd been in the middle of being transported…well, House wasn't scientifically bent, at least not that way, but it made a certain sort of sense to him.
Unfortunately, there were hundreds of worlds out here, just in his area of the galaxy alone. How were they supposed to track him down to one?
Once again, it came down to trust. If Cameron had somehow gotten out of the warehouse – and we wasn't prepared to believe otherwise – she and the other Tomorrow People would be searching for him. While he would never admit it, he had confidence in them to come to the rescue.
So, in the meantime, maybe he should take a look around? Or play it safe and stay put, and wait for Cameron to come?
Naw, there was no way House would just sit around when there was an entirely new planet to explore!
He tapped his stun gun, making sure the weapon was there. If he was going to have a look around, the last thing he wanted was to meet some unfriendly alien beings without it.
The woods weren't very deep because House made it out of the trees in what seemed like no time flat. At one point in his journey he'd glanced at his watch, but it hadn't been working. He'd thought that odd, since he'd just had the battery changed.
A field opened up once House got past the woods. The grass was about waist high, and a shade of yellow-green that would've seemed unhealthy back on Earth. He started out across it, using his cane to make sure of his footing. The last thing he needed was to trip and break something. Being alone here, that would quite possibly mean his death, and House wasn't ready for that yet. He glanced up into the sky; the sun was slightly more orangey than he was used to. Definitely alien, then. Glad to know he'd guessed right.
A short walk brought House to a sort of gully, about eight feet deep and three times that wide. There was no way he was going to be able to cross it, so he turned and began traveling parallel to it. The wind made the grass bow and twist around him, making a mournful, rattling sound. The air smelled faintly sweet, and it tickled House's nose as he breathed.
No animal noises broke the monotony of the wind. House was a little surprised. He would have thought that life would've evolved here, since it seemed like a pleasant enough world. Maybe House had the entire place to himself. Well, he pretty much preferred to spend time alone; what a perfect getaway, to have an entire planet to oneself.
But after a while, the emptiness of the place began to get on House's nerves. Despite his own inclinations he started wishing that someone – anyone – would come and at least try to capture him. That would make him feel better…yes, then Cameron could come and rescue him twice. Once they got close enough, certainly they'd be able to track his matter transporter belt. But then, if he were the only living creature on this planet it would certainly make him easier to locate.
The sun was moving across the blue-purple sky. It would be getting toward night, and House had no idea what sort of temperature drop he'd get once the sun went down. Right now, it was pretty warm, but there was no telling what would happen once night fell. House would have to find some sort of shelter before that occurred.
After a bit, the ground started rising. House could tell; it was a little harder to move forward. The gully he'd been following was also deepening and getting wider. Trees were now growing in the bottom, their tops at House's eye level. These were different; their trunks were even slimmer, the bark lighter and looking somewhat healthier. Their leaves were a truer green, and they had large pink and white blossoms on them that looked vaguely familiar to him. It was also the first time since waking up that House saw some form of life; insects were buzzing among the flowers, almost like bees did on House's own world. Although these were somewhat larger, around the size of hummingbirds…
House was glad to see that something had evolved there, but then you couldn't have flowering plants without insects to pollinate them. He kept walking, his legs getting tired but not wanting to stop anywhere near those huge bugs. He didn't want to be anywhere near them in case they stung. He had a feeling that just one could kill.
The slight rising of the ground finally stopped. House came out onto a small rise, overlooking a broad, flat area covered in more of the strange grass. The flowered trees had sprung up in patches, almost perfectly round, and two long lines of them stretched off into the distance. House knew immediately that those lines were in no way natural. They were far too straight for that.
Someone had to have planted them.
But even has House was internalizing that piece of information, he noticed something else: what looked like a perfect square of stone, sticking up out of the grass like a broken finger. Another, larger area was closer, and this time House was able to make out columns like teeth in front of it. A third area was actually in the shape of a curve, trees pushing through what looked like a roof.
His heart stopped as House recognized what he was seeing, although it had to have been impossible…
It was the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House.
He needed to sit down, but there wasn't anything nearby. House had to settle on the ground, and he practically fell on his ass as his legs gave out on him in shock.
He was in Washington, D.C. Just where he'd been with Cameron, before they'd been shot with that green ray gun.
No…no no no no…this wasn't right. He was seeing the ruins of Washington D.C. House couldn't get his mind wrapped around it, even after what he'd seen in his time with the Tomorrow People. There was no effing way this could be true. House knew he must've suffered some sort of brain damage from that weird weapon, and he was dreaming. Hell, it wouldn't be the first time he'd had some sort of hallucination. He was in some sort of hospital somewhere, and he'd wake up and realize that everything was just fine, that he hadn't seen what was left of the capitol of the USA…
House actually resorted to pinching himself, although he knew, intellectually, that it wasn't going to prove anything. It didn't, and his upper arm stung for his trouble.
But after he came to the conclusion that it was stuck in this nightmare, his mind started asking questions. What the hell had happened, to him and to Washington? Certainly he wouldn't have slept through such a disaster – that was, if he really wasn't in some sort of injury-based delusion. He glanced back up at the sky. How could it have changed like that? Why was the sun a slightly different color? Of course, House knew about light refraction, and so guessed it was something in the atmosphere making it all look abnormal. But such changes didn't happen overnight. Plus there were the trees…trees didn't grow up overnight either. And the warehouse he'd been in – if he'd woken up in the same place he'd been knocked out in, then what had happened to the building? Then there was the question of the lack of animal life, and the weird bugs around those flowered trees – House realized they must be cherry blossoms, which was why he'd thought he'd recognized them, but they'd been just different enough to make him question that recognition. He looked over at the gully – now more of a trench – and with a shock suddenly knew that it had once been the Potomac River.
House wondered what the rest of the world was like. Had it suffered from whatever it had been that had done this to Washington? Were there any people left at all?
And what had happened to the Tomorrow People? Had they been able to at least fight against what had gone on?
What had happened to Cameron?
On the off-chance, he took his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. It was completely dead, the display blank. He sat there and stared at it for a bit, as if wishful thinking would recharge it.
"That won't work here."
House practically flipped himself over backward, so quickly did he react to that voice. Standing just behind him was a woman.
No, she was more like a girl, maybe fifteen years old. Vibrant blue eyes regarded House closely, in a face with nice cheekbones and pale skin. Brown hair framed that face and fell down to her hips, a single small braid draped over her right shoulder. She was wearing a blue dress that matched her eyes and draped to her calves. Blue heel-less boots completed her ensemble, along with a silver scrollwork belt, necklace, and earrings.
"Tell me something I don't know," House snarked back, once he got his tongue moving out of its "frozen in shock" state.
The girl cocked her head to one side, a playful smile raising one corner of her mouth. "I could tell you my name, I suppose."
"That would work."
"I am Sanye. And you don't belong here."
He got clumsily to his feet, and noticed that she was as tall as he was. "Once again, something I already know. You might try to be more helpful and tell me just where "here" is."
Sanye stared at him for a second. House suddenly felt something itching in his head, recognizing it immediately. "Hey, stop trying to get into my mind!"
The girl looked startled. "You felt me?"
"Duh! I wouldn't have said stop if I hadn't."
"I see." She went back to studying him, without the attempted mind meld.
House waited for about two seconds, then snapped, "At least the rest of the Tomorrow People are polite enough not to go and try poking around without permission." He didn't recognize her, but then he only knew those TP in the group that hung out with Cameron.
Her blue eyes widened. "What did you just call me?"
"Look, I know what you are. It's pretty obvious, with you trying to pick my brain…literally. I'm just curious who taught you manners, because they didn't do a very good job of it."
But House began to doubt his own conclusions. Sanye seemed truly confused by what he'd said. But how could she not be a Tomorrow Person, since she apparently had at least telepathy? Jaunting was also pretty obvious since she'd appeared behind him without him hearing her.
Sanye crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at House as if she were trying to figure out a really nice puzzle. Then she blinked. "I am sorry, but I've not heard that term outside a classroom. But no, I am not a Tomorrow Person."
Now it was House's turn to examine her. Outside a classroom? What did that mean? "Then what are you?"
"That…is not important at this time. How did you get here?"
"If I knew the answer to that, I'd go back home and leave you to this place…wherever the hell this is." He knew what it looked like, but wasn't in the mood to play "Planet of the Apes" with anyone.
Wait…the moment that thought crossed his mind, it clicked with everything he'd seen since he'd regained consciousness.
It just seemed more impossible than anything else he'd ever experienced.
He regarded the girl closely. "I've traveled in time, haven't I? That really is Washington D.C., but changed over however long it's been. Shit…" he ran his fingers through his hair, as if he wanted to rip that notion right out of his brain, "how the hell did this happen? And how am I supposed to get back?" He started to pace. If he accepted that he'd somehow traveled forward in time, then he also had to accept that everyone he'd ever known was gone.
Cameron was dead. She wouldn't be coming for him after all.
No rescue. He was truly alone.
House gripped his cane so hard his fingers started to cramp. "What was it? Did we destroy each other? Is that why I haven't seen anyone around…besides you, that is?" He waved in Sanye's general direction. "But what about the Tomorrow People? Where are they? What happened to the Great Break-Out?" It must not have happened, if this was all that's left. Homo Sapiens had done it; they'd managed to kill themselves and the only hope for the Earth.
He turned back to Sanye. "That's it, isn't it? The Saps destroyed it all, and it's been so long that things are coming back. How long has it been?"
The girl looked at him appraisingly. "I cannot tell you."
"What do you mean, you can't tell me?" House was livid. "I have to go back and stop it!"
"You cannot."
"Bullshit! It can't end like this!" For the first time in his life, House hated his own race. Yes, he'd been contemptible of human beings for a long while, but it had never bubbled over into pure hatred until that moment. "But…someone had to survive. I mean, you wouldn't be here if everyone was dead."
"No, everyone was killed," Sanye said sadly.
House just looked at her. "So, how do you explain your presence?"
She chewed her lip, and was silent for so long he was beginning to believe she was just going to stand there forever.
Then she seemed to come to a decision. She held out her hand. "Come with me."
House eyed her warily. "Where are we going?"
Sanye grinned. "Not where, Dr. House. When. Are you coming, or do you want to stay here for the rest of your life?"
No way was he staying there any longer. Besides, her answer transfixed him.
House took the girl's hand.
She held out her free hand. In the palm sat a small disc, with multicolor designs on its face. It began to glow softly.
As House felt himself fading away, he realized that she'd called him by his name. But he'd never introduced himself.