~*~Disclaimer=me no own~*~Wow! You guys seem to really like this story! You
are all brilliant for reviewing!~*~
Malcolm entered the barracks, the tunnel entrance was laying open on the wooden floorboard, but their were no sounds of digging.
"John!" he called "John! Can you hear me?" He jumped in and began scrabbling about in the dirt, his hand closed round something warm. He pulled and a man came lose from the dirt.
Hands helped them both out.
John coughed dirt from his lungs and winced rubbing his shoulder.
"Gerroff me I'm alright" he said shoving them away.
"Tunnels completely caved." Larry said climbing out of the hole. "Its useless."
"No!" John exclaimed. "It can't have! Not after all this time!" He made as if to climb back into the tunnel.
Malcolm caught his shoulders.
"John, it's over" he said. "C'mon lets get ya down t' medics."
"I said get off me Andy." John hissed. His eyes full of rage and self-hate. He stalked out the room slamming the door.
The others began to disperse and soon only Larry and Malcolm were left. They closed up the entrance and pushed the bunk back over it.
"I can't believe it" said Larry hoarsely. "It's over, six months it's taken to build that tunnel....we were so close! So BLOODY CLOSE!"
"There'll be other attempts Larry." Said Malcolm comfortingly.
"You don't understand! You have no idea! You've only been here a week! How could you possible understand what that tunnel meant?!" Larry raged and viciously booted one of the bunks. "Piss off Fly-Boy! I ain't in the mood for you!"
*C'mon Andy, just back off* he thought in a futile attempt to try and sway the man who he occupied. Andy however was not in the mood to take anything lying down.
"How can you say I don't understand?" Malcolm yelled. "I've not seen my family for two years! Two stinking years I've been up there day after day dropping bombs on the poor sods below! All they did wrong was live in the wrong place! I got ordered to bomb the towns, they held innocent civilians! Women, children. You have no idea what I've been through! I had no escape because I volunteered for it! I volunteered for this crap! Stuck in a moral hell for two years! Do you have any idea what that's like? No! So think before you start shoving your bullshit on me!"
There was stunned silence.
*Bloody hell!* Malcolm thought amazed. *Was that even related to the argument?*
" Andy...I had.....I mean...." Larry trailed off looking guilty. Malcolm could still see the frustration building up in Larry's eyes mixed in with guilt.
"Forget it." Malcolm muttered before marching out.
He leant against the barracks wall and stared at the ground. After a while he became aware someone was watching him. He looked up and saw the guard in the guard tower glaring at him, sub-consciously stroking the machine gun.
Malcolm stared him out.
"Andy?"
"Not now Alfie."
"You sure."
"Very"
"I'd move if I were you"
"Oh really?"
"Well that goon's lookin' pretty 'omicidal. Afterall ya did shoot 'im"
"He won't shoot me"
"'ow do ya know?"
"I don't"
"Andy?"
"What is it Alfie?"
"'as the tunnel really caved in?"
"Yup, the shit hit the fan about ten minutes ago."
Alfie sank to the ground beside him.
"So that's it then. We're stuck 'ere."
"Oy you, being a miserable git's my job. Like I said to Larry, there will be other escape attempts. It ain't the end of the world."
"Winter's comin' soon, we won't be able to start another tunnel 'cause ground's gonna go rock 'ard."
"Don't worry Alfie, can ya leave me be please?"
"Sure, thanks Andy."
Alfie wandered off. Malcolm stared at the blue sky above.
*Where are you Enterprise?* he thought miserably.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trip stared at he scruffy blonde man intently, sub-consciously stroking his machine gun. He seemed annoyed. No. More than annoyed. From what Trip could see from up in the tower it seemed like guilty anger was radiating from him.
Trip realised his finger was flexing on the trigger. When he tried to move it he remembered that he wasn't in control of anything.
*C'mon move ya limey bastard move!* he willed feeling his finger tense up. *MOVE!*
Then just as he began to pull back the trigger the scruffy blonde moved and wandered away.
Trip watched as he went round the corner then stopped. One of the other prisoners was viciously hitting the punch bag.
The scruffy blonde ran off, like the hounds of hell were at his heels.
Then Trip resigned himself to the monotony of the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hoshi kicked the computer terminal and to her amazement it lit up like Christmas Tree lights.
Having programmed the language into the UT it was all systems go from this point on.
In her search she found a personal log.
*Bingo* she thought satisfied with her work.
The translation then was simple.
The contents of the translation were disturbing.
It appeared that the stone tablet had been faulty. The scientist that created it watched his partner die due to its affects. It drained the life from people who tried to use it. They would witness their history-at the cost of their life.
The vision of their history could end at any time, but if it went on longer than 24 hours the people would just fade away into nothingness and cease to exist.
Malcolm and Trip had been unconscious for eight hours. In 16 hours time they'd both be dead and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Hoshi's heart sank as she re-read the entire thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
Trip stared at the horizon away from the camp. He was tired. Tired of not being able to do anything or speak his mind. Tired of having to guard over prisoners that his ancestors might've been fighting with.
*Ah'd give anything ta be watchin' water polo with Jon now* He thought miserably *Or eatin' a huge slice o' pecan pie. Even workin' on mah engines for a twenty hour shift might be better than this.*
He thought about the person who he was 'occupying' and came to the slow realisation that he was only doing his job-just like every other poor sod in this world.
~*~Ok, I've suddenly realised that I don't have much about Trip in these chapters, I think that's because I've put him in the body of a Nazi and the realisations just hit that I know very little german that could be useful at this point. (I blame my German teacher, over an hour of listening to her talk to a plastic skeleton called Boris scarred me for life. I know enough German to introduce myself and give opinions oh and school subjects as if I'm going to walk up to some random German and ask them what school subjects they like. We were also taught the body parts and how to say "ow my leg hurts"-Fantastic-ah the insanity of our language block at school-no wonder I took French) Anyway, I have a habit of going off on random tangents What I want to say is please read and review!~*~
Malcolm entered the barracks, the tunnel entrance was laying open on the wooden floorboard, but their were no sounds of digging.
"John!" he called "John! Can you hear me?" He jumped in and began scrabbling about in the dirt, his hand closed round something warm. He pulled and a man came lose from the dirt.
Hands helped them both out.
John coughed dirt from his lungs and winced rubbing his shoulder.
"Gerroff me I'm alright" he said shoving them away.
"Tunnels completely caved." Larry said climbing out of the hole. "Its useless."
"No!" John exclaimed. "It can't have! Not after all this time!" He made as if to climb back into the tunnel.
Malcolm caught his shoulders.
"John, it's over" he said. "C'mon lets get ya down t' medics."
"I said get off me Andy." John hissed. His eyes full of rage and self-hate. He stalked out the room slamming the door.
The others began to disperse and soon only Larry and Malcolm were left. They closed up the entrance and pushed the bunk back over it.
"I can't believe it" said Larry hoarsely. "It's over, six months it's taken to build that tunnel....we were so close! So BLOODY CLOSE!"
"There'll be other attempts Larry." Said Malcolm comfortingly.
"You don't understand! You have no idea! You've only been here a week! How could you possible understand what that tunnel meant?!" Larry raged and viciously booted one of the bunks. "Piss off Fly-Boy! I ain't in the mood for you!"
*C'mon Andy, just back off* he thought in a futile attempt to try and sway the man who he occupied. Andy however was not in the mood to take anything lying down.
"How can you say I don't understand?" Malcolm yelled. "I've not seen my family for two years! Two stinking years I've been up there day after day dropping bombs on the poor sods below! All they did wrong was live in the wrong place! I got ordered to bomb the towns, they held innocent civilians! Women, children. You have no idea what I've been through! I had no escape because I volunteered for it! I volunteered for this crap! Stuck in a moral hell for two years! Do you have any idea what that's like? No! So think before you start shoving your bullshit on me!"
There was stunned silence.
*Bloody hell!* Malcolm thought amazed. *Was that even related to the argument?*
" Andy...I had.....I mean...." Larry trailed off looking guilty. Malcolm could still see the frustration building up in Larry's eyes mixed in with guilt.
"Forget it." Malcolm muttered before marching out.
He leant against the barracks wall and stared at the ground. After a while he became aware someone was watching him. He looked up and saw the guard in the guard tower glaring at him, sub-consciously stroking the machine gun.
Malcolm stared him out.
"Andy?"
"Not now Alfie."
"You sure."
"Very"
"I'd move if I were you"
"Oh really?"
"Well that goon's lookin' pretty 'omicidal. Afterall ya did shoot 'im"
"He won't shoot me"
"'ow do ya know?"
"I don't"
"Andy?"
"What is it Alfie?"
"'as the tunnel really caved in?"
"Yup, the shit hit the fan about ten minutes ago."
Alfie sank to the ground beside him.
"So that's it then. We're stuck 'ere."
"Oy you, being a miserable git's my job. Like I said to Larry, there will be other escape attempts. It ain't the end of the world."
"Winter's comin' soon, we won't be able to start another tunnel 'cause ground's gonna go rock 'ard."
"Don't worry Alfie, can ya leave me be please?"
"Sure, thanks Andy."
Alfie wandered off. Malcolm stared at the blue sky above.
*Where are you Enterprise?* he thought miserably.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trip stared at he scruffy blonde man intently, sub-consciously stroking his machine gun. He seemed annoyed. No. More than annoyed. From what Trip could see from up in the tower it seemed like guilty anger was radiating from him.
Trip realised his finger was flexing on the trigger. When he tried to move it he remembered that he wasn't in control of anything.
*C'mon move ya limey bastard move!* he willed feeling his finger tense up. *MOVE!*
Then just as he began to pull back the trigger the scruffy blonde moved and wandered away.
Trip watched as he went round the corner then stopped. One of the other prisoners was viciously hitting the punch bag.
The scruffy blonde ran off, like the hounds of hell were at his heels.
Then Trip resigned himself to the monotony of the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hoshi kicked the computer terminal and to her amazement it lit up like Christmas Tree lights.
Having programmed the language into the UT it was all systems go from this point on.
In her search she found a personal log.
*Bingo* she thought satisfied with her work.
The translation then was simple.
The contents of the translation were disturbing.
It appeared that the stone tablet had been faulty. The scientist that created it watched his partner die due to its affects. It drained the life from people who tried to use it. They would witness their history-at the cost of their life.
The vision of their history could end at any time, but if it went on longer than 24 hours the people would just fade away into nothingness and cease to exist.
Malcolm and Trip had been unconscious for eight hours. In 16 hours time they'd both be dead and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Hoshi's heart sank as she re-read the entire thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
Trip stared at the horizon away from the camp. He was tired. Tired of not being able to do anything or speak his mind. Tired of having to guard over prisoners that his ancestors might've been fighting with.
*Ah'd give anything ta be watchin' water polo with Jon now* He thought miserably *Or eatin' a huge slice o' pecan pie. Even workin' on mah engines for a twenty hour shift might be better than this.*
He thought about the person who he was 'occupying' and came to the slow realisation that he was only doing his job-just like every other poor sod in this world.
~*~Ok, I've suddenly realised that I don't have much about Trip in these chapters, I think that's because I've put him in the body of a Nazi and the realisations just hit that I know very little german that could be useful at this point. (I blame my German teacher, over an hour of listening to her talk to a plastic skeleton called Boris scarred me for life. I know enough German to introduce myself and give opinions oh and school subjects as if I'm going to walk up to some random German and ask them what school subjects they like. We were also taught the body parts and how to say "ow my leg hurts"-Fantastic-ah the insanity of our language block at school-no wonder I took French) Anyway, I have a habit of going off on random tangents What I want to say is please read and review!~*~