Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Kay (hehe.. really)
and this princess had these wild ideas. Some for life, some for art, some
for the hell of it. Unfortunately this princess has no cable at the moment
and her connection now sux ass. Good thing she can write stories for fun..
you know.. when her kids let her do that. :P
Ok.. on with it.. yeah..
You Are Here
"Not stamp collecting. Not cooking. Not even that Salsa dancing rot everyone is going on about." Spike continued his rant as the two were lead down the hall by a uniformed security guard. Or as Buffy had quickly nicknamed them, 'goldies'. "No bloody biking," Spike was continuing, but paused to give her a curious look. "You know those fellas are out of their minds, he'd 'ave fit in nicely."
Buffy gave him a dirty look, but kept her pace, following the man leading them to rooms that were apparently theirs till the foursome could find a way back, or the crew dropped them off. Where? She didn't know, possibly the moon. Although now that she thought about it, she couldn't figure out which moon. After all, it's some crazy Trekkie dimension. How many moons could there be? Billions? Billions upon billions? These thoughts along with worry over her friend still unconscious, a roaming sister, and when exactly did Spike become a rambling moron? Moron yes, but a rambler?
"And working with you, at the very least some fighting. Maybe Karate, boxing even?" Spike kept his tirade going. Other hobbies. That was the topic and he was happy to answer his own question while the Slayer was silent. It was a simple question really. Nothing out of the ordinary, and once he wrapped his mind around it; the vampire wasn't able to come up with enough responses to, "Why couldn't the whelp have had a more productive hobby?"
Buffy shook her head. "Dawn is running around doing who knows what. Willow isn't even awake, and I'm stuck with," She looked over with a mildly disgusted smirk aimed at him. "You." She finished, and rolled her eyes before planting her gaze back at the neatly trimmed brown hair on the back of the head of their escort. "We have bigger problems, in case you couldn't tell. Besides, in cooking world we might have drowned in batter, or bike- land... possibly break our necks. and just for the record, I don't think I want to land in some overplayed version of a Karate movie either. Bad dubbing." She crinkled her nose.
He seemed to think about this for a minute. His mind oddly went right to the image of a batter covered Buffy. Possibly in need of a good cleaning. The corners of his mouth went up.
"Oh you can't tell me those are better?"
Spike snapped out of his thought and saw Buffy staring at him. "As a matter of fact," and he gave her an appraising leer.
"I don't want to know." She said and put a hand up mid-air to block his words.
They were halted by the officer who stopped and side stepped a door. Then quickly pushed some glowing outlines on another of the black panels that seemed to be everywhere. The only difference Buffy could see was that this one was much small and on the wall about mid-waist. In moments the door opened swiftly, and the man gave her the offer to go on in with a sweep of his hand. Spike followed her in with and both stopped just inside to look the place over
For his part, the plain looking young man who was assigned to attend to the pair couldn't make any sense of their words. Oh he understood the words alone, but what hobbies, had to do with the duo, and why 'other worlds' were being discussed. Or what connection they could possibly have to two people who, he thought, could be spies of some sort. After all, he'd heard just enough information on the suddenly appearing quartet to know regular visitors didn't just come on board with no way to have arrived. His curious mind wasn't even sure why they would discuss anything in front of him, even if his rank was the lowest one could hold in service on a starship, he could contact officers easily with any relevant details. Surely they would want to know if anything that may explain what the visitors had planned.
This brought him to his final conclusion. The conversation was a set up. They were probably speaking in a code of some sort. And he really needed to stop reading those mystery novels from the twentieth century.
That last thought in his head, he continued with his duty of making sure the two were settled, and guarded.
Although sparse, the room was nice, and had an amazing view of the stars through a window that lined the opposing wall. There were two arches at opposite ends of the living room revealing the promise of more rooms beyond them. To the main entrance's right was a long couch, with a small coffee table in front of it that looked plastic to her. There were also two matching armchairs at either end of the table. All pieces were an off color. Not quite purple, but not exactly blue.
Near the windowed wall, right across from the door, was a table and four chairs for taking meals, and beside that, a desk with what appeared to be a lap top set up and ready to use. These pieces of furniture were black, but shone and had lines of silver along the legs. Buffy looked back at the officer, who stepped into the room and towards the table.
There was another panel mounted to the wall, but instead of being flat, there was a deep indentation almost like a shelf's ledge inside. The officer began to press more of the lighted areas on the panel. "The doctor has already programmed the replicators to provide you." He nodded towards the platinum blonde. "With blood. But if there is a problem, all you have to do is tell one of us outside your door. Most likely it's calibration. Not too many request for plain animal blood."
"Animal blood?" He questioned Buffy. "At least let me have synthesized human blood for sodden." He was on the verge of pleading. "It's not even real." He rationalized exasperated.
Buffy loved whatever small amount of power she had. And if her glee could only come from torturing an already huge pain in her ass. well, better. "It's the principal." She stated simply, hiding her smile.
He didn't even try to hold back the quiet growl.
"Over here is the restroom." The crewman ignored them by now, quite used to the bickering, and walked through the doorway in the wall beside the table and chairs. He stopped at a closed door immediately to the right which slid open to reveal a bathroom complete with sink, toilet and what looked like a shower without the spill guards on the floor. Strangely, no bathtub. He stepped back just enough for the door to slide shut and took the other two steps through the archway that took them to a bedroom with one large bed. "Sleeping quarters." He explained quickly then walked around the couple who looked from the bed, then back at him.
Buffy was the one to say it. "We're gonna need more beds."
The officer was on the other side of the main room now, and standing at the archway directing them to look inside. They came across and saw another room with two more beds. Smaller then the other one, but perfectly comfortable. Buffy quickly smiled." Alright."
Spike, being evil and naughty, and any other word that could be used to describe a wicked mind, came up with his conclusion quickly. "So we'll be taking the large bed then eh'?" He followed the idea up with yet another grin and a leer.
Slowly she turned he head and sneered. "No, I'll be taking the bed. You 'my not so friend-friend' will be taking a sofa safari."
"Bah." He spun and headed back to the couch and unceremoniously fell onto it, his duster draped back to take up almost all the surface offered.
"If you need more accommodations, I can arrange that." Goldie offered.
As much as the idea of not having Spike around appealed, she really didn't want him running loose to cause whatever havoc he may feel the need to. "No. It's fine." Buffy smiled sweetly and batted her lashed for effect.
"I'm Craigs. I'll be right outside if you need something, and you will be notified if there is a change in your friend's status, and when your sister is found.
"How long will that be? Till you find Dawn?" Buffy clarified.
"Not long I'm sure. It's a big ship, but several people are looking."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No one could ever call the red head lazy, but sleeping in really wasn't her thing, mostly because she never gave herself a chance to do it. Not that she was an "up before the butt-crack of dawn" person, but her body was telling her that an alarm should have gone off by now. That bit of fog that had let her believe it had to be the middle of the night, and she surely didn't have to get up yet, was receding and the fact that her mind felt rested soon caused her to face reality.
Unfortunately she opened her eyes, and do you know what? Reality was nowhere in sight. Never mind the very plain bed she knew wasn't hers. Ignore the fact that this was definitely not her dorm room. And nope, that man over on the other side of the room in a blue jumpsuit was really never gonna pass as Tara.
So Willow did what seemed most reasonable. She closed her eyes, once, twice, three times. Blinking and knowing that once her mind was cleared she could once again look to her left and see... the plain empty bed, and the guy in blue.
"Wha-" Her voice cracked so the word didn't quite make it out. She tried to swallow to clear her throat, but the barely audible sound she'd made caught the attention of the male nurse.
While Willow tried to sit herself up in the odd environment the handsome man walked towards her. "And here I thought we might have to make these your permanent quarters." He joked.
Her brow furrowed. "Hu?"
"Still waking up?" The man said with some concern and she watched as he sidled up to her bed. When his attention went to the wall behind her head, above the pillowed end of the bed, she turned and watched the lines moving parallel to each other on a black panel. "Well the good news is all your vitals are stable. The bad news is you've been out for a few hours. Might take you a minute to get your barings." He quickly explained.
And to Willow, the biggest understatement in the world hit her. 'Get my barings, I have barings? I barely know where I am.' And she looked around.
Ok strike that, I have no clue where I-
"Willow. Good, you're awake."
Willow's head whipped around from the panel she was still staring at, to the red head woman wearing a similar shade of blue to that of the nurse, and a lab-coat to match. The uniform was slightly different, and along with the jacket adorning the elder of the two people with her, Willow decided this was the person who might know what the heck was happening. Before she had a chance to ask though, the stranger began to explain.
"Your friends Buffy and William have already been checked. They are waiting for you in rooms set aside for guests." The doctor said and reviewed the information her nurse had already seen. "And I just got word that Dawn may have been spotted." Beverly stopped and saw the confused look on the young lady's face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Doctor Crusher. You and your friends," Beverly paused deciding on how to describe the sudden presence of the foursome. "You appeared on out bridge a few hours ago. "
"Dawn? Spotted?" Oddly enough, the picture in her head was that of Dawn covered with polka dots. Apparently she still wasn't forming actual ideas that required thought.
With a gentle look from the panel she was resetting, back to the confused young woman, the doctor tried to explain. "Well, it seems she feels at fault for whatever brought you here. She was very upset and she and her sister tried to calm her, but the poor girl just ran. "But don't worry; The Security Teams are looking for her. I'm afraid the news of your impromptu arrival on the bridge spread quickly. It seems someone may have already found her." She finished with a smile.
Willow nodded, at least understanding that much. But the entire thing was too much to take in, where was she? What was it? "The, the bridge?" Willow asked tentatively.
The same look that had been on Buffy's face was now on the meek looking Willow's features. Now, even more then before, the Doctor was sure the strangers had no intention of being on the ship.
"Yes, of The Starship Enterprise. I'm the Chief of medical, and except for the extreme exhaustion you and Dawn suffered, you are all in good health." That much comfort she could provide.
"Wait." Willow said abruptly, and one of her eyes squinted slightly as she rolled the last bit of info around in her head. "We're on a starship? In the middle of space... like... in SPACE space?"
Beverly nodded. "Yes, a starship." This girl seemed to know a little something. At least she got the idea quickly.
And it all hit Willow all at once, the show, the spell, Dawn reading. But there was no way Dawn should have been able to invoke that kind of power. She hadn't even practiced. In all of her mind's memories, she couldn't remember Dawn even trying to float a pencil, much less mesh two extremely powerful castings into one with the control needed to make it actually work. And from the looks of her surroundings, the wiccan was sure it had worked.
"That doesn't make any sense." Willow said allowed.
"That has been the consensus so far. We can't detect any residuals of your arrival, and even your friends seemed lost."
Willow's mind was racing as the doctor waited for a reaction. And then the witch understood. And the reason she was so drained. "You said Dawn and I both suffered from exhaustion?"
Curious, the doctor again nodded. "You were both unconscious. She woke up a little more then an hour ago, quit disturbed."
"Well, yeah. I mean a minute ago we were in the family room... or, I guess it was a few hours ago, hu?" She received a small smile form the doctor in response. "But Buffy was ok, and then Dawnie was ok?"
"Yes, Both Buffy and William seemed unharmed by whatever brought you here. Well, except for his condition of course." She shook her head. "I never would have imagined it, vampires. But I'll have to say we do see some rather unusual things." Willow's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, but the doctor was turned away from her, setting up some equipment. "And Dawn recovered quickly. But as I said, was distraught, and ran out of here within a few seconds of waking up." The doctor turned back to her patient with the same instrument she had used earlier on the vampire for insertion of the translator. By the stunned look on Willow's face, she deduced the young woman was worried by the instrument in her hand.
"Now, there is something I need to talk to you about." Beverly began, and went over the use of the metal object in her hand while Willow nodded and tried very hard to listen while trying to figure out exactly what had happened, and how she could ever fix it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm going to explode." Dawn announced to her smiling friend while she held her stomach. "I'm serious. It could happen."
Alexander took his final bite, and mimicked Dawn's movements and held his stomach as well. "I don't think I'll eat for at least a week."
"It's like they took everything good about chocolate, and put it in this little bowl just to see who was insane enough to eat it all." She continued and made a pouty face for a total of 2 seconds, then brightened again. "Think we could get seconds?"
Alexander started to laugh, then grimaced a bit gripping his stomach. "I don't think so." But continued laughing.
"So, I take it you enjoyed the desert." Guinan asked with her fingers laced in front of her.
"Too good." Dawn answered smiling.
The mild tone of the woman seemed to put everyone at ease. It was a talent all from her planet had, and Guinan used it often to help even unnoticed by most. "That's good Dawn. I'm glad you enjoyed it. But I'm afraid you've been found out."
Alexander had just been watching in silence, but saw the woman's eyes shift to the main doors, then two security officers strode in heading straight for their table.
Dawn turned and saw them too. "Oh crap."
"Guess you've got to go then?' The young klingon asked.
Guinan went around the table to intercept the men. "She's just finishing up."
The two men saw Dawn standing up and nodded, letting her get herself ready. She wasn't to be taken in to custody, just escorted to her quarters, so there was no rush.
The brunette teen walked up to the men bravely. "Am I off to jail now?"
"No Miss. We are to take you to your sister." The fit sandy blonde man answered.
Dawn frowned. "Could you lock me up instead?"
Guinan laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It'll be alright Dawn. Whatever it is, I know sisters can be difficult, but whatever is wrong, you two can work it out."
And oddly, this stranger's words brought her great comfort. So she nodded a little, shrugged, and took the frown to an only mildly even tempered look. "Thanks for the fudge and ice cream." She said to Alexander, and then smiled to the barkeeper before falling in step behind the two uniformed men.
Guinan watched the young boy's face fall. "Such a sad face." He looked up at her with the frown still in place. "I wouldn't worry. I have a feeling she will be just fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy sat on her bed; her hands were firmly pressed against her ears as she studied the comforter she was now staring at intently.
One stupid comment and Spike had been happy as a lonely sailor after too long a time at sea with a dock full of easy women.
Alright, it had been more then one word.
Buffy had sat on one of armchairs for a total of 10 minutes before trying to leave the apartment, and being stopped by the ensign at the door. It wasn't that they had to stay, but the officer quickly explained that her sister would be brought directly here when found, so she had gone back inside, given Spike a dirty look, and flopped back on her chair.
He snorted, it annoyed her. She rolled her eyes, he chuckled, it annoyed her twice as much. She crossed her arms; he waggled his eyebrow, and offered her an invitation to help her from getting bored. So she had gotten up, and gruffly marched to the desk with the laptop sitting out and ready for use. Except it wasn't a laptop. It only took Buffy a second to realize that the absence of a regular keyboard meant she could just tell it what she wanted to see, much like the computer in the hallway.
Unfortunately nothing came to mind. She stared at the insignia of Starfleet and couldn't think of a darn thing to check out.
"You just goin' to stare it?" The blond perched on the couch asked with a cocked eyebrow.
She sighed. "I honestly can't think of anything. I have no idea what could help us get out of here." The defeat was evident in her voice.
Spike clicked his tongue behind his teeth and stood up, then walked over to her. "Shove over." She got up and he took her place. Then for a few moments he was quite entertaining for her, looking behind the screen, under the desk, across the room. "Where's the bloody keys at?"
She couldn't muffle her giggle. "You just ask it. You know? Tell it what you want and it should show you."
"Chipper." He said with a grin and stared at the screen for a few minutes, before gleaming grin that could only be bad. "Show me every track recorded by The Sex Pistols."
And that led Buffy to this place. With nothing but the blaring punk rock echoing off the walls and Spike trying to scream the words along with it. Because there is no way that this could be singing. I don't care what planet or century you're from. This is just .. wrong.
And this was it. She was going to let him act like the 2 year old hidden inside. Then he could get it out of his system before Dawn got back. But by now, after song number 15, her head was hurting, she was fairly sure her eyes and ears would be bleeding, and her teeth were chattering insanely. She slid off the bed, stood at the doorway separating her space from his. "Spike!!!!"
Unfortunately his back was turned to her, and his head bobbing uncontrollably from side to side while he yelled yet another line, didn't seem to be even close to turning her way. There was no way she was going to get his attention. "Spiiiikkkee!!! She came around to the lap top and hoped to god that the computer could hear her even if a vampire couldn't. "Stop this music!!!!" She yelled at it, and was rewarded with blissful silence.
"Hey, I was listenin' to that." He growled. "Turn on that last one." He said to the laptop from the other side of the desk.
There was a quiet blipping sound indicating the order was received.
"No, don't do it. No more music." Buffy quickly amended. And another bleeping was heard.
"Come on Slayer. Some of these I've only heard once or twice. And they have them on live tracks. It's unheard of."
"I'm going deaf here. No more." She countered with finality.
Spike snorted. "I can't just sit around all bloody day doing nothing."
"Why not? It's what you do every other day of your miserable life."
"S'not. I get about. I have the tele, could do some reading..."
"Ha!" She let out the one loud sound. "I'd be surprised if you can sing your ABC's. Don't even try to convince me you actually sit and read." She stared him down, "And just so you know, there are more letters in the alphabet then A, B, and O. Reading the menu at Willie's, it doesn't count."
"He can read." They both heard from the main entrance.
The pair spun to see Dawn, and Willow both. Along with what looked like a Star Trek convention's worth of uniforms milling around behind them.
Willow walked through the door, giving Dawn a little shove allowing the door to sweep closed behind them, giving the group a little privacy.
Buffy pulled Dawn into a hug immediately. "God you scared me. "
Dawn let her sister squish her for a second before returning the embrace. "I know. I'm sorry."
Buffy let her go but held her at arm's length. "It's ok. As long as we all stick together, I'm sure we can figure this out. Ok?" She pleaded with her sister with her yes. "Just no more running off like that."
Dawn, abashed, nodded her consent. "Alright. Got it."
Buffy grinned a bit, then nodded as well before turning to her best friend. "Willow, you ok?" She asked with obvious worry.
"Yeah... took me a minute to like, think. But I'm ok now. Xander is never gonna believe this."
"Boy'll probably be jealous." Spike added his two cents with the usual ignoring that came with him speaking when more then just one scoob was around.
Buffy's gaze went quickly to her little sister and back to her friend. "What the heck happened?"
Willow pursed her lips for a second, before beginning. "Well I got the gist of how we popped in here, and I've been going through it in my head," she paused and went to the couch, pulling some things out of her skirt pocket. She quickly deposited some change on the coffee tables top and began arranging on the surface as she spoke. "It's pretty simple actually, at least part of it. The spell called for 3 elements, and well, we kind of gave it to them. The TV" She pointed to a quarter. "That little gun thingy." Willow pointed to a dime.
"Phaser" Dawn provided and sat beside Willow.
"Right," Willow went on. "And all those books... well no, not the books. Xander having read all those books actually." She pointed to another quarter. "That was the last thing. I mean, he has those things memorized, and those were just the ones he brought."
Spike was still standing to the side but took the chair to Willows right. "But can he speak French?"
"Yeah, Xander never even took the class. And that captain, he just started spouting it out." Buffy said, finally taking the chair to the left of the couch, across from the vampire.
"It's how the spell works, Buffy." Willow took a breath, and moved the coins again. What she ended up with was a diagram showing the placement of the 3 elements, Xander on the couch, Tara just behind them in the doorway, and the four of them in the center of the triangle made by the three items that had formed the shell this dimension was built on. "See, these things," she pointed at the three quarters. "Are like the blueprint. You know, give's the basics... but the whole point of the dimension, at least this one, was to hold Glory. Make sure the place would change and grow. Make sure things would work... well the way they should to her. Go on her experiences. Her being."
"So it could hold a God. An all powerful, evil God..?" Buffy began to question.
"Right. So it draws on... well everything present at the time. Including us, and Anything Xander and Tara knows. What it can't get from that... well... it fills in. I mean, the spell has the basic physics of what needs to be done; it's just a matter of filling in the blanks. But the natural elements... they are already there."
Spike leaned forward in his chair. "So if I know French..?"
"Oh, and the captain... he's supposed to be French." Dawn interrupted excitedly.
"Well Willow speaks French, and I took it in High school too." Buffy added.
Willow again nodded agreeing and spoke to Buffy this time. "Yeah, exactly. Even if you never really got it, all those conjugations are up in your head."
Buffy was a little embarrassed that Willow put it that way. But at least this was making some sense. "This sounds like a pretty complicated spell Wills. How did my baby sister do it?"
Again Dawn felt guilt. She really didn't mean to make it all work, but, she had.
"It's not your fault Dawn." Willow looked back to the worried teen. "If you were any other 14 year old, it wouldn't have worked. I sure couldn't have done it at your age anyway. That much I know." She said honestly.
Dawn sighed inwardly. She knew what was coming.
"Then how'd the Bit pull it off?" Spike asked, giving the brunette a pointed finger long enough to get his question going.
Willow looked between the group of faces. "Well, the nearest I can figure, whatever energy the Key is... it's dimensional. And it did what comes naturally. But it needed the powers used to cast. Something to draw on"
"It got that from you?" Buffy asked, more in confirmation.
"It's the only thing that makes any sense." Willow concluded.
All were quiet for a few moments. Dawn was glad no one seemed to be glaring at her, but she was determined to do whatever she could to help them break the spell. Buffy's mind was wrapping around what exactly had happened. Spike was trying to remember every song he'd heard by The Ramones.
"Willow, if this place was designed to hold Glory," She crinkled her brow. "How hard is it going to be to get out of here?"
Willow began to shake her head. "I have no idea."
************************************** **********************************************
Ok... had to do the whole, explanation thing. That way when people start looking things up and bam it's all there.. you can't say "Hey, why is there oxygen." Or some silly thing. It's fiction.. it's two unnatural worlds colliding. Just go with the flow.
Ok.. on with it.. yeah..
You Are Here
"Not stamp collecting. Not cooking. Not even that Salsa dancing rot everyone is going on about." Spike continued his rant as the two were lead down the hall by a uniformed security guard. Or as Buffy had quickly nicknamed them, 'goldies'. "No bloody biking," Spike was continuing, but paused to give her a curious look. "You know those fellas are out of their minds, he'd 'ave fit in nicely."
Buffy gave him a dirty look, but kept her pace, following the man leading them to rooms that were apparently theirs till the foursome could find a way back, or the crew dropped them off. Where? She didn't know, possibly the moon. Although now that she thought about it, she couldn't figure out which moon. After all, it's some crazy Trekkie dimension. How many moons could there be? Billions? Billions upon billions? These thoughts along with worry over her friend still unconscious, a roaming sister, and when exactly did Spike become a rambling moron? Moron yes, but a rambler?
"And working with you, at the very least some fighting. Maybe Karate, boxing even?" Spike kept his tirade going. Other hobbies. That was the topic and he was happy to answer his own question while the Slayer was silent. It was a simple question really. Nothing out of the ordinary, and once he wrapped his mind around it; the vampire wasn't able to come up with enough responses to, "Why couldn't the whelp have had a more productive hobby?"
Buffy shook her head. "Dawn is running around doing who knows what. Willow isn't even awake, and I'm stuck with," She looked over with a mildly disgusted smirk aimed at him. "You." She finished, and rolled her eyes before planting her gaze back at the neatly trimmed brown hair on the back of the head of their escort. "We have bigger problems, in case you couldn't tell. Besides, in cooking world we might have drowned in batter, or bike- land... possibly break our necks. and just for the record, I don't think I want to land in some overplayed version of a Karate movie either. Bad dubbing." She crinkled her nose.
He seemed to think about this for a minute. His mind oddly went right to the image of a batter covered Buffy. Possibly in need of a good cleaning. The corners of his mouth went up.
"Oh you can't tell me those are better?"
Spike snapped out of his thought and saw Buffy staring at him. "As a matter of fact," and he gave her an appraising leer.
"I don't want to know." She said and put a hand up mid-air to block his words.
They were halted by the officer who stopped and side stepped a door. Then quickly pushed some glowing outlines on another of the black panels that seemed to be everywhere. The only difference Buffy could see was that this one was much small and on the wall about mid-waist. In moments the door opened swiftly, and the man gave her the offer to go on in with a sweep of his hand. Spike followed her in with and both stopped just inside to look the place over
For his part, the plain looking young man who was assigned to attend to the pair couldn't make any sense of their words. Oh he understood the words alone, but what hobbies, had to do with the duo, and why 'other worlds' were being discussed. Or what connection they could possibly have to two people who, he thought, could be spies of some sort. After all, he'd heard just enough information on the suddenly appearing quartet to know regular visitors didn't just come on board with no way to have arrived. His curious mind wasn't even sure why they would discuss anything in front of him, even if his rank was the lowest one could hold in service on a starship, he could contact officers easily with any relevant details. Surely they would want to know if anything that may explain what the visitors had planned.
This brought him to his final conclusion. The conversation was a set up. They were probably speaking in a code of some sort. And he really needed to stop reading those mystery novels from the twentieth century.
That last thought in his head, he continued with his duty of making sure the two were settled, and guarded.
Although sparse, the room was nice, and had an amazing view of the stars through a window that lined the opposing wall. There were two arches at opposite ends of the living room revealing the promise of more rooms beyond them. To the main entrance's right was a long couch, with a small coffee table in front of it that looked plastic to her. There were also two matching armchairs at either end of the table. All pieces were an off color. Not quite purple, but not exactly blue.
Near the windowed wall, right across from the door, was a table and four chairs for taking meals, and beside that, a desk with what appeared to be a lap top set up and ready to use. These pieces of furniture were black, but shone and had lines of silver along the legs. Buffy looked back at the officer, who stepped into the room and towards the table.
There was another panel mounted to the wall, but instead of being flat, there was a deep indentation almost like a shelf's ledge inside. The officer began to press more of the lighted areas on the panel. "The doctor has already programmed the replicators to provide you." He nodded towards the platinum blonde. "With blood. But if there is a problem, all you have to do is tell one of us outside your door. Most likely it's calibration. Not too many request for plain animal blood."
"Animal blood?" He questioned Buffy. "At least let me have synthesized human blood for sodden." He was on the verge of pleading. "It's not even real." He rationalized exasperated.
Buffy loved whatever small amount of power she had. And if her glee could only come from torturing an already huge pain in her ass. well, better. "It's the principal." She stated simply, hiding her smile.
He didn't even try to hold back the quiet growl.
"Over here is the restroom." The crewman ignored them by now, quite used to the bickering, and walked through the doorway in the wall beside the table and chairs. He stopped at a closed door immediately to the right which slid open to reveal a bathroom complete with sink, toilet and what looked like a shower without the spill guards on the floor. Strangely, no bathtub. He stepped back just enough for the door to slide shut and took the other two steps through the archway that took them to a bedroom with one large bed. "Sleeping quarters." He explained quickly then walked around the couple who looked from the bed, then back at him.
Buffy was the one to say it. "We're gonna need more beds."
The officer was on the other side of the main room now, and standing at the archway directing them to look inside. They came across and saw another room with two more beds. Smaller then the other one, but perfectly comfortable. Buffy quickly smiled." Alright."
Spike, being evil and naughty, and any other word that could be used to describe a wicked mind, came up with his conclusion quickly. "So we'll be taking the large bed then eh'?" He followed the idea up with yet another grin and a leer.
Slowly she turned he head and sneered. "No, I'll be taking the bed. You 'my not so friend-friend' will be taking a sofa safari."
"Bah." He spun and headed back to the couch and unceremoniously fell onto it, his duster draped back to take up almost all the surface offered.
"If you need more accommodations, I can arrange that." Goldie offered.
As much as the idea of not having Spike around appealed, she really didn't want him running loose to cause whatever havoc he may feel the need to. "No. It's fine." Buffy smiled sweetly and batted her lashed for effect.
"I'm Craigs. I'll be right outside if you need something, and you will be notified if there is a change in your friend's status, and when your sister is found.
"How long will that be? Till you find Dawn?" Buffy clarified.
"Not long I'm sure. It's a big ship, but several people are looking."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No one could ever call the red head lazy, but sleeping in really wasn't her thing, mostly because she never gave herself a chance to do it. Not that she was an "up before the butt-crack of dawn" person, but her body was telling her that an alarm should have gone off by now. That bit of fog that had let her believe it had to be the middle of the night, and she surely didn't have to get up yet, was receding and the fact that her mind felt rested soon caused her to face reality.
Unfortunately she opened her eyes, and do you know what? Reality was nowhere in sight. Never mind the very plain bed she knew wasn't hers. Ignore the fact that this was definitely not her dorm room. And nope, that man over on the other side of the room in a blue jumpsuit was really never gonna pass as Tara.
So Willow did what seemed most reasonable. She closed her eyes, once, twice, three times. Blinking and knowing that once her mind was cleared she could once again look to her left and see... the plain empty bed, and the guy in blue.
"Wha-" Her voice cracked so the word didn't quite make it out. She tried to swallow to clear her throat, but the barely audible sound she'd made caught the attention of the male nurse.
While Willow tried to sit herself up in the odd environment the handsome man walked towards her. "And here I thought we might have to make these your permanent quarters." He joked.
Her brow furrowed. "Hu?"
"Still waking up?" The man said with some concern and she watched as he sidled up to her bed. When his attention went to the wall behind her head, above the pillowed end of the bed, she turned and watched the lines moving parallel to each other on a black panel. "Well the good news is all your vitals are stable. The bad news is you've been out for a few hours. Might take you a minute to get your barings." He quickly explained.
And to Willow, the biggest understatement in the world hit her. 'Get my barings, I have barings? I barely know where I am.' And she looked around.
Ok strike that, I have no clue where I-
"Willow. Good, you're awake."
Willow's head whipped around from the panel she was still staring at, to the red head woman wearing a similar shade of blue to that of the nurse, and a lab-coat to match. The uniform was slightly different, and along with the jacket adorning the elder of the two people with her, Willow decided this was the person who might know what the heck was happening. Before she had a chance to ask though, the stranger began to explain.
"Your friends Buffy and William have already been checked. They are waiting for you in rooms set aside for guests." The doctor said and reviewed the information her nurse had already seen. "And I just got word that Dawn may have been spotted." Beverly stopped and saw the confused look on the young lady's face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Doctor Crusher. You and your friends," Beverly paused deciding on how to describe the sudden presence of the foursome. "You appeared on out bridge a few hours ago. "
"Dawn? Spotted?" Oddly enough, the picture in her head was that of Dawn covered with polka dots. Apparently she still wasn't forming actual ideas that required thought.
With a gentle look from the panel she was resetting, back to the confused young woman, the doctor tried to explain. "Well, it seems she feels at fault for whatever brought you here. She was very upset and she and her sister tried to calm her, but the poor girl just ran. "But don't worry; The Security Teams are looking for her. I'm afraid the news of your impromptu arrival on the bridge spread quickly. It seems someone may have already found her." She finished with a smile.
Willow nodded, at least understanding that much. But the entire thing was too much to take in, where was she? What was it? "The, the bridge?" Willow asked tentatively.
The same look that had been on Buffy's face was now on the meek looking Willow's features. Now, even more then before, the Doctor was sure the strangers had no intention of being on the ship.
"Yes, of The Starship Enterprise. I'm the Chief of medical, and except for the extreme exhaustion you and Dawn suffered, you are all in good health." That much comfort she could provide.
"Wait." Willow said abruptly, and one of her eyes squinted slightly as she rolled the last bit of info around in her head. "We're on a starship? In the middle of space... like... in SPACE space?"
Beverly nodded. "Yes, a starship." This girl seemed to know a little something. At least she got the idea quickly.
And it all hit Willow all at once, the show, the spell, Dawn reading. But there was no way Dawn should have been able to invoke that kind of power. She hadn't even practiced. In all of her mind's memories, she couldn't remember Dawn even trying to float a pencil, much less mesh two extremely powerful castings into one with the control needed to make it actually work. And from the looks of her surroundings, the wiccan was sure it had worked.
"That doesn't make any sense." Willow said allowed.
"That has been the consensus so far. We can't detect any residuals of your arrival, and even your friends seemed lost."
Willow's mind was racing as the doctor waited for a reaction. And then the witch understood. And the reason she was so drained. "You said Dawn and I both suffered from exhaustion?"
Curious, the doctor again nodded. "You were both unconscious. She woke up a little more then an hour ago, quit disturbed."
"Well, yeah. I mean a minute ago we were in the family room... or, I guess it was a few hours ago, hu?" She received a small smile form the doctor in response. "But Buffy was ok, and then Dawnie was ok?"
"Yes, Both Buffy and William seemed unharmed by whatever brought you here. Well, except for his condition of course." She shook her head. "I never would have imagined it, vampires. But I'll have to say we do see some rather unusual things." Willow's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, but the doctor was turned away from her, setting up some equipment. "And Dawn recovered quickly. But as I said, was distraught, and ran out of here within a few seconds of waking up." The doctor turned back to her patient with the same instrument she had used earlier on the vampire for insertion of the translator. By the stunned look on Willow's face, she deduced the young woman was worried by the instrument in her hand.
"Now, there is something I need to talk to you about." Beverly began, and went over the use of the metal object in her hand while Willow nodded and tried very hard to listen while trying to figure out exactly what had happened, and how she could ever fix it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm going to explode." Dawn announced to her smiling friend while she held her stomach. "I'm serious. It could happen."
Alexander took his final bite, and mimicked Dawn's movements and held his stomach as well. "I don't think I'll eat for at least a week."
"It's like they took everything good about chocolate, and put it in this little bowl just to see who was insane enough to eat it all." She continued and made a pouty face for a total of 2 seconds, then brightened again. "Think we could get seconds?"
Alexander started to laugh, then grimaced a bit gripping his stomach. "I don't think so." But continued laughing.
"So, I take it you enjoyed the desert." Guinan asked with her fingers laced in front of her.
"Too good." Dawn answered smiling.
The mild tone of the woman seemed to put everyone at ease. It was a talent all from her planet had, and Guinan used it often to help even unnoticed by most. "That's good Dawn. I'm glad you enjoyed it. But I'm afraid you've been found out."
Alexander had just been watching in silence, but saw the woman's eyes shift to the main doors, then two security officers strode in heading straight for their table.
Dawn turned and saw them too. "Oh crap."
"Guess you've got to go then?' The young klingon asked.
Guinan went around the table to intercept the men. "She's just finishing up."
The two men saw Dawn standing up and nodded, letting her get herself ready. She wasn't to be taken in to custody, just escorted to her quarters, so there was no rush.
The brunette teen walked up to the men bravely. "Am I off to jail now?"
"No Miss. We are to take you to your sister." The fit sandy blonde man answered.
Dawn frowned. "Could you lock me up instead?"
Guinan laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It'll be alright Dawn. Whatever it is, I know sisters can be difficult, but whatever is wrong, you two can work it out."
And oddly, this stranger's words brought her great comfort. So she nodded a little, shrugged, and took the frown to an only mildly even tempered look. "Thanks for the fudge and ice cream." She said to Alexander, and then smiled to the barkeeper before falling in step behind the two uniformed men.
Guinan watched the young boy's face fall. "Such a sad face." He looked up at her with the frown still in place. "I wouldn't worry. I have a feeling she will be just fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy sat on her bed; her hands were firmly pressed against her ears as she studied the comforter she was now staring at intently.
One stupid comment and Spike had been happy as a lonely sailor after too long a time at sea with a dock full of easy women.
Alright, it had been more then one word.
Buffy had sat on one of armchairs for a total of 10 minutes before trying to leave the apartment, and being stopped by the ensign at the door. It wasn't that they had to stay, but the officer quickly explained that her sister would be brought directly here when found, so she had gone back inside, given Spike a dirty look, and flopped back on her chair.
He snorted, it annoyed her. She rolled her eyes, he chuckled, it annoyed her twice as much. She crossed her arms; he waggled his eyebrow, and offered her an invitation to help her from getting bored. So she had gotten up, and gruffly marched to the desk with the laptop sitting out and ready for use. Except it wasn't a laptop. It only took Buffy a second to realize that the absence of a regular keyboard meant she could just tell it what she wanted to see, much like the computer in the hallway.
Unfortunately nothing came to mind. She stared at the insignia of Starfleet and couldn't think of a darn thing to check out.
"You just goin' to stare it?" The blond perched on the couch asked with a cocked eyebrow.
She sighed. "I honestly can't think of anything. I have no idea what could help us get out of here." The defeat was evident in her voice.
Spike clicked his tongue behind his teeth and stood up, then walked over to her. "Shove over." She got up and he took her place. Then for a few moments he was quite entertaining for her, looking behind the screen, under the desk, across the room. "Where's the bloody keys at?"
She couldn't muffle her giggle. "You just ask it. You know? Tell it what you want and it should show you."
"Chipper." He said with a grin and stared at the screen for a few minutes, before gleaming grin that could only be bad. "Show me every track recorded by The Sex Pistols."
And that led Buffy to this place. With nothing but the blaring punk rock echoing off the walls and Spike trying to scream the words along with it. Because there is no way that this could be singing. I don't care what planet or century you're from. This is just .. wrong.
And this was it. She was going to let him act like the 2 year old hidden inside. Then he could get it out of his system before Dawn got back. But by now, after song number 15, her head was hurting, she was fairly sure her eyes and ears would be bleeding, and her teeth were chattering insanely. She slid off the bed, stood at the doorway separating her space from his. "Spike!!!!"
Unfortunately his back was turned to her, and his head bobbing uncontrollably from side to side while he yelled yet another line, didn't seem to be even close to turning her way. There was no way she was going to get his attention. "Spiiiikkkee!!! She came around to the lap top and hoped to god that the computer could hear her even if a vampire couldn't. "Stop this music!!!!" She yelled at it, and was rewarded with blissful silence.
"Hey, I was listenin' to that." He growled. "Turn on that last one." He said to the laptop from the other side of the desk.
There was a quiet blipping sound indicating the order was received.
"No, don't do it. No more music." Buffy quickly amended. And another bleeping was heard.
"Come on Slayer. Some of these I've only heard once or twice. And they have them on live tracks. It's unheard of."
"I'm going deaf here. No more." She countered with finality.
Spike snorted. "I can't just sit around all bloody day doing nothing."
"Why not? It's what you do every other day of your miserable life."
"S'not. I get about. I have the tele, could do some reading..."
"Ha!" She let out the one loud sound. "I'd be surprised if you can sing your ABC's. Don't even try to convince me you actually sit and read." She stared him down, "And just so you know, there are more letters in the alphabet then A, B, and O. Reading the menu at Willie's, it doesn't count."
"He can read." They both heard from the main entrance.
The pair spun to see Dawn, and Willow both. Along with what looked like a Star Trek convention's worth of uniforms milling around behind them.
Willow walked through the door, giving Dawn a little shove allowing the door to sweep closed behind them, giving the group a little privacy.
Buffy pulled Dawn into a hug immediately. "God you scared me. "
Dawn let her sister squish her for a second before returning the embrace. "I know. I'm sorry."
Buffy let her go but held her at arm's length. "It's ok. As long as we all stick together, I'm sure we can figure this out. Ok?" She pleaded with her sister with her yes. "Just no more running off like that."
Dawn, abashed, nodded her consent. "Alright. Got it."
Buffy grinned a bit, then nodded as well before turning to her best friend. "Willow, you ok?" She asked with obvious worry.
"Yeah... took me a minute to like, think. But I'm ok now. Xander is never gonna believe this."
"Boy'll probably be jealous." Spike added his two cents with the usual ignoring that came with him speaking when more then just one scoob was around.
Buffy's gaze went quickly to her little sister and back to her friend. "What the heck happened?"
Willow pursed her lips for a second, before beginning. "Well I got the gist of how we popped in here, and I've been going through it in my head," she paused and went to the couch, pulling some things out of her skirt pocket. She quickly deposited some change on the coffee tables top and began arranging on the surface as she spoke. "It's pretty simple actually, at least part of it. The spell called for 3 elements, and well, we kind of gave it to them. The TV" She pointed to a quarter. "That little gun thingy." Willow pointed to a dime.
"Phaser" Dawn provided and sat beside Willow.
"Right," Willow went on. "And all those books... well no, not the books. Xander having read all those books actually." She pointed to another quarter. "That was the last thing. I mean, he has those things memorized, and those were just the ones he brought."
Spike was still standing to the side but took the chair to Willows right. "But can he speak French?"
"Yeah, Xander never even took the class. And that captain, he just started spouting it out." Buffy said, finally taking the chair to the left of the couch, across from the vampire.
"It's how the spell works, Buffy." Willow took a breath, and moved the coins again. What she ended up with was a diagram showing the placement of the 3 elements, Xander on the couch, Tara just behind them in the doorway, and the four of them in the center of the triangle made by the three items that had formed the shell this dimension was built on. "See, these things," she pointed at the three quarters. "Are like the blueprint. You know, give's the basics... but the whole point of the dimension, at least this one, was to hold Glory. Make sure the place would change and grow. Make sure things would work... well the way they should to her. Go on her experiences. Her being."
"So it could hold a God. An all powerful, evil God..?" Buffy began to question.
"Right. So it draws on... well everything present at the time. Including us, and Anything Xander and Tara knows. What it can't get from that... well... it fills in. I mean, the spell has the basic physics of what needs to be done; it's just a matter of filling in the blanks. But the natural elements... they are already there."
Spike leaned forward in his chair. "So if I know French..?"
"Oh, and the captain... he's supposed to be French." Dawn interrupted excitedly.
"Well Willow speaks French, and I took it in High school too." Buffy added.
Willow again nodded agreeing and spoke to Buffy this time. "Yeah, exactly. Even if you never really got it, all those conjugations are up in your head."
Buffy was a little embarrassed that Willow put it that way. But at least this was making some sense. "This sounds like a pretty complicated spell Wills. How did my baby sister do it?"
Again Dawn felt guilt. She really didn't mean to make it all work, but, she had.
"It's not your fault Dawn." Willow looked back to the worried teen. "If you were any other 14 year old, it wouldn't have worked. I sure couldn't have done it at your age anyway. That much I know." She said honestly.
Dawn sighed inwardly. She knew what was coming.
"Then how'd the Bit pull it off?" Spike asked, giving the brunette a pointed finger long enough to get his question going.
Willow looked between the group of faces. "Well, the nearest I can figure, whatever energy the Key is... it's dimensional. And it did what comes naturally. But it needed the powers used to cast. Something to draw on"
"It got that from you?" Buffy asked, more in confirmation.
"It's the only thing that makes any sense." Willow concluded.
All were quiet for a few moments. Dawn was glad no one seemed to be glaring at her, but she was determined to do whatever she could to help them break the spell. Buffy's mind was wrapping around what exactly had happened. Spike was trying to remember every song he'd heard by The Ramones.
"Willow, if this place was designed to hold Glory," She crinkled her brow. "How hard is it going to be to get out of here?"
Willow began to shake her head. "I have no idea."
************************************** **********************************************
Ok... had to do the whole, explanation thing. That way when people start looking things up and bam it's all there.. you can't say "Hey, why is there oxygen." Or some silly thing. It's fiction.. it's two unnatural worlds colliding. Just go with the flow.