Boris, Doris, & Faith

Author:

Chapter 3 - Part 1

We left the exercise area by the same route we had entered. As we climbed the stairs, Trilby stopped at the first landing.

"Before we talk to the old Gypsy lady," Trilby said, as he reached for the door handle to the exit from the stairwell on this level. "Let's stop in the lab and see if Doc has come up with any useful information from Harry's radio transmitter."

This level of the complex seemed to be dedicated to building and testing various types of equipment. Peering through the windows in the doors we past, I could see rooms filled with machine shop type equipment, rooms that looked like chemistry labs, and even rooms filled with technicians in full clean-room environmental gear like in a microprocessor fabrication facility. Finally, after what felt like a half-mile walk down this corridor, Trilby opened a door and we walked into a room that could've come straight from a college electronics lab. The room was filled with oscilloscopes, microscopes, computer workstations, and five or six workbenches covered with bits of electrical components and soldering gear.

Six people were working in the lab, but Trilby headed straight to a pair working at a microscope in the back corner. An older, white-haired woman was using the microscope, while a twentysomething guy was entering data into a handheld tablet PC as she spoke.

Trilby waited a moment until the woman paused in her monologue, then said. "Doc, I have someone I would like you to meet."

The woman straightened, turned towards us, and pulled the glasses that had been resting on her forehead while she used the microscope back down onto her nose. "Hello, Spencer. This must be a very special occasion to bring you down here from your ivory tower. What has it been, about two years since your last visit?" She said this with a little glint in her eye indicating this wasn't a serious chastisement of his behavior.

Trilby ignored her barb and continued lightly, "This is Harry and Helen Tasker's daughter, Faith, and her friend, Kennedy. Faith, this is 'Doc' Whitehall, the chief scientist of my organization. She has been personally inspecting your father's backup radio we found on the old Gypsy lady."

Doc Whitehall, a sixtyish woman with a slight British accent, reached out and gave me a brisk handshake. "It is so nice to see you again. My, you have grown into a beautiful woman. The last time we meet, shortly after your mother joined us, you were just a little slip of a girl, but then the older I get the faster time seems to pass by." She patted my hand a couple of times before letting it go and turning to shake Kennedy's hand.

After the introductions were made, Trilby was all business. "So tell us, Doc. Have you found out anything useful from Harry's radio?"

Doc shook her head and said. "It is very strange. The message we received from it three days ago was dated two weeks after Harry disappeared." At this point she paused and looked at me as if judging my reaction to this discussion of my parents' disappearance. I nodded that I was okay and for her to continue. She nodded in return.

"At first I thought the message had been recorded six years ago and then retransmitted three days ago. But now having the actual radio to test, I have several bits of data indicating something stranger is going on. I had just opened it up to see if there were any signs of internal tampering."

At this point she turned to me. "Would you like to see the radio?"

I said sure, but didn't see what benefit my looking at a radio would have. I am not a freaking electrical expert.

She led me over to the microscope she had been using when we entered the lab. After she showed me the focus adjustment knob, I bent and looked through the eyepiece.

Once it came into focus, I realized I was looking at a device about the size of a paper match like you find in a book of matches from a bar. The case was open and I could see delicate internal circuitry with finely etched ID numbers, which were what she had been reading off when we arrived. The other thing I noticed was the dark reddish-brown substance clinging to the outer surface of the case. My slayer senses tingled slightly as I realized it was blood.

I moved aside to let Kennedy have a look before I turned to Doc and asked, "Why does the outside of the case have traces of blood?"

"The radios are implanted into the agent's bodies. Wherever Harry was, he must have known the signal couldn't get back to us. So apparently he cut it out and gave it to the old Gypsy lady. Once it has been activated it sends a twenty second loop of recorded data."

I suddenly had this vision of Spike with the chip in his head from the Initiative. From the expression on her face she must have seen me blanch at this info. Once I had my voice back under control, I asked, "You actually implant devices into your own people's bodies?"

"Just these emergency transmitters, dear. It is a simple procedure; they are inserted under the skin on the inside of the upper arm. Very similar to the procedure used to insert the Norplant birth control devices many women use these days. The whole insertion process takes two minutes and is quite painless. Removing the radio in the field would be more painful, but certainly not a life-threatening procedure."

My heart rate slowed a little now that I knew nobody had cut open my Dad's head to get the device out.

Trilby tried to get the discussion back on track by asking, "So Doc, you said you had a couple bits of data after inspecting the radio?"

Doc nodded. "Yes. First, the internal clock is showing a date approximately two and a half weeks after the disappearance, not six years. Secondly, the radio is powered by a minuscule dot of radioactive cesium-90. The cesium-90 can power the radio for five years and has a very predictable decay curve. This radio was implanted in Harry two years before the incident and should have stopped functioning three years ago. But based on the decay rate of the cesium, this radio has only been functioning a little over two years."

She shrugged her shoulders before concluding, "I have no explanation for it, but from the viewpoint of this radio it is about two or three weeks after the incident, not six years."

This conversation tickled at something in my memory for several seconds before it came to me. I snapped my fingers and said, "Connor."

Gib asked whom I was talking about, but I raised my finger indicating I needed a moment to think. Suddenly, some of what was going on became clear.

"Connor is the son of an old acquaintance of mine out in L.A. The mystical kind of acquaintance. Anyway Connor was kidnapped as an infant and raised in a hell-dimension. Time runs differently in hell-dimensions. When Connor returned to our world three months later, he was no longer an infant, but a boy of eighteen.

"Gib, you said you explored Rimnicu's castle and the cavern underneath and couldn't figure out how all the people at that party disappeared. I think Rimnicu opened a doorway to a hell-dimension. A dimension were time runs much slower than here. A dimension where only two weeks have passed while six years have passed here." I got a really big smile as I realized the odds my parents were still alive had just increased greatly.

Doc took a step closer to me. "Hell-dimensions. Time running at different rates. Girl, what are you talking about?"

At this point, Kennedy jumped into the conversation. "Faith is right. Willow told me about a lot of the history of the Scoobies saying you never know when some of the info would come in handy. A couple of other times they have had dealings with Hell-dimensions where time moved at different rates. One time Buffy had to push Angel into a hell-dimension to close a portal and to prevent a powerful demon from entering our world. Angel was trapped in that dimension for a thousand years before escaping, but when he got back only three months had passed in Sunnydale."

Rebecca was the first to ask, "How could this Angel person live for a thousand years before returning?"

Kennedy matter-of-factly replied he was a vampire before continuing. "Another time Buffy got sucked into a hell-dimension where demons were kidnapping young adults and using them for slave labor. In that dimension sixty years passed for every day in our world. The demons were returning the people one day later, but now they were in their eighties rather than their twenties, and therefore no one recognized them. So we know of at least three different hell-dimensions were time runs at a different rate than here. All three of those have time running faster than here, but nothing says the one we're concerned with today couldn't have time that runs slower."

Something Kennedy said caused a sharp twinge in my heart. My parents hadn't abandoned me six years ago. From their perspective it had only been two weeks, not even their longest assignment away from home before their disappearance.

The prison shrink, who I was required visit, said all of my problems stemmed from feelings that my parents had abandoned me. If my parents hadn't really abandoned me, what did that mean to me? Was I suddenly going to revert to the naïve, happy person I was at 13? Yeah, right, that is so not going to happen!

But then another thought occurred to me. To them it was only three weeks since my thirteenth birthday. Would they recognize me now that I was nineteen? Would they be able to accept my life as a slayer? Or even worse, my years in prison? I am sure my parents had dreams of a bright future for me. How would they feel about the many dark things I had done?

I was still deep in thought about my family as the meeting with Doc broke up and everyone headed towards the door.

Gib looked at me and then stepped closer and asked in a low voice, "Do you need a break before we go see the old lady?"

I shook my head. "No, I need something like that to distract me from thinking about my parents for a little while."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "At first I was so happy realizing if only two weeks had passed for them since the disappearance the odds of them still being alive are much better. Then I realized that they would still be expecting me to be a quiet, little, suburban, thirteen-year-old girl. But what are they going to get? Maybe the most badass nineteen-year-old girl in the world. Creatures exist who are so scary, if you ran into them in a dark alley, you would piss in your pants. But those same creatures would cross the street to avoid running into me. How are Mom and Dad going to be able to accept me when all I am is the ultimate killing machine?"

Gib motioned for the others to proceed without us and then pulled me into a hug. "Dana, you are more than just a killing machine or you wouldn't be so worried about what your parents will think about your life. Your parents are still going to love you. And I know them; they are going to blame a lot of it on themselves for not being there for you. In the end you are going to have to be strong and help each other get through this."

Gib held me for a couple more minutes and then let go. "Dana, are you ready to focus on the mission? All your worries will be moot if we aren't able to get your parents back."

I wiped my eyes and nodded. "Let me go wash my face a minute. And, Gib? Thanks."

After visiting the restroom and getting a couple of candy bars and cokes to get our sugar and caffeine levels back up, Gib and I set off to catch up with the others and then interview an old lady.

Chapter 3 - Part 2

The complex had its own small infirmary. We found the others waiting outside an isolation ward where the Gypsy woman was being housed.

I was still in a melancholy mood when we arrived, but listening to Kennedy explain the translation spell to Trilby, Rebecca, and Daniels quickly drew me back into the world of magic. No matter how many demons and vamps I slayed, it was always the magic that intrigued me the most. Not that I had any innate magic skills myself. And my luck with magical devices . . . well, the magical device the mayor left for me, which allowed me to switch bodies with Buffy, ultimately just pushed me one more step down the path to prison. Still, magic continues to fascinate me.

The ingredients for the translation spell, which Kennedy pulled from the back pocket of her jeans in a small plastic bag, consisted of two small, rice sized crystals, one light green and the other deep purple; three dried lotus petals, and a page torn from an old pocket dictionary. The page and the petals would be burned. The crystals would be dropped into the flame during the incantation of a short key phrase. At the completion of the recitation the crystals would be crushed underfoot and the power of the spell would be released. Then, if all went well, everyone present would be able to understand each other.

At the end of her description Kennedy asked if everyone was ready. When everyone nodded Rebecca had the orderly, stationed outside the room, open the door.

The six of us trooped into the room. Fortunately, the room was larger than I was expecting. To the left someone had arranged half a dozen folding chairs in a semicircle facing the center of the room. Along the right wall was a standard hospital style bed. Straight ahead, near the far wall, was a comfortable looking lounge chair facing the door. Sitting in the chair was the woman we had come to see.

The woman was a lot younger than I was expecting. I had created this mental image of someone in her eighties. In reality she looked in her late fifties, certainly a little younger than either Trilby or the Doc. The woman's hair was her most striking feature, mostly black with a couple of very distinctive white streaks; one near the center and one at her right temple creating a highly asymmetric pattern. Her complexion and eyes were both dark with the eyes both bright and very alive.

When we entered, the woman quickly rose to her feet. I had barely noticed her contemporary black skirt and white blouse before she walked straight up to me. She reached out and touched my hands, my arms near the elbows, my shoulders, and finally, my cheeks. Then looking into my eyes she quietly stated, "Dana," as though she knew me.

I was startled. I knew we had never met and no way would I have matched any description given by my parents. How did she know who I was? And did she speak English? Had she been stonewalling the previous people who had tried to interview her?

"How do you know me?" I asked.

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders and then responded in a language I didn't understand.

I looked over to Kennedy; "It looks like we are going to need Will's spell."

She nodded and crouched down in the center of the semi-circle of chairs. As the others started to take seats, Gib and Daniels dragged the lounge chair over to a spot facing the other chairs. I guided the Gypsy woman over to the lounger and took my own seat as Kennedy lit the page with a match.

None of our new allies, Trilby, Daniels, Rebecca, and Gib, had experienced a real magical spell before and they were all watching intently. As soon as the flame glowed brightly, Kennedy began the words and dropped the crystals. When she finished the words she brought the heel of her booted foot down sharply. Immediately, twined tendrils of green and purple smoke emerged and rapidly spiraled out until they entered everyone's ears.

When the smoke entered my ears, it seemed like I heard a clear crystal bell. I looked over the gypsy woman and repeated my question, "How do you know me?" To my own ears, my voice didn't sound any different.

But obviously the spell was working as the woman smiled and responded. "I could feel it in your aura and the connection to your father. You are the current slayer, correct?"

"But how could you know that from my father? He knows nothing about slayers." I was totally lost as to what she was talking about.

Apparently, she could see the bewilderment on my face and explained. "Gypsy magic runs strongly in my family. When my daughter became the slayer five years ago, I could feel the change. Ten days ago, a couple of days after I met your father, I suddenly felt a similar sensation in connection with him. I just knew that someone close to him had become the slayer."

"Your daughter is a slayer?" I asked, surprised at this turn of events.

"Was," she said as a look of sadness fleetingly crossed her face. "Shortly after her success closing the Hellmouth, we entered this hell-dimension in pursuit of the demon Chentratius. Kira stopped him, but was mortally wounded in the process."

I reached over and clasped her hand. "I am sorry about your daughter. Did you say she closed the Hellmouth? How long have you been in the hell-dimension?"

"A little over two years, why?"

Hmm, I worked the math in my head. If one week there equaled three years here, then one year would equal about 150 years and two years would be 300. If the Transylvania Hellmouth had been closed about 350 years ago, like Giles had said, then the times all fit together reasonable well.

Just to be certain I asked, "What year did you enter the hell-dimension?"

"It was 1657, why?"

"Time runs much slower there than here. It is now the year 2003."

"Ahh, that would explain all of the strange things I have seen since I have been here. I was afraid I had just exchanged one hell-dimension for another."

At this point Trilby jumped into the conversation. "Since we don't know how long this . . . ahh . . . spell will last, I think we better focus on gathering intel that will help us retrieve your parents. Madam, what is your name and what can you tell us?"

"I am Nadia Troesmis. My gift or curse is an ability to open doorways between dimensions. However I can't open doorways at just any old time, but only when certain things come into confluence. For this specific hell-dimension, I had to wait two years to open a doorway back to here. This window is three weeks long and ends in two more days and then it will be another two years to the next window."

"Two days," exclaimed Daniels. "That's not enough time to get to Romania and then plan and execute an op."

I shook my head. "That's two days in the hell-dimension, but almost a year here. However, if we spend too much of it here it won't give us much time on the other side to find and rescue my parents. Plus, I, for one, want to return to the present, not the earth of 2350!"

"Okay, now that we have the time frame for this mission determined, what can you tell us about what we are going to run into on the other side?" Asked Trilby.

While I waited for Nadia to respond, I could see why Spencer Trilby was in charge of this organization. Even though he had never heard of a hell-dimension before one hour ago, he wasn't letting that stop him from figuring out what was need to get my parents back. I was beginning to like the way he put his people first.

After thinking a moment, Nadia responded to Trilby's question. "We will need to start from the caverns below the castle in Cimpulung. From there I can open a doorway into a sheltered woods a couple of miles from Chentratius' fortress, Radiclau. Chentratius controls the province of Faleshty and the world in this hell-dimension is known as Maramu."

"You talk like Chentratius is still in charge there. I thought you said Kira stopped him?" I asked.

"Things are never simple when you are dealing with powerful demons. Kira seriously hurt him and forced him into a regenerative chrysalis, sort of a cocoon. He can still telepathically communicate with his chief minion, a man named Alexi Rimnicu. He has set Rimnicu to looking for a magical method to restore his vitality and allow him to emerge from his chrysalis.

"Anyway, Rimnicu made an expedition to this world looking for the magical method his master needs. For some reason when he returned he brought back this large group of people, including Dana's parents. Most of them were put in the dungeon below Radiclau. The dungeon level is guarded by thirty to forty of the biggest, meanest Ogres I have ever seen. They are all ten to twelve feet tall and must weigh 800 pounds."

At this point Nadia shook her head. "Even though Chentratius was forced to retreat into the chrysalis, his magical presence still permeates Radiclau and its dungeon. I can not open a doorway there, so it will be necessary to go in and get Dana's parents out of Radiclau before we can return to this world."

"Can you get us into Radiclau or will we have to fight our way in?" I asked.

"While I have been waiting for the time when I could open a doorway to return home I have been working in the kitchens at Radiclau. That's how I met your parents. I was part of the staff that prepared the food and delivered it to the prisoners. While the prisoners are not being kept in the lap of luxury, they are not being starved or tortured, so Rimnicu must have some plan or need for them.

"After two years there, I am known to many of the workers including the guard staff. I believe I can safely get a small group into Radiclau without too much problem, however getting out after breaking people out of the dungeon may be more difficult."

All of a sudden, I just knew that the spell was about to end. I quickly said to Nadia, "We may not be able to communicate for a couple of days until I can get some friends to develop a more permanent solution. Thanks for your help."

As she smiled at me and nodded, I heard another crystal bell sound and knew the spell had ended.

Chapter 3 - Part 3

Apparently everyone realized at the same time that the spell had ended and started to speak all at once. Finally, Trilby called for silence. "That was certainly a different experience. I think it is going to take me a while to adjust to this new reality of magic in the world. I need to make a few phone calls. Let's adjourn until after lunch and meet back in the conference room at 1:30. Rebecca get a transcript ready of this conversation. Daniels, start the planning for the trip to Romania. The team will consist of you, Rebecca, Gibson, Faith, Kennedy, and three or four others of your choosing to man the base station. Plan on leaving in four days."

Rebecca and Daniels nodded and started to head for the door when I jumped in. "Mr. Trilby, we should plan on stopping in London to pick up a couple my friends, Willow Rosenberg and Rupert Giles. Their presence in Romania may make the difference between success and failure of the mission."

"Who are these people?" asked Trilby.

"Giles is probably one of most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of demons. Willow is a very, very powerful witch. Together they have helped the slayers defeat numerous demons, even a hell-god. They were with us back in Sunnydale when Gib arrived. They went on ahead to England to gather additional information and materials for the mission to Romania."

Trilby nodded. "It's nice to see you have your own organization and support team, and are not just some lone wolf. Daniels, coordinate with Faith a stop in England to pick up her associates."

"One more question, Mr. Trilby. I am curious why you decided on four days until we depart on the mission? Not that I disagree, my friends in England will need about that much time to get some things ready."

"We need some time for planning and gathering materials. Besides I would like to send you and Kennedy through an abbreviated version of our field operative training school. I think we can skip the hand-to-hand training sessions, but I would like to see you go through some weapons, communications, and team infiltration sessions."

Immediately, Buffy's 'It's wrong to kill people' phrase ran through my head. "I will not use guns or explosives or anything like that. They are only real effective against people, not demons or vampires. Plus weapons of those kinds probably won't work in a hell-dimension anyway."

Daniels jumped in, "How are you going to handle these Ogre creatures without guns?"

"I don't know yet," I responded truthfully. "Usually, I just improvise with whatever is available. If possible, I try to have a sturdy hunting knife, but, at least, against vampires any handy piece of wood is sufficient for a slayer. Against Ogres, I don't know, something more substantial would probably be nice, maybe a stout sword or ax. Usually, I have to pass unnoticed through public places so large weapons are not practical. I mean it's not like some TV show, I can't hide a five-foot broadsword under my leather jacket. Well, I can't, Willow could probably hide one in some alternate dimension or something. Anyway, since we are not going to be out in public on this mission, perhaps something more substantial than a knife would be nice, if we can scrounge it up."

Rebecca looked at me with a sudden grin and said. "I have always had an interest in medieval weapons, in addition to modern ones. I have an idea for a weapon I think you might like. Let me talk to the guys in the specialty machine shop and we should have something ready in a couple of days for you to try."

I liked the mischievous look in her eyes. Something told me she had something fun in mind.

I turned back to Trilby. "I don't know if your communication gear will work in the hell-dimension, but I will go through your training. Even if it doesn't work, it will give those of us going to Romania some time to get better acquainted and learn to work as a team."

Trilby looked at his watch, then nodded. "Okay, let's get back together at 1:30 to continue the planning session."

Then Trilby exited the infirmary room with Daniels and Rebecca quickly following.

Once we were alone, Gib, who had been surprisingly quiet since we had arrived at the infirmary, said, "This has been a lot more intense than I had expected. When those tendrils of smoke or whatever started coming out from under Kennedy's boot and heading for our heads, all I could think of was the scene from 'The Ten Commandments' where that green fog is rolling down the streets bring death to the first born. I was so scaried. Suddenly, I remember why Harry was always the point man on our team."

Now it was my turn to return the support Gib had shown me earlier. I pulled him into a hug. "Everything is going to be all right. We will get my Mom and Dad back, I can just feel it."

Gib hugged me for a minute, then stepped back. "Let's go get some lunch and talk about what we learned. Then we'll do a more complete tour of the facility. If there is time before the meeting, a couple of guys down in the gym said they would like a sparring session with you girls. Please try not to hurt anyone."

I grinned over at Kennedy. "What, two little girls like us hurt any of the big strong men we saw in the gym? Please . . . "

End of Chapter 3