1.1 Chapter Five
2 Korea, 1952
Sydney woke up in a strange room, in a strange bed, with strange people bustling about. Nurses were everywhere, but she didn't think that it was a hospital. At least, it was unlike any hospital she'd ever seen. She didn't feel like she'd been shot or wounded in any way, so she couldn't possibly have been taken to a local hospital after her latest mission. What was her latest mission? Then it hit her. The clocks!
She must be in Khasinau's private hospital or something. Had she been knocked unconscious when she arrived? Or had she arrived unconscious? She couldn't remember. Nothing made sense anymore but it was no wonder because her head was swimming and she was sure she wasn't winning any Olympic medals for it.
"Welcome to the M*A*S*H 4077th." A voice said beside her.
She jumped a mile.
A man with brown eyes and curly brown hair was sitting next to her.
"The what? Where am I? Where's Khasinau?" She looked around her for any sign that her mother or Khasinau was in the room but all she saw were nurses and patients, most of whom were American, but there were a few Koreans. Then it hit her. Even before the man next to her said it, she knew.
"You're at the 4077th M*A*S*H unit in Korea." He smiled. "Now, I don't know what this," he stumbled over the foreign word a bit, "Khasinau thing is all about, but I do know one thing. The doctors here are going to take care of you."
"My father?" She suddenly remembered that she was not alone. "Vaughn?"
"They're on either side of you." She looked just to make sure he wasn't lying. She still didn't fully trust the man yet. "Now I'm going to call Captain Pierce in here so that he can have a look at you. Then I'm going to evaluate you myself." He started to get up.
"What do you mean? Evaluate. What, as in like, questioning? Interrogation?" She was worried now. They must think her a Communist or something.
"No, my dear. Psychoanalysis. I am a psychiatrist. My name is Sidney Freeman. I will be evaluating all of you, just to make sure the bumps to your head didn't cause any damage." Then he walked off.
"Bumps to my head?" She murmured, feeling the back of her head. There was a bandage there and a warm liquid was seeping through. Blood. She pulled her hand away and wiped it on the black jacket she was wearing.
She sat up fully, trying to assess her situation. She had traveled back in time with her father and her handler to the Korean War by way of an old clock that was supposed to lead her to her mother. She was lying in a hospital bed flanked by the only two people she knew there, bleeding from the head, and probably looking very strange to these people of the 1950's. And to top it all off, she was going to be analyzed by a man who had the same first name as her and who looked as if he already thought her to be a nutcase.
Her head was starting to reel again so she lay down, listening to the sounds of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital that existed exactly 50 years before her time. It was too much for her. Thankfully the doctor came in a few minutes later. It was Benjamin Franklin Pierce, one of the men she had seen earlier in the photo at the warehouse. He was followed by Dr. Freeman, who was holding a notebook, a nervous young man she didn't recognize and another man from the photo, Colonel Potter.
"Hello, Miss Bristow." Hawkeye said, smiling.
He was a rather attractive man, she thought.
"How do you know my name?" She asked, a little suspicious.
"You had some ID on you when you came in here." He replied, giving her that same goofy schoolboy smile.
"Oh." This defiantly worried her. The birth date on her driver's license would probably raise some questions. That was probably the reason they sent for the shrink.
Hawkeye smiled again. "Let me do a round of introductions." He took a bow. "I am Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce, MD. But you can call me Hawkeye." He pointed to Freeman. "You've already met Sidney. This," he patted the nervous man on the head, "is Corporal Radar O'Reilly, our company clerk, and a damn good one at that."
"H-how do you d-do, ma'am?" Radar asked, tipping his hat with a shaking hand. He sort of reminded Sydney of someone else she knew. She wondered if maybe Marshall was some distant relative of this young man.
Hawkeye was beaming by now. "I've saved the best for last." He put his hands together and made the sound of a trumpet into them. "Colonel Sherman T. Potter, esquire." He did a little mock bow in his CO's direction.
Potter shot him a look, but smiled at Sydney. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, young lady."
Hawkeye pulled the chair that Dr. Freeman had sat in earlier up to Sydney's bedside and sat in it. He checked her eyes, her ears, her throat, her pulse, and her breathing. For someone in the army, he smelled incredible and she was surprised that she didn't drift off to sleep again. Soon the examination was over.
"She's all yours, Doc." Hawkeye told Dr. Freeman. He walked over to where Potter and the young company clerk were standing and watched as the good doctor asked her questions and she answered. He wrote some things down as they talked.
"What is your name?"
"Sydney Bristow."
"When is your birthday?"
Sydney sighed, knowing that they wouldn't believe her. "April 17, 1974."
"Hmm." He scribbled furiously in his notebook.
"What is your occupation?"
"Do we really need all this information? I mean, couldn't you just ask my name, rank and serial number and let me get some rest?"
Hawkeye and Potter exchange looks. Dr. Freeman wrote something in his notebook.
"I'm starting to feel a little woozy." She held her head. "Oh my. The room is spinning. Why are there two of you, Dr. Freeman?"
She glanced upwards for a second to see if they were buying her story. They seemed to be concerned but she knew she'd have to go the extra mile.
"Everything's going dark. I can't see you anymore."
"Miss Bristow-" Dr. Freeman started.
She put her wrist to her forehead. "I feel so weak."
As she continued to fake her illness, Jack woke up and saw the crowd of people standing around the bed next to his. He heard Sydney's voice and thought that Khasinau might have sent his cronies to take care of her. Slowly getting out of bed, so as not to make a sound, he pulled a knife from his sock and tiptoed over to the group. He put his hand over the mouth of a young man wearing glasses and set the knife against his throat. He pulled him a little bit behind the crowd so the other people in the room wouldn't see him and neither would the ones in front of him. Sydney was still rambling like a mad man.
"…I don't know what's going on, doctor. I feel like I'm burning up. Can't you help me? Why won't you…"
Jack hissed in the young man's ear. "Don't say a word, just nod, all right?"
The young man nodded.
"Do you work for Khasinau?"
The young man shook his head.
"…dark, so dark. Rosebud! Rosebud! Oh God, help me to…"
Jack pushed the knife a little bit closer to his throat. "Do you work for Khasinau?"
The young man shook his head.
The knife moved dangerously close to his skin. Jack knew as well as the young man did that if he were to shake his head, his throat would be slit.
"…stop the voices! Stop the voices! Stop the-" Suddenly Sydney peered through Potter's arms at two figures behind him. One was the company clerk. The other one, holding a knife to his neck, was her father.
Potter shook his finger at her. "I hope that you're quite finished, young lady! This man asked you a question! I expect you to answer it!"
But Sydney didn't hear him. She was too busy staring at her father to take into account what he had said. She knew that if she spoke up too soon Jack would kill young Radar. By staring behind them it made them think she saw something.
It worked. "Miss Bristow," Dr. Freeman asked, "what are you staring at?" He didn't seem the least bit phased by her outbursts. Slowly the psychiatrist turned around and saw Jack. "Don't!" He screamed.
Taken aback, Jack dropped the knife and tried to plow through the men. He was, however, not victorious. Potter, Hawkeye and Dr. Freeman succeeded in holding him back. This gave Radar time to escape. He ran out the door at lightning speed.
"Let me go! Now! I'll have you know that there is a team of agents waiting outside this very instant waiting to take this facility by force." Jack lied.
Sydney shook her head. "No there isn't, Dad."
"Sydney!" He was shocked that she had openly admitted that to the enemy.
"Dad, these aren't Khasinau's men." She swallowed. "I think that I have some explaining to do."
"Please, I'd appreciate it." Jack and Potter said at the same time.
"Here goes…"
She told them the whole story, at least the parts that she had figured out, with a little help from Colonel Potter, who explained what happened in the office. Both parties were confused and in disbelief, but the stories added up and they eventually had to admit that what they were saying was true.
"This is unbelievable." Jack said, looking around the room. "We've actually gone back in time."
Suddenly Sydney realized that one person was missing from the group. "Has Vaughn woken up yet?"
Hawkeye took a peek over at the still unconscious form of Michael Vaughn lying on the bed to the left of Sydney. "Still out cold." He replied. "He must've hit his head pretty hard when you guys crash landed in the Colonel's office."
Sydney nodded, but she was worried. What if Vaughn never woke up again? Or what if he did and he couldn't remember anything? Who would help her take down SD-6? The kiss from early that evening (was it still the same day?) played itself over in her mind, and then she shook it away.
"Are you cold?" Dr. Freeman asked her.
She realized that she must have visibly shaken so she shook her head no. "I'm just trying to put all of this into perspective. Dad's right. It is unbelievable."
Hawkeye looked as if he was going to say something but stopped when Radar came running into Post-Op. Sydney could see over his shoulder that the sun was out. They must have slept through the night.
"Choppers!" Radar exclaimed. "Lots of them!" Then he was gone.
A voice came over the PA system. "All surgeons and nurses please report to Triage." It said. "And bring some coffee. It's going to be a long night."
The nurses hurried to get outside. Colonel Potter was right behind them. Hawkeye, however, stayed behind for a moment.
"Sidney," he said, "take Miss Bristow and her father to Radar. He can find them a place to stay until we can figure out what to do. We're going to need to take over this room now."
"What about…" Sydney started, gesturing to Michael.
"He's going to stay here until he wakes up." Hawkeye explained. "We can't risk having him leave this room."
She nodded and let Dr. Freeman lead her and her father out the back way.
2 Korea, 1952
Sydney woke up in a strange room, in a strange bed, with strange people bustling about. Nurses were everywhere, but she didn't think that it was a hospital. At least, it was unlike any hospital she'd ever seen. She didn't feel like she'd been shot or wounded in any way, so she couldn't possibly have been taken to a local hospital after her latest mission. What was her latest mission? Then it hit her. The clocks!
She must be in Khasinau's private hospital or something. Had she been knocked unconscious when she arrived? Or had she arrived unconscious? She couldn't remember. Nothing made sense anymore but it was no wonder because her head was swimming and she was sure she wasn't winning any Olympic medals for it.
"Welcome to the M*A*S*H 4077th." A voice said beside her.
She jumped a mile.
A man with brown eyes and curly brown hair was sitting next to her.
"The what? Where am I? Where's Khasinau?" She looked around her for any sign that her mother or Khasinau was in the room but all she saw were nurses and patients, most of whom were American, but there were a few Koreans. Then it hit her. Even before the man next to her said it, she knew.
"You're at the 4077th M*A*S*H unit in Korea." He smiled. "Now, I don't know what this," he stumbled over the foreign word a bit, "Khasinau thing is all about, but I do know one thing. The doctors here are going to take care of you."
"My father?" She suddenly remembered that she was not alone. "Vaughn?"
"They're on either side of you." She looked just to make sure he wasn't lying. She still didn't fully trust the man yet. "Now I'm going to call Captain Pierce in here so that he can have a look at you. Then I'm going to evaluate you myself." He started to get up.
"What do you mean? Evaluate. What, as in like, questioning? Interrogation?" She was worried now. They must think her a Communist or something.
"No, my dear. Psychoanalysis. I am a psychiatrist. My name is Sidney Freeman. I will be evaluating all of you, just to make sure the bumps to your head didn't cause any damage." Then he walked off.
"Bumps to my head?" She murmured, feeling the back of her head. There was a bandage there and a warm liquid was seeping through. Blood. She pulled her hand away and wiped it on the black jacket she was wearing.
She sat up fully, trying to assess her situation. She had traveled back in time with her father and her handler to the Korean War by way of an old clock that was supposed to lead her to her mother. She was lying in a hospital bed flanked by the only two people she knew there, bleeding from the head, and probably looking very strange to these people of the 1950's. And to top it all off, she was going to be analyzed by a man who had the same first name as her and who looked as if he already thought her to be a nutcase.
Her head was starting to reel again so she lay down, listening to the sounds of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital that existed exactly 50 years before her time. It was too much for her. Thankfully the doctor came in a few minutes later. It was Benjamin Franklin Pierce, one of the men she had seen earlier in the photo at the warehouse. He was followed by Dr. Freeman, who was holding a notebook, a nervous young man she didn't recognize and another man from the photo, Colonel Potter.
"Hello, Miss Bristow." Hawkeye said, smiling.
He was a rather attractive man, she thought.
"How do you know my name?" She asked, a little suspicious.
"You had some ID on you when you came in here." He replied, giving her that same goofy schoolboy smile.
"Oh." This defiantly worried her. The birth date on her driver's license would probably raise some questions. That was probably the reason they sent for the shrink.
Hawkeye smiled again. "Let me do a round of introductions." He took a bow. "I am Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce, MD. But you can call me Hawkeye." He pointed to Freeman. "You've already met Sidney. This," he patted the nervous man on the head, "is Corporal Radar O'Reilly, our company clerk, and a damn good one at that."
"H-how do you d-do, ma'am?" Radar asked, tipping his hat with a shaking hand. He sort of reminded Sydney of someone else she knew. She wondered if maybe Marshall was some distant relative of this young man.
Hawkeye was beaming by now. "I've saved the best for last." He put his hands together and made the sound of a trumpet into them. "Colonel Sherman T. Potter, esquire." He did a little mock bow in his CO's direction.
Potter shot him a look, but smiled at Sydney. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, young lady."
Hawkeye pulled the chair that Dr. Freeman had sat in earlier up to Sydney's bedside and sat in it. He checked her eyes, her ears, her throat, her pulse, and her breathing. For someone in the army, he smelled incredible and she was surprised that she didn't drift off to sleep again. Soon the examination was over.
"She's all yours, Doc." Hawkeye told Dr. Freeman. He walked over to where Potter and the young company clerk were standing and watched as the good doctor asked her questions and she answered. He wrote some things down as they talked.
"What is your name?"
"Sydney Bristow."
"When is your birthday?"
Sydney sighed, knowing that they wouldn't believe her. "April 17, 1974."
"Hmm." He scribbled furiously in his notebook.
"What is your occupation?"
"Do we really need all this information? I mean, couldn't you just ask my name, rank and serial number and let me get some rest?"
Hawkeye and Potter exchange looks. Dr. Freeman wrote something in his notebook.
"I'm starting to feel a little woozy." She held her head. "Oh my. The room is spinning. Why are there two of you, Dr. Freeman?"
She glanced upwards for a second to see if they were buying her story. They seemed to be concerned but she knew she'd have to go the extra mile.
"Everything's going dark. I can't see you anymore."
"Miss Bristow-" Dr. Freeman started.
She put her wrist to her forehead. "I feel so weak."
As she continued to fake her illness, Jack woke up and saw the crowd of people standing around the bed next to his. He heard Sydney's voice and thought that Khasinau might have sent his cronies to take care of her. Slowly getting out of bed, so as not to make a sound, he pulled a knife from his sock and tiptoed over to the group. He put his hand over the mouth of a young man wearing glasses and set the knife against his throat. He pulled him a little bit behind the crowd so the other people in the room wouldn't see him and neither would the ones in front of him. Sydney was still rambling like a mad man.
"…I don't know what's going on, doctor. I feel like I'm burning up. Can't you help me? Why won't you…"
Jack hissed in the young man's ear. "Don't say a word, just nod, all right?"
The young man nodded.
"Do you work for Khasinau?"
The young man shook his head.
"…dark, so dark. Rosebud! Rosebud! Oh God, help me to…"
Jack pushed the knife a little bit closer to his throat. "Do you work for Khasinau?"
The young man shook his head.
The knife moved dangerously close to his skin. Jack knew as well as the young man did that if he were to shake his head, his throat would be slit.
"…stop the voices! Stop the voices! Stop the-" Suddenly Sydney peered through Potter's arms at two figures behind him. One was the company clerk. The other one, holding a knife to his neck, was her father.
Potter shook his finger at her. "I hope that you're quite finished, young lady! This man asked you a question! I expect you to answer it!"
But Sydney didn't hear him. She was too busy staring at her father to take into account what he had said. She knew that if she spoke up too soon Jack would kill young Radar. By staring behind them it made them think she saw something.
It worked. "Miss Bristow," Dr. Freeman asked, "what are you staring at?" He didn't seem the least bit phased by her outbursts. Slowly the psychiatrist turned around and saw Jack. "Don't!" He screamed.
Taken aback, Jack dropped the knife and tried to plow through the men. He was, however, not victorious. Potter, Hawkeye and Dr. Freeman succeeded in holding him back. This gave Radar time to escape. He ran out the door at lightning speed.
"Let me go! Now! I'll have you know that there is a team of agents waiting outside this very instant waiting to take this facility by force." Jack lied.
Sydney shook her head. "No there isn't, Dad."
"Sydney!" He was shocked that she had openly admitted that to the enemy.
"Dad, these aren't Khasinau's men." She swallowed. "I think that I have some explaining to do."
"Please, I'd appreciate it." Jack and Potter said at the same time.
"Here goes…"
She told them the whole story, at least the parts that she had figured out, with a little help from Colonel Potter, who explained what happened in the office. Both parties were confused and in disbelief, but the stories added up and they eventually had to admit that what they were saying was true.
"This is unbelievable." Jack said, looking around the room. "We've actually gone back in time."
Suddenly Sydney realized that one person was missing from the group. "Has Vaughn woken up yet?"
Hawkeye took a peek over at the still unconscious form of Michael Vaughn lying on the bed to the left of Sydney. "Still out cold." He replied. "He must've hit his head pretty hard when you guys crash landed in the Colonel's office."
Sydney nodded, but she was worried. What if Vaughn never woke up again? Or what if he did and he couldn't remember anything? Who would help her take down SD-6? The kiss from early that evening (was it still the same day?) played itself over in her mind, and then she shook it away.
"Are you cold?" Dr. Freeman asked her.
She realized that she must have visibly shaken so she shook her head no. "I'm just trying to put all of this into perspective. Dad's right. It is unbelievable."
Hawkeye looked as if he was going to say something but stopped when Radar came running into Post-Op. Sydney could see over his shoulder that the sun was out. They must have slept through the night.
"Choppers!" Radar exclaimed. "Lots of them!" Then he was gone.
A voice came over the PA system. "All surgeons and nurses please report to Triage." It said. "And bring some coffee. It's going to be a long night."
The nurses hurried to get outside. Colonel Potter was right behind them. Hawkeye, however, stayed behind for a moment.
"Sidney," he said, "take Miss Bristow and her father to Radar. He can find them a place to stay until we can figure out what to do. We're going to need to take over this room now."
"What about…" Sydney started, gesturing to Michael.
"He's going to stay here until he wakes up." Hawkeye explained. "We can't risk having him leave this room."
She nodded and let Dr. Freeman lead her and her father out the back way.