I just want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter one. This is
actually my first fic ever, and you were all very encouraging. I hope you
like chapter two!
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
"What was that?" Susan asked once they were outside.
"A surveillance jammer."
"What do you need a jammer for? Why all the secrecy?"
"We needed to add some mystery to your 'death'. The recorders that saw you sitting there talking to Marcus saw a bright flash of light, then an empty bench. All they will find is your box and its contents."
"All of its contents?"
"Yes...why?"
Susan looked down at herself to indicate her clothing. Draal looked closely at her for the first time and saw that she wasn't wearing the robes of Ranger One. He had been so concerned with getting her to the shuttle that he hadn't noticed. Just as he stopped to take the duster from her to put it back where it belonged, Susan swayed and started to sink toward the ground. He caught her around the waist and hurried on.
"All right, I guess we can improvise that part. We have to get you to that shuttle."
They continued on in silence until they reached the landing pad outside what was now David's home. The shuttle's ramp was already down, and there was a short, stooped figure at the bottom of it. Draal beckoned to him, and he came running over.
"Zathrus, I need you to do something for me." He whispered a few instructions to his aide, and Zathrus quickly shuffled off while Draal escorted his fading guest onto the ship.
After Susan was secured in a seat toward the front of the craft, she watched Draal head into the cockpit. She felt her heart flutter and her lungs start to constrict again. While her sense of responsibility wouldn't let her stop fighting for breath, she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out.
"Draal..." she called, "if there's something...you need me to...do, then I suggest...we get on with it. I don't know...how much longer...I've got here." Draal returned from the cockpit with two small orange pills. Susan looked at them warily. "What are those?"
"They are a variation of a pill the Centauri used to use before they had telepaths for deathbed scans. It was given to assault victims to keep them alive for a few extra hours to give them a chance to identify their attackers. I've altered it to work with human physiology, and it should give us enough time to get you back to Epsilon 3. Here, take them." He handed her the pills and a glass of water. After about ten minutes, Susan's eyes finally drifted shut from the exhaustion.
When she opened her eyes again, her surroundings had changed. She was standing on the deck of one of the original Whitestars. Susan hadn't seen the inside of one of these in years. She walked over to the command chair and rested her hand on the arm. Her mind started to wander back to some of the times that she had sat in a chair very much like it. She turned to look at the station generally meant for the second in command, and her heart twinged slightly. She quickly looked away and realized that, other than the familiar ache, her heart was now beating steadily. Her breath was coming more evenly, and she stood straighter than she had in years.
She looked down and saw a uniform she was certain didn't even exist anymore. It was her Army of Light uniform. The one that had been badly torn and burned in the explosion, and then cut from her broken body shortly afterward in the effort to save her. The memories came flooding back. She turned toward the front view port and wiped away a few tears.
Confusion settled in as she realized that this dream was different from her usual nightmares. It put her in a place from her past like all the others, but this one let the memories stay in her head, instead of acting them out around her.
"I'm sorry, Susan. The Machine was supposed to pick a place and time from your mind that you wanted to go back to. There must be a malfunction in that part of the system. I'll look into it at once." Susan turned toward Draal's voice and saw him sitting in the command chair.
"So this isn't a dream? Where are we? What's going on?"
"You are hooked into the Great Machine. I had a second conduit put in for you. In regards to the question of what's going on, that is a bit of a long story. Since the end of the Shadow War, I've spent a lot of time using the Great Machine to keep an eye on the future. I've seen some wonderful things, and some terrible things. One of the terrible things I saw was the near annihilation of Earth. In a little over four hundred years, Earth will have a civil war like nothing it's ever seen. Eventually, Nuclear weapons will be brought into it, and most of the Earth's surface will be badly damaged. The Interstellar Alliance will try to help, but the Earthers will refuse. They will blame technology for what happened, and revert to a self imposed dark age. The Alliance will send Rangers in covertly to ease them back into the galaxy, but it will take centuries.
"The timeline splits right about there. One of the main guises the Rangers will take up is a religious order loosely associated with the Roman Catholic Church. The majority of the order is actually made up of ordinary people who think they are merely searching for the technological secrets of Pre-Burn Earth.
"One of these, a Brother Michael, plays a doubly pivotal role in Earth's reemergence. First, he'll offer the arguments that get the order officially recognized. His passionate belief will so move the Pope that they will even get funding for their research. Then, later in life, he will marry and have a daughter. He will pass his unending faith on to her, and it will carry on generation after generation. Eventually, there will be another female descendant who will be responsible for bringing Earth back to the stars."
Susan sat listening in confusion. "So where's the split in the timeline, and what's any of it got to do with me?"
"The split is about a year before he appears before the Pope. Another delegate from the order has just gotten back from being turned down for recognition, and Brother Michael is having one of his many crises of faith. He gets some reassurance from a Brother Alwyn, who is one of the Rangers, but it doesn't help much. He goes back to his room and goes into a deep depression. He seriously contemplates committing suicide. On one side of the split he doesn't go through with it, and everything happens just like I told you. On the other side, he does go through with it, and Earth never makes it back into space. They are still planet bound when Sol goes nova.
"The deciding factor is whether or not he has a conversation that solves his crisis of faith. The spiritual side of the order's belief system is built around the founders of what they call 'The Fabled Alliance'."
"The founders of the Alliance were John and Delenn. I'm still not seeing my part."
"As the passage of time turns your lives into history, there will be three people acknowledged as the founders; Delenn, for her role in creating it, Sheridan, for his role as the first Alliance President, and you, for your role in defending it. On Earth, by Brother Michael's time, you are being revered as a new Holy Trinity of sorts. The Blessed Sheridan, Delenn the Wise, and Ivanova the Strong. At that moment, what he needs more than anything is the strength to go on in the face of adversity. That's where you come in."
"Oh, so we're time traveling. I thought the time rift had been sealed."
"It has. You wouldn't have survived a trip that far forward in time anyway. No, we're just going to wait while time progresses normally."
"We're going to wait? For hundreds of years? You've got to be kidding! In case you've forgotten, I'm on my death bed here!"
"Not anymore. That's why you're connected to the Machine. It will extend your life almost indefinitely. It will also return you physically to a comfortable, more youthful state. Based on what I'm seeing now, it looks like you'll be going back to the body of your late twenties."
"You mean to tell me that the Great Machine can actually make people younger? And keep them alive when they should be dead? Why was I never told about this?"
"I didn't know until recently that it would work on anyone but me. It's supposed to be a feature that aids in extending the life of the Heart of the machine. However, your survival is so important to the Universe, that the option has been extended to you."
"I don't believe it. All those years ago, there was something right under my nose that could have saved Marcus. Why couldn't this have come to light then?" She slumped slightly out of desperate frustration.
"This isn't your fault, Susan. No one knew about this before now. Not even me. It would appear the Universe had other plans for him. It was out of our hands."
Susan forced herself to regain some composure. "Exactly how long am I going to be here? When does this conversation have to take place?"
"A thousand years. Maybe closer to nine hundred at this point. I'm sorry you'll be stuck here for so long, but I have to admit, it will be nice to have the company."
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
"What was that?" Susan asked once they were outside.
"A surveillance jammer."
"What do you need a jammer for? Why all the secrecy?"
"We needed to add some mystery to your 'death'. The recorders that saw you sitting there talking to Marcus saw a bright flash of light, then an empty bench. All they will find is your box and its contents."
"All of its contents?"
"Yes...why?"
Susan looked down at herself to indicate her clothing. Draal looked closely at her for the first time and saw that she wasn't wearing the robes of Ranger One. He had been so concerned with getting her to the shuttle that he hadn't noticed. Just as he stopped to take the duster from her to put it back where it belonged, Susan swayed and started to sink toward the ground. He caught her around the waist and hurried on.
"All right, I guess we can improvise that part. We have to get you to that shuttle."
They continued on in silence until they reached the landing pad outside what was now David's home. The shuttle's ramp was already down, and there was a short, stooped figure at the bottom of it. Draal beckoned to him, and he came running over.
"Zathrus, I need you to do something for me." He whispered a few instructions to his aide, and Zathrus quickly shuffled off while Draal escorted his fading guest onto the ship.
After Susan was secured in a seat toward the front of the craft, she watched Draal head into the cockpit. She felt her heart flutter and her lungs start to constrict again. While her sense of responsibility wouldn't let her stop fighting for breath, she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out.
"Draal..." she called, "if there's something...you need me to...do, then I suggest...we get on with it. I don't know...how much longer...I've got here." Draal returned from the cockpit with two small orange pills. Susan looked at them warily. "What are those?"
"They are a variation of a pill the Centauri used to use before they had telepaths for deathbed scans. It was given to assault victims to keep them alive for a few extra hours to give them a chance to identify their attackers. I've altered it to work with human physiology, and it should give us enough time to get you back to Epsilon 3. Here, take them." He handed her the pills and a glass of water. After about ten minutes, Susan's eyes finally drifted shut from the exhaustion.
When she opened her eyes again, her surroundings had changed. She was standing on the deck of one of the original Whitestars. Susan hadn't seen the inside of one of these in years. She walked over to the command chair and rested her hand on the arm. Her mind started to wander back to some of the times that she had sat in a chair very much like it. She turned to look at the station generally meant for the second in command, and her heart twinged slightly. She quickly looked away and realized that, other than the familiar ache, her heart was now beating steadily. Her breath was coming more evenly, and she stood straighter than she had in years.
She looked down and saw a uniform she was certain didn't even exist anymore. It was her Army of Light uniform. The one that had been badly torn and burned in the explosion, and then cut from her broken body shortly afterward in the effort to save her. The memories came flooding back. She turned toward the front view port and wiped away a few tears.
Confusion settled in as she realized that this dream was different from her usual nightmares. It put her in a place from her past like all the others, but this one let the memories stay in her head, instead of acting them out around her.
"I'm sorry, Susan. The Machine was supposed to pick a place and time from your mind that you wanted to go back to. There must be a malfunction in that part of the system. I'll look into it at once." Susan turned toward Draal's voice and saw him sitting in the command chair.
"So this isn't a dream? Where are we? What's going on?"
"You are hooked into the Great Machine. I had a second conduit put in for you. In regards to the question of what's going on, that is a bit of a long story. Since the end of the Shadow War, I've spent a lot of time using the Great Machine to keep an eye on the future. I've seen some wonderful things, and some terrible things. One of the terrible things I saw was the near annihilation of Earth. In a little over four hundred years, Earth will have a civil war like nothing it's ever seen. Eventually, Nuclear weapons will be brought into it, and most of the Earth's surface will be badly damaged. The Interstellar Alliance will try to help, but the Earthers will refuse. They will blame technology for what happened, and revert to a self imposed dark age. The Alliance will send Rangers in covertly to ease them back into the galaxy, but it will take centuries.
"The timeline splits right about there. One of the main guises the Rangers will take up is a religious order loosely associated with the Roman Catholic Church. The majority of the order is actually made up of ordinary people who think they are merely searching for the technological secrets of Pre-Burn Earth.
"One of these, a Brother Michael, plays a doubly pivotal role in Earth's reemergence. First, he'll offer the arguments that get the order officially recognized. His passionate belief will so move the Pope that they will even get funding for their research. Then, later in life, he will marry and have a daughter. He will pass his unending faith on to her, and it will carry on generation after generation. Eventually, there will be another female descendant who will be responsible for bringing Earth back to the stars."
Susan sat listening in confusion. "So where's the split in the timeline, and what's any of it got to do with me?"
"The split is about a year before he appears before the Pope. Another delegate from the order has just gotten back from being turned down for recognition, and Brother Michael is having one of his many crises of faith. He gets some reassurance from a Brother Alwyn, who is one of the Rangers, but it doesn't help much. He goes back to his room and goes into a deep depression. He seriously contemplates committing suicide. On one side of the split he doesn't go through with it, and everything happens just like I told you. On the other side, he does go through with it, and Earth never makes it back into space. They are still planet bound when Sol goes nova.
"The deciding factor is whether or not he has a conversation that solves his crisis of faith. The spiritual side of the order's belief system is built around the founders of what they call 'The Fabled Alliance'."
"The founders of the Alliance were John and Delenn. I'm still not seeing my part."
"As the passage of time turns your lives into history, there will be three people acknowledged as the founders; Delenn, for her role in creating it, Sheridan, for his role as the first Alliance President, and you, for your role in defending it. On Earth, by Brother Michael's time, you are being revered as a new Holy Trinity of sorts. The Blessed Sheridan, Delenn the Wise, and Ivanova the Strong. At that moment, what he needs more than anything is the strength to go on in the face of adversity. That's where you come in."
"Oh, so we're time traveling. I thought the time rift had been sealed."
"It has. You wouldn't have survived a trip that far forward in time anyway. No, we're just going to wait while time progresses normally."
"We're going to wait? For hundreds of years? You've got to be kidding! In case you've forgotten, I'm on my death bed here!"
"Not anymore. That's why you're connected to the Machine. It will extend your life almost indefinitely. It will also return you physically to a comfortable, more youthful state. Based on what I'm seeing now, it looks like you'll be going back to the body of your late twenties."
"You mean to tell me that the Great Machine can actually make people younger? And keep them alive when they should be dead? Why was I never told about this?"
"I didn't know until recently that it would work on anyone but me. It's supposed to be a feature that aids in extending the life of the Heart of the machine. However, your survival is so important to the Universe, that the option has been extended to you."
"I don't believe it. All those years ago, there was something right under my nose that could have saved Marcus. Why couldn't this have come to light then?" She slumped slightly out of desperate frustration.
"This isn't your fault, Susan. No one knew about this before now. Not even me. It would appear the Universe had other plans for him. It was out of our hands."
Susan forced herself to regain some composure. "Exactly how long am I going to be here? When does this conversation have to take place?"
"A thousand years. Maybe closer to nine hundred at this point. I'm sorry you'll be stuck here for so long, but I have to admit, it will be nice to have the company."