Della found herself held hostage by the computer.
She needed a break.
She hadn't kept track of how many days passed since her brother's image had popped up on the screen. There was a veritable miasma of information to process, and she searched as much as she could. If she decided to use the information for some harmless pranking or possible blackmail in the distant future…well, that was her own business.
There were so many iterations of Donald to research, between the various YouTube clips, those Italian comic books and that weird Final Fantasy-like game. The last thing she had expected to see was her brother as a full-fledged sorcerer.
She was tempted to have Cameron buy this 'Kingdom Hearts' game and bring it back with her if she ever found a way to get home.
Right now, however, her eyes were irritated from the amount of time she spent looking at the screen. She closed them and shook her head to clear the vision of the cells swimming within.
She shut the laptop and made her way out of the room. For once, she needed a little peace. The past two weeks had been nothing short of mind-boggling and she decided to get some exercise to clear her head. Maybe do some sparring with Vala?
She opened the door and asked the SF to be shown to Vala's room.
"Right this way, ma'am."
"Please don't call me that."
"Ms. Duck…"
She was getting annoyed with the formalities. "Oh, for Selene's sake. It's just Della. I'm not a part of your military, remember?"
The SF smirked down at her. "Della, then. Follow me."
They soon made it to Vala's room on the 26th floor, only to find it unoccupied. Della was confused, since she knew that none of the team had a mission scheduled. It cleared as soon as the SF's radio burst in a crackle of static, "Bring Della Duck over to Dr. Lee's lab right away. Colonel Carter has returned from Area 51 with something she'd like Della to have a look at."
The SF replied into her radio, "We're on the way there now, sir."
One short elevator ride to the 18th floor soon had them outside of their destination. Della heard Sam's rapid pace murmur while the rest of the team was silent. Della quietly walked inside while the SF resumed her duty at the door. Only Sam, Cameron and Teal'c were present.
Now that she was closer Della could hear the conversation with more clarity. "It was a total fluke that I found it when I did...oh good, Della, you're here."
"Hey," she said glibly. "What did you find?"
"This." Sam showed them a tiny circular object. "I was going through the wreckage of the upper hull when I found it. Almost looked it over entirely. It revealed itself when I kicked the hull out of frustration after finding nothing," the colonel said sheepishly.
Della ignored the blonde's embarrassment to examine the object. There were two triangles on either side of the device, surrounding three lines that resembled an incomplete pyramid. The lines ended on the bottom of the design with dots but continued to the top that made the diagram look like a pie chart. "Whatever this is, it was hardwired into the ship's navigational systems. Do you recognize it, Della?"
It slightly resonated something within her memory. "I feel as though I should, but...given how many adventures I've been on in the past fourteen years, things get blurry sometimes." She looked up at Sam. "It'll take a while, but I'll try to wrack my brain to figure it out."
"Take your time. If you still have trouble remembering in a few days, come see me. We have something that might be able to help," Sam replied.
Della soon returned to her room, only to find a new set of DVD's had arrived and lay on her chair. The show title read "Darkwing Duck". She vaguely remembered this show from her own reality as some slightly eccentric version of the 'Shadow', only set in modern day St. Canard. Between the adventures and her time spent playing "Legends of LegendQuest", she rarely had time for television. She shrugged and popped it in the player, then went to gather a snack and drink.
Within a few minutes of watching the pilot episode, Della spit out the Pepsi she had gulped down and it sprayed fizz all over the carpet. The mess went unheeded as she stared wide-eyed at the screen. Despite the exaggerated Russian accent, the imposing build and the name of the bull were easily recognizable. She had met with him more than enough times not to remember him when they were discussing the plans for the Spear of Selene.
It was Taurus Bulba.
It took only a half hour for Della to return to Sam's lab. Her pacing was now threatening to make a hole in the floor, with a rant to match. "I mean, how else would that circuit have gotten in there? Terry must have put it into the navigational systems himself! I wouldn't have added it up if I hadn't watched that stupid pilot episode. They turned Terry into a crime boss. That accent was ridiculous! I still can't believe that Terry was involved. He was such a nice guy! I'm going to give him the beating of a lifetime whenever it is that I get back! I…"
"Okay, Della! Stop!" Samantha ordered, coming to stand in front of the irate avian. Della looked up at her. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."
She sighed. "Taurus Bulba is a scientist in my uncle's company. He helped me work out the blueprints for the Spear of Selene. It was just after watching that silly 'Darkwing Duck' cartoon that I realized that his intentions may not have been as altruistic as I thought." She showed Sam the back of the DVD case. "That's him right there," she said, pointing to the bull.
Sam seemed to look at the case without actually seeing it. After a moment, she said, "Wait here," and exited the room.
Thankfully, she didn't take long. In her hand was a large black briefcase. She opened it and placed it on the chair so Della could see what was inside.
It looked to her like some highly-advanced keyboard in a pyramid shape. Each button was octagonal with lines criss-crossing between them. Five lines directed from the bottom row while several more went up in a 'W' formation. As well, half a dozen cords siphoned from the device; each cord ending in a disc that resembled an earbud.
Five larger buttons stood out in stark contrast to the rainbow-themed keyboard.
She looked up. Cameron, she noted, regarded the device with a disgusted stare. Teal'c glared menacingly at it, as if willing the device to burst into flames.
"Okay," she said warily. "What is it?"
"It's a memory device from a people called the Galarans," Sam replied, with a bit of disgust coloring her own tone. "It's capable of implanting, removing or even creating new memories in a person."
Della thought she could now understand the team's revulsion to this machine.
"But I've added safeguards to this," Sam continued. "Your mind will stay intact while we monitor your progress in the memory. Perhaps we can find out who's responsible for stranding you here."
"I already know who's responsible…"
"In our experience," Cameron interrupted, "conspirators, or saboteurs what have you, rarely work alone. It's very likely this Bulba guy was working under someone or working with. I might not like it, but this machine can probably help you find out who that other person is."
Della was in two minds. She had yet to hear what experience Cameron had endured. If the look he gave the machine was any indication, it was hardly a pleasant one. That all depended on what memories he was dealing with, however. Not hers. She had to admit that his idea had merit. After several seconds of silence, her eagerness had won out. "Let's go for it."
She was ten years old again, Della realized as her eyes opened to view a vaporous sky.
She knew this was just an experiment that Sam was conducting. The team is making use of that Galaran recall device to corroborate her memories in comparison with this 'DuckTales' cartoon and hopefully figure out the purpose of that unknown device but, given what Della had seen of the show thus far, she doubted it would be that substantial. What she was curious about is why, of all times, her memory chose to mark this as its starting point. There was hardly any correlation between this memory and that circuit.
Wait…'circuit'? It was obvious now that it was a circuit of some kind; she had another lead. Maybe Terry wasn't working alone, but the possibility of figuring out how it tied her here seemed incredibly daunting.
Regardless, she needed to focus on what this memory meant. While her mind retained her adult essence, her actions and emotions were still that of a child. Her finger, seemingly independent of neural impulse, pointed at the sky as she exclaimed "To adventure!" only to backtrack at Scrooge's correction, "To business trip!" She's somewhat aware of grunge-phase Donald rolling his eyes at her.
Something was amiss in this memory. Della can't quite figure it out, but it's bothering her. A lot. She spotted what was wrong when a shift in movement caught her eye on her right: a shadow lay between her and Donald, as if someone was present who shouldn't have been.
Perhaps there was a connection between this and the circuit. She only noticed this in her peripheral vision. The child side of her ignored it. She paid close attention, taking note that this silhouette, whomever it may be, has a long and curved beak. They soon boarded the plane.
She did remember falling asleep on the flight between Duckburg and Miami. Now awake and refreshed, she climbed the window to glance at the clouds. "The intrepid explorers begin their epic voyage! What lies ahead is a mystery." She jumped down to resume her seat beside Scrooge. "A mystery as mysterious as the...hey, what is the thing we're getting exactly?"
"The Papyrus of Binding!" he answered, his enthusiasm coming through in his tone. "A mystical artifact. When you write on the Papyrus, anything you ask it for will become a reality."
Even Donald had become captivated. "Anything?"
"Anything," Scrooge confirmed. "So you'd better be specific." He pulled a book out of his pocket. There were some details given the history of the Papyrus, but she had gotten the gist of it by realizing they were heading to the Papyrus's last known location.
Of course, Della knew there had to be a setback when she heard Scrooge's satellite phone ringing. She could hear Agent 22's no-nonsense voice coming from the receiver. "Eyes front, McDuck: Black Heron was spotted at your point of departure, along with another conspirator."
Della, though her child's eyes were focused on her uncle, peripherally looked at the cockpit, recognizing that the pilot and the (shadow?) co-pilot both twitched at the news. The lead pilot had turned around in their seat, goggles off and their eyes glinting with dark humor.
Scrooge, of course, didn't take notice. "Oh, come on, 22! You're always on edge. I'm not worried about a thing."
"You should be!" the pilot suddenly exclaimed. The three passengers looked to the right, and Scrooge scowled.
"Black Heron!" he acknowledged with a shout.
The shadow/co-pilot spoke for the first time. "Wait, you're doing this now?!"
Now Della knew she had heard that voice before.
Black Heron dragged her subordinate out of the seat and turned back to Scrooge. "Enjoy your trip! It will be your last!" she announced before they both jumped out of the aircraft.
The memory seemed to increase in speed from there, glossing over Della's first successful flight, landing on Phantom Island and their subsequent walk up to Yellowbeak's ship whose permanent home was on the peak of an unnamed mountain. Was one of those buttons on the device a fast-forward, like on a VCR? She didn't know whether to be intrigued or disappointed at that similarity.
Before she knew it, they were on the ship.
"Bless me bagpipes!" Scrooge said, giving the ship a once over.
Della sensed her younger self's confusion. "Uh, what?"
A ray of sun had landed on a desk in front of them. The prone skeleton of Yellowbeak himself sat behind it and grasped a piece of paper he had written on.
"We found it!" their uncle exclaimed.
"Yellowbeak!" She ran forward.
"The Papyrus of Binding!" Donald said, following suit.
She started reading the paper. "'The last will and testament of Captain Yellowbeak. This accursed papyrus has only brought grief. I asked it for escape from the Spaniards and it shipwrecked us here on this mountain. I asked it for water and my crew drowned on dry land. And so, I ask the papyrus to free me from the curse once and for'….uh…." she trailed off as the ink vanished from the paper. The adult side of her couldn't help but get a sense of foreboding when that happened.
The satellite phone rang, prompting her and Donald to see their uncle perched one-legged on a stack of small crates. "Ah, Duckworth, yes," he answered. "No, keep the meetings. We're about done here."
She and Donald admonished him. "Uncle Scrooge!"
He ignored their tone. "Finally got a signal. I'll have SHUSH send an extraction team ASAP."
"Seriously?" She put the blank paper aside. The adult within wished she hadn't done that. "Some dumb meetings are more important than finding pirate treasure?"
"We need to get home."
Donald had grabbed a harp from somewhere. "Sellout uncle, my uncle the sellout."
"Not the time, lad!"
And that's when Black Heron dropped down from the deck in a peal of laughter. "Hi, me again. Time to rewrite history!"
"Cool! I mean...Raaaaaarrrrrr!" Young Della charged forward at the red-dressed woman, fists swinging wildly. If she had co-existed with her younger self at that point, she probably would've held her back. She barely got within two feet when Heron stomped on a loose floor panel and sent Della flying backward into her brother in a large cloud of dust. The dust cloud had the added benefit of revealing the other conspirator in full detail, who coughed as it reached him.
Scrooge turned his head at the sound. "You," he said slowly. "I know you...you were at my Christmas party. Bradford. Bradford Buzzard!"
And just like that, her eyes were open.
End Note: I've had to deal with writer's block in the past few weeks, but I'm glad to finally be back with a new chapter. I took special care with this section of the story. Hopefully I've managed to tie it all together as best I could. As usual, send me your feedback and please tell me if there's anything in this story you think I need to improve upon. Thanks!
Further note: 'Sapere Aude' is a Latin term, literally translated as 'Dare to know'.
