[A/N]
I have an amazing beta now! So first chapter is revised. Thank you Mary, you are amazing and I love you!
Chapter 2
"A woman, Bingley? And that young?" Darcy was beside himself. How could any of that be true? It was the most absurd situation he has ever been in.
"Calm down, my friend. We were all very skeptical when she appeared out of nowhere, but she has proven herself over and over again. She is quite unbelievable."
Charles had first met Elizabeth Bennet upon her arrival at the village. He was riding when a sound had caught his attention. Turning around, there was a girl dressed very oddly, extremely improper for a young lady, who seemed lost and confused. She appeared to be alone with neither a companion or servant with her. Bingley offered to help her, his good nature and humour made it impossible for him to not aid another soul so clearly in need of assistance.
"Hello, miss, are you lost? You do not seem well, can I be of assistance?" Charles tried to approach the girl standing near a tree on the side of the road from Netherfield to Meryton. Her eyes were wide open, some bruises appeared on her arms and face, her hair was dirty and tangled. She was wearing a tight white blouse and what seemed to be grey trousers.
"Where am I?" her voice came out weak and scared. He felt something was amiss.
"You are in Meryton, Miss. Where are you from? I never saw those kinds of vestments you are wearing. You must not be from this county."
"And what county is this?"
"Hertfordshire"
"Hertfordshire? England? How can I be in England, that is impossible? It's not like the wormhole could be something like a reverse Planet of the Apes [1] plot. There is no such thing as time travelling, and even more, travelling to the past! We've studied it over and over again. It's impossible! This must be a crazy dream! OH NO! I am dead! Shit, shit, shit, that was fast, I thought I would last at least a year after the wormhole. I hope I had sent some information back to earth. . ."
Bingley could not move. He did not understand a word she said, but it looked like she was talking to herself anyway. Could she be from Bedlam [2]? All he understood from her rambling was that she had left some place and arrived at her current location by accident.
"I'm thirsty, do you have any water?" she looked at him, her hazel eyes fixed on his. "If I am dead, why am I so thirsty?" She looked puzzled by such a notion.
"I am quite certain you are not dead, Miss. I do not have water with me. Maybe you should accompany me to my house. Is there nothing you could take to give you present relief? Water, yes, but perhaps a glass of wine; - shall I get you one? You are very ill. . ." There was another sound coming from the bushes behind the mysterious woman; both turned their heads to see what that was about. Another person appeared before them.
"FASS!" the girl screamed "What the hell happened? Where are we?" The lady was familiar with this odd person, maybe he was accompanying her, her husband, and there had been an accident.
"I believe the way through the wormhole was more complicated than what was predicted. Our ship was not built for such forces."
The mysterious man, Fass, now speaking to the befuddled woman was a weird fellow. Maybe it was from his time as a sailor, whether navy or private ship. He was emotionless, in his manner and his voice, it was disconcerting. Surely he could see her confusion.
"What happened, Fass? Where are the others?" The girl seemed to be recovering, more certain of her speech, although the conversation was all too strange for Bingley.
"They are dead, Lizzy. I am sorry. They got into the safety compartment and ejected. The decision about who would remain on the ship and who would leave was made by the captain. You would stay because you were the only one who could control me and then send possible data back to Earth. The SC[3] touched some kind of force shield and exploded. We barely made out the wormhole, you passed out and we landed on this planet. It looked like a vile one. I was right."
"But this place looks like Earth. What does that mean? What in heavens was that thing we passed through?"
Charles had already dismounted his horse and watched their interaction. He was mesmerized. It was like entering a world from those books he heard of, that were about going to the moon or another planet. [4]
"Analysing all the data collected, I am 89.9 percent sure the hole was not a shortcut to the galaxies as the community supposed it was. It is a time-space alteration that gives access to another universe or dimension, I cannot name it correctly."
"Are you telling me that the Multiverse theory [5] was right and that we can access another dimension where Earth would equally exist with some small alterations due to historical differences that accrued through the centuries? And that I am right now at another Earth that looks like the early nineteenth century?"
Bingley could not understand the gist of their conversation. This was beyond anything he had ever heard.
"That's basically correct."
"Fuck!" The girl looked at Bingley, her eyes were shining. She had a beautiful smile on her face. Bingley could see that she had discovered something really important to her.
"She is not that young, Darcy, Lizzy is seven and twenty." Charles could not stop his mirth; he had never before seen his imperious friend look so muddled.
"It is impossible! She looks younger than Mrs. Bingley!" Darcy could not accept any of that. It was too much.
"But she is indeed almost our age, Darcy." Bingley was starting to worry about his friend. Had he made the right decision fetching Lizzy? But that was the only option available. "I am sorry to cause such a worry, but she is the only one that may help Miss Darcy."
Darcy could see his friend was truly concerned and was preoccupied with Georgiana's health. "I will accept this . . . assistance for now, Bingley, but I am most displeased with all of this and with this woman. Her attire and hair are totally unacceptable. How can you let someone like that enter you own home?" Darcy sighed, "We will talk about that later."
After the gentlemen had left for a private conversation, Lizzy decided to accompany them with Fass, she had a lot of work to do at her cottage, and couldn't just stand there waiting for this man's prejudice to subside. She had heard Darcy's last remark and just rolled her eyes. Men back at home were already difficult to deal with; at this two-hundred-year-old home things were worse. But even having heard this all before for some unknown reason, this particular speech was a tiny bit hurtful.
"Are you gentlemen done with the discussion about my inferiority based on my attire and hair? Can we go see the girl now?" Lizzy was irritated, her eyes sparkling.
"I am so sorry, Lizzy. Of course, we are ready, are we not, Darcy?" Bingley cocked his head with an apologetic expression.
Darcy only nodded, frowning as he gazed at the unhappy woman before him.
"And you should inform the doctor about the village situation."
Despite his scowl, Darcy was transfixed. That woman was beyond beautiful, he had to admit. She was like Athena [6] of ancient Greece. His mind was floating and he vaguely heard Bingley ask him to inform that heavenly creature of the past days' events. He stutteringly replied, "Yes, two days ago we spent the night in a village that was suffering from a outbreak of smallpox."
"It is not smallpox, I am pretty sure. We can talk while we get to your sister's chamber." Goddamit! This Variola thing, thought Lizzy.
"How can you be sure this is not Smallpox? You have yet to see my sister."
Lizzy could see and feel the disdain in his eyes and in his tone. How can someone be so arrogant? she wondered. "I am sure because your contact with the said disease was only two days ago, and smallpox has an incubation period of two weeks."
"Incubation period? Whatever does that mean?"
That disgusted look he wore was really getting to Lizzy.
"I will try my best to explain, sir. When you come in contact with a disease such as smallpox, you may not fall ill the very next day or two. It can take a while longer. The time that passes between the contact with the disease and falling ill is called incubation period. For the common flu, it is two to four days. For smallpox, it is around fourteen days." She let out an exasperated breath she did not realize she had been holding. Lizzy always felt better after explaining a scientific fact.
" I see. . ." Darcy was astonished. This person was very interesting and clearly intelligent for a woman. As he thought about all that had been explained, they reached Georgiana's room.
"Georgie, this is Miss Bennet and her assistant Mr. Fass. Doctor, this is my sister."
"Hello, Miss Darcy. Please call me Lizzy. I do not like formalities very much." Lizzy gave the girl a warm smile. "Can I examine you?"
The girl nodded, and then Fass asked the gentlemen to leave for a while.
Fass had brought all her equipment up to the girl's bedroom. Lizzy performed all the procedures needed and was satisfied with a common flu diagnosis. She needed to discuss something with Mr. Darcy, so the gentlemen were asked to re-enter the room.
"Mr. Darcy, may I test you and your sister for smallpox?" Lizzy asked sweetly. "Your sister just has the flu, but I am preoccupied with that outbreak you spoke of."
"Of course, you can." Darcy was quick to reply.
"I only need a drop of blood. I will use a needle to get it, do you agree?" Fass was already arranging the needed materials over the room table.
"Of course" Darcy could not think straight. Everything was like out from a fantasy book.
"Unglove yourself please."
Darcy complied and felt a frisson when her hand touched his. Her skin was soft. He felt a little pressure and then she squeezed his finger letting the blood drop to fall on sort of stripe [7]. She did the same to Georgiana and then put those stripes at a curious looking box that was previously placed on the table.
"We need to wait thirty minutes, and I will know."
"Know what?" Darcy, who was known to study too much for words of four syllables and know could not utter a word beyond a monosyllable, was finding it difficult to form complex sentences in her company.
"Know if you and your sister contracted the disease."
"And if we did?"
"Why do we not focus on the present?" Lizzy smiled at him.
"I agree."
Lizzy turned to Bingley. "I brought with me that equipment I spoke of before, Mr. Bingley. Do you want to know your child's sex?"
Bingley smiled widely. "Why, of course! My darling Emma was waiting for to know. Shall we go to her now?"
"Come, Fass, bring the ultrasound, please."
Darcy's eyes were about to fall from their sockets. Did she just say that she would foretell the child's sex? Sex?
(A/N)
[1] Planet of the Apes is a the classic 1968 movie (If you haven't seen this movie, just stop what you are doing right now and watch it! It is absolutely fantastic!)
[2] The 'Bethlem Royal Hospital', also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and most notoriously BEDLAM, is Europe's oldest extant psychiatric hospital and has operated continuously for over 600 years. It has also been the continent's most famous, and infamous, specialist institution for the care and treatment of the insane. Its popular designation – "Bedlam" – has long been synonymous with madness. Initially "Bedlam" was an informal name but from approximately the Jacobean era the word entered everyday speech to signify a state of madness, chaos, and the irrational nature of the world.
[3] The Safe Compartment from the Spaceship
[4] In the 17th and 18th centuries, the so-called "Age of Reason" and widespread interest in scientific discovery fueled the creation of speculative fiction that anticipated many of the tropes of more recent science fiction. Several works expanded on imaginary voyages to the moon, first in Johannes Kepler'sSomnium (The Dream, 1634), which both Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov have referred to as the first work of science fiction. Space travel also figures prominently in Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), which is also notable for the suggestion that people of other worlds may be in some ways more advanced than those of earth.
[5] The Multiverse Theory, supported by some scientist as Stephen Hawking, has a lot of strands. My personal favorite is Parallel Universe one. It is mind-blowing, check it out if you will.
[6] Athena was the Greek goddess of intelligence, skill, peace, warfare, battle strategy, handicrafts, and wisdom. According to most traditions, she was born from Zeus's head fully formed and armored. Poets describe her as having especially bright, keen eyes.
[7]The procedure of testing with blood drop in a strap for later reading is one kind of clinical trials named Point-of-Care (POCT). The most common point-of-care testing is the blood sugar level monitoring devices. Nowadays we have POCTs for HIV, Cholesterol, Dengue Virus and more. Portables ultrasounds devices are also considered POCT