Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. You know the deal.
A/N: Her name is Irish and it's pronounced "Ash-ling." That's why so goes by "Ash" for short. I go a little bit back and forth between what the two of them are thinking, but there's more Aisling thoughts in this chapter than Karwyn. Mwahahaha more plot devices. And the chapters in this fanfic have gotten progressively longer so far. I don't know how long the next one will be, but this one's pretty long compared to the first. Lots of dialogue, but when two very intelligent people who talk and think a lot meet each other, they do even more talking and thinking combined.
The doorbell rang. Someone knocked. Aisling's ears woke up but not the rest of her. She had only gone to sleep an hour before. But it was winter in San Francisco, and whoever was knocking at her door shouldn't have to freeze waiting for her. She clambered out of bed and looked at her bedside table to find that it was 2:12 am. She turned on the light, rubbed her eyes and shouted back at the door, "I'm coming!" As she passed the bathroom she took a moment to splash her face with cold water. It helped wake her up a little, but she couldn't help being a bit groggy. She reached for the apartment door and opened it to see a young man, probably her age, standing tall in a full-fledged Jedi costume. "Halloween was three months ago," she stated to the confused man.
He looked more confused after she said it. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't know – I'm not sure—"
"You look freezing," she interrupted. "Come on in." She stepped aside and he walked through the doorway. He stared around the room for a second, looking like he'd never seen an apartment before. Aisling had her lips slightly parted in curiosity as he was dressed like a Jedi from Star Wars, which was one of her favorite movies. Perhaps he was an obsessed fan that had to wear a costume everywhere he went, maybe he was on his way to a late New Year's party. But he looked more lost and confused than anything. She finally couldn't stand the silence and decided to cut through it. "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you...and what are you doing here...dressed up like Obi-Wan Kenobi...at two o'clock in the morning?"
"Obi-Wan Kenobi?" he asked, and with no sarcasm or harshness in his voice went on, "Do I look like him or something? I don't know how accurate history book pictures are, if he—"
"History books?" Aisling scoffed. "Why would Obi-Wan Kenobi be in history books?"
"He's a legend!" he argued, raising his voice. "You said his name first. Don't you know the story?"
"Of course I know the story, because he's a made-up character in a movie series called Star Wars directed by..." She stopped. He thought Obi-Wan was real? Thinking he may not make the connection, she asked slowly, "Have you, by any chance, heard of George Lucas?"
The young man nodded his head. "He was a legend, too! But...he disappeared 50 years ago. What's he have to do with..." his voice faded before he finished the sentence. Aisling sat down at the kitchen table and rubbed her temples, thinking hard. Then he spoke again. "It may sound strange asking but I need to clarify. This is the Milky Way Galaxy, isn't it?"
She lifted her eyebrows. It did sound strange asking. "Of course. On the only planet that supports life according to some scientists."
He let out a forced laugh. "There's plenty of planets out there that support life."
Another silence fell, in which Aisling kept thinking. It was far too early to be thinking that hard, but she couldn't help it. That's what she lived to do. It was part of her nature to always be thinking. He thinks it's real. That's ridiculous. He's probably some over obsessed fan that drove himself crazy and started thinking the whole thing actually happened. Or he's just messing with me. Then again, it was a very good act if that was so. And I don't know him, so what purpose would be served in that? It seems so real. And he looks like an intelligent person. The young man observed her meager living space with awe rather than disgust, and took in every possible bit of information. Not to mention his posture was tall and the very air around him was filled with an invisible force. The force...god, Ash, don't get caught up in this. It can't be real.
She had to know. So she broke the silence once again. "Could you answer my first two questions still?"
"Yes. I'm Karwyn."
"Aisling. Ash for short." She thought of shaking hands, but decided against it.
He nodded. Now that that ground was settled he moved on. "I'm not totally sure why I'm here of all places. I know how I got here, just not why."
"Do explain."
"It's a long story."
"I've got time." Aisling had to know, and it would reveal how real he was. She motioned for him to sit across the table from her and he did.
Karwyn figured he might as well tell her. She seemed kind and mostly understanding so far. Besides, he wouldn't lie, so he began, "It was strange, I went through the portal—"
"Sorry, I'm interrupting already. Portal?"
"Yes, a Galaxy Transfer Portal." His response was met by a not blank, but definitely confused stare. "Luke Skywalker invented it 60 or so years ago...it's been upgraded since."
"Luke Skywalker?"
"The second."
"You can transfer between galaxies?"
"It's nothing new, I said it was invented 60 years ago."
"Before George Lucas supposedly disappeared."
"Yes...I don't know why no one thought of that before. How did you—"
"George Lucas lives on this planet. May I ask why he's a legend?"
"He was a storyteller, and he saved the galaxy by—why am I telling you this anyway?"
"George Lucas is the reason anyone knows anything about your galaxy. He made movies—"
It was his turn to interrupt. "Movies?"
Aisling hoped he would know at least one name for it. She listed, "Feature film? Cinematography? Motion picture?"
"Ah, yes. He made them?"
"People here use them for entertainment, and George Lucas was a director. And one of the things he made was a series about Anakin Skywalker's life, his becoming Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker's becoming a Jedi. It's called Star Wars." She saw recognition in his eyes. He certainly had heard the story, but she thought perhaps he'd heard the name as well.
"Wow. That's half the famous history records right there."
"Except, everyone else thinks it's just a made up story that came out of George Lucas' head. And his writers. I don't know how accurate it is, since I've never heard of it being real until now." She admitted, "And I'm still not sure whether you're just fooling around, mentally crazy, or actually telling the truth."
He shook his head. "Jedi don't lie." So Karwyn thinks he's a Jedi, Aisling thought.
She sighed. "I'm sorry...you never got to finish your story of how you landed here."
"Indeed. I took the portal from Andromeda to the Milky Way, and I'm supposed to be in the outer edges of the galaxy, if the portal was correct."
"It was."
"Good. So we found the nearest solar system, and this planet. I looked for big cities with the ship's scanner and found one called 'San Francisco.' I thought it would be more safe sitting in a bay like it is and it had something called an 'airport' which I assume is a place for air and spacecraft to land."
"Half right," Aisling corrected.
"Which is what I discovered when I sent the signal. It went through but I'm not sure they could read it. I entered the atmosphere to try again and I got back a question asking me to confirm myself as alien spacecraft. Since I suppose I am alien to this planet, I confirmed. They let me land though I had to be careful since they were closely surrounding me. I did my best not to appear hostile, like putting down my lightsaber when I stepped out."
"Oh, no. There had to be some Star Wars fans in that crowd."
"Yes, you see, they picked it up and lit it and started swinging it around wildly talking about something called Star Wars. Now I'm glad you explained that."
"You've no idea what this stirs up. People here have never had solid proof of life forms on other planets yet. Heck, we haven't even gotten people past the moon."
"Really? It must be so confining, only being able to go as far as the moon."
"And very few have been able to do even that. It is rather confining, I suppose."
"I love flying. I don't know what I'd do living here."
"You'd become a jet pilot."
"Hmm?"
"You don't get to go into space or anything, but it's practically the same thing."
"But that's the whole adventure of it! Wide open space with the occasional asteroid field or planet..." Karwyn drifted off in thought.
"Not with the technology we have. Compared to yours it's probably primitive, but they go up in shuttles and there's all these complications."
He came back and answered, "Strange. I've found right away the technology is different, but not primitive. I guess there's things your people haven't made yet, but there seems to be a good deal of technology. Others that have transferred galaxies come back with all these stories about landing in the middle of forests, no intelligent species, and where there are they never speak the language. But here is different. I must say I was surprised that people here speak the same language."
"That is odd. Across galaxies...I still don't find it believable. But please continue your story."
"Well, after they started interviewing me, I had to get away, so I ran. People started shouting but they didn't all go after me. I think they were scared."
"Interviewing you—they had cameras?"
"Yes."
"Did they have 'News 10' written all over them?"
"Yes."
She sighed and walked to the TV, which she turned on. It was already on the news channel and it was just about to start playing his story.
The news anchor finished just as it was turned on, "...prices rising across the country. And now we have a very interesting story. Solid proof of alien life forms? Tell us, Jeff."
Aisling sat down on the couch in front of the TV set and motioned for Karwyn to sit down, too. The screen showed Jeff at the airport. "Thank you, Katie. At 1:43 this morning a spacecraft sent a signal to this airport requesting permission to land. Here it is behind me and it's quite something. Then a man walked out of the ship. We were lucky enough to get footage of this event.
Jeff was replaced by a video of nine men standing around the spacecraft that appeared to be a combination of a Jedi fighter and an X-wing. Karwyn clambered out and leapt to the ground, where he put his lightsaber and slowly raised his hands. After a moment he said, "Uh, hello."
One of the nine men surrounding him picked up the lightsaber totally awestruck. Aisling lifted her eyebrows in amusement.
The camera got closer to the scene. The man holding the lightsaber activated it and people all crowded around him, staring at it, making comments about Star Wars. Karwyn looked a bit perplexed and distressed. They started crowding around him and asking him questions. People in the airport were staring through the windows in shock, and more people outside began to make a large circle around the ship and take pictures. The camera was up close now, and Jeff pushed through and held the microphone up to Karwyn's face. Jeff asked, "Where are you from?"
"I'm here from the Andromeda galaxy, to find other life forms, as I...I see I have." He turned to the other men and interrupted their fascinated attempts to examine his lightsaber, "Could you not...please don't touch that."
They put it down and Jeff continued his interrogation, "What's your name? How'd you get here? Are you human? You speak English, how is it possible?"
Karwyn looked embarrassed now and slipped around Jeff, under the camera and ran. The camera turned around to see him running at top speed into the city. People saw him running away and shouted but Jeff turned to the camera aghast. The footage stopped and Jeff was no longer at the scene. A different woman was in his place. "We're back, live at the scene. After the man ran away, he left this," she paused to point at his lightsaber on the ground, "They have not yet examined the ship thoroughly, but DNA samples were found and are being studied now to find out if he's human or not. Back to you, Katie."
The camera was back at the station showing Katie, who said, "Wow, can you believe it? If that's real, then George Lucas may have a thing or two to say."
Her fellow anchors nodded and started a small conversation, but Aisling turned the TV off with the remote.
"They're testing my DNA?" Karwyn asked.
"Apparently."
He had his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Aisling wanted to comfort him at least a little, but didn't think it would be proper to show affection. So she got up, walked to the kitchen, and began to make some chicken noodle soup. It was the best thing she could think of.
Aisling still couldn't quite believe that he was a Jedi from the Andromeda galaxy. She didn't know if the Star Wars trilogies even happened there, if at all. The beginning of the movie says, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." But Andromeda was the biggest close galaxy to the Milky Way. She figured the line made for better storytelling. But no matter how much she wanted to believe all this was happening, she thought it was a dream, or that the news was a joke and Karwyn was just a random Star Wars fan on his way to a late New Year's costume party. In spite of all the evidence – the lightsaber, the ship – she couldn't believe it. It was only on TV anyway. And how likely was it for someone from another galaxy to speak English? He had to be fake. But there he was sitting in her living room with a force-filled presence and the outfit to prove it. He was too real. The realest person she'd ever met.
The chicken soup was done, so she poured the hot deliciousness into two bowls and handed one to Karwyn. What an odd name. Then again, so is mine. He took it and stared at it for a moment, then took a bite. His face lit up and he slowly savored the next several bites.
Aisling sat back down on the sofa and ate her own soup. It made her feel better, too. All the confusion was washed away with the simplicity of chicken noodle. When they'd both finished, Karwyn smiled and sighed contentedly. "Thank you. I haven't had real food in a while. It does take time to travel through space, even at light speed. I feel much better now." He yawned and rested his head on the back of the couch.
Aisling was tired, too. But she couldn't let him freeze to death sleeping outside. She took his empty bowl and hers to the sink and set them aside. Then with all the guts she had, offered, "You can sleep here for the night."
"That's very kind of—" he yawned again and laid down across the sofa and fell asleep instantly. Aisling drifted to her own bed and turned off the light. She closed her eyes and slept without a single dream or disturbance.