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Switched
Chapter 31
Smoke. Scorching heat. They were the first things Kathryn became aware of when she found herself lying on the time-ship's tilted floor. Coughing from burning irritation to her throat, she raised her bruised body and looked around. Nothing could she see except thick smoke and roaring red flames.
"Cayla," she cried. "Are you ok?"
There was no reply.
Kathryn got to her feet and tried to fan away the blinding choking fog.
"Cayla!"
Still no answer.
Hardly able to breathe now and feeling as though she was on fire, Kathryn desperately made her way to the nearest door. As she did, she caught a glimpse of Cayla. She was lying on the floor, unconscious, and there were severe burns on her face and body. Kathryn pressed the exit button and as the crushed door screeched open she hurried over to her twin. Fighting the swirling blackness before her eyes, she grabbed hold of Cayla's arms and using all the strength she could muster dragged her outside. Then, unable to drag her anymore, Kathryn collapsed breathlessly beside her twin. When breath came easier, she noticed that they were lying on grass and that above them was a black sky full of stars. The time-ship had clearly transported them somewhere into the past, but where and when was anyone's guess. All Kathryn knew was that one moment she was being transported and the next she was lying in a burning ship. Coughing still, she sat up and looked down at her twin. On Cayla's melted forehead was a bleeding jagged wound and she didn't appear to be breathing. Desperately, Kathryn felt for her pulse but there was no beat of life.
"No," Kathryn cried. "Cayla..."
Quickly, she opened Cayla's mouth and began to breathe into her lifeless body. Then she pumped her chest before giving her air again.
"Come on," she cried, pumping her again. "Breathe...Breathe!"
Cayla's body heaved as air once more filled her lungs but she didn't wake up.
Suddenly a man's voice called to them. "Is there anyone inside?"
"No," Kathryn replied. "But my sister is hurt."
The man was scanning the ship now and stepped back from it in disbelief. "My God!" he cried. "It's our ship. The Timebird!"
"What do you mean your ship?" Kathryn asked.
"There's no time to talk," he cried. "We've got to vaporize this ship before it explodes and vaporizes us!"
"You can't vaporize it," Kathryn told him. "We're from the future. It's our only way back!"
"We're from the future too. We'll give you a ride!"
Something exploded behind them and fireballs shot over their heads.
"We've got to get out of here," the man cried. "Now!"
He picked Cayla up and hurried away from the ship. Kathryn didn't argue this time, just followed, and the man lead her through an open field to his ship. Even in the pale glow of moonlight its resemblance to The Timebird was unmistakable. When they got to the bridge, the man put Cayla down on the floor and hurried over to a console. His fingers flew over it and then he gave a sigh of relief. "Done. It's vaporized."
Kathryn knelt beside Cayla and looked at her twin in concern. "My sister needs urgent medical attention."
The man picked up a med kit and went over to Cayla. "Don't worry, I'm a medical doctor." He took out a medical tricorder and began to scan her. "A nasty bump on the head, third degree burns, a broken collar bone and asphyxiation, but she'll be ok."
The man then began to scan Kathryn and in the bright light of the bridge she noticed he looked familiar.
"A little asphyxiation," he said, "and some bruising, but other than that you and your baby are fine."
He smiled warmly and it suddenly dawned on Kathryn where she'd seen those kind brown eyes before...
"William Dawson?"
He flinched. "Do you know me?"
"Yes. I mean... in the future. Your future." She looked up and around. "Wherever we are, whenever we are, we're from different times. That's why your ship is ours."
"That would explain it," he said. "As to where we are, we're in Bloomington, Indiana. The year is 2332."
Kathryn turned back to him. "What's the exact date?"
"May 20th."
Kathryn paled. What was going on? What was Dawson doing in Bloomington on 20 May 2332?
"Why are you here?" she asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," he replied. "But I think the less questions we ask each other the better...temporal prime directive."
"I'm not so sure," Kathryn said. "I think we're a part of something. What exactly, I don't know, but I think we are."
"What makes you think that?"
"Something your future-self did, something he said."
"I see," he said. "Well, if we are, it will become plain to us. I don't think we should share information. Not just yet."
"At least tell me what year you're from."
"2345. You?"
"2378."
Dawson smiled. "Good to know I'm still around then." He picked up a hypospray and put it to Kathryn's neck. "This will help with the asphyxiation." He then turned his attention to Cayla. "I'll take your sister into the lounge and treat her injuries. If you're up to it, you can freshen up in the bathroom. There's a replicator and a medkit."
"I will," Kathryn said. "Thank you."
Dawson then picked Cayla up and carried her into the lounge.
Twenty minutes later, Kathryn was showered, dried, and freshly clad in newly replicated clothes. When she joined Dawson in the lounge, he was sitting beside a still unconscious Cayla and healing the last of her burns.
"You're twins," he said when he saw Kathryn.
"Yes," she answered.
He finished healing the burn and then turned to her. Kathryn saw as much inquisition in his eyes as was in her own mind. She was sure they were a part of something and she had a terrible feeling that it was something to do with the switch.
"Is that why you're here?" he asked cautiously. "To undo something that was done?"
"Perhaps," Kathryn replied. "But I thought you didn't want to share information."
"And perhaps you were right. Perhaps we should." He paused. "You haven't told me your name. If I said it's possibly Kathryn, would I be right?"
"Possibly," she answered. "But how could you know in 2345 that a twin called Kathryn from 2378 would want to undo something done in 2332? You couldn't know unless you had something to do with what was done."
"We have no choice," Dawson replied uncomfortably. "It isn't right, I know. Twins should never be separated. But we have to protect the future."
"Who's we?"
Dawson avoided her question. "If we don't do this then the entire history of the future will change. Why, we don't know, but it will. You might find it hard to believe that the fate of two can effect the fate of billions, but some people are born to change history. And, as a result of what happens here, this night, someone is born who does." He paused. "Of course that isn't any comfort to you. I don't expect it to be. Neither do I know what to say to you. What can I say? I suppose I'm sorry. I'm sorry that so much depends on the fate of two little girls. But it does. And if you're here to undo what has been done, I beseech you to leave it alone."
"I'm not here to change my past," Kathryn said. "I'm here because I was trying to stop my sister doing so. I don't want to change my past."
"Then your sister is Kathryn?"
"No," she replied. "I'm Kathryn."
"You?"
"Ironic, isn't it? Of the three of us...myself, my twin and Lacey, who is the real Janeway baby...only Cayla grew up where she was supposed to be yet only she wants to change her life. She stole this ship with the intention of coming here and putting her baby self in my place. I tried what I could to stop her but to no avail."
"Then you'll let what has to be be?"
"Yes. But why and how are you involved? What exactly do you do? Do you switch us? Is this some kind of temporal loop with the effect preceding the cause?"
"Yes. You're switched because we switch you. And we switch you because you were switched."
Temporal mechanics always made Kathryn's head spin and it was spinning now. But in the midst of the churning chaos she clutched on to reason. "And this 'we 'is?" she asked again. "Please, tell me."
But before Dawson could say anything, footsteps echoed in the corridor and a man called out.
"Will?...Will?"
The voice was familiar, ever so dearly familiar, and Kathryn froze solid. Then the man who owned that voice was in the lounge, his eyes, his dear blue eyes, looking into hers. Kathryn's racing heart began to pound and thundered so much in her ears that she didn't hear the word that escaped her lips.
"Daddy."
END OF CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE