Author's Note:
Long time, no see! *groans* Okay, okay, I know – it's been waaay too long. I am really sorry. But here is the next rewritten chapter, blending the new and old versions together…
To my reviewers:
KJ: Thank you so much for always reviewing my new stuff! God bless as you graduate!
BG: Your reviews provided the stimulus I needed to get this chapter done! I whipped out most of the rest of it – about two-thirds of the chapter – the same day you reviewed! Thanks!
This story has changed a lot from when I first started it. At first, it was going to be VERY character-based and little, little action – and it's STILL very character-based, but there's going to be much more of a plot than just a rambling "going-through-their-lives" kind of story.
And wow! it actually does sound like a science-fiction novel! Awesomeness!
Two things that I really want to correct in this story are my characterizations of Booster and XR. I think that I kept them pretty well canon before – it's just that they were only in as more… guest appearances or something! That's not being fair to them. =( So yeah, that's one area where I definitely hope to improve.
*grins* My characterizations of Buzz and Mira had BETTER be good. ^^ Along with Warp, they're my two favorites and thus, I spend a lot of time really getting into their heads and getting a feel for them.
…Hope you all enjoy!
==Chapter 2==
When Times Collide
Launch Bay, Star Command, Capital System, Gamma Quadrant; 3/19/3009, 1710 hours or 5:10pm CCT
Buzz waved over the medbots with the repulsor-stretcher. "Come on, come on, let's move it!"
The bots gently lifted the injured girl out of Booster's arms and onto the stretcher, then took off down the halls to the Medbay. Buzz and Mira – for some reason, grabbing the backpack – ran behind them, leaving Booster and XR at 42's landing pad.
"I sure hope she's okay," Booster murmured, worrying his lip.
"Me, too," XR said softly. He was too upset to offer any optimism or witticism.
Medbay Reception Room, Star Command; 1720 hours or 5:20pm CCT
Buzz restlessly paced the room while Mira sifted through the girl's backpack to find some ID. Inside were a laptop (Dell?), a datapad (HP?), a Kodak camera – and all this equipment looked very retro – a couple of novels, a Bible, a notebook with a pen, a drawing pad, a wallet, and a small jewelry case. The wallet held one ID card with the name Erin Elithsheba Frame. Wow, what a name, Mira thought with something approaching a small smile. Almost. She was still shaken up by what she'd seen.
Buzz, on the other hand, was angry… Angry with himself for not getting there fast enough, angry with the reactor meltdown that had claimed several lives and might yet claim one more… even, in his own way, angry with God for letting it happen. Reason would come later and wash away the anger, but for now, it was the only buffer between him and a complete breakdown.
A gasp from Mira interrupted his roiling emotions. "What is it, Ranger?" he snapped, not caring that it was the fifth time he'd snapped at her in the past half hour.
"I – I'm not sure, Buzz," Mira stammered. She stood and handed him the ID card and the datapad. "Look at the dates."
The card's personal information read:
ERIN ELITHSHEBA FRAME
70421 84TH AVE
PAW PAW, MI
Date of birth: 8-30-1990…
Buzz nearly dropped the card. "What the –" Mira nodded and turned on the datapad. The pad was set to March 19th… 2009.
"Holy nova," said Buzz, "you don't think…"
"I don't know what to think!" Mira told him. "I mean, why would she keep personal stuff with the wrong information?"
"Did you turn on the laptop?" Buzz asked, thinking quickly.
"Not yet."
"Well, let's do that." He took out the laptop and booted it up.
Microsoft Windows 2000??
The laptop was set to March 19th, 2009, just like the datapad. All the files had been created or modified in the 21st century, too.
"Sweet mother of Venus," Buzz breathed.
"We should try to check her records," Mira suggested after a moment.
Buzz shook himself. "Yeah… yeah. Let's do that."
Mira sank into the chair at the room's kiosk, and pulled up the GACD – Galactic Alliance Citizen Database. She typed in Erin Elithsheba Frame.
Nothing.
"Buzz, what's that one site that keeps really old records?" Mira asked.
Buzz rubbed the back of his neck. "Internet History… Internet History Database. Gee, double-u, double-u – dot – net – history – dee-bee – dot – gov." [The address would look like this: gww(dot)nethistorydb(dot)gov.]
"M'kay, thanks." Mira typed in the name again…
Whoa. Pay dirt.
Someone had created a bio for the mystery girl:
Erin Elthisheba Frame, born August 30th, 1990, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Eldest of seven children; homeschooled kindergarten through high school.
Registered to vote in 2008, received state and voter IDs in time for Presidential election – had hassle with state regulations due to status as a homeschool graduate.
No profession, no college.
Disappeared March 19th, 2009, from dentist appointment.
Statewide police search, never found.
Additionally, there were many links to newspaper and Internet articles, and radio and TV reports. There were even some links to genealogical and family sites, which mentioned "Erin" several times.
Mira turned in her seat to face her captain. "Buzz, we have to figure out a way to send her back!"
"You read the bio – never found! She didn't go back home – couldn't that mess something up?"
"Wouldn't not sending her back mess something up?" Mira challenged. "Buzz, think about her – think about her family! What this would mean to all of them!"
Buzz sighed. Mira had a very valid point… and really, all this time-paradox stuff was just waaay over his head. "We better talk with the Commander about it."
"Talk with me about what?" came a familiar gruff voice.
Buzz and Mira turned (Mira standing) and saluted. "Commander," said Buzz.
"At ease," Commander Nebula nodded. "Now what's going on? What's this I hear about a kid in an explosion?"
"Sir, it's a long story," Mira sighed.
Buzz launched into his report: "It started when we got a distress signal from the SCRDW…"
Medbay room 024, Star Command; 3/19/3009, 1730 hours or 5:30pm CCT
The head surgeon deftly wove his small fingers in and out of the young human's body, removing piece after piece of shrapnel. It was bloody work – the worst case he'd ever seen in his life. This girl's body was horribly torn-up – she looked like something out of the movies about the days of bullet-guns. But this was no movie, and her life depended on him.
The rest of the med-team was still trying to get her bleeding under control. She had already been bleeding all over her body for half an hour, and if they couldn't control it, she'd end up bleeding to death.
"God, where are You?"
Pain.
You've become intimately familiar with it.
Once again, it forms your universe, and you are just as helpless to break away from it as before.
"God, please just let me out of here…"
Medbay room 024; 1800 hours or 6:00pm CCT
The greatest danger had been averted: the blood flow had stopped, and a transfusion had been done. If the girl woke from her coma, she would live. But she had to wake up.
In the meantime, the LGMs had a mystery to occupy them.
"Very strange," one of the nurses muttered.
"These scans," the head surgeon agreed, shaking his head.
There was none of the dramatic, drawn-out words that characterized LGMs' speech with other races. When they were alone, they tended to be brief and concise.
The doctor checked the scans a third time, and the results were the same.
The skeletal system was wrong.
The odd thing was that it wasn't deformed, not like any deformation ever recorded in medical history. There was nothing… skewed or out-of-shape – just… off-kilter. Like the bones had been subjected to a body-wide scrambling that had taken the pieces apart and put them back together, but without much precision.
Some of the bones the LGMs could stabilize. Others, the girl would simply have to deal with for the rest of her life. There was also a natural defect in her in spine – scoliosis, or spinal curvature. In the girl's case, there were two curves, one near the neck and the other in the lower back. Those could be corrected surgically, but the LGMs would need the permission of a parent or guardian first.
"Doctor," a nurse said, turning to him, "are we dealing with here?"
The surgeon shrugged his small shoulders helplessly. "Better call the Commander in here."
Medbay main office, Star Command; 1810 hours or 6:10pm CCT
"Lemme get this straight," said Commander Nebula. "Lightyear and Nova here are sayin' that this kid came from the past, and you –" he was addressing the LGM surgeon – "are confirmin' it?"
"Could be," the surgeon shrugged. (And let it be known that this time, it was a drawn-out sentence.) "The skeleton – scrambled." He used a laser pointer to circle around a 3D hologram of the girl's skeleton. "Other organs, too."
"Is it dangerous?" Mira asked anxiously.
"Shouldn't be," the surgeon frowned. "Not until older age, anyway."
Buzz rubbed the back of his neck. "So how exactly does the scrambling prove she's from the past?"
"Doesn't prove exactly. She came from the wormhole research?"
"Yeah," Buzz and Mira answered simultaneously.
"Hmm. Could be they pulled her from somewhere else, at least – their machine was a giant telegraph."
"How do you know that?" the Commander demanded.
"Friends with Brainpod 78," the LGM replied, looking a bit sad. "The machine was meant to take apart things at the molecular level to transport them through space, and reassemble them on arrival."
"Wait, wait," Mira interjected. "You're saying that whatever or whoever went into that thing would cease to exist??"
"For however long it took to transport," the surgeon nodded.
Mira shuddered.
"The skeletal scrambling would suggest," the LGM continued, "that she was pulled in, taken apart, and reassembled like a telegraph transmission."
Buzz shuddered with Mira. Neither of them wanted to try to imagine that.
The Commander folded his arms and scowled. "So, they could have accidentally pulled her in across time instead of across space."
"Possible," the surgeon nodded again.
The Commander sighed, his face softening. "Is she gonna be okay?"
The LGM's antenna drooped. "If she wakes up."
You're still suffocating from the smoke and the heat is burning you up and your complete right side is torn open and bleeding and you can see the fire devouring Lieutenant Silvastra and you want to wake up from this nightmare and run to your parents like you did when you were little and you can't because you can't wake up and you're not sure you can go home and you just want it to STOP…
Mama, I need you – I'm sick and I'm hurt and I'm tired and I just want it to STOP…
And someone is trying to wake you up and you realize that waking might hurt even MORE than sleeping so you want to stay asleep and when you feel a cold hand touch your forehead…
Doggone it, stop it, I'm sick and I'm hurt and I'm tired and I just want to STAY ASLEEP…
And you snap awake and SAY that…
Medbay room 024; 3/20/3009, 0814 hours or 8:14am CCT
"¡Párelo! soy enfermo y estoy lastimado y soy cansado y quiero PERMANECER DORMIDO!"
Everyone else in the room jumped, not expecting that kind of reaction. Buzz jerked his hand away in surprise from the girl's forehead.
"Did she just say something in… Spanish?" XR wondered.
"Uhhh, yeah," Mira said slowly.
"Usted necesitó despertar e intenté despertar usted," Buzz apologized, with flawless inflection. You needed to wake up and I tried to wake you. "Mi nombre es Buzz Lightyear." My name is Buzz Lightyear.
Erin's cloudy brown eyes focused on Buzz, and widened with recognition. "Holy cow," she whispered, then spoke aloud. "Sorry. I'm American… Spanish is… my second language… and I just… lapse into it… sometimes." Man, it hurt just to say that much. Her throat was burning. "Can I… have some water?"
A nearby LGM nurse said, "Of course," and fetched a glass of water. Erin stared at the nurse in shock but took the cup anyway and drank.
Mira sat down at the edge of the bed, trying to figure out how to approach the matter. "How do you feel?"
"Hurt like… the dickens… all over," Erin grimaced. "My name's… Erin Frame."
"Mira Nova," Mira offered, reaching out for Erin's undamaged left hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. Tears sprang into the younger woman's eyes, and Mira released her grip. "I'm sorry! Did that hurt?"
Erin tried to shake her head no, and discovered that her head felt like somebody had smashed it in with a sledge hammer. "Nnoo…" She looked around the room, seeing the real versions of people she'd only ever known as cartoon characters. "Tell me… I'm dreaming," she said brokenly.
Mira understood then. Just touching her now… Mira knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this young woman was from another time, another world, entirely. And how could she say it sensitively?
She didn't have to. "Of course you're not," Booster frowned, confused.
A tear rolled down Erin's bandaged cheek. "Please," she whispered. "Send me… back home."
"You really are from the past," Buzz said softly.
Erin tried to shrug and found that she couldn't without her shoulder hurting even worse. "I guess so. USA… 2009."
The Rangers (Commander Nebula was there, too) exchanged glances. Finally, Buzz said, "It's March 20th, 3009."
One thousand years – she had come into the future exactly one thousand years… "But – but you're… gonna send me… back home, right?"
"I don't know that we can, Miss," Commander Nebula said gently. "The machine that brought you here exploded."
Grief passed shortly over her features. "I know. But can't… you build… another?" There was something in her voice – hope, grief, fear, a sort of desperate hunger – that hurt those listening to it.
The Commander sighed. "We'll try. I can't guarantee anything, but we'll try."
Relief washed over her face like an ocean tide. "Thank you." Because at heart, Erin Frame was a fighter, and she never gave up, ever.
The Commander nodded and turned to Buzz. "Lightyear, patrol. You can visit here later."
"Yes, sir," Buzz saluted as Commander Nebula left. "C'mon, team, you heard him – let's go." He tossed a playful salute to Erin and said, "We'll see you this evening, Miss Frame."
Erin managed a tiny bit of a smile. "Okay… Bye."
Medbay room 024; 1811 hours or 6:11pm CCT
Team Lightyear had just returned to Erin's room from a cafeteria dinner. XR was the first to reach Erin's bedside. "Sooo, why don't we get to know each other? I'm –"
"XR," Erin finished, smirking a bit for the first time.
XR's eyebrows skyrocketed. "You know my name?? How can you know my name if you're from the past??"
"Yeah!" Booster chimed in.
Erin looked like the child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Because, um… because…" Oh, me and my big mouth! How was she going to explain Buzz Lightyear of Star Command to them if she didn't even know how it turned out that the story really did exist in the future?? She glanced around the room as if looking for inspiration – well, she wasn't actually expecting any but she found it anyway: her laptop nearby. "My laptop! Here, I need it, please."
Buzz obliged, and Erin booted up the computer. "Maybe if… I just showed you…" She navigated through her files until she came to the "BLoSC" folder. "You people know about Disney?"
"Yeah, Disney's still around," Mira confirmed. Really, when she thought about it, that was a looong time. Disney was almost as old as Capital Planet filmmaking itself.
"Disney partnered with Pixar animations studio to create a movie called Toy Story."
"I've never heard of it," Buzz frowned. "Everybody knows a lot about 20th-21st century Capital Planet culture, but I've never heard of Toy Story."
"Neither have I," admitted Mira.
"Pretty dark where I'm sitting, too," XR added.
Erin rolled her eyes. Now that she was immersing herself in the time-paradoxical mystery she had been confronted with, she was able to forget her problems, if only for a little bit. "Didn't think you would. The movie revolved around two action figures: a sheriff doll named Woody and a-a space… action figure." She faltered, and it had nothing to do with her hurting throat. "He was a… Space Ranger named… Buzz Lightyear."
Buzz's jaw dropped as Mira and XR exclaimed, "What??" and Booster said, "Huh?" Buzz recovered enough to stammer, "Buzz… Lightyear?"
Erin lifted her eyebrows, pressed her lips together, and tried to nod – then was painfully reminded once more that she couldn't. "You better believe it."
"But… how is that possible?" asked Mira. "I mean, how could they know – a thousand years ago – that there would be a Space Ranger called Buzz Lightyear??"
Can't shrug, can't shrug, can't shrug… Erin successfully resisted the urge to shrug, never having realized until now just how heavily she relied on body language in communication. "Your guess is as good as mine. I've read stories like this before, but they're always vague on the point of how these people know this stuff. 'Fraid I can't help you there."
"Is that all?" Buzz asked, dreading the answer.
Erin's eyes lit up with excitement. "Not by a long shot, Cap'n. Fact, there were two sequels, but I never saw Number 3 'cause it was supposed to be released a couple years after I… you know. Anyway, at least the first and second included LGMs and Zurg in Number 2. Toy Story franchise was big, extremely popular. Then in 2000, Disney and Pixar released a cartoon movie called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins. Soon after, they came out with a TV series with the name shortened to Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. 'Nuff people loved the show to create a small fanbase that was still goin' strong years after the series. The movie depicts the event of Zurg's mind-control with the Uni-mind and the formation of Team Lightyear. Series goes into your adventures after that."
The silence was profound. Finally…
"Wow," XR said softly.
"Yeah," Booster added, just as softly.
Buzz shook his head in amazement.
"So," Mira began, then cut herself off. "Just… wow."
"So… what did you think of all this?" Buzz ventured.
Erin tilted her head ever-so-slightly, her eyes no longer as cloudy and almost sparkling as she seemed to consider the question. "Frankly, I have to say… I love it. I love the Toy Stories, and I love Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, movie and series. Other things I still love more, but BLoSC always had its own special place in my heart. Sounds corny, I know, but it's true." She stared sightlessly at the door, remembering. "I was a part of the fandom, you know. On YouTube, on Fanfiction dot Net, on DeviantART… I made music videos and wrote fanfic stories… Downloaded other people's vids, and saved the fanfics and fanart I liked…" Her voice trailed off, and her warm brown gaze returned to Team Lightyear.
Buzz opened his mouth, then closed it, and shook his head. "I don't know what to say."
"Say you'll hang around," Erin urged, "and I'll show you the stuff." Her eyes said what her voice didn't say: Please, stay with me. Don't leave me here alone.
Buzz turned to his team. "Well, team, whaddya say?"
"Sure," said Mira.
"I'd love to see a movie about us!" Booster agreed.
"Just so long as they get my complex character right," XR affirmed.
Erin let out a choked laugh. "Oh yeah, XR, they got you right, all right."
Erin decided to skip the Toy Stories, deciding instead on viewing the BLoSC pilot. (This was all arranged with the LGMs' permission, of course – Erin had just had a close brush with Death, and she still had to take it easy, but the movie and the visitors were allowed.) Erin opted on Patrick Warburton's voice in the pilot over Tim Allen's in the movie, as she had realized that Warburton actually sounded closer to the real Buzz than Allen.
She played the show on her laptop, Team Lightyear crowded around her to watch. Buzz's first reaction was one that Erin had mentally predicted:
"What is with my chin?? Yeah, it's strongly defined, but – sweet mother of Venus! – it's not that big!"
Yeah, she had seen that one coming.
But less than two minutes into the show, and Buzz was already on a wonderful, painful journey. Even though it was a slightly-altered cartoon, he found himself reliving the still-fresh feelings of the events that had occurred just a few months ago: the pain and loss of Warp's supposed death, the anxiety of the following days, the fear and anger with Zurg's Uni-mind, the betrayal of his best friend. On the other hand, he was now able to see the humor of that time – featuring mostly Booster, XR, and the LGMs – and he relived the joy of finding himself in a working team.
For the rest of his team, it was mostly all kicks – except for XR, who bemoaned his former lack of proper intelligence and personality and grumbled at Warp for his first explosion. (Erin couldn't help grinning at that part – XR was really just too cute when he got peeved.))
As the credits rolled, Booster jumped up with a "Hot rockets! That was so cool!"
"That was pretty fun," Mira grinned.
Erin grinned right back at her. "Y'see why I love you guys?" She managed to laugh along slightly with Mira, then looked past Mira at Buzz, whose gaze was still fixed on the laptop screen. "Buzz?" she asked tentatively. "What did you think?"
Buzz shook himself out of his introspection. "That was… that was amazing. Everything about it was so… real."
Erin frowned slightly, wondering if she had done the right thing. After all, that was a lot to make Buzz relive. "Buzz, are you okay? Buzz, I'm sorry."
Buzz shook his head. "Don't be. I'm fine – really. That was just a lot to take in."
Erin nodded, understanding the feeling of being overwhelmed now all too well. "I'm sure."
An LGM opened the door and stuck his head inside the room. "Time to gooo," he announced.
"Well, we'll let you get your rest now," said Buzz, patting Erin on her good shoulder. "We'll check up on you tomorrow before we leave on assignment."
"Okay… thanks." Erin tried to hide her disappointment at watching the team leave. Mira noticed it, however, and she felt a sudden ache in her heart, almost forgotten. It was the ache she'd had several years ago, when her mother had died at Christmas. But at least she'd still had her father and her world – Erin had lost all her family, and her world had changed almost beyond recognition – and she had no real guarantee of getting either back. She couldn't begin to imagine what the younger woman was going through.
The rest of the team was already gone when Mira went back to the bed, leaned over, and hugged Erin. "I'll pray for you," she said softly.
Erin started, but the surprise had a… a sweetness to it. "Thanks, Mira," she whispered.
"No problem." Mira released Erin and returned to the door. "Good night, Erin."
"Good night, Mira."
Cold as the northern winds
In December mornings
Cold is the cry that rings
From this far distant shore
Winter has come too late
Too close beside me
How can I chase away
All these fears deep inside?
(Chorus)
I'll wait the signs to come
I'll find a way
I will wait the time to come
I'll find a way home
– "Exile," Enya
Author's Note:
Once again, let me say that updates will be sporadic. If you're brand-new to this story, it's in the process of being rewritten, but hey! don't let that stop you from enjoying the rest of the original work! =D
And I LUV REVIEWS!! xD