CHAPTER 55 – A LITTLE GIRL IN NEED
Gina's startled eyes met John's ones over the head of the little girl. He had found her and brought her back. Their daughter? Hope, and something else surged through her... love. She had felt bonded immediately to this girl when she had met her, knew that she was in trouble and needed their help.
"Hey Carlie... I didn't get a change to say thank you for earlier... you found Carson and brought him to me. That was very brave of you."
The little girl tipped her head back and looked shyly into Gina's eyes. "Where is Angel?"
The little dog was never far from Gina and had been sniffing around outside on the pier after following Gina and Sam outside for their little talk. At the sound of her name she gave a small bark and came trotting in, sitting at Gina's feet and looking up expectantly. Gina slid Carlie down until she was standing beside Angel and she immediately dropped down beside the dog and put her arms around her.
"What animal is this? I have never seen one like this before?"
John had crouched down beside Carlie and the dog and rested a hand possessively on her long dark hair. "That's a dog. Where we come from, these are companions, friends – for people." He named an animal from this galaxy that they were similar to, but it was a difficult comparison because pets were not kept in the Pegasus galaxy. Animals were either eaten, or simply roamed.
"John? Is it safe for her to be so far from the rift? Will there be people looking for her?" Gina was concerned that they were interfering in something they knew nothing about.
Elizabeth had joined them and she looked around the group of people that had gathered. Scientists, soldiers, hunters and gathers. People from this galaxy and another. Together in this one point in time, standing here around one constant. A little girl who had supposedly come through a dimensional portal. From another dimension, whose life there may have mirrored the life she would have had here. Or not. The implications were staggering and while the others focused on the girl and her needs, she exchanged a glance with Sam. And knew that Sam saw the bigger picture as she did. Why did this little girl come through? And why did she find her 'mother and father' here when they quite easily could have been in their own galaxy.
Elizabeth felt a cold shiver ran down her spine as she felt that unpleasant feeling of things escalating out of control once again. Ripples... those time ripples had not just been affected here in Atlantis – they had succeeded in pushing their small shock waves through to another dimension. This little girl – here and now – she had the uncanny thought that if John hadn't gone back to earth fifty years in the past, then this child would still have her own mother and father in her own dimension. She had been sent through to this one for a reason. Always a reason... and with a look to Sam, managed to convey one thing to her. This is on your shoulders now Sam. I'm out of my depth – you'll be the one to hold this group of people together and make sure that they make decisions that affect people for the right reasons, not the wrong ones. I did my best, but this is beyond my pay grade. Time for the big guns.
Sam nodded at her in silent agreement. Elizabeth had done her best and she sensed the tiredness in the other woman. Hell, this was beyond most of them, but Sam was fresher and brought a different way of thinking to the mix. Hopefully she'd keep them all from self destruct. Looking out at this assembled group now she gave a mental shudder. That was going to be a tall order.
Carlie had run off a little way to play with Angel and Gina took the opportunity to straighten up and look at Sam.
"What do we do with her Sam? Looks like all eyes are on you for this one. We can't send her back – we don't know what's on the other side for her. Given how lonely and scared she has looked each time she has appeared to me, I would imagine that she has no one there to care for her. I'm also not so naïve enough that I realise that she may simply have run away and perhaps there are people looking for her that are genuinely worried about her. Being unable to get there – we have no idea and can only go by what she says and our own gut feelings. And mine is saying she needs us. And I think we need her."
Sams's glance sharpened as she said this and John swung his own gaze broodingly to hers. He had been watching Carlie run down the hallway with Angel.
"I know you feel a connection with her Gina – and finding out that another version of you was her mother... that must bring about all sorts of incomprehensible feelings. And hell – she's just a baby. It's hard to send someone like that back to something that you have no concept of. That would be cruel. But we have to be careful Gina..." John had picked up her hand and pulled her slightly so that she was touching against his side. Again needing that contact. "If you allow yourself to get too attached to her, and we find that she's here for reasons that are considered a security risk, we can't compromise the lives of people on this base. You know what I'm saying, don't you?"
Gina looked up at him. "You refused to consider the dimensional issue when I tried to bring it up with you before. Kept pushing the idea away. Refuting it. Now you accept? It took a little girl to walk out of a forest and call you Daddy. Look to that for your answer John. You brought her here – if you had felt that strongly about it you would never have let her leave the mainland. You would have found a way to keep her there, monitored and protected. Instead you chose to bring her back to Atlantis. What does that tell you?"
She pulled away from him when he didn't answer right away and she saw that the attention of everyone else in this group was on him. Waiting for his answer.
"Do you believe that another dimension can exist or not John? Because if you don't, if you continue to refute that, then we're all going to be working at cross purposes here. Because how else could you explain the presence of that child.?"
He ran a hand through his hair and turned again to look at her. "I don't know Gina. I only know that I brought her back because she was small, lost and afraid. No man with any sense of humanity would leave a child alone, like that – regardless of where or when she came from. Lets leave it at that. I don't want to consider anything more sinister right now. Ok?"
It was Sam who murmured quietly. "You're going to have to pull your head out of the sand pretty quickly John – there is a very real chance that this may be the catalyst for something more – a security risk. If you don't open your mind now to consider these implications, it's possible that you'll be behind the eight ball later on if something does happen."
"Damnit Sam – look at her! She's just a child!"
"Just a child John. Do I need to remind you about that mission in Afghanistan. Where they used a little girl with a doll on a street corner. A doll that was filled with explosives. She was just a child. Children are used in many ways for many things and while we will never understand the depth of depravity that would allow such a thing – we cannot refute that it does happen. And I would be remiss if I did not give this serious thought. When Elizabeth steps down, I will be responsible for the lives of all the men and women on this base and I will need to make decisions that I may find abhorrent, but they will be for the right reasons. I need to know you have our backs when it comes to base security, John. That is paramount. Yes, she is just a little girl and I hope that these nasty suspicions are just that – but my request to you all? Stay on your toes and be extremely vigilant – for anything that appears out of place or just plain wrong."
Elizabeth gave a small smile. "You should have saved that speech for when I introduced you as new base commander. If we'd done that over the city wide announcement, we could have killed two birds with one stone. I think now, is a good time for me to step down. You've effectively declared your intentions and I'm ready to go. The ship is yours Sam... guide her through the storm that could be about to hit. You're a damn fine pilot and this city needs the best at it's helm."
The two woman looked at each other as something passed between them. The command of this city. The respect of these people. Legacy. And the fate of a little girl who had come through from another dimension.