Work Text:
Closer to Home
© 1998 Jackie Ashton, All Right Reserved
Time was running out Brenda McFarlane. If she ever wanted to see her husband and baby girl again she knew she would have to work fast. Sweat dripped from the tip of her nose landing on her bottom lip. Her tongue flicked quickly and licked at the salty droplet.
"Jeezze." Brenda's breath was slow and cool. Her hands, now steady, worked rhythmically to unravel the twisted wires of the Interdimensional Rapid Transport Unit. She poised herself in front of the small main panel of the IRPTU and pulled out the silver box from inside the panel. Her mind flashed pictures in quick succession of her husband, Andrew and her ten-month-old baby Chloe, then Admiral Hawkins's stern face and the hopeful face of her boss, Gary Wilson.
She remembered the last time she saw Gary alive. That was before NASA's test run of the IRPTU. The unit was Gary's concept, but Brenda had helped him to overcome the one problem that stood in his way. The unit must be made with a material that was sturdy enough not to break apart, yet light enough to move through "the corridor". Brenda had a PHD in physics and chemistry and had developed a special synthetic plastic that had to be used to construct the unit.
NASA had given Gary permission to be the first person to try it out. He chose the date of 1520 to travel back to. Unfortunately, he had never returned. Admiral Hawkins called Brenda at three o'clock that morning stating that on the President's directive, she was to travel back in the IRPTU to find Gary Wilson, the brains behind the unit. NASA needed him.
She found him all right. They had both landed in the same place in space and time. It was an unforeseen error, made by Gary's own search for his heritage that caused the problem. Gary told her many stories of the Seminole Indians, and was quite proud of his roots. It seemed fantastically ironic that they would have been the cause of his demise
She turned quickly to take one last look at him, as he lay stretched out on the ground. The spear shaft had pierced his skull and pinned him to the earth; his death was instantaneous. "Come on...just think Brenda..." Gary taught her how to override the system but up until now it was all theory.
"Brenda, just think of it this way," she remembered his voice clearly in her head "it's like jump starting a car. Just take the X-intake wire, that's the red one and braid it through the transport line." It was much easier said than done, she thought. She pulled her hair back behind her ears nervously and bit her lip. Darkness was approaching and so was the drumming. They were coming back.
Brenda squeezed her eyes shut, pushed out the remaining tears then opened them widely. She must focus. Her fingers worked the wires as if she were braiding her own long hair. Twist...turn...poke. She had nearly completed the circuit. Only an inch or so more to go, at last she felt closer to home.
She pulled a knife out of the pouch around her waist and stripped the last wire. The drums were louder, announcing the Indians return. She knew they would come back. They would come to collect the body, perform some ritual spiritual cleansing, then burn the body. Gary told her all about it. Gary...Brenda looked back again. She would have to leave him behind. She thought about his wife, Becky, pregnant with their first child. "Oh Gary, I'm sorry..." she whispered.
The ocean waves crashed against the shore in time with the rhythmic pounding of the approaching drums; the last light of the day, quickly fading behind the horizon. Brenda's fingers, sore and bloody, worked numbly to finish the last series of adjustments to the wires. At last, it sparked. The machine hummed to life.
Brenda stood in the three-foot vacuum area next to the unit. She would have pasted her body to the unit if she had been allowed to touch it, but she knew she'd be vaporized instantly if she touched it while in transit. She planted both feet firmly on the ground and waited impatiently for the IRPTU to pick up momentum. The rums were near now; she had little time left.
She nervously rocked back and forth, grabbing her elbows in a solitary hug. The drums beat on, and grew louder each moment. The unit's humming served as background accompaniment to their powerful thuds. Then, the chanting began. Not really chanting, Brenda thought, more like a sorrowful song. She looked up beyond the grove of pines on the left. A band of a dozen warriors walked slowly towards Gary's body.
Brenda closed her eyes, as if willing them not to notice her. She could feel the magnetic pull of the unit as it worked its way back to the safety of the space center. This was the transitional stage. She was almost out of danger. She opened her eyes one last time to make a mental account of the happenings she would have to report, but jumped back, almost touching the unit.
She looked at him in awe...Gary's dark eyes stared back. He stood before her in silence. Tall, muscular and armed with a large well pointed spear. His face filled with unheard questions. The young warrior did not move towards her, but stood still as if stone. She watched in terror until, like a vision, he disappeared.
"Dr. McFarlane? Brenda? Can you hear me." Admiral Hawkins voice dreamily sifted through her mind, rousing her to consciousness. She was slow to come out of the magnetic trance.
"He's back there." She spoke softly.
"Wilson? Did you see Wilson? Where is he?" The Admiral's acid-like tone bounced off her brain. Typical Marine, she thought dreamily.
"He's dead. Injuns got 'em sir." She laughed, then cried hysterically. Her knees gave way all at once. A physician from the medical unit ran towards Brenda to catch her before she hit the floor. He wrapped her in several warm blankets, carried her to an awaiting stretcher.
Admiral Hawkins stared at the IRPTU. It worked. Now what?
"September 16th 1998, Sir." Brenda pulled her head up off the pillow.
"What?"
"For Gary...set the machine to go back to Monday. Just let me rest for a few hours and I'll go back to warn him." She slumped back down on the pillow. "There is one relative he doesn't want to know."