Chapter 11- Written with the help of ashes_ascended

[a_time_slip]

               “I lost them.” Janie said, as she stumbled through a grassy area. No one was around, but she was sure that there had been someone just a second ago. “I’m sorry. So sorry."

She sat down, putting her head in her hands, and tried to gather her thoughts. Cyrus had gone first, and then Jake and Sean. Transporting the three of them was dangerous, but she knew no other way to get away from the broken time machine and the alien soldiers that wanted them dead.

“Mommy! Nina, I told you this was the right place.” Called Lynn.

Janie lifted her head, and watched as Nina and Lynn ran towards her. She had to struggle to remember the two of them, and briefly wondered why they had bags and radios.

“Something is wrong.” Nina said “Janie, can you hear us?”

“They smell better at night.” She said, quietly “Right after the sun goes down, usually.”

“Janie. It’s Nina, we’re here to help. Lynn is with me.”

“They’re pretty, but so fragile. Beautiful things are.”

“What’s wrong with her, Nina?” Asked Lynn, frowning

“I don’t know. I think she’s in shock. I need to get her some help.”

“I lost them. We were coming home, and now they’re all gone and there are flowers everywhere. His flowers.”

“Janie. Here, I want you to write. You’re not making any sense right now.” Nina said, placing a pad of paper and a pencil into her hands. Janie began to write, while Lynn watched her with concern.

“What happened to her, Nina? Why’s she in that dress and-”

“We’ll find out eventually.” Replied Nina, as she took a cell phone out of her bag “I’m calling Phoenix.”

“You can’t! That’s traceable!”

“It’s an emergency, Lynn. It’s been one for a long time, but I didn’t see it.”

“Dad is going to be pissed and you’re going to compromise the mission.”

“You know nothing about the mission, Lynn.” Nina muttered as she dialed. “Phoenix. ...No, stop shouting. ...Yes, I’m ordering you around. Get help for Janie. ...Her boyfriend built a time machine, kidnapped her, and she’s just reappeared in a patch of weeds. ...Your secure line went unanswered ...Because we’ve been searching for- Yell at me all you want later, but she needs help now. I’ve never seen her like this and she’s injured ...If you don’t help her, I’m going over your head. Goodbye.”

“You made him really mad.” Lynn said, as Nina ended the call “My Dad is going to fire you.”

“Your Mom won’t let him... Whenever she snaps out of it, that is.”

Both Nina and Lynn looked over at Janie, who was on her third page of writing. Both sides of each of the pages were filled with formulas and calculations.

# # #

Nina was just about to call someone else when a windowless, primer colored van pulled up next to them. A group of soldiers in blue jumpsuit exited the van, and turned to Nina for instruction.

“She’s been having temporal issues for the past few months.” Nina explained “And her memory seems to have been compromised. We’ve been searching for her for days, and she just appeared in the park, muttering nonsense. She appears to be injured.”

“Get her into the van.” Ordered one of the soldiers “Miss Y’tan, Lady Lynn, separate transport will arrive any moment.”

“I’m not leaving her.” Nina said, putting a protective arm around Lynn

“Call Laya!” Lynn suggested “She’ll tell them! And she won’t yell, or I can call Daddy but he’s probably really mad.”

One of the soldiers pulled a mini computer from his pocket, and tapped it a few times before speaking. “We’re going to start treatment in the van, and we’d rather you saw her after we’ve sorted this mess out.”

“If you kill her, you’re going straight to Guln.” Warned Lynn “You and all of your family. Even your pet fish.”

“She doesn’t mean it.” Nina said, nervously. “We’ll meet you... where?”

“We can’t disclose the location.” Said the soldier. “The beta team will transport you safely.”

The group quickly grabbed Janie, and placed her gently in the van.

“It’s Dame’s Rocket.” Janie said, as the doors closed “That’s what he called it! Dame’s Rocket!”

# # #

“My name is Vistan.” Said a female soldier, to Janie “I’m a healer.”

“Hi. I’m Janie.” She smiled “You don’t want to help me, but thank you.”

“This is an honor, Lady Janie.” Vistan placed a hand on Janie’s, and closed her eyes, sending healing energies and attempting to read her thoughts to find out what happened. Only a fraction of a second later, she yanked her hand away and shouted in pain.

“Ow! There’s- something is blocking her. I can’t heal her.”

The soldiers spent the rest of the trip silent, not even looking at each other. Once they stopped, one of the soldiers put a blanket over Janie’s shoulders, then lifted her up and out of the van, into a wheelchair, and wheeled her into a room in a vast building. She was treated gingerly, and with utmost respect.

“Hello.” Smiled Janie, as they passed a baseball bat holding man in a dark, woolen coat, which seemed somewhat familiar. He paced back and forth, and looked very angry.

“Janie! Why the fuck didn't you say?”

“Say what?” She asked, still not sure who she was talking to “The variables all make sense once I write them down. Get me a pencil”

The blue-jump suited soldier that pushed Janie’s chair handed her a small notebook ad a pencil, and the young woman began to write furiously.

“What happened to her?” Asked the man, who clearly was trying to keep calm. “WHY IS SHE LIKE THAT?”

“She was recovered in this condition.” Said the Soldier.

“Oh sure, recovered that way. THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE HEALERS!”

“Our healer was injured in the process of treating her.”

“SO WHY DIDN’T ANYONE CALL ME?” The man was clearly getting angrier, and the soldiers in the hall all grew nervous.

“Get her into the room.” Said Nina, who rushed down the hallway. “I’ve got orders- Phoenix, I’ll explain everything, but we need to make sure she’s comfortable.”

“Yeah, only I’d like an explanation RIGHT NOW, THANKS!”

“IF YOU HADN’T IGNORED THE EMAILS AND CALLS THEN YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT SOME OF THIS!” Nina shouted, looking up at Phoenix “Fire me if you want, but once I realized what the situation was, I called you. She was dating someone who built a time machine, and has been screwing with the world. Go out and see the city right now and tell me that the world isn’t fucked. I don’t know what the hell happened on that ship but it’s destroyed her.”

“WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU GET OFF ON YELLING AT ME! WHAT FUCKING EMAILS? DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO USE AN EMERGENCY LINE?”

“I quit!” Nina exclaimed “It’s your responsibility now. HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT? What are you going to do now?”

“I’m gonna heal her my fucking self, and then get her to a proper safe house!”

“And the world? There are dinosaurs in New York City. Dinosaurs.”

“Butterfly.” Muttered Janie, who had been half-listening “The butterfly flapped her wings.”

Phoenix looked down at Janie, and then turned to storm away. He stopped when he saw Lynn at the end of the hall, staring at the scene.

“Mom’s going to kill you when she gets better.” Said the little girl

“Lynn. Why didn’t you warn me, baby?”

“It wasn’t time. Anyway, you can’t heal her. Grandma ‘Laya said that when you stop shouting to call her on the secure line and Nina she said don’t quit because of Daddy and Mom needs you and she said that she was gonna talk to The Agency about helping because the situation has escalated.”

“When did you talk to her?” Asked Phoenix

“You were shouting and Nina was yelling and all Mom was doing was writing.” began Lynn “And she said to call if I really needed her. And she heard all the shouting and said that you have to call her on the secure line and that she’ll talk to Nina later.”

“Get her in the room.” Phoenix said, finally. “MOVE YOUR- Get going. Pronto.”

“I already heard you curse.” Lynn said, snickering.

“I’ll be there in a bit.” Phoenix said, turning to storm off and make his phone call.

“I heard you curse too.” Lynn said to Nina, as they followed Janie and two soldiers into a room “I’ve got impressionable ears and now I’m going to have a dirty mouth in school”

“You’re grounded for a week if you curse in school.” Nina said, as Janie was led into a bathroom “In fact, you’re already grounded for pulling the fire alarm.”

“It was an emergency. I needed to get home.”

“There are other ways of getting home.” Nina took a seat in the room, which was very large and filled with comfortable furniture. The bed didn’t look anything like a hospital bed, and was covered in a purple comforter and entirely too many coordinating pillows. Several couches and comfortable chairs were in the room, as well as a small table. Notably absent was a television and clock.

Janie emerged from the bathroom, in comfortable pajamas, and settled on the bed.

“Mom! What happened?” Asked Lynn, jumping up

“Unknown variables.” Muttered Janie as she crawled under the covers, and closed her eyes.

# # #

“Wanker.” Janie said when she opened her eyes. The same man from the hallway was sitting beside the bed, half asleep in a chair.

“Short-arse.” He said, grinning. “Don’t get up; you’ve still got recovering to do.”

“My head is still foggy.” She said “And I’m sore.”

“Do you remember what happened?” He asked, sitting up

“No. I can’t... remember anything. Can we go home?”

“Janie-”

“Why can’t we go home?” She asked, sitting up and turning towards Phoenix. “We’re happy there, aren’t we? I can’t remember much, but I remember you... And. Did we have picnics?”

“Janie, sweetheart. We can’t go home. Not now-”

“Why not? I have things to do there. You’ll take care of me, won’t you? You always take care of me.”

“There’s things, and stuff. Janie, I can’t explain it right now, but we can’t go back home. You’re safer here.” Phoenix looked upset.

“Why can’t I remember? Can you stay with me? I feel safer with you.”

“Scoot over.” Ordered Phoenix, as he removed his shoes and jacket.

Janie started to obey, and then realized that a little girl was curled up on the other side of her. She gently moved the girl over, and then scooted to make room for Phoenix.

“Lynn didn’t want to leave you.” He explained, putting his arm around Janie

“We’re family, aren’t we?” She asked “She’s our daughter.”

“More than that.” Muttered Phoenix, as Janie rested against him “Go back to sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

# # #

When Janie opened her eyes again, the room was dark. She could feel Phoenix and Lynn beside her and knew that Nina had to be close by.

Phoenix was Lynn’s father, and her ex. They’d broken up years ago, but now he was back, and mostly likely it was because of what happened with Cyrus.

“Phoenix.” Whispered Janie “Wake up. We need to talk.”

“Mmrph.” He muttered, not wanting to wake up.

“Phoenix. I remember. I need to tell you what’s happened.”

“Hnnf. Tell me in the morning. After three gallons of coffee.”

“I lost three people in time.” She admitted “There was someone else on the time machine.”

“Three? How d'you manage to lose three people?” he said, opening his eyes

“I had to get away, and I couldn’t let them die. I bounced with them.”

“You bounce with other people all the damn time.”

“I held Jake and Sean’s hands.” Janie began “Cyrus just barely touched me and I bounced. I lost him straight away, and then it took... longer. It was like we were stuck in syrup. Then Sean was pulled away by the force, and Jake was gone a bit later. That’s never happened before.”

“That why you lost your memory?”

“The Rigellians managed to get a shot in.” Janie explained, though she realized there was no wound anymore. “I was about to steer us home, then we crashed. They did a sweep and planned to terminate the boys. I wasn’t found on their systems.”

“You’re classified.” Phoenix reminded Janie “We all are, until the war is over.”

“I don’t remember the war.” Janie said. “I just know that I have to fix the time machine mess. It’s all my fault.”

“Did you build the bloody machine?” He asked

“No, but I helped with the plans. I didn’t know that’s what they were... My memory is so bad that I thought it was just homework.”

“Why are you blocking your memories? If you stopped, then none of this would have happened. You and Lynn would still be in the safe house and I’d still be-”

“I’m not blocking them!”

“Then who is? You’re powerful, Janie. You could still make all this stop, and go away, and go back to your life.”

“My life is with you.” She said, looking at Phoenix. “Because it’s always been you.”

“We’ve talked about this, Janie.”

“I know.” She said, quietly “But it’s not fair.”

“Do you remember now?”

“Not everything, but... I need to take a walk, Phoenix. I have to think of how to fix everything.”

“You can’t fix ‘everything’.”

“There are dinosaurs in the city, fruit is the wrong color, and I think Cyrus made himself President of the world. I can fix some of that, even if I can’t remember everything. There’s also Rigellians that are somewhere out there, and can invade any moment.”

“Let The Agency take care of that. They’re trained for situations like this. You trained them.”

“I did?”

“I’ve got a place off world, and you and Lynn can stay there until you get your head sorted out. I’ll get you any healer you want. Even 'Laya. She'll come if you asked."

“Are you going to be there?”

“Yeah, but- Janie, when you get your memories all back, you’ll understand.”