Eco-Challenge FS (8)

They quickly close the distance to the checkpoints. As Crais and Jila come out of the medical tent, Kay and Sunny stare longingly at the showers.

Rae turns her attention to Crais and Jila. "What's our position?" she asks. To Sweetie she adds, "You can get off now. You weigh more than a trax."

Rae nods, a bit surprised that Jila has suddenly decided to call her 'Riv', to say nothing of her surprise that they should be surprised by her language. "Well, I'll be nicer in the future. So, what's our position?"

Crais is inside, folding them up. He looks up at Rae's entry. "W... we were, um... well, w... worried ab... bout you g...guys. J... Jinx read a massive energy d... discharge and temporal dis... displacement near your last known lo... location. Th... then no radio c... contact from you."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Rae yells. She lowers her voice to a threatening whisper. "I'm a frelling Leiutenant Colonel! Sweet Kahleen, what is WRONG with you?"

"A Leiutenant Colonel?" He frowns uncertaily. "Um, I'm fairly certain that you've never been ranked higher than ensign. I can have Teeg pull up your personel records..."

Rae laughs. "The frelling plot-hole blew us into an alternate dimension!" She stares at him, amazed. "Does the name John Crichton mean anything to you?"

Rae keeps running until she's on the beach. She slides to the ground, half in the water. She is so busy turning things over in her head that she fails to notice Alternate Crais until he touches her shoulder.

"Better damned than hesitant." Rae mutters, staring at the ocean. Without Crais or Raegun only a comm away, she suddenly feels very alone. She flops back onto the sand and pulls herself farther into the water.

"Very shy. Never joins in. Always follows orders without a moment's though. Accomadating. She'd make breakfast for the entire team some days."

"No, you haven't." Rae sits up and puts an arm around his shoulder, causing him to stare at her. "She's probably in my dimension having this exact same conversation with the other you."

"How the frell does one go about proving something like that?" Rae asked him, shaking her head. "Are you ALWAYS this much of an idiot?"

"Will prove nothing." Alternate Jila interjected. "Think about it, Doctor Praxis. If they really ARE from an alternate dimension, their DNA will be identical anyway... Unless they're imposters, and if they were, why would they say so? It makes no sense."

"We can use medical records to confirm or refute your claims. If you've been ill with something your doubles haven't, you'll have antibodies they don't."

Rae watched as he scraped several layers of skin off of her forearm. "Run it." she said as soon as he was done. She looked at Alternate Crais. "This is important. You're SURE she's never had gene therapy?"

"Class 5." Rae informed him flatly. "And you see these feathers?" She plucked one out, drawing a small amount of blood. "All part and parcel."

"Frell!" Mouse yelled loud enough to startle the indiginous animals. But the precaution they all had taken of wrapping the vines of licorice around them paid off and she dangled from the end of her vine. After she calmed down and stopped screaming, she surveyed the scene. Kara and Spyral were ahead of her on the other side. Apparently they had navigated the bridge much better than she had. With their encoragement, she started swinging her legs out and back, like a child on a swingset. The momentum built and the vines held until she though she had a high enough arc that if she jumped from the end, she'd make land.

"Please try to catch me..." she said to the team who assured her they would. Mouse knew they would try, but... well, there was no guarantee that she'd even swing that high. With an extra swing of her legs, Mouse jumped off and landed. Kara grabbed her before she could fall back and they all walked into the bush ahead.

"Now, where are we, and where's the next checkpoint? Aren't we paddling back to the first checkpoint next?" Spyral asked. "Who's got the map?"

Kay shook her head at the possibility that there was another one of her and the others walking around, and, although in another dimension, right here. She looked around warily as she went for a shower. Grabbing a couple chicken wings to munch on, as she went, she waved at the others she ran into. Finally getting a shower, made her feel like a new person. But, as she went to the tent to change, a cloud came over the sun. And, just for a moment, she felt a chill. As she looked at the cot, her mouth fell open. She could swear she saw a shadow of herself, sleeping on the cot.

"Rae!, Sunny!, quick!!!! Come see this!!" she yelled out the door of the tent. Looking back, the sun was once more shining, and she couldn't see anything there.

Alter Kay opened her eyes, feeling like she had been hit with a sledge hammer. "What the frell?!" she started as she tried to raise her head. It felt way to heavy. Laying back down, she glanced up as a shadow passed through the room. And, saw...."no.....that couldn't be me standing there. And, that girl looks cheerful....wow. What the frell did these people do to me...I knew they were the enemy...." and she drifted back into sleep.

Rae nods. "Jila has some books that she thinks might be helpful in sorting this mess out, but I don't read a word of English. I'd be obliged if you could help me out."

"I'm a good guesser." Rae shrugs. "If someone who DOES read the language is looking at it, too, I can kind of tap into thier knowledge. It's wierd..." She trails off, shaking her head. "Look, I want to be the first one to know if you have another of these visions, okay?"

"That damnable Crais." Jila throws one of her books at the tent's side. "Always running off to help that Frellin' Ensign Rivyn. I keep telling him that the Only was she's going to get some Backbone is to deal with things on her own instead of Him running to her rescue every two minutes. Well I've fixed that now. And you have too. Geradan is Grounded and Ensign Rivyn is in Your dimension fending for herself."

"Jila, s-stop." Alternate Crais says as he comes to the door flap of the tent. "Your h-hurting him. He d-didn't d-do anything wrong. H-he just l-listened to me."

"Switch back to Sebacean, damn it!" AlterJila yells at Alternate Crais. "You know I Hate it when you stutter. And you know very well that I can understand Sebacean since Geradan's been translating it for me almost since the beginning of this trip."

"Well, what do you know?" AlterJila sneers "A Peacekeeper with a heart. That Ensign Rivyn is doing quite a number on your head, isn't she my pet."

"um, about the dimensionality?" Rae's hoping to change the subject and get Crais off the hook. She may not know this Crais too well, but nobody should have to go through this.

"Yah." AlterJila retrieves the book she threw early and opens it to a particular page. "You can go Bialar dear." She says mockingly "We'll talk about this later." and proceeds to explain to kay and Rae what she knows about dimensional shifts.

*Rae....we gotta get things right...I can't take much more of this. I can not only hear the thoughts from this reality...but I'm picking up the ones from the other one. It's giving me a frelling headache from hezmana. I'm about ready to take AlterJila out.*

Rae looked at Sunny....hard...she could see that the headache was getting worse. Sunny was good at hiding her pain from the others...but some how...Rae could always tell.

*Right...I'm working on it. Can't you tune the other reality out? Would that help?* She asked Sunny, moving between Sunny and AlterJila

"Pardon me for inturupting...but the Dragon is bleeding." He told AlterJila and left quickly...he didn't want to be near when AlterJila responded to that news.

Sunny watched him leave. She didn't like that AlterJila had everyone afraid of her. She wanted to do something about it. She didn't like that AlterJila was so mean.

She could sense that some one else was in her thoughts....then she saw Jila's Dragon friend in pain...she looked at the Dragon....he seemed fine.

She closes her eyes, shakes her head, and opens her eyes once again. The scene is still there but more of a ghost image than reality. Her heart aches at what she's seen.

"Geradan, NO!!" The tears come quickly and stream down her face. "NO!" she sobs and runs to where the dragon lies in the sun. Leaping up, Jila hugs Geradan hard around his neck.

"Jila, what is it." Larraq says slowly approaching Geradan. He's been around Geradan enough to know he's generally a very gentle dragon, but he's never had to witness a dragon's protective instincts.

As her weeping subsides Jila slides back down to ground level. She wipes her eyes on her sleeves and tries breathing slowly and deeply.

"I don't know what's happening." Jila sits down, nearly exhausted, on Geradan's foreleg. "I saw Geradan collared and bleeding. I could hear him just screaming from pain."

"Ensign Rivyn" Velorek says as he turns and steps toward her. She steps back involuntarily, afraid of the repercussions of speaking up. "Wait, please. Tell us what you know about this dimensional rift, and why Jila is seeing what she's seeing."

But, (sigh) with this group, she should know anything is possible. Translating for Rae was going fast enough. But, she remembered her scrunchie was still in the tent when she realized she was getting so hot with her hair down. Taking a break to run back and get it, she couldn't remember where she put it, Then seeing it had fallen behind a stack of weights on the table, she started tossing them on the bed till she could reach it. Smiling in satisfaction, she quickly put her hair up and ran back to finish the job.

AlterKay puts her hand to her head as she tries to sit up. What the frell did these traitors do to her?, she asked herself. Then, just as she went to swing her feet around to get up, Something heavy flew at her from a few feet away. Heavy. Like a weight or something. She looked up, but, couldn't tell if she saw anything or not, when, THUMP,

"I said, you're getting on my nerves." Sweetiepie said louder. "Haven't you ever heard that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?"

"The faster we get back to our own dimention the better." Sweetiepie said. "Rae, the next time I agree to jump into a plot hole with you stick me in a straight jacket for my own good."

as they proceed with thier work. She suddenly jumps to her feet. "Oh! Potty Emergency!" she calls over her shoulder, running out of the tent.

"Frell her..." AlterJila sighs, shaking her head. She looks at Kay. "She's not QUITE as flaky as our Enisgn, but she's not far off..."

"I meant your Jila." Rae clarifies, resting one hand on his shoulder and the other on the dragon's head. "How can you let her do these things?"

"Not for long." Rae lets go of Alternate Crais and rests both hands on the dragon's lowered head, just above his eye-ridges. "No one should be allowed to hurt another sentient creature like that."

Rae closes her eyes and concentrates on the dragon's pain. She pales and begins shaking. Alternate Crais sees that Geredan is looking worlds better, even as Rae is looking worse and worse.

"In the interest of interspecies cooperation. If that austronaut decides NOT to help us with the worm-hole technology, the Scarrans will win the war."

Rae considers this. "On my world, they are two of the best. These... creatures defile their names. It's time to change the accepted order of things."

"Then I will not ask for your help, but I AM freeing Geredan, and I AM putting that tralk in her place. Or maybe in his." She smiles in anticipation.

Rae shrugs. "Not directly, of course. She'll feel more pain when I wrest control of Geredan away from her than I could inflict on her with my years of training."

"Good." Rae closes her eyes and sends out a mental shout to a woman who she has never met. Jila, her Jila, knew her briefly in Pern. Rae took a chance and hoped that she could bridge the gap. *LESSA?!?*

Alterante Rae nods slowly and takes several deep breaths. She feels like she's been hit in the head by a sledge-hammer. "Something's wrong with her." she gasps, looking up nervously at Crais.

He nods slowly. "Just breathe." Velorek hands him a syringe, which he injects her with. "This will help you relax and it will help you with the pain."

Alternate Rae nods weakly. "She says that since she owns him, it is her perogative..." she trails off, feeling weak from Rae's exertion. "This situation... It is not good."

"So I'm beginning to comprehend." Crais mutters, sitting next to her and draping his arm over her shoulder. "We'll make everythng right, Riv. I promise you this."

"I once made a promise..." He hesitated before continuing. "WE made a promise, Riv, to always take care of each other. I intend to keep it."

reached the checkpoint without any further incidents. Mouse was looking forward to a quick backrub by any available mandroid (even Crais), but the checkpoint was deserted. No showers set up. No food tent. No cots. Nothing.

"Were we supposed to make reservations?" Mouse asked sarcastically, the strain of the last couple hours beginning to show on her. After listening to Twig go on incessantly about her manicure and how was she EVER going to get the jungle smell out of her Fendi bag for the last hour, Mouse was ready to swat her. Deep down she knew Twig was important to Spyral, and therefore, important to - uh, the Scoobies, but enough was enough. And now with no running water in site, she cracked. She sat down on a large rock and just stared ahead. This was supposed to be fun, but there was a bad vibe here, like something was happening to the other Scoobs that they didn't know about.

"Well, what should we do? Head for the last checkpoint in the canoes down there" - Mouse pointed to the dugouts that rested on the shoreline about 200 feet below them - "Or try to raise them on the comms? I don't mean to be callous, but I want someone to record that we hit this checkpoint. What do you think?" Mouse asked as she looked to Spyral and Kara for some guidance.

The telepathic shout rings in AlterJila's head Loud and Clear. The shout is so loud that even a person with minimal telepathic abilities can hear it.

"NO!!" AlterJila shouts rushing out of the tent. "Who DARES go behind my back with this?" Humans and Sebaceans alike scatter at the vicious behind her words.

"You." She says approaching the two, but looking straight at AlternateCrais. "I might have know. And you." She turn to look at Rae. "Obviously you put him up to this since he would Never have tried standing up to me otherwise." Jila stops and looks up at the dragon's face, then back down at Rae. "Do you think you can stop me from doing exactly what I please with him?"

"NO!!" AlterJila spins around looking for the dragons. Before she can locate them she screams, placing her hands over her ears, and falls. The screaming and pounding in her head rivals Anybody's worst migraine. Her body jerks and spasms like an Epileptic seizure. After a couple of minutes the seizures stop and she lays curled up unconcious.

Slowly at first Ensign Rivyn tells Jila and the Mandroids what she knows about Her Jila and Kay's behaviors, and what she knows about dimensional rifts. Suddenly, Jila sits bolt upright, her eyes opening wide. Then, just as suddenly she slumps over and tumbles off Geradan's foreleg to the ground.

"Please, if you would Weyrleader, call me Rae." Rae says releasing his hand, and then accepting the hug from Lessa. The gold dragon Ramoth, along with Mnementh nearly purr their greetings to Rae.

"By the First Egg, F'lar," Lessa quickly walks over to Geradan, who's head hangs in relief. "How could she do this to him. I thought she was a bit cruel when she came to study at Benden but I didn't think it could possibly get like this."

"It seems, my dear," F'lar says as he walks around Geradan to assess the damages done, "that we'll have to take the necessary steps to make sure that this can never happen again."

"But, uh...." Rae says trying to think of the repercussions in other dimensions. "Oh Frell, I don't know if you'll understand this or not. I'm not from here, I'm from another dimension, and there is another Jila in that dimension who loves her Geradan very much. If you do this, won't it affect her too?"

"Ah yes," Lessa studies Rae for a moment. "Yes, you are different, I hadn't noticed it before. You are not Ensign Rivyn are you. How did you come to be here?"

"There was a rift in a dimensional wall," Rae hopes that they understand what she's talking about. "and my team and I fell through it. We assume that this dimension's Us are in our dimension."

"We assume so, Sir." Sunny says approaching the Weyrleaders, Rae, and AlternateCrais. "Kay has been seeing, and I've been hearing things that have been going on with our alternates in our dimension."

"You have twelve hours," F'lar says to Team Heat Delirium, "to change places with your other selves, and get this rift closed. If you don't, I'm afraid that your Jila will be affected by what we do."

Sunny looks at Rae, Kay, SweetiePie, "What are we waiting for? We have to get back to our dimension and send our alternates back here." Sunny was rubbing her head. She was still dealing with a frellin' headache...AlterJila's scream only added to it. Sunny sighed..."We need a plan, Rae."

Sun shook her head, gently, "Rae, look, my head hurts to frellin' much...I'd think of a plan...but then you'd come up with a better one...you usually do. So, you come up with the plan. I'm going to find something to get rid of this headache...otherwise...I'll be no use." Sunny said.

Sunny headed to the med tent. When she entered...she could sense AlterKay's unconsious presence, as well as the presence of all the other Alters. Sunny sighed again...trying to ease the pain in her head.

"Look, I'm nothing like the Jila from this dimension. Honest...I just need something to get rid of this headache, so Rae, Kay, SweetiePie and I can get back before it's to late." Sunny said...walking closer to Velorek.

Sunny took a deep breath, let it out slowly, "Look, where's your med kit? I'll find it myself." she said...heading for what looked like the med kit.

"Um, Velorek, that's not going to work on me. I'm Sebacean, not human. I've tried those when I get headaches...they don't work. You'll need something a little stronger." Sunny said before Velorek got closer.

As Velorek treated Sunny, she explained to him what had happened to AlterJila and what she and her team mates were going to have to do.

"That should fix you up. Take these with you...incase it comes back." Velorek offered Sunny a couple of viles of the pain medication he had given her. Sunny smiled, kissed his cheek

"What? You're asking me? You're the one with all the brilliant plans. All I know is that we have to get back to our dimension and get our alters back here. I haven't a clue how to do that, and it not be thought of as cheating." Sunny offered.

"Well....I could try to teleport us back...and then send our alters back here. It would take a while...but it might work. Especially if I had help." Sunny said, looking dead at Rae.

"Come on...you can teleport, I've seen you...you might not be able to teleport as well as I can...but with the two of us...we could do it." Sunny responded.

Rae just looked at Sun, then the others...then AlterJila and her dragon. She know if they didn't do something...the Jila they all know and love would be devestated to loose connection with her dragon.

"Um... I will. You and Kay go to the med-tent and get some sleep. Say... two hours. If I don't have a plan by then, we'll put our heads together again about this teleportation thing.

As Kay and Sunny walk to the tent, Rae looks around for Sweetie-pie. He is already roosting on a nearby branch, muttering in his sleep.

Rae nods and smiles at him. "You're a good man, on both worlds." She reaches a decision. "Come with me." She takes his hand and leads him to a small, out-of-the-way tent near the tree-line.

"I need your help." Rae tells him flatly. "Look, the others are getting very confused images, and I can hardly tell what to make of them. Gods know what's going on on the other side of the rift. I've got to talk to them."

"Your Ensign. My connection to her is probably the strongest. Once I can get a good idea of what's going on out there, I can formulate a better plan for bringing your people home."

Rae stares at him. "Before I put my life in your hands, I want to scan your mind, make sure you're not as bad as your Jila and just better at hiding it." She reaches out slowly. "It won't hurt you."

He nods and bows his head slowly. Rae gently lays her right hand on the back of his neck and her left on the crown of his head. She closes her eyes and opens her mind to him. In an instant, she releases her grip on him, reaching out to catch him as he stummbles slightly.

Rae grins at him. "I'm sorry I mistrusted you. After seeing the way Jila is in this dimension, I was afraid that you might be similarly... twisted." She shakes her head. "You are the same." She kisses him on the forehead and walks over to a cot.

"Not if it brings your Rivyn back to you." Rae kisses him gently. "I once made a promise to look out for you, Bailar, and this is a part of that." She stares sadly at him. "You love her very much. I won't deprive you of the thing you love most in this world."

Rae shakes her head and lays back on the cot. "I'm not her. I'm nothing like her as a person, even if we DO share a soul. I'm not the woman you love, Bailar. I'm a stranger with her contenance."

She smiles sadly up at him and shakes her head. "As a brother, maybe, but my heart... it lies elsewhere." She takes his hands in hers. "This shouldn't take too long."