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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer see part 1
An imaginative view of the world 36 - 40
"She's back. She's back! Oh my God, she's alive!"
Kyla had heard that sentence before and she knew that voice. That was her mother. Her mother? No, that couldn't be. Maybe it was Kira. Kira Lewellyn from the universe with Jarod. She had the same voice as her mother. She heard the steady beat of machines and other things that didn't seem suitable for a Jarod universe. She opened her eyes and looked at her mother. More like the ghost of her mother. She had black shades under her eyes and she didn't look very healthy. She leaned over Kyla and kissed her forehead. Kyla looked around the room. This was reality? This couldn't be real. Why was she lying in hospital? Why was she here? Hadn't she heard in this bubble that she was dying? Hadn't they tried to revive her? She couldn't sort it out. She was alive. If this was another universe she didn't like it. If this was reality she didn't like it either. She wanted to sit up but found herself unable to move. But suddenly every muscle in her body hurt. She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the pain. She moaned. She felt like screaming. Screaming the pain out.
–—
"Kyla, calm down. Why are you screaming? Kyla, come on, open your eyes!"
That was Giles' voice. She was back in the Buffyverse. It felt more real than what she thought to be her reality. She remembered what Dumbledore had said. Did she know which was her reality? Was there such a thing as reality? What was normal? What if it really was a dream? Could a dream be complicated like this? What if she was sitting somewhere in a facility and hallucinating? Kyla opened her eyes and looked at Giles. He was holding her in his arms. She remembered the last time she had been here. Tinkerbell had shrunk her to fairy-size and the "real" Kyla had collapsed into Giles' arms. Real Kyla? That word again. She was still lying on the front porch. Why had she been screaming? She had been to what she assumed to be the real world. Pain. It had hurt. Why had she been screaming in this reality? She tried to sit up. Her head was spinning. Why and what had been happening to her? She felt like crying. She wanted to curl up in a corner and cry her soul out. She didn't know why. She felt so helpless and somehow left alone even though there were enough people around her who cared for her. She had no reason to feel alone and she had no right to doubt that those people loved her. And this world she was in right now sounded so much like home. And she wished it to be home. Home. Home is where the heart is, isn't it? But where was her heart? Inside her. Did this mean her home was everywhere she was? Did she have a home at all? Did it make sense what she was thinking?
Giles helped her sit up. She stared at him. What if Dumbledore had been right? What if this world was real and the others weren't? What if she belonged here? Did she belong here? Her head was spinning from all those thoughts. Willow looked at her.
"Has it worked?"
"I don't know. It was there all the time. It was with me. But what was it supposed to protect me from?"
"I don't know. Death?"
"I wanted to die in one of the universes but I couldn't. I wanted this universe to end. It's awful there and I thought I could end it by dying. But if this band prevents me dying then it did its job very good."
Giles looked at her with something like hurt in his eyes. "I never knew you had suicidal tendencies."
"I didn't know myself but it seemed the only way to get away from this universe. And that was all I wanted at that moment. I still don't want to go back there but I think I will have to to end this universe."
"Calm down. I'm not accusing you. I was just shocked to hear that from you. I know of the circumstances and I try to understand what's going on in your head. And I try to understand what's going on around me. I'm not sure if I've seen a hallucination before you collapsed. I have seen a fairy."
Willow and Kyla grinned and shook their head in unison.
"You haven't seen a hallucination. Tinkerbell is real. But she doesn't belong to this universe. You have seen her for real. She was with me in the last universe but I think she remained there to save the world. I'm not sure."
"Don't worry about that right now. You're here in this world."
"Is this real? Am I real?"
"Of course you are real. And we are real as well. You have to decide what's real for you. If you keep searching for an answer somewhere in the stars you'll never be able to solve this mystery. You’re remember what I told you about your past. The way I remember you, the moments we all shared, the things we did together. Doesn't it sound real?"
"It sounds as real as Dawn."
"What? Why Dawn? She was created by the monks."
"That's how I feel. I feel like all the memories are created and don't really exist. It feels like nothing really exists and all this is just a dream. How can I prove what's real and what isn't?"
"You can't prove anything. You have to find out for yourself what is real and try to remain there. Of course it would be hard for us to lose you. But if you decide that this is not real we have to live with that but don't you dare to commit suicide. I would certainly stop you from doing that."
"Oh Giles, I wouldn't want to leave this world if I knew it was real. But somehow it doesn't feel right."
"You should talk about it with Buffy for a while. Maybe she knows an answer or can tell you how she decided that this was the real world. Maybe that helps."
"Or a cup of herbal tea," Willow said and helped her up, "Or both. Let's get some cups and some tea from inside and settle down on the porch. And someone wake Buffy. She has been sleeping long enough now. Let's have a nice day in the sun with lots of talking and many sweets. I want some chocolate."
"How can you think about chocolate right now, Will?"
"OK, ice cream?"
"Sounds much better," Kyla grinned and went into the kitchen to fetch the mugs they had been using earlier the day for their coffee and tea. She made a huge pot with tea and one with coffee and carried everything outside. Willow had disappeared into the "dungeons" as she called it and wanted to search for some ice cream while Giles was upstairs to wake Buffy from her blissful slumber. From the noises Kyla heard on the porch she assumed that Buffy was far from being ready to get up and the way Willow stomped up the stairs again told her that she hadn't found any ice cream. She heard Willow rummaging in the kitchen but she didn't bother to look. She had her eyes closed and enjoyed the sun. Giles came down the stairs and out on the front porch. Kyla opened her eyes. He was massaging his head.
"Buffy didn't want to get up. She threw something at me that was lying in her bed and that wasn't a teddy bear or her pillow."
Kyla grinned and so did Willow who stepped out of the door the moment Giles had finished the sentence. She was carrying a huge bowl filled with candy of all sorts. She shrugged apologetically.
"I couldn't find any ice cream so we have to take something else instead and that was all I could find in the kitchen and the dungeon. Nothing left from my private supply either. Someone must have found out where I kept it," Willow said and shot an accusing look at Buffy who stepped out the door the very moment.
"I didn't do anything and I didn't eat your chocolate. That was Giles," she yawned.
"How do you know we've been talking about chocolate?" Giles asked.
"OK, it was me. I admit it. Why are we having a wonderful sit-in like this in the early morning? Did I miss something?"
"We need to talk about a few things. You need to tell Kyla all about your encounter with the demon and what happened to you and how you managed to come back. Can you do that?"
"Sure, Giles. But I don't know what that's supposed to help."
"It might help me to find out where I belong and how I get back there. Why doesn't anyone want to tell Buffy about what happened while she was sleeping?"
Buffy looked at everyone with a surprised look on her face.
"I DID miss something and nobody told me? That's not fair!! What did I miss? Come on, tell me!"
"Just a little spell, a little fairy and Kyla fainting twice. Nothing serious."
"NOTHING SERIOUS? You're kidding. Sounds like you had the time of your life and I was in bed sleeping. Why didn't anyone tell me? Or wake me?"
Everybody just grinned while Buffy pouted but then she grinned as well. But suddenly a concerned look shot over her face. She looked at Kyla.
"You fainted? Why? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, yes. But I think we have to tell you a few things, don't we?"
And so Kyla started to think about what had happened earlier in this universe. The thing with Willow's protection spell and the green protection band at her wrist that had remained there so far, meeting Will in her own mind and falling until she was in another universe, coming back with the help of Tinkerbell and leaving again in the size of a fairy. And then coming back here. She fingered for her arm. Dr. Crusher had implanted a little chip. Had it come along to this universe? No. It was gone. But Willow's protection band was still there. There was no sense in that.
"Anything wrong?" Willow asked.
"No. I just remembered something I got in the Star Trek universe. I thought it might have worked but it hasn't. I wonder why."
"Maybe because you've gone back in time," Buffy suggested, "This kind of technology hasn't been invented yet, has it?"
"Sounds reasonable."
"And what was that about the little fairy? Why isn't she here now?"
"Good question. She remained in her universe, I think. She said something about me being safer in another universe. I don't know what she's doing or why she isn't here but I think I should be thankful she isn't. It's hard to see things you wish for suddenly coming true. It's somehow easier without her."
"Things you wish for are coming true? Cool. Can't you wish something for me? I want to have some holidays. I need a stand-in for just one time and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
"Oh come on, be reasonable, Buffy."
"OK, let's try to find a way to end this for Kyla. When this demon thing gave me this gift of seeing my other self I started to think that this was real. It came as far as thinking that I had to kill everybody to end this universe. It has certain similarities to Kyla who thinks she has to die in every universe to get back to her own reality. I tried to believe my parents and the doctor at the facility but in the end I thought that life couldn't be so hard on me and decided that this was much better than being in a facility and I decided to come back. I have to admit that I missed my parents very much and wanted to believe it was real because they were there. I wanted to be back here with my friends."
"What if this is still your dream world and the real you is still in that clinic?" Kyla asked.
"I don't care. I prefer to be quite happy in this world, really. What do you think is the real world?"
"The real world? This one here sounds so real. Star Trek doesn't sound real, I know that. Real. My mom, sitting at my bed, me dying. Sounds too horrible to be real but I think that's it. That's the real world."
"Do you want to be back there?"
"Of course I want --- I'm not sure. I feel that I have to want to be there but something inside me tells me that it's not real. There was this encounter with Dumbledore --"
"DUMBLEDORE? You've also been at Hogwarts?"
"Sorry, Willow, I forgot to tell you. It has been a really short visit and I know that this wasn't real at all. But Dumbledore told me something that made me start thinking again. He asked me if I knew for sure where I belong. That made me think. What if there's another world I can't remember that is the real world?"
"That sounds so complicated. I don't know what I'm supposed to think," Willow sighed and took a piece of chocolate. While she chewed she looked at Kyla who tried not to feel uncomfortable. Giles stared into his teacup as if he wanted to read the future from the tea leaves - even though there were none in his cup. Buffy chewed on her thumb and Kyla stared after a butterfly that was fluttering through the porch.
"Where do you want to be?" Giles asked and looked up from his teacup. "The most important thing for you is to find out in which place you feel home and not which place is supposed to be home. If the real world doesn't feel like home it can't be home."
"Home? Here. I have people who care about me and people who love me. This is where I feel home."
"Then you should find a way to get that into your mind. I think it's the most important thing to have in mind - where your heart belongs."
"And I need to find a way to end this soon. I'm tired of doing all these shifts. If you don't mind I'll leave you alone and go to bed. That's the easiest way to change universes. Do I need to put a sign onto the door that say 'Please wake me for meals'?"
"No, you don't," Willow grinned. "I'll wake you. I'll come with you. I need something from our room before you go to sleep."
Kyla bit back a comment. She was sharing the room with Willow? She hoped she hadn't missed something. She followed Willow upstairs. Will threw her jumper onto the right side of the bed and kissed Kyla's cheek on the way back to the door.
"Sweet dreams. I'll wake you for lunch."
So the left side of the bed was supposed to be hers. She shrugged and laid down without changing her clothes. She looked at the protection band. It was still there. The micro chip wasn't. Maybe it would be in the next universe. She hoped it would be as nice as this one. She closed her eyes and dozed off.
***
She woke with a start and tried to suck in air. It felt like someone was trying to press the air from her lungs. She opened her eyes. She was in a white room. The light was dimmed. She moved her head to one side and saw someone else in the room. Someone moved at the feet of her bed. The man got up and pulled his chair up to sit next to her.
"Hey, honey. How do you feel?"
"Is she going to die?" she croaked and looked at Parker. Jarod followed her gaze and looked at Parker as well. Parker was going to die, yes. But how was he to tell her that she was nearly dead? The simple truth sounded too harsh, didn't it?
"Yes, she is. Her time is near. The Doc said it's only a matter of hours before her circulatory system breaks down and her heart stops beating. They will try to keep her alive as long as possible and I'm afraid I will have to call Sydney and Mr. Parker. But I'm not sure what they think about this. Parker has been used in an experiment by Lyle. Maybe she's already dead to the Centre and I will be too if I tell them that I found her and let her die."
"What about me? Am I going to die as well?"
"I don't know. There's no antidote to this kind of drug and I won't be able to find a cure - I don't have anything to work on. There's nothing left in your blood that proves that there was a drug at all. I don't know what's happening and I don't know how to stop it."
Kyla closed her eyes. She was feeling exhausted. This was exactly what she had wanted, wasn't it? She was dying and that ended this universe. She felt sorry for Jarod who had to watch her and Parker die and somehow she was afraid. She had died in the Deep Space Nine universe but had been revived. She had been scared. She had been afraid and she hadn't wanted to die. She was afraid right now and she wanted to live. She wanted to fight. She was losing against Lyle and Myra. That felt too much like a defeat. And Myra had been so right. She didn't belong into her world. She had heard that comment even though she had been kind of out. She had heard her. But Myra knew that she didn't belong there - like Myra herself. She didn't belong there either. But she had been the one who had induced the drug into Parker's and Kyla's bloodstream. Her head hurt. Slowly everything in her body started to hurt. She looked at Parker. She was lying there motionless.
"They have sedated her. She wasn't able to breathe anymore from all the pain. It is an artificial coma. I hope it helps. The tremors have stopped as soon as she was unconscious but she has to be hooked onto life support. This feels so unreal."
"It's as real as can be, Jarod. And she's awake. Her eyes are open."
His head whipped around and he jumped up. Parker's eyes were open but they were unfocused. She wasn't breathing on her own and the beeping of the machines hadn't changed much. The beeps were getting slower though. Kyla looked up at the machines she was hooked to. They were very much the same except for life support. The machines were standing there but were not operating - yet. She was afraid. Parker's head turned and she looked directly at Kyla.
"Be brave little one," she croaked. She closed her eyes again and there was a long whine. Kyla's eyes filled with tears. Parker was dead. Died in front of her eyes and she hadn't been able to do anything. Jarod had cradled her in his arms. The door flew open and the doctors came in. They gently pushed him aside to check on Parker, They didn't try to revive her. They were talking to Jarod but Kyla wasn't able to listen to them. She was sobbing which made breathing even harder. When they pulled the blanket over Parker's face she felt like her heart was being torn out. The look on Jarod's face told her that he must be feeling the same. She didn't realize that one of the doctors injected something into the intravenous bottle that was dangling next to her bed. The sobbing subsided and the world felt so much at peace. Could this be how it felt when one was dying? And why had Parker told her to be brave? Had one to be brave to die? Was dying something frightening? She didn't want to know. The pain suddenly came from nowhere. It felt like someone was punching her in the stomach, put a knife through her heart and let a hammer fall on her head at the same time.
The sharp intake of breath told Jarod that it had started with Kyla as well. In less than an hour she would be dead as well. The doctors and nurses had just started to bring Miss Parker's corpse out of the room. They stopped in their tracks and hurried back to Kyla's bed. They hooked her up to the other machines and pumped more sedatives into her bloodstream. But the pain didn't go away - it got worse. A searing pain shot through her heart. She looked at Jarod. He looked so frail. Her heart stopped beating. She felt it stop and felt how life drained from her slowly. She could still see Jarod. The pain was suddenly gone. And it felt like fainting. Grey clouds came into her view and her vision blurred. And then it was gone. Life had ended for her this time.
***
Had it been a bad dream? Someone was gently shaking her awake. She was sitting in a car. She opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurred. Jarod's universe.
"Did you have a bad dream? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I've been to another universe."
"Something bad?"
"I died."
Kira looked shocked but didn't say a thing. Kyla didn't know how much they knew. She couldn't remember if she had told them her story or if they knew only those things she had told them in her sleep when Jarod had been asking her questions. Kira suddenly pulled the car over and stopped.
"Are you alright?" Jarod asked her. Kira shook her head and disappeared between the trees next to the road. Jarod got up and followed her. Kyla had no other choice but to remain in the car. Her eyes were nearly back to normal but her feet still didn't work the way she wanted. She could feel her toes but couldn't move her legs yet.
She hoped Kira would be alright. She had to wait for a few minutes until she heard someone coming back from the woods. It was Jarod who was carrying the limp form of Kira in his arms. He laid her down on the backseat and Kyla cradled her head in her lap.
"What happened?"
"Good question. She was throwing up when I found her and collapsed in my arms afterwards. She didn't say anything. I don't know what happened."
"That sounds like something I experienced in another universe. It was the universe I died. It was a synthetic drug Raines has created but I can't think of a way how that drug has come into this universe and into Kira's bloodstream. It doesn't make sense."
"No, it doesn't but it's a possibility. There are other things that may have caused this. Maybe she's simply pregnant."
Kyla smirked and looked down on Kira. Her face was ashen. Her eyelids trembled and she slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Kyla and wanted to sit up but Kyla held her down.
"Hey there. How do you feel?"
"Where am I? What happened?"
"You're in the car. Jarod brought you back here after you broke down. Do you know what happened and why?"
Kira shook her head and sat up. Kyla didn't hold her back. Jarod came from the back of the car and handed Kira a bottle with water.
"Feeling better? I'm going to drive now, we have to get to Findlay until tonight."
He closed the door. Kira remained on the backseat with Kyla while Jarod got into the driver's seat. Both Kira and Kyla weren't happy with the idea of Jarod in the driver's seat. Jarod was on a wanted ad after all. If someone bothered to check the security cameras at the toll stations they would spot Jarod easily. As if he had read their mind he put on sunglasses and a baseball cap.
"Do I need a moustache or does it suffice?"
"No, that's fine. Can you read my mind?"
"No, Kira, I can't but the same thing was on my mind as well. How do you feel?"
"Better, I think. I don't know what happened or why."
"Sorry to ask but are you pregnant?"
"No way," she laughed, "but thanks for the concern. Maybe something I ate."
"You had the same Kyla and I had but don't worry we'll find out. But it'll have to wait. We have only a few hours left to get to Findlay and we definitely have to hurry."
He started the car and drove back onto the road again. Trees and houses shot by and nobody was talking. Kyla opened the window and enjoyed the warm wind caressing her skin. She had only just woken up but the soft music on the radio made her sleepy and when she leaned her head against the cool window she felt sleepy. The wind was doing it's job and finally she fell asleep again.
***
Why had she fallen asleep again? She had been to this universe for just a few minutes. She opened her eyes. She was in another universe again. She looked around the room. A Star Trek universe again. She looked at the book on the table. Giles' diary. So she was back in the Voyager universe. She had been reading Giles' diary and had fallen asleep then. She took the diary from the table and went on reading.
The doorbell chimed and Tom Paris entered the room with the padd he had taken from her room. He gave it to her and smiled.
"Nothing special, I think. Looks a lot like another diary."
"MY diary? Have you read it?"
"Only a few lines. Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude into your private life."
"That's OK. As far as I remember you are part of my private life, aren't you?"
"In a way, yes. How do you feel?"
"Quite good actually. I haven't had time to check on everything I got about the anomaly yet. Do you know anything?"
"Janeway said that Seven has come quite far with your transporter theory and that it should work soon."
Kyla looked at her arm. The protection band was there and when she fingered for the chip in her arm she could feel it as well. Maybe it was something like her wrist watch and it was only there in universes where it had already been invented. She looked at Tom.
"I need you to do me a favour. Take your tricorder, run it over my arm and tell me what you see."
"What I see? What do you mean?"
"Just do it."
Tom took the tricorder and ran it over Kyla's outstretched arm. He looked at the readings and frowned. He ran the tricorder over the arm again and again. Then he hit his communicator and asked Captain Janeway to join them. He sat down on the sofa and looked at Kyla.
"Do you know where it came from?"
"Sure. Let's wait for the Captain. I don't want to tell twice."
Captain Janeway entered the room and looked at Tom expectantly. He only handed her the tricorder and Kyla stretched out her arm. Janeway ran the tricorder over the arm twice.
"Do you know where it came from?" she asked.
"Yes. I was given the implant aboard the Enterprise by Dr. Crusher. She said it was some kind of homing beacon. If it works they can trace me and even bring me back aboard the Enterprise. I'm not sure how to work it though."
"What would happen if you'd find out how to work it?"
"I don't know. I wasn't told."
"We should meet Seven and B'Elanna in Stellar Cartography. We need to find out how it works and what happens. But without proper readings I don't want to mess around with this transponder or whatever it is."
"May I suggest we meet in sickbay? What if something goes wrong?" Tom interrupted and Janeway nodded.
"Seven of Nine and Lt. Torres, meet me in sickbay," she said and strode out of the room. Tom followed her quickly and Kyla limped after them. When Tom realized that Kyla wasn't up to running yet he slowed down and waited for her. They entered the turbolift together and Janeway smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, I forgot."
When they entered sickbay Seven and B'Elanna were already waiting for them. B'Elanna looked curious, Seven only annoyed that she had been disturbed in her work. Janeway filled them in on the chip that was implanted in Kyla's arm. They asked Kyla to sit down and Seven switched on a few machines around her and so did B'Elanna. She felt odd. She hated those beeping machines and she had no idea what they were used for. But she had the notion that she should know because she was supposed to work on this ship, wasn't she? Seven came to stand next to her and ran a tricorder over her arm.
"You should tap it. That is the proper way to activate this kind of chip," she stated matter of factly.
Kyla looked at Janeway and the Doctor who were standing behind Seven. Janeway only nodded. Kyla was somehow afraid. She had no idea what would happen. She tapped the chip but nothing happened. She looked up. B'Elanna only shook her shoulders and leaned over her readings. She looked annoyed that things didn't work out the way she had expected. Kyla felt a prickling sensation all over her body and Voyager's sickbay vanished in a sea of blue light.
–—
"It obviously worked. Have you been in trouble, Kyla?" Data asked when Kyla rematerialized in sickbay aboard the Enterprise.
"No. I wasn't. How have I come here?"
"We beamed you back. Where have you been?"
"You can't have beamed me halfway through the galaxy, could you? I've been aboard Voyager somewhere in the Delta-Quadrant."
"Voyager? Delta-Quadrant? How is this possible?" Dr. Crusher asked and ran a tricorder over Kyla.
"I don't know," Geordie asked, "But it worked better than we had expected."
"Could you beam me back there? Are there any sensor readings in the computer I could take along?"
She looked at her uniform. She was still wearing the Voyager uniform while everybody else in the room was wearing a newer uniform. If she had really been beamed over here she could easily take something back when they would manage to beam her back aboard Voyager.
"We could download all the information on a padd for you to take a long. It will take a few minutes though to make out the exact position from where you came from. It's not easy to beam you halfway through the galaxy and not miss the spot. Theoretically it's impossible to beam you there but it has worked before."
"There's some kind of anomaly that makes it possible."
"How do you feel Kyla? You've been through a lot in the last few days," Dr. Crusher asked. "You've been taken hostage by aliens and-" she looked at the tricorder in her hand and then at Kyla's leg. "What happened?"
"An accident in the other universe. Something's not going right here. I've never taken something from one universe to the other. Where is the Kyla from this universe?"
"Computer, locate Ensign Kyla Parker."
"Ensign Kyla Parker is not aboard the Enterprise."
"Computer, identify person sitting on biobed 4."
"Unknown."
"Who am I then if I'm not me?" Kyla asked.
"Computer, voice identification," she demanded.
"Ensign Kyla Parker."
"I don't understand this," Kyla said and looked at the people gathered around her. Dr. Crusher ran the tricorder over her again.
"The tricorder unmistakeably identifies you as Ensign Kyla Parker. Something's wrong."
"I don't mind. I know who am I am without the computer telling me. Can you beam me back? I have to tell them that I have been here and show them the data the scanners collected."
"We have been able to bring her here. We should be able to beam her back. But we need the Captain's permission," Geordie said and Data nodded.
They asked the Captain to join them in sickbay and a few minutes later the doors opened to admit Captain Picard into sickbay. He smiled when he saw Kyla.
"Nice to have you back even though I had no idea you where gone. The computer filled me in on everything. How do you feel, Ensign?"
"Quite good. But I have to get back."
"Why?"
"I don't know. It feels right to go back. It seems only fair to return and tell them that I'm fine."
"Let me sum up everything first. You told us that you were from the past and wanted to get back to your own time. Now you're talking about all this as if you're familiar with everything from our ship and the technology from this time. How is this possible?"
"I don't think you'd understand even if I tried to explain it - and I'm not sure I can explain it. Do you really want to know? It's complicated."
"Of course I want to know. Try to explain it to me and then we'll see if it makes sense."
Kyla had no idea where to start. She had told them her story before but that hadn't explained why she had so much knowledge about the technology of her future. She didn't know how to explain it so she said that she was a quick study and had learned everything from watching the others and reading stuff on the computer. Picard seemed to believe her because he didn't say anything but nodded when she was finished explaining.
"Sounds reasonable. I still don't quite understand why you want to go back. But I think that it's OK to beam you back. But you should know of the possible consequences. You know that it is very dangerous to beam you across the galaxy and I don't really know how it has worked the first place. I hope to see you back safe and sound and I hope you bring back a few facts that might help us solve the mystery with the anomaly."
"Yes, Sir. I will try to gather as much information as possible. Thank you for your trust in me."
Picard nodded and looked at Geordie expectantly. Geordie nodded and worked on a transporter panel.
"Are you ready, Kyla?"
Kyla nodded and took the padd Data offered her. She was a little afraid. She had no idea how transporters worked but she knew that her whole body was split into micro particles and shot through the galaxy. She had never known that it was possible to beam over such distances. Maybe this was still a dream? It had to be. If it was possible to beam into the Delta Quadrant and back it had to be possible to bring back the crew of Voyager. They had a long journey in front of them and if it was possible to - she was disturbed in her thoughts by Geordie who announced that the transporters were ready. She held tightly to the padd and waited for the funny feeling she had felt the last time.
The world disappeared in blue light and she was beamed back to the other universe. But it seemed to take longer this time.
***
The beaming process seemed to take forever. Something had gone wrong. She was sure about it. She was still caught in the blue light. And then it was over. She re-appeared. But where was she? Everything was upside down. She looked around and then gravity won. She saw the Doctor and Captain Janeway run towards her and then she hit the ground and lost consciousness.
***
"Look who's back. I thought I'd never find you in that other world again. How do you feel?"
"I'm feeling fine. Where am I and what am I doing here?"
She looked at the black robes she was wearing and then looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face. She was sitting on the floor in the headmaster's office. She could clearly see the Sorting Hat on the shelf, she could see Fawkes the Phoenix sitting on it's dais and all the moving pictures around her some of which were staring at her. It felt funny to be in Hogwarts. The door opened and Professor McGonagall entered the room.
"I see you have found her again, Albus," she said and smiled at Kyla. "Did it work?" she asked and looked back at the Headmaster.
"No, Minerva, it didn't. I will have to work on it again. The potion has turned green while it was supposed to turn pink with blue bubbles. I will ask Severus to help me. While we work on it I think we will have to send Kyla back to where she really belongs, won't we?"
"Can I have a word too, Professor?"
"Whatever you want to say, Kyla."
"The last time we met you said that I didn't know where I came from. Where do I come from?"
"That's up to you and the potion is supposed to help you find your way back. Now be a good girl and take the portkey back to your world, will you?"
"Which portkey?"
"The blue bottle next to you has been made a portkey for this time. And take care, Kyla. We'll see each other again when the potion is ready."
Kyla touched the bottle. The world whirled around her and she was flying through nothingness. She saw the Summers' house rushing up towards her and suddenly she stopped in midair. A small shiny something was hovering in front of her. It was Tinkerbell.
"I'm sorry that I caught you between the universes but I think it's time for you to come back to the Enterprise. People start to worry about you. And I need you to wish something so I can finish my job and get a promotion."
She spread her little shiny stars all around her and Kyla felt herself shrink again and this time she kept her eyes open to see where she was going. Things were going too fast to really see something. It was a whirl of colours and she closed her eyes and wished for it to stop.
An imaginative view of the world 36 - 40
"She's back. She's back! Oh my God, she's alive!"
Kyla had heard that sentence before and she knew that voice. That was her mother. Her mother? No, that couldn't be. Maybe it was Kira. Kira Lewellyn from the universe with Jarod. She had the same voice as her mother. She heard the steady beat of machines and other things that didn't seem suitable for a Jarod universe. She opened her eyes and looked at her mother. More like the ghost of her mother. She had black shades under her eyes and she didn't look very healthy. She leaned over Kyla and kissed her forehead. Kyla looked around the room. This was reality? This couldn't be real. Why was she lying in hospital? Why was she here? Hadn't she heard in this bubble that she was dying? Hadn't they tried to revive her? She couldn't sort it out. She was alive. If this was another universe she didn't like it. If this was reality she didn't like it either. She wanted to sit up but found herself unable to move. But suddenly every muscle in her body hurt. She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the pain. She moaned. She felt like screaming. Screaming the pain out.
–—
"Kyla, calm down. Why are you screaming? Kyla, come on, open your eyes!"
That was Giles' voice. She was back in the Buffyverse. It felt more real than what she thought to be her reality. She remembered what Dumbledore had said. Did she know which was her reality? Was there such a thing as reality? What was normal? What if it really was a dream? Could a dream be complicated like this? What if she was sitting somewhere in a facility and hallucinating? Kyla opened her eyes and looked at Giles. He was holding her in his arms. She remembered the last time she had been here. Tinkerbell had shrunk her to fairy-size and the "real" Kyla had collapsed into Giles' arms. Real Kyla? That word again. She was still lying on the front porch. Why had she been screaming? She had been to what she assumed to be the real world. Pain. It had hurt. Why had she been screaming in this reality? She tried to sit up. Her head was spinning. Why and what had been happening to her? She felt like crying. She wanted to curl up in a corner and cry her soul out. She didn't know why. She felt so helpless and somehow left alone even though there were enough people around her who cared for her. She had no reason to feel alone and she had no right to doubt that those people loved her. And this world she was in right now sounded so much like home. And she wished it to be home. Home. Home is where the heart is, isn't it? But where was her heart? Inside her. Did this mean her home was everywhere she was? Did she have a home at all? Did it make sense what she was thinking?
Giles helped her sit up. She stared at him. What if Dumbledore had been right? What if this world was real and the others weren't? What if she belonged here? Did she belong here? Her head was spinning from all those thoughts. Willow looked at her.
"Has it worked?"
"I don't know. It was there all the time. It was with me. But what was it supposed to protect me from?"
"I don't know. Death?"
"I wanted to die in one of the universes but I couldn't. I wanted this universe to end. It's awful there and I thought I could end it by dying. But if this band prevents me dying then it did its job very good."
Giles looked at her with something like hurt in his eyes. "I never knew you had suicidal tendencies."
"I didn't know myself but it seemed the only way to get away from this universe. And that was all I wanted at that moment. I still don't want to go back there but I think I will have to to end this universe."
"Calm down. I'm not accusing you. I was just shocked to hear that from you. I know of the circumstances and I try to understand what's going on in your head. And I try to understand what's going on around me. I'm not sure if I've seen a hallucination before you collapsed. I have seen a fairy."
Willow and Kyla grinned and shook their head in unison.
"You haven't seen a hallucination. Tinkerbell is real. But she doesn't belong to this universe. You have seen her for real. She was with me in the last universe but I think she remained there to save the world. I'm not sure."
"Don't worry about that right now. You're here in this world."
"Is this real? Am I real?"
"Of course you are real. And we are real as well. You have to decide what's real for you. If you keep searching for an answer somewhere in the stars you'll never be able to solve this mystery. You’re remember what I told you about your past. The way I remember you, the moments we all shared, the things we did together. Doesn't it sound real?"
"It sounds as real as Dawn."
"What? Why Dawn? She was created by the monks."
"That's how I feel. I feel like all the memories are created and don't really exist. It feels like nothing really exists and all this is just a dream. How can I prove what's real and what isn't?"
"You can't prove anything. You have to find out for yourself what is real and try to remain there. Of course it would be hard for us to lose you. But if you decide that this is not real we have to live with that but don't you dare to commit suicide. I would certainly stop you from doing that."
"Oh Giles, I wouldn't want to leave this world if I knew it was real. But somehow it doesn't feel right."
"You should talk about it with Buffy for a while. Maybe she knows an answer or can tell you how she decided that this was the real world. Maybe that helps."
"Or a cup of herbal tea," Willow said and helped her up, "Or both. Let's get some cups and some tea from inside and settle down on the porch. And someone wake Buffy. She has been sleeping long enough now. Let's have a nice day in the sun with lots of talking and many sweets. I want some chocolate."
"How can you think about chocolate right now, Will?"
"OK, ice cream?"
"Sounds much better," Kyla grinned and went into the kitchen to fetch the mugs they had been using earlier the day for their coffee and tea. She made a huge pot with tea and one with coffee and carried everything outside. Willow had disappeared into the "dungeons" as she called it and wanted to search for some ice cream while Giles was upstairs to wake Buffy from her blissful slumber. From the noises Kyla heard on the porch she assumed that Buffy was far from being ready to get up and the way Willow stomped up the stairs again told her that she hadn't found any ice cream. She heard Willow rummaging in the kitchen but she didn't bother to look. She had her eyes closed and enjoyed the sun. Giles came down the stairs and out on the front porch. Kyla opened her eyes. He was massaging his head.
"Buffy didn't want to get up. She threw something at me that was lying in her bed and that wasn't a teddy bear or her pillow."
Kyla grinned and so did Willow who stepped out of the door the moment Giles had finished the sentence. She was carrying a huge bowl filled with candy of all sorts. She shrugged apologetically.
"I couldn't find any ice cream so we have to take something else instead and that was all I could find in the kitchen and the dungeon. Nothing left from my private supply either. Someone must have found out where I kept it," Willow said and shot an accusing look at Buffy who stepped out the door the very moment.
"I didn't do anything and I didn't eat your chocolate. That was Giles," she yawned.
"How do you know we've been talking about chocolate?" Giles asked.
"OK, it was me. I admit it. Why are we having a wonderful sit-in like this in the early morning? Did I miss something?"
"We need to talk about a few things. You need to tell Kyla all about your encounter with the demon and what happened to you and how you managed to come back. Can you do that?"
"Sure, Giles. But I don't know what that's supposed to help."
"It might help me to find out where I belong and how I get back there. Why doesn't anyone want to tell Buffy about what happened while she was sleeping?"
Buffy looked at everyone with a surprised look on her face.
"I DID miss something and nobody told me? That's not fair!! What did I miss? Come on, tell me!"
"Just a little spell, a little fairy and Kyla fainting twice. Nothing serious."
"NOTHING SERIOUS? You're kidding. Sounds like you had the time of your life and I was in bed sleeping. Why didn't anyone tell me? Or wake me?"
Everybody just grinned while Buffy pouted but then she grinned as well. But suddenly a concerned look shot over her face. She looked at Kyla.
"You fainted? Why? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, yes. But I think we have to tell you a few things, don't we?"
And so Kyla started to think about what had happened earlier in this universe. The thing with Willow's protection spell and the green protection band at her wrist that had remained there so far, meeting Will in her own mind and falling until she was in another universe, coming back with the help of Tinkerbell and leaving again in the size of a fairy. And then coming back here. She fingered for her arm. Dr. Crusher had implanted a little chip. Had it come along to this universe? No. It was gone. But Willow's protection band was still there. There was no sense in that.
"Anything wrong?" Willow asked.
"No. I just remembered something I got in the Star Trek universe. I thought it might have worked but it hasn't. I wonder why."
"Maybe because you've gone back in time," Buffy suggested, "This kind of technology hasn't been invented yet, has it?"
"Sounds reasonable."
"And what was that about the little fairy? Why isn't she here now?"
"Good question. She remained in her universe, I think. She said something about me being safer in another universe. I don't know what she's doing or why she isn't here but I think I should be thankful she isn't. It's hard to see things you wish for suddenly coming true. It's somehow easier without her."
"Things you wish for are coming true? Cool. Can't you wish something for me? I want to have some holidays. I need a stand-in for just one time and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
"Oh come on, be reasonable, Buffy."
"OK, let's try to find a way to end this for Kyla. When this demon thing gave me this gift of seeing my other self I started to think that this was real. It came as far as thinking that I had to kill everybody to end this universe. It has certain similarities to Kyla who thinks she has to die in every universe to get back to her own reality. I tried to believe my parents and the doctor at the facility but in the end I thought that life couldn't be so hard on me and decided that this was much better than being in a facility and I decided to come back. I have to admit that I missed my parents very much and wanted to believe it was real because they were there. I wanted to be back here with my friends."
"What if this is still your dream world and the real you is still in that clinic?" Kyla asked.
"I don't care. I prefer to be quite happy in this world, really. What do you think is the real world?"
"The real world? This one here sounds so real. Star Trek doesn't sound real, I know that. Real. My mom, sitting at my bed, me dying. Sounds too horrible to be real but I think that's it. That's the real world."
"Do you want to be back there?"
"Of course I want --- I'm not sure. I feel that I have to want to be there but something inside me tells me that it's not real. There was this encounter with Dumbledore --"
"DUMBLEDORE? You've also been at Hogwarts?"
"Sorry, Willow, I forgot to tell you. It has been a really short visit and I know that this wasn't real at all. But Dumbledore told me something that made me start thinking again. He asked me if I knew for sure where I belong. That made me think. What if there's another world I can't remember that is the real world?"
"That sounds so complicated. I don't know what I'm supposed to think," Willow sighed and took a piece of chocolate. While she chewed she looked at Kyla who tried not to feel uncomfortable. Giles stared into his teacup as if he wanted to read the future from the tea leaves - even though there were none in his cup. Buffy chewed on her thumb and Kyla stared after a butterfly that was fluttering through the porch.
"Where do you want to be?" Giles asked and looked up from his teacup. "The most important thing for you is to find out in which place you feel home and not which place is supposed to be home. If the real world doesn't feel like home it can't be home."
"Home? Here. I have people who care about me and people who love me. This is where I feel home."
"Then you should find a way to get that into your mind. I think it's the most important thing to have in mind - where your heart belongs."
"And I need to find a way to end this soon. I'm tired of doing all these shifts. If you don't mind I'll leave you alone and go to bed. That's the easiest way to change universes. Do I need to put a sign onto the door that say 'Please wake me for meals'?"
"No, you don't," Willow grinned. "I'll wake you. I'll come with you. I need something from our room before you go to sleep."
Kyla bit back a comment. She was sharing the room with Willow? She hoped she hadn't missed something. She followed Willow upstairs. Will threw her jumper onto the right side of the bed and kissed Kyla's cheek on the way back to the door.
"Sweet dreams. I'll wake you for lunch."
So the left side of the bed was supposed to be hers. She shrugged and laid down without changing her clothes. She looked at the protection band. It was still there. The micro chip wasn't. Maybe it would be in the next universe. She hoped it would be as nice as this one. She closed her eyes and dozed off.
***
She woke with a start and tried to suck in air. It felt like someone was trying to press the air from her lungs. She opened her eyes. She was in a white room. The light was dimmed. She moved her head to one side and saw someone else in the room. Someone moved at the feet of her bed. The man got up and pulled his chair up to sit next to her.
"Hey, honey. How do you feel?"
"Is she going to die?" she croaked and looked at Parker. Jarod followed her gaze and looked at Parker as well. Parker was going to die, yes. But how was he to tell her that she was nearly dead? The simple truth sounded too harsh, didn't it?
"Yes, she is. Her time is near. The Doc said it's only a matter of hours before her circulatory system breaks down and her heart stops beating. They will try to keep her alive as long as possible and I'm afraid I will have to call Sydney and Mr. Parker. But I'm not sure what they think about this. Parker has been used in an experiment by Lyle. Maybe she's already dead to the Centre and I will be too if I tell them that I found her and let her die."
"What about me? Am I going to die as well?"
"I don't know. There's no antidote to this kind of drug and I won't be able to find a cure - I don't have anything to work on. There's nothing left in your blood that proves that there was a drug at all. I don't know what's happening and I don't know how to stop it."
Kyla closed her eyes. She was feeling exhausted. This was exactly what she had wanted, wasn't it? She was dying and that ended this universe. She felt sorry for Jarod who had to watch her and Parker die and somehow she was afraid. She had died in the Deep Space Nine universe but had been revived. She had been scared. She had been afraid and she hadn't wanted to die. She was afraid right now and she wanted to live. She wanted to fight. She was losing against Lyle and Myra. That felt too much like a defeat. And Myra had been so right. She didn't belong into her world. She had heard that comment even though she had been kind of out. She had heard her. But Myra knew that she didn't belong there - like Myra herself. She didn't belong there either. But she had been the one who had induced the drug into Parker's and Kyla's bloodstream. Her head hurt. Slowly everything in her body started to hurt. She looked at Parker. She was lying there motionless.
"They have sedated her. She wasn't able to breathe anymore from all the pain. It is an artificial coma. I hope it helps. The tremors have stopped as soon as she was unconscious but she has to be hooked onto life support. This feels so unreal."
"It's as real as can be, Jarod. And she's awake. Her eyes are open."
His head whipped around and he jumped up. Parker's eyes were open but they were unfocused. She wasn't breathing on her own and the beeping of the machines hadn't changed much. The beeps were getting slower though. Kyla looked up at the machines she was hooked to. They were very much the same except for life support. The machines were standing there but were not operating - yet. She was afraid. Parker's head turned and she looked directly at Kyla.
"Be brave little one," she croaked. She closed her eyes again and there was a long whine. Kyla's eyes filled with tears. Parker was dead. Died in front of her eyes and she hadn't been able to do anything. Jarod had cradled her in his arms. The door flew open and the doctors came in. They gently pushed him aside to check on Parker, They didn't try to revive her. They were talking to Jarod but Kyla wasn't able to listen to them. She was sobbing which made breathing even harder. When they pulled the blanket over Parker's face she felt like her heart was being torn out. The look on Jarod's face told her that he must be feeling the same. She didn't realize that one of the doctors injected something into the intravenous bottle that was dangling next to her bed. The sobbing subsided and the world felt so much at peace. Could this be how it felt when one was dying? And why had Parker told her to be brave? Had one to be brave to die? Was dying something frightening? She didn't want to know. The pain suddenly came from nowhere. It felt like someone was punching her in the stomach, put a knife through her heart and let a hammer fall on her head at the same time.
The sharp intake of breath told Jarod that it had started with Kyla as well. In less than an hour she would be dead as well. The doctors and nurses had just started to bring Miss Parker's corpse out of the room. They stopped in their tracks and hurried back to Kyla's bed. They hooked her up to the other machines and pumped more sedatives into her bloodstream. But the pain didn't go away - it got worse. A searing pain shot through her heart. She looked at Jarod. He looked so frail. Her heart stopped beating. She felt it stop and felt how life drained from her slowly. She could still see Jarod. The pain was suddenly gone. And it felt like fainting. Grey clouds came into her view and her vision blurred. And then it was gone. Life had ended for her this time.
***
Had it been a bad dream? Someone was gently shaking her awake. She was sitting in a car. She opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurred. Jarod's universe.
"Did you have a bad dream? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I've been to another universe."
"Something bad?"
"I died."
Kira looked shocked but didn't say a thing. Kyla didn't know how much they knew. She couldn't remember if she had told them her story or if they knew only those things she had told them in her sleep when Jarod had been asking her questions. Kira suddenly pulled the car over and stopped.
"Are you alright?" Jarod asked her. Kira shook her head and disappeared between the trees next to the road. Jarod got up and followed her. Kyla had no other choice but to remain in the car. Her eyes were nearly back to normal but her feet still didn't work the way she wanted. She could feel her toes but couldn't move her legs yet.
She hoped Kira would be alright. She had to wait for a few minutes until she heard someone coming back from the woods. It was Jarod who was carrying the limp form of Kira in his arms. He laid her down on the backseat and Kyla cradled her head in her lap.
"What happened?"
"Good question. She was throwing up when I found her and collapsed in my arms afterwards. She didn't say anything. I don't know what happened."
"That sounds like something I experienced in another universe. It was the universe I died. It was a synthetic drug Raines has created but I can't think of a way how that drug has come into this universe and into Kira's bloodstream. It doesn't make sense."
"No, it doesn't but it's a possibility. There are other things that may have caused this. Maybe she's simply pregnant."
Kyla smirked and looked down on Kira. Her face was ashen. Her eyelids trembled and she slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Kyla and wanted to sit up but Kyla held her down.
"Hey there. How do you feel?"
"Where am I? What happened?"
"You're in the car. Jarod brought you back here after you broke down. Do you know what happened and why?"
Kira shook her head and sat up. Kyla didn't hold her back. Jarod came from the back of the car and handed Kira a bottle with water.
"Feeling better? I'm going to drive now, we have to get to Findlay until tonight."
He closed the door. Kira remained on the backseat with Kyla while Jarod got into the driver's seat. Both Kira and Kyla weren't happy with the idea of Jarod in the driver's seat. Jarod was on a wanted ad after all. If someone bothered to check the security cameras at the toll stations they would spot Jarod easily. As if he had read their mind he put on sunglasses and a baseball cap.
"Do I need a moustache or does it suffice?"
"No, that's fine. Can you read my mind?"
"No, Kira, I can't but the same thing was on my mind as well. How do you feel?"
"Better, I think. I don't know what happened or why."
"Sorry to ask but are you pregnant?"
"No way," she laughed, "but thanks for the concern. Maybe something I ate."
"You had the same Kyla and I had but don't worry we'll find out. But it'll have to wait. We have only a few hours left to get to Findlay and we definitely have to hurry."
He started the car and drove back onto the road again. Trees and houses shot by and nobody was talking. Kyla opened the window and enjoyed the warm wind caressing her skin. She had only just woken up but the soft music on the radio made her sleepy and when she leaned her head against the cool window she felt sleepy. The wind was doing it's job and finally she fell asleep again.
***
Why had she fallen asleep again? She had been to this universe for just a few minutes. She opened her eyes. She was in another universe again. She looked around the room. A Star Trek universe again. She looked at the book on the table. Giles' diary. So she was back in the Voyager universe. She had been reading Giles' diary and had fallen asleep then. She took the diary from the table and went on reading.
The doorbell chimed and Tom Paris entered the room with the padd he had taken from her room. He gave it to her and smiled.
"Nothing special, I think. Looks a lot like another diary."
"MY diary? Have you read it?"
"Only a few lines. Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude into your private life."
"That's OK. As far as I remember you are part of my private life, aren't you?"
"In a way, yes. How do you feel?"
"Quite good actually. I haven't had time to check on everything I got about the anomaly yet. Do you know anything?"
"Janeway said that Seven has come quite far with your transporter theory and that it should work soon."
Kyla looked at her arm. The protection band was there and when she fingered for the chip in her arm she could feel it as well. Maybe it was something like her wrist watch and it was only there in universes where it had already been invented. She looked at Tom.
"I need you to do me a favour. Take your tricorder, run it over my arm and tell me what you see."
"What I see? What do you mean?"
"Just do it."
Tom took the tricorder and ran it over Kyla's outstretched arm. He looked at the readings and frowned. He ran the tricorder over the arm again and again. Then he hit his communicator and asked Captain Janeway to join them. He sat down on the sofa and looked at Kyla.
"Do you know where it came from?"
"Sure. Let's wait for the Captain. I don't want to tell twice."
Captain Janeway entered the room and looked at Tom expectantly. He only handed her the tricorder and Kyla stretched out her arm. Janeway ran the tricorder over the arm twice.
"Do you know where it came from?" she asked.
"Yes. I was given the implant aboard the Enterprise by Dr. Crusher. She said it was some kind of homing beacon. If it works they can trace me and even bring me back aboard the Enterprise. I'm not sure how to work it though."
"What would happen if you'd find out how to work it?"
"I don't know. I wasn't told."
"We should meet Seven and B'Elanna in Stellar Cartography. We need to find out how it works and what happens. But without proper readings I don't want to mess around with this transponder or whatever it is."
"May I suggest we meet in sickbay? What if something goes wrong?" Tom interrupted and Janeway nodded.
"Seven of Nine and Lt. Torres, meet me in sickbay," she said and strode out of the room. Tom followed her quickly and Kyla limped after them. When Tom realized that Kyla wasn't up to running yet he slowed down and waited for her. They entered the turbolift together and Janeway smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, I forgot."
When they entered sickbay Seven and B'Elanna were already waiting for them. B'Elanna looked curious, Seven only annoyed that she had been disturbed in her work. Janeway filled them in on the chip that was implanted in Kyla's arm. They asked Kyla to sit down and Seven switched on a few machines around her and so did B'Elanna. She felt odd. She hated those beeping machines and she had no idea what they were used for. But she had the notion that she should know because she was supposed to work on this ship, wasn't she? Seven came to stand next to her and ran a tricorder over her arm.
"You should tap it. That is the proper way to activate this kind of chip," she stated matter of factly.
Kyla looked at Janeway and the Doctor who were standing behind Seven. Janeway only nodded. Kyla was somehow afraid. She had no idea what would happen. She tapped the chip but nothing happened. She looked up. B'Elanna only shook her shoulders and leaned over her readings. She looked annoyed that things didn't work out the way she had expected. Kyla felt a prickling sensation all over her body and Voyager's sickbay vanished in a sea of blue light.
–—
"It obviously worked. Have you been in trouble, Kyla?" Data asked when Kyla rematerialized in sickbay aboard the Enterprise.
"No. I wasn't. How have I come here?"
"We beamed you back. Where have you been?"
"You can't have beamed me halfway through the galaxy, could you? I've been aboard Voyager somewhere in the Delta-Quadrant."
"Voyager? Delta-Quadrant? How is this possible?" Dr. Crusher asked and ran a tricorder over Kyla.
"I don't know," Geordie asked, "But it worked better than we had expected."
"Could you beam me back there? Are there any sensor readings in the computer I could take along?"
She looked at her uniform. She was still wearing the Voyager uniform while everybody else in the room was wearing a newer uniform. If she had really been beamed over here she could easily take something back when they would manage to beam her back aboard Voyager.
"We could download all the information on a padd for you to take a long. It will take a few minutes though to make out the exact position from where you came from. It's not easy to beam you halfway through the galaxy and not miss the spot. Theoretically it's impossible to beam you there but it has worked before."
"There's some kind of anomaly that makes it possible."
"How do you feel Kyla? You've been through a lot in the last few days," Dr. Crusher asked. "You've been taken hostage by aliens and-" she looked at the tricorder in her hand and then at Kyla's leg. "What happened?"
"An accident in the other universe. Something's not going right here. I've never taken something from one universe to the other. Where is the Kyla from this universe?"
"Computer, locate Ensign Kyla Parker."
"Ensign Kyla Parker is not aboard the Enterprise."
"Computer, identify person sitting on biobed 4."
"Unknown."
"Who am I then if I'm not me?" Kyla asked.
"Computer, voice identification," she demanded.
"Ensign Kyla Parker."
"I don't understand this," Kyla said and looked at the people gathered around her. Dr. Crusher ran the tricorder over her again.
"The tricorder unmistakeably identifies you as Ensign Kyla Parker. Something's wrong."
"I don't mind. I know who am I am without the computer telling me. Can you beam me back? I have to tell them that I have been here and show them the data the scanners collected."
"We have been able to bring her here. We should be able to beam her back. But we need the Captain's permission," Geordie said and Data nodded.
They asked the Captain to join them in sickbay and a few minutes later the doors opened to admit Captain Picard into sickbay. He smiled when he saw Kyla.
"Nice to have you back even though I had no idea you where gone. The computer filled me in on everything. How do you feel, Ensign?"
"Quite good. But I have to get back."
"Why?"
"I don't know. It feels right to go back. It seems only fair to return and tell them that I'm fine."
"Let me sum up everything first. You told us that you were from the past and wanted to get back to your own time. Now you're talking about all this as if you're familiar with everything from our ship and the technology from this time. How is this possible?"
"I don't think you'd understand even if I tried to explain it - and I'm not sure I can explain it. Do you really want to know? It's complicated."
"Of course I want to know. Try to explain it to me and then we'll see if it makes sense."
Kyla had no idea where to start. She had told them her story before but that hadn't explained why she had so much knowledge about the technology of her future. She didn't know how to explain it so she said that she was a quick study and had learned everything from watching the others and reading stuff on the computer. Picard seemed to believe her because he didn't say anything but nodded when she was finished explaining.
"Sounds reasonable. I still don't quite understand why you want to go back. But I think that it's OK to beam you back. But you should know of the possible consequences. You know that it is very dangerous to beam you across the galaxy and I don't really know how it has worked the first place. I hope to see you back safe and sound and I hope you bring back a few facts that might help us solve the mystery with the anomaly."
"Yes, Sir. I will try to gather as much information as possible. Thank you for your trust in me."
Picard nodded and looked at Geordie expectantly. Geordie nodded and worked on a transporter panel.
"Are you ready, Kyla?"
Kyla nodded and took the padd Data offered her. She was a little afraid. She had no idea how transporters worked but she knew that her whole body was split into micro particles and shot through the galaxy. She had never known that it was possible to beam over such distances. Maybe this was still a dream? It had to be. If it was possible to beam into the Delta Quadrant and back it had to be possible to bring back the crew of Voyager. They had a long journey in front of them and if it was possible to - she was disturbed in her thoughts by Geordie who announced that the transporters were ready. She held tightly to the padd and waited for the funny feeling she had felt the last time.
The world disappeared in blue light and she was beamed back to the other universe. But it seemed to take longer this time.
***
The beaming process seemed to take forever. Something had gone wrong. She was sure about it. She was still caught in the blue light. And then it was over. She re-appeared. But where was she? Everything was upside down. She looked around and then gravity won. She saw the Doctor and Captain Janeway run towards her and then she hit the ground and lost consciousness.
***
"Look who's back. I thought I'd never find you in that other world again. How do you feel?"
"I'm feeling fine. Where am I and what am I doing here?"
She looked at the black robes she was wearing and then looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face. She was sitting on the floor in the headmaster's office. She could clearly see the Sorting Hat on the shelf, she could see Fawkes the Phoenix sitting on it's dais and all the moving pictures around her some of which were staring at her. It felt funny to be in Hogwarts. The door opened and Professor McGonagall entered the room.
"I see you have found her again, Albus," she said and smiled at Kyla. "Did it work?" she asked and looked back at the Headmaster.
"No, Minerva, it didn't. I will have to work on it again. The potion has turned green while it was supposed to turn pink with blue bubbles. I will ask Severus to help me. While we work on it I think we will have to send Kyla back to where she really belongs, won't we?"
"Can I have a word too, Professor?"
"Whatever you want to say, Kyla."
"The last time we met you said that I didn't know where I came from. Where do I come from?"
"That's up to you and the potion is supposed to help you find your way back. Now be a good girl and take the portkey back to your world, will you?"
"Which portkey?"
"The blue bottle next to you has been made a portkey for this time. And take care, Kyla. We'll see each other again when the potion is ready."
Kyla touched the bottle. The world whirled around her and she was flying through nothingness. She saw the Summers' house rushing up towards her and suddenly she stopped in midair. A small shiny something was hovering in front of her. It was Tinkerbell.
"I'm sorry that I caught you between the universes but I think it's time for you to come back to the Enterprise. People start to worry about you. And I need you to wish something so I can finish my job and get a promotion."
She spread her little shiny stars all around her and Kyla felt herself shrink again and this time she kept her eyes open to see where she was going. Things were going too fast to really see something. It was a whirl of colours and she closed her eyes and wished for it to stop.
