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Bad Beginnings

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"What do you mean you don't know where she came from? We're in hyperspace, how many places could she have been?" The voice was rough and angry, and loud. It was the loud that she objected to most as it sent her head to screaming. But why was he shouting? Why did her head hurt? Where the hell was she?

That question brought her up short, her mind racing over everything that had happened before she passed out. The equipment malfunction, Suzie's hand slipping from her own, the awful screaming whine of the void around them as they tumbled. Where had she landed? Who had found her? How had they found her?

"Han, keep your voice down, she's waking up." Another male voice said, instantly recognizable now that the name had been said. Oh damn, this was gonna be a fun day. She groaned softly as the rest of her body began to wake up, each and every nerve ending sending signals of displeasure racing to her brain all at once. She rolled slowly onto her side, reaching up to pull off the jump suit's protective helmet, only to find it already gone. Had it fallen off in the transfer?

She fought to open her eyes, snapping them shut again almost instantly as the light of the room around her stabbed into her brain. Why was it so damn bright? There was a noticeable dimming behind her eyelids and she tried again. Everything was blurry and fuzzed around the edges, but the light no longer made her gray matter scream so she gave a few test blinks to see if her vision would clear. It didn't.

"How long are we gonna sit here and do nothing with her?" Han asked, a set of black booted feet turning slowly on the spot in her clouded vision let her know which were his. Another near identical set of black boots slowly approached her, joined after a moment by a black clad knee.

"Until we can ask her how she got onto this ship while it was shielded and in hyperspace." Luke's voice sounded far too close for her liking, making her muscles jump in several different directions at the same time as her confused mind tried to flee. "Hey, relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." A gloved hand settled against the side of her face and she had to consciously remain still. What the hell was he gonna do?

A strange, breeze was the only word she could think of to describe it, passed through her mind and her vision slowly began to clear. She blinked a few more times, her eyes coming into sharp focus and she drew a shaky breath. Did he just...? She turned her face slightly, catching the tail end of a smile. Had he heard that? She drew a calming breath and pushed herself up into a cross legged sitting position.

"How the hell did you get on my ship?" Han asked, kneeling down in front of her, threat and distrust clear in his eyes. Wow, right to the point, fair enough. She drew a deep breath and forced her mind to stop racing. So what if the resident Jedi could read her mind, it wouldn't change anything and she needed to get a grip on this situation if she was ever going to make it back home.

"Let's start with an introduction." She said, forcing far more confidence into her voice than she actually felt. It wasn't Han she was worried about, so much as the faintly growling Wookie that stood just behind him and to the left. "Droids don't rip peoples' are of the socket when they lose, Wookies are known to do that." The line flashed through her mind as she watched the giant mass of fur cross his arms over his chest. "My name is Dr. Oria Jones, and I'm not from this universe."

She let the statement hang in the air for a moment, watching as everyone rolled it around in the mind, deciding if they liked the taste of it or not. She knew she was in for an argument when Han's tell tale smirk pulled at the corner of his lips. He didn't believe her, of course he didn't, why would he. She drew a sigh and waited for him to respond.

"Oh, well that explains everything. Ya hear that Luke, she's not from this universe." He rolled his eyes and stood up away from her, stepping back to Chewie's side, his hand resting casually on his blaster, the threat clear. If the Wookie didn't kill her, the blaster would finish the job.

"Let me explain." She held up a hand and drew a deep breath, launching into the story of the last two days of her life. "It started with a party, celebrating a massive scientific discovery..."

"As you all know, this is a truly historic day. Many years of research and development have led us to where we are now, and it is my honor to present two of the brilliant minds that have made it possible. Dr. Oria Jones and Dr. Suzanne Bishop." Applause filled the cavernous laboratory as two smartly dressed women stepped up to the dark wood podium.

"Thank you Dr Martinet. Hello all." The shorter of the two waved companionably at the gathering of men and women collected around the tables below the stage. "My colleague Dr. Bishop and I are truly honored to come before you today and say that we've done it. After five years of research and trials, not only have we proven the theory of the Many Worlds Interpretation," this was met with a wave of applause and cheering, "but together with all of the fine men and women on this stage, we have developed a machine that will allow for travel between each and every one of them." The cheers rose to a deafening roar as the the guests and stage presenters both reveled in the magnitude of the work they'd done. The taller of the two, Dr. Bishop, waited patiently for the cheering to die down before leaning forward into the web of microphones.

"Now onto the surprise. As most of you know, we've been cleared for a field test, but have come up short on willing participants that have the necessary qualifications, seems they are all too deep in their own research to help us out with ours." There was a loud roll of laughter from the gathered scientists, some of which had been offered the opportunity to test the machine. "So, in lieu of any other qualified applicants, my partner and I have decided to test it out ourselves. It seems only right, given that she had the idea for it and I built the damn thing." More laughter and several beaming smiles shined up at them. "So drink up my friends, because tomorrow, the world is gonna change forever!" Another loud round of cheering accompanied their exit from the stage as they retreated back to their seats, getting plenty of hand shakes, high fives, and firm pats on the back as they moved through the crowd.

"The world is gonna change forever? A bit theatrical don't you think Suzie?" Oria asked as they resumed their seats.

"What? I can't play to the crowd every now and again? Besides, if our test run goes well tomorrow, the world is gonna change. We did it Ori, we finally did it!" Suzie all but squeaked as she felt a rush of pure joy race through her.

"Well I won't step on your good mood, but I don't think I'll count my chickens just yet. Remember, data first, dreams second. Now I'm off, I wanna get a full eight before stepping into the unknown. Hold the rabble off while I make my escape?" She grinned as she stood, her friend giving her a sharp salute as she turned and moved quickly toward the door.

She hurried through the empty halls, her heels clicking loudly in the silence around her until, finally, she reached the parking lot. She loved her co workers, they were all great people, and brilliant scientists in their respective fields, but she'd never developed a taste for parties, and longed to get home and into something that didn't make her feel like a tube sausage.

The drive home was short, the lab wasn't that far out of town, and there was no traffic on the roads this late at night. She watched the lights of the city grow larger, blocking out the star light that was so clear above the hulking concrete body of the building she'd spent the better part of the last five years all but living in. Soon enough, the five story building she called home appeared around the corner and she pulled into her favorite spot, hurrying into the large foyer as rain began to pour.

She sighed with relief as she stepped into her small first floor domicile. She couldn't believe her luck when she'd first rented the place, that it was still open. It wasn't the largest apartment in the world, Suzie's was easily twice its size, but what it lacked in square footage it made up for in charm and creature comforts. She'd never had a place with a dishwasher before, she'd spent the first couple weeks dirtying up dishes she didn't even need just for the fun of using it, but it was the large soaked tub in the bathroom that she was craving tonight.

She stripped as she moved, kicking off the heels and throwing her small clutch onto the couch before shucking clean out of her dress. The hose and bra came next, falling to the plush carpet just outside the bathroom door. She wasted no time in turning on the water, cranking the heat up as high as it would go and dropping in a few mint sized bath bombs to dissolve while the tub filled.

While steam began to fill the room, she turned toward the mirror and surveyed herself for a moment. She'd only recently gotten down to her goal weight and was still working up to her ideal level of fitness, but the figure that met her in the mirror was finally something she was proud to look at, decorated with several colorful tattoos that she'd gotten to commemorate each step of her weight loss journey.

She smiled, making quick work of removing the dangling jewels from her ears and throat, resting them gently in the glass dish she kept on her bathroom counter, her hand reaching blindly for the large lobster clip that she used to keep her multitude of curls off her neck when she bathed. It had belonged to her mother, one of the few things of hers she'd kept after her mother's death. She didn't know why she'd kept it, merely that it made her happy to have and gave her a small reminder of the woman she would always look up to.

The water was blissfully hot as she sank down into it, milky swirls of color shifting and weaving through it as her body disturbed the surface tension, and she felt the tell tale tingle of the salt crystals beginning to dissolve around her. The subtle scents of lavender and rose wafted around her, lulling her eternally busy mind into a state of empty calm that had her near asleep within moments. It was just what she needed after the hectic day she'd had.

Her muscled began to unknot as the heat seeped into her skin, her body floating a few centimeters from the bottom of the tub as she let herself be carried into the still center of her mind. What would happen after tomorrow? How would their experiment change humanity's understanding of the universe? Where would they end up? She had her own pet theory about what the other universes would be like, what they would contain, but she'd never had the nerve to mention them out loud. It sounded ridiculous, even to her, but according to the science, it held water, as the saying went.

She laughed as she thought of all the different books and shows and movies she'd ever seen. What if they were all real, in some other universe, stacked up against their own so she could reach out and tough it, yet completely removed, unreachable, until now. It sounded crazy, she knew, but she couldn't take her mind off it. Visions of traipsing around the galaxy in a starship made her feel almost giddy and she found herself suddenly very excited for tomorrow's test run. She was sure that no matter where they ended up, it would be amazing

The next morning dawned bright and a little too early for Ori's liking. She'd set her alarm for an hour and a half sooner than her usual wake up time, knowing that would have to her get work out in before the test, instead of on her way home as was her normal schedule. She grumbled, grabbing blindly at her side table until she found the cause of the noise and hurriedly silenced her phone. She wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep until a more decent hour, but she knew she would regret it later if she didn't keep up with her routine, so she reluctantly pulled herself from her bed and began shuffling around her room, gathering everything she would need for her usual work out and a shower. She also packed the "underclothes" the research team had given her, a full body black stocking that she would be wearing under the jump suit they'd designed to keep them safe during transfer.

By the time she got to the massive laboratory complex, her persistent drowsiness had been chased away by mounting nerves and excitement, and she was looking forward to putting them to good use in the gym. She buzzed her way into the building, clipping her name badge and security clearance to the collar of her jacket, waving a quiet "hello" or "good morning" to colleagues as they stopped to wish her luck on her "mission".

She laughed softly as a few people gave her a Vulcan salute, or quoted Yoda or Obi Wan lines at her in passing. It was a running joke that had begun over a month before when a younger man, new to the team, had foolishly asked if their theory meant that those worlds were real. She'd done her best at the time to explain that, while the theory could be used to explain them, it was just as likely that it meant the other universes were upside down versions of their own, or universes where dark matter was the ruling force, not matter. He left scratching his head and calling her Spock, and thus the joke was born.

She walked into the large gym that the management had put in, mostly to prevent muscle atrophy while the various teams worked on long projects that kept them sleeping in their offices and surviving off vending machine junk food and instant dinners. She'd grown used to being one of the only people to use any of the equipment, and as such, had made a few additions o her own. She smiled when she saw the room was free of the few other scientists that seemed to be physically minded, and walked over to the massive stereo system she'd installed about a year back, plugging her phone in and beginning her stretching routine.

She made a few quick laps around all the machines, stopping to do a mile on the treadmill after she was done with the weight bench. As she moved through each machine, isolating each and ever muscle she had, she felt her anxiety about the experiment bleed away from her. Of course she didn't know what was going to happen, it was the unknown for a reason. Why should the lack of a conclusion make her fear the journey, it was pure silliness to let any amount of what ifs mar this moment. The machine worked, the equations were sound, the science was fool proof, it would work.

She stepped off the treadmill, panting and sweat soaked, but infinitely happier than she'd been when she stepped on and tapped the pause button on her phone's music player. She hated it when other people left their music blaring across the gym when they went to shower, and even though she was alone, she wasn't about to indulge in the bad habit she chastised others for having.

After a quick shower she began packing her things away, she threw her work out clothes into a sealed back, pressing out the air around the sodden material to keep it from growing anything while she was gone, and stuffed it, and all her other workout incidentals, into her locker, sliding the padlock through and closing it tight. She looped the key over the long chain she kept around her neck, smiling when it fell against the other objects kept on the length of metal with a soft "clink". She had a habit of keeping anything important to her on her necklace. She had her father's wedding band, a small pentacle as a symbol of her faith, a bracelet charm that had been a gift from her last boyfriend, a tiny rolled up diploma she'd received from Suzie when she got her Ph. D, and now the locker key. It jingled faintly as she stepped into the protective onesie RnD had given her, stuffing a few personal items into a small bag that she would stuff inside the "transfer module" backpack that each of them would be given.

She knew it was silly to take anything other than what she knew she would need, which was nothing as far as she was concerned, but she couldn't stand the idea of parting with some of the things in her home, like her mother's clip. She straightened, grabbing the small bag and turning toward the door, feeling utterly silly in the clingy black fabric. She looked like she was about to on some spy mission or something, but according to Suzie and the techs both, this was the only thing that could be worn under the jumpsuit in order for the life metric readers to function, so she drew a calming breath and stepped out of the gym head to the testing site.

"Suzie, you look bad ass!" She said, stepping up onto the metal platform the massive machine had been set up on. They'd wisely decided to do it in one of the massively reinforced sub basements, just in case anything catastrophic happened, it wouldn't wreck any of the other parts of the building, it also happened to be located very close to the on site hospital wing and the morgue, so they were covered in every eventuality.

"Ori, finally! I was about to send someone to go look for you." Suzie said, turning so the techs could hook up sensors and gadgets to the back of her suit. Her front side already made her look like a short Darth Vader on steroids, tons of flashing LEDs decorated the black jump suit, all she was missing was a helmet, which Ori could just about see under her far arm.

"Had to get my last work out in. Ya know what they say about skipping even one day." She said, setting her small bag down next to the other suit. She stopped by it to admire the work. The fabric was much lighter and more fluid than she had imagined, her mind conjuring up images of thick space suits every time she thought about it. It had a faint shine that she liked, it just looked, space age to her. There were tiny ports all over it, no doubt where all the gadgets and lights were going to be attached, and as she ran a hand over it, she couldn't believe how smooth it was. "So what's up with the suits? I thought they were supposed to be all bulky and such." She said, turning to the head tech, Matthew, and miming a bloated space man.

"What is this the 60's? We can put a lot more in a lot less these days. The only reason NASA still uses the same suits is because they can't afford the upgrade." Matthew said, laughing softly as me motioned the techs to start getting Ori into her suit.

"I guess that makes sense. Poor NASA. Well, if this test goes well, hopefully, the US will be willing to kick a bit more their way." Ori said, watching as the techs started taking the pieces of the suit apart. She'd been wondering how she was supposed to get into it, with there being no zipper or buttons that she could see.

"Okay Dr. Jones, if you want to just step your feet into these." One of the techs, the name badge said Sasha, held the flimsy fabric open for her to slide her foot into, the other quickly followed, and so the suit started getting layered on over the onesie. She could see now why anything thicker would've posed a problem. From what she could see of how the suit worked, it was a conglomeration of much smaller pieces, all with their own tech and wiring connections that were layered on over each other to create a full suit.

"How do you maintain suit integrity with so many seams?" She asked, looking over at Matthew, feeling the beginnings of apprehension swelling in her chest.

"The fabric is a magnetic nanite mesh, millions of tiny little magnets are woven into the seams so that once they come together," he leaned down and yanked as hard as he could on the shiny suit, "they don't come apart again without a special pulse." He smiled up at her. "My idea." The pride was apparent in his eyes and she couldn't help the smile that beamed back at him.

"That is so fucking cool!" She said, dropping her professional persona for just a moment. Suzie and the techs all shared in her laughter as they began plugging in all the tiny sensors and gadgets that would be relaying all her vitals as well as mission data back to the computers that were all networked into the machine. "I am officially excited now." She said, turning to Suzie as the techs started on her back side.

"You weren't before? I'm a little offended by that, this is some grade A awesome tech, and I'm agreeing to let you play with it." Suzie grinned over at her from where she was doing one last double check of their supplies against the list she'd drawn up.

"I mean, I was excited before, but I was also terrified that your frankenputer coding skills were infectious. If this is the team that's been helping you, then I know we're good." Ori said, sticking her tongue out at Suzie as she raised a very specific finger in response. "Very mature and professional Dr. Bishop." She said, feeling her heart jump as the techs patted her on the shoulder. It was time. She grabbed the backpack from the bench, placing her own personal items in the front most pouch, and slung it over her back as the techs instructed. It immediately adhered to the fabric, filling the void left blank of sockets and sensors.

"Very cool right?" Suzie asked, slipping her bunned head into her helmet, pressing a small latch to seal it. Ori followe suit, wincing as the pressurization of the suit made her ears pop and ache for a moment. "My idea." Suzie's voice came to her over the internal comms system and she couldn't help the small internal nerd out she was having.

"Holy shit, we're actually doing this." She said, watching as Suzie all but vibrated, both women stepping up to the taped out boxes that marked where they should stand.

"We're about to make history Ori. Nothing is ever gonna be the same again." Suzie turned to Matthew and gave a confident thumbs up. The machine whirred to life, the metal brackets that jutted out of each end extending to meet the platform and slowly rising upward, creating a perfect picture window of the surrounding lab before a line of brilliant white light raced from one to the other.

It was joined by another line, and the another, and another until the entire space was filled with the individual strings of light. With a snap and a metallic hiss, the strings merged, just as her calculations said they would, and the white void began to distend, stretching backward, though there was no bubble or funnel on the other side of the machine. The fabric began to twist and expand, creating a brilliant white tunnel, with a shifting black maw at its center.

"Tunnel is stable, contact confirmed, mission is go, repeat, mission is go." Matthew's voice echoed over the comms and, as they'd been trained, they looked over to see visual confirmation in the form of a Vulcan salute. "See you when you get back ladies." He said, giving a firm thumbs up.

They returned the thumbs up, their predetermined call sign for mission progress and stepped forward into the white void.

"You expect us to believe that?" Han asked, looking like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

"Yeah, I do. I know it's difficult, but it's the truth." She sighed, her body bruised and sore, and her mind weary.

"Well then where's your friend?" Han asked, pointing down toward her with a look of triumph. He thought he'd caught her out.

"She...didn't make it. The tunnel was unstable on your end and the moment our feet hit the web it unraveled. We were exposed to the void between worlds and she was pulled away. I managed to cling to the web and pull myself the rest of the way to the portal before it closed." She felt tears spring to her eyes as the memory rose unbidden to her mind. Suzie's eyes spread hopelessly wide as she felt herself beginning to pull away from the center of the tunnel, the screaming whine of the void sucking everything from the tunnel, her desperate grasping hand as she tried to take hold of anything she could that would keep Suzie from drifting away. But the image that would haunt her the most, that would remain with her for the rest of her life, was the image of her friend simply vanishing into nothingness. No body floated in the midst of the opaque space, no blood, nothing at all remained of the woman she'd known for nearly a decade, she was simply gone.

She was shaken from her stupor by a warm hand brushing a tear from her cheek and she looked over to meet the deep blue eyes of the Jedi that had been her first movie star crush. She drew in a quick breath and backed as far away from him as the tiny corridor would allow, bumping her head on a protruding bit of bulkhead.

"Do all women react like that when you touch um?" Han asked, elbowing Chewie's side as they shared a laugh at the blonde's expense. But Luke didn't seem to notice, his eyes fixated on Ori's stricken face.

"Han, she isn't lying." He said, slowly standing to his full height, though his eyes never left her. "I don't know how, but she's telling the truth." He turned to face his friend, watching as the humor slowly bled away, replaced at first with disbelief, then to anger, then finally to a kind of confused unease that had him also staring down at her.

"No way. Not possible. There's nothin' else out there kid, at least nothin' that can get to us." He said, turning and heading down the corridor, disappearing with a resolute clang of metal slamming against metal.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to wreck your understanding of the universe." Ori said, trying for a bit of humor to lighten the situation, though she could tell from the way Luke's shoulders stiffened that she'd missed the mark. He too turned and headed the opposite way, and though there was no clang, she could tell that he too had closed a door. Chewie seemed to be the only one not upset by anything she'd said, standing just where he had been, waiting for her to make a move.

She sighed, weighing her options. She could either remain where she was until she began to cramp up and starve, or she could get up and risk getting torn apart by a Wookie. Neither option was very enticing, both involving discomfort, pain, and death shortly after, but at least the Wookie would be faster. With this in mind, she began to rise slowly to her feet, her everything screaming in protest as she slowly straightened up. No death yet, that was a good sign.

She chanced a glance up at him and nearly jumped out of her skin when he stood away from the wall, his lumbering frame slowly advancing on her until they stood nose to furry chest. So it was to be Wookie death for her after all. But as she closed her eyes against the inevitable, nothing came. A furry hand settled on her shoulder and began to steer her through the corridors, stopping in front of a small door, much like all the others they'd passed. The door opened with a soft hiss and she saw a barren bunk, with nothing but a bed and a strange looking closet. A shove sent her stumbling into the room and she turned, just as the door closed. She noticed, with an irritated sigh, that there was no discernible door controls on this side.

Alright, so that is is for Chapter 1, I am currently working on chapters 2-5, some are written and just need a bit of editing, others are still in the works so I'll probably be a bit slow to upload. Let me know what you think in a review as they feed my soul and make me writer faster and I will see you guys in the next chapter!