Episode 7: Fragmented Part 2

Conner fell asleep about half an hour after the train had pulled away; from Jeremy, from London, from Georgia. He felt a pair on hands shake him, and he drifted back into consciousness.

“Hello,” a stern voice said disapprovingly.
“Whasgoingon?” Conner cried. “Yougottatakemebackineedtofindgeorgia!”
“I’ve no idea what you’re babbling on about,” the voice said. “Kindly get out of the train and make your way into the carriage.”

Conner was pulled out from the train and taken over to a carriage. He fell asleep again, as the carriage drove away.

“So, what’re your names?” the Doctor asked conversationally.
“I’m Triss Crask,” said the woman, who was in charge of the group that had captured him. “And this is Larry Roux.”

She nodded to the man next to her.

“And the men who went to capture your friends were Ryan Harris, Mark Nott and Steve Rollins,” she continued. “Ah, here they are.”

The three men entered the room. It was full of equipment, and on the main wall was a large screen, informing the readers of the developments of the war with the Kritzanthians.

“We lost the boy,” Steve Rollins informed Triss.
“I could have sworn he ran into office 43, but we searched it from top to bottom,” Ryan Harris said thoughtfully.
“Not a trace,” Mark Nott added.
“Very well,” Triss said. “He wasn’t a threat anyway. Now Doctor, what do you make of our predicament?”
“Well, I’d say the opposition are pretty much stuffed,” the Doctor said. “Especially if you attack from the left quarters of the Pristine. And then you could send an assault squad to attack the Garret. After that you need an extra push on the Hopper region. Then I’d say you’d pretty much won the war.”
“Excellent, send instructions to the Falla Database,” Triss said. “I want this war won within 64 tracts.”
“Molto bene,” the Doctor smiled.

Georgia looked in the mirror. Her nurse’s uniform was very flattering – a little bit tight and smooth feeling. She unbuttoned the top two buttons, and smoothed out the slight creases.

“Nicely shows ‘em off doesn’t it?” Pippa smiled, admiring her own tight fitting nurse’s uniform.
“Definitely. Is there any nice doctors round here?” Georgia grinned.
“I’ll introduce you to the team,” Pippa said. “We’ve got our little unit of about five. But we lost Gerry not long ago. You can be our new fifth member.”
“What happened to him?” Georgia asked.
“The skies are full of bombs out there. What do you think happened?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Georgia said. “I… I didn’t think…”
“It’s fine,” Pippa said. “Forget it.”

She took Georgia’s hand and pulled her out of the room. She led her down a corridor, up some stairs, along another corridor, through a series of doors and into one last room. It said ‘staffroom’ on the door.

“Come and meet the team,” Pippa said, leading Georgia in.

Georgia glanced around at the team. There were four males, and one female. All wore friendly expressions, but one caught Georgia’s eye in particular. He wore the usual white coat, but he was different. He had wonderful, soft, golden hair that looked as if he was always running his hands through it. His face was flawless – from his liquid golden eyes to his red lips. He stepped forward gracefully, and extended a pale hand.

“Doctor Carlisle Welsby,” he said, shaking Georgia’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“I… Uh…” Georgia said breathlessly.
“Don’t,” Pippa laughed. “He already belongs to Becky. He does that to everyone.”

The only female stepped forward, sweeping her dark brown hair behind an ear as she shook Georgia’s hand.

“Sorry,” Becky Stevens laughed apologetically.
“That’s alright,” Georgia blushed.

Two other men stepped forwards. They had brown and black hair, and looked incredibly plain next to Carlisle.

“Doctor Jeremy Hutchinson,” Jeremy said, shaking her hand.
“Giles Brown,” Giles, the black haired man, said.
“Welcome to the team,” Pippa said. “We haven’t got any patients at the moment. So let’s have a party!”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” Jeremy said. “I discovered a young lad in the hospital today, and I had him taken to my house.”
“Another one?” Giles asked.
“Someone’s got to take responsibility of these children,” Jeremy frowned. “Just because you aren’t responsible at all…”
“Jeremy houses evacuated children,” Pippa explained.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Carlisle said. “I myself have considered having a family of evacuees during the war.”

Georgia found herself immediately agreeing with Carlisle, though she couldn’t quite remembered exactly what he’d said. A ringing bell interrupted Georgia’s thoughts about him.

“We have a patient!” Becky cried.

She gave Carlisle a quick kiss before dashing off. Giles followed her, slapping her bottom as they ran.

“Oi, watch it you!” Carlisle chuckled. “Come with me, Georgia. I’ll show you how we work.”

He took hold of her hand and pulled her off. Conner stepped out of the carriage and followed the woman up to the large house. It was like a mansion, with several wings and, Conner imagined, many rooms and passages.

“My name is Mrs Macready,” the woman said. “And this is Aske House. Dinner is at Seven o’clock precisely. If you are late, you will not receive any dinner. How old are you?”
“16,” Conner said.
“Then bedtime is at Eleven,” Mrs Macready said. “You are one of the oldest in the house, and I expect you to set an example to the younger children. Doctor Hutchinson will return to the house at varying times – his work as a doctor can be unpredictable.”
“Was that Jeremy at the hospital?” Conner asked.
“You will refer to him as Doctor Hutchinson,” Mrs Macready said, shutting the door to the house.

She walked off, past the staircase and to a door on the left. Conner stood in silence in the grand hall, wondering what he would do now. He heard footsteps at the top of the stairs, and saw six people come down to greet him. There were three boys and four girls.

“Ah ha!” the eldest boy grinned. “Another boy!”
“My name’s Conner Bennet,” Conner said nervously.
“I’m Peter Jones,” the eldest boy said. “I’m 17. I wanted to join up but Jeremy wouldn’t let me.”
“I’m 16,” Conner said.
“My name’s Susan Collins, I’m 14,” Susan said.
“And I’m Edward, Susan’s brother,” Edward said.
“He’s only 12,” Susan said.
“Shut up,” Edward snapped.
“I’m Lucy Walters,” the littlest girl announced. “I’m 7 years old.”
“Hello,” Conner said, smiling at her.

Conner looked at the last girl. She seemed strangely familiar.

“Do I know you?” he asked her.
“I don’t think so,” the girl replied. “I’m 15.”
“But what’s your name?” Conner said.
“Dorris Goldberg.”

Triss led the Doctor out of the room. She announced that she would be showing him the Kritzanthian prisoner they had captured yesterday.

“It was easy,” she said. “He seemed to almost want to be captured. He kept on mentioning that he was waiting for someone.”
“Who?” the Doctor asked.
“He hasn’t said,” Triss replied.

They reached a door, and Triss keyed in a sequence of numbers on the pad next to it. She swung open the door, and walked inside. The room was dark, and the Doctor strained to see the prisoner chained up to the wall. When he could make out the man’s features, he gasped.

“It’s you!” he said.
“Who?” Triss asked.
“I don’t know his name,” said the Doctor. “But we call him the Shadowy Man!”
“We?” Triss asked.
“Georgia, Conner and I.”

He looked up at the Shadowy Man, and could make out a grin.

“Hello Doctor,” the Shadowy Man said.

Carlisle led Georgia into a room, where Becky and Giles were tending to a patient. The patient’s face was covered in blood.

“What’s happened to him?” Georgia asked.
“We believe he was attacked with a heavy object,” Becky said.
“Look at this,” Giles muttered, lifting a minute piece of gold from a cut in the man’s face. “It appears he was attacked with a gold heavy object.”
“We’re losing him!” Becky cried. “We’re going to have to restart his heart!”

Carlisle placed an arm around Georgia’s shoulder, and pulled her away. The walked out of the room, to the faint cries of Becky and Giles.

“Time of death, half past five,” Georgia heard Becky say.

Carlisle led Georgia back down the corridor and into a small office.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Carlisle said gently. “It’s not often we lose a patient.”
“Its fine,” Georgia assured him. “I’ve seen death before.”
“Right, well here’s your doctor’s badge,” Carlisle said, handing her a small card from under the desk. “From now on patients will call you Nurse Georgia Bell! You get used to it in the end. If you could just fill in the details.”

He handed Georgia a pen from his long, white coat’s pocket. Georgia filled in her name and signed the card. Carlisle took the pen back and signed his signature underneath. Georgia looked at her messy writing compared to Carlisle’s smooth, elegant handwriting. She turned her gaze to his face, and saw him looking straight at her. She blushed and looked down.

“A lot of the nurses like Jeremy,” Carlisle said conversationally. “But he’s too noble. Young ladies don’t want the children around.”
“He said he found a boy in the hospital earlier,” Georgia said thoughtfully. “You know I’m surprised – a 1940’s hospital – I thought you’d be a lot stricter, but you’re… So relaxed.”
“How can our patients relax, and know they’re in good hands if we are up tight and arguing?” Carlisle said reasonably.
“No, but I thought you were all sexist,” Georgia said, without really thinking.
“You have a very narrow view of us males,” Carlisle chuckled. “Many men are, but we prefer to view you as equals – after all, a doctor can’t work without a nurse.”
“Where could I find Jeremy?” Georgia asked. “I wanted to talk to him about the boy he’d found today.”
“Why, did the boy arrive with you?” Carlisle asked. “You must’ve arrived at about the same time after all.”
“No, I was just curious,” Georgia smiled.
“Up the stairs on the left is another floor. All our offices are there. I suppose you ought to have one as well. Go and speak with Jeremy, and make sure he sorts you out an office. Especially if he’s busy with paperwork,” Carlisle chuckled again.

Georgia grinned, and left the room.

“This is your room,” Peter told Conner, entering a large room down one of the many corridors.
“It’s very big,” Conner noticed.
“What was that with Dorris downstairs?” Peter asked as Conner sat down on the bed. “Are you sweet on Goldberg?”
“No, no,” Conner said quickly. “I just recognise her from somewhere. You wouldn’t understand – it’s complicated.”
“Oh right,” Peter said. “Well I’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Conner said, wondering if he’d offended Peter.

As the door shut, Conner lay down on his bed. He heard footsteps, and the door swung open slightly, revealing Dorris, who looked in nervously. Conner sat up, and smiled, beckoning for Dorris to come in.

“I just wanted to talk to you,” Dorris said, sitting down on the bed next to Conner.
“What about?” Conner asked.
“You,” Dorris said. “You said you’d seen me before… When? I don’t remember much of my childhood.”
“Can you keep a secret?” Conner asked. “It’s just… What I’m about to tell you is mental… I’m not sure if I should really be telling you at all…”
“Go on,” Dorris pleaded. “Oh do go on!”
“I’m a time traveller,” Conner said.
“No, really,” Dorris laughed.
“I’m not lying!” Conner said. “I said you wouldn’t believe me.”
“No, carry on!”
“Okay,” Conner sighed. “I come from the future.”
“When?” Dorris asked.
“Do you have to interrupt?” Conner asked.

Dorris shook her head silently.

“I live near here,” Conner said. “Well, I think I do. I’m rubbish at Geography. I think I messed that GCSE up… Anyway, I come from 2011. And there’s a Post Office… Nearby. And a woman works in it.”
“Is it Susan?” Dorris gasped. “And she told you about me?”
“No Dorris,” Conner said. “I met you.”

To be continued…