Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light after a whole day of darkness. She took in the sights, floating limbs attached to a skinny female body and a corridor made of squeezed space with a laminated finish. The feeling of falling passed as she concentrated on the fold opening that was rolling around her.

Monolith

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Conscription

The airlock hissed in preparation to opening, the sound woke Theo. She jerked up to a sitting position and looked around in the darkness. Her thoughts were a jumble, second after second they put themselves back into order. 'I'm still blind... I'm in a alien girl's body... I'm in a lab... I was asleep!' The last puzzle piece hit her hard. 'It's been more than a week since I've slept.' She thought. Theo closed her eyes and reveled in the memories of early morning consciousness. The buzz of fluorescent lights filled the quiet room as Beth groaned and shifted to hide from the light. The door clicked open and a cool breeze followed. Heavy foot steps chased the breeze into the room.

“Sorry to interrupt but I need you to come with me.” Farris told Theo.

Theo put her memories on hold and opened her eyes. “Why?”

Farris sighed. “Our exploration team is trapped on the other side of that gate.”

A factoid of her trip through the fold popped into her brain. “How long?”

“11 hours here or...” Farris tapped his fingers against his palm to match the math in his head.

“Almost seven days there.” Theo finished.

“Yes, so time is of the essence here.”

“What am I suppose to do?!” Theo said in disbelief.

Farris spoke his next words through gritted teeth. “Anything you can.”

Theo felt her cheeks flush “Okay... let me get my pants on.”

She swung her legs down and felt the floor near her for the pair. “Beth! Where are my pants?” She said over her shoulder.

“What's going on?” Beth asked as she opened her eyes. Seeing the others in the room she yelped and covered herself in the sheets.

Foot steps moved across the room and stopped, a second later the pair of pants were thrown into Theo's lap. “Thanks...Beth get up, these guys need me to try and help them. We need to go.”

“I'm not your chauffeur! She's staying here.” Farris barked at Theo.

Theo pulled the zipper and fastened the button on her borrowed pair of pants. “Yeah okay. Beth, I'll see you later.”

“Where are you going?” Beth asked.

“The Monolith.”

“I'll try to get there as soon as I can. Be safe...” Beth said with concern.

“Come on princess, lets get going.” Farris ordered.

By habit Theo looked down to her chest and saw in her mind's eye the princess shirt she was still wearing. 'fucking hell.' she thought as Farris lead her out of the room.

--------------------

The carrier bumped and jostled Theo around in her seat as she glowered the best she could at anyone who sitting across from her. She didn't want to be here, and she certainly didn't want to go back to 'there'. She didn't want to go back the room she calls 'The kidnap scene'.

“Hey Princess...” Farris called out. Theo snapped her head towards Farris's direction and gave him the evil eye.

“Do you think you're a fake?” Farris asked.

Theo grimaced and turned away. “Screw you.”

“Just asking a harmless question.”

“Would you?!” Theo tried her best to get a more gritty and authoritative sound out of her voice box. The best she could do with her new equipment was a sound most people would agree was cute.

“Would I what?” Farris answered almost knowing what question was coming up next.

“would you feel the same if you were in my place?”

“Yes, If I was in your position I would think I was a fake.” Farris said immediately.

Theo didn't know how to take that comment, was he sympathizing with me?. Or was he accusing me of being a robot? She realized she had only one response to both, she lowered her head and clammed up.

--------------------

The stairs, she was being taken up the stairs to the Monolith. She could hear the birdsong out in the park, it didn't sound like music to Theo. Filtered through her brain it sounded like bad premonitions.

She heard one door, two doors, and then murmuring and shuffling and the click of many keyboards. The escort's hand left her arm and swung back into the fog. Standing still she swept her head across the room and tried to process all the sounds. A cliché scene came to her of agents and techs scrambling from terminal to terminal trying to stop the next terrorist attack. No doubt there was a coffee pot in some corner with a pair of agents talking about a recent intelligence report. Amidst the orchestra of sound She swore she heard someone say “Zoom and enhance.”

The hand was back and it moved her to the center of the room. The orchestra faded and conductor Farris spoke.

“You have some kind of connection to this, either its like you said and the monolith itself changed you or the aliens who built it built you too as well, it's doesn't matter though cause we've ran out of ideas and you're one of our last options.”

The quiet audience in the room faded from Theo's mind, it was just her and Farris in this room now. “I don't know what to do! It's like you expect me to flip a switch and open it up! I don't even know how that thing works, even the fact that it floats here creeps me out.” Theo moaned.

“At least touch it.”

The hand spun Theo on her heels and guided her to a few steps away from the smooth surface.

“Fine I can do that.” she said over her shoulder.

She raised her arms to her sides and slowly extended outwards. She reached out and kept reaching until she started to lose balance. She waved back and forth trying to find the surface of the Monolith.

“Did you point me in the wrong direction?!” Theo said aghast.

“Nope, you are touching it now, in fact both of your arms are in it.” Farris said in amusement.

Theo never recovered her lost balance stumbled a step forward. “Woah! Don't go any farther!” Farris warned her.

Theo kept falling in when Farris called out “Mobilize! Follow her in there!”

Theo noticed a slight chill move up her arms and wash over her face as she fell forward. Her hair was tossed around with a passing of a wind vortex. Then light, a bright light came into focus and she recognize it as the other end of the fold. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light after a whole day of darkness. She took in the sights, floating limbs attached to a skinny female body and a corridor made of squeezed space with a laminated finish. The feeling of falling passed as she concentrated on the fold opening that was rolling around her. She kicked her feet around and flapped her arms in a vain attempt to stop her spin. Her world kept spinning so she closed her eyes and forgot about it. By the time she made it to the end she knew what is like to be in an sensory-deprivation tank. She rolled out into the gravity and felt its pull as her back made contact with the ground.

Theo bolted up to a sitting position and caught her breath and opened her eyes to view the alien world again.

“I can still see!” She exclaimed.

No sooner as she said that the settlement and dunes around her started to stretch in two directions. Theo started to panic, out of some kind of instinct she squinted her eyes like you would try when seeing a double image. The stretching slow to a stop, she remember what it felt like when stuff was stretching. She took that feeling and reversed it, she fine tuned the feeling until the landscape snapped back into focus. Theo moved the feeling into the background of her mind and concentrated on standing up. On her feet Theo looked across the black sands, the dunes stretched a bit but a little concentration made them snap back into place. Theo studied the nearest fin shaped settlement and practiced making it stretch and constrict to her will. After twenty minutes Theo could make the settlement stretch in just one direction she choose. She played with the stretching, trying to figure out which was the 'futurepath' and which was the 'pastpath'.

The sound of feet impacting on sand turned Theo's head. The sight of the four man search team set against the monolith's inter dimensional opening made Theo think of 'SG-1'.

“I can see now.” She informed them.

“Good for you.” The black soldier stood about six foot with a strong build and sported a healthy beard, Theo guessed his aged to be 42. His name tag said 'Gibson'.

Gibson turned to his team. “Let get down to those settlements, maybe we can find a clue to where the exploration team is.”

“The sand would of eaten up their trail by now.” Said a skinny, smooth faced lieutenant named 'Williams'.

“Maybe they left a note.” 'Ford' said through perfect teeth, he was a jockish looking fellow. 'He's too bulky to be a quarterback, maybe a defensive line or something.' Theo thought.

Gibson started down the dune towards the settlements with his team following. Bringing up the rear was another skinny guy named 'Parker', he was the youngest of the group. 'a total red shirt.' Theo said to herself.

“Hey! I could maybe find them.” Theo called out.

Gibson kept walking while he yelled over his shoulder. “Your job is over, princess.”

“God dammit! Stop calling me that!” Theo wined.

The commandos chuckled and kept walking, leaving Theo behind at the Monolith. Theo took a deep breath and decided to test her vision on the search team. She extended them in one direction, their paths took off at a run leaving the commandos behind. She constricted their future paths back and kept pulling until their past paths started to scaled back up the dune. She tried pulling harder, their paths sped up. The dunes around her stretched out longer and longer until she was waist deep in the perfectly smooth fog. Theo kept it up, soon enough she couldn't see any movement through the curved plane of fog. After a minute she caught sight of three tan 'snakes' passing over a dune towards the settlements.

“Over here! They went that way!” Theo pointed.

One of the soldiers yelled something but the distance and wind covered his speech. Theo closed her eyes and concentrated on her starting position, opening her eyes Theo saw everything put back into place. The search team was still hiking away from her, so she took chase.

“I saw them! They walked out that way.” Theo called out as she neared the team. The commandos stopped and looked to each other before turning to Theo.

“You saying you saw them in the past?” Parker asked.

“Yes.”

“In a report I read, you said that ability made you blind.” Gibson said.

“Well I was standing on that dune, it was high enough I could see over. And then I saw them walk over that dune there.” Theo pointed again.

“We haven't picked up their radio sir, they're probably out of range.” Williams said.

Gibson gritted his teeth in contemplation as Theo came with a few steps of the group. The sound of sand grinding against sand drew the search team's attention. The Monolith was inching towards them and pushing sand aside with ease. Theo turned as the Monolith came to a stand still with sand cascading down the dune. She unconsciously took a few steps back in awe of the sight. The Monolith responded by moving a few more feet near them.

Parker looked back and forth between Theo and the Monolith then spoke up. “Walk ten feet over there please.”

“Huh?” Theo asked.

“Humor me please.”

She complied, walking backwards with her eye still on the Monolith. It delayed for about two seconds but sure enough it moved another ten feet closer almost clearing the dune it had been in. The commandos all turned to Theo and gave her a questioning stare.

“I didn't do that!” Theo nervously laughed.

“But you did.” Williams said.

“Hey boss, if we take her it would save us the trip back.” Ford pointed out.

“yeah yeah, alright princess if you're up to it you can join us.” Gibson said.

“I will if you stop calling me princess.” Theo demanded.

“No deal.” Gibson responded.

The other commandos laughed as Theo blushed in frustration.

“let's move.” Gibson ordered.

The team marched out in the direction Theo had pointed, Ford turned and called out. “Come on kid move you feet!”

Theo shook her head and followed the search team. Behind her the monolith pushed it's way out of the dune and matched her speed, keeping itself no more than sixty feet away.

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The local star was dropping below the horizon as the search team was setting up camp on the flattest piece of sand they could find. They had hiked as long as the day lasted which was around seven hours. It had been a hard trek, they stopped often and rested in the shade of the Monolith. The hike had really brought out differences her new body had over her old one. She would watch the commandos drop down and wipe the sweat off their brow and drink their own weight in water. She'd realized while watching that she hadn't broke a sweat all day and her throat never so dry it would call out for water. The hike had made some impact on her, making her legs sore from constant use but she felt that she could keep going without rest.

The team hadn't offered water at first, wanting her break down and plead for a drink all in good humor. After the second stop they grew a little uneasy when she still hadn't asked.

Gibson finally broke the silence. “Princess, you need some water, you haven't had a sip for 3 hours now.”

Theo was laying down with her head turned towards the group. “I don't think I need any... I haven't been sweating anyways.”

The commandos stared at her for a few seconds before turning to each other and murmuring. Despite Theo's larger ears she didn't hear what they were saying but she had a good idea.

The small tents were up by the time the sky turned a deep red. The group circled around a bright camp lantern and watched the last of the light faded from the sky.

“Jesus look at those stars!” Ford exclaimed.

“Yeah I almost trick myself today into thinking we were still on earth.” Williams said.

“How far out do you think we are?” Gibson asked.

Theo was still looking up into the alien sky. “If we were only a dozen light years away the constellations would look almost the same.”

“Time to make our own then.” Parker said.

“There's the big pencil.” Theo pointed.

“I see god's ruler.” Parker pointed in a another direction.

“Well gentlemen and lady, lets get some rest, I want to start early before the sun comes up.” Gibson said.

Ford compared the tents versus the number of people in their group. “Who's the lucky guy that gets to sleep with the princess?”

“I... I don't need to sleep so..” Theo stammered.

“It's going to get pretty cold out here, don't want to see you freeze to death.” Williams said.

“Suck it up and pick a tent.” Gibson said.

Theo sized up the guys in front of her. “Parker... I could probably take him in a fight if he tries anything.”

The guys laughed as Parker blushed. “Gee thanks.”

Theo felt a sense of dread as she followed Parker to his tent. He ducked into the tent and Theo stuck her head in opening.

“Oh god... one sleeping bag.” She moaned.

Parker gave her a whithering look. “Jeez come on, we'll sleep back to back and no funny business I promise.”

“Fine.”

Parker already in the sleeping bag as she crawling in, Their feet got tangled up as she crammed herself in.

“Sorry.” Parker said.

“No it's alright...”

They stayed silent for a while and Parker started to drift off to sleep. Theo remember back to when they offered her water and whispered to each other after her refusal.

“Do you think I'm a robot? Or do believe my story.” Theo asked.

“wha...” Parker had almost fallen asleep. “what story?”

“Oh they didn't tell you, need to know I guess. I'm not an alien, My name is Theo, The guy they said disappeared in that thing that's following me.”

“You're a guy?” Parker asked.

“Well not anymore...”

“What changed you then?” Theo imagined Parker was asking so he could avoid a similar fate.

“There was a girl in the Monolith, she looked like I do now, she said I would of died if she didn't change me.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah...” Theo mumbled.

“Well get some sleep okay?” Parker said as he shifted to get more comfortable.

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They set out as the planet's star was rising behind the Monolith.

“At least we'll have some shade for an hour or two.” Gibson said.

The trek was a silent affair, it was only interrupted by the sound of the Monolith cutting it's way through a sand dune or the occasional radio check. During their breaks Theo would crawl up the tallest sand dune she could find and stretch out the past and look for the tan 'snakes'. It had been day for about eleven hours when Theo took another look for the exploration team. The dunes stretched out like usual but coming over the horizon was a lumpy wave of dark green. As it neared and passed through Theo, she made her guess.

“I think we are close to a forest of some kind, the team went straight for it.”

“Good news.” Gibson called out.

The forest was a two hour walk away. The desert had flatten out and walking became much easier. The flat sand soon became peppered with rocks, then the sand receded to reveal cracked water parched clay. A mile after the sand was gone they spotted the forest. The trees looked like they were made out of huge grasshopper legs with large segmented leaves at the top. When they reached the edge of the forest they saw that the massive leaves didn't let any light through. Scattered among the trees were short cactus with segmented bug armor, in between each segment rows of course hair stuck out.

“These things are making me nervous.” said Theo.

“don't touch then, Can you see where they went?” Gibson asked.

“All the trees block my sight.”

As they reach a little farther into the forest they were rocked by a crunch and a wet snap. The Monolith pressed into the forest knocking down the first few trees at the edge.

“Shit...” Theo sighed and turned back to the Monolith. “I'm no use to you guys anyways, how about I stay here, guard this thing and wait for your return?”

“Sit tight then, princess.” said Gibson.

“That's getting old!” Theo called out to the departing search team.

Theo turned back and walked back out of the forest, towards the Monolith. It sat lower to the ground than it's sister in New York, two feet or so rather than the twenty feet back on earth. She strolled up to it and ran her hand along it's surface, the towering Monolith didn't push back. Theo couldn't tell if she pushed it away or the Monolith was repelled by her touch. She put her hand out again and the Monolith moved to her touch.

“Fucking weird.” Theo muttered.

Theo put both of her hands out and pushed the Monolith out of the forest. The star was past it's zenith and it headed to the horizon behind the forest. Theo took a few quick glances at the star before burning her eyes out. 'Looks like it would be four o'clock right now' Theo said to herself.

--------------------

It had been five hours since they left but the sun told Theo is was only six in the afternoon. Theo was propped up against the smooth surface of a grasshopper tree. She was staring off into the distance in that meditative state when you run out of thoughts to think. The sound of rocks scuffling on dirt broke her Zen state. Theo whipped her head around the base of the tree to find the source of the sound. The forest was thick enough that Theo couldn't see more than thirty feet in. She got to her knees and tensed up, waiting to run for it at the first sign of trouble.

“I wish they gave me a gun or something.” Theo whispered.

Theo jumped when she heard something rooting around about forty feet away. She could tell a lot of dirt was being moved out in the forest. The digging stopped and Theo heard the thing out there breathing. It sounded like wind passing through a tube and it's repetitions sounded exactly alike. It's breathing had a almost instrumental quality to it, no wheeze or variance a mammal would have. The digging picked back up for another couple of minutes before stopping again. Next came a sound of tearing like someone was pulling the bark off of a tree.

'It sounds like it's an herbivore.' Theo concluded.

The fear in Theo faded and her curiosity took hold now. She raised herself up as quietly as she could. On two feet she listened for the sound of the creature eating. Confident the animal didn't know she was there she slowly advanced towards the noise. Edging closer and closer, Theo stepped on a brittle patch of dried clay that cracked and broke. There was a second of silence before Theo could hear the animal running off in the opposite direction. Theo decided she really needed to see the animal before it got away so she gave chase. Theo darted and weaved between the trees and jumped over a freshly dug hole. Theo reached a barren strip of ground spanning eighty feet long with a wall of trees on each side. The creature was half way down the treeless corridor and still running. It looked like a insect, a five foot long and two feet high insect. It had only four legs but it's feet looked far more dexterous than a humans. The creature crawled away almost like a salamander.

Theo kept paced until she heard trees breaking behind her.

“Shit!” She cursed.

Theo slowed to a stop and took in as much detail of the animal as she could before it disappeared into the forest. It neared the end of the corridor and dove back into the forest, it's iridescent armor strobed between the trees as it faded from sight. Theo stood staring at the spot it disappeared for a few minutes while she processed what she saw.

“HELL YEAH! I SAW AN ALIEN CREATURE!” Theo cheered.

--------------------

Theo was back at her tree, to Theo sitting was just as useful as pacing around. The shadows where almost to the horizon and still no word from the search team. Theo passed the time by playing around with her new vision. She made the landscape stretch faster and faster with every try. She threw a rock and made it's path arch back to her. She grabbed another rock and wound up to throw it, She stretched out the future and looked for it's path. Nothing, everything around her moved in it's path but the rock had no future.

“Maybe I'm never going to throw it?” She pondered.

She snapped back time and tried again, the rock still didn't have a path. Looking at the rock in her hand Theo noticed that she didn't have a path either. That put a pit in Theo's stomach 'What does it mean?'. She tossed the rock and after leaving her hand the rock's path jumped out and traced it's movements to the ground.

Thoughts of destiny and free will floated through Theo's mind. Am I the only person with a choice now? Theo wondered. How am I effecting the world with my actions? Could I of killed the next Einstein cause of my mucking about? Theo felt like she was a wild card, she didn't fit into the world anymore. She didn't have a path that flowed with the rest, She imagined making wakes and rips in the fabric of space time with every movement she made.

The shadows faded into the night as Theo still sat against her tree. The planet's night time unnerved Theo, unknown alien monsters lurked out in the darkness. The wind died down after the star had dropped passed the horizon. The whoosh and whistle of the wind was replaced with the unbearably silent forest. The lack birdsong or insects buzzing in Theo's ear made her uneasy.

'How do you know when a monster is coming when the crickets aren't there to stop chirping.' Theo to herself.

It was quiet enough now that Theo could hear the voices in her head. Someone called her name but she couldn't recognize who. Murmuring and unintelligible conversations drifted around Theo. A twig snapping in the distance? No there aren't any twigs here. Theo threw a rock into the open desert in front of her, the impact made the voices quiet down.

The hiss of a beer can opening, 'strange' Theo thought. A high pitched whistle, Theo still thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. That is until she saw orange lit shadows moving across the ground. Theo bolted up to her feet in time to see the flare reach it's zenith and start falling back to the earth. 'Earth? No not earth, alien soil.' Theo thought fleetingly.

The ramifications of what the flare meant hit Theo in her gut. The implications made her stomach threatened to release its empty contents on the ground. She paced a circle in front of the forest waiting for her brain to tell her what to do.

“shitshitshit...” She felt wobbly, like each doubt and fear attacked her motor control. She remembered feeling a little like this before going back through the fold.

'Anything you can.' she remembered Farris telling her. It didn't stop her legs from shaking but it did help push her to a decision. Theo crouched down with her hands on her knees and took a deep calming breath.

“God dammit.” Theo said as she walked into the forest.

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Thanks to DJKauf for editing.

Note: I apologize for making the Monolith follow Theo, It seems a little contrived to me but I liked the image and I couldn't think of a better way to get her to join the commandos. LOL. Has anyone here read any Stephen Baxter?