Codename: Angelus

Chapter 1 - Lost Girl

When I came to, I was lying on a spot of grass on the top of a hill. How I had ended up or why I was there, I was unable to recall. I was unable to remember anything but my name, Alice.

Everything else was a blur. My head hurt, but my body seemed fine. Nothing broken, at least.

So I got up and cast a glance around me. The sky, the grassy field on top of the hill on which I had awakened, trees, another field and a... manor? Or was that an abbey? Or whatever.

My stomach growled and I was cold and the sun was setting. I didn’t want to spend another(?) night on that hill so I pulled myself together - my legs were shaking and I felt kinda wobbly; light-headed, too - and descended the hill, which was gentle but kinda slippery so I had to be careful not to slip and fall and cover myself in mud.

I thought I’d be out of breath once I reached the manor, yet I still retained some energy after I’d crossed the field and approached the building. It was huge and in my head terrifying thoughts started bugging me. Vampires! Witches! The Inquisition! And so on. It was built in grey stone; it had spires and gargoyles to boot.

Something was amiss. I didn’t know what - it just felt... wrong. Like I wasn’t in the right... age; time(?) - or whatever.

My body was shaking, but I couldn’t tell if it was fear or just... fatigue. Anyhow, I didn’t wish to sleep in the open so I crossed the field, leapt over the dry stone wall and looked for a door.

Up close, the manor was even more huge, terrifying and grim. I took my chances with the back-door. Funny enough, there was a doorbell. I rang and a normal-looking girl in a maid outfit looked out a nearby window.

I heard some commotion and then, finally, the governess opened the door. She cast me a stern glance. Her gaze lingered on my clothes. I hadn’t thought about them in the least, but then I took a quick glance and... they were just different from what everyone else - that is, the governess and the maid, were wearing. I was wearing a - was that a plugsuit?

The governess and the maid looked like they belonged to the last decade of the XIX or the first decade of the XX century; so, was I in a different time period, like, for reals?

Must have looked like an alien to them. If I were in a different time period, did I... come from the future? Not from the past. Never heard anything about people from the past wearing plugsuits.

Or was I - gasp! - an alien? Not a chance! My body looked like it was shaped as that of a regular human and my skin was fair. Not some sick green or blue or some other otherwordly color.

But a plugsuit? Was I the pilot of a giant mecha or a starcraft? Did I fall into an anomaly and travelled back in time?

“Do you... do you understand me? Where am I, or rather, when am I?”

My stomach growled at the worst possible time. My face reddened. Or maybe that was what saved me, after asking such a ridicolous question.

“Lily, we have a guest” said the governess.

Much to my bewilderment, the governess’ gaze softened.

“Come, child.”

I was starving but there was no helping it - the governess insisted that I take a hot bath and get dressed in a proper fashion before digging in. Maybe this was my first time taking a bath. It felt... funny, but not at all unpleasant. It was relaxing. My memory was still missing but I was sure I had never taken a bath before. Makes sense, if I grew up on starships. But why was I thinking of starships? Well, I was sporting a plugsuit. Maybe I was an alien, after all. Yet, my body was definitely that of a human. Unless I was somehow faking it - but I would know, wouldn’t I?

Lily helped me get dressed. Apparently, the lord of the manor was uncle to a delightful little lady around my age; the girl was away, so it was set that I borrow one of her dresses.

It was one heck of an uncomfortable dress, what with the crinoline and a cumbersome skirt and it had lace and frills all over! I missed my plugsuit.

The governess came to fetch me and brought me to the kitchen, where a delicious-looking meal had been arranged - porridge, eggs and bacon, bread, milk, apple pie; I knew what that food was, so I was definitely a human... right?

So tasty! The food. I had never eaten such yummy food in all my life. Still, it all added up: if I was a pilot and had been living on a starship, it was likely we didn’t have tasty food, since we would be using rations.

I kept wracking my brain, but my memory was still a blank slate. But it made perfect sense to me for a starcraft pilot to be wearing a fancy plugsuit; maybe I had fallen into an anomaly while I was fighting and - stupid headache! I couldn’t think with my head hurting like this!

It was late, so the governess ordered that I was brought to a bedroom. They assigned me a bed in the maids’ quarters, together with the other women. Lily, who was the youngest, lent me a night-gown. Damn! They snored. But I was exhausted and fell asleep nonetheless.