Starship Walker

Gillian's Doppelganger

"Gillian! Can you hear me?"

A hand gently shook her shoulder. She heard the pleasant rattle of water splashing across stones into the pool. She realised that they had overdone it, made her so tired and comfortable that all she had done was sleep. The attempt to speak to the alien, or whatever it was, had been a failure.

She blinked. Her eyelids felt heavy. Another hand waved in front of her eyes

"Is she awake? Can she hear us?"

Gillian awoke with a start, and sat up. She was reclining on an outdoor chair, on soft cushions.

"Oh!" she cried, "Did we waste our time? All I did was sleep!"

"No, Gillian," Doctor Morris said, "You went into sleepwalking mode, as you did on your last walk."

"You mean, you talked to 'It'?"

"Yes, well, we think so. Would you like to view the recording?"

"Of yes! Of course!"

As she spoke, Gillian saw that they were all looking at her differently; they seemed wary.

Joan held up a flat panel display, but McWhirter raised a hand, and asked, "What do you remember of this session, Gillian - anything?"

"The last thing I remember was Doctor Morris attaching monitors to me, then giving me an injection."

"We asked you lots of questions. Are you sure you don't remember any of them?"

"Yes! I woke up thinking nothing had happened."

"Ok. We'll show the recording to you." Mr McWhirter took the flat panel, set it on a stand and gestured at the device.

Gillian saw herself apparently sleeping on the reclining chair. She saw Doctor Morris, checking her instruments, muttering, "I'm getting the same readings I saw when Gillian apparently hijacked the ship. The same as when she seemed to be sleepwalking."

The doctor bent over the sleeping Gillian and slapped her gently on the cheeks. Watching the recording, Gillian saw the figure of herself sit up, looking irritated.

 "Stop that!"

There was the bizarre sounding childish voice again.

"It worked!" someone on the recording who was out of sight exclaimed. It sounded like the marine.

Gillian was astonished to see herself like this, but she wondered why this version of her looked so irritated, if the thing was truly the calm inner presence she had always been accustomed to.

Mr McWhirter spoke. "We need to ask you some questions."

"What do you want? Do you want me to pilot the ship?"

"No, you are not at the ship's helm. We want you to tell us about yourself. Are you prepared to talk to us?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me who you are and where you're from, please?"

"I'm Gillian Berry, and I'm from Mars."

The little group in the recording all registered surprise. Seeing the exchange, and hearing the bizarre little girl's voice that came out of her own mouth, Gillian gasped.

The Gillian in the recording asked, "Where am I?"

"You're in the second wheel of the ship. You're safe."

"I didn't mean that. I meant, where is the ship?"

"Where it was left, at the end of your Walk, when we had to disable you."