Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 08:30:36 -0800 Reply-To: Selma McCrory <94smccro@ultrix.uor.edu> Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Selma McCrory <94smccro@ULTRIX.UOR.EDU> Subject: Repost: fanfic, _Change of Perspective_ 1/4 (Shameless Plug (tm)) A later version of this story will appear in LJC's fanzine "Forever" #1. Contact her at johanna@hydra.unm.edu for details. A Change of Perspective by Selma McCrory Copyright 1993 part 1 She could hear the clash of the swords nearby. She quietly slipped past the rows of boxes to peek out the warehouse door. Outside, in the night, a man and a woman were furiously battling it out. Greer could not see the details of the swordfight well enough from where she was, and she dared not ease any further out for fear of being seen by the contestants. Although it was possible that they would not see her if she moved, she had been told enough times about others who had made that mistake and had gotten killed for their trouble. Observing in this setting, with no others around to keep her from sticking out, was very dangerous. However, she needed to record this fight, record it in writing for posterity. Spotting a higher vantage point, she climbed onto a stack of small boxes. She was being very careful, since the lights seemed to be out in that section of the warehouse. The dark would hide her better, but if she was not careful, she could fall and seriously injure herself. As she reached the vantage point, she missed the box that would have allowed her a sure foothold. She grabbed a nearby black cord for balance, and realized she had made a big mistake. For a few seconds, she was paralyzed, and then, nothing. * * * She could gradually see the light from behind her eyelids. She felt faintly sore, but that feeling was decreasing by the minute. Under her, she could feel concrete, except for her head, which seemed to be cushioned by something. She opened her eyes and saw the ceiling of the warehouse. She was lying on the warehouse floor, a fair distance from where the darkened area where she had last been. A shadow fell across her and she towards the source. A woman was standing there. As Greer raised her head to look at the woman's half-shadowed form, the woman looked at her and smiled gently. "Hello," the woman said. She was a delicate beauty, with long blond hair reaching down to her shoulders and sadness in her hazel eyes. She kneeled down by Greer, who struggled to remember that the woman's name was Alberta, and that she had been one of the participants in the swordfight outside. "Hello," Greer responded. She tried to get up, but felt groggy. She saw the woman move in to help. The woman gently hauled her up to a sitting position, and helped her stay up by holding a strong arm against her back. "You"ll be all right," the woman told her. "What happened?" Greer asked her anxiously. "I was nearby, and I heard a loud crash. When I got here, you were partially on those boxes up there," the woman said, pointing at some boxes that were in disarray. Greer looked up and discerned the black cable hanging so innocently from the ceiling. She looked back at the woman. She thought, _What can I do? I can't tell her the truth._ The woman looked at her, obviously concerned. Greer brushed her bangs aside, pausing for a moment. "I was getting something from here. I climbed up to get a box, and I slipped. I grabbed a cable," she paused again, trying to look confused, not that she was having much trouble with that. "I don't remember anything after that, except when I woke up. I guess you saved my life." "I didn't do much. Just as I said, I found you on the boxes, took you down, and made you comfortable." the woman said. Her smile then faded, replaced by a somewhat businesslike look. "What's your name?" "Georgina Lewis, but I go by Greer," Greer told her. She felt in her pockets for her wallet. The woman looked briefly sheepish and handed her wallet back. "Alberta Barrow." Greer tried to keep her alarm from showing in her face. _Why is she introducing herself by Alberta, rather than her current pseudonym, Alicia Marriner?_ she thought. Then she knew. She covered up by saying, "Will you help me? I need to see a doctor." "Greer, wait," Alberta said in a commanding tone. Greer had shifted to get up, but stopped at Alberta's voice. Her heart was pounding as she guessed what had happened to her, and what she knew. She focussed on Alberta as if the other woman were her lifeline. "I need to talk to you. I need to tell you some things. You don't need a doctor," Alberta spoke almost to herself. Greer didn't particularly care to hear the words, but she did her best to shift somewhat forward, as if to listen to the woman's words. She reminded herself that no one else had heard the discussion before from an immortal, although she remembered several tales about how that information had been gleaned. Her thoughts helped. "You'll excuse me, I've never had to do this before," Alberta said as she sat down, leaning her back against a large box. "Take your time," Greer told her. She needed a moment herself to think about what was going on, and reconciling it with what she knew. Alberta took a deep breath. "Well, you didn't survive the electrocution. However, you're still alive." Alberta held a hand up, although Greer had done nothing to indicate that she was going to. "I'll answer your questions later, so please don't interrupt ." Greer nodded to Alberta, who went on, slowly talking as if to chose her words carefully. "When you died, you changed. There is only one way for you to die now. You can die if someone beheads you. You won't age, you won't get sick. You can be damaged, but you will always heal." Greer cocked her head more in Alberta's direction. "And people will come after you, to kill you. You are now immortal. You are now one of us. And you are now part of the Game." Greer didn't need any acting to be shocked. _I am a part of this now,_ she thought. _I didn't think this would ever happen._ Alberta told her about the Quickening, and the Prize, which Greer already knew about from her studies. None of it was new to her. Still, she wondered if she could take killing another person, threat or no. Her thoughts wandered off as she tried to correlate what she knew to what was happening. Alberta's voice cut into her thoughts. "Are you allright? Can you understand what I've said?" Greer shrugged off her thoughts and responded. "I'm fine, and I understand you, but I'm having a little trouble with the idea." "You'll have time to learn," Alberta said. Then she drummed her fingers on her chin, looking briefly towards the ceiling. "You'll have to learn to fight. I'll teach you." "I know how to fight." "With a sword?" Alberta asked. Greer involuntarily blanched. "Um, no." "Well, if you know how to fight, that's good," Alberta nodded, then looked at her seriously. "However, you need to learn to fight with a sword. It's easier to decapitate someone with a sword than with your bare hands." "Will I have to fight? To kill people?" Greer remembered, a long time ago, when she had seen her first swordfight, a bit before she had joined the group. The fight had been so savage. The two immortals had blood all over them. She had stood frozen in place, even when the one had decapitated the other and the park had exploded. She thought of the warning she was given later, during her training: that if an immortal ever spotted you watching during a fight, you might as well have been dead. She dragged her attention back to Alberta, and what Alberta was saying. "Yes. Even if you don't go after anyone, people will come after you. It's best, sometimes, to go after those who would harm you." Greer wondered if she was going crazy. She turned her head away, and studied a box on the other side of the corridor. _I read about swashbucklers when I was a child,_ she thought. She couldn't quite admit to herself that although she had long seen the swordfights realistically, she was still too much the romantic, she had always liked the good guys going after the bad guys. Alberta, according to her file, fit Greer's ideas nicely. She looked back at Alberta, who was looking at her in a motherly way. "We'll talk a little more, when you have time to think. I know I have told you a lot of unbelievable things," Alberta said. "I'll help you home." Alberta helped Greer up from the floor. She leaned down, grabbed the bundle of cloth that had been serving as Greer's pillow, and shook it out. It turned out to be a beautiful black trenchcoat. Greer was briefly concerned that Alberta would notice that she had no car, but Alberta was cheerfully commenting to her about how she thought the weather was nice and warm that night. She was ushered into Alberta's car, a late 70's Firebird, which stood out with its red sports stripes against the white body. Alberta drove her home, and she would have been more interested in the woman's discussion if she didn't have her own thoughts to pursue. When she got home, Alberta looked at the place like she was fixing it in her memory. She was then asked for her phone number, which she gave quickly, only wanting her bed and an escape from the nightmare which she seemed to be going through. * * * well, now to part 2... Selma McCrory 94smccro@ultrix.uor.edu saselmam@ultrix.uor.edu =========================================================================