Chapter 41, A Matter of Atonement

Once again Jill was led through a dizzying maze of hallways until they reached a stout set of dark wooden doors. The air was noticeably cooler and she thought that she felt a slight draft. The Father raised his right hand and barely touched the doors. They slowly creaked open.

The doors led to the outside. As they walked through the compound the Father nodded to an occasional guard but no words were exchanged. Jill looked around as they walked and saw the familiar chain link fencing and other small cottages. She guessed that they were nowhere near where she had been dropped off earlier in the day.

They walked in silence and they eventually came to a guardhouse and gate. The guard put down his book and opened the window. He glanced at the Father and then spied Jill. He let his eyes wander down from her face to her feet and then back again. Seeing her clothing made him raise an eyebrow. But he kept his comments in check and only asked, "Out for an evening stroll in to town Father?"

The Father warmly replied, "Yes. I thought that I would show our guest our fine town and maybe even visit the tavern."

The guard nodded in understanding. Then he looked over to Jill and said, "They have good ale there."

Jill politely replied, "I'll be sure to try some." Then she glanced at the Father and added with sarcasm, "I'm sure that the Father's buying."

The Father's eyes narrowed ever so slightly but he said nothing.

The guard was totally oblivious to the subtle exchange and he walked out of the guard box to open the gate for them. The Father waved goodbye and then they continued to walk in to town.

"Are you cold?" the Father asked somewhat concerned.

"No," Jill replied. I should be freezing my ass off. She thought that it was odd that she did not feel any cold. She was wearing only a sweater and a turtleneck by the way.

As they approached the town, the gas lights gave off a warm glow. Most shops were closed for the evening and only the noise came from the tavern. Even then it was only audible when a patron either entered or left the establishment. The Father stopped in the middle of the square.

He deeply breathed in the night air and then sighed out of contentment. His question was simple. "Do you know where you are at?"

She looked around, "No. Should I?"

The Father outstretched his arm and motioned in a semi-circle. "Welcome to Oradour-Sur-Glane, though most just refer to it as Oradour."

Jill slowly turned around. It was then that she began to see in greater detail the buildings and the town. A few residents walking down the sidewalk waved to them and the Father waved back. An old stone church was nearby. Even in the dead of winter its incredibly neat landscaping was apparent. Each stone in the cobblestone street had been placed in perfect alignment with its brethren. There was no garbage, no homeless, and no evidence of crime. It looked like any other story book town. It was perfect.

She rubbed her forehead out of frustration. Something was wrong. Then it dawned on her. That was it, it was too perfect. She looked around the town again. Not only was it perfect but the name. What was with the name?

"You said Oradour-Sur-Glane like it was French," she said. She was still confused. Why? Why? Why? Why did that bother her so?

The Father cocked his head and for a moment his eyes glistened and reflected the glow from the gas lamps. "That's because it is French."

Her look of confusion was evident. She crossed her arms and slowly turned around yet again in a circle. The scenery had not changed. She shook her head, "Why that name from my world?"

"Because your world is my old world."

His response made Jill's head snap to attention. "What do you mean by that?"

"I was once part of your world. Oradour, as you see now, is a reproduction from our world. The Sorceress that you speak of with such disdain allowed me to rebuild it." He looked up at the night sky. Jill looked up as well but if there were any constellations, she did not recognize them. It was all just a jumble of stars to her. "I rebuilt it for atonement of my sins. Even your Uncle Bill initially helped me."

She turned her gaze away from the stars and looked at him. She shook her head again at him in disbelief. "Now this is just messed-up… And you're lying about Uncle Bill helping you."

Still gazing at the stars he answered, "He took pity on me." Then he raised his hands and the town began to shimmer.

The ground felt unsteady beneath her feet and she struggled to maintain her balance. "What the hell?" she muttered as she nearly tumbled over.

The shimmering became a blur but in the chaos the Father and she remained still. "What's going on?" she demanded. The blurring and swirling of colors was too much and it caused her to become dizzy. She gave in and fell to one knee. A high pitch whistling began and it became so loud that it hurt. She finally had to close her eyes and put her hands over her ears to try to deaden the sensory explosion.

Then as soon as it began it stopped.

Jill slowly uncovered her ears and opened her eyes. It was hot and the single sun shone brightly. It was mid-noon and the townsfolk were busily going to and fro.

She jumped up as she realized as a man pedaling a bicycle was about to run in to her. "Wait!" she yelled and she put out her arms to stop him. She stumbled and fell as she desperately tried to get out of his way. To her shock he rode right through her.

The Father grinned at her in amusement as she struggled to her feet. "It's like a scene from Charles Dickens is it not?" Jill still had a dazed look on her face as she attempted to regain her bearings. He continued, "Certainly you remember that story? Where Ebenezer Scrooge is nothing more than a ghost and is assisted by more ghosts?"

"Yeah, sure…" she replied as she turned in a slow circle to take everything in. Under her breath she muttered, "You're no jolly ghost of Christmas present though."

He ignored her comment and motioned for her to follow him, "Even though they cannot see us, why don't we make our way to the sidewalk where you'll feel more comfortable?"

They left the busy street and walked down the bustling sidewalk. Again to the Father's amusement, she did her best to walk around the townsfolk. It just seemed wrong to let them pass silently through her. She heard snippets of conversation and even though she did not understand it, she recognized the language as French.

As they continued down the sidewalk she soon became self-absorbed in the sights, the sounds, and the smells. "Oh my god!" she thought to herself, "That smells so good!" as she paused in front of the local bakery.

"Enjoying yourself?" the Father finally asked.

Jill turned her head to look at him. His quiet voice, that damn quiet voice interrupted her pleasant thoughts. It brought her violently back to the here and now. She turned to look back through the window. Her attitude changed and she raised her voice barely above a whisper. "So where are we?"

He motioned for her to start walking again. "Oradour-Sur-Glane."

She glimpsed at him before jumping out of the way of a man in a suit who was in a hurry. "Can't be. We were just back there in the O.Z."

The Father continued to stare straight ahead as they made their way through the crowded sidewalk. "Look at the people's clothing. This is Oradour-Sur-Glane, June 1944."

She stopped. "That puts us in the middle of World War Two… What the hell does that…," she waved her arm around, "have to do with me, you, and any of this?

He replied, "You are seeing what I showed your Uncle Bill so many years ago."

Then he raised his hands and the town shimmered slightly. The scene changed before them and the next thing Jill knew it was morning.

German soldiers ran through the sidewalks, busting down the storefronts and lugging their contents out in to the street for all to be had. All were yelling words that she did not understand but instinctively knew what they implied.

More German tanks, trucks, and soldiers marched by. In the distance a large group of soldiers pushed a wailing crowd of women and children towards a large stone church.

Jill ran down the street, weaving in between the soldiers and their vehicles. She did not care if the Father followed her or not. Breathing heavily she eventually reached the church. She put her hands on her sides as she bent over to rest. The townsfolk might not be able to see her and they could pass through her, but strangely, that did not mean that she did not feel any less human. As she looked at the ground trying to recover, she could hear the women and children screaming above the din of the trucks and tanks.

The soldiers had formed a perimeter around the church. Jill rose back up and walked closer to where a few gathered near the front doors of the church.

One soldier had something in his hands. He made motions as though he was activating it.

"NOOOOOOO!!" she screamed. She lunged towards the soldier and threw herself at him. She fell with a silent thud to the ground. She had forgotten that she was invisible.

BOOM! WHOOSH! BOOM!

She had realized too late what the soldier had done. As she slowly sat up, the screams from the women and children intensified. Flames licked the stained glass windows.

The front doors burst open and some of the women and children who were burning torches of flesh stumbled out on to the walkway. They screamed in agony. Jill did not understand the words, but she did not have to. The soldiers then opened fire. More burning women and children burst forth from the church. Their fate was the same. The smell of death drifted through the air.

More shots rang out from the back entrance of the church.

Jill screamed once more "NOOOOOO!!" as she pounded the ground with her fist. The tears streamed down her face. So much so she could no longer see.

The scene shimmered again and she suddenly found herself near some barns and sheds. Machine gun nests in front of the entrances to the barns and sheds had already been set up and once again to her horror she realized what was about to happen. She slowly rose to her feet and clenched her fists.

The men of the town had been assembled in the barns and the soldiers started to shoot at them without mercy. They were intentionally shot in their legs. The men dropped to the floor, unable to run away. Those who were not buried under tried to crawl away. More soldiers appeared and began to cover the living pile with kindling. The men began to scream for mercy as they understood what was about to happen.

The soldiers left the buildings and they were set on fire.

As Jill felt the heat from the infernos, she could do nothing more than to stand there and cry.

The scene shimmered again and she found herself standing in the town square. It was deserted. The stone church was smoldering. The storefronts were decimated. She sensed someone behind her and it was the Father.

With her face wet with tears, she asked, "Why did you show me that?"

He replied matter-of-factly, "I am the destroyer of Oradour-Sur-Glane. I ordered its destruction in the belief that it contained French Resistance fighters. I did not learn of my error until long after I escaped."

Then it happened. The anger bubbled and then burst forth from her. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MADE AN ERROR?!" She screamed so loudly that it hurt. "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A MONSTER!"

She lunged at him in order to try to tackle him to the ground. As before, she passed seamlessly through him and fell to the ground.

He looked down at her with pity. "I would have thought that you would have learned by now that both you and I are nothing but mere ghosts."

The tears began to fall again and once again she screeched, "Rebuilding Oradour doesn't mean that you're fucking forgiven! You're evil down to your bloody soul!"

"How do you know what it takes to be forgiven?" he replied. "Evil and good are relative state of beings. When you call a man either evil or good, are you not just comparing him to the man standing next to him?"

Jill stood up and grabbed at her little stubs of hair. In frustration she called out, "This!... The new Oradour! The old Oradour! It doesn't prove a thing!" She thrashed her arms about, "You claim that you're looking for atonement but back in the O.Z. you're still plotting war. People will be killed and their deaths will be at your hand!"

She backed a few steps away from him and continued, "Compared to that witch, you're just as evil as she was."

The Father watched Jill storm off away from him. She was headed towards the church.

Jill reached the church and walked in through what was left of the entranceway. The ceiling was gone and all that remained were some smoldering pews. Charred bones, ash, and stones littered the floor. She felt it crunch under her feet but no sound was made.

The Father stood outside the entranceway. He refused to go in.

"Your Uncle Bill took pity on me." His voice was soft but it echoed through the church.

Jill angrily turned around to face him. "STOP SAYING THAT!!" Out of frustration she picked up a skull and hurled at him. He stood still as it silently passed through him.

"Your Uncle Bill saw a broken man. He said that in that broken man standing before him there was a glimmer of light."

She turned away from him.

"After he helped me rebuild Oradour, he angered the true Queen. Without my intervention she would have killed him. Instead she showed mercy and she left him go. But she set him out in to the world dependent on drugs to get him through each day. It rotted his mind, and his spirit. My friend was alive but at what price? Even today I do not know if it was better for him to live like that or to have received death on that day. It was only after who you refer to as the Princess Dorothy came back in to the world that she killed him. I was too far away and could not save him the second time."

Jill bent over and picked up another blackened skull. It was small, so very small.

"The true Queen will live again. But she will be a different queen. I can show her what happened, what caused her eventual death. Yes, there will be another war so that she can reclaim her throne. But once she is restored she will be a different queen. She can have mercy. She too has that glimmer of light. I have seen it before."

Jill took one last look at the small skull and then let it drop to the ground. She turned around to the face the Father. She knew that her fate would be sealed. "I don't see any glimmers of light." She walked towards him. "All I see is a man who has done terrible, horrible deeds in his life. I don't know how you got here. I don't know who or what gave you your powers. But none of that matters now." She stood toe to toe with him and looked in to his eyes. "You don't deserve mercy. The only way you can pay for the crimes you did to my world and to this world is by your death."

The Father looked at her and his eyes narrowed. "I had hoped that you would show the same compassion as did your Uncle Bill on that day so long ago. But I see that that trait is not hereditary. " Then his eyes softened. "I had hoped that we could be as close as your Uncle Bill and I. So much so that I would even consider you to be the daughter that I never had."

He took a few steps back away from Jill and raised his hands once more. The church blurred in to oblivion.

They soon were in the new Oradour-Sur-Glane and the moon was high in the night.

Before Jill realized what was happening the Father motioned with his hands once more and she found her hands bathed in an eerie green light. She tried to wiggle free but found that she could not. His only words to her were, "Come with me."

Chapter 42, Out Of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

As the Father and Jill neared the security gate they had passed through earlier in the evening, they were immediately flanked by a number of guards. Jill had no idea of how they appeared so suddenly but she did not care. She had more pressing things on her mind.

They reached the Father's living quarters and he led her and the guards down a steep set of steps. Jill guessed that it was a lower level and her thoughts drifted back to all of the horror movies she had seen in her life. Don't go down the steps! Her mind screamed. Or else the boogey-man is going to get you! She smirked to herself out of sick amusement. The boogey-man already had her.

They reached another set of dark wooden doors that were watched by a few more guards. One of them opened the door and the Father motioned for her to go inside.

It was a very large room filled with miles of tubing and wire and humming machinery. The overhead electric lights did not have shades so the exposed bulbs gave off a harsh glare. The walls were of natural stone that were damp to the touch.

Two tables, similar to the examining tables found in any doctor's office, were in the middle of the room. In between the beds was a device unlike anything Jill had ever seen before. It was a large glass tank filled with water. A myriad of tubes ran out of the tank to small machines with lots of dials and buttons on either side of it. More tubes and wires then went from the machines to the beds. A lone wooden chair had been placed in front of the tank.

The Father nodded towards two of the guards already stationed in the room, "Take her to the table." The green light that had bound her hands disappeared.

Jill stood still as she rubbed her wrists, trying to see if any lasting damage had been done. She smirked and replied defiantly, "And if I don't go?" The sureness of her voice surprised her.

No one was amused. One of the guards answered, "Then we'll drag you over there."

As she walked towards the table, flanked by the guards, she asked the Father, "Are you going to torture me?"

He watched her hop on to the table and look at him. "No."

A man wearing a long black apron walked over to her and stood at the head of the table. She had not seen him when they first entered the room. "Please lie back," he told her.

"No," she answered quietly. If it's not torture then what is it? She decided that whatever it was, it no longer mattered; she was going to be defiant to the end.

The two guards flanked the table, slung their guns behind their backs and shoved her down. She struggled as the one guard tied her one hand down. Two more guards appeared and she kicked at them. With a satisfying crack one of her kicks landed true on the guard's nose. He stumbled away, holding his hands up to his face. The blood dripped through his fingers. But her satisfaction was short-lived. Another guard took his place and it was not long until she was subdued and tied down.

The man with the black apron attached a head piece to her. It was heavy and it took a great amount of effort for her to turn her head. She saw that it was connected to one of the strange machines. Two more men with long black aprons appeared from behind the water tank and stood near the other table.

Footsteps mixed with growls and snarls echoed down from the far end of the hallway. The sounds grew louder as they grew near the laboratory.

The Father glanced over his shoulder and saw Zero and Lundgren enter the room. They were followed by a third man in uniform. More guards and a creature that Jill had never seen before lingered near the doorway.

"You're late," the Father said to Zero and Lundgren.

Zero could not help himself but sneer in response, "We're just being fashionable… Besides, you haven't started yet."

The Father snorted his discontent but said nothing more. He instead turned his attention to the third man in uniform. He walked the few steps separating them and put his hands on his shoulders. "Lieutenant Idearc, I have known you for years and have been one of the brightest students that the Oradourian Academy has ever seen. You are about to participate in what future generations will regard as both a historic and technological achievement."

The lieutenant beamed at the Father's adulation. "Thank you Father."

The man with the long black apron guided him towards the table. He did not have to be forced down and actually appeared as though he was enjoying the experience and the attention.

As soon as the creature saw the water tank and the stool he began to howl with rage. The guards had difficulty controlling the creature as they dragged him towards the chair. The creature continued to howl and thrash about. One of his random kicks landed on the chair and it went flying towards the door. It hit the wall with a loud BANG and then tumbled to the floor. The creature roared out, "CALM NOT OBEY!" But after what seemed like an eternity, he was eventually strapped down and shackled to the floor.

Jill turned her head away in horror as the men in black began to attach the tubes and wires to his head. Unlike her and the Lieutenant Idearc, the tubes and wires were screwed directly in to his skull. Calm howled in pain.

The Father walked over to Jill and stooped down so that he was at eye level with her. Her eyes were moist but she retained her composure. She hissed at him, "Where's that glimmer of light now? If you had it you wouldn't be torturing it so."

He whispered to her, his voice clearly audible even above Calm's muffled screams. "That creature is called a viewer." He paused to look at Calm and then went on. His voice was full of contempt. "They are ignorant, witless creatures whose only redeeming value is that they can see thoughts. If it was not for that, they would have been cleansed from the earth long ago."

He stood back up and looked down at her. "My alchemists made a great improvement on my true Queen's machine. Her machine, using a viewer, could only see the person's thoughts. But now soon, your thoughts… your knowledge… will actually be given to Lieutenant Idearc. He will be able to do great things with them."

Jill furled her brows and said nothing for a moment. Then she understood the implications. She struggled against her bonds once more. The Father's expression of pity fueled her fire even more.

"You had your opportunity to give your knowledge willingly; to help us, to help me. But you refused. You are a good person Jill. But sometimes good people must fall for the benefit of others." Then the Father turned and walked away back to where Zero and Lundgren stood.

"Dr. Alloquay. Are you ready?" the Father asked loudly.

A figure near the wall nodded in silent agreement. Then, like a scene from Frankenstein, he threw the switch.

Chapter 43, One Down, Two To Go

The only light in the bedroom came from a lone candle on the night stand. DPM Vargo sat silently near a sleeping Glitch. He was weak, so very weak, but the worst was now past.

Vargo's thoughts strayed as he continued his part of the nighttime vigil. Glitch was safe for now. He had debated with the others about the head case's importance. Priorities had to be set on who could be saved and who could not. He had demanded that Glitch be amongst the saved and so much had been risked for his life. He then thought of the Tin Man and of the Princess. One looking in from the outside would have said that it had been extremely difficult to free Glitch. Seeing the Tin Man's and Princess' situation, they would certainly rate it at impossible.

But they had to try. The future of the O.Z. depended on it.

Author's Note: Well, what can I say? This has been quite the experience for me. I never intended for this story to go on for this long. It just kind-of happened. My story turned in to an epic, and then some. Looking back, I probably should have reined it back in, but it is what it is. I consider it a lesson-learned for next time 'round. A heart-felt thanks to all goes out to those who placed me on their story alerts, to those who left me a review, and to those that are content to just read along.

The next installment/story will be titled "Let Loose the Dogs Of War" and I hope to have the first chapter posted in a month or so. Oh, and don't worry, there will be some overdue ass-kicking. :) Again, thank you for letting me play in the sandbox for a little while.