Sleep Helena Sleep

Moonbase Alpha's status report, 1180 days after leaving earth's orbit Dr. Helena Russell recording. I am recuperating after a mad man broke in and stole some medication from the Medical Center. Commander Koenig and I have decided to put the wedding back by a month. The atmosphere is one of calm as the Commander tries to set things in order. He is on the alert to the dangers now within and without.

Maya walked into the Commander's quarters and placed the last of Helena Russell's personal items on the bed. She looked around. The place was in disarray but they would get it in order soon. Helena had ordered another bed moved in and Tony Veredeschi had one moved in discreetly.

Helena came out of the little kitchenette. She smiled at Maya. "Take a load off your feet, Maya, sit."

Both women went over to the chairs. Helena offered her a cup of coffee. Maya took it gratefully. She sipped it all the time looking at Helena.

"You look so happy, Helena."

"I am happy Maya, and thanks for bringing my things."

"Oh, don't mention it. I was glad to help. What's making you so happy?"

"John, John makes me happy. This is going to be the first time I moved in with a man and I feel safe somehow."

"How did the Commander talk you into this?"

"Maya, it was not what he said but how he looked. He was devastated by what happened to me. He wants to protect me Maya and I want to let him."

"Helena, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes and no. Yes, because I trust him, no because I do not trust myself."

"How are you going to overcome this?"

"Cold showers."

The girls laughed. "I'm going to leave now, Helena. Bob's orders were to let you rest. Sandra and I will get the details to the reception area worked out and I will bring them by tomorrow for your approval."

Maya stood to go. Helena thanked her again and she left. Helena went to bed. She took a tranquilizer after tossing in bed for an hour.

The nightmares began. She was running, then, she began to fall. The falling continued, on and on and on. The scene changed and she was sitting at her desk in medical. Suddenly the lights went out and someone smothered her from behind. She was losing consciousness.

Just before she succumbed to death, she sat up in bed gasping for air and clawing at the air.

Helena looked wildly around the room. It was dark and nothing seemed familiar to her. She hurriedly got out of bed and went to the bathroom. She splashed some water on her face as she remembered where she was. John's quarters, it was quiet and indicator to her that John was still on duty.

Where did that nightmare come from? She wondered. Helena left the room and walked over to the living area. She sat down too wound up to go back to sleep.

Maya headed to the lab where Victor was working on a project with her. Alan Carter had brought back an object from one of the derelict ships the Commander and his team had visited.

They had just about decided that it was a projector of some kind. Victor actually considered the possibility of it being a hollow deck imagery machine. How it worked was another thing. In fiddling with it some images had manifested itself only to disappear again.

"Well Victor, did you find out anything more on how it works?"

"Ah, Maya, I believe that a part is missing. If we can find that missing piece we can find out how this contraption works."

"I will find out if Alan left any other parts in the other labs." Maya removed her comlock from her belt and opened a channel.

"Alan?"

Alan Cater lifted his comlock and looked into Maya's smiling face. "Yes, Maya?"

"What did you do with your findings from those derelicts?"

"Well, some went to Dr. Russell, that was a medical black box I believe. The professor has some in his lab, you have some in yours and David and Carl in engineering have the rest."

"OK Alan, thanks." She turned her comlock off and frowned.

"I don't think I saw anything to match that piece, professor. I'll track down the pieces Helena and the others have and see."

"Thanks Maya, in the mean time I will continue working on this."

Maya spun on her heels and went in search of the missing part. She was excited. A hollow deck what exciting possibilities this would bring, she thought.

Maya found a piece in Carl's lab but she decided to go to Helena's lab to see what her black box was.

Maya checked about and found it. She would tell Helena later that she had borrowed it.

Maya returned to the professor and worked on putting the pieces together. It was late when she realized she had missed her meeting with Sandra. She decided to call her as Sandra had not called her.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

"Yes, Maya"

"Sandra, I'm sorry I did not call you before now. I missed our meeting."

"I stopped by the lab earlier and saw that you and the professor were engrossed in what you were doing so I left. I went to the recreation center and I did some drawings, you can look at them later."

"Thanks, Sandra. That is great. I will talk to you later."

Maya rang off as the professor gestured toward her. Maya watched as the Professor matched the three pieces together. Helena's black box, their piece and Carl's matched.

John Koenig entered his quarters. He had been on duty now for twenty-eight hours. One problem after another cropped up. He was tired but when he remembered that Helena was there his energy returned.

Koenig stopped in his tracks. His eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room. Helena was on the sofa fast asleep. Koenig quietly walked over to her and scooped her up trying not to wake her.

She looked very peaceful as he placed her on the bed. Helena stirred but did not awaken. Koenig stood there for a few moments just watching her sleep. He then prepared for bed.

John noticed as Helena turned restlessly in bed and guessed she must have been having a bad dream. Her face looked stressed. When she cried out in her sleep, he became concerned. He went over to the bed and sat on the edge. Should I awaken her, he wondered.

Koenig decided to get in bed with her and just hold her. After a few moments, Helena relaxed. Helena's attacker had disappeared as some part of her mind felt safe in John's arms.

Koenig fell asleep. Some time later, Helena woke up. She felt John's arms around her and she fell asleep again.

The next day Helena stirred. As her eyes opened, she looked into the laughing eyes of John Koenig. He was dressed and watching her sleep.

"Good morning beautiful." Helena smiled. He touched her hair and smiled into her eyes.

"Good morning, darling." John's heart always did a dance when she called him darling.

"Did you sleep well?" He looked with concern into her eyes. Helena sat up in bed.

"Yes, I did."

"You were restless last night are you having nightmares?"

Helena hesitated and John saw this. "Helena?"

"I am having nightmares, but I did not have any last night. I don't remember any. I had one earlier in the day."

"I think you should talk to Ben about this."

"If they get worst I will. What's on your agenda for today?"

"I have an early meeting with the Command Center staff. After that I am taking the rest of the day to spend with you."

"Oh John, really!" Helena was so overjoyed John Koenig could not resist giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Yes, really." John got up and went for some coffee. He handed it to her and left after placing a kiss on her forehead.

Helena was still tired the coffee did nothing to wake her up. She went back to sleep.

When Koenig arrived later, she was still sleeping. Koenig was not alarmed considering the fact that she had just been through an ordeal. He saw that she drank the coffee and gone back to sleep.

Koenig took out his reports and sat at his desk. He read watching her from time to time. Pass lunchtime Koenig ordered lunch for two and decided to wake her.

"Helena, wake up honey." He shook her gently but she did not stir. Koenig felt her pulse and saw that it was normal. He shook her again. She still did not awaken.

Koenig decided to call Mathias. He went to his console and buzzed him.

"Dr. Mathias here."

"Bob, I cannot awaken Helena. Can you come to my quarters please."

"Right away, John." Bob grabbed some equipment and left the Medical Center. He arrived at John's quarters and was buzzed in. Bob walked over to her and checked her pulse. He listened to her heartbeat and checked her pupils.

Mathias opened a channel to Medical Center and called for a gurney. John was alarmed.

"What is it, Bob?"

"John, I honestly don't know. She seems to be in a deep sleep."

The food and gurney arrived at the same time. Helena was placed on the gurney and taken to med centre, a worried John Koenig followed.

Bob ran every test he could think of, but came up with the same answer, she was asleep.

John was pacing outside. Why can't we get a break, he thought, What now? John was working up his anger. How could she be asleep and not wake up when you shake her? He did not understand what was happening.

Bob Mathias walked out to the waiting area to John Koenig. John could see he did not have good news.

"Commander, the best Dr. Vincent and I can come up with is she is asleep. Not normal slumber though. John, her body has shut down, with all the stress she has been under, nearly losing you, losing a child. Her body just could not take anymore. Instead of her having a nervous breakdown her body has just shut down."

"Bob, what you're telling makes no sense to me. I spoke to her this morning she was fine. What are you saying?" Koenig started pacing. His hand went to his face several times. He was agitated.

"Helena is in a sleep induced coma John."

"What? How do we get her out of it? I can't believe this." John started pacing again. He felt like he was losing his mind. He could take no more of this himself. John went over to the observation window. She was lying so peaceful like Sleeping Beauty. How could he awaken her?

"Bob, why would she do this? Why would she leave me? I told her I would take care of her." John looked frustrated and angry. "Why would her body just shut down?"

"John, we don't know everything about the human psyche. We will try our best to awaken her but I'm afraid she will not awaken unless she feels it is safe for her to come out of her sleep."

"I told her I would make her safe. She didn't believe me!" John punched the wall and kicked over a waste paper basket.

John walked to the doors and paused, "Bob, let me know if there are any changes." He walked out.

John headed to his office in Main Mission. He passed everyone working on the perifery and went to Kano's desk in the Command Center. He did not look in anyone's direction. He took the files David handed him. He went into his office and locked the doors. He told Veredeschi he did not want to be disturbed when the doors closed. John through the files down and brooded.

Victor and Maya worked tirelessly into the night to try to find out the secret of the objects. Every button they tried yielded little information. They disconnected and reconnected the unit. Finally, the professor decided to try all the buttons in a color sequence.

The machine glowed until the light grew and expanded. Images swirled around them. Maya and Victor watched as different scenes flashed before their eyes. Victor adjusted a few buttons and the images changed.

Maya and Victor looked at each other. Victor laughed and heaved Maya off the floor in a bear hug as the images swelled and engulfed the room. The images were of an alien civilization. The people were strangely ethereal. They were all glowing and thin. They hardly had any form. The creatures did not walk but glided. They were almost transparent in their sunlight. They glided about in what seemed to be a dense atmosphere. They looked mostly at peace.

"Maya, I think this is some kind of dream sequence. Do you see the things that are happening? I think this device was used to record people's dreams. It is a medical device all right, a type of mind reading device."

"I read about something like that. Isn't there research on that back on earth?"

"Yes Maya, some ESP but nothing like what we have just discovered. You can actually see what the person is dreaming. They probably used it to cure nightmares in their patients. This is astounding." Victor was grinning from ear to ear.

"Do you see these jumps in the pattern? Every now and then, you can actually see someone's nightmares. These are ghastly. The pattern usually repeats, over and over again. It's an amazing discovery."

There was a fizzing sound and the machine went dead. Victor walked over to it and started fiddling with it."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. It could be a power failure." They both began looking at the units.

BLEEP! BLEEP

"Maya?"

"Yes, Sandra?" Sandra hesitated and Maya knew it could not be good.

"Helena, is in medical."

"What happened?"

"Dr. Vincent thinks she is in a coma. Maya, she will not awaken from her sleep."

Maya looked over at Victor who had been listening to the conversation. "Sandra, Victor and I are on our way to medical." Maya rang off and the two headed out the door.

Maya and Victor fairly ran to the med center. When they got there, Bob Mathias filled them in on what was happening to Helena.

Maya looked at Victor. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"Maya, that could be a risky undertaking, we do not know much about that machine it could do more harm than good."

"What are you talking about professor?" Bob asked.

Victor Bergman told Mathias about the device that they found on one of the derelict ships.

"Are you sure it is what you say it is?"

"No, I'm afraid we are not sure."

"Do you think you can learn its function and use it to help Helena?"

"Maya and I will enlist the aide of our best technicians to help. Can you spare Dr. Vincent?"

"Yes."

"Let's go, Maya. Let's see what this machine can do." As the professor moved off, he turned to Bob again.

"Bob, tell John what we are working on and send him to the lab, but Bob do not get his hopes up too much."

Bob gave him the thumb up sign and went to call the Commander.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

"Koenig here."

Bob Mathias told Koenig of the professor and Maya's discovery.

"Will it work, Bob? Can it get Helena out of the sleep she's in?"

"We do not know that, John." Bob could see the look of defeat on John's face. There was nothing he could do to alleviate John's fears. He knew the Commander was feeling helpless.

"Thanks Bob, I will go over there." Koenig closed the connection and sat back in his chair.

"What now! What!" Koenig was shouting but to no one. He was angry. He stood up abruptly and turned his chair over. He began pacing again. He walked over to his desk where he had a picture of Helena, she was standing by her pet cocker spaniel back on earth. She had framed it and given it to him some time after he had proposed. His heart ached.

"Oh Baby, don't leave me now." John stroked the picture. He walked over to the stairs in his office.

John placed the picture on the steps beside him as he sat down. He placed his head in his hands. He was starting to get a headache. He just could not deal with anything else right now, not a discovery from Victor, not watching Helena slip away yet again, nothing.

John wished he could do something. He did not want to face this. Why could she not have trusted him to keep her, safe. John remembered when he went into a coma. He had been taken by Raan to Zenno. He had met Vana and fell in love with her but it was nothing like what he felt for Helena. When he left Vana he knew he felt something for Helena. Now he felt like a piece of his heart was ripped out of him.

John stood. He righted the chair and turned the lights off in the room. He sat on the sofa in his office. He remembered the Pirian girl appearing when he had those pills in his hand. Was he going to take them for the pain or to end the pain.

Could he end it now. He was tired. He sighed and sat back in his chair his head down. Why didn't she trust me?" he wondered.

Helena was falling into what she saw to be an unending abyss. She was in a hell she could not escape. When the scene changed, she was running into an endless night. Someone was stalking her. She ran, the fear rising to the surface to choke her. She could not breathe, she ran on and on and on into the night.

She sought help wherever she went, she screamed but no sounds came out. "John, John," was all she could finally utter as she collapsed into the darkness her world kept going around in circles.

The dream started all over again. She was falling out of control. Then the chase was on.

"Pete, what do you think this is?"

"Looks like a battery pack of some kind, professor."

"Let's pry it off. Do you think we have anything we can substitute for it?"

"Maybe a mobile nuclear generator could work. We would have to hook special electrodes to it but it might work."

"Good let's try that first. If it works we can start this thing and see how it works."

One of the technicians went for the generator and Maya wrote down sequences she wanted to try with the color codes. She was trying to work out a pattern. She feed them to the computer along with the color code itself. Kano sent the information to her. Maya frowned and fed more information to the computer. Kano sent the answers and this continued back and forth until the generator was attached.

The professor turned the dial and pressed the color codes. The machines came to life. As the images grew the dream sequences flashed before their eyes once again.

"Ok Maya, Ben what do you think this is?"

Maya fed her codes into the machine and watched as image after image came to life. The images grew stronger and it was as though they were inside the dreamers head.

"This is phenomenal!" Victor proclaimed.

Victor picked up his comlock and called John to come to the lab. He had to tell him it was an emergency. Victor could actually touch some of the objects in the dream. He grinned, this was amazing. Victor watched the images and made some calculations of his own. Maya too was processing the information.

John Koenig entered the lab and could not believe what he was seeing. The images looked real. Ben walked over to him.

"John, this could be the answer we are looking for." He gestured to the professor and Maya. They came over to concur with what Ben was saying.

"Professor, if we could hook Helena up to that contraption we could go into her dream and help her to wake up. That is what it was designed to do."

Maya and Victor were nodding they were agreeing with Ben.

"Do you mean to tell me I can enter Helena's dream through this device?"

"Yes, that is precisely what I am saying. Only there is one problem?"

"Oh really, let me guess, she could die. Am I right, Ben?"

Ben Vincent looked at the Commander he knew that this was not what the Commander wanted to hear right now but he had no choice.

"Commander, we do not know precisely what this thing does. We could be giving her a lobotomy."

Koenig turned, there was that headache again. He could wring Vincent's neck where he stood right now. Instead, John composed himself and turned to face them.

"What is the other alternative?"

"We wait to see if she will come out of it on her own."

"What do you think? Will she?" John could feel his head grow bigger. He felt like punching something, anything.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

"Yes, Bob."

"Have you made any progress on that machine yet, Ben?"

"Yes, why?"

"Helena has slipped into her coma induced sleep even further I am afraid we won't be able to awaken her."

"OK Bob, we'll be right there," Ben said.

Ben Vincent turned his comlock off. He looked at Koenig and he looked like a man on the edge.

They arrived at the Medical Center, machine in hand. They explained to Bob the pros and cons of what they had finally figured out. Bob looked worried.

Koenig went over to the observation window to look in on Helena. She was being fed nourishments via a tube now. Maya walked over to him.

"Commander, I wish I could say something that would ease your concern."

"Maya, she did not trust me to take care of her," John whispered. Maya looked in his eyes and she knew he thought this to be true.

"Commander, the last thing Helena said to me was that you wanted to take care of her and she would let you. She knew you could take care of her. That is the reason why she moved in."

Koenig looked at her, "Are you certain, Maya?"

"She said it to me. Her exact words were, and I quote, 'Yes, because I trust him' she trusted you completely." Maya watched as relief flooded the Commander's features.

"She said that?" He asked. Maya nodded and smiled at him. Koenig turned back to the men.

"Victor, you and Maya, along with Ben work on that machine before we use it on Helena. Two days, Victor, I'll give you two days to iron out some of the uncertainties. If she has not come out of the coma by then, I'm going in."

They looked at the Commander he was back to his old self. Victor slapped him on his back and went off with Ben to set up the equipment in diagnotics. He called Kano to come over to medical, they were going to link the machine with computer.

Koenig watched as they set to work, he knew they had gotten little or no sleep he was grateful for their input.

Two days later Koenig got the call. He had hardly left his office. He could not bare to see her things there in his quarters, so he slept in his office.

"Yes, Victor."

"We have a break hrough, John."

"Be right there."

Koenig headed out of Main Mission and to the Medical Center. When he got there they were attaching the electrodes to Helena's temple and feeding some information into computer.

"John, we are going to use the matrix of Helena's profile that Zantor used. It has information about her human spirit from Zantor's computer. This will insure that we do as little damage as possible when we hook her up to this equipment," Victor said.

"We also found that the dreamer is somewhere inside the images projected. If you can find her you could awaken her and bring her back. Only Commander, we won't be able to talk to you or help you once you are inside Helena's dream." Maya added.

"OK, let's get started." Koenig was a man of action and he was glad to be able to do something.

Bob sedated Koenig. As he fell asleep they hooked him up to the computer and the electrodes on the machine and matched John's brain wave patterns with those of Helena's. John was put into a deep state of sleep. His brain was linked to Helena's and he began experiencing her nightmare.

What the group saw when the images came to life was different from what they had seen with the aliens. Helena's nightmares were a series of spirals falling into darkness. They saw John enter the darkness.

John Koenig was aware that he was inside Helena's nightmare. He could feel the fear surround him just as the darkness did. He searched for her and found himself falling headlong into a precipice. He landed unharmed.

When John gained a sense of his own presence, he could hear footsteps running. He followed the sounds until he saw Helena running blindly down an alley. John ran towards her. He saw her fall. He heard her scream. John ran to her, gripped her by the elbow and turned her around.

When Helena saw him, she stopped dead in her tracks. She did not recognize him. She started struggling. She clawed at him. She screamed but no sound came. Her sense of panic left her as she realized that she knew him. She slumped in his arms as she could run no more. Koenig pulled her into his arms and held her. She finally felt safe.

He sank to the floor of darkness and held her rocking her and making cooing sounds to soothe her. Helena relaxed in his arms.

Maya, the professor and others could see the scenes as they took place. Bob and Ben decided to try to revive them.

Kano counted backwards from 10 and they switched the machines off and revived them. Helena sat up with a start. She looked around the room and saw she was in medical. John was also hooked up to the machine. He looked over at her and smiled.

Bob unhooked him and he went over to her as Ben removed the electrodes from her head. They both stood there looking into each other's eyes.

"I knew you would come to my rescue, my knight," Helena said smiling. Koenig brushed her hair back from her forehead and looked at her. He held her. She had been through a lot but she was still here in his arms.

When Koenig thought of how he almost gave up on himself. He shuddered. John let his lips lightly brush hers. He held her to him tightly.

"Let's go home," he said.

"What happened?"

"I'll explain on our way home."

Helena and John left after Koenig thanked them for saving Helena's life.

When they got to his quarters, Koenig sat her down in a chair and told her how long she was in her sleep-induced coma. He told her about the hollow graphic dream machine. Koenig massaged her shoulders and gave her somecoffee. Helena looked about and realized nothing had changed since she moved in.

Koenig put her to bed and layed beside her, holding her until she fell asleep. Koenig was not due to go to work the following day. He took the entire day to spend it with Helena.

Helena awoke to breakfast in bed. John had ordered in and she sat in bed and ate. After breakfast, she spent the morning on the sofa reading as John put her things in drawers and hung her clothing up in the closets.

John planned a picnic. The picnic basket was taken to his quarters and they went to the recreation center, garden area and ate there.

Later John sat and watched as she sunned herself in one of the chairs. Helena had a wonderful day but was too tired to eat dinner. She went to bed early falling asleep yet again in John's arms.

At the end of the following week, Helena was back in full strength and diagnosed herself as being fit for work. She dreaded going back to her own quarters, as she was use to living with John and sleeping with John's arms about her.

Koenig was not looking forward to this either. He had to get her to stay somehow until the wedding.

"Uh.... Helena, I was wondering..." Helena's hands went up.

"I already know what you want to say, John."

Koenig sat beside her and took her hand in his. "I need you here with me," he said.

"I want to stay here with you."

John could not believe what he was hearing. "What did you say?"

Helena laughed, "You heard me."

Koenig pulled her into his lap. His lips opened as he took her mouth. His lips swallowed hers as he covered her mouth. John intensified the kiss when his tongue sneaked out of his mouth. Helena felt her entire being dissolve as Koenig's tongue explored her mouth.

Helena's arms went around his neck as her tongue left her mouth and went into his. John's breath caught in his throat as he felt her tongue touch his. It was the sweetest taste he could ever remember. His grip around her waist tightened. He sucked at her lips and stuck his tongue down her throat.

They heads tilted to the side as John's tongue darted in and out of her mouth in a kind of erotic dance. Helena lost all inhibitions as she sat in his lap. Her hands went to his hair as he thrust in and out of her mouth with his tongue. His tongue was driving her wild. Helena felt her body convulse. Koenig felt her shake and saw her eyes pop open. He intensified the kiss. Sucking hard and pushing at her tongue.

Helena's senses were so awaken that she was having an orgasm from the kiss. John held her as she screamed. Helena felt the fire, flame inside her and burst forth. Her eyes went even wider as she realized what was happening. Koenig held her as she bucked. She held on to him tightly. She had never had this experience before. She did not even know if it was possible but it was happening.

John held her until she relaxed.

"What just happened here?" John asked putting her a little from him.

Helena a little embarrassed smiled. "John, I don't know. I just know that I had an orgasm just now from your kiss."

"Has this ever happened to you before now?"

"No never. No one ever kissed me like that before." John smiled. He was the master, sure enough.

He kissed her lightly on the lips. "I thought I was the only one taking cold showers here. Now I see why you wanted me to stay away."

"Why John, whatever do you mean?" She said smiling and batting her eye lashed at him.

John Koenig was not fooled. What happened just now was a clear indication to him that Helena could not say no to him much longer. He also knew how much she wanted to wait.

John placed another tentative kiss to her lips and watched her response. She was ready. Koenig felt his own response. Down boy, he thought. Cold showers, cold showers, just think cold showers and you will be OK.

What was that? Helena thought. If I am this sensitive now can I really live here with John?

As John leaned in to kiss her, again Helena stopped him. She held his shoulders. She looked into his eyes. What she saw there almost made her come again.

"Uh." She groaned.

"What, Helena."

"We have to stop. I'm too sensitive now to keep kissing you. You know where this will end if we continue."

Koenig stood up with her in his arms. She looked at him. He looked at her. He knew that if he took her over to the bed right now she would not protest. Her eyes spoke volumes to him. Her touch was awakening all his senses too.

John placed her on her feet. She looked at him, his eyes smouldered. She swallowed. John took her arms from around his neck and placed them at her side.

"Helena, at this moment all I can think of is taking you here and now, but I won't. I want this to be perfect for you. Let's go watch a movie at the recreation center."

Helena could not speak. If she did they would not watch that movie so she only nodded her head. They left the room hand in hand. Another intense moment survived.