taxonomites | 001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

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001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

Alexis glanced at her phone as she hurried down the stairs to the subway station. “I'm going to be so late,” she fretted, dodging around an older man with an oversized briefcase as she dialed a number on the phone. She swiped her subway pass and scooted through the turnstile as the phone rang, and rang, until it clicked to voicemail. “Oh hey, Justin! I just wanted to call to let you know that I'm running a little late for our violin lesson toda--”

The rest of her message died in her throat as, between one step and the next, the familiar confines of the New York subway system became something completely different, a seamless expanse of sterile, featureless steel.

Alexis gaped, mouth still slightly open. “Hello?” she finally asked. “My name is Alexis Castle. Can anybody tell me where I am? Or how I got here?”

Her own words echoed back at her, and Alexis chewed her bottom lip as she fumbled with her phone, hitting her dad's number on speed dial without any conscious thought. She didn't wait for him to pick up; if she had, she would have realized the phone wasn't ringing, but finding herself in a strange room when she had two seconds before been in the crowded subway station made Alexis less than rational. “Dad? Are you there? I need you to come get me, I think I'm in trouble,” she said, trying her best to sound calm, though it was hard to hide the edge of hysteria, the rising panic in her voice. “I was on my way home, in the subway station, but now I'm not, I'm in a little round room and there isn't anything here--” A pause, as she notices for the first time a podium with a device resting on it. Her voice quavers as she continues, “Except a podium, and I'm getting scared, Dad. Can you come get me?”

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When the choice was between wandering a strange new city alone and wandering it with a stranger (who could potentially be dangerous), Alexis was a little more inclined to go with the stranger, if only because she had heard that Detective Beckett was in the city. Alexis frowned in mild concentration as she poked at the tablet, eventually pulling up the map and finding the little dot labeled "Alexis Castle". She chewed on her lip, trying to find the corresponding label for Spencer Reid. "Okay, I see it."

Alexis was nearly at the door when she hesitated and looked around the room. The moment she left, this was all going to be real. That she was going to be all alone, that her dad wasn't going to be the one waiting for her at home. Or that there was a home to go back to at all. "I love you, Dad. Don't worry," she whispered, before taking a deep breath and glancing back down at the tablet.

"Okay. I'll wait outside. Thank you, Dr. Reid."

It took Spencer about 10 minutes on the tram from his apartment in Shelley to arrive in Central. He hadn't been out in a while, and was pleased to see the the bodies of the zombies were finally gone, though many of the buildings needed some repair. He found Alexis standing on the steps of The Sanctuary.

"Alexis?"

Waiting for Dr. Reid outside the Sanctuary gave Alexis some time to look over her tablet, to stare at the little dots moving around as people moved around. She may have spent a couple of minutes walking back and forth in front of the Sanctuary, trying to figure out how far she had to walk to make the dot move.

At the sound of her name, though, Alexis stopped poking at the alien device and looked up. She pushed an errant strand of hair away from her ear, for the first time thinking maybe wandering around alone was better than with a stranger even if Dr. Spencer Reid in no way looked like a dangerous person, and nodded hesitantly. "That'd be me. Are you Dr. Reid?"

"Yes... It's nice to meet you, Alexis."

Reid gave her a sort of wave, then shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't shake hands, so putting them in his pockets was a way to bypass the awkward moment when someone stuck their hand out him and he did not want to take it.

"It's unfortunate that we had to meet... in this place."

When Dr. Reid stuck his hands in his pockets, Alexis stood awkwardly juggling her tablet from one hand to the other, uncertain. She wasn't sure how to respond, so she nodded. "You too. Dad always said that any friend of Detective Beckett's is a friend of his." Well, except for Detective Demming, but that was the only exception.

She smiled and pointed to the tablet. "Thank you for coming to get me. You didn't have to, I could have found you with the map. I mean, I'm glad you did but you did--" Alexis caught herself and forced herself to stop talking. She did tend to babble a little when she was nervous.

"I doubt Kate would want you to walk by yourself through a strange place... and this is indeed a strange place."

He glanced around and noticed a few Extras milling about. He would have to explain them soon enough.

"If you'd like, I can take you back to the apartment where Kate and I live.... She's m-my roommate."

Spencer added the last bit quickly, almost as an afterthought.

Luckily, Elisa had already explained about the Extras. Or... at least Alexis thought she understood. It would no doubt be a completely different experience facing them for the first time. "Is it more or less strange knowing that we're here because of aliens?" Alexis asked, falling into step with Dr. Reid.

"Because if I knew this was science fiction, I wouldn't be surprised. But if I thought this was one of Dad's mysteries I would." She might have picked up a little of Castle's genre-savvy.

The question caught Alexis unexpected and she hesitated, chewing at her bottom lip as she thought through the implications. Right, not having her family meant her home wasn't here either... Her hand crept to her pocket to grip her cell phone, an unconscious gesture for comfort. "I... I don't want to be a bother, but if you don't mind? I'm sure I can find someplace to stay for myself soon." Translation: yes please.

Spencer walked next to her, his hands still in his pockets as they headed back towards the tram.

"I've wondered several times whether or not this is reality, and while it seems to defy logic, I've determined that this is certainly my current reality. I have a theory though that there is another reality, back on Earth, where I haven't left. I'm hoping this existence here is merely a carbon copy..."

If only for the sake of his team and his mother, who would have gone crazy looking for him by now.

"You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you wish. We have an extra room."

A faint frown of concentration appeared on Alexis' face as she tried to follow Dr. Reid's explanation. The idea of being a copy was unsettling, but the idea that there was also an Alexis still with her dad and grandma was a relief. Even if it made her terribly lonely to know that they would not miss her. "Really? So I might still be home with Dad and he wouldn't be freaking out because I'd gone missing?" she asked hopefully.

There were implications in Dr. Reid's statement about Detective Beckett that niggled at the back of Alexis' mind, but for the moment she was simply too overwhelmed to put her mind to figuring out what they were. "I'd like that," she said hesitantly. Normally that sort of relief would have ended with a hug, but the way Dr. Reid held himself, that would probably not work. Instead, Alexis shifted the weight of her backpack, and a thought came to her. "Dr. Reid? Is there a school here?"

Spencer nodded.

"It's a theory of mine, though unproven. I've been keeping track of the arrivals and departures to and from this place, compiling statistics, hoping to find some sort of connection between all of us, though nothing has surfaced yet. However, I have talked to people who knew each other before they came here, but came at different times. Those who came later report not noticing the absence of the other person, so it stands to reason that there is a version of us, back home, who never left. Or, it could have something to do with the space-time continuum. My research is still in progress."

They came to a stop next to the station where the tram picked up, and Spencer watched it round the corner. Somehow the tram always came exactly when one wanted it to.

"Ah.. no... we have no school, currently. I just opened a library not too long ago because Taxon was lacking in that as well..."

Trying to keep up with what Dr. Reid was saying about tracking statistics was made even harder when the tram arrived as they did. "That would make sense," she said slowly, watching the tram pull up. "Because Detective Beckett's been here a while, but she was working a case with Dad just a few days ago."

At the revelation of no school, however, Alexis' eyes went wide. Maybe it was simply a coping mechanism, trying to keep whatever shred of normalcy she could, or maybe Alexis really was that dedicated, but she seemed even more surprised/worried by that than the whole alien city thing. "But how am I supposed to study for the AP tests?"

After they had boarded the tram and sat down, Spencer turned towards her, examining the distress in her eyes.

"The library has a variety of resources...."

Truthfully, depending on how long she was here, there was a great likelihood that this Alexis would never take those AP exams. Spencer wanted to her to maintain of sense of normalcy though. That was good for victims, especially children.

It would sink in, eventually, that she may never ~~be able to~~ have to take any Advance Placement tests, but that was a realization for another day. For the moment, Alexis simply began planning to raid the library. She'd done independent study before, this would be the same.

That having been settled, at least in her mind, Alexis took a moment to look around the tram, catching glimpses of the city beyond. "Is this what the entire city is like?"

Spencer nodded.

"It's quite heterogeneous. For example, you may have buildings with a gothic style standing directly next to those with a classical Roman style. And then there are some structures that came here with specific people."

That jogged his memory.

"Oh. Yes. You should have come with something.... something that is probably precious to you. If you found nothing in the Sanctuary, then perhaps it is a larger item..."

"Something precious?" Alexis frowned in thought as she shifted her backpack into her lap and opened it. There was nothing important inside, just the miscellaneous binders full of homework and class notes. "Like, something important? I have my cell phone," she mused, digging it out of her pocket and poking at it. "But it won't even dial out, it just has--"

She had hit the button that displayed her photos, and Alexis stopped and stared at the first photo that came up: her dad, trying on his old Halloween costume (http://i54.tinypic.com/inr5v8.jpg). She blinked rapidly, and a quaver entered her voice. "--It just has all the photos I took on it."

And maybe it'd saved all her texts too. To Dad and Ashley and everyone.

Spencer glanced curiously over her shoulder at the picture on her screen.

"Mine won't even turn on...."

Dr. Reid's answer surprised her and Alexis hesitated a moment before she offered him the phone. She didn't really want to let it go, now that she knew what she'd brought with her, but maybe it could tell him something it wasn't telling her.

"I guess this is what you're talking about then?" she asked. "The thing that I brought with me?"

Spencer squinted at the phone as he flipped through a series of pictures, as well as texts from someone named Ashley. He wasn't trying to invade her privacy, just seeing what the aliens had allowed her. He paused on the picture she had had on her screen a moment before.

"That's your father."

It wasn't a question. Spencer had seen him in the photo that the aliens had given Kate for Christmas, the one she was too depressed to look at.

When Dr. Reid paged through the texts from Ashley, a blush rose in Alexis' cheeks and she had to swallow down the impulse to grab the phone back. He didn't seem interested in them, but the impulse to be embarrassed still arose. She did, however, look at him with mild confusion at the statement.

"That's Dad," she confirmed, an unspoken 'did you not know what he looked like' in her voice. A second or two later, an answer occurred to Alexis. "I guess you wouldn't have pictures of people back home here, would you?"

"Actually, we had a visit from Santa during Christmas and he brought Kate a picture of her team from back home."

Yes, Santa had legitimately come to Taxon and into Spencer and Kate's living room. They had almost shot him, actually. Spencer was able to easily pick out Richard Castle in the group photo of Kate's team laughing and singing. The photo had depressed her so much that she kept it in a drawer. She felt like the aliens were taunting her with people she would never see again.

"I had a few pictures in my wallet when I got here - an old one of my mother and I and one of my godson."

There were several things Alexis would have liked to say. Maybe something about how she was glad other people had pictures to remember families by, or maybe a question about Dr. Reid's godson.

But what came out of her mouth was something far simpler, and much less helpful. "The aliens brought you Santa Claus?"

Spencer smiled and nodded.

"It was.. very strange, but he brought us some nice gifts. I had been wanting a book of Chaucer's poems and a chess set for a while. It's as though he knew exactly what we wanted..."

Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, given all the strange things that'd happened in the past hour or two, but the idea of a Santa Claus who wasn't an overenthusiastic dad bringing the perfect presents was just plain eerie. Alexis tried to not think about the implications, instead changing the subject completely lest she started thinking about Christmases and overenthusiastic dads and lose it completely. Again.

"Can I ask how long you've been here, Dr. Reid?"

"185 days. It feels a bit longer though."

The tram stopped and he and Alexis got out in Shelley. He pointed up the street.

"The apartment building is up there on the right."

Alexis frowned momentarily, brow furrowing, as she worked the math in her head. "Nearly half a year?" she echoed, following Dr. Reid out of the tram. "How--" she stopped abruptly, her mind already going two steps ahead and realizing the implication she wasn't ready to deal with.

She looked up instead, for a distraction, following Dr. Reid's gesture towards the building. "Have you and Detective Beckett been staying here all this time?"

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001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

[visual]

[location: the sanctuary]

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