I'm Looking Through You . . .

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“Rosie?” Suzee said uncertainly from her position in the doorway of the girls’ bunkroom. “Are you feeling better?” There was no response from where the young Mercurian lay, face buried in her bed’s pillow. “Can I come in?”

“No,” Rosie said flatly.

Ignoring the fact that her request for an invitation had been rejected, the older girl casually stepped through the doorway and moved to stand beside Rosie, whose face was still wet with tears. “Look,” she said, trying to sound comforting. “I know that you’re upset by what happened, but you have to understand that he didn’t mean anything by it. I mean, you know how guys are . . . ”

“I do?” Rosie said, barely managing to sound politely interested.

Suzee seemed to consider this. “Well, actually . . . maybe you don’t. But trust me - with guys, everything is a competition. For most of them, getting involved in some stupid contest ranks right up there on their list of ‘Things I Most Like to Waste Time Doing.’ ” She smiled. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything personal by it.”

“Maybe that’s the way most guys are,” Rosie said firmly, “but that’s not the way Radu is.” She paused, seemingly on the verge of breaking down again. “Or at least - that’s not the way he used to be.”

Suddenly, as though saying the words had proven to be too much for her, she buried her head in her pillow again - completely ignoring the fact that the pillowcase was now speckled with burn marks shaped like boiling tears. Despite the fact that her head was covered, her muffled voice came through quite clearly. “Just go away - please!”

With a shrug that said, Well, I tried . . . Suzee headed for the door. “Let me know if you want to talk some more later, okay?”

As the door sealed behind the arrogant young girl, the mysterious stranger smiled. He’d entered this room in spirit form only minutes before, when the poor child he was interested in had rushed in with tears streaming down her face. He had been wary at first of bringing himself to the strange ship in full physical form, but once several minutes had passed without anyone else entering the room he’d begun the process of bringing his physical body from its remote location. The transportation was a complex series of steps, one that had to be abruptly reversed when the girl’s roommate had entered with that irritatingly smug expression on her face to bring false words of comfort. Occasionally, reversing the transportation process caused a massive energy surge - something that could somehow affect this strange ship. Something that could potentially cause his detection. And detection was what he wanted least of all.

For this to work correctly, it was imperative that he speak to the girl alone. He had observed her long enough to learn one of her main personality characteristics - she was unbelievably trusting. The child would wholeheartedly believe the most inconceivable sob story he could conjure up. But if one of the others overheard the conversation, they might not be so easily fooled . . . Well, at any rate, the other girl was gone now. The way was clear for him to show himself . . . and to pitch his proposal.

Rosie was still unmoving, lying in the same position she’d been in when she had first thrown herself on her bed. Suddenly, her head began to rise from her arms as an unfamiliar sound filled the air. When her face became visible, it wore an expression of perplexity as she tried to determine what the strange noise was. The tone was a strange hum - more of a pulse, actually - and as she watched, the bunkroom’s lights seemed to pick up the pulsing pattern, growing brighter each time the sound reached its zenith and dimmer as each pulse faded away. The combination of sound and light was beginning to make her head ache when, suddenly, the room grew silent once again. The lights regained their steady glow. And Rosie realized with alarm that there was a stranger standing in the center of the room, looking at her with a frighteningly intense gaze.

He was not a particularly friendly-looking specimen, either - as a matter of fact, when she first laid eyes on him, her instincts warned her to run. But as she got to her feet, preparing to execute a quick getaway, the stranger’s hands flew up in a gesture of peace. “Please,” he said in a surprisingly soft voice, “don’t be frightened. I won’t hurt you.”

Despite the fact that he didn’t sound threatening, and the way that Rosie’s Mercurian optimism was trying to remind her that she should never assume a stranger had bad intentions, her experiences in space had taught her not to assume that every stranger had good intentions, either. I’d better go get the commander, she thought. He should know about this guy anyway.

“Wait!” the young stranger said as he saw her step toward the door. “Before you go, I have a proposition that I think you will be interested in.” He smiled a strange, alien smile. “You see, Rosie, I know what happened to you today.”

Rosie stopped in her tracks, looking back toward her strange visitor with wide eyes. He knows my name . . . she realized in amazement. Suddenly, the true impact of the stranger’s words occurred to her. He knows about what Radu did? But . . . but how?

Only one way to find out, she reasoned. Ask him. “W-what do you mean?” she asked quickly.

“I saw the horrible way your crewmate treated you,” the young man said gently. “And he calls himself your friend!” He shook his head, looking utterly disgusted. “But at any rate . . . I’ve come to offer you an opportunity to heal things between the two of you. I’ve been in your shoes. I know how it feels to be abandoned - and I can help.”

What? It sounded almost too good to be true. Someone who actually knew what she was going through. Someone who was standing quietly on the other side of the room without a trace of impatience in his expression - who seemed to care about what was wrong. He looked willing to listen to her, while Suzee had not. Although the older girl had been nice enough, although she had tried, she just hadn’t been very comforting. Her prattling on about how Radu’s behavior was a “typical guy thing” had produced the opposite effect from what she’d intended - Rosie didn’t want Radu to become just another typical guy. She knew enough to realize that in Suzee’s eyes, the “typical guy” on the ship was Harlan. And Rosie already feared, deep in her heart, that she had lost her best friend to the human. That was really why she’d rejected Suzee’s advice.

But when she spoke to this stranger, she felt as though she could pour her heart out to him - that he would really listen. It was odd . . . she’d met him only a few minutes ago . . . but Rosie didn’t take the time to wonder about it. The excitement and curiosity that were brewing within her in regard to her visitor’s offer had almost entirely erased her apprehensive feelings - until the logical part of her mind realized that all she had received from this strange man so far was a string of unanswered questions. Who was he? What was he going to do? It does sound too good to be true, she realized with a sinking heart. It was true that she generally tried to look on the bright side of things. But after the experiences the crew had been through so far on their journey, she had begun to learn that she needed to be realistic in her optimism. All she’d been offered so far was a handful of promises. Her visitor had actually told her next to nothing. There were countless questions brewing in the back of her mind - but she was almost afraid to hear the answers to them.

Suddenly, as though she were an outsider watching the conversation, she heard her own voice as her lips formed the string of questions that her brain was hesitant to ask. “How are you going to help me? And why would you want to? You don’t even know me!”

“My dear, sweet child,” the stranger said quietly. “That’s what I do! It’s what I live for. To help unfortunate people - like yourself. Poor souls with no one else to turn to.” He smiled, a bittersweet smile which seemed to suggest that helping poor, friendless people was the only joy in his tortured life.

Rosie was ready to accept based on that expression alone - if only out of pity - but abruptly, something stopped her. It was as though Bova were standing beside her evaluating the situation. “I’d find out more about this deal before I agreed to anything,” he said in his pessimistic way.

“Um . . . s-say I do agree to your deal,” Rosie said cautiously. “I decide to let you help me. What do you do?”

“That depends. What do you want me to do?”

“Well . . . ” Rosie was still uncertain about this deal. Even to her eyes, it seemed just a little too perfect to accept. There has to be a catch somewhere, she thought. I should probably ask for some time to think this over. The words were on the tip of her tongue when, suddenly, a single memory filled her mind. It was a memory from almost a year earlier - from Radu’s first day at Starcademy . . .

Rosie had just sat down in the Starcademy cafeteria with her lunch tray - across the table from the strange new kid. She made a point to ignore the disdainful looks that were flying from all corners of the room. Although she’d heard as many rumors and scare stories about the Andromedans as anyone else, her parents had taught her to always give people a chance before writing them off. She was determined to form her own opinion about this newcomer.

“Um, hi,” she said cautiously. “My name’s Rosie.”

“I - I’m Radu,” he said nervously, in a voice so low that she had to lean forward to hear him.

The young Mercurian was startled to find her doubt about her newest classmate dissipate as soon as he spoke. She hadn’t really gotten a good look at his face until that point, and she was surprised when she saw, mirrored in his eyes, the same uncertainties that she had felt. He’s more scared than anybody else, she realized. But could he really be blamed for it? He’d come in during the middle of the term, meeting a thousand new people in one day, far away from everything that had ever been familiar to him. No wonder he’s scared!

As Rosie considered her feelings more carefully, she was surprised to find she’d taken an immediate fancy to the shy young Andromedan. He was different from anyone she’d ever met before - but there was something immediately likable about him. It was at that moment that Rosie decided she was going to become Radu’s confidante. The one who would be there when he needed someone to talk to. The one who was willing to accept him for who he was, not for what he was.

With a smile, she looked up at her new friend. “Starting in the middle of the term like you did, there must be a lot of stuff you need to catch up on, right?” He nodded. “If you want, we can go up to the library after dinner and I’ll help you get started.”

“Y-yeah,” he said cautiously. “I’d like that.”

That had been the day their friendship began. And Rosie had always kept her unspoken promise. Whenever Radu had needed someone to talk to, she’d been there. She remembered fondly how, back when none of the other cadets would even consider spending their free time with him, the two of them had stayed up until all hours, talking about everything under the sun. It was true that Rosie had been his only friend back then - but he had been her very first best friend. She’d lost count of the number of Minbar Chess games they’d played, or how long they had been continuing their eternal tournament of Fernahernan Three-Level Spiz. Nothing had ever pleased her more than the opportunity to spend an afternoon with him, just offering him some companionship back in the days when he didn’t have anywhere else to turn.

It was those memories - memories of the happy times which had long since faded away - that ultimately made the decision for her.

“I want things to be the way they used to be,” she burst out suddenly. “Back - back when Radu wanted to spend time with me. Back when he was my friend.” Tears were filling her eyes, but she clenched her fists against them, determined to make her wish at all costs. “My best friend.”

Finally! the stranger thought with relief. The girl had been quiet so long that he was beginning to think she would turn down his offer. However, events had proven to be quite the contrary. While she was off in the depths of her own mind, foolishly reminiscing about times gone by, the child had unknowingly given him exactly what he was looking for. So, the little deserter she’s interested in has had a taste of the outcast life . . . he thought with a smile. The pieces of his brilliant scheme were beginning to come together in his mind. The girl’s wish had left the door wide open for him to achieve both his objectives. He would do as he had promised - he would grant her wish. The Andromedan would turn his attention back to Rosie. What the girl had neglected to specify, however, was why he would become her friend again. Her wish will be granted, the strange young man thought with a smile. But things will not be exactly as she intends them to be . . .

Suddenly noticing that the girl was staring at him, he cleared his throat and continued, slipping into the grand showy language that he knew was generally used for such affairs. “As you have spoken, so shall it be done.” He paused, beginning to collect his powers for the grand finale of his little show. Carefully . . . don’t overdo it . . . The act finished with a master’s touch as a brilliant flash of light filled the room. Perfect! Within the light’s protective shield, he pulled his physical body back to its home.

As he watched the girl’s perplexed face from the safe invisibility of his psychic persona, he began to consider how he would go about setting events in motion. It would most certainly take some strategy, but the steps he would take to grant the wish were already forming in his mind. If Rosie’s thoughts about her classmates had been accurate, it would take only a very minor incident to bring the fear they harbored about the Andromedan species back to the surface. But what kind of incident? He began to run through possible scenarios in his mind. No . . . no . . . too simple . . . too contrived . . . Yes! That’s it! He smiled to himself. When this strange crew assembled in their command center for a training session the next afternoon, they would find a very unpleasant surprise awaiting them . . .