DATE: 6 July 1998
AUTHOR: Kittykat
PLACE: Street Outside Zo'or's Place
TIME: present day
SUBJECT: Chance Encounter
Kitty looked up at the
skyscraper, trying to find the Taelon structure fused to the mighty pillar
of metal and glass at the very top. She quickly got dizzy and hand to look
back down again.
~I hope that computer
model does some good, I hate to see all that time go to waste..~ she thought,
grinning slightly. If the Taelon who's home she'd been trying to find had
even an inkling of the sort of things
she was up to, he'd probably have a heart attack.
~That is, assuming Taelons
have anything that approximates a heart..~
Turning to continue
down the street, Kitty noticed a woman of European descent walk out of
the main entrance with a glum look. Not one to let people with glum looks
wander around by themselves for too long,
Kitty waited until the woman passed and fell
into step beside her.
"I couldn't help but
notice that you looked a little down today, and I thought you could use
a pick-me-up," Kitty said, "It's never good to wander around New York in
a bad mood, you miss all of the good things."
"I'm fine, I'm just
a bit tired. Why do you care, anyway?" the woman said, a slight British
accent coloring her voice, although from the tan Kitty guessed that she
hailed more from the Mediterranian
region.
"Just trying to do my
good deed of the day. Name's Kitty, Kitty Jenson," she said. The other
woman shot her a sideways look before replying.
"Tara Charmicheal."
"Zo'or's security chief?
No wonder you're tired, I heard that he never goes ANYWHERE without a bodyguard.
No offense, of course, but I'm sure that makes for some long work hours,"
Kitty said, cursing her own ineptitude. Tara Charmicheal was an implant,
and one could never tell weither or not they had a working sense of humor.
"Tell me about it,"
Tara said good-naturedly, "Speaking of work, I've still got a lot on my
hands. Perhaps we can continue this conversation some other time?"
"Why not? Just call
me on the global if you want to talk. I have a feeling that this is the
beginning of a beautiful friendship..."
Tara smiled at that,
and left in the direction of UN headquarters at a fast clip.
~Ya know, maybe it is
the beginning of a beautiful friendship...~
FIN
Kittykat, aka Kitty Jenson, Level One Computer
Hacker, US Taelon
Division
=^-^=
Date: June 29
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set after "Small discoveries"
Place: Taelon-Human Research Facilities, New
Orleans, Louisiana
Title: A "Moving" Request?
Dr. Jennifer Christian sighed
heavily as she read the message before her. She was being asked to help
Dr. Rosemary Schultz with a problem concerning a virus targeted against
implants. This was not good. Her
husband, James Christian, worked with Companion
Security for the Research Facility. If the implants were being incapacitated,
that could mean that the issue of his "promotion" might become unavoidable.
Scanning through the data
files that Dr. Schultz had sent with the request, she noticed something
that puzzled her. "Get me Dr. Belman." Jennifer said to the screen
on her desk.
"Belman here. Oh, hi
Jennifer. It's been a long time. What can I do for you?"
"I was just looking over some
files that Dr. Schultz sent me concerning the virus that's attacking implants.
I am looking for differences in the cases we have seen so far. Lt.
Beckett has a very severe form
of this virus, and it seems as if Ms. Adams may
be affected mildly."
The rattled look on Dr. Belman's
face unsettled Jennifer. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Didn't
you know that Ms. Adams was showing signs of infection?"
"Actually, no. I had
no idea."
"That's the reason I called
you. I wanted to find out if there were any differences between Ms.
Adams' CVI and Lt. Beckett's CVI. That may give us the key we need
to unraveling this mystery."
"Well, their CVI's are identical
to my knowledge." Belman said. "I will check it out if you'd like."
"That would be great.
By the way, I'll be coming to DC to help work on this problem. I'm
looking forward to seeing you again."
Dr. Belman smiled. "I
can't believe that it's been almost three years. Since the Companions arrived,
and you headed up the research team with Ra'el, I haven't really seen much
of you."
Dr. Christian returned the
grin. "I have been rather busy. But Ra'el has been a wonderful
influence in my life and in my work. We have so many things to talk
about! But I've really got to finish preparations
for now. See you soon."
"All right. We'll have lunch.
Belman out."
Jennifer shook her head, and
her smile disappeared. A long time ago, a very young intern by the
name of Jennifer Christian attended a lecture by Dr. Belman. That
lecture shaped the course of her entire medical
career. Now Dr. Belman was single-mindedly
working for the Companions. She had even helped develop the motivational
imperative for the CVI's--the component that turned a miracle of technology
into an electronic leash. Jennifer felt that the greatest benefits
of the CVI would never be realized as long as it was programmed to override
the human will.
[Personal Journal: Handwritten by Dr. Christian]
*I must note the events of late, as I feel they
will have great impact on my life. Dr. Schultz has requested that
I join her in DC to help find a cure for this new virus that is attacking
CVI recipients. I feel that this is the foreshadowing of many things.
James has said that he thinks we will be moving soon. I don't quite
know how I feel about this. Although I know that I am only assigned
to go temporarily, James "hunches" never turn out to be false. What
could cause us to move? Except perhaps James "promotion" to Implant status.
The benefits of a CVI are extremely obvious--these I know all to well.
And it has been known to sharpen intuitive powers. But--there is
still uncertainty if the second generation of CVI's will break down like
the original. I also cannot forget the motivational imperative. I
am really uneasy about the whole thing. Note: Next project-Discover
the cause of CVI breakdown in implants. *
Putting the pen down next to her electronic journal, she thought for awhile. Then she began her final preparations to go to DC.
---end---
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: July 6
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set after "A Moving Request"
Place: Taelon Living Facilities, New Orleans,
Louisiana
Title: Changes
The events of the morning blurred
with the present for Dr.. Jennifer Christian. The call to meet with
the Taelon Ra'el…his hand reaching for her head…the world exploding.
A whirlwind of sight and sound and
something bigger than her mind seemed to engulf
her as she struggled to remain standing. Suddenly, she found herself
wrapped in warmth as a soothing presence engulfed her. She
lost awareness of self and sank
into darkness…
Some time later, Jennifer
awoke to the two faces most precious to her: that of her husband, James,
and her Companion, Ra'el.
"I did not expect the experience
to be so overwhelming for you." Ra'el said quietly. "I offer most
profound apologies."
"What happened?" Jennifer
asked.
"Rest now. All will
be clear to you soon. I could not risk losing my closest human companions.
I have taken…measures…to ensure that you will stay with me. The issues
that trouble you so will be resolved in a most unique manner. Do
not be concerned about them any longer."
Turning to James, Ra'el finished,
"Take her home now. Finish your preparations for your journey, and
comfort your mate. We have much to accomplish. Consider carefully
what I have proposed, and let me know your wishes." With that, the
Taelon left the room and vanished into the recesses of his quarters.
Gently, James helped his wife
up from the couch where she had been laying, and they began walking down
the hall.
"I…I don't understand."
Jennifer whispered.
Smiling cryptically, James
replied, "Things are going to change around here. Ra'el was…preparing
us. I'll explain more after you rest. Besides, you've got to leave
for DC tomorrow, and I may be going with
you."
"What?" was all she
could mumble. Everything was swimming in her mind…
~I love you.~ was the
last thing she remembered.
--------end-----------
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: July 15
Writer: Esti
Time: Present, after "A Small Gift of Thanks"
and "Pieces of the Puzzle"
Title: Brief Evening Respite
Rosemary settled back in her
chair. ~That was a weird conversation,~ she thought. ~I guess I'll have
to check out that disk before I go in to work tomorrow.~
She was in a bit of a foul
mood, between dealing with Sandoval and having to listen to her sister's
latest anti-Companion rantings. The person who had popped up on her screen
had just been another irritation. And reading the mail wouldn't help either.
The newest issue of the Esperanto-language magazine that she was subscribed
to had been heavily devoted to "La Liberigmovado de Jonathan Doors", much
of it in support of the Resistance.
"I guess idiots are everywhere,"
she muttered. Sipping her tea, she settled back into her chair. She had
needed the break. She sent a query to a friend at her former workplace
in Melbourne, toying with the idea of going back there. At least she wouldn't
have to deal with Sandoval. The man got on her nerves.
She hoped Dr. Christian would
forgive her for dumping Sandoval. She had enough Implants on her hands.
Tomorrow, she was seeing Zo'or's newest Implant, Tara Carmichael. She hoped
she wouldn't have problems with the woman. The sooner she could get the
infected implants quarantined and the
rest of them out on the mission that Beckett
had been on, the better. Rosemary yawned. She was getting tired, and she
had a lot to do when she woke up.
--
Dr. Rosemary Schultz
Implant Specialist
(Esti: smccrory@calweb.com)
Date: July 10
Author: Jen LeMaire
Place: Airport Café & Taelon-Human
Medical Facilities in Washington DC
Time: Present, Set just after “Changes”
Title: Conversations
Staring distantly at the décor
on the wall, Dr. Jennifer Christian twirled her napkin and waited for her
food in the DC Airport café. Quiet conversations drifted lazily
across tables, and the clamoring sounds of the
busy airport were muted by the beautiful music
coming from the café speakers above the dining area. Completely
lost in thought, Dr. Christian did not even notice when a familiar body
sat down at the table with her.
“Hello Jennifer” Dr. Belman
said, laughing as her friend jumped in the café chair.
“Oh, hi Julianne. You
startled me.”
“Oviously.” The elder
woman said, not able to repress a grin.
Sighing heavily, Jennifer
replied, “I’ve just got a lot on my mind lately.”
“I can tell. Do you
want to talk about it?” Dr. Belman said as the waiter brought Jennifer’s
order.
“I guess we can talk about
some of it.” Dr. Christian began…
Report to Agent Ronald Sandoval:
The subject arrived without incident at the Washington
DC airport. She ordered lunch at the airport’s café and waited
for the arrival of Dr. Belman. The two women talked quietly over
the meal concerning various
subjects unrelated to the current “virus” issue.
No other contacts were made before their arrival at the Taelon-Human scientific
facility. Upon arrival, the subject got settled in and was briefed
on the issues at hand.
There is no indication of any Resistance contacts
at this time.
Conference Room: 21:00 hrs.
“OK, now tell me again why
you thought Ms. Adams was infected with the virus.” Dr. Belman said
wearily.
“Well,” Dr. Christian replied,
“the sub-routines in her CVI seemed a little strange in the first exam.
Although, I will admit, that by the time of the second exam they were back
to normal. The level of dysfunction in her subroutines should have
only caused mild problems with her memory. Were there any signs of
this?”
“Actually,” Dr. Rosemary Schultz
replied, “There was a slight discrepancy between her report and the recorded
report that was found with Lt. Beckett Do you think that this could
be a different virus, or the same one that infected Lt. Beckett?”
Turning her chair to face
her colleague, Dr. Christian answered, “I am almost certain that it is
the same virus. Lt. Beckett was in a severely dehydrated state.
That condition greatly upsets electrolyte balance in the
bloodstream, and her body was in such a weakened
state that even the wildest virus would run amok in her system. It
is very likely that Lt. Beckett’s deteriorated condition was the cause
of the virus affecting her so badly.”
“Excellent point, Jennifer.”
Dr. Belman said, “I have been reviewing Rosemary’s reports, and her observations
point towards this theory as well.” Turning to Dr. Schultz, she continued,
“Rosemary, have you found that Lt. Beckett’s condition has improved since
she has been in custody?”
“Yes, her electrolyte balance
has stabilized, and her reasoning is slowly returning. I have…been
working on an antidote for the CVI portion of the virus.” ~Let's
just pray she doesn’t ask me details~ Rosemary thought. ~How would I explain
my mysterious “helper” leaving me the information???~ “I guess it’s up
to her body to fight off the rest.” She finished.
“Speaking about bodies,” Dr.
Christian interjected, “*my* body is very, very tired. Could we wrap
this up for tonight?”
As a chorus of agreement went
up around the room, Dr. Julianne Belman decided to release the physicians
to their respective dwellings for the night. “OK guys, let’s go home.”
She said. “Tomorrow is another day.”
From the hallway, someone
mumbled, “Don’t remind me.”
The laughter echoed into the night.
**********End***********
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: June 15, 1998
Author: Rilei
Time: The Present, set just after "By the Looks"
Title: Instincts
Grace clipped her global to
its place on her belt, not wanting Will to see the fact that she had had
it out at all. As soon as Ken had landed the shuttle, she had entered the
federal building then made
her way up her office and opened up her global.
Something about Boone's appearance had given her the creeps. Dr. Schultz
appeared on her screen.
<Yes, Ms. Whitney?> she asked.
She was clearly irritated and appeared to be exhausted.
<Doctor, I'm about to meet with
Commander Boone.>
<Yes?>
<Doctor, is he clear of this
virus? I talked with him via global link and something about his appearance
didn't click right.> Grace said.
<Where is he now?>
<In my office.>
<Is Captain Marquette with him?>
<She should be.>
<All right. Hang on.>
<Doctor, I can't keep him waiting.>
<This will only take a second.
Stay there.>
Grace waited as her screen went
blank. A minute later her global bleep and Lili appeared on the screen.
<Lili, does Will know that I'm
afraid to come near him?>
Lili looked off towards someone
off screen.
<Hold on, Grace, I'll let you
talk to him.>
Judging from the angle, Grace could
tell that Lili's global was being loaned to the implant.
<Grace, what's wrong?>
<Just call it instinct, Will,
but I think you've got the virus, just like Sandoval and Beckette.>
<I've had none of the warning
signs.>
<Hold on, let me speak to Lili
again.>
He passed the small hand held computer
back to Lili.
<Lili, take a long look at Boone
and tell IF anything looks out of the ordinary.>
After a second, Lili confirmed her
suspicions with a nod.
<How did you know?> the Marine
asked.
<My CVI as it allows me to notice
small, even minute details about people. It immediately called to my mind
my memories of Will BEFORE this virus broke out. Listen, I'm going to call
Dr. Belman and have her get
ready for your arrival with Boone.>
<Where are you going?>
<To find out if a hunch of mine
is correct or not.>
Date: July 16
Author: Monica
Time: Present
Place: underground Resistance facility
Title: A Little Fall of Rain
Abby began pacing, as she wondered
where Boone had gone... Last she talked to him, he had said he would
stay here, but he seemed to have dissappeared after that. Then,
suddenly, a wave of nausea overcame her, and her CVI began to malfunction...
She fell to the floor, screaming, as the intense pain came over her...
Something told her it was the virus... It seemed it had reacted with
her differently than it had with the others... She had to warn Boone,
he had surely been affected... And wouldn't notice until it was too late...
Yes, warn Boone... She tried to crawl out of the curled up ball she
had become, sitting on the floor... But all she could do was scream...
The room became so bright... too bright... and her felt her skrill firing
uncontrollably... She had to stop it... She had to warn Boone...
She had to contact her sister... Her sister... Yes, that was it...
Her sister entered her mind telepathically, trying to calm down the demons
that invaded her... Eponine was with their brother... John tried
to enter her mind as well, but he was not strong enough, and without meaning
too, her uncontrolled CVI forced her to build a mind barrier to block out
her brother and sister... "No!!!!" she screamed... She couldn't
reach them, and she reverted back to the state of screaming... The
pain rushed on again, and the light grew brighter... Her skrill was
firing uncontrolably
again, more rapidly, and she knew it would soon
wear out... She poor creature was so near death... She had
to save the skrill... She had to warn Boone... She had to tell Dr.
Belman something was wrong... She
had to dim the lights... She had to do
this, she had to do that, she didn't know what to do anymore... Her
CVI was clearly overloading as something attacked it... She suddenly
realized that someone was standing over her, telling her to calm down...
"Everything's alright..." the voice said, "Just calm down, and breath..."
It was Dr. Belman...
Abby stared wildly up into the doctor's eyes. "I have to save the skrill...
I have to... Must warn Boone... NOW! The lights... Oh!
The lights!! Turn off the lights!!!", she screamed, then
she she seemed to calm down for a moment, and
looked up again, with a pained look... "Make it stop..." she pleaded,
"Make it stop..."
"Make what stop? Abby!
No! Don't leave us..." Dr. Belman shouted.
"The virus... It's tearing
at the CVI... overloading it..." Those were the only hints she could manage
to tell the doctor. "IT HAS TO STOP!!!!!" she screamed.
"Abby... Abby, just
calm down... Focus... Let your barrier down... Let your sister
in..." Dr. Belman had been on her global with Abby's sister just a minute
ago, and Eponine had explained the situation.
But Abby couldn't do it...
She had been linked to her sister ever since she could remember...
All that was left in her mind was a chilling light... No sign of
her sister anywhere... Abby looked at Dr. Belman
with a wild, chilling look, and with her last
breath, she muttered, "Tell Eponine and John I love them... I'll
be joining mom and dad now..."
"Darn it!" Dr. Belman cursed
(well, woulda been a curse, but ya know...), but she knew there was nothing
left she could have done... Abby had been infected too long, and it seemed
that with the reengineered CVI, the symptoms revealed themselves much too
late... "Alright, someone find Boone," she finally instructed, "I just
hope we can save him in time..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Monica
Abigail Adams
Level 20
EFC
"So don't you fret Monsieur Marius.
I don't feel any pain.
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
(Marius: I'm here)
That's all I need to know
And you will keep me safe...
And you will keep me close...
And rain... will make the flowers...
(Marius: Grow...)"
-Eponine in "A Little
Fall of Rain" (her death scene...) from Les Mis
Date: July 18,1998
Author: Rilei
Place: Liberation Headquarters
Time: Set just after "Instincts"
Title: Seeking Some Answers
Grace stormed into Liberation Headquarters
with the forcefulness of a hurricane. Ken followed her, a serious look
plastered on his own face. Grace was determined to get some answers from
Doors even if she
had to threaten him. Without knocking, she opened
the door to his office and went in.
Doors met her gaze with a look of
steel but said nothing as she looked around to those who were already in
meeting with him. Present were Dr. Park, Augur, and two members she did
not recognize. She looked back to Doors as Ken closed the door, quickly
making the room cramped.
"We need to talk." she said.
"Oh really?" Doors replied in a
sarcastic and impatient tone.
"Look we don't have time to play
words games here. Boone has the virus and I just received word that Abby
Adams died from it. What the !@#$ is going on, Jonathan? Are you behind
this madness?" Grace asked.
"If you'll sit down, I'll attempt
to explain." one of the strangers said before Doors could reply. She looked
at the man who had spoken and sat down in a chair he indicated.
"First of all, my name is James
Sandoval."
"Are you by any chance related to
a Ronald Sandoval?" Grace asked before she could stop herself. The man
was Asian as well and Grace thought that this might be very likely. The
man shook his head.
"James here is the leading authority
on viruses, both manufactured and naturally occurring." Doors said.
"So you're a doctor?" Ken asked.
"Yes, I am." James Sandoval replied.
"Then why haven't the Taelons called
on you to help find a cure to this virus?" Grace asked.
"I'm not exactly on the top ten
list of favorite people, Ms. Whitney. Please--- don't ask. I'm sure you
could look my name up somewhere if you wanted to." he replied. His accent
vaguely resembled Ronald Sandoval's
making Grace all the more suspicious of this
man's identity.
"Why are you here?"
"Simple, Ms. Whitney, I didn't create
the virus but I know WHO did create it."
Date: June 18,1998
Author: Rilei
Place: Liberation Headquarters
Time: Set Just after "Seeking Some Answers"
Title: Answers
Lili Marquette entered the headquarters
of the Liberation Movement seeking to find Doors. She looked around and
didn't see him anywhere in the large room. Finally a member approached
her.
"Captain Marquette, Doors left a
message for you to go to his office upon your arrival."
Lili nodded and headed in the direction
of his office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Who DID create this virus, Doctor
Sandoval?" Grace asked.
"Another faction of the Liberation
Movement who doesn't quite trust having implants working among us." he
replied.
"Even when we have a modified CVI."
It really wasn't a question.
"Even then, Ms. Whitney."
"These people can't see that we're
an important part of helping to stop the Taelons?" she asked.
"To them, Ms. Whitney, you are more
of a danger than an asset."
It was Sandoval's associate who
spoke this time. She too was Asian and shared his accent. Her hair was
long and she kept it pulled back in a ponytail.
"Great! This is making me feel a
*whole* lot better."
At that moment the door opened and
Lili entered. She was about to shut the door when Ken spoke up.
"Leave that door open a little will
you? I'm just a touch claustrophobic." Lili cracked the door as Augur stifled
a chuckle. Lili took the only empty seat left in the room which was barely
2 feet away
from Doors.
"How's Boone?" Doors asked.
"He's starting to show more warning
signs. They have him in isolation with Sandoval." Lili said.
"He has my sympathy." Grace muttered.
She noted that James Sandoval gave her a nasty glare but said nothing.
~Just something else to add to my suspicions.~ she thought.
"Sandoval on the other hand is starting
to show advanced symptoms of the virus--"
"But he's a full-blown CVI." Grace
said.
Lili shrugged.
"Boone's being monitored more closely
since what happened with Abbey." Lili said. There was a hint of sadness
in her voice. A few moments of silence passed before Doors gave Augur a
nod. The cyber genius stood up and activated a screen.
"What the !@#$ is that?" Lili asked.
"That, captain, is a model of the
cyber half of this deadly virus." James Sandoval replied.
"You see, this virus has two purposes.
one, to attack the host's body and its functions. And two, to totally degrade
the CVI and its functions in the host's brain thereby killing its host
either way you look at it." this time it was Sandoval's partner who made
the statement.
"Do we know how to combat the virus?"
Ken asked.
"Yes, and no."
"What do you *mean* by 'yes and
no'?" Grace asked.
"The viral part itself should be
easy to cure but the cyber half of it will take some to destroy."
"Why?"
"Because it's going to take a *real*
computer genius to figure the blasted thing out. I only specialize in viruses,
Captain Marquette."
"Speaking of which, shouldn't you
be working in curing this thing right now. At any moment, Sandoval or Will
might take a turn for the worst."
With that statement the room cleared
out...
DATE: 21 July 1998
AUTHOR: Kittykat
PLACE: Kitty Jenson's Hideout
TIME: After "Answers"
SUBJECT: Tangled Web
"I don't even know why
I'm doing this... I don't exactly work for free here..." Kitty mumbled
to herself, logging into the Liberation's computer network under a fake
identity. Although she hadn't gotten any
orders from Da'an yet, after the news of Abigail
Adams' death began to circulate, she felt compelled to do something. Anything.
<Information transfer
in progress. One moment please.> Kitty scowled. She hadn't tried to upload
anything... ~What's the deal here?~
The screen faded in
to what looked like a conference of some sort, with several key resistance
people gathered at a table. Playing idly on a large monitor was her model
of the computer half of the CVI virus.
~Well, at least it's
out and about now..~ The conversation reflected on how they had a theory
on how to combat the organic part of the virus, but something stll had
to be done about the cyber-half.
"It'd take a real computer
genuis to figure this out, huh?" Kitty murmured, pulling up her e-mail
on her trusty laptop. After thinking a few seconds, she began to type her
message.
<To whom it may concern:
I have been informed
of the situation concerning the CVI virus and I wish to extend my services
in the field of computer technology in hopes of avoiding another senseless
death. Since this crisis is extremely time-critical, we can negotiate my
fee when it's over.
If you are willing
to accept my help, please visit Lady Liberty within the next twenty-four
hours. A contact of mine will be there.
=^-^= >
Kitty chewed on her lower lip
as she clicked the "send" command. The entire situation was one that she
wouldn't trust under normal circumstances, but as she'd pointed out in
the note, time was of the essence and she didn't have the luxury of establishing
a rapport before offering to help.
Quite unintentionally,
her mind drifted to an encounter she'd had with an implant a few weeks
ago, outside the UN building... Tara Carmicheal had seemed a nice sort
of person, and it would make her no
better than the terrorists who'd come up with
the virus if she sat around and did nothing.
~My colleagues would
undoubtedly say I'm going soft...~
FIN
Kittykat, aka Kitty Jenson, level one computer
hacker
US Taelon Division
Date: July 22, 1998
Author: Rilei
Place: Liberation Headquarters
Time: Set after "Tangled Web"
Title: On Offer of Help
Augur tapped away on his computer
console, manipulating the controls with familiar ease. He was working on
the cyber half of the deadly virus when suddenly his screen showed an incoming
e-mail. "What the-" he muttered. He turned and looked
around for Grace and saw her bent over a console, working on something.
"Grace!" he called to her. The Asian woman immediately looked up at him.
When he motioned to her she crossed the room.
"Take a look at this." he said motioning
to the screen. Grace looked down at the screen.
"Who sent that e-mail?" she asked.
He shrugged.
"Someone who has access to our mainframe."
"WHAT?!! How's that possible?"
"It shouldn't be. I designed these
systems with complex security mechanisms. Someone's pretty !@#$ good to
be able to get into our systems." he replied.
"Another hacker?" Grace asked. Augur
shrugged.
"Well regardless, someone has got
to tell Doors about this little message." she said.
"Agreed. Will you or shall I?"
"I'll tell him."
Augur nodded and returned to his
screen....
Date: July 21
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set after "Answers" & the
day after "Childhood Comforts"
Place: Taelon-Human Medical Facilities, Washington,
DC
Title: Uh-Oh
With a heavy sigh, Dr. Jennifer
Christian allowed her head to drop onto the top of the desk. ~Hmm~ she
thought. ~At least the "thump" was satisfying~ Nothing had gone right since
she had arrived at the facility several days ago. Meeting after meeting.
Lab report after lab report. It was worse than med. school.
When she had first arrived,
it seemed like things were beginning to smooth out. Lt. Beckett appeared
to be getting better, and it looked like this would be a short assignment.
Now, however, everything was going wrong. Abigail Adams was apparently
found dead somewhere; so much was going on that she really didn't know
any details. Agent Sandoval was suddenly manifesting signs of infection.
She didn't even want to think about Boone.
What was causing this virus
to mutate so badly? Why was a simple, annoying inconvenience suddenly taking
valuable lives??? These questions had to be answered, and she feared a
deeper plot.
Suddenly, Jennifer's global
chirped. Pulling the viewscreen out, she was surprised to see the face
of her beloved Taelon friend, Ra'el.
<Ra’el, I’m…I’m
honored that you should contact me. Is everything all right?>
<All is well> the Taelon
replied.
<I wished to inquire how
things were progressing. You have seemed troubled.>
Not quite understanding what
he meant by that last comment, Dr. Christian answered, <Things are very
hectic here. The virus has apparently mutated and at least one implant
is dead.>
Upon hearing that, the Taelon
blushed momentarily. He spoke slowly. <I see. I will take measures to
delay the proposed implantation of your husband until this crisis is solved.
I will be meeting with the Synod tomorrow to discuss certain issues relevant
to all of these situations. I look forward to speaking with you again.>
With that, Ra'el signed off.
~A tad bit more cryptic than
usual.~ thought Dr. Christian. ~I wonder what that was about.~ But slowly,
in the back of her mind, a soothingresonance began to calm her down. It
was as if hearing the Taelon's voice made her aware of his presence and
that of her husband. ~How strange..~ Jennifer thought as she suddenly drifted
off into the world of the mind.
* * * * * * *
Aside:
Taelon Living Facilities, New Orleans, LA
In the dim blue light, two figures were sitting
alone in still repose. James Christian and the Taelon Ra'el sat facing
one another, and without sound, communed on the issues at hand. After many
long minutes, the Taelon broke the silence and said, "Your wife is slowly
learning about the link that we three now share. You must take care to
train her in it's use, for she was not awakened in these matters."
Cocking his head and displaying
a slight grin, James replied, "I am delighted to serve you in this matter."
Both beings laughed at this,
their "inside" joke….
* * * * * * *
Some time later, Jennifer shouted,
"I’ve got it!!!" Then, more quietly, "Oh no, what have I discovered."
Nearing the end of her shift,
Dr. Rosemary Schultz was startled by the sound of the computer announcing
and incoming call. The surprised look on her face turned to a shadow of
fear as she saw Dr. Christian on the viewscreen. "What's wrong, Jennifer?"
She said. The look on Dr. Christian's face made her worry.
"I know why we are having
so much trouble with this virus, Rosemary."
"Well?"Rosemary prompted.
"The CVI is programmed to
mutate the virus." Dr. Christian said simply.
"Oh God" was all Dr. Schultz
could say. She knew what this meant. If the CVI portion of the virus was
responsible for mutating the virus, no medical means could stop it. "Then
that means . . ." she left off.
"Yes," Jennifer finished.
"That means that the only way to kill this virus is to reprogram the CVI
portion of the virus. Do we even have programmers that good???"
"Perhaps the Taelon programmers
could offer some help." Rosemary suggested.
"Well, if they don't, good-bye
implants." Jennifer said shaking her head. "I don't know what else we can
do. I guess you should contact Da'an."
"How am I going to tell him?"
Rosemary said, half to herself.
"I wish I know…
I wish I knew."
***End***
Author: Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date:July 24, 1998
Author: Rilei
Place: Liberation HQ and Macon, Georgia
Time: Set just after "Answers" and just prior
to "An Offer of Help"
Title: When Water is Thicker Than Blood- Part
I
Doctor James Sandoval paused in his
work to take off his glasses and rub his tired eyes. Jane entered behind
her husband and began to massage his shoulders.
"That feels good...too good." he
murmured.
"James, come to bed. Get some rest.
We can start again tomorrow afresh." she encouraged him as she sat down
beside him. He continued to rub his eyes and finally he put his glasses
back on, shaking his head.
"I can't....not with Ron and the
other implants so ill."
"You can't exhaust yourself either
otherwise you're not going to get anything done. Come to bed." she said.
He sighed.
"All right. I'll come to bed. It's
just that I don't want to fail at this. So many lives hang in the balance....my
brother's life is the line here!" he said.
"Your brother couldn't be in better
hands."
He followed her into the room where
a makeshift bed had been set up for the couple during their stay with the
Liberation members. Wearily James pulled his clothes off and laid beside
her. He was asleep as soon
as his head hit the pillow. She watched him a
minute before she too fell asleep....
Grace closed her eyes against the
hot shower water. It felt wonderful! She has spent the previous night out
late at her office, researching Dr. James Sandoval. She found out a lot
about him indeed. She also discovered that he had lied to her about his
relationship to Ronald Sandoval...The two WERE quite related and what was
more they were brothers! James was the elder of the two.
Grace cut the water off with a sigh.
She plan on speaking with him today, after she took care of business for
Da'an. Her global bleep and she picked it up after covering upwith a towel.
Ken was at the other end.
<Good morning.> he said rather
cheerfully.
"Please I haven't had my morning
cup of coffee yet." she replied.
<Touchy...>
"Ken!"
<Sorry...I should be there soon
to pick you up.>
"I'll be ready when you get here."
<Right.> The screen went blank.
It was late in the evening before
Grace found an opportunity to approach James Sandoval about his brother.
They were alone in the lab when she brought it up.
"You ARE related to Ronald Sandoval...what's
more you're his elder brother." she began. He looked up at her and shrugged.
"What's your point?" he asked.
"Oh, I just want to know why you
lied about your relationship to him."
"You're sticking your nose into
some very personal matters, Ms. Whitney." he replied sharply and looked
back down at his work.
"I'm sorry. Look I know he's...well
a pain sometimes but then again I know it's the implant that's causes him
to be that way. But-"
"But you want to know what our relationship
is like now and before he was implanted. Correct?"
"Yeah, I do."
James sighed and shut off his computer.
"Walk with me. I need a break. I'll
tell you the story."
To Be Continued...
Date: July 24
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Set after "Uh-oh"
Place: Washington DC
Title: "Unless"
Handwritten and Encrypted Personal Journal, Dr. Jennifer Christian
=======================================================================
I am at a loss to explain the events of late.
Everything is moving in such a whirlwind that I have no idea how to slow
down. What was supposed to be a simple trip to DC to help fix an apparently
small CVI problem has now turned into a nightmare from the pit or something.
All my career I have studied the brain and the myriad diseases that destroy
it, but never before have I faced such a chilling enemy. I remember losing
so many patients to Parkinson's and similar diseases, but it was an enemy
that I knew we could defeat. We just had to isolate the cause of the damage,
and circumvent or stop the damage. It's actually funny.
My early work with Parkinson's involved using
electronics to replace damaged portions of the brain,from that work came
the CVI. But now, it seems that things are working in reverse. This new
virus reprograms the CVI to replicate its different parts. The organic
part of the virus attacks and destroys the brain much like Azheimer's or
CJ, and to make matters worse, the CVI portion then causes the virus to
randomly mutate and replicate. It'ss worse than the AIDS virus of last
century. Unless we can somehow disable the CVI portion of the virus, we
have no hope of stopping the organic side of the virus. Unless . . . unless
we can re-program the CVI to eradicate the virus entirely.
Dropping the pen on the electronic screen, Jennifer ran to the global. If they could just find someone who could break the programming code...
******END*******
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: July 25, 1998
Author: Rilei
Place: Liberation HQ
Time: Set in the time of "When Water Is Thicker
Than Blood- Part I"
Title: When Water Is Thicker Than Blood Conclusion
James Sandoval led the way to a small
conference table in the least active area of Liberation Headquarters. He
motioned for Grace to sit down as he poured himself a cup of coffee. After
Grace had declined the off for some coffee, James sat down with a heavy
sigh. He removed his
glasses.
"There's something that you must understand
about my brother, Ms. Whitney. Ron wasn't always an implant and he wasn't
always like he is now. The Taelons control him COMPLETELY...unlike you
he has a
motivational imperative."
"I understand that."
"Do you really, Ms. Whitney?"
He paused to take a sip of coffee.
"To be honest I've never enjoyed
a close relationship to my little brother. The fact that I am nearly 7
years older than him didn't help.Do you have a brother?" James asked looking
at Grace. Grace squirmed.
"I HAD a brother...an older brother
named Randall. He was killed in the S.I. War."
"Were you close?"
"Extremely close. He was only a
few years my elder and I always knew that he loved me."
"Than you were quite blessed. Ron
and I never shared a close
relationship. Most of my time was in fact spent
trying to escape him. After we were both adults, I tried to change the
way things were between us and Ron let me know that he wasn't interested.
And now that he has that !@#$%^ implant, I don't dare approach him. He'd
arrest me and turned me over to the Taelons without a second thought as
to what they'd do to me." James replied.
"Why are the Taelons after you?"
"Because I was one of the few leading
medical doctors to stand up to them after their arrival. I was more than
skeptical with them. I spoke out against them and their presence on our
planet." he said. He sighed,
drained the rest of his coffee and stood up.
"I should get back to work."
"Thank you. I'm sorry about him."
"Don't be. I'll get my brother back
one day." he said and walked off.
"I hope that you do."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: July 23
Author: Goddenport
Place: Companion Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Time: Present, set after "Answers"
Title: Potential Carrier
"Maia, I'm glad you're here!"
"I walked into Dr. Schultz's
office and sat down. "I came to ask you about a problem."
The doctor looked me over.
"What is it?"
"I've heard stories about
a virus that's been going around," I answered.
"They're more than just stories,"
Schultz replied grimly. "One implant is dead and three more are in quarantine."
"Then it's true that this
virus has been designed to attack implants?"
"Yes." She then proceeded
to run tests on my implant.
I frowned. There weren't that
many implants around, so I feared that my closest friends had been infected.
"Doctor Schultz, have Agent Sandoval and Commander Boone been infected
by the virus?"
"Yes, they are both currently
in quarantine." She sighed.
"Is something wrong?"
"No." Dr. Schultz ended her
test. "Maia, I'm sorry I have to say this to such a new Companion agent,
but if for some reason you do encounter an implant who is acting strangely,
don't go near him. It's for your own safety. I really wish you had a chance
to meet more people, but this is a bad time." She put away her equipment.
"You may leave now."
"So I don't show any signs
of infection?"
"None that I can see, but
don't go celebrate just yet. Symptoms are sometimes hard to detect. Come
back in a few days. If you pass those tests, you should be fine. You didn't
associate with any of the quarantined implants around the time this happened,
did you?"
"I don't think so."
"Good. Because if you did,
you would be a potential carrier, and I would have to keep you in quarantine
as well."
And I never thought about
the virus until I got back to my room later that night. I stroked Sparrow,
my scrill, and had a flashback. That's when I remembered I had made contact
with one of the implants.
I had met with Sandoval only hours before
he was quarantined.
date: 28 July, 1998
author: Kittykat
place: foot of the Statue of Liberty, New York,
New York
time: after "An Offer of Help"
subject: Suspended Animation
Kitty looked around the
small knots of tourists, trying to figure out if one of them was the Liberation
contact that she was expecting. She was quite sure that her message had
gotten through the security protocols in the Liberation mainframe, either
that or it was still ricocheting through various, lesser directories until
it could find a place to slip through. Such was the brilliance of her "passive"
approach to systems breaking.
The tourists seemed
to be caught up in the statue's proud legacy, totally oblivious to the
multiple distasters that were poised to befall the planet if someone didn't
DO something. No one looked to be anything close to a contact, and Kitty'd
done enough work for the CIA to know how
the game was played.
~Why ME?~ Kitty asked herself,
looking at the gray stillness of the ocean. It was cloudy and somewhat
chilly, and seemed to perfectly reflect the atmosphere of foreboding that
had settled over Kitty in the
last few hours.
~Why can't I ever leave
well enough alone?~ It was a question Kitty had asked herself many times,
and she still hadn't come up with a good answer for it. No matter what,
whenever there were people's lives in
danger, she always had the overwhelming impulse
to jump into the void, even though it usually meant trouble. Then again,
it was probably a leftover of her heritage... Her mother had, after all,
been only the latest in a long line of soldiers and relief workers. And
although the military life certainly didn't appeal to Kitty, the usual
impulse to be heroic had apparently not died.
~Mom, you might just
have been wrong when you said I was an ungrateful leech to society...~
Try as she might, her own moral compass refused to let Kitty just sit by
as most of her counterparts would. She
always had to get INVOLVED in the rest of the
world. Always had to take the path that she was sure wouldn't harm the
naive innocents that seemed to represent a good ninety percent of the population.
~But, that's what heroes
do, isn't it? Funny, how a total outlaw like me who regularly annoys people
on al sides of this conflict could call herself that and still not get
struck by lightning..~ Maybe... Just maybe she would write her mother,
if only to prove to herself that she hadn't taken the slide that everyone
always assumed she would one day.
~Total neutrality just
doesn't suit me...~
FIN
Kittykat, aka Kitty Jenson
Level One Computer Hacker
US Taelon Division
Date: July 28, 1998
Author: Krystina Stressman
Place: Human-Taelon Medical Facility
Time: Present, following day of Brief Evening
Respite
Subject: Worries
Tara entered the medical facility,
not quite sure what to expect. She hadn't had a physical for awhile, so
she knew she was due for one. But with what was going on, she felt uneasy.
She was worried about Boone. He had been the only one who had shown her
any genuine warmth so far, and now, with this virus
running rampant . . . there was the possibility
that he could die. From what she had heard, he was already dreadfully sick
. . . And what if she got it? Tara wondered. Why did Ta'al send her to
this place?
As she finally found where
she was suppose to go, she was met by someone - a
woman. "You must be Tara
Carmichael," the woman greeted, extending her hand. "I'm Dr. Rosemary Schultz.
I'll be giving you a physical today."
Tara took the woman's hand.
"It's nice to meet you," she replied.
Dr. Schultz was staring at
her, studying her, although the Doctor was trying to be subtle about it.
It was as if something about Tara puzzled her. Then she shook her head
slightly, as if deciding whatever had caught her attention wasn't important.
"Come with me," she said,
leading Tara to an examination room and indicating the examining table.
Tara obediently took a seat on it.
"Is there any word on Boone
yet? Is the virus spreading?" Tara asked.
"We don't know enough about
it yet . . . But things aren't looking good at the moment," Rosemary replied.
Tara sighed quietly. Who would
create a virus to attack Implants, she wondered sadly. She just didn't
understand.
"I have to get something.
I'll be right back."
"All right," Tara replied.
As the doctor left for a moment,
she became lost in thought. If that virus wasn't stopped, it was going
to kill them all . . .
Date: July 30
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set after "Unless"
Place: Washington DC, outside the Taelon
embassy
Title: The End of a Shift
Dr. Jennifer Christian slammed
the latest set of papers down on the desk with a resounding "thump".
Dr. Rosemary Schultz, who was just coming on duty, walked by and peeked
her head into the office. "Hi Jennifer, how are things going? Or
should I even ask?" She said wearily.
Sighing heavily, Jennifer
replied, "The same. No improvement in our patients, and now it seems
like every implant in the whole continent is hanging out around here.
We have got to get some kind of breakthrough."
"I know, I know." Rosemary
answered. "But if we can't break that CVI code, nothing is going
to work."
"Has anyone thought about
hiring someone?" Jennifer said. Then, laughing half-heartedly,
she finished, "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Security. Right?"
Shaking her head, Rosemary
said, "If word of this gets out, the whole world could be shaken up.
This is the last thing we need getting out on the Internet." Walking
over to her friend, she continued, "You know what, Jennifer. I think
we're all working too hard. Why don't you take this evening and just
try to relax. Who knows, you might find some answer if you
can break through the stress levels around here."
Dr. Christian wiped her face
with her hands, and thought for a moment. Finally, she spoke, "I think
you may be right. But, are they going to let me just wander around
DC?"
"What do you mean?" Dr. Schultz
asked.
"Well, walking helps me relax.
I like to just wander and look at scenery. It clears my mind." Jennifer
answered.
"Hmmm." Rosemary said.
"I think Agent Lassiter can find somewhere safe for
you to wander, why don't you give him a call?"
"I think I just might do that.
That sounds like a really nice idea."
Jennifer replied. As she reached the door
to the office, Dr. Christian
looked back over her shoulder at her friend and
waved good-night. ~This
might not turn out to be such a bad evening after
all.~ she thought. ~Not
too bad at all.~
-------------END--------------
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: August 1, 1998
Author: Krystina Stressman
Place: UN Companion Headquarters, Tara's Office
Time: Present, same day of Worries
Subject: The Right Track
After Tara was cleared by Dr.
Schultz, her mind was still troubled by the fact that the virus attacking
Implants had been created by someone for that very purpose. Why would someone
do that . . . ? But then, the answer hit her like a ton of bricks. She
knew about Resistance groups all over the world. Even the Mediterranean
had a few, though not that many. Out there, somewhere, there was a Resistance
group creating bio-weapons to use against Implants. Maybe next time, they'd
create a virus that would kill Taelons . . . or worse . . . what they made
a mistake and create a virus that kills everyone - Taelons and Humans
alike. Whichever group is was, they had to be
stopped.
~Well, if they have a lab
. . . maybe they have a computer, and just maybe it'll be hooked up to
the internet . . . or maybe this resistance group might even have a web
site . . . but how could I find out? ~ she wondered. She knew how to access
the internet, but she wouldn't know quite what to look for. She needed
help from someone who would know what to look for and how to find it.
Then she happened to remember
a chance meeting outside Headquarters. A young woman had introduced herself
. . . The woman's name was Kitty Jenson. She remembered this encounter,
besides the fact that her CVI brought forth the memory as clearly as if
it had just happened, but because the following day, she had looked Ms.
Jenson up on the Taelon Database for employees. Kitty Jenson was a computer
whiz working for Da'an. ~Maybe she's be willing to give me a hand~ Tara
thought and decided to contact her.
DATE: 3 August, 1998
AUTHOR: Kittykat
PLACE: Kitty Jenson's Hideout
TIME: Just after "Right Track"
SUBJECT: Right Train, Wrong Track
Kitty had poked at her keyboard,
trying to finish hacking the "mysterious system" that she was once again
forced to check on. The job was really starting to get predictable. With
luck, once the check was over she'd get into contact with the American
Liberation Movement and start work on the cyber-half of the CVI virus.
Assuming that they wanted her help. However, before Kitty could go back
to her Sim City game, her global beeped.
"Who could be calling at this
hour? It's only noon!" Kitty said to herself, digging around piles of papers
and little oragami rhinoceri for the global. At about the twelfth ring,
she managed to dislodge enough magazines to reach the little device.
"Hello, Kitty Jenson speaking,
if this is a phone salesman I don't want anything," Kitty said as she flicked
the global on, turning back to see if her computers were till working.
Digging through the junk piles always unplugged SOMETHING.
["Tara Carmichael. I believe
we've met before?"]
Kitty thought for a moment
and then snapped her fingers. The Implant with a sense of humor.
"Yeah, I remember. Sorry about
the telemarketer thing, but they always call at the most inopportune moments.
What can I do for ya?" Kitty said, satisfied that nothing vital was unplugged.
["I'm sure you've learned
of a virus that's been going around among Implants?"] Tara said, looking
quite worried.
Kitty nodded to herself. She'd
heard of it, all right, she'd managed to map the sucker. "Yes, it's a real
waste of life and all. Anything in particular you need?"
["I've begun an investigation
to uncover the agency responsible for the virus. I was wondering if you
could help me track them down."]
Kitty considered this. SHE
was starting to have ties to the rebellion, and if the wrong acengy was
fingured then there was a chance she's go down with it. Thankfully, she
was good at covering her tracks . . . But then again, if she could find
whoever was responsible, she might be able to find the counter-virus for
the mechanical half of the CVI virus and help put a stop to it before MORE
Implants died. besides, genius ends up paying a lot more than mediocerness
. . .
"Listen . . . I'm kind of
busy right now, but when I get a free moment I'll start looking. Meantime,
I'd start investigating . . . oh . . . places that claim to be 'branches'
of the Liberation movement. Usually they tend to be brash enough to do
silly things since the main body would take the fall. And meantime, watch
your back, 'kay?" Kitty said, glancing at her clock as she did so. it was
almost time to get going.
["I will. Thank you."]
"No problem."
Kittykat aka Kitty Jenson
Computer Hacker, level one
US Taelon Division
Date: August 4, 1998
Author: Krystina Stressman
Place: UN Companion Headquarters, Tara's Office
Time: Present, same day as Right Train, Wrong
Track
Subject: From the Frying Pan into the Fire
~Look for something brash or
silly from a group claiming to be a branch of the Liberation Movement .
. . ?~ Tara thought, her green eyes swimming in worry. But what would classify
something as brash or silly? ~I wonder, if I couldn't just try the internet
myself . . . It's a long shot, but then again . . .~
Turning to her computer, she
began entering search criteria. Anything that could possibly lead her to
branches of the Liberation. Several hours passed. She was just about ready
to give up when suddenly, an entry on the list brought up by her search
criteria caught her attention.
<World Domination by the
Taelons and How to Strike Back>
~Now, this can't be, ~ she
thought, ~It would just be too easy. But Ms. Jenson did say something brash
. . .~
Immediately, she went to the
site. There, she found all kinds of anti-Companion articles and posts.
It eemed that they were trying to recruit people right off the internet!
As she read further, she found a post that made reference to the Implants.
<Those that Collaborate
with the Taelon-scum shall die first. Those who live to serve the Taelons
will find that they will be in fear of their lives . . .>
As she read on, there were
more blatant statements about Implants, but the last line sent a chill
down her spine.
<The Liberation Movement
will destroy the Implants by using the Taelon technology that have in their
brains against them. They will fall prey to a sickness that is our doing
and they will all die.>
She sat back in her chair
and took a deep breath. Kitty Jenson had been right. Posting on a site
that had no security where anyone could find it was definitely brash. But
could she find out who had written the post?
Researching a bit more, she
found a direction - Dr. Death, Liberation Movement, Montana.
~Dr. Death . . . ? Couldn't
he or she come up with something more original?~ Tara criticized.
It didn't take her long to
find a possible locale for this group's headquarters. But the search area
was still way too large. She accessed satellite photos of the area that
included infrared overlays. Putting two and two together, she was sure
she had found the headquarters. It was a faint trace, but there seemed
to be some kind of structure out in the middle of nowhere. If nothing else,
she had to see if she was right. If she were, then the people responsible
for the virus would be brought to justice. Immediately, she put in
her requests for transportation and back-up. Within two hours everything
was cleared and ready. She waited patiently in her office going through
procedure in her mind. Suddenly, she was interrupted by foot steps. As
she looked up, she saw a man in his early thirties with sandy, blond hair
and aqua blue eyes. He was tall, with a mustache and was fairly good-looking.
"Yes?" Tara asked.
"I'm . . . uh . . . Ryan MacLeod
. . . You're shuttle pilot . . ."
Tara stood up and smiled,
reaching out her hand. "I'm sorry, I've just been a bit preoccupied . .
. I don't recall seeing you in the Employee database. Are you new also?"
"Yeah," he replied, nervously,
"Just yesterday . . . but I've had extensive training!" he countered, concerned
that she wouldn't trust such a rookie to fly her around.
"I'm sure," she replied. "Now,
since you're here, let's get things on the road, shall we?"
He smiled and lead the way
to his shuttle. Ground support for this little excursion would meet them
at their destination. But Tara really hoped that this was it. That this
was the group responsible so that she could kick some Extremist Liberation
butt.
In no time, they were in Montana.
It was a bit of a hike to find the location of the supposed structure.
It was gratifying to Tara to see that her decision just might have paid
off when they did, indeed, find a structure. Commander Todd Matthews, with
several of his men were armed and ready to enter the structure, but he
waited for Tara to give the signal.
As she nodded, everyone moved
forward and all hell broke lose. There had been sentries posted on the
outside of the structure. But once they were silenced, they was only a
hop, skip and a jump away from getting inside. Gun fire didn't cease as
they made their way deeper and deeper into the structure. Matthews and
his men had gone on ahead of Tara, as she checked each room for a possible
lab . . . ~It has to be here,~ she thought. If it wasn't, she was going
to have a lot of explaining to do. Suddenly, she heard some rustling behind
her. As she twirled around, she faced a man with a gun. He was ready to
deploy the trigger. On complete instinct, she aimed Chiron, her skrill,
and he did the rest. The man fell to the floor, dead. Taking a deep breath
to steady her nerves, she noticed Ryan making his way back to her. He had
gone ahead with Matthews until he had realized that Tara was falling behind.
He looked to the dead body and back at Tara. She seemed a little bit shaken,
but he dismissed it. After all, she was an Implant and an Implant wouldn't
get shaken up, he reasoned.
"Glad to see you've got everything
under control back here," he smiled.
"Of course," she replied,
returning the smile. "But we have got to find the lab, and quickly."
As they began catching up
to the infiltration team, Tara found what she was looking for - a
lab. Entering the room, she found everything someone would need to engineer
a virus. Chemicals, petri dishes, freezers, an incubation area . . . and
virus cultures . . .
"Oh-my Lord . . ." she replied,
looking around. On the nearest computer screen was what looked like a virus.
There was no doubt that this is where they were doing viral research .
. .
Suddenly, out of nowhere it
seemed, a man ran at her from behind. She felt a sharp pain in the muscles
of her arm.
"Die, Taelon Collaborator!"
the man cried.
Within moments, Ryan had the
man down on the ground, and called for Commander Matthews help. Tara, pulled
out the thing in her arm. It was a seringe and needle. Without having to
ask, she knew what this man had done. He had infected her with the virus.
~Oh-Lord . . . I'm going to
die . . .~
She stumbled back to the wall
and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor.
As Commander Matthews arrived
to take charge of the rouge Ryan had subdued, Ryan began looking around
the lab. Maybe he could find something that would stop the virus from spreading.
Either that, or maybe Commander Matthews could get this man to talk. But
something had to be done as he saw the stunned and frightened look on Tara
Carmichael's face.
Slowly, numbly, Tara pulled
out her global and put in a call to Dr. Schultz.
"Hello, doctor . . . I have
a problem . . . I believe I have just been injected with a full dose of
the live virus . . ."
Date: August 4
Author: Esti
Place: Human-Taelon Medical Facility, Washington,
D.C.
Time: Sometime after "Uh-oh"
Title: Zen and the art of talking to Taelons
Rosemary leaned her face into
her hands. "Why me?" she mumbled. Then she straightened up. Moaning wasn't
going to get her anywhere. Calling up Da'an was. She ran through some breathing
exercises. She didn't deal with Taelon diplomats that much- she'd always
been too junior. But with Dr. Belman dealing with Ms. Adams' death, and
this was her case anyway.
After a few minutes, she was
able to calm down enough to activate the screen. "Get me Da'an," she ordered.
Within a minute, the Companion's face had come up on the screen.
"Yes, Doctor Schultz?" the
Companion asked. He seemed completely unperturbed at her interruption.
"Do you have some news to impart about your efforts concerning the virus?"
"Only bad news, I'm afraid,"
Rosemary said reluctantly. "We have managed to isolate what's going on,
but we are seeking additional assistance. Whoever created the virus put
their best effort into making sure it was unstopable. THe biological portion
of the virus is being modified by a computer virus designed to work with
the Implant's CVI. Each of our Implants are being affected in different
ways- Beckett, who was our worst patient for a while, is actually in the
best shape, while the others are continually getting worse."
"And what assistance do you
require, Doctor? Have you not consulted Ne'eg or one of the other scientists
within your facility?"
Rosemary nodded. "I have,
Da'an. Ne'eg is also working with the infected Implants, but he has agreed
that we may require outside help. We are working on it right now."
Da'an inclined his head. "Proceed
with your research, Doctor. If you are still in need of assistance, Ne'eg
will assist you in aquiring you with whatever you require."
"Thank you, Da'an," Rosemary
said, feeling guilty for bothering the Taelon. Da'an inclined his head
once more before the screen blanked out.
Rosemary took a deep breath
and went to find Ne'eg.
-
Dr. Rosemary Schultz
Implant Specialist, level 5
(Esti: smccrory@calweb.com)
DATE: August 5, 1998
AUTHOR: James LeMaire
PLACE: En route to Washington, D. C.
TIME: During "Out of Frying Pan"
SUBJECT: Interlude
Commander James Christian shifted
in his shuttle seat, wrestling with a feeling of impending doom.
~Why am I so nervous?~, he
wondered to himself.
~Peace, my friend,~ Ra'els
voice whispered into his mind. ~Your acceptance of the position of
Chief of Security for Da'an is merely a formality for the acceptance of
the Synod. It is a small thing.~
He sighed heavily, provoking
an over the shoulder glance from his dark haired pilot, Capt. Marquette.
James met her eyes, using the same look he normally held in reserve for
plebes or ensigns. She quickly turned away, momentarily flushing
as though caught pilfering secrets.
~Ra'el, it's not the assignment.
I know it's pending Will's recovery. There's something else…~ he fretted,
his face scrunching into a scowl.
As he began to formulate the
feelings he was experiencing into words, Lili spoke.
"Commander Christian, we're
dropping out now. Da'ans building will be off to starboard."
James smiled, remembering
he and Lili's first meeting in New Orleans just scant minutes ago.
He had been absorbed in his thoughts and had walked right into Capt. Marquette.
Reacting from instinct, she immediately grabbed him and attempted to throw
him. The attempt failed miserably. His SEAL and Kenpo training
kicked in and he very nearly snapped her neck before he saw her Companion
Security badge.
"Uh, Capt. Marquette, I again
sincerely apologize for what happened in New Orleans. I, um,…"
"It's alright, sir.
I took worse in the `01 War and I'm still here."
Lili deftly piloted the alien
craft to the pad in front of Da'ans building. Moving her arms in the intricate
patterns needed to shut down the shuttle, she continued.
"After all, what else could
I expect from a swabbie?" she taunted, arching a single eyebrow questioningly.
She rose with cat-like grace from the pilot's seat and gestured towards
the hatch. "After you, Commander."
James smiled and said, "Just
James, please. I know I need to keep it simple for you Marines."
With that, he stepped through the hatch, ignoring the fuming scowl on Marquette's
pretty face.
Sithspit, aka Commander James Christian
Companion Security, Level One
US Taelon Division
DATE: August 6
AUTHOR: James LeMaire
PLACE: Da'ans meeting chamber
TIME: Minutes after "Interlude" and during "OotFPaItF"
SUBJECT: Whirlwind
James Christian walked into
Da'ans chamber, grey eyes noting the pleasing curves and flowing lines
of the building. Nodding in content satisfaction, he decided that
working here would be very nice indeed…
"Commander Christian, this
way please."
With a start, James noticed
Capt. Marquette regarding him with a bemused expression. She apparently
had been quietly observing his inspection of the facility and had lost
patience at his slacking pace.
"Oh, sorry, Lili. I
just can't help myself at times; the Taelon architecture should almost
be called "art-chitecture", don't you think?"
Marquette's expression changed.
She continued walking down the curving hallway and spoke over her shoulder.
"A friend of mine collects art and he finds himself in turmoil over just
that fact. He mumbles things about 'differing ideologies' and 'where's
the soul?' and such. He drives me crazy…" Lili stopped and
turned to James and said, "What do you think of such things, Commander?
What do you think of the ideologies and soul of the Taelon art? I
think he might be interested in another art aficionado's perspective."
She turned and continued around the edge of the wall and into Da'ans chamber,
where the meeting of the Synod had already begun.
James leaned close to Lili's
ear and whispered, "Tell you later…" He noted with little surprise
that Ra'el's holoform was in attendance. At their entrance, all heads
turned to the newcomer's arrival.
Da'an rose and gave the Taelon
gesture of greeting and farewell, one hand to where the solar plexus would
be were Da'an human, and the other outstretched, palm up. James returned
it and held the posture as he turned to include Ra'el and the Synod.
Da'an reclaimed "his" seat
and spoke, "Commander Christian, it is with great pleasure and some sorrow
that I greet you. These are perilous times for Taelons and our implants
and you enter into this time of turmoil as the whirlwind grows stronger."
Confusion and wariness crossed
Christian's face as he assimilated this greeting. "I don't understand,
Da'an." Clasping his hands behind his back, he tilted his head slightly
and said, "Please explain."
Da'an gestured with his right
hand and a holo of an indoor battleground came into view. As James
took in the tableau, Da'an continued, "You are already aware of the CyberViral
attack on our closest allies, the group that you have been offered a place
in." Da'an turned his head to view the image and said, "Even now,
developments from that will make your task more…trying." Da'an rose
and glided over to James and gestured at the hologram. "There before
you you see our agents engaged in conflict with the perpetrators of this
viral assault. This engagement is ongoing and is being transmitted
'live' to us as we speak. It is with great sadness that I must request
you to immediately leave this meeting and go to this site. Your training
and expertise will be required as our implant in command, Tara Carmichael,
has been grievously wounded and infected with the full blown virus on scene."
James nodded and whispered,
"I understand. There is also the added benefit that I have not yet
been implanted and will not be susceptible to the viruses attack."
Da'an's façade momentarily
faded and a hint of his bluish true from glowed through. "You speak
truth. You must hurry and not delay."
James nodded and spun on his
heel, immediately becoming the commander and leader he was trained to be,
tersely issuing requests and orders to Marquette as they ran down the curving
hall.
After his departure, Da'an
turned to the Synod and communed with them. Seconds later, Qu'on spoke
and said, "The Synod is not of one mind, but is in agreement of Our choice
of action. This Commander Christian will be implanted and placed
in command of your security needs until such time as Commander Boone recovers.
Though this is done with unease at his current lack of a CVI, it is also
understood that peril awaits him were he to be implanted. It is with
great discomfiture that we allow him to function as your protector in this
state." With this statement made, the Synod vanished.
Da'an lowered his head, strongly
blushing blue as his façade weakened considerably. Ra'el's
holo image remained with Da'an, and his façade was gone entirely.
He turned to Da'an, and spoke in his native tongue, ~The decision was imperiled,
friend. Our support is growing but is still not strong.~
Da'an also relaxed his façade
and raised his head, turning and tilting it and eloquently gesturing with
his right hand as he responded, ~It is with much fear that I agree, Ra'el.
We must be cautious.~
He turned and looked out of
the virtual glass view port as the shuttle carrying James Christian shot
into Inter Dimensional. He spoke in English, saying, "Commander Christian
may be our last hope. If he is unsuccessful at finding the cure for
the virus, then we will be without our greatest protectors and will
be forced to find our solutions elsewhere."
Da'an walked away from the
view port and continued, "There is more, Ra'el. I have received information
that our opposition in the Synod may actually be funding the terrorists
in an attempt to hasten our departure from this planet. It is also
possible that they may be involved with the portal theft through triple
blind intermediaries. One may even be connected with the other."
Sitting is his seat, he concluded, "James Christian, devoid of a CVI, is
a ~mahk'nee~. He is a three-edged weapon that may slice it's user
as well as the enemy. We must use him wisely."
Ra'el nodded and vanished.
Da'an's façade materialized
and he reached upward, gently and wonderingly stroking it's texture, thoughtfully
gazing into the heavens…
James LeMaire, aka sithspit
Commander James Christian, Chief of Security
to Da'an
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: August 6, 1998
Author: Rilei
Place: Liberation HQ
Time: Set just after the "Meeting With Destiny"
Subject: There's Hope For an End
Grace jumped as James Sandoval quite
literally slammed a notebook down that he had been reading out of. He spat
out a series of mild curses before resuming his work. ~Well he shares his
brother's temper if
nothing else.~
At that moment Jane Sandoval entered
the laboratory carrying a tray. After seeing the look on his face
she knew to steer clear of him for awhile. Silently she sat the tray
down and motioned for Grace to follow
her out.
"You'd better stay out of the lab
for awhile. I know that look on James' face and he's not going to
be very agreeable company right now. But then that's good news too." she
said.
"You care to explain that one?"
Grace replied.
"My husband always gets this way
just prior to finding a solution or cure to whatever he's doing.
He's just frustrated right now but the answer is on the top of his
mind somewhere. Ron and the other implants
are as good as saved." Jane confided.
~I hope you're right....They're
all running out of time.~
Date: August 6
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set during "Whirlwind"
Place: Washington, DC
Title: Whisperings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Journal, Dr. Jennifer Christian (handwritten
and encrypted in
special notepad)
Things are moving so fast now. With all
of the things going on concerning the virus, I haven't been able to fully
grasp the depth of the "gift" given my by Ra'el. He and James have
tried to explain it to me, but my mind has been so occupied with James'
upcoming implantation and this crazy virus. Ra'el said that a Taelon has
the ability to "open" a human mind to the realms where Taelons dwell.
By doing this, the human can now communicate telepathically with others.
He also said that a long time ago, a Taelon scientist by the name of Ma'el
lived here on earth and gave this gift to humanity. It manifests
itself in so-called "psychic" ability. James had already received
a measure of this "gift", so Ra'el's touch only increased his ability dramatically.
(I wonder how the CVI will affect this?) I, however, am another story.
My mind was never "open"…until now. Ra'el's touch sent my head spinning.
It took me several hours to recover from the force of the encounter.
It is strange, though. It was several days before I realized what
he had done. Even now, I don't really have time to learn about my
new-found gift…so much is going on. Sometimes in my mind, I can
hear them whispering to me…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of an incoming call
startled Jennifer out of her thoughts. Looking at the screen, she said,
"Yes?"
"Jennifer, this is Rosemary.
I've got bad news. Another implant has just been infected in a raid
on a Resistance lab. They shot her up with a full-blown version of
the live virus. I don't think she's got much time."
"Uh-oh." Jennifer responded.
"How long until the Medi-vac has her here?"
"About three minutes.
Get down to the emergency lab right away. And bring your thinking
cap, because if we don't come up with something quick, we may lose another
implant."
"On my way, Jennifer out."
Dr. Christian replied as she shut down her journal and grabbed for her
lab coat. Suddenly, a presence filled her mind. She could feel James
and Ra'el, and even someone else? James seemed in a hurry…~wasn't
he in a meeting with the Synod?~ Jennifer thought.
Bemusement flowed through
her mind as Ra'el projected to her ~yes, but he has been sent to help in
the latest battle with the Resistance.~
~Ra'el?~ Jennifer thought,
caught off-guard. Recovering quickly, she answered ~I heard
about the infected implant. She could die if we don't find a solution
fast.~
~Solutions come in many forms~
the scientist replied. ~Perhaps your answer lies closer than you
think. Although, beware the consequences of what you find.~
With that, images of her interview with Agent Sandoval flowed through her
mind. The entire session replayed itself, stopping after the discussion
of CVI burnout.
~What could he mean by that?~
Jennifer wondered. Suddenly, she knew! The ACVI! But,
what did Ra'el mean with a warning???
The viewscreen chirped again.
"Where ARE you Jennifer?!? The shuttle is about to land." Rosemary
frantically asked.
"Getting my thinking cap."
Jennifer answered. "I think I have a solution."
-------------END--------------
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level One
DATE: August 7, 1998
AUTHOR: James LeMaire
PLACE: Mid-west Resistance Lab
TIME: Minutes after "Out of Frying Pan" and "Whisperings…"
SUBJECT: Revelations
As the shuttle left Inter Dimensional,
James Christian strapped on his chest plate and picked up his travel bag.
"Thirty seconds, Commander",
Marquette said, deftly working the shuttle controls and bringing the craft
into a screaming landing. As she shut the craft down, she glanced
back and saw Christian.
Gone was the quiet, unassuming
man of earlier. Before her now stood a warrior. Thought still
dressed in his clothes of earlier, sans jacket, he now sported a Kevlar
chest plate, a LARGE pistol strapped to his right
thigh, and a small, wicked looking submachine
gun slung over his shoulder. On his left thigh rode a commando knife and
across his chest was a bandoleer holding several concussion grenades.
Marquette stared, open mouthed
and shocked. "Where did you get all of that?" she asked, still staring
and immobile.
Christian slapped the hatch
release and barked, "Move it, Marine! Questions later!" Moving down
the hatch, he ran towards the building where small arms fire could still
be heard, popping and cracking in the darkness. Stopping the first soldier
he saw, Christian shouted, "Where's Carmichael?"
The soldier, one of Sandoval's
men, recognized the Companion Security badge and the ring of authority,
instantly snapping to and responding, "Sir! She's been injured, sir, and
taken out of the main building. This way!" With that, he ran on,
not even looking to see if he was being followed, James hard on his heels
behind.
After several turns and two
exchanges of fire with the Resistance members, they found her.
Christian started, horrified
and shocked at how quickly the virus was destroying Carmichael's body and
mind. Eyes staring blankly into space, drool dripping down her lovely
chin, she shivered and seized on the cold, hard ground, limbs twitching
and spasming in decorticate posturing. James knew from his time as
a Corpsman that Carmichael had minutes, if that much, to live.
Grabbing his Global, he paged
Marquette. "Lili, get the shuttle and MedEvac immediately at these
coordinates, homing signal…Now." He turned to Tara and saw that she
had stopped breathing. He immediately dropped to his knees and began
rescue breathing, forcing a dying body to accept his attempt
to make it live. He called the unit medic
over and turned care over to her, noting that Tara's blue color was improving
with the increased air intake.
"Oh God, Agent Carmichael!"
James turned to the voice
and saw the mission second in command staring at his fallen comrade.
James strode over to him and placed his hand on his arm and said, "I'm
Commander James Christian, Companion Security." He shoved his ID
into the face of the man and continued, "Report on what you've found and
make it fast."
Lt. Scanlan collected himself
and spoke, "We've managed to locate the database for the outpost, sir.
We think we got to it before this scum could delete their files.
Our tech man is working on it now. We've sustained forty percent
casualties and taken five prisoners, three of which died shortly after
capture. They apparently had suicide capsules in their teeth."
"Good work, Lieutenant.
Where's the command center?" "This way, sir." The
first looey spun and trotted into the building. Speaking on the run, James
called New Orleans and contacted Ra'el as he
followed Scanlan into the bunker. "Ra'el, we've
found Carmichael and are MedEvacing her to you, Jennifer, and Dr. Schultz.
She's in bad shape and nearly dead. I'll advise as more info becomes
available." He snapped the Global shut as he entered the command
center, noting with disdain the two remaining prisoners kneeling on the
floor. The computer / tech personnel were feverishly working on the
computer when one of them suddenly shouted, "Got it!" Data began
to flow across the terminal, an electronic flood of information, a veritable
cornucopia of intelligence. James ordered the tech man aside, seating himself
at the console and
studying the intel as it scrolled past.
Fingers flying, he searched the system until the priceless gem he was looking
for came into view. "This is it!" he shouted. "This is the
virus code and template!" Moving with lightning speed, he connected his
Global to the terminal and began transmitting the data to his wife and
Ra'el, hoping beyond hope that he was in time to save Tara. As the data
flowed over the ether, his eyes were drawn to the screen in front of him.
James frowned as he scanned the documents before him. His eyes widened
in disbelief, unable to contain his surprise. He opened a channel
to Washington and looked wearily into the face of Da'an. "Da'an, I believe
it's all here. I've found what happened to our implants and the portal."
TO BE CONTINUED
James LeMaire, aka sithspit
Commander James Christian, Chief of Security
to Da'an
US Taelon Division, Level One
DATE: 7 August 1998
AUTHOR: Kittykat
PLACE: Liberation HQ
TIME: Sortly after "Whirlwind"
SUBJECT: Black Cats and Exterminators
"No! You are not going
to fry on me! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!" Kitty slammed her laptop shut as a thin curl
of smoke wafted up from the keys. Crossing her arms over her chest defensively,
she sat back and tried to
figure out just WHAT was up with the CVI virus.
As Tara Carmicheal had
led the assault on that Liberation branch, Kitty had gone in the backdoor
and managed through some miracle to lift the computer coding for the computer
half of the CVI virus. Taken
together with an updated model, it spelled an
end to the crisis, hopefully. That is, unless one decided to try and read
the computer programming. It was set up like it was in another language,
and not even her "Black Cat" program could decipher the encryption. And
THAT program just happened to be the best computer decryption program in
existance.
"Maybe I'm going about this
the wrong way," Kitty murmured and she leaned forward again to inspect
her computer. As she'd expected, the motherboard had overheated and fried
itself in a blaze of glory. The
unfortunate consequence of pushing an over souped-up
computer past its limits. ~Maybe I should stop trying to think of this
in parts and start looking at the whole enchilada...~
From what she could
tell, the CVI virus was built like a CVI, part alien machine, part bio-engineered
germ. The virus was supposed to get to a CVI and fry it, which in turn
caused the brain of the poor implant to fry as well after a while. However,
for some reason the virus only attacked a CVI and not the surrounding grey
matter, relying instead on the old CVI-burnout routine to do in its victim...
"Wait just a minute..." Kitty
breathed, then made as mad a dash as she could in the crowded room for
the nearest unmanned computer. She quickly pulled up the specs for the
ACVI as well as got online with her
mainframe back in New York.
"Just what do you think
you're doing?" Auger, the Resistance's top computer guru, said sourly once
he notoiced Kitty furiously tapping away at the computer's keyboard.
"I think I've got a
possible answer. Can you go and get James? I need him to confirm this,"
Kitty said, dragging her "Orcin Man" program out of her mainframe and installing
it in the Liberation's databank.
Orcin Man was a second-generation computer virus
eliminator, which she had designed in order to get invited to her first
Black Hat convention. The thing was as close to a human's immmune system
as one could get a
bunch of binary code to be. Maybe, when programmed
with the CVI-virus's makeup and slipped into an ACVI, the ACVI would not
only remove the infected CVI, but the Orcin Man program would render any
remaining
CVI-virus ineffective...
FIN
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NRPG: I know the Orcin Man stuff sounds like
a God-In-The-Machine but
its something you'd think a world-class computer
hacker would have.. The
Black Hat stuff was based on a REAL hacker's
convention that I heard of
on the news once, but couldn't remember the name
of. If anyone knows
what its really named I'd like to know!
Kittykat, aka Kitty Jenson
Computer Hacker, Level One
US Taelon Division
Date: August 7, 1998
Author: Krystina Stressman
Place: Inside Tara's Mind
Time: Present, during/after Revelations
Subject: Lost Soul
It was dark, as Tara shivered
in the corner, huddled up like a child, with her knees to her chest. What
was se to do? Where was she to go? And the screams of agony all around
her . . . They were a girl's screams . . . Something about them was familiar.
But a better question, she surmised, was were was she? She was scared.
She hadn't been this frightened since she was a little girl, when she had
been afraid of the dark.
Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked her back against
the wall. It was close to her. Instantly, she was on her feet. There were
more explosions and what sounded like gun fire. She had to get out of there.
She was a target. She had to get to some place safe to assess the situation
. . . But then, it was as if a cold hand had touched her shoulder. As she
whirled around, she found herself alone. This was not right, she told herself
. . . She looked at Chiron and found him limp on her arm. Concern swept
over her. If something was wrong with Chiron, then something was wrong
with her! She had to find away out. She finally understood that her life
was in danger. If she couldn't escape this place, she was doomed. She was
going to die!
Swiftly, she took off running.
She could barely make out the walls around her. After ten minutes of running,
she ran into a dead end. She took off again, in another direction. After
several more minutes, she again found herself in a dead end.
~I've got to keep going!~
she told herself as she found another dead end. But it seemed that no matter
where she turned, she found nothing but the enclosure of dark walls with
no way out. She was trapped. She was dead!
"Someone! Anyone! Help me!!"
she screamed, turning and looking into the darkness, with fear in her green
eyes. "Please! Please Help ME!"
Suddenly, tears stung her
eyes, as she slid down a wall to the floor. She was in the dark, in some
strange maze and she was lost. She was going to die in this place with
the sounds of a tormented girl screaming and crying surrounding her. She
was a lost soul, listening to a lost soul . . . Was this hell, she wondered?
Or was this just the end of herself and was hell, yet to come?
Date: August 15
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set the day after "Contemplations"
Place: Taelon Medical Facility, Washington
DC
Title: The Right Choice
Pacing back and forth across
the medical suite, Dr. Jennifer Christian had a job
to do--and a decision to make. Dr. Belman had personally overseen
the reimplantation of many of the implants,
but after finally announcing that she was
exhausted, Dr. Belman had turned the project over to Dr. Schultz and
Jennifer.
With a heavy sigh, Dr. Christian
stared at the readouts before her…there was no
mistaking it. Tara Carmichael did not have a Motivational Imperative
in her CVI. How could this be???
Was it possible that the Companion that had her
implanted secretly had it removed? Jennifer knew that her Companion,
Ra'el would do such things…and that there were like-minded
Taelons out there as well. What should
she do? Dr. Schultz would be coming back on shift in
a few hours, and Tara was in the last group to be implanted. If
Jennifer didn't do something soon, the matter would
be taken out of her hands for good.
Communing silently with her
Companion, Jennifer queried Ra'el ~What should I do?~
A peaceful presence filled
her mind as Ra'el answered ~What is in your heart to
do?~
Jennifer answered ~You know
how I feel about the MI, Ra'el. I can't in good conscience
implant someone with a CVI that contains it.~
Ra'el responded ~So your options
are?~
Jennifer replied ~Either implant
her with a modified CVI, and risk getting caught.
Or implant her with a CVI made to your "specifications"~
She could feel the amusement
in the Taelon's mind as he projected ~I think you
have already made up your mind, Jennifer~
Sheepishly, Dr. Christian
answered ~You're right, I think I have. But do you
think that I should get her consent first?~
A long moment passed as Ra'el
contemplated this question. Finally he said ~I
shall leave that decision up to you. You are more familiar with human
emotions. Do what you think is the most wise.~
Staring out the window, Jennifer
searched her heart for the answer. After several
long minutes, she slowly went into the prep room where Tara was
waiting for the procedure. She regarded Jennifer
strangely, as if surprised by this "visit".
Leaning down, Dr. Christian whispered into the ear of the implant,
"I am keeping this between you and I, and risking my life by doing
this. But I must tell you that I am aware that
you do not have a motivational imperative
in you CVI."
With this, Tara's eyes widened
considerably. She started to stammer a response,
but Jennifer shushed her. In Tara's ear, Jennifer continued,
"Answer just by shaking your head, did your Companion
arrange this?" Tara shook her head "yes"
and began crying softly. Jennifer spoke again, "Do not fear,
there are other Companions who feel likewise. You must never tell
anyone what I am about to do. I will implant
you with another modified CVI, but in this
one, no one will ever be able to detect that you do not have an
imperative. Do you desire this?"
When Tara shook her head "yes" again, relief
spread across both women's faces.
Standing up, Jennifer walked
to the doorway and motioned to the technicians in
the lab. "Bring her into the treatment room now." She said.
Turning back to Tara, she saw the implant's
smile and knew that she had made the right
choice.
-------------END--------------
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level Eight
DATE: August 10, 1998
AUTHOR: James LeMaire
PLACE: Da'an's Quarters
TIME: One hour after "Revelations"
SUBJECT: Secrets Revealed…
James Christian wearily stumbled
through the Taelon's Washington embassy, suit spattered with mud and Tara's
blood. Following the firefight at the Resistance lab, he had not
bothered to shower or change clothes. Instead, he opted to immediately
report to Da'an, deciding that the news he held could not wait, nor could
it be sent via Global. His gray eyes held the fatigue of the battle
weary and his hair closely resembled his suit. In fact, he still
carried the weapons he had borne during the pitched battle with the zealots.
As he made his way through the building, passersby stopped to stare at
the zombie walking amongst them, seemingly dead, though still barely animated.
As he rounded the low wall
at the entrance to Da'an's quarters, he was greeted by the sight of the
Synod, Da'an, and Zo'or, all waiting expectantly in a semi-circle.
All present regarded him with obviously mixed feelings; Zo'or with his
usual hostile aloofness, the Synod with it's customary impassivity, and
Da'an, openly compassionate and concerned. Da'an was the first
to break the silence.
"Commander Christian, we wish
to express our gratefulness at your safe return and our gratitude for your
dedication to your duty. We…"
"We wish to hear your report,
Commander." Zo'or broke in, bluntly and rudely cutting off Da'an
in mid sentence. James narrowed his gaze and regarded the Taelon
with open and frank displeasure, holding the other's eyes for five heartbeats
before answering.
Turning to the Synod, he inhaled
deeply, drawing himself up to his full 6' 4" height. "Following the
immediate assault on the lab, Agent Carmichael was attacked and infected
with the full blown virus. She began exhibiting symptoms within seconds
of the injection and was seizing quite severely upon my arrival.
I initiated resuscitative measures, which were successful, and MedEvac'ed
her to Drs. Christian and Schultz. Their report should be forthcoming
shortly…"
<Chirp, Chirp>
Christian's Global signaled
an incoming message, LED flashing a strident red, which signaled an urgent
message. Glancing down at the device, he saw that the call's origin
was the Embassy Medical Facility.
"Christian here."
Seeing the tired face of Dr.
Schultz and his wife's equally exhausted visage hovering behind her, he
placed the call through to the room's projector so all could view the report.
"Commander, Gentlebeings.
I have news regarding the wounded from the raid. Agent Carmichael will
survive, thanks to the timely discovery of the viral matrix. That
information coupled with Dr. Christian's brilliant deduction regarding
the ACVI were just the cocktail we needed. All of the implants should recover
completely, in time, though some will require re-implantation as soon as
possible. This is due to the near total breakdown of their current
CVI's. A full report will be compiled and forwarded to you as soon
as we have more information." With that, Da'an visibly relaxed, relief
evident across his normally impassive face.
"Thank you, Drs. Your efforts
are appreciated by us all." He waved his hand, breaking the connection
and turning back to Christian. "Please continue, Commander."
Commander Christian sighed
deeply as his face turned grim. He frowned and pressed his lips together
firmly as he continued with his report. "The computer files that
we obtained from the lab are incomplete at this time, but the preliminary
evidence indicates that this was a Resistance operation that was funded
by Jonathan Doors. There is a money trail running from Zurich, through
the Cayman Islands, and into front operations with ties to Doors International.
I have intensified the hunt for Doors and have people backtracking the
money trail as we speak. As we interpret the remaining files, I should
have more information forthcoming." As he finished this, he turned
to the Synod and continued, "I do have some rather disturbing
information to disclose, also," he replied.
"It is possibly just a Resistance ploy to throw suspicion and sow discord
amongst the Taelons, but there was also mention of a Taelon "Fifth Column"
that was sympathizing with and supporting the Resistance efforts.
It was supposedly this splinter group that arranged for the portal to be
stolen so as to draw an implant into the infection trap. Their goal
was to wipe out the implants and leave the Taelons without their protection,
open and vulnerable to further attack. At this time, this is unsubstantiated
and baseless. I will advise as more information becomes available.
That is all."
Qu'on nodded and whispered,
"Thank you Commander, that will be all. Refresh yourself and see to your
mate."
Christian nodded and saluted,
turned on his heel and strode smartly from the room, neither glancing back
nor hesitating. As the clicking of his feet diminished down the hallway,
Qu'on spoke, saying, "We must commune with the remainder of the Commonality.
This news is most disturbing to our unity." With that, the Synod vanished,
leaving Da'an and Zo'or alone in the chamber. Both Taelons regarded each
other with open suspicion and palpable tension. Finally, Zo'or arrogantly
turned his face away from Da'an's, no longer
meeting the others questioning gaze. Smiling
smugly and with total self assurance, Zo'or stalked away, leaving Da'an
alone to meditate and contemplate the recent events…
************************************************************************************************
Jonathan Doors stood in the
doorway to his underground office, arms defiantly crossed and vehemently
hissing, "I had nothing to do with it, Lili."
Lili Denner Marquette's mouth
hung open, eyes wide with surprise and disbelief. "Jonathan, you
cannot honestly expect me to believe that! The evidence is absolute!
No one else could've afforded to front an operation this size." She
threw her arms up in exasperation and turned away, fully intending to stalk
off when she slammed directly into the arms of Auger.
"Ooh, Lili, I didn't know that you cared…" he
intoned, smiling smugly and
pulling her more tightly to himself. Lili
flushed in fury, drawing her arm
back to punch his lights out, then stopped shouting,
"I give up! You're ALL
impossible!" With that, she pulled free
and stormed out of the building.
Auger chuckled and approached Doors. "Here's
the information that you
asked me to find. I hope it's what you
wanted."
Doors scanned the file, nodding in grim satisfaction.
"Auger, this is the
best put up job I've ever seen. Some one
definitely wanted us to take the
fall on this one."
Auger arched an ebony eyebrow,
sarcasm dripping from every word, "Oh yes,
only because it failed, though. You were
more than ready to take all of the
credit if it worked, weren't you?"
Doors glared acidly at Auger,
his eyes burning into the Jamaican's with a
zealot's intensity. "This is war, Auger,
and don't you forget it. All's
fair, and all that…"
The lithe Jamaican smiled
and bowed his head slightly, totally unphased by
the others venom. "As long as you're paying,
Doors, I agree with whatever
you say", and walked away.
Doors watched him leave, a
half smile forming in one remote corner of his
mouth. He noticed movement out of the corner
of his eye and turned to see
William Boone stalking towards him. He
took a deep breath and forcefully
exhaled thinking, ~This is going to be a long
day…~
*******************************************************************************************
James Christian stood in the
underground cavern, legs akimbo, arms crossed,
quietly observing the activity around him as
the crews labored to clear the
tunnel and dismantle the portal for easier removal.
Quietly he shook his
head, the thought looping and swirling through
his mind that the Resistance
did all of this to fellow humans in the name
of a humanity that didn't ask
to be spoken for. ~Ra'el, is there hope
at all for us?~
Quietly, the thought returned,
~For the sake of us all, I pray there is…~
***********************************THE END************************************
James LeMaire, aka sithspit
Commander James Christian, Chief of Security
to Da'an
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: August 11
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set just after "Secrets Revealed"
Place: Washington DC, Dr. Christians quarters
Title: Feelings and Plans
Personal Journal, (Handwritten and encrypted) Dr. Jennifer Christian
****************************************************************************
I have barely been able to rest since I arrived
in Washington. Now that the virus incident
is over, I struggle with the upcoming events that will forever
change our destiny. How can I describe how I feel? My entire
world is about to totally turn upside down.
The man that I love and have chosen to share
my life with is about to become something new. It is scary.
Beyond the initial stress of basic implantation hazards,
I also am concerned about personality changes
if Ra'el's "upgrade" doesn’t' work. I dread the possibilities
if the wretched MI were to actually be functional…Ra'el assures
me that James' CVI should not be troublesome, though. I think
that if things don't work out right, I will
apply to the Scientific Caste as a researcher
and helper on the Taelon home ship. If I have a complete CVI, I
won't be nearly as bothered by the effects of an
MI on my marriage….
Who knows? If certain parties find out
about my help in the hybrid studies, I will
be bound for one anyway. No human without an implant was supposed
to work on the studies…but at that time, Ra'el
did not feel it was safe for me to have a
CVI. Things are different now…
I am striving to maintain calm, although it is
hard. This new "bond" that James and
I have formed with Ra'el since his "gift" to us is much, much stronger
than anything I have ever experienced. I can sense both James and
Ra'el now, and even some other Taelons at times!
Ra'el says that I must be cautious, though.
Some in the Synod would not understand or approve of humans
in the Commonality. We are still uncertain as to what affect the
CVI will have on these "gifts". If it
strengthens them, as we suspect, it may become
difficult to mask James' growing presence in the Commonality. That
is why we are "bonding" with Ra'el. The closer
we get to him, the more we can project the
image of Taelon thoughts to the Commonality. Rather like a
cloaking device, I think. Let Ra'el's presence
mask our own. It may very well save
our lives if we are discovered before "the plan" comes to fruition.
If "the plan" doesn't work…well, I don't even want to begin to think
about the consequences.
Somehow, I find that just writing all these things
down helps calm my heart. I must walk such
a fine line these days, although I delight in the things I'm
learning. I do wonder, though, if "the plan", Ma'el's plan, will
work….I guess only time will tell.
****************************************************************************
-------------END--------------
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level Five
Date: August 11, 1998
Author: Krystina Stressman
Place: Beach at Sunset
Time: Present, after Secrets Revealed
Subject: Contemplations
Tara sat and watched the shore
as the sun set to the West behind her, and sighed.
So much had happened in the last few days that she wasn't quite sure
what she should be feeling. She had done some very
important work for the Taelons and her fellow
Implants, and had almost died for it. And here she was,
alive . . . But she had come so close to death . . . She had vauge
memories of fear as her body had been infected .
. . But as time had gone on, the fear had
died away and because of that it had no hold on her. She no
longer feared death.
She stared at the tide with
her bright green eyes as the waters grew darker with
the coming night, and yet, she didn't feel like the same person
anymore. She still wondered about the real reason
why Ta'al had sent her away, and she still
wanted, with all her heart to return to him. But she wasn't
as afraid of this new place anymore. Or her new life in it. If she
could face death and be victorious, then she could
face most of life's
challenges without a problem. She smiled to herself
and tossed a stone into the waves and stood.
She had no idea what life would have instore for her, but
she was willing to give this new life a try. What was the worst that
could happen, she wondered, right?
DATE:12 August 1998
AUTHOR: Kittykat
PLACE: Liberation HQ
TIME: After "Secrets Revealed"
SUBJECT: Preventative Measures
Kitty watched in releif
as the news proclaimed that the CVI specialists
had found a cure for the CVI-virus. One that made her current
homemade version a bit obsolete, but was welcome nonetheless. Still...
she had a gut feeling that her combination ACVI-Orcin Man was still
very important, at the very least in the way of preventing another
disaster such as the one that was very narrowly averted.
Humming softly to herself,
she got into her hotmail and cmposed a message
to her "mysterious employer", making carefully sure that she sent
the blueprints for her new little toy. Doors was rich and to haggle
with Taelons was an impossibility, so it looked as
though Kitty was going to have to haggle a
just compensation from the billionare.
~Well, that was fun
while it lasted... I just hope nothing else pops
up to ruin my day...~
FIN
Kittykat, aka Kitty Jenson
Computer Hacker, level one
US Taelon Division
Date: August 13
Author: Goddenport
Place: Companion HQ, Maia's room
Time: Present, after "Precautionary Measures"
Title: Developing Friendships
"Well, Sandoval, how was this
experience for you?" I asked.
"You mean with the virus?"
"Yes." I smiled. "I certainly
saw a different side of you in that quarantine
chamber we shared."
Sandoval gave me a look. "I'm
not normally like that. It's just that the influence
of the virus caused me to..."
"Go crazy?"
The attache managed an embarassed
smile. "Yes, I suppose that was it."
Sandoval and I were sharing
my room of the Companion embassy, since Dr. Belman
and Dr. Schultz were still checking to make sure his room was free of
the virus. I tried to talk Sandoval into going with
me to my own apartment,but he
couldn't stand the thought of being away from Da'an at any time. I admire
his dedication to the North American Companion. Since
we couldn't leave, I decided to keep him in
my room, since it had already been tested and cleared of
traces of the virus.
"Maia," Sandoval asked, "how
did you end up getting the virus?"
"I had met with you after
you were already exposed."
"Why?"
I blushed slightly. "Well,
I'm not perfect."
"According to what Boone told
me about your past accomplishments, you seem to
be quite an outstanding agent, Miss Ballenger."
"Haven't had a chance to slip
up yet."
He leaned against his pillow.
"We finally have a chance to relax."
"And develop a friendship,"
I added with a smile. "Until the next mission."
*****************************
Date: August 14
Author: Esti
Place: Rosemary Schultz's place
Time: Present, sometime after "The Right Choice"
Title: The Sweet Taste of Home
From the Journals of Rosemary Schultz:
I'm so glad that it seems to be over. And this
time it really seems to be over.
All of our Implants are recovering. Jen had just
reimplanted Tara Carmichael when I came in,
so I didn't have to do any of them. I wish I'd come
in earlier- Jen really was tired after she finished up her shift. I
just sent Lt. Beckett back to her native Ireland,
to recuperate after her illness, for she was
in some ways affected more severely than the rest of them.
Physical wounds heal, but sometimes we can't do much with the wounds
of the mind. I've recommended Tara Carmichael
take a short vacation as well before she takes
up her post of Head of Security to Zo'or.
I remember her and Beckett, and am glad that
the others only got sick.
Sometimes I can't believe what people do to each
other. Call me naive, but somehow I always
expect the best of people, unless it's impossible. It's harder
and harder every day to understand why my sister, my parents, and
the rest of my family seem to believe in Doors' cause.
Speaking of my family, I'm going to take a vacation
too. I'm going to fly up to New York and use
the recently-recovered portal to get to Los Angeles. Sis
won't be exactly happy with me using the portal (like everthing else
from the Companions, it's evil), but she'll have
to survive. I'm not in the mood to deal with
her Liberation nonsense. It'll be good to be with my family
again, no matter what they believe, and maybe she'll tell me exactly
why she was running around with that wig.
Meanwhile, I guess I'll enjoy that horehound
candy that she sent me. It's my favorite brand,
and I haven't found it in years. It will hold me, remind me
of home, until I have a chance to go back.
--
Dr. Rosemary Schultz
Implant Specialist, level 20
(Esti: smccrory@mindspring.com)
Date: August 15, 1998
Author: James LeMaire
Place: City of Ponchatoula, 30 miles north of
New Orleans
Time: One week after “Secrets Revealed”
Subject: “A Mother’s Love...”
“I
don’t like it!”
Samantha
Baptiste slammed the pot of gumbo down on the stovetop, angrily
and relentlessly stirring the pot of spicy food as
she argued with her son. She pulled the spoon
out of the dark liquid and sipped the juices from it, then
spun on her son, pointing the spoon accusingly. “If your father were
still alive...” she began.
“He
would not interfere or make my decisions for me, nor would he try to
influence them,” James hotly finished. He pressed
his lips together and cast his eyes about
the immaculate kitchen, inhaled deeply, and pressed on. “Mother,
I love you very much. What’s more, I respect you. But I am
an adult that has been through the most difficult
physical training in the world; I’ve been
through the SI War and survived, all the while staying true to
my faith and God. I’m married. I’m even responsible now.”
Samantha
rolled her eyes and sarcastically retorted, “Thank od for small
favors!” Placing the spoon down on the stove,
she turned back to it, setting her hands on
either side of the stovetop and bowing her head in frustration.
“James, I just think that letting some alien creature, no matter
how nice they’ve been or how much good they’ve done, stick a needle
into your brain and inject some ‘bug’ from their
homeworld into your gray matter was stupid.
How could you? If and when you and Jennifer ever have
children, what effect will it have on them?”
James rolled
his eyes, chest tight from the needle his mother had just jabbed
him with. He counted to ten, the CVI drawing the time out into
minutes as he attempted to deal with the memories
and emotions associated with his mother’s
words. Looking about the kitchen, he saw the decorative copper
cake molds hung on their brass hooks, mute sentinels from the numerous
kitchens that they’ve hung in over the years. He saw the black and
white motif of the kitchen, sharply contrasting the
flooring, cabinets, and walls. “Just
like her,” James wryly thought, “and just like she and I.”
He came back from his CVI
daydream and saw his mother standing there, white faced
and angry, hands shaking in impotent rage. “You were lost in that
‘thing’, weren’t you? You weren’t even listening
to me!” She turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen, hot
tears streaming down her face.
“Mom,
wait! Mom, come back!” James started after her retreating form and
stopped in surprise as she whirled on him in a fury,
eyes burning with hurt, rage, and loathing.
“’Come back’ or what?” she
spat. “Come back or you’ll blast me with that infernal
thing attached to your arm?” She turned away, arms crossed over
her chest and small form heaving with racking sobs.
~She looks so frail,~ James
thought, eyes taking in the aging woman before him,
as though for the first time realizing that she wasn’t as young as he
perceived her. He tried to put his arms around
her but she recoiled, visibly repulsed by
the skryll on his arm. Hastily, she pulled away, eyes narrowed
with disgust, openly despising the alien creature.
“Don’t touch me with that thing!”
she hissed. “In fact, get out! I don’t even
know if you ARE my son. MY son would at least listen to me.”
Tears ran down her face, saline rivers of
pain and confusion that irrigated her soul's
wounds. She turned back to him, agony visible on her face as she
saw him turn to walk away, head hung low.
Her heart ached as she saw the man that was
once her little boy struggling with sorrow of his own. A rending,
tearing sensation ripped through her chest.
She reached for him, hesitantly
at first, then purposefully placing her delicate,
and fragile hand on his arm.
At her touch, he broke.
Great racking sobs heaved his muscular frame as he folded
her small body into his arms. She too gave in to her emotions and
cried with him, cleansing, burning tears that carried
away the bitterness, anger, and regrets.
They held each other for long minutes, mother and son again,
the slights falling away into the distant past as both he and she
remembered; remembered and held on to their shared
past and the things they had both endured
and enjoyed. She pulled away, gently this time, and looked
up into his face, tears still flowing freely but
framing a smile now.
“You always were more like
me than your sister,” she giggled, nose running and
eyes puffy from the emotional hurricane she had just experienced.
She pulled a tissue from the box on the mantle
and noisily blew her nose. With a big,
heaving sigh, she continued, “In fact, I think that’s one reason you
and I either get along so well or clash like rams
on a mountain.”
He laughed, his own visage
wet with tears. Wiping his eyes, he looked at her
with a sidelong glance, just the way he did in grade school when he
wished to ask something and wasn’t sure of how she
would answer. “Do you still love me?”
he asked, his voice quiet and still.
“Oh, of course I do,” she
snorted, acting amazed that he could even ask such a
thing. “I brought you into this world and some alien bug and a ‘thing’
won’t stop that.” She looked down at the skryll
and shuddered. “But that doesn’t mean
that I’m going to like it.”
Relief flooded his face.
The lines of worry and concern were gone now, totally
washed away by the healing water of forgiveness. He laughed,
picking her up and spinning her around the room,
much to her chagrin.
“Put me down you big goofanse,”
she shrilled, calling him the Cajun slang for
a fool. “That thing might go off or something!”
Setting her down, James laughed.
“Mako? No, she won’t fire unless I tell her
to or if she senses that I feel threatened. You’re perfectly safe.”
Brows raised in surprise,
she inquired incredulously, “You have a NAME for that
thing?”
“Oh yes! Mako is a living
being, you know. She even has intelligence of a sort.
I can sense what she is thinking and she can sense my feelings and
emotional state as well.” He absently stroked
the skryll, the node on its carapace glowing
with pleasure. “Mako is probably one of the most passive of
all of the skrylls. If you stroke her, she’ll love you forever.”
Samantha Baptiste looked at
her son as though he had lost his mind. “Take it
easy son, one thing at a time.” She walked back to the kitchen and
opened one of her numerous cabinet doors. She
pulled a mason jar from the cabinet and filled
it with Artesian well water from her kitchen faucet, taking
a long pull before she continued, “Besides, I’ve had enough emotional
excitement for one day, don’t you think?”
James Christian slid up to
his mother’s side and placed his left arm around her
shoulders, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Mom, I don’t think there’s
anything that you can’t handle.”
Samantha Baptiste looked down
at the glowing skryll on her son’s right forearm
and spoke, “Son, I hope you’re right. Now, go get your wife out of
the computer room. The gumbo’s getting cold.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And son?”
“Ma’am?”
“I love you.”
James Christian smiled.
“I know mom. I love you, too.”
James LeMaire, a.k.a. sithspit@usa.net
Cmdr. James Christian
US Taelon Division, Level One
Date: August 17, 1998
Author: Rilei
Time: Set just after "The Right Choice"
Place: Macon, Georgia
Title: Friendship and Greek Hotdogs
Grace watched in delight as her friends
took bites out of what she already knew to
be the best chili dogs on the face of the Earth. After watching
them she took a bite out of her own and waited.
She had invited Ken Grayson, Will
Boone, and Lili Marquette to join her for
lunch in her hometown of Macon, Georgia to experience one of the
pleasures of being a native-- the Nu-Way Hotdogs
of Cotton Avenue. Boone swallowed his first
and looked at her.
"I have *never* in my life tasted
such wonderful hotdog chili." he said.
"There isn't any that exist anywhere
else in the world. When I lived in Toronto
with my husband we tried looking but to no avail. Those Canadians
just couldn't touch this." she said pointing to her hotdog.
After lunch (in which both implants
ate a numerous amount of the hotdogs) the
four walked around historically Macon with Grace acting as their
guide. She loved showing off her hometown. Suddenly her global
bleeped and sighed with annoyance.
"Excuse me please."
~This had better not be Sandoval!~
she thought with irritation.
She opened the global and her mother's
face was on the screen.
"Something wrong, Mom?" she asked.
Rachel Wong Collins shook her head
no.
"I just heard about a virus that
was going among the Companion implants. Are
you okay, honey?" she asked.
"Yeah....in fact all the implants
are, Mom. Listen I'm with some friends and
if they don't object we're going to come and visit you for awhile."
Grace looked back to her friends as she said this and the
indicated that they wouldn't mind. "We'll be
there shortly, Mom. I love you."
"I love you, honey. See you in a
little while...."
DATE:17 August
AUTHOR: Kittykat
PLACE: Jenson residence, Rising Sun MD
TIME: present day
SUBJECT: Home...
Kitty looked at the somewhat
broody victorian house nervously. It had been
years since she'd last visited her mother, ever since her parents
divorced a rift formed between the two that only got deeper with
time. Taking a deep breath and re-adjusting the shoulder
strap of her bag, Kitty ascended the short
flight of steps to the creaky wooden porch,
with it's peeling maroon paint and potted plants that were starting
to grow into the wood itself.
With one delicate, thin
finger, well suited for her line of work, Kitty
rang the doorbell, listening to it echo through the high airy ceilings
of the house. Muffled footsteps could also be discerned within,
and the door promptly opened on a graying woman just
starting into her fifties, with the same sparkling
blue eyes as Kitty had.
"So, the social leech
decided to visit her poor old mother," the older
woman said sarcastically, although she let her daughter into the
kitchen. Kitty frowned, chewing on the inside of
her cheek slightly.
"I'm not a leech, Mom.
I'm a computer specialist," Kitty corrected, sitting
down in one of the chairs around the table.
"Oh, so people who steal
from honest folks just trying to get ahead in
the world and poking their noses where they don't belong are considered
specialists nowadays?"
"Mom, those honest folks
you mentioned are usually caught in the process
of embezzeling thousands from their workplaces. I just siphon from
the ill-earned profits, that's all. As for nose poking, if I were a
CIA agent you wouldn't be complaining," Kitty pointed
out as her mother sat as well, regarding her
sole child with a hawk-like stare that used to make
her squirm when she was younger.
"If you were CIA you
couldn't tell me anything 'cause it'd be classified,"
the elder Jenson said dryly. "So tell me, Miss Computer Specialist,
what brings you to the middle of nowhere with absolutely not a
sliver of tech?"
"I need a vacation.
There was a big crisis in Washington that I had to
attend to. That and I wanted to see how you were doing."
"Just what DO you do
with that nose-pokin' anyway? Ya can't sell the
info 'cause you'd have to admit how ya got it."
"Mom, someone has to
hire you to do computer espionage," Kitty explained,
wondering where her mother was taking the conversation. She'd never
shown much of an interest in her daughter's chosen line of work
before..
"Ah. So, who would hire
my upstart young leech of a daughter who has
an ego the size of Kentucky?" her mother said with a grin at her
child's frown.
"That would be violating
the anonymynity agreement. And you wouldn't
beleive me if I told you."
"So, my kid has morals
after all!" Kitty's mother chuckled, a deep, rich
laugh only brought about by years of doing the same at lighter tones.
"A sort of honor among theives?"
Kitty was blushing,
she couldn't help it. Her mom always culd make her
blush at the slightest little thing.
"Don't pop now, dear.
Ah, but it's good to have you home again!"
Kittykat, aka Kitty Jenson
Computer Hacker, Level Two
US Taelon Division
kahiki@hotmail.com
Date: August 19, 1998
Author: Krystina Stressman
Place: Athens, Greece
Time: Present, set just after "The Sweet Taste
of Home"
Subject: Hello, Good-Bye
As Tara approached the Taelon
Embassy in Athens, where she had served Ta'alfor three wonderful years,
she had a sense of sadness. She missed her life hereso much . . . Though
she was fully recovered, Dr. Schultz suggested that shetake a few days
off. Probably to contemplate her life and the fact that she had
come so close to death. Whatever the reason,
she was glad of the time. She wasnot thrilled with working for Zo'or and
though she managed to hide this fact,she took time off from work whenever
there was a reason.
As she entered, she could
sense Ryan MacLeod, her assistant and pilot,watching her with a curious
stare. She chose to ignore it. As she walked thefamiliar hallways, she
wanted nothing more than to return to her previousposition . . . but she
knew it wasn't possibly. Quickly, she was announced. Sheentered Ta'al chamber,
with Ryan close behind.
Ta'al was sitting in his chair.
Tara gave him the Taelon salute and a smileappeared on his face. He rose
from the chair and opened his arms to her.
"You greet me in my custom,
let me greet you in your's," he said.
She went to him and they embraced
warmly.
"I've missed you!" she said,
with a smile.
"And I have missed you, Tara,"
Ta'al replied. "I was apprised of thesituation in North America, and the
excellent work you did . . . I was alsotold, however, that you almost passed
into the Great Void."
"That's very true . . . If
it hadn't been for Dr. Schultz and Dr.Christian, I would be dead," she
explained.
Suddenly, they both realized
that Ryan was there and turned toward him.
"I'm sorry . . . Let me introduce
my pilot, Captain Ryan MacLeod," Tara said.
"So you have brought her here?"
he asked.
"She gave me the orders and
I flew," he smiled, trying to be light about itall.
"I thank you . . ."
Ryan was startled. He was
a pilot. It was his job to help out Tara Carmichael and take her where
she needed, or wanted to go. But he could tell by looking at Tara and the
Taelon, that the closeness he had heard about betweenthe two of them was
very much the truth.
As time wore on, Tara spent
her time with Ta'al, except for the last day, when she went to one of the
ruins in Attica. The Sanctuary of Poseidon. Not far away was another temple.
That one was to Athena. Tara loved this particular place, because the beauty
was astounding. The ruins were located on a cliff overlooking the sea.
It was tranquil. As she sat down near the cliff to stare out at the sea,
as the sun warmed her sad heart, she was lost in thought. Her mind kept
taking her back to Dr. Christian and what this woman had done for her.
But was she someone Tara could count on? Someone she could trust? She didn't
know and she couldn't take the chance of being wrong. Maybe, in time, she
would know the answer. On her return, she would be sure to speak to Will
and see what he thought about the good doctor.
Ryan watched her from close
by and was drawn to her countenance. Not only was Tara a striking individual,
but there was something about her spirit that made her unlike other Implants.
She had a mind of her own, filled with her own thoughts. She had her own
wants and needs without every single move being made to serve the Taelons.
Something in him stirred. He was beginning to like his boss. Something
he hadn't expected.
As they readied themselves
to return to New York, with a stop in Washington D.C. first, they went
back to the Taelon Embassy to say their good-byes to Ta'al. Tara told Ta'al
all about the visit to the Sanctuary and how much she missed Greece
and him. He smiled.
"I have missed you greatly
also," Ta'al replied. "There is a part of me that does not wish you to
leave . . . but you must . . ."
"I know . . ." Tara replied.
Ta'al looked deep into Tara's
soul with his blue eyes, and then he approached Ryan.
He leaned into Ryan's ear
and whispered, so that Tara would not hear. "Please take care of her, my
friend. I am worried for her safety . . ."
Ryan's aqua eyes filled with
sincerity. "I will," he replied, "You can count on that . . ." Beginning
to get a bit uncomfortable with the intensity, he took a step back. "You
know what, Tara, I'm gonna get the shuttle ready. I'll meet you there .
. ."
"Very well," she replied,
as she watched him leave. "What did you tell him?" she asked.
"To do his job well," Ta'al
replied.
Tara looked a bit skeptical,
but smiled nonetheless. "It's almost time for me to leave."
"Before you do, let us join
one last time," he said, holding his palm up for her.
Her smile grew. "Of course,"
she replied.
As their palms touched, every
feeling was passed between them, and tears came to Tara's eyes. They should
be together . . . They were family . . . But that wasn't to be. She felt
his worry about her close brush with death and her current position working
for Zo'or. He had hoped to place her with a position under Da'an . . .
But it was not to be. As contact broke, a single tear fell from Tara's
eyes. Ta'al gently wiped it away.
"I want to come back home,"
Tara said.
"I know . . ." he replied.
"But it is an impossible situation . . ."
They embraced tenderly, neither
one wanting to say good-bye.
As Tara entered the shuttle, she wore dark sunglasses. Without asking, Ryan knew why. She was crying and didn't want anyone to see her red, swollen eyes. Implants didn't cry . . . He wanted to go back to her, talk to her, comfort her . . . But feeling the moment wasn't right, he started up the shuttle and they took off. But Ta'al's words echoed through his mind . . .
"Please
take care of her, my friend. I am worried for her safety . . ."
Date: August 19
Author: Jen LeMaire
Time: Present, set after "A Mother's Love"
Place: Washington DC
Title: Motivations of a Companion Researcher
Rummaging through the multitude
of boxes on the floor, Dr. Jennifer Christian
found what she'd been looking for. Holding it up to the light,
Jennifer peered into the framed photograph and studied
the face of her father. He had been
such a noble man, very honest and loving. His family meant
the world to him. He was the best father anyone could have asked for.
At least until he got sick. The disease began
slowly enough. A few personality changes
here, a memory lapse there. Then the day came when the sheriff's
office called--they had found him wandering in the supermarket and
he couldn't find his way out the front door.
It began progressing at a fairly steady pace
after that. Until what was once a noble knight of honor was
reduced to a groveling husk of a human that did not even know how to use
the toilet. There is something so unnatural
about having to change your father's dirty
diapers….
Shaking her head, as if to
remove some unseen affliction, Dr. Christian carefully
placed the photo on the shelf in her new living room. Once her
husband had been implanted under Ra'el's careful
hands, they had located a house nestled in-between
the Taelon Embassy and the Medical & Research Facility.
It was a quaint house with a screened porch that reminded them both
of home, and it was an easy commute for both members of the family.
This was the first long-distance move that Jennifer
had ever had to make, and it was a little
unsettling for her to be in such unfamiliar surroundings.
But…she had James and Ra'el, so at least her "family" was here.
Staring at the chrono readout,
Jennifer smiled as she realized that it was almost
time to go to work. She was hoping that with the larger research
facilities in DC the team could make more progress
on the development of the CVI's and the various
uses it's interface could have for mankind. With a bittersweet
flavor Jennifer thought to herself, ~People just have no idea
how many afflictions a CVI could cure.~ ~Why
are so many people so suspicious of new technology?~ she wondered.
She realized that the general population could
never find out about the early work that had
been done to help people with various afflictions. Deaf
children had secretly received implants to regain
their hearing. Alzheimer's patients were given
a combination micro-implant and Taelon microbe
to reverse the effects of the disease. People with brain damage
were given micro-implants to restore memory and function
that had been lost. Much good was done.
Sighing deeply, Jennifer dropped down heavily into a chair
as she contemplated these thoughts. Extremist groups claimed that
these things were done to further the Taelon's
supposed "agenda" on Earth. They could not
believe that anyone would actually want to help mankind better
itself. Although, honestly, Zo'or and his colleagues DID give the
Companions a bad reputation with all of their
personal abuses of humanity. Zo'or needed
to be stopped before he gained more support than he already had.
~But~ Jennifer wondered, ~was mankind the one to stop him?~
That question floated through
her mind as she quietly went through the house to
gather her things for work. The response that echoed was the most
telling of all ~Who indeed would stop Zo'or?~ *Someone*
in the Commonality replied.
-------------END--------------
Jen LeMaire
Dr. Jennifer Christian, CVI Specialist
US Taelon Division, Level Eight
