[The entire scene played strangely with no sound. It was almost grainy, a single line typing across the screen: "relay image astg17-sigma, target located". The satellite where the camera eye lazily turned swung in an arc around the floating blue planet beneath it.]
Looking up at the image of a young girl walking down a shaded California street, the security guard did a double take. That wasn't the usual fare for the bank of monitors along the wall of the control room of the Langley comm-sat station, but Hank Ross had learned that you didn't mess with *anything* that went on here. Look and then forget, that was the rule to a prosperous career with the Company, or better yet, don't bother to look at all.
As he turned away from his console the image disappeared, reappearing moments later on a tiny screen in a room filled with mainframe systems, all whirring at double time. Flickering out of existence the image was replaced by an odd command sequence: "Omega-S....save comm-sat file....begin program run..."
Buffy looked at the computer screen before her and scrunched up her nose. She was about to turn it off when Willow came into the library followed by Oz. They both seemed engrossed in each other, but as soon as they sensed Buffy's presence they both gave her a grin in greeting. She was oblivious that they had even entered, her entire attention still fixed on the screen.
"Still trying to finish your assignment for Ms. Calendar?" asked Willow as she sat down next to her friend. Buffy seemed shocked to hear her voice, then focused on Willow as she turned away from the computer.
"What? Oh, Willow, hey. Hey Oz. No, I...well, something a lot weirder than that I think."
"Weird? On the Hellmouth? You have to be kidding me!" joked Oz as he gave Willow a playful grin.
"I don't know," said Willow returning his grin, "Buffy doing her computer homework would be pretty weird in itself."
Buffy rolled her eyes, "Ha, ha, ha...you're a regular Julia Louis-Dreyfuss Will. But I'm serious, check this out." Willow moved over and looked over Buffy's shoulder.
"Yeah, well it's email. So?"
"So...read it. It creeps me right out." Willow read the message:
Mouth to mouth, raining heaven's blows
Hand on heart, tic tac toe
Under the stars, naked as we flow
Cheek to cheek, the bittersweet
Commit your crime in your deadly time
It's too divine, I want to bend
I want this bliss, but something says I must resist.
--the messenger
"Huh, those are lyrics from Siouxsie & the Banshees," noted Oz from where he peered from over Willow's shoulder. He gave a sheepish grin as Buffy and Willow looked at him, "Um, sorry...that wasn't private was it?"
Buffy shook her head, "No, don't worry about it Oz. I just don't know who it's from. It kind of creeps me out that someone I don't know is sending me messages over the internet. I mean...how did he get my address?"
"Well, it's not really that hard Buffy, but I can probably find out who sent it."
"Alright...hacker-chick to the rescue!" said Buffy with a smile. "It's not even that one that's so bad....read the next one." They did:
or of me? Someday you'll know that I thrill for you with electric love and our
blood will make us one.
--the messenger
"Yeah...that's uh...definitely stalker-like," noted Oz with a nod of his head.
"Uh huh...this I do not need," sighed Buffy in return. She gave up her place as Willow sat down in front of the terminal. "I hate to beg favours and bail," she said, "but I don't have a first period spare like some people and I want to be on best behaviour...this is my long weekend to go to LA with my mom. Bonding must be done...not to mention some serious shopping. I'll see you guys later...and thanks Will." Willow nodded and waved to her friend as she left the library.
"I wonder what kind of whacko is sending this stuff?" asked Oz.
"Around here," replied Willow, her eyes wide, "I don't think I want to know."
Oz nodded, "Good point."
Fire was crashing around him. A city was burning and he was running through the streets in search of...something. He saw friends and enemies engaged in mortal battles all around him. Men with whom he had lived and bled for ten years. Now the city was burning around him, the great towers being reduced to ash. The cries of the wounded and dying rang in his ears. Men called out to him, begging for aid...or a quick death; but his name sounded strange in his own ears. He had to remember...it was so close. His name was....."Alexander!"
"Huh?!" said the boy as he bolted up in bed, trying to clear his groggy eyes.
"You'll be late again," said his mother, a look of chagrin on her face as she stood over his bed, arms akimbo, "now you know that I have to leave for work in a few minutes, so if you want a ride to school you'd better get a move on!"
Xander looked around groggily, his room slowly coming into focus, "Mom?"
His mother shook her head, "Last time I checked, now what'll it be?"
Taking a deep breath Xander shook his own head before looking up at his mother, "Um...it's ok, ma...I'll walk today."
"Well, will wonders never cease?" Mrs. Harris intoned as she turned towards the door and waded through the mess in her son's room. "Well don't be late again, I don't want another call from Principal Snyder."
"Yeah, yeah," said Xander as he slowly swung out of bed, "I'm up, see?" His mother's final comments were lost to him as she moved on down the hallway. Resting his head in his hands Xander sighed, "Man...what a dream."
Henry Reford walked into the computer lab of the Miskatonic University in London and moved to the bank of computers he had been working on until all hours the previous night...or rather that morning. Seeing his supervisor, he gave a nod and sipped some more of his tepid coffee. "Ah, Reford there you are...I was going to ask you when in the world you were going to start your program?"
Henry sighed, "I started last week, sir. I started an AI transcript simulation right here." Sitting down at his station Henry began to type onto the keyboard as he gained access to the local network...wait a second, the local network wasn't supposed to be accessable on this unit, he thought.
"Hmmm?" querried his supervisor, rubbing the grey mass of his beard and looking over his bifocals at the screen. "But I thought you were working on a simulation of diabolism on the Fatal Query 0.8 program..."
Henry cut off his supervisor, "Where's the secure network?! This bank of computers was supposed to be a self-contained system..no outside access."
"Indeed, and you can't run a Fatal Query 0.8, or any of the earlier versions for that matter, on the main system, why it would be..."
"My God! but this is the computer I did it all on! It *was* a secure network, I've been working for over a week now. By this time the program should have reached critical synthesis! Someone's opened the system to the main lines."
Prof. Kalway sighed, "Now my boy, you know that's impossible. The failsafes on our system would have purged an anauthorized global AI simulation before it even reached the primary stage. Now, if you need extra time just say so...don't try and make up a lot of hodge-podge mallarcky to get it."
"But," suddenly Henry blanched as he looked down on the file he had been working on the night before, "uh, I mean...yes, of course professor. Terribly sorry. My mistake....of course it must have been on another system. But, um, I will need that extra time if it's alright with you...I just, uh, remembered some extra field work I need to do."
His professor just nodded muttering something about grad students as he shuffled out of the lab, "Yes, yes my lad...just try and have it finished *before* next term. I'm only visiting the London campus this term after all, I fly back to the main Canadian campus in a few weeks." Henry didn't answer, he just stared at the file and started to sweat as he reached for the phone.
"Yes, ah..operator? Please connect me to Sunnydale California. Yes, thank you." As he waited Gilbert opened the file and looked at the heading on the first page:
Master profile, Angelus 1757-1998, a concise history by Rupert Giles.
- Watcher file 4459a.
Giles answered the phone on the third ring, "H-Hello?" There was silence for a moment and then the voice on the other end burst out in an almost panicked jumble of words.
"Rupert? Is that you? I need to discuss, that is your....um..."
"Yes, yes it is who is....Henry? Why, my boy, how are you? Are your studies at the Miskatonic going well? Are you still working with Dr. Kalway? I'd like you to ask him...."
"I'm sorry Uncle Rupert, but I don't have time for this, something's happened. Something very bad."
The way his nephew had said that last, almost in controlled hysteria, immediately put Giles on edge. Henry was not the type of young man given to unjustified fits of paranoia or panic. "O-of course...what's wrong?" Giles removed his glasses and put down the cup of tea he had in his hand as Henry went on.
"I...I can't talk openly over the phone. This line isn't secure...no line is secure anymore. Suffice it to say that you must be on the watch. I hope...I hope that I can see you soon some day. Good bye."
"But Henry...wait!" before Giles could even finish his sentence the phone line went dead. He hoped that Henry had hung up. Considering the Watcher call signal he had given him just before, Giles assumed that he had. Rubbing the bridge of his nose Giles sighed. Life just couldn't be easy for him, could it?
**** Xander walked to school slowly mulling things over in his head. It had been two weeks since Gareth the paladin had left, or died, or whatever and Xander had declared his love for Cordelia. Since then, of course, things had started to run hot and cold again. At first Cordy had seemed almost afraid to leave his side, to the point that she would even allow herself to be seen with him in public, holding hands no less! Then all of a sudden she had started acting strange, nervous and distracted, evading most of his calls.
Xander himself had wondered what he really thought about the situation. He had been smitten with Cordelia since they were children and developed his shell of acerbic wit and dislike over eleven years of systematic rebuffs from the "ice queen". Now he had her, or thought he did, and found his mind all over the place. He knew he had strong feelings for her...but what were they exactly, and what did she feel for him, really? Sometimes when he looked at it he was ready to chuck it all in the name of overactive, and vindictive, hormones. And now to top it all off he had been having strange dreams for the last week. Vivid, real dreams...and Cordy wasn't in a one of them, alas. Sighing deeply Xander turned around as he heard a small voice.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Xander looked at Cordelia as she watched him over the rim of her sunglasses from where she sat behind the wheel of her candy-apple red BMW. How had she pulled up without him hearing her? His next thought was how beautiful she looked today...heck, everyday. "Is that all they're worth?" he asked with a sarcastic lift of his eyebrow and curl of his lip.
Cordelia rolled her eyes, "I promised myself I wouldn't make a comment about your mental deficiencies...do you want a lift or not?"
"Are you sure you want to be seen with me?" asked Xander with a bitter edge that he hadn't meant to let creep into his voice. He also mentally slapped himself for the thrill of satisfaction he felt at seeing Cordy wince.
"I'll risk it," she said simply, looking up at the stoplight, "we don't have all day."
Nodding to himself Xander walked over to her car, what the hell?
Walking into the library, Cordelia and Xander stopped as they saw Willow and Oz hunched over the computer, intent on some project or other. They had hoped to be alone for a while...old habits die hard...and there was still some strange tension between the two couples that neither of them reallyunderstood, but it was too late now. "Uh, hi guys," put in Xander as he let his hand slip out of Cordelia's. She noticed and gave him a look, but didn't say anything. Oz piped up, "Heya, how's it going you two?" He raised his eyebrow in question as he obviously wondered which part of the roller coaster their relationship was on this week.
"Fine," said Cordy shortly as she stalked to the table and sat down. Xander just nodded and moved over more slowly.
"Yeah, things are peachy. What are you two up to?"
Willow looked at Xander then, "We're trying to figure out who's been sending Buffy stalker-email."
Xander put up his hands, "Hey...I'm innocent."
Cordy glanced at him, "You'd better be."
Before they could get into a lather over one of their arguments Willow put in, "Well, it couldn't be you...um, I mean *I* can't even crack the code this guy's using. I have no clue where he's sending it from."
"Are you saying I'm incapable of coming up with a cunning plan?" asked Xander, a look of mock pain coming across his face.
"Hello....welcome back to planet earth Blackadder, that's exactly what she's saying," huffed Cordy, a slight glimmer in her eye.
"Oh, touchy," said Xander, gripping his chest, "but what's the big deal with some email? Probably just some love-struck kid who doesn't know any better."
Cordy rolled her eyes at Xander, "Sounds like someone I know," she muttered. Willow was about to explain further when Giles burst into the library, books in disarray, his hair half-combed and his glasses askew on his face....all in all pretty normal for Giles.
"Where's Buffy?" he asked immediately as the Slayerettes turned around.
"Well, good morning to you too, sunshine," intoned Xander, "get too much of your daily caffeine fix? Don't tell me you switched from tea to coffee?"
Giles awarded him with one of his disapproving glares, "Good morning, where is Buffy?"
"That's much better," said Xander, looking around before glancing back at the librarian with a shrug, "we don't know."
Giles sighed, it was going to be a long day.
Henry strode through the doors leading out of the LA international airport. So far so good. He had used a friend's passport and credit card for the flight, so there was little chance that he had been tracked, but the fact that he had phoned Giles still troubled him. Sighing heavily, Henry decided there was little he could do about it now, so the best thing to do was to maintain a low profile and make his way to his uncle as quickly as possible. The trains and most other forms of public transportation would be being monitored, he was sure, and so he took that he assumed would be the least traceable, and of course most expensive, one that he could find. "Where to?" asked the cab driver as Henry jumped into the back seat, placing his bags next to him.
"Sunnydale...as quickly as you can, please."
Giles shook his head. "It's no good, she left early due to her last period spare and when I called her home there was no answer. I'll have to assume that she and her mother have already left. I can't believe the girl was so undisciplined?"
"Are you kidding?" said Xander with a grin, "She finally gets a whole weekend off, as per your permission before Mr. Watcher-guy, and you're surprised that she didn't check in with you?" Giles frowned at the boy's incredulous look, but he had to admit that he had a point. Unfortunately Buffy's holiday had apparently landed on a moment of crises...at least that's what he assumed from Henry's garbled phone call.
"Alright," he said, rubbing his temples, "so has anything, um, out of the ordinary happened recently?"
"What, around here?" quipped Xander.
Giles tried to ignore him and turned to Willow. "Gee, um, I don't know Giles. Nothing *supernatural*," she said.
Giles shook his head as Cordelia piped up, "Well, hey, like what about that weird email Buffy got?"
"I don't know Cordelia, that doesn't sound very, well, hellmouth-related to me, and anyway," she added in a low voice, "I don't think she wanted that getting around."
Giles was about to inquire into the nature of the trouble with 'that blasted machine' when a voice broke in from the library door, "Actually, I'd like to see that if you don't mind." They all turned to see who the voice belonged to, when Giles broke into a relieved grin.
"Henry! You made it."
"Yes, and none too soon I'd guess," the young man replied, a faint British accent hanging on his words. He was taller than average, a shock of coal black hair on his head and a loose-fitting sweater and casual slacks giving him a casual air. The young man was distinctly attractive, though in a very unorthodox way. His features had a slightly exotic tint which became clearer as he removed his glasses to rub his eyes in a very Giles-like fashion.
"And you would be?" asked Xander incredulously.
"Oh, terribly sorry," he replied, with a winning smile which caused both Cordelia and Willow's hearts to flip-flop for a beat, "I'm Henry Reford. Gile's nephew and, um..."
"And a Watcher," finished Giles for him.