As the sky started to lighten outside, Connor, who had been lying silently awake for the last couple of hours, decided that she had to see Cole's body for herself.

... I can't believe I really killed him... she thought, anguished. She looked over at CG, asleep in the chair next to her bed, slumped, arms folded across his chest.

Kaveman had gone out earlier, thinking that Connor had been asleep. She had seen him leave quietly. She sat up now as the door to her cabin slowly opened. Kaveman entered cautiously, not wanting to disturb them.

Seeing Connor awake, he came over to her, and, carefully avoiding bumping into CG, he sat down next to her on the bed.

"How do you feel?" he whispered.

Connor looked at him, grimacing. "Like I just splattered someone's guts all over the wall..." She groaned and covered her face with her hands. Kaveman put his hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her.

"Hey..." he said, quietly. "I went down to the infirmary... Cole's body isn't there..." Connor uncovered her face and looked at him, shocked.

"Huh??" she gasped.

Kaveman shushed her, indicating CG, who stirred a little in his chair. Connor complied, whispering, "Where is it??"

Kaveman shrugged his shoulders. He leaned toward her, conspiratorily.

"They don't know...sometime during the night, Cole's body simply vanished... One of the medics actually saw it happen! He said, one minute it was there, then it just rapidly faded and... Poof!"

He gestured with his hands, "Gone..."

Connor stared at him. She whispered, "Do you think he went back to the real world? You think he might be back home?"

She looked at him, hopeful, but Kaveman had no answers.

"I don't know..." he shrugged, "Maybe that's another way to get out of this....Game world... maybe if you die, you go back to the real world..."

"Yeah..." she muttered, "but do you go back alive, or... in pieces?..."

Kaveman grimaced too, having wondered the same thing. He shook his head, trying to scatter the thought. He sighed, heavily.

"Anyway..." he said quietly, patting Connor's leg through the covers. He got up and stretched. "Don't feel guilty... You did the only thing you could. I'd have done the same thing..."

Connor blinked, shocked at his nonchalance...

She shook her head, stubbornly, throwing the covers aside and getting up, stepping carefully around CG. Last night, Kaveman had been able to find a long tee shirt in the closet, which Connor was now wearing. Kaveman was still wearing the same pair of pants and shirt from yesterday. He noticed her shiver in the chill air, so he walked over to the closet and pulled out her robe, tossing it to her.

"You go ahead and shower up and get dressed." he said as she donned the robe, "I'm gonna see if I can get Sleeping Beauty, here..." he indicated CG, still sound asleep, "back to his room..."

Connor faced him, not sure she was really hearing this...

"Kaveman... Hello??... Reality check!!" she whispered harshly, shaking her head in disbelief. He looked at her, curiously.

"Yeah?" he asked, "What?..."

Connor was starting to feel just a little bit spooked.

His expression turned serious. Neither one spoke for a minute, looking each other in the eye. Finally, Kaveman walked over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders, reassuringly.

"Look," he said, "you and I both knew Cole was always a little too far off the deep end... I think eventually he would've gotten us all killed." Connor gave him a pained look, feeling ashamed at not being able to think of a reason to disagree.

" I... I know, but still..." she stammered, shrugging him away and taking a step back. "I mean, this isn't like killing a zombie in Doom or anything... I turned on one of us! He was a real person!"

Connor looked away, distractedly, not sure what to do.

"Hey..." Kaveman said, "Connor, the guy was sick... I mean, if he would've killed me, what do you think his twisted little mind would have wanted to do to you?? I haven't forgotten what he tried to do back in Doom... I never trusted him around you."

Connor scoffed at him. "Oh, come on, Kaveman... I could've taken him out in a minute! There's no way he could've forced me to do anything..." Kaveman shook his head.

"Oh, I don't know... I don't think he would've hesitated to shoot you if he thought it'd help."

Connor couldn't help feeling somewhat nauseated at the disturbing mental images that cropped up in her mind. She shuddered, forcing them off, glancing at him timidly.

"I still cause you a lot of trouble, don't I?" she muttered regretfully.

Kaveman smiled. "No, that's not the case here." he said. "You were looking out for me, that's all. Hell, if you weren't so damn trigger happy, I'd be dead right now!"

Connor smirked at that, feeling somewhat better. Kaveman took a deep breath and continued.

"Anyway... as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to think anymore about Cole... what's done is done. We've still gotta finish this game and see what happens next. That's all I'm gonna concentrate on..." He turned around and patted CG on the shoulder. "Come on, bro... time to get up..."

CG stirred grumpily. Kaveman glanced at Connor, who hadn't moved. "Go on," he said, motioning toward the washroom, "get ready and I'll stop by in a bit. We can grab some breakfast..."

Connor turned, heading for the shower. She stopped, looking over her shoulder.

"I'm sure glad I'm not your enemy..." she said, glancing back at Kaveman. He had resumed prodding CG as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever taken place last night, but he looked at her, admiringly.

"Hell, Connor... after seein' you really mad, ...so am I!" he said, grinning.

Breakfast was decidedly somber. Connor had no appetite, and despite Kaveman's prodding, she only could manage a couple of bites. After breakfast, Kaveman and Connor decided to study the mission specs up in Kaveman's quarters. CG was still asleep in his cabin. It looked like they were going to be spending some time in space, in transit to the planet Titania.

The only viable course was through a neutral zone known as Sector X. According to secured information, Andross's troops had been spotted deploying enemy vessels along that route, but Kaveman and Connor both agreed that the enemy was the least of their worries. Sector X was filled with obstacles and debris, just moving smoothly through would take up most of their concentration. CG came in halfway through their meeting, looking half-awake.

"What's up, guys?" he asked. "Connor, did you really frag Cole last night or was that some weird dream?"

Connor groaned at being reminded, and Kaveman, looking slightly horrified, quickly steered CG onto the topic of the upcoming mission.

During the rest of the day and most of the evening, CG, Connor and Kaveman trained on the Flight Sim, getting used to the different conditions they'd be flying under. In space, although their cockpits would be pressurized, they would still need to wear full life support gear, and in anti-gravity, the Arwings were more responsive, meaning a much lighter touch on manuevering.

Flying through the simulated obstacle course of Sector X, all three members of the team crashed and burned several times, slowly adjusting to their new circumstances.

"Shit!!..." CG exclaimed, spinning out of control after colliding with a rotating beam, "This is driving me nuts!!..."

Kaveman laughed, narrowly missing getting crunched by another one.

"I know what you mean!" he said.

Connor yelped, seeing an enemy pop out of seemingly nowhere, after shooting under a beam that crossed her path. "That's it!" she exclaimed, "We're gonna die out there..."

"Naw," Kaveman said, "we'll just keep working at it... we'll get it together. We've still got tomorrow to practice."

Connor sat back in her Sim, disgusted, watching herself spin out and explode for the um-teenth time. "Yeah..." she groaned. "GREAT..."

Later, after a late dinner, CG and Kaveman went down to the rec. room to unwind after their frustrating training sessions. Connor decided to stay in the Mess Hall, wanting some time alone to sit and collect her thoughts.

Much later, Kaveman came and sat down next to her. She was the only one left in the room, and most of the lights had been turned off as the staff had headed to bed.

"Hey," he said, "how about trying the Sims again?

Connor grimaced.

"You're kidding, right?" Kaveman shook his head.

"Nope. Every little bit helps."

Connor looked around. "Where's CG? He get lucky?" Kaveman cracked up.

"Yeah," he said, smiling, "I think so... he was talking to a the same females from last night. They all left together. I've been playing pool with some of the other pilots for the last couple of hours."

Connor sighed. "Well, ok... I guess so... I still feel so damned guilty about Cole, maybe some other kind of torture might even make me feel a little bit better..." They got up and headed off to the Flight room to test their skills again...

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