Voices, seemingly coming from far away.
"We've located the rogue personality, sir."
#LaCombe, they must be talking about LaCombe.#
#Kill them!#
#We can't. They've immobilized us, and it'll be at least a couple
of hours before we regain control.#
#So you're just going to sit here and let them take me?#
#We can fight. I can take on whatever they send in.#
#No! Don't you understand, this is our chance! We can get rid of
him once and for all! Then we won't have to kill all those people! Then
we can make friends again!#
#I _like_ killing people.#
"Can we safely remove it? Is it possible?"
#I must admit, I would feel more secure in myself if the LaCombe
personality was removed. He has overridden my advice time and again. He
can only be considered a detriment.#
#I don't know...What do you think?#
#Huh? Oh, let him go. I can never get laid when he's on the run.
And even if I do, I gotta let the bitch here kill them right after.#
#Who's a bitch?!#
"Should be able to. That is, if she doesn't try to fight us."
#That's enough! I'm thinking, don't distract me...#
#I can't believe you're listening to them. Think of all that we've
accomplished! The money we've made, the deals we've won, the crimes
we've pulled off!#
"All right, go in."
#Think of Deirdre, who LaCombe made you kill. Your best friend.
Your only friend.#
"All right, going in now..."
#Oh my God, here they come! You've got to help me. Shasti!
Shasti! Goddammit, help me!#
"Any sign of her fighting you?"
#Goodbye, LaCombe.#
"Got him! Now the rest should be a snap."
As LaCombe was removed, Shasti felt her Central Mind going into an
unconscious state. She was mildly disturbed by what she heard just
before she passed out.
"Good. Now for the second step..."
I Am One
by Sean Gaffney
Copyrights and credits appear at the end of Part 2.
NOTE: This story takes place between the Dark Horse stories _Sim Hell_
and _Fatal But Not Serious_.
Part One: Behind Blue Eyes
Shasti slowly felt herself come back to consciousness. She had no
idea how long she'd been out. The last thing she remembered was seeing
the LaCombe personality being removed from her head. She probed her mind
to see if she felt any guilt. She didn't. Now that LaCombe was gone,
she might actually be able to think on her own, without being constantly
overridden. It had been fun for a while, but LaCombe had finally become
tiresome.
*Now, to find out where the hell I am.* She went to activate the
detective part of her mind, to try and work out as much as possible
before she alerted anyone to her being awake.
She couldn't do it. The detective part of her had disappeared. She
tried looking all over, but it was gone. Shocked, she tried to access
the social and seductress personalities, but they were gone, too. She
desperately called for the warrior, but to no avail. All she could find
was herself, alone in her own head.
Her eyes snapped open as she began to panic. What had they done to
her? This was obviously meant to incapacitate her, but was it permanent?
Her mind was confused, rattling around between possibilities.
"Sir, she's awake." The voice came from across the room, and Shasti
angrily tried to get to it. But they'd strapped her down tightly,
preventing any movement. *Well, of course. If they're trying to
incapacitate me, they'd be foolish to shut off the mind and leave the
body to run around.*
Shasti jerked in shock. That had sounded like the detective! She
made a quick search of her mind, but once again only found herself. But
if she was alone, where had that observation come from? She'd always
counted on the detective to do that sort of thinking for her.
While this was running through her mind, a door hissed open and a
man entered. He was tall and burly, and Shasti mused that he was not a
fellow to be intimidated. He looked down at her, actually having the
gall to smile. She struggled against her bonds and made an attempt to
snarl, though with the way her mind was working it probably came out as a
whimper.
"Hello, Shasti. My name is DeFeo, and I'm the head of the
department here. I imagine you've got a lot of questions."
"You bet I have! Where the fuck am I? What the hell have you done
to me? How could you do this to me?"
"Are you saying that you didn't want the LaCombe personality
removed?" DeFeo frowned momentarily.
"I don't give a shit about LaCombe! You've taken my other
personalities. Left me with nothing! What excuse could you possibly
have -- "
She was cut off by DeFeo. "The excuse, Shasti, is that you were the
most wanted criminal in this entire system. You killed 10 of our best
TC's before we could capture you, and you don't seem to show the least
bit of gratitude!"
"Gratitude! For practically lobotomizing me?!"
"Oh, your personalities aren't gone. Not really. If you'd just
shut up and listen, I can tell you what happened."
Shasti relented. It was obvious she was getting nowhere. She'd
listen to what he had to say, carefully weigh all of it, and then beat
him bloody. "All right, I'm listening."
DeFeo smiled. "Thank you. By the way, you're at WWWA
headquarters."
Her eyes widened. "I see. Well, thank god I was saved by those who
truly care about me."
"Good, you've still got your sense of humor. As I was saying, we've
been trying to capture you for over three years now, and you were very
good at stopping us. If it hadn't been for Kanuka and Taeko sacrificing
themselves, you'd still be on the run.
"Now, the heads of 3WA simply wanted to kill you, but the CC
overrode them. It knew you were still the best TC out there, even
despite your... character flaws. It wanted to see if the rogue
personality could safely be removed from you, and if so, whether you'd
still be homicidal. So you were brought here, where the LaCombe
personality was safely removed."
"Where is it now?"
"In its component atoms."
Shasti smiled. "Good."
"After that, we determined that, although still violent, bitchy, and
slightly insane, you weren't criminally homicidal. In other words, back
to normal. Then we took the second step..."
"Removing my other personalities." Shasti said bitterly.
"I told you they weren't removed. We combined them. The CC
admitted that your multiple personalities were doing more harm than good,
so it was decided to amalgamate them into one mind. They're still in
there, you can still be a warrior, detective, or seductress. I dare say
you could even be social, though the idea terrifies me. But they aren't
sentient anymore, they're built into your core personality."
The reality of his words was beginning to hit Shasti. "What are you
saying here?"
"I'm saying that you are Shasti. Not the warrior, not the
detective, or the seductress, or the social personality. Shasti. All
one person."
Shasti stared at him in shock. "What right did you have to do that
to me?"
"Shasti, if you'll recall, you gave us that right. A few months
before the LaCombe incident, you were in Ayoob's office, ranting and
screaming about how you were tired of all these failed experiments and
schizophrenic freak-outs, and you wanted to know whether there was a way
to make you 'sane'. Those are your exact words, if you'll recall."
Shasti now looked puzzled. "I did? When?"
DeFeo began to look concerned. "I hope we haven't succeeded in
trashing your memories. Shasti, this was before the LaCombe incident.
When you were part of the best team in the 3WA, the Ultimas. Does any of
this mean anything to you?"
Shasti lay back, desperately trying to remember. "Aargh...the 3WA,
of course. But...the Ultimas?"
DeFeo looked into her eyes. "Yes. For two years, you and Deirdre
were the best there was."
Shasti's eyes glazed over. Deirdre.
Her partner.
Her best friend.
Her only friend.
The friend she'd...
At the edge of her hearing, she could make out DeFeo yelling
something about trauma and shock. It didn't register with her at all.
All she kept thinking were the same five words, over and over.
*mygodikilleddeirdremygodikilleddeirdremygod...*
***
Cory Emerson was livid. She'd been this close to pulling off the
story that could make her career. These women had appeared out of
nowhere on Earth claiming to be looking for a daimon'cha, whatever the
hell that was, and they were armed with heavy weaponry. The entire solar
system was in an uproar, and Cory had been chosen by High Sense to cover
the story. Unfortunately, she was ambushed by two 3WA goons and spirited
off. She attempted to mention something about kidnapping and assault,
but the goons simply said that the Central Computer had authorized them
to use any means necessary to bring her to Pacifica.
Realizing that there was nothing she could do, she decided to amuse
herself by making life a living hell for her two guards. By the time
they arrived at the spaceport, they almost threw her off the ship, not
even bothering to escort her to the 3WA's head offices.
*I could try to take off,* she thought, *but they'd just find me
again. Might as well find out what is so important that they need _me_
to solve it.* She frowned as a thought came to her head. *I hope that
Kei and Yuri are all right.*
Following signs, she came into a breezy, calming reception area,
which seemed to lose much of its atmosphere as she walked in. A bimbo
receptionist attempted to stop her, saying "But Miss Emerson, you'll have
to wait until you're called in." Cory didn't even break stride.
"They've already called me in, honey, and I'll be damned if I'll stay
here any longer than necessary." And with that, she burst through the
doors into the director's office.
They seemed surprised to see her get past all the security, but
she'd learned that the easiest way to do that was to keep moving, no
matter what. Thus she kept going right up to the guy in the center,
grabbed him by the lapels, and murmured, "You are going to tell me why
you kidnapped me and brought me here, and then I am going to leave. And
if your explanation isn't good enough, I'll have you plastered on every
paper in the sector, whether you're 3WA or not."
The man on the left was chuckling. "Pleasant as always, Miss
Emerson. Nice to see you haven't lost your touch."
She turned, recognizing the voice. "Goulet. Great, just what I
needed to really spruce up my day. What have those two gotten themselves
into now, and why am _I_ the only one who can help?"
Goulet smiled the sort of smile that Cory had always wanted to hit.
"Actually, Miss Emerson, this has nothing to do with the Angels, at least
not directly. Frankly, we're just as surprised as you are, but the
Central Computer was adamant."
Cory's eyes narrowed. She'd never quite been able to accept the
fact that the agents sent off to die for the 3WA were chosen by a
computer instead of a human. Sure, she used computers every day, and had
her cyberplug, but when the chips were down, she wanted the decisions to
be made by someone with experience, rather than a machine sifting through
probabilities.
Reluctantly, she let go of the lapels of the man in the center and
sat down. It looked as if this wasn't going to be resolved anytime soon.
"So, the CC has decided you need someone with my particular skills.
You'd think, after the last two missions I accompanied the Angels on, the
CC would want to see the back of me as quickly as possible."
Goulet's expression turned serious. "I agree, frankly. We weren't
exactly thrilled with the prospect, considering what you, Kei, and Yuri
pulled on Tertius -- "
Cory stood up, eyes blazing. "IT WASN'T OUR FAULT!!" she found
herself screaming, and then sat down again quickly, realizing who she
sounded like.
Goulet soldiered on. "Nevertheless, this particular assignment has
nothing to do with the Angels. The CC has suggested that someone of your
abilities would be most likely to sur--"
The man on the right cut in coolly. "Director Goulet, if you don't
mind, can we just tell her the background, without any bias?"
Goulet frowned momentarily. "Of course, sir. Cory, this is Joseph
DeFeo," he pointed to the center man, a rather large swarthy looking man
in his 30s, "a research head here at 3WA, specializing in psychological
difficulties."
Cory moaned. "Agents that go snap. Great."
Goulet was getting tired of being interrupted. "And we also have
Doctor Jim Daltrey, an expert in the field of bio-organic constructs.
He'll be helping you with our little...problem."
Daltrey's eyes bored into Cory. "Ms. Emerson."
DeFeo raised his hand. "I'd like to move on, if nobody minds. Ms.
Emerson, I need to fill you in on the exploits of one of our rogue
agents...Shasti."
Cory cocked her head. "The 3WA has rogue agents? Do tell. Why
have we never heard about these people? Confined themselves to not
paying taxes, crossing against the red light?" Her eyes narrowed. "Or
could it possibly be the 3WA's lovely habit of _covering up everything_?"
Cory was still annoyed at the 3WA for allowing Kuan Yin to get away with
their behavior on Kalevala.
DeFeo listened to all this with a resigned expression. "Shasti
turned rogue about 5 years ago. Since then, the 3WA has put a great deal
of its time and energy towards retrieving her. Recently, after
sustaining heavy losses, our agents were finally able to capture Shasti.
She's in our custody now."
Cory narrowed her eyes. "And you want me to record her final
moments before the execution?"
"We're not executing her," DeFeo snapped. "There's something you
should know. This isn't even common knowledge in the 3WA."
Cory had long since ceased to be angry at these developments. "What
a surprise."
"Shasti turned rogue in the first place as a result of attempting to
upload the personality of a psychotic criminal, LaCombe, in order to
bring him to justice. Unfortunately, the LaCombe personality reacted to
her own, and fused. This had the effect of turning her rogue. However,
thanks to several of our agents giving their own lives, she has been
brought back, and the criminal personality has been destroyed. Shasti is
back to norm...is herself once more."
Cory was beginning to feel confused. "Why in God's name did she
upload the personality in the first place? Everyone knows the danger
that can result! I saw it myself on Kalevala! She should never have
been asked to implant the guy in the first place!"
DeFeo looked at Goulet, who nodded, and Daltrey, who merely narrowed
his eyes. "We have to tell her."
Daltrey spoke in almost a monotone. "You already know my feelings
on this matter. To be trusting such delicate information with a
reporter, particularly this one, is incredibly dangerous. I cannot
predict what sort of effect she'll have on Shasti."
DeFeo smiled. "Precisely."
Goulet took it upon himself to respond. "The same reporter has been
instrumental in the solution to two extremely difficult cases, and her
reputation is impeccable. The Angels have nothing but good things to say
about her."
Daltrey looked slightly amused. "Somehow I do not take that as a
wholehearted recommendation."
Cory was sick of this. "_Getting_ back to the point...?"
DeFeo frowned at the two men. "In any case, if you are to be of
assistance, you'd better know all of the facts. Shasti's story begins
thirteen years ago..."
DeFeo quickly summarized Shasti's "birth" and development, leaving
nothing out. Cory's expression grew horrified as she heard about what
had been done to this woman by her own employers. She was amazed that
Shasti had turned out as well as she did.
As DeFeo finished, Cory regained her senses once again. "So,
cutting all the bullshit, what is the _problem_ here?"
DeFeo sighed. "Three days ago, we woke Shasti up, the computer
having determined that she was no longer psychotic. She awoke confused
and with short-term memory loss. Unfortunately, once she regained her
memory, she recalled what she had done to her partner. She promptly
entered a state of trauma, from which none of our doctors have been able
to break her. We finally decided to ask the Central Computer for
recommendations. It said that you were the best person to help Shasti.
It did not elaborate. Having exhausted our other options, we arranged
for you to be brought here."
"Kidnapped me," Cory said bluntly.
"If you wish," DeFeo said. "Nevertheless, Miss Emerson, here is
what we are asking you to do. We want you to get Shasti back to normal.
Talk to her, reason with her, do anything you like, but break her out of
this shock. We need her, and you are our last hope."
Cory rattled her head around to make sure her ears were working.
"Let me see if I've got this straight. You want me to be alone in a room
with a woman who killed thousands of innocents -- "
"LaCombe did that, " DeFeo interrupted.
"You have no way of proving that. You want me to go into this room
and try to talk this woman back to sanity, and get her to work for an
organization that has treated her like shit for her entire life? What in
the name of all the hells possessed you to think I would agree to this?"
Goulet was the one who answered that. "Because you sympathize with
her. I saw the look on your face when we told you her history. The
alternative is to leave her here to let our scientists deal with her, the
same ones who've arranged her entire life. And you'll never be able to
live with yourself if that happens."
Cory was silent for a few minutes. Then, calmly, she got up,
strolled up to Goulet, and belted him across the chops, knocking him to
the floor, unconscious.
Having thus calmed herself, she turned to DeFeo. "Fine, I'll do it.
Where is she?"
DeFeo smiled. "I'll have you taken to her. Mr. Daltrey will be
your contact for the duration."
Cory gave Daltrey a malevolent look, which he mirrored. "Why?"
"Because I am the expert in the Agency on Shasti. Most of the
original team was let go after the LaCombe incident. I'm one of the few
who can tell you what to do."
"I don't need to be told to do anything. Just let me get out of
here, and you two can go back to your Machiavellian schemes."
She was stopped just before the door. "Ms. Emerson?"
"Yes?"
She saw DeFeo's face momentarily soften. "Thank you for doing this.
Even if it is the 3WA's intent to merely see her restored as an active
agent, it is _my_ intent to see her sane. That is your priority."
She nodded, gaining a measure of respect for the man. "Thank you.
It's nice to know that the management aren't all cold, unfeeling
weasels." And with that she left.
Daltrey peered after her. "How touching."
DeFeo grinned. "Would you rather I had her running around like a
loose cannon? Someone needs to keep an eye on her. We need Shasti back
to normal, and she's our best hope."
Daltrey frowned. "I still think this is dumb."
"You're probably right," DeFeo said. "I have been known to do a few
dumb things in my time."
"I notice you didn't mention that the Computer said she only had a
six out of ten chance of getting through this alive," Daltrey wryly
mentioned.
DeFeo smiled. "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. We need her.
She can do it. I have faith in her."
Still on the floor, Goulet merely groaned.
***
Cory groaned. She still had a slight headache from the dataplug
that had given her all the information on Shasti. She made sure three
times over that nothing was being held back, letting them know that any
snippet of information they had could be the key to breaking Shasti out
of her shell.
Privately, however, Cory was much less sure of herself. The 3WA had
understated Shasti's background. The woman hadn't had a childhood, a
social life, anything. They had developed her as the ultimate agent, and
that was precisely what she had been. Unfortunately, that made her job
of getting through to the "real" Shasti that much more difficult.
Daltrey was walking with her towards Shasti's room, giving her last
minute instructions. "Now, we'll be monitoring the room at all times.
When she wakes up, do your best to calm her down, to the point where we
can get in the room. After that, you're free to go."
Cory turned towards him, stunned. "I don't believe this. You think
I'm gonna do this just so you can brainwash her again?" She grabbed
Daltrey's lapels, forcing him up against the wall. "Now listen up. I am
doing this out of the goodness of my heart. You should know that that
doesn't go very far. You are going to let me talk with Shasti, and you
will let me bring her to a point where she can decide for herself whether
or not to go with your scalpel jockies. And if you don't agree to these
qualifications, then I will walk out of here and she can stay in there to
rot for all I care."
Daltrey sighed, and seemed to change tactics. "Look, Ms. Emerson,
we want this to happen just as much as you do. We _are_ concerned for
Shasti. That's why we're doing this. But you just can't predict what
shape this woman will be in. It's an unproven case, there's never been a
recovery like hers before."
Cory looked surprised. This was a change from the cold soldier
she'd seen in the office. "Yeah, well thanks. But the Central Computer,
for some reason, thinks I can do this. Therefore I'm going to do it my
way, and not be second-guessed by any of you. Is that clear?"
To her amazement, Daltrey grinned. "Crystal. I suppose I should
wish you luck, then, Ms. Emerson."
"Cory," she responded before she could stop herself.
He smiled back. "Jimmy."
Cory was still trying to get to grips with this 180 degree turn when
he said, "Here we are. From now on, you're on your own. Be careful,
Cory. We want this to be quick and painless."
Cory glared at him again. "And you're supposed to be the expert?
Trust me, _Jimmy_, this will not be quick or painless." And with that,
she stepped inside.
***
As she entered the room, Cory noted that it had been tailored to its
occupant's new mindset. White, sterile, no signs that anyone had ever
been in here. And in the center lay Shasti, staring at the ceiling and
whispering in low tones. Cory couldn't make out what she was saying.
Cory began to feel her doubts rise to the surface. What the hell
did they expect her to do? She'd never handled hostage situations or
anything like that, and she was certainly no psychologist. She was just
a reporter with a history of bad luck, who'd had the unique opportunity
of trailing the Dirty Pair on two of their cases. Cory had absolutely no
idea what to do.
Luckily, not knowing what to do was a situation she _had_ been in
before, so she just decided to wing it. She picked out a chair, the only
other piece of furniture in the room besides the bed, and sat down.
She stared at Shasti for a moment. No doubt about it, the woman was
a knockout. Cory had read that one of her personalities was a
seductress, and that was easily believable. For a moment Cory felt a
twinge of jealousy, as she recalled all the numerous times men had told
her she was too harsh looking for their tastes.
The jealousy was leeched out of her as she remembered what sort of
life had brought Shasti to this point. This was not the case of a child
who'd grown up to be a beautiful woman, this was a body that had been
grown in vitro, and subjected to a two month childhood where most would
have fifteen to sixteen years. Cory was amazed that they had assumed
that Shasti would be able to cope with the strain, it would have broken
anyone.
That was the key, though, she thought to herself. The 3WA had never
thought of Shasti as a person. They saw her as a tool, to experiment on
and play games with, trying to coax an agent out of an empty shell.
Except that Shasti wasn't an empty shell. The CC had given her
several of its private files, recorded secretly. Normally, this would
have angered Cory, but the files provided a fascinating look at her
"other" life. Her partner, Deirdre, had developed her own training
program with Shasti, but this was a far more human one. Cory had watched
the tapes in shock as she saw Shasti laughing happily. This was a side
of the woman that no one had been able to see except for her partner.
The problem was that Deirdre had been dead for five years now, shot
in the back by Shasti after the rogue personality had corrupted her mind.
3WA still maintained that it had "taken her over" in some way, but Cory
didn't quite believe that. Shasti had to have been in some control
during this rampage, as LaCombe simply did not have the intelligence to
pull off her crimes.
The question now was whether Shasti could be trusted to come back to
society. Had she truly been purged of the sinister side of her mind, or
had it been combined along with the rest of her personalities into one
mind, Shasti herself?
That was the final thing that worried Cory. Shasti had no
experience of coping with a single personality. She had, according to
the tapes, always delegated her tasks to the four main personalities:
Warrior, Detective, Seductress, and Social. There had also been a
central mind built, where Cory supposed Shasti "really" existed, but it
had never actually been seen. Shasti had _always_ existed in her four
distinct personalities. Now, according to what the medtechs had told
her, the four had been melded into one individual, with the central mind
the only thing remaining untouched.
Cory sighed. Enough of this inner monologue, it was time to see if
she could bring Shasti out of her stupor. "Shasti? Can you hear me? My
name is Cory Emerson. I've been assigned to try and help you out. Um...
I don't suppose I understand how you feel, but I'm sure we could talk
about it..." Cory sighed. God, she sounded stupid.
"Shasti? Can you hear me?" Cory decided that perhaps something
else was in order. As gently as possible, she reached out and tapped
Shasti on the shoulder.
***
Shasti came out of her stupor to find a woman lying on the floor
clutching at her hand. Immediately, her 3WA training kicked in, and she
walked over and tried to help her up. "Are you all right?"
The woman backed away violently, looking daggers at Shasti. "What
the hell do you think? You nearly broke my hand!!"
Shasti's brow knit, as she tried to remember her previous actions.
Unfortunately, the last thing she remembered was DeFeo trying to jog her
memory. Fat lot of good that did her now. She glanced at the woman
across from her. Judging from her stance, she was not a 3WA agent. What
disturbed Shasti was the injury. "I don't believe it!"
The woman attempted, rather poorly in Shasti's opinion, to be blase
about it. "Don't worry about it, I shouldn't have grabbed your shoulder
like that."
"Not that!" Shasti was beginning to get very annoyed with herself.
"You grabbed my shoulder and all you've got is a bruised hand?! Your arm
should be lying on the ground next to you! What the hell did they do to
me? That used to be automatic!"
The woman went from apologetic to flaming mad in an instant. "Now
look here. I came here out of the goodness of my heart to try and help
you. If all you can say is that you're upset you didn't hurt me more,
then maybe I should just leave!"
Shasti rounded on her. "And who asked for your help? I don't need
another of 3WA's psychobabblers to tell me that it's going to be all
right."
The woman got angrier, if that was possible. "I am _not_ with 3WA,"
she whispered. "I wanted nothing to do with this."
Now Shasti was puzzled. "Then why are they..." Suddenly it hit
her. The Central Computer, of course. It had calculated every course of
action, and found that this woman was the best way for Shasti to...to
what? That gap in her memory still bothered her. She turned to face the
woman.
"I apologize. If you're not with 3WA, we'll get along much better.
Shasti, 3WA Agent, Ultimas."
The woman's anger abated somewhat. "Cory Emerson, reporter, High
Sense. Do you want my ID number, too?"
Shasti grinned. "Now that's that's out of the way, maybe you can
tell me why I have a gap in my memory. The last thing I remember is
DeFeo telling me about my past."
Cory blinked. "You're remarkably direct."
"Sorry, but I've just been lobotomized after spending four years as
a paranoid psychotic. It tends to sharpen the focus."
Cory winced. "So you do remember. Well, you're taking it better
than I thought..."
Shasti frowned. Remember what? Inside her mind, where her social
personality used to be, she thought she could hear something. A little
wail, coming from inside her head.
*DON'T REMEMBER!*
Shasti cut it off. If her social personality was coming back, well,
she'd been used to overriding it anyway. "Taking what better?"
Cory looked puzzled. "Deirdre, of course."
***
Her mind cascaded under the force of memory. She felt herself
slipping away under the agony. Images of herself, shooting Deirdre over
and over again, coursed through her mind. There was only one way to deal
with it. Shasti let her conscious mind shut down, hoping to escape from
the pain.
However, this time something was blocking it. There was a hand at
her wrist. Shouldn't she be stopping it? But no, this time the pain was
even greater. Nothing mattered anymore, just get away, hide, don't think
about what you did...
*SMACK*
Shasti immediately came back to consciousness. Her mind immediately
went to defense mode, looking for her attacker. She scanned the room,
and finally noticed Cory hiding beneath the table, shaking.
"I'm sorry!" she cried out. She seemed to be terrified. "You were
going back into catatonia, and I just hit you before I knew what I was
doing! Please don't rip my arm off!"
Shasti slipped out of attack mode; Cory wasn't a threat.
Unfortunately, this meant that she was thinking again, and she had all
her memories this time.
It started in the back of the throat, barely a sound at all, more of
a subsonic vibration. It gradually rose in volume until Shasti realized
it was a cry, a deep wail of grief and loss. Astounded, she suddenly
realized that it came from her own throat.
She crashed to the ground, sobs wracking her body. Her one
conscious thought besides her grief was of someone taking her up into a
hug. Deirdre had been the only one who'd ever hugged her. It still felt
good. Shasti reached out and grabbed Cory, taking solace in her embrace.
***
*Great, I've finally broke through, and she's gonna crush me to
death. I hate this. Why'd I hug her, anyway?* Cory knew the answer to
that one, but preferred not to answer it. This was getting to be much
more complicated than she thought.
She had to admit that slapping Shasti would definitely go down in
her books as one of the stupidest things she'd ever done. Unfortunately,
she couldn't think of a way she'd have done it differently. Shasti was
beginning to go back into a comatose state, the exact state that they'd
brought Cory in to avoid. And besides, it was sort of her fault for
mentioning Deirdre in the first place. She had assumed that once Shasti
remembered her criminal past, that she'd remember Deirdre as well. Well,
it was too late now. Shasti was going to have to deal with it, that's
what this was all about.
Shasti was still clinging tenaciously to Cory, though her sobbing
had slowed down. She opened her eyes, and there was a haunted look to
them.
"Oh god, tell me that I didn't. Please. Tell me I didn't do that.
That I didn't shoot her. _Please._"
The look in her eyes was painful. Cory felt a lump in her throat,
and once again cursed the people who'd made her this way, who tried to
create the perfect agent and then couldn't handle the consequences. Cory
wanted nothing more than to tell Shasti that it was all right, that she
hadn't done it, that it was the LaCombe personality in her head.
Unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Cory had read all
the reports from the doctors who'd 'cured' her after her capture.
LaCombe hadn't taken her over, he'd merely joined with her. The
responsibility was still Shasti's, no matter how much she wanted to deny
it. And accepting that would be the first step in recovery.
Of course, Cory still felt awful about it. "I'm sorry, Shasti, but
I can't do that. You may not have been completely sane, but you did kill
her. I'm...I'm sorry."
Shasti's face was the picture of grief. If she hadn't already
sobbed her eyes out, she would have broken down again. As it was, she
merely slumped down, falling to the floor. Her voice, when it came, was
tinged with sorrow, but Cory was also relieved to see a bit of acceptance
in there.
"She was the only friend I ever had. She never treated me as
anything less than a human being. Not even when we first met. There was
a time... when the 3WA tried to make me forget her. They thought she
was becoming a bad influence on me." Shasti laughed bitterly. "They
were right, of course. But that wasn't important. Deirdre found me,
helped me regain my memories. I always loved her for that. Yes, that
was it. I loved Deirdre. More than anything in the world. She was my
soulmate, Cory. And I killed her. There is no way I'll ever be able to
make up for that."
Cory frowned. She didn't want Shasti to deny her actions, but this
was getting to be a bit much. "Look, Shasti, I know it hurts to know
what happened. But you've got to let go. She'd want you to do that?
Can you really see her letting you go on like this about yourself?"
Shasti smiled wanly. "She'd probably have me out in the gym,
training hard. That's what we did whenever the 3WA screwed us over."
Cory got up. "Well, let's try that. Come on, we'll go work out!"
Shasti looked at Cory with a wry grin on her face. "You expect to
keep up with me?"
Cory was vaguely annoyed. *Hey, not all of us were designed to be
sexpots, y'know!* She kept that to herself, though, instead saying "Hey,
I work out a lot. How do you think I keep this figure?"
Shasti grinned. "Very easily, I expect. A few cookies, some ice
cream..."
Cory was burning mad now. "Right, that's it. _Out_. I'll show you
who's out of shape. You've been getting soft, sitting in this hospital."
Shasti grinned again, and began to leave with Cory. Cory smiled,
too. This was going pretty well so far. Not one hundred percent,
though, as she looked at Shasti's eyes. Unlike her grinning face, her
eyes told of the true extent of the pain within her. Cory had to think
of something that would help Shasti to get over Deirdre's death.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view),
help was on the way...
***
They were walking down the hall towards the gym facilities when
Shasti suddenly froze. Cory stopped to look at her, and saw that Shasti
was fading out again. From her lips, there escaped a quiet whine.
*What the hell,* thought Cory, as she looked around trying to find
out what had sent Shasti back into her catatonia. And then she heard it.
"...all _your_ fault, as usual!"
"_My_ fault?! And what the hell did you expect me to do? He shot
my hair, goddammit!"
"Well, if you didn't wear it up like that, you wouldn't have to
worry about it! Anyway, it'll grow back, which is more than I can say
for that planet."
"Ex-_cuse_ me?! Who was it who put that shot into the generator?
If I recall, you were going totally ballistic at the time!"
"Well, that was your fault, too! He called me flat-chested!"
"I refuse to let my big breasts take responsibility for your
temper!"
"Why you -- "
This fascinating conversation was cut short as the pride of the 3WA,
Kei and Yuri, the Lovely Angels, came around the corner and stopped dead.
For all of two-fifths of a second. Then they whipped out their guns
and trained them on Shasti, ready to pull the trigger. They were
blocked, however, by Cory throwing herself in the path of the weapons.
*This is really stupid,* Cory thought. *But it seems to be my day
for doing really stupid things, so...*
"Stop!" she cried. "You don't know what's happened!"
Kei's voice was curt. "Cory, get away. We'll take care of it."
"Oh, I bet you will. If you two trigger-happy morons could listen
for a second, I'd tell you what was going on!"
"We know what's going on," said Yuri, grabbing Cory's arm and trying
to pull her out of the way. "You're obviously being held hostage -- "
Cory refused to budge. "If you two even _bothered_ to listen to the
reports from the 3WA you'd know that Shasti was captured and cured!
LaCombe isn't in her mind anymore! And I'm here to _try_ to help her get
back to somewhere near her normal self, and you two aren't exactly
helping!"
Yuri's face remained stony. "I do listen to 3WA reports, and there
was no mention of Shasti's capture. I think she's done something to you,
personally, but even if we assume this is true, does this absolve her of
all the guilt? She killed hundreds of thousands of people! She killed
her partner! Are you saying we should just ignore that?"
"No." The three of them were startled by Shasti suddenly coming
back to herself. She looked up, and her eyes were full of tears.
"They're right. There's no way I can ever make up for what I've done.
There's too much blood on my hands. 3WA should have killed me while they
had the chance." And with that, she tore off down the corridor, faster
than either Kei or Yuri could track.
Yuri turned back to Cory, ready to yell at her again. She was taken
aback by the fury in Cory's eyes.
"Thanks a whole lot. Hopefully I can stop her from doing something
rash. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better than rash
decisions from you two." And with a look of disgust, she ran off after
Shasti.
Kei and Yuri stared after them, lowering their guns. "What the hell
was _that_ all about?" mused Kei.
Yuri smiled. "I don't know, but we're going to find out. There is
no way that Shasti is getting away this time."
Kei gave Yuri a look. "Assuming Cory's not telling the truth."
Yuri just continued to smile. "Well, that's easy to find out..."
***
Shasti stumbled back into the room they'd given her, attempting to
hold herself together. It wasn't easy. DeFeo had told her that her
personalities weren't removed, but made a part of her. Shasti certainly
believed that right now. Part of her was yelling to put herself
together, another was still bawling over Deirdre's death and her part in
it, still another was wondering why Kei and Yuri hadn't heard about her
capture, and there was a small part that noticed that the 3WA uniforms
had gotten a lot skimpier recently.
Put together in a mind that wasn't ready to deal with it, all Shasti
could do was huddle in a corner and hope they'd shut up.
She heard the door slam and tensed, thinking that the Pair had
followed her here. But it was only Cory. Shasti sighed in relief. Cory
may not have been the best psychologist in the world, but she was the one
person here that seemed to consider what Shasti was feeling. Cory was on
her side, and that was something that Shasti appreciated very much.
Cory was looking at her worriedly. "Are you all right? I tried to
tell them that you weren't the same, but they wouldn't listen -- "
"Why should they? The last time they saw me, I tried to kill them.
In fact, the last five times they've seen me, I've tried to kill them. I
think that's reason enough to hold a grudge."
Cory still grumbled. "They should have been more sympathetic."
Shasti looked at her. "No, they shouldn't have. The 3WA doesn't
even know if I'm all right yet. That''s why you're here. _I_ don't even
know if I'm all right yet. Until that's determined, it is much safer to
keep thinking of me as a dangerous threat. Especially since they hadn't
even heard that I was captured."
Cory frowned. "You noticed that too, huh? I need to have a talk
with DeFeo and Daltrey and find out why they weren't informed."
"Daltrey?"
"Yeah, the number two here. Weird guy, but I think he's warming up
to me." She turned towards Deirdre. "Will you be okay if I leave you
here? I'll only be a bit, I just want to get this cleared up."
Shasti wasn't listening much anymore. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't
worry." Her mind was racing however.
*Daltrey.*
*Why is that name so familiar?*
***
"All right, I want to know why Kei and Yuri were never informed
about Shasti's recovery. I want to know this because they just tried to
kill her, which I think is important if I'm to help Shasti recover.
Having people not trying to shoot her would be number one on that list."
Cory looked at their faces. DeFeo looked apologetic, Daltrey looked
stoic. *So much for Jimmy,* she thought.
"Miss Emerson, you have to understand how much of an embarrasment
Shasti had become to the 3WA. The operation to capture her was done in
complete secrecy, and the agents conscripted in complete confidence. Kei
and Yuri were not among those informed. Their history with Shasti was a
little too personal to make them objective."
"I still feel that I should have been informed of this."
"It was not sufficiently important to warrant telling you. We had
no idea the Angels would be finished with their case so soon." Daltrey's
eyes bored into hers, and she shivered. "You didn't have the need to
know, Miss Emerson."
"I see." Cory was trying with difficulty to keep a lid on her
temper, but Daltrey's two-facedness was making it difficult. "Is there
anything else I 'don't need to know'?"
Daltrey allowed himself a cold smile. "If you find anything else,
Miss Emerson, I'm sure you'll inform us."
Cory snarled and started to go. She was stopped at the door.
"Cory, wait!"
She turned in amazement. That was Daltrey's voice. She saw that he
was grinning again, that same asinine grin she had seen in the hall
earlier. "Changing the subject, how is Shasti doing? We are worried
about her, even though it doesn't seem like that."
Thouroughly confused by this point, Cory replied, "It's going okay.
She's admitted her guilt in killing her partner, but can't seem to let go
of it. It'll be a while," she paused and tried another tactic,
"_Jimmy_."
Daltrey merely grinned. "That's good to hear, Cory. Take all the
time you need. I'm beginning to realize why the CC chose you to help
us."
Cory's eyes narrowed. This was getting really strange. "Then if
you'll excuse me, I'll go back to her now." She turned to DeFeo, who
hadn't batted an eye during this whole exchange. "Good day," she said,
and stalked out.
As she left, she heard DeFeo's voice. "Jim, can I talk to you for a
minute?"
***
Cory slipped back into Shasti's room, dazed. "I just can't get a
handle on that guy. He is _weird_."
Shasti looked up. She hadn't moved since Cory left, still deep in
thought. "Are you talking about Daltrey?" The name filled her with
foreboding, but Shasti's memories were in such turmoil that she couldn't
place him. "Why does he bother you?"
"Well, one minute he hates me, and wants me out as soon as possible,
the next he's saying 'call me Jimmy' and being all buddy-buddy. I swear,
the guy's schizophrenic or something.
Shasti stopped dead. Memories that had been buried burst into her
mind, overwhelming her...
#Another one? What, this one isn't enough?#
#The CC wants to try another, since Shasti was such a success. Only
two personalities in this one, though, so it should be easier. And male
this time.#
#Male, huh? We gotta call him Jim, then#
#Why?#
#Don't you listen to old music? ~Doctor Jimmy and Mister Jim!~#
#All right. Don't be too off-the-wall, though. This one's meant
for covert operations...#
#Heh. We haven't even gotten Shasti out of the tank, and the 3WA
wants another one. It'll all end in tears, I know it...#
#You always say that.#
More memories, accidentally overheard....
#Cut it? Why?#
#The CC changed its mind. After Shasti's first mission, it decided
not to risk having prefab agents doing covert ops. Too much could go
wrong.#
#I suppose. Seems a shame to just waste him, though...#
Cory was shaking her, asking what was the matter. Shasti got up,
her mind suddenly focused on this new problem. "Cory, we have to get out
of here."
"What? What's the matter? You're in no shape to go anywhere at the
moment?"
"True, but there's not a lot I can do about that. Daltrey is
another multiple-personality construct. Your mentioning of his name
reminded me. He was supposed to have been abandoned early on. The fact
that he wasn't means that something is very, very wrong. I suspect we
may be in a lot of danger."
Cory frowned. "Are you sure this isn't just paranoia? How can we
be sure?"
Shasti grabbed Cory and dragged her out the door. "We run. If they
start shooting to kill, then there's a good chance I'm correct. I do not
want to stay here and test that theory, however, as I suspect my room is
bugged. Therefore, we run."
Cory looked rather harried. "Y'know, I get enough of this from the
Angels without you ordering me around."
Shasti flinched. When she turned to face Cory, there was a world of
pain in her eyes. "Cory, please. Trust me. I would not do anything to
endanger you deliberately."
And with that, she took a right turn where a right turn had no right
to be, and plunged into darkness. Cory followed as best she could,
plummeting and screaming like a banshee.
***
DeFeo and Daltrey were watching the monitor as Shasti and Cory
disappeared. "Can we track her?" asked DeFeo.
"There's no possible way that she could have gone that way. There's
nothing there but a wall." Daltrey looked uncharacteristically
flustered.
"I'll take that as a 'no', then." DeFeo turned to face Daltrey.
"Well, congratulations, Jim. Thanks to your inability to control
yourself, we now have Shasti running around loose on the base. We should
have given Cory all the information up front."
Daltrey sneered. "There was far too much there, it would have been
dangerous. As it is, she can't ever leave here again.
DeFeo rose. "WHAT?"
Daltrey turned. "She's a security risk. She knows far more about
Shasti than we ever planned to give the press. She's become a
liability."
DeFeo was livid. "Now you listen here, Mister. You are going to
find Shasti and Cory, and then we are going to finish the job that we set
out to do. Then we will let her go. There will be no arguments."
"She is a security risk, Mr. DeFeo. She's a risk to the 3WA. Are
you willing to endanger the organization all for the sake of one rogue
agent?"
DeFeo suddenly looked very tired. "Yes. Yes, I am."
Suddenly Daltrey smiled. "Thank you, Mr. DeFeo, that's all I wanted
to hear." There was a movement to the side, and when DeFeo turned, he
was blown apart by a plasma rifle at close range. His body evaporated.
"A little bit of overkill there, don't you think?"
The agent holding the gun snarled. "Better safe than sorry."
Daltrey turned. She was still hidden in the shadows at the edge of
the room. "You have your orders?"
The agent nodded. "Find Shasti and Emerson, and eliminate them. No
other options."
"Good. Get on with it, then, she's sneaky. I've no idea how she
got out of that corridor."
The other agent smiled. "Shasti was awoken with the 3WA plans in
her head. She knows every nook and cranny of this building. Luckily, so
do I."
"Good." Suddenly Daltrey changed expressions, and grinned broadly.
"Hey, do good, kid. I'm counting on you."
"Thank you, Jimmy, but don't worry." said the other agent. She
turned, letting her face come out of the shadows.
"There's no way I'm going to let that bitch get away again," said
Deirdre.
End of Part 1
I Am One
by Sean Gaffney
Copyrights and credits appear at the end of the story.
NOTE: This story takes place between the Dark Horse stories _Sim Hell_
and _Fatal But Not Serious_.
Part 2: Getting in Tune
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Cory Emerson was not having one of her better days.
She was falling down what appeared to be a bottomless drop, Shasti
right below her. Cory was convinced that, after all the trouble they'd
gone through, Shasti's mind had finally snapped, and she'd gone berserk
again. However, she didn't have much time to think about it, as she was
desperately grabbing along the walls that hurtled past them, looking for
anything to stop their descent.
Shasti looked up, amused. "You'll break your arm if you try to stop
yourself like that."
"Shut up!" Cory was beginning to get hysterical. "What the hell
did you do, we're gonna die, what's the matter with you...why are we
slowing down?"
Slowly, the pair came to a stop, about 20 feet from the ground.
Shasti looked around, grinning.
"3WA has been built up over the years. Rather than tear everything
down, they just built out over the existing structure. That left a lot
of nodes in the middle of nowhere, like this one." Her voice became a
little more strained. "Deirdre and I accidentally discovered this one
when we were training. It had zero gravity, which came in very useful.
It wasn't until later that we discovered that the Central Computer had
known what we were doing all along, and had turned off the gravity to
'assist' us."
Cory heard the emotion behind the words. "I take it you weren't all
that appreciative."
Shasti snorted. "Just another example of the 3WA trying to control
my life. I suppose I should be used to it by now."
Cory tried not to make any sudden movements. She had very little
Zero-G experience, and was trying to control her stomach. "So what do we
do now?"
"We wait," Shasti replied. "There are only two people who knew that
we trained here, and they're both dead. The CC could simply alert the
3WA to our location, but that's not its style. It's much more sneaky.
No, I think we're safe here for the moment."
Suddenly, Shasti's movements became much more expressive. She came
over to Cory's side in a manner that could almost be erotic. Snuggling
up to Cory, she whispered in her ear, "I can think of a few ways we could
pass the time."
Cory looked at Shasti with growing horror. "Shasti, what are you
_doing_?"
Suddenly Shasti's eyes cleared, and she shoved herself away from
Cory violently. This had the added effect of sending Cory in the other
direction, and she impacted hard with the other wall.
"Aagh!" Cory exclaimed. She checked her body over for bruises, but
there didn't seem to be any damage. Suddenly her attention was caught by
the sound of sobbing from across the node. Shasti had curled up into a
little ball, and was smashing her head with her fists. "Stop it!" she
repeated over and over again.
"Shasti!" Cory shoved herself off the wall and towards Shasti.
Unfortunately, she underestimated the amount of push needed and slammed
both herself and Shasti into the opposite wall. They bounced back
towards the center of the room, tangled in each other.
Luckily, the shock seemed to have snapped Shasti out of her mental
state. She turned to Cory and whispered, "Oh God, Cory, I'm sorry.
It...it was as if I were in my seductress personality. I didn't know
what I was doing. Oh God, what's happening to me?"
Cory didn't say it out loud, but she had a pretty good idea. Shasti
was undergoing severe mental stress, only a few days after having what
amounted to a lobotomy. In order to cope with the events around her, her
mind was fragmenting back into her old patterns. The med doctors had
said that all four of Shasti's personalities still existed within her.
Evidently Shasti had still not succeeded in making them part of herself.
Unfortunately, this was not the time for more therapy. They were on
the run, and weren't even sure where the threat was coming from.
"Shasti, I know how you must feel. But we can't take the time to stop
and talk."
Shasti looked up. "Why not? We were very quick, I don't think
anyone traced us. We can stay here and try to plan out an escape. And
besides the Central Computer, the only ones who knew that I came here
were Ayoob and Deirdre. And they're both dead."
***
Deirdre was approaching the pair from a few floors below. She had
combed through all of the places where she and Shasti used to train, and
this looked to be the winner. A vicious smile crossed her face.
She remembered the day she'd been awakened. She asked about Shasti,
and had been told the _real_ truth. All of Shasti's friendship, all her
feelings and emotions had been a lie. The tape of her original self
dying, shot in the back by Shasti, was played for her over and over
again. She began to realize just how much she had been betrayed, and
that hatred fueled her training.
Jim told her that she had been brought back solely to kill Shasti
once and for all. The fact that she had been cloned only as a tool of
vengeance sometimes bothered her, but she let the vengeance overwhelm her
mind until the thought went away.
She had retrained. It hadn't taken long, as all of her old memories
were still there, up until the LaCombe mission. She went over strategy,
focusing on holo captures of Shasti's criminal antics. The more she saw
the deranged criminal on screen, the more she hated her. Shasti had
become her life, morning noon and night, repeatedly going over the ways
in which she could be killed. Brought to justice first, oh yes, but then
Deirdre would see that Shasti's death was slow and painful.
Deirdre stopped suddenly in agony, desperately trying not to cry
out. Her head throbbed. *This is probably the worst one yet*, she
thought. Ever since she'd been awakened, she'd had to deal with these
tormenting migraines. Jim had explained them away as a byproduct of the
cloning, and mentioned that killing Shasti would probably get rid of
them. But that thought only comforted her a bit. There were times when
she would be walking through the halls, only to scream in agony as a
white-hot knife of pain lanced through her head.
This had not endeared her to the other agents. There wasn't anyone
on Pacifica who knew her past, so they had no idea of the torment she had
gone through. They merely saw an agent intent on revenge who seemed to
be having psychotic episodes. They didn't understand her at all. She
wasn't mad, she just got these headaches.
Everything would be all right as soon as she killed Shasti. That
was something she had to believe. That all of the trauma, her past
memories, her betrayal, her pain and fury, would vanish as soon as Shasti
was dead.
As Deirdre silently ascended to the floor below their old training
grounds, she repeated the same thing over and over. Kill Shasti, and
everything would be all right.
It was something that was getting harder and harder to believe.
***
Jim stared at the screen. He'd been tracking Deirdre, but she had
faded out, just as Shasti and Cory had. Wherever they were, it was
somewhere that 3WA did not have eyes or ears, and that bothered Jim.
The other thing that bothered him was the fact that Deirdre was
still not ready for this. He hadn't expected DeFeo and his agents to
actually capture Shasti, so he was somewhat unprepared. Deirdre still
had memories of her friendship with Shasti, memories that were playing
havoc with her head. He had emphasized to her the importance of killing
Shasti before she left, but he was still unsure of whether Deirdre would
be able to do it.
Luckily, he had another backup plan. Deirdre had been Jim's plan -
simple, effective and subtle. But this backup was Jimmy's idea. Jimmy
enjoyed wreaking havoc. Still, the situation had almost gotten out of
control, and Jim couldn't see any other options.
Closing his eyes, he allowed Jimmy to surface.
Suddenly, he smiled brightly. "This is going to be cool!" Jimmy
said to himself. He turned to his computer. "How many agents from the
graduating class of 2136 do we have within a few hours' travel?"
The computer answered. "There are currently 14 such agents on or
near Pacifica. All are currently available, save for agents Kei and
Yuri, who cannot be located on the scanners."
Jimmy almost frowned. "I thought they despised Shasti as much as I
did. I do hope they're not trying to betray us. Hmmm...recall the other
agents, and try to find the Lovely Angels as soon as possible. Something
has come up."
Jimmy turned from the computer, his eyes shining. He was going to
enjoy this...
***
Shasti and Cory had moved, and were now discussing bits of strategy.
Cory was relieved to be back in real gravity again. "I think that if we
keep to these corridors," Shasti was saying, "we should be able to get
about three buildings away from the shipyards. That should give us
enough time to make a getaway, they'll be caught off guard."
Cory frowned. "Won't they have guards all around the shipyards
anyway? We're going to be seen no matter what."
Shasti looked at Cory. "A certain amount of force is going to be
necessary in order to get out of here. It's a choice of kill or be
killed."
Cory didn't like the sound of that. Shasti had been sounding more
and more matter-of-fact as they planned, and Cory got the feeling that
Shasti had buried herself in another personality.
However, before she could say anything, a voice came from the
darkness, causing them to freeze.
"Gee, what an intriguing question? Kill or be killed? It's, like,
such a brain twister! But y'know, I think I'll choose to kill. I mean,
if that's okay with you. After all, you did, like, kill me in the first
place."
Cory began to panic. She recognized that voice from the tapes; it
was Deirdre, right down to the Val-speak. But Deirdre was dead! She'd
just spent a whole day convincing Shasti that Deirdre was dead! Damn
3WA, what did they think they were pulling? She glanced over at Shasti,
and stopped dead.
Shasti had dropped her gun. She had her hands up to her face, and
appeared to be gibbering a constant stream of nonsense.
"ohdeirdreshescometogetmeohgodimdamnedimsosorry".
The figure stepped out from the shadows. It did indeed appear to be
Deirdre, right down to the last detail. The only thing that would make
anyone question her was the hatred in her face, as she stared at Shasti.
"Well, what's the matter, _partner_? Like, aren't you planning on
taking another shot at me? After all, you killed me once already, you
little bitch, what's wrong with a second time?"
Cory needed to do something, and fast. Shasti's gun was still in
front of her, but there was no way Cory could grab it without getting her
head blown off. She could run, but didn't want to leave Shasti in the
hands of what appeared to be her dead partner.
Suddenly the decision was made for her. Shasti almost shrieked as
she fell to the ground in front of Deirdre, prostrating yourself. "Oh,
Deirdre, thank God you're alive! Oh, what have I done, I killed you, and
now you hate me? Oh, please, kill me!"
Cory almost cried. Shasti had finally snapped, and because of it
they were going to die. She started to go for the gun anyway, reasoning
that she wasn't going to accept her fate lying down. However, Deirdre
didn't appear to notice her at all, instead looking down at Shasti with
an incredulous expression.
"Why aren't you trying to kill me? Dammit, you did it once already!
You shot me in the back; you betrayed me! Why...WHY AREN'T YOU TRYING TO
KILL ME?!" Deirdre was sweating and appeared to be in great pain.
Shasti's response was to rise up and hug Deirdre, putting the gun
between them. "Oh, Deirdre, I love you. Please, let me make it up to
you. Now that you're not dead, I can spend the rest of my life making up
for my mistakes." Shasti looked at the gun that was between them.
"Unless you want to kill me now. You have every right, if you want."
And with that, Shasti pulled the gun to her heart and closed her eyes.
Cory's eyes closed as well, not wishing to see the death of someone
she had come to call a friend. She wasn't particularly anxious to see
her own death, either, and just prayed that it was quick. She tensed as
she heard a scream.
But the scream wasn't Shasti's. Deirdre was on her knees, clutching
at her head in agony. Shasti had put her arms around her, demanding to
know what was wrong. Deirdre's only response was to scream one final
time before lapsing into unconsciousness.
There was silence for several seconds. Cory was the first to break
it, running to the spot where Shasti's gun still lay. "Thank God, I
can't believe we actually made it through that," she said, picking up the
weapon. "C'mon, they may have a tracer on her. Let's get out of here
before she wakes up."
Shasti was lying by Deirdre's side, and seemed to be staring into
space. When she finally spoke, her voice was totally calm and collected.
"The tracer, if there is one, won't be able to pick us up. We're still
safe from any surveillance." She got to her knees and began to look
Deirdre over. "She appears to have collapsed due to severe head pains.
From the look of things, I would guess that 3WA has attempted to
brainwash her."
Cory was both astonished and disturbed by this almost complete
recovery from Shasti. "But why isn't she dead?"
Shasti frowned. "I'm not sure. I'd need more evidence. Right now,
our goal is to get to those ships. It's not going to be easy, especially
now that we've got another person."
Cory nearly had a heart attack. "WHAT?!?! You must be out of your
mind! She's trying to kill us! When she wakes up, what makes you think
that she won't try again?"
Shasti looked at Cory coolly. "She probably will. The fact that
she was unable to do so earlier makes me think that this might actually
be Deirdre, instead of some 3WA plot. And for that reason, we are taking
her with us. All four of us agree on this. I would sooner abandon _you_
that leave her behind again." She got to her feet, hefting Deirdre in a
fireman's carry. "However, I'm not going to abandon either of you. We'd
better get going. I'll need you to watch for signs of attack, as I've
got my hands full. Can you handle a gun?"
Cory blinked, thrown off by the question. "Not really. Am I
talking to Shasti or am I talking to her Investigator persona?"
Shasti didn't even blink. "Shasti is currently unable to cope with
current events, so she has retreated, leaving me in her place. I will be
in charge until we get to the shipyards, where the Warrior will take
over. Then, once we have escaped, you may attempt to return Shasti to
her - _my_ former self." She paused for a moment. "Assuming it isn't
too late."
***
Three stories above, another pair were listening in on this
conversation.
Kei was curious. "If she's so confident that they can't be heard,
how come we can hear them?"
Yuri was all business, moving along quickly with her gun out.
"First of all, they're looking for bugs in the room, and we've bugged
Cory herself. Secondly, we can hear them because we're so close. We're
pretty far down in the bowels of 3WA; I imagine we're probably off their
sensors as well."
Kei also had her weapon drawn, but her eyes were wandering around
the area. "Yeah, this is the middle of nowhere, isn't it? I didn't
realize that 3WA had this many back passages. Have you ever been here
before?"
"No," Yuri responded, "which makes it much more difficult to follow
them. And I suppose it makes sense. Rather than constantly tear down,
the 3WA simply built their new facilities around the old ones. Much
cheaper. Also rather stupid, as it leaves a hole in their security big
enough to drive a truck through."
Kei decided to raise the subject that they'd been avoiding. "Do you
believe them?"
"I don't know."
Kei was surprised; until recently, Yuri had been convinced that this
was another ploy of Shasti's, with Cory as an unwitting accomplice.
"What changed your mind?"
Yuri scowled. "I haven't changed my mind yet. But...several things
that she's doing make no sense unless they're at least telling some of
the truth. I'm still not ready to believe them completely, though." She
turned towards her partner. "Are you?"
Kei shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, Yuri, but I do. I just
can't believe that Shasti is that good an actor. It's hard to make up
that kind of pain."
Yuri smiled slightly. "Then what do you think we should do?"
"Confront them. This time, without flying off the handle like we
did last time. If she's lying, then we still have the upper hand, and
can probably take her. If she's telling the truth..." Kei stopped.
"That's precisely what I've been thinking. If she's telling the
truth, then what? Do we let her get away with the years of criminal
rampages and killings? Do we let her get away with what she did to us?
To Deirdre?"
Kei nodded towards the recorder. "According to that, Deirdre's
alive."
"That's the other thing that's worrying me."
***
The agents entered the room and looked at each other with a
combination of happiness and confusion. On the one hand, they were happy
to see each other. On the other hand, it was rare to call in a dozen
agents for one assignment, and rarer still that they all have graduated
from the same class.
While they were catching up on each other's news, Jimmy entered. He
surveyed the room, delighted that everyone had arrived. He then frowned.
Almost everyone. The Lovely Angels were not here, and the computer could
not find them, even though records showed they had not left Pacifica.
This was going to be a problem.
Jimmy sighed. He had liked Kei and Yuri. Oh well, if he was going
to have three people killed, what difference did it make if he added two
more?
"Could I have everyone's attention please?" he asked. The room
began to quiet down as the agents went into professional mode.
"I'm sure you're all wondering what you're doing here. We have a
slight problem. By now you've all been briefed on 3WA's little child in
the attic, former Agent Shasti." A mutter rolled through the room. They
all knew what had happened to Shasti, and the criminal life she had
subsequently embarked upon.
Jimmy smiled. He knew that the agents had _not_ been informed of
Shasti's recovery, that still being top secret until its success was
assured. "We have a situation. Shasti is on Pacifica now. We don't
know how she got here, and we can't tell where she is. But we do know
that she plans to cripple our ships, and perhaps even more." He sighed.
Might as well make it look realistic. "For reasons unknown, she has
obtained a clone of her former partner, Agent Deirdre."
The agents were shocked. Cloning was almost unheard of these days.
3WA was attempting to perfect it, but there hadn't been any major
breakthroughs. They were also a little disturbed. Deirdre had trained
some of them in logic (the benefits of having a computer in her mind),
and her death had hit them hard. To see her memory desecrated like this
made them furious.
Jimmy went on, knowing that this would be the tricky part. "She has
also abducted a journalist, Cory Emerson, again for reasons known only to
herself."
There seemed to be no limits on surprises today. Cory was also well
known to the agents, through her exploits with the Angels. Both Kei and
Yuri had praised her, and called her a good friend. And those two had
trouble making friends, so she must have really been something.
"Unfortunately, as you know, Shasti's existence is still one of
3WA's big secrets. It is unfortunate that this woman was dragged into
the middle of this, but we cannot let anyone, especially a journalist,
find out about Agent Shasti. For that reason, you assignment is to stake
out the shipyards, and when she arrives, kill them."
They reacted pretty much as he had expected. One of them, Clarisse,
raised her hand.
"Sir, we have no objection to killing Shasti, and if Deirdre has
been cloned to Shasti's specifications, I think she should be eliminated
as well. But I see no reason why we need to kill Miss Emerson. Surely
there are other alternatives. She's remained silent about 3WA business
before."
"Shasti is bigger than both Kalevala and Tertius. We cannot afford
to let her loose with that knowledge in her head."
Another agent piped up. "Well, can't we erase her memory? It's
been done before..."
Jimmy smirked. If only they knew what an excellent segue that was.
"It's never been completely successful. Shasti was one of the first we
tried it on, and her memories returned fairly quickly." Deirdre too, he
didn't add. "The subconscious mind always remembers. The only way to do
it would be to wipe out her entire mind, which would have the same effect
as killing her."
The others shivered. Clarisse, nevertheless, stood her ground.
"Sir, I refuse to kill an innocent civilian. At the worst, we'll have to
keep her here. Why not make her an agent? Her past has proven she has
the abilities."
Jimmy was impressed. It almost made him regret what he was about to
do. "No, I'm sorry, but there is no other choice. Now, how many of you
object to this assignment?"
Everyone raised their hand. Oh well, he should have guessed.
"I'm sorry to hear that. It makes what I have to do that much
harder." And with that, he pressed a button on the desk. Immediately
the room was filled with a high-pitch tone, and the agents found that
they couldn't move. "You see, I told you the truth. It's impossible to
erase someone's memory without annihilating their mind. Unfortunately, I
need you all to be focused on this assignment. Luckily, I had a new
personality loaded into your mind when you graduated. It should be
perfectly capable of performing the assignment."
He grinned widely; now he could drop the pretext. "This will, of
course, have the side effect of totally erasing your own personalities,
but I think you'll admit, it's for a good cause."
He looked at the agents, savoring the moment. Their eyes were able
to move, and he watched as they pleaded with him. Some of them were even
crying. Then they slowly glazed over, and gradually died. As this
happened, the new personality took over. A dozen pairs of eyes came back
into focus, filled with rage and hate. The agents were now gone; in
their place were shells to do Jimmy's bidding.
Jimmy smiled. "You all understand your assignment." They all
nodded. He looked around the room one last time. Still not here. Oh
well. "And please add to your execution list Agents Kei and Yuri."
The others nodded. They no longer needed a reason.
"And now I think you'd better go to the shipyards and prepare."
They nodded once more, and filed out without a word.
Shasti was good, Jimmy mused. Most of his pawns would probably be
killed. But he didn't think she could escape all of them, especially
with the training he had uploaded into them.
Jimmy grinned. That _was_ fun.
***
Deirdre slowly returned to consciousness. She had the strangest
feeling that she was forgetting something. Now, what was it...
Oh, yes.
"DIE!!!" Deirdre shouted, spinning out of Shasti's grip. She
quickly attempted to grab the woman in a headlock. Shasti slipped out of
it and backed up against the wall. "Cory, get behind me. I'm going to
try to get through this without bringing the Warrior personality up."
Cory scrambled behind Shasti for cover. "Why can't you just
confront her as yourself?" If this kept up for much longer, Cory
thought, there wouldn't be a 'self' left in Shasti.
"With Deirdre in the condition she is, I need to be at my best. My
'self' is currently attempting to recover from the shock of Deirdre's
appearance." She ducked as Deirdre attempted a spin kick to her head,
missing Shasti by millimeters. "Until then, this is the best option
available."
Deirdre was getting sick of this. "They told me that you'd been
cured! Guess it didn't hold up, hm? Should have guessed, after all,
you're not a real human...AAAAIIIGGHH!!!" Once again, her head shot
through with agonizing pain. She stumbled and almost fell.
Shasti looked down at her with a compassionate look. "Deirdre, 3WA
has obviously done something to you. If we could get to a ship, I could
try to..."
Deirdre regained her feet. "Try to finish me off? No thanks!" She
lashed out with a hard punch, catching Shasti under the chin. The impact
wasn't much, but it did serve to bring Shasti's Warrior personality to
the fore.
"Shit...that hurt..." Shasti mumbled.
Deirdre sneered again. "Ah, we see the warrior now, do we? I've
been waiting for you. You were the one that killed me in the first
place, weren't you?"
Shasti flinched. "Yes, I was."
Cory felt the need to interrupt. "While you were under the
influence of LaCombe."
Shasti quickly shook her head. "No! Fuck LaCombe! I am going to
take responsibility for my own actions. _I_ killed Deirdre. I have to
accept the consequences." She looked her partner in the eye. "And
that's why I'm not going to do it again. No matter what."
Deirdre's eyes hardened, and she reached out to grab Shasti's gun.
Shasti quickly reversed the handle and handed it to her. Cory decided
that now would be an excellent time to curl into a ball and whimper.
Deirdre pushed the trigger. But just as the gun fired, she ripped
it away, letting it impact the wall. Clutching her temples, she slid to
the ground again.
Shasti went to her side, back in her Investigator personality.
"She's passed out again. She appears to be fighting herself for some
reason."
Deirdre was muttering to herself. "Have to kill her...no...she's my
best friend..."
Shasti looked down at her, smiling warmly, then hefted her over one
shoulder. "Come on. Let's try and make up for lost time."
Cory noticed the smile. "I thought that the Investigator was the
cold, clinical one of the group."
Shasti looked at Cory closely. "That's true. But all four of us,
and the Central Mind, all loved Deirdre as our closest friend. That was
the one thing that never varied."
A voice came from the side corridor. "How can we be sure of that?"
Feeling very frustrated, Cory turned. She was greeted by the sight
of Kei and Yuri pointing guns at the three of them. Cory slumped,
putting her head in her hands. "I know I've said this before, but this
is the worst day of my life."
Shasti tensed. She didn't want to fight the Angels, but she would
if they tried to impede the three of them. "Deirdre needs to get medical
attention. Please let us pass."
Yuri didn't back down. "Answer the question. How can we be sure
that those are your true feelings? That you're not just going to kill
Cory and Deirdre when you escape? That's something you've done time and
again."
Shasti looked down. "That's true. I don't really have anything to
convince you. I just...Social, please." Shasti shuddered, and when she
looked up there were tears in her eyes. "Please believe me. I would
sooner kill myself than Deirdre. Back then I was...LaCombe introduced a
lot of new concepts into my mind. Concepts I wasn't ready to handle. It
took the removal of his personality for me to realize how wrong those
were. How horribly I was acting. But there's just me now. And I would
_never_ hurt Deirdre." She looked down and smiled. "Or Cory." She
looked up again. "Or the two of you. I can never make up for what I did
to you. To the whole galaxy. But I can spend the rest of my life
trying." Shasti had recovered somewhat, and smiled faintly. "I'm sorry
I can't offer you more than that."
Yuri frowned. But before she could speak, a voice cut her off.
"That's all right, Shasti. We do believe you," Kei said, lowering
her weapon. "And it's good to have you back."
Shasti grinned, and then looked at Yuri, who had not lowered her
gun.
Kei noticed this too. "Yuri, come on. You're just being stubborn."
Yuri sighed. "All right. I believe her, too." She looked up with
a serious look. "But I expect you to practice what you preach, Shasti.
It will take years to make up for the crimes you committed, the lives you
took. You may not be able to repay them personally, but you will pay
them back by your thoughts and deeds. And I will be watching you to make
sure."
Shasti looked down, flushing. "Of course."
Yuri lowered her gun. "Good." And with that, she reached out and
hugged Shasti. "Nice to have you back."
***
"Do you think we have _enough_ hardware now?" Cory was buried under
the weight of several pulse rifles.
"I hope so. We've encountered no resistance at all. That worries
me." Shasti replied.
The shipyards lay before them. In the distance lay the sleek frame
of the _Lovely Angel_. It seemed miles away to them. The shipyards
appeared deserted, which was a bad sign. There had been no one at the
armory either. Daltrey was toying with them.
Shasti frowned. She thought her Warrior persona would be able to
handle everything. Dammit, this was going to be harder than she thought.
She'd need the Investigator on the case too in order to stand a chance.
Sighing, she turned to the others.
"Here's the plan, unless anyone can think of anything better. Kei
and Yuri will guard Cory, and I will guard Deirdre. Cory, you will be
responsible for getting Deirdre onto the ship as fast as possible. If
there is any resistance, remember, they probably have orders to kill at
least me and Cory, and possibly all of us. And we'd better disarm
Deirdre, just in case."
Cory hmphed. "You realize this is all supposition. We don't even
know that they're after us."
Shasti looked down at Deirdre sadly. "I'd say there's a pretty good
chance."
Suddenly the PAs burst to life. "Shasti! This is the 3WA! Come
out quietly, and we guarantee that no harm will come to anyone else."
Shasti turned to the others. "Anyone believe them?"
Kei grinned. "I do. That's Clarisse. She's one of our best
friends. Let me handle this, things just got a lot brighter." Kei
stepped out into the open. "Clarisse! It's Kei! Everything's -- "
Shasti slammed Kei down to the ground, just in time to avoid a shot
that would have taken off her head. Yuri stared in horror.
"Clarisse? What are you doing? It's us?" That just earned another
shot from the wings.
Suddenly, bedlam broke out. A dozen agents came charging out, guns
blazing. Shasti managed to drag Cory and Deirdre to cover, but Kei and
Yuri remained behind.
"What's the matter with you? Why are you doing thAAARGH!" Kei
screamed as she was hit in the shoulder by a plasma beam. Whimpering,
she fell to the ground.
Shasti fired back, hitting one of the agents in the head. She went
down, but that still left eleven. Moreover, the agents appeared to be
abandoning the Angels and targeting Shasti first. Things were beginning
to look very bad.
Cory was not helping. She was alternating between screaming and
babbling, talking about how she must have offended a major god to end up
with a life this bad. At least she'd managed to hold on to the weapons.
"Cory!" Shasti interrupted. "I need help! Grab a gun!"
Cory looked at the gun as though it was poison. "I can't hit
anything!"
Shasti handed her a gun. "You don't need to with this gun. Just
aim for the right time zone." And with that, she turned back to the
shooting.
Cory stared at the gun, then noticed an agent coming at her with
murder in her eyes. She screamed and fired. The agent exploded,
showering Cory with blood. "AAAAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed.
Shasti looked over for a brief second. "Oh, yeah, don't fire those
things in close proximity. Long-range targets only." She had taken out
two more, but there were still eight of them. Kei and Yuri had at last
chosen to stop trying to reason with them, but were still refusing to
shoot at them. What else could possibly go wrong?
"Shasti...I have to...please...I HAVE TO KILL YOU!" came a voice
from behind them. Deirdre seemed to be in great pain, yet had still
gotten a gun and was pointing it at Shasti.
Cory wanted to scream. Why did this keep happening? They were just
postponing their inevitable deaths. Here I am, dying like a coward
behind a stack of crates. I don't want to die like this...
She looked up again, at Deirdre menacing Shasti while the agents
destroyed more of their cover.
"Nooooo!" she screamed, leaping onto Deirdre's back. Deirdre would
normally have just flung her into the bulkhead, but was still in great
pain from her programming, so there was a struggle. Cory was losing it,
though.
"Dammit, how do we get this woman on our side? Box of chockies and
some sweet talk?" Cory finally lost the battle and was flung against the
wall where she slumped to the floor, dazed.
Shasti had gotten an idea, however. She grabbed Deirdre and swung
her around, looking her straight in the eyes. "Deirdre, computer
personality! Now!" she said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
In her current condition, Deirdre simply accepted the order, and
reached back into her mind. Slowly, she began to shut down all of her
emotional brain patterns and connections, calling on the computer that
was built into her mind. And with that, the moral and ethical dilemma
that had been plaguing her and causing her pain died away, leaving behind
a purely logical Deirdre.
She quickly took in the situation, realizing that any problems
between her and her partner must wait for a more convenient time. She
took out two more of the homicidal agents. "What's our situation here,
Shasti?"
"I was hoping you could tell me that, Deirdre. Ready to move, on
three." The last of their cover was vanishing. Shasti hefted Cory,
still groggy, to a standing position. "We'll keep Cory between us at all
times. One...two...THREE!" They quickly ran towards the _Angel_, taking
out two more agents. It took all of Cory's willpower to keep up with
them.
Deirdre looked back, to see Kei and Yuri also moving to new cover,
but having difficulty, as they refused to fire back. "Why are the Angels
not firing on our opponents?"
"They're not going to fire on their friends. It's going to get them
killed."
Deirdre turned to look at the others. "The agents were presumably
sent by Jim Daltrey, or more likely Jimmy. In that case, they are no
longer the same people. Jim does not believe in leaving anything to
chance, and Jimmy delights in needless cruelty. The most probable answer
is that they are mindwiped, in which case there is no way of getting them
back. They are effectively dead."
Shasti took out two more agents, which freed up their party. "How
do you know this?"
Deirdre looked at Shasti coolly. "Daltrey trained me after cloning
my body. I had much chance to study both personalities, though this is
the first chance I have had to think clearly about it."
Shasti glanced back. There was only one left, and she was still
menacing the Angels. "Come on, let's go back for them."
Meanwhile, Kei was near tears. Her shoulder was in agony, and the
look of hatred and loathing on Clarisse's face was horrifying to see.
"Why are you doing this?" she wailed.
Clarisse didn't answer, but decided that attempting to drag them out
into the open had gone on long enough. They didn't seem to want to fire
at her, so she decided to kill them in hand to hand combat. She leaped
for Yuri, dragging her to the ground.
Yuri barely had time to react before a punch nearly broke her jaw.
She tried to fight back, but memories of her friendship with Clarisse
spoiled it. Clarisse fought dirty, though, grabbing Yuri and slamming
her against the bulkhead, breaking her arm. Yuri slumped to the ground,
dazed.
Clarisse giggled, and her lips twisted into a sneer. "Now, traitor,
it's finally time to die." She advanced on Yuri.
Before Clarisse could reach her, though, a shot blew out her chest
cavity, and another took out her head. What remained of Clarisse fell to
the ground.
Yuri looked up, expecting to see Shasti, but was instead stunned to
find Kei standing there, holding her gun. Kei still had a look of shock
on her face, with a tinge of horror as well.
"I killed her. Yuri, I killed Clarisse..."
Yuri tried to respond, but was cut off by Shasti. "Come on, you
two. Daltrey's not going to sit there and wait for us to escape, let's
get out of here!"
"How right you are." The voice came from the entrance bay behind
them. Shasti turned to see a man standing there pointing a gun at her.
"Daltrey, I presume," she said. "Am I talking to Jim or Jimmy?"
Daltrey grinned. "Jimmy at the moment. I wanted this to be
special, and Jim doesn't have my flair for the theatrical."
"Lucky for me," Shasti remarked. "Jim would have simply shot me."
"And which one of you am I talking to?" Jimmy asked.
Shasti grinned right back at him. "Just me, Jimmy. Just Shasti."
A twinge of rage passed over Jimmy's face, but it was soon gone. He
smiled and said, "Now, isn't this the point where I explain that I've
always hated you, and all this was just a quest to satisfy my twisted
thirst for revenge?"
"Could be. Is it true?"
"As a matter of fact it is, but I think it lacks a certain je ne
sais quoi. I do wish we had a sawmill around. Or a pendulum."
While Shasti and Jimmy bantered, Cory and Deirdre were watching from
near the _Angel_. "This could be dangerous. Jimmy is quite capable of
performing the most irrational acts. He will be especially upset since
both his mindwiped agents and I have failed."
Cory was still not used to this new side of Deirdre. She'd read
about it, but seeing what was basically a human computer in front of her
took some getting used to. Suddenly she thought of something. "Did
Jimmy have you bugged, Deirdre?"
"Of course," Deirdre replied. "However, the device was damaged when
you fought with me below."
Cory was on a roll now. "And before that, we were out of its range.
Deirdre, what if Jimmy doesn't know that you're on our side now? What if
he still thinks that you're brainwashed to kill Shasti?"
Deirdre paused to consider the matter. "There is a problem. Jimmy
will see me in my computer persona and know that I am no longer under his
influence."
"Then cut loose! You know that you've been living a lie, so you're
not about to go back to being homicidal!"
"No, but I will fall unconscious. When I come down from this state,
I need recuperation time."
Cory's brow knitted. "You can't act emotional in this stage,
right?"
"That is correct."
"Can you _look_ emotional? Narrow your eyes."
Deirdre did so.
"Great. Now, clench your teeth, and make your jaw vibrate..."
After seeing the results, Cory noted, "Well, it wouldn't fool
anybody for long, but hopefully it'll give you enough time..."
Meanwhile, Jimmy was still bantering with Shasti. It was beginning
to annoy her. "Why aren't you shooting at me?"
Jimmy smiled inanely. "Where's the fun in that? No, I want to make
you feel pain first. Believe me, Shasti, you'll be the last to die." He
then looked over Shasti's shoulder. "Or perhaps not. Deirdre, I thought
they'd killed you."
"No." Said through her clenched teeth, Deirdre hoped that it
sounded appropriately menacing.
"Well, I can hardly think of a more appropriate death. Deirdre,
time to kill Shasti. Why not shoot her in the back?"
Shasti paled, and turned. She saw Deirdre pointing a gun at her,
her face filled with...hate? What was going on here?
Deirdre suddenly dropped the pose and relaxed. She turned and fired
at Jimmy with the pulse laser, putting a hole through his chest. His
face twitching in surprise, he slumped to the floor.
Deirdre and Shasti walked over to the corpse. After verifying his
death, Deirdre frowned. "I am sorry, Jimmy, but while in this mode I
cannot offer an appropriate rejoinder to commemorate your death. Shasti,
would you like to try?"
Shasti kicked the body. "No. Why should he deserve one?" She
looked over at the Angels, who were still staring at the body of
Clarisse. Kei's shoulder was still bleeding, and Yuri appeared to have a
broken arm. Then she heard the shouting coming from the corridors.
Apparently the rest of 3WA had finally realized that something was going
on.
Deirdre turned to Shasti. "I do not think we should trust them."
Shasti smiled at her partner. "The only people I trust are right
here." She walked over and moved Kei and Yuri away from the body. "Come
on, let's get out of here before they decide to question us. They'll
probably bring in another smart-ass journalist to do it."
"HEY!" Cory shouted. "I heard that! If it hadn't been for..." Cory
paused as she took in the tone of speech. "Shasti? Is that you? Not
one of your personalities?"
Leaving the Angels with Deirdre, she went over and hugged Cory.
"It's me, Cory. Shasti. And I think it'll stay that way this time."
***
After entering the ship, Deirdre rolled her eyes up and collapsed.
Shasti caught her as she fell.
"What happ-oh, she turned off her computer mode, right?" Cory
observed.
"Right. Let's get out of here. Yuri, can you -- no, apparently you
can't." Yuri was still staring straight ahead, as was Kei. "Cory, do
they still have that big cat?"
At that moment, Mughi leapt into the cabin, knocking Cory to the
floor. "Hey, stop it! Hee hee - stop!"
Shasti frowned. "Can it pilot the ship?"
Mughi turned and looked at Shasti, then got into attack position.
He was stopped by Cory. "Wait, Mughi, it's okay. She's all right now.
There's no danger."
Mughi growled an acknowledgment, but gave Shasti a dirty look.
Cory looked apologetically at Shasti. "Sorry."
Shasti smiled wanly. "That's okay. It's probably a look I'll need
to get used to. Ask if Mughi can pilot us out of here." A pounding came
from the airlock doors, with faint shouting. "Soonish."
"Why can't you pilot us out of here?" Cory asked.
Shasti looked down at the body in her arms. "I want to be at
Deirdre's side when she wakes up." And with that, she moved to the other
room, closing the door behind her.
Cory was left with the Angels. Mughi had been trying to elicit a
response from them, with no luck. "Kei? Yuri? It's over now. Jimmy's
dead, and we're leaving."
Kei blinked, and seemed to come back into focus. "Leave? We can't
leave yet!"
Cory blinked. "Why not?"
Kei grinned maniacally. "We haven't blown up half the planet yet!
Right, Yuri?"
Yuri also had a manic look on her face. "Right! I mean, we're the
Dirty Pair! We've already taken out some of our closest friends today,
why not wind it up by taking out the planet!" She started giggling.
Kei laughed. "After all, killing millions of people is what we do
best!" They both pounded each other on the back, laughing hysterically.
Cory watched them in horror, not knowing if this had caused them to snap.
Suddenly the tenor of the hysterics changed, and the Angels both
started to cry, great heaving sobs that drove them down to the ground.
Cory relaxed. They had both been in shock, but seemed to be recovering.
At least they were beginning to mourn. Whether they could accept what
they had had to do...well, time would tell. She quickly put a medpatch
on Kei's shoulder, which stopped the worst of the bleeding, and made a
makeshift sling for Yuri's arm. "Come on, cat, let's get out of here
before they cut their way in." Cory and Mughi headed for the cockpit,
leaving Kei and Yuri holding each other, weeping.
***
Deirdre woke slowly, letting herself ease into consciousness. At
times like this, she often wished that she didn't have total recall. She
would have loved to have forgotten everything that had happened, like
some horrible dream.
"Deirdre? Are you awake?"
So much for it being a dream. Deirdre opened her eyes, not
surprised to find that she was already crying. "Shasti...I am, like,
_so_ sorry..."
Deirdre suddenly found herself enfolded in Shasti's arms. Shasti
too was crying. "Oh, Deirdre, thank god you're all right. I was so
worried that they'd done something else to you." Shasti looked her
friend in the eye. "How do you feel?"
"What do you mean 'how do I feel'? Betrayed, ashamed, repulsed! My
god, Shasti, I tried to kill you! How could...how can you stand to be in
the same room as me?"
"How can you stand to be in the same room as me?" Shasti gently
retorted. "After all, I tried to kill you. I succeeded. Surely that
gives you a reason not to want to speak to me."
Deirdre smiled. "I don't remember it. I'm a clone, y'know? My
last memory is of the physical exam before the LaCombe mission. Then I
woke up and there was Jimmy." Her face darkened. "He...told me what had
happened. But he twisted it...made you look so horrible. And they,
like, did something to my mind...made me focus on my hatred. Shasti, I
don't hate you. You were under LaCombe's influence when you killed me."
Shasti shook her head. "That doesn't excuse it. I'm not going to
blame LaCombe for all my faults. I should have been stronger."
"Then I should have, too. After all, I was just as influenced by
Daltrey as you were by LaCombe. What makes us any different? Shasti,
you were ready to let me kill you. What's more, you took me with you,
even though I was attacking you. You trusted me, Shasti. Why shouldn't
I trust you, too?"
The two of them hugged again. "From now on, we both trust each
other with our lives. No matter what." Shasti replied.
The door opened. "Um...we appear to have an incoming message."
Shasti was amazed. "You're answering the communicator?"
Cory looked uncomfortable. "No. It just appeared on the screen and
asked to speak to you. It says it's the Central Computer."
***
Kei and Yuri had finally fallen asleep when the three of them
entered the room. The icon of the Central Computer filled the screen,
appearing as a grinning happy face.
Shasti was anything but happy right now. "What the hell are you
doing calling us up? After what Daltrey tried to do to us, do you think
we'd want anything to do with you?"
If it were possible for an AI to sigh, the CC would have. "No, I
don't. I called to offer you an explanation...and an apology, if you'll
take it."
Cory was just as livid. "How can you possibly explain? We were set
up from the start!"
"Not completely. You really were the best person to get Shasti out
of her shell, Cory. Not even Deirdre could have done it. And DeFeo
genuinely believed that we were helping Shasti with no strings attached.
His death...upset me. But let me backtrack. Shortly after we created
you, Shasti, the 3WA decided to make another multiple-personality agent.
However, because of the problems you had experienced, it was decided to
limit the personas to two. Basically, they would be Warrior/Detective,
and Social/Seducer. In addition, this agent was going to be male. If
all worked out...we were planning on pairing the two of you."
Deirdre scowled. "And what makes you think that either Shasti or I
would have agreed to that?"
"Deirdre, you had only been partners for a little over a month. It
wasn't known how viable the two of you were. In any case, the point
became moot. Shortly afterwards, Shasti, you came back from a case with
your mind in collapse. It took weeks to rebuild you. In doing so, we
discovered you had developed a subconscious. You were a lot more alive
than we thought. Naturally, I decided to pull the plug on the other
agent. Creating life was not an area I wanted to get into...for one
thing, it might make people question my authority."
Cory opened her mouth to make a rejoinder, but Shasti stopped her.
Shasti's face had gone cold. "Go on."
"My orders were disobeyed. Jim Daltrey was never destroyed.
Moreover, most of his training was patterned after yours. He began to
develop an intense curiosity about you...a curiosity that grew to intense
hatred.
"When I found out about Jim, I had him taken to be tested. My worst
fears were confirmed. He too had developed a subconscious. I decided
that the best thing to do would be to put him in the organization on
Pacifica. By this time, Shasti, you had gone rogue, so having him carry
out missions was out of the question. Likewise, terminating him would be
murder. So we left him in middle management. In retrospect, probably
not one of my wiser decisions.
"He was much more shrewd than I had imagined. Despite what most
people believe, I cannot be everywhere. When Jim seemed to be behaving
normally, I concentrated on other matters. That was when Jim created
you, Deirdre. He had been following our cloning attempts with interest,
and suggested that you would be the ideal subject for a test. One of the
things I am happy about is that, despite Jim's attempts to brainwash you,
you are Deirdre. Not merely an imperfect copy. It shows that we are
further along than we imagined."
"I'm, like, _so_ relieved," Deirdre said, a trace of sarcasm in her
voice.
"I should have realized. I should have stopped him. However,
Daltrey had been spending more time as Jimmy. As Jim, he was focused,
but logical, and therefore predictable. Jimmy, however, was completely
insane, which throws predictions out the window."
The CC made a sound like a sigh again. "By the time I realized what
was going on, it was almost too late. Jimmy had mindwiped twelve of our
best agents. Deirdre had been sent out to assassinate you. The most I
could do was damage control. I managed to keep everyone else away from
the shipyards until you could make your getaway. I also convinced Goulet
that the agents in question should be interred with full honors, having
died in the line of duty." By now Kei and Yuri were listening to him as
well, a fact the CC seemed to take note of. "Goulet was entirely
innocent, by the way. He didn't even know who Jimmy really was."
The Angels seemed relieved, but Shasti's face was still cold. "This
is all very lovely, but I don't believe it, unfortunately. When Deirdre
and I were training, you knew everything we were doing. I find it
impossible to believe that you could not be aware of Jimmy's activities.
Why you wanted to do this, I don't know. But you did, and that's all I
need to know. Now kindly get the fuck out of our lives."
The CC's icon frowned, and then disappeared.
"Um...that does leave one problem..." Deirdre announced.
Shasti turned. "What?"
"All four of us have got all these programs and junk in our heads,
y'know, to turn us into psychos? If we don't go back to the 3WA, who's
going to get it out? There aren't any other doctors capable of this
level of treatment."
Cory suddenly felt very cold. "They were very specific about giving
me a medical exam before I went to see Shasti." She looked up, and there
was fear in her eyes. "I wonder what surprises are in my head."
Kei and Yuri were almost shivering, thinking that what happened to
Clarisse and the others could happen to them. Suddenly, Yuri shot to her
feet. "Ishtar!"
The reaction was immediate. Bafflement from Shasti and Deirdre,
relief and a smile from Kei, and total and complete rage from Cory.
"NO! I swore when we left that place that I would _never_ go back
there again? Do you realize what he'll be like when I show up again?
He's bad enough on a normal day, but when he's smug...dammit, I refuse!"
"Would you rather we run around the universe, running from the 3WA,
with a load of murderous cyberware in our heads?"
Cory took a moment to weigh the possibilities. "That's not fair!
You're blackmailing me!"
Yuri, despite her injuries, grinned. "Yep. Sorreee..."
Cory continued to grumble. "God, that's irritating. Almost as
annoying as Deirdre's speech."
"Ex-CUSE me? Like, what's wrong with the way I talk?"
"Nothing, if you're Moon Zappa!" Cory shot back.
Shasti felt things were getting out of hand. "If we could get back
to the point...Yuri, how far away is this doctor?"
Yuri went over to the console, adjusted a strange device that looked
like a gyroscope, and then said, "About six hours." Cory moaned.
"Fine. Mughi, take Kei and Yuri and go the infirmary. Deirdre and
I are going to take the first rest watch. Cory, we'll relieve you in two
hours."
"WHAT?!" Cory looked around, but the Angels had already left. "I
can't fly this ship! I've flown little two-seaters, but not a monster
like this! It's an entirely different kind of flying altogether!"
"It's an entirely different kind of flying," Shasti and Deirdre said
in unison before heading back to the sleeping quarters.
"GET BACK HERE!!" shouted Cory futilely. Giving up, she collapsed
in a chair. "I know I've said this before, but I mean it this time: THIS
IS THE WORST DAY OF MY WHOLE LIFE!!!"
***
The Central Computer was worried.
Shasti was right, of course. It hadn't told them everything. It
couldn't. Things were too fragile right now. It was probably a very
good thing that the CC hadn't mentioned Jimmy. Or what the 3WA was
really planning. The loss of the Lovely Angels would hurt more than
anything else. It could cripple them. The Central Computer couldn't
allow it to happen. Therefore, it left the project in the hands of its
cloning expert.
The Central Computer was _very_ worried.
***
In separate tanks, two forms recognizable as the Lovely Angels
floated serenely. A technician checked on them, then went to report
progress.
"It's better than we hoped. They're up to 90% now, and should be
just as good as the originals."
"Fabulous. And what of the third?"
"Yes...well, she's up to 70%. Um...why are we cloning her, sir?
She's not even a 3WA agent."
"Contingency plans, my good man. After all, we were responsible for
Miss Emerson losing what she described as the greatest story of her
career." Turning, Jimmy Daltrey walked over to the third tank. "And we
have to repay her, of course." The floating body of Cory Emerson stared
back at him blankly. "I predict her career will just _skyrocket_..."
THE END (at least until the sequel)
Long, dull author's notes follow herein:
First of all, here's what I based this on. There was a bit of confusion
with Part One, so I looked back to see _exactly_ what I'd 'lifted'.
1) The Dirty Pair, Kei, Yuri, Mughi, and the 3WA are Haruka
Takachiho's.
2) Deirdre, Shasti, and Cory, as well as the murky motives of the Central
Computer and the 'universe' for this fic are Adam Warren and Toren
Smith's.
3) Shasti's Central Mind concept is Ryan Mathews'. Deirdre's Computer
Mind concept, and Shasti and Deirdre's backstory are Larry Mann's.
Larry's Experiment 101-E is an incredible piece of work. Actually, my
story will probably make a lot more sense if you read his first. Much
of the plot I thought was in Dangerous Acquaintances was in fact in
101-E. In addition, while no plot devices were used, Reunions (Mann
and Mathews) and Missing Angels (Stone) were stylistic influences.
None of these people have given me permission at all. However, a big
thank you to all of them, for creation of some of the best stuff in
anime.
BTW, the ending does _not_, I repeat NOT lead into Ryan Mathews' 'Lovely
Angels Forever'. I have my own plans for these clones...
There are a few unanswered questions and loose ends here. In particular,
there are references to an adventure with Kei, Yuri and Cory that has not
yet been chronicled. The sequel to this story (working title "Won't Get
Fooled Again") will deal with the final battle between Daltrey and our
heroes, as well as flashback to the previous mission.
It is (brace yourselves) a crossover with the Future History of Robert A.
Heinlein. There will be no sex, but I reserve the right to have long
talky sequences that go nowhere. :-)
BTW, did I mention the retcon earlier? I didn't? What a naughty boy I
am! I am no great fan of Fatal But Not Serious. In particular, Warren's
treatment of Cory Emerson in that story inspired this one. Special
mention to Jonathan Blum and John Peel, whose year-long argument has
given me a great background on the history of the retcon.
Now, more thankings. My prereaders, Richard Lawson, Sebastian Weinberg.
Nicholas Leifker, and especially James "Zen" Bateman, are far too good to
me in pointing out grammar, plot holes, etc. Thanks, guys.
In addition, Fred Herriot, David Tai, Jeanne Hedge and Chris Davies also
gave great comments.
The sequel will be a bit. I have another UY:TSY side story to write, and
then a Patlabor. But it's coming.
Lastly, thanks to four guys without whom this fanfic _could not_ have
happened: Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Pete Townshend.
The refs to the albums 'Quadrophenia' and 'Who's Next' are all through
here. The songs 'I'm One', 'Doctor Jimmy', and 'The Real Me' were hugely
influential in the writing of this. Looking forward to the 97 tour,
guys...
(
geocities.com/tokyo)