"AARRRRGGGHH! NOT LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT!"

Lyudmila was starting to see why this 'Alexander Dane' and his Commander did not get along well. The man was a complete wimp! One little compound fracture and...

"GEEEARRGGGG! What? Are you TRYING to make it worse? For God's sake try to avoid tossing me around like a sack of grain!"

Lyudmila and Guy looked up into each other's eyes with a knowing expression. She could see him almost saying 'Would anyone care if we dropped him by mistake?'

She considered it.

"Secuuurity Chief Iiiiingersol." Came a curiously melodic voice from behind her. She turned as it continued. "Ahhh, Doctor Lazarus. We are so sorry to hear of your diiiisaster."

"My *Ungh!* My what?" Alex said, wincing to the... alien she guessed. Though he looked human. Wait, lilting voice, simplistic expressions, awkward posture. These were the Thermians!

Guy rolled his eyes and nudged Alex's shoulder with a knee, causing him to go wide eyed and gasp in pain.

"Ixnay on the pisodeay."

Alex, after he recovered from the pain, looked up at Guy incredulously.

"What? Are you trying to be obfuscating?" Guy looked like he was trying to work out what Alex had just asked, but Lyudmila realized what he was saying.

"He's talking about the... historic document just recorded, Dr Lazarus. The one where you were mixed with human DNA due to a Digitizer incident."

Alex's expression slowly went from anger to realization, to fake sorrow.

"I.. ahh, yeees. That was... a tragedy." He managed, wincing again.

"Our deeeepest condolences Dr Lazarus. But we have come to assist you."

"Assist?"

"Our medical center is configured for you now on the Protector Two."

Alex glanced down at his broken leg, thought of those idiots he'd seen in medbay, and grinned.

"I think that *Ungh* would be an excellent idea." He said, attempting to smile through clenched teeth. "Thank you Malthazar."

"It eeez our honor Dr Lazarus."

"That WAS where we were taking you." Guy said, shaking his head. "I think... Lieutenant Laredo is heading for the flight bay now."

"Our pod is already in the bay. We can transfer him." Malthazar said, and two other Thermians came up and, with some pain, switched with Guy and Lyudmila carrying him. they seemed to show no signs of effort in lifting the aging actor. Oh right. Shape fields. Those weren't their true forms. Aliens, huh.

"Well, take care Alex! Heh, Break a leg!" Guy shouted after him, getting an annoyed grunt from him as a reply.

"Will he be alright?" Lyudmila asked.

"Ah heck yes. Those guys are great at science stuff! They'll have him up and around in no time."

Lyudmila nodded, but couldn't help but wonder. There was something nagging at her about that whole conversation with the Thermians but she couldn't tell what it was.


"Jason?"

Jason turned to see Gwen leaning against the door to his quarters. He put down his electronic 'Tab' they used for notes (He'd actually started making a real, honest to god, Space Log today) and smiled.

"Gwen, ready to go meet the Thermians again?"

"Uh, yeah. I really have fond memories of last time we met. Fire. Explosions. Stupid stompy squishy things. Imminent death. Happy times." She said, smiling broadly.

"Glad you keep perspective on things. So, why the visit?"

Gwen stepped in and closed the door, always a bad sign. She looked furtive.

"We have a problem Jason. I think there may be a saboteur on board."

"Huh?" He managed intelligently.

"The fluctuation we had in the fusion reactor? Fred... I mean Chen said it was some kind of modulation. He thinks it was acting like a beacon to let those Pirates know our course so they could work out where we'd be when we emerged. Not only that, but someone tried to access the comms during the battle and send some kind of message. Luckily the computer, in it's current messed up state, questioned why anyone would want to send a message to the aliens trying to kill us, if it wasn't coming from the bridge. Still haven't figured out where the comms request came from or who made it."

"They were trying to contact the bugs?"

"The Ixians, yes. This makes no sense, unless there is a bug on board with a Thermian shape field generator. Or something similar." Gwen sighed, sitting down on Jason's bed.

"Oh god. That's the last thing we need!" Jason said, remembering a shape shifted Sarris from the last time. "So these Ixians have been to Earth?"

"I don't know. Right now what I've told you is all I've got. Somehow we've been infiltrated. Maybe it isn't a crew member. Maybe it's electronic. Could an alien have... I don't know... Inserted a computer virus into the ship from light years away?"

"Wrong person to ask!" Jason said, holding his hands up. "I've barely got the hang of flying this ship, let alone figuring out how it works! I leave that to Chen and Laliari."

Gwen nervously tapped the bedpost and glanced up at Jason.

"It's still more likely to be someone on board. Some kind of Ixian Impostor. We can't trust anyone Jason. This is like some bad movie, and getting into the realms of a thriller or horror movie than our normal fare. And you said this would be an easy, quick trip."

"Sorry. Didn't take shape-shifting bugs into account."

For once Gwen didn't seem to be blaming Jason. They sat there for a few moments, pondering the situation.

"OK. I say trust none of the assistants or crew. I think we'd notice if one of our own crew had changed, but if the Foundation people had changed before we ever met them... we'd never know. We can't trust them."

"Unfortunately I think you're right. OK, try to get with our crew without letting on to the rest of them what's up. I guess trusting Andre is out of the question?" Gwen nodded firmly, with a dour expression. "Yeah, shame. He might be able to rule out the computer virus theory. OK, you deal with that, I'll take most of the assistants to meet the Thermians. Maybe that'll help you get the word around without it getting out."

Gwen stood up and smoothed out her uniform.

"Yeah. I mean, yes Commander." She actually smiled as she left, though it was a little wan. "Good luck Jason, and don't trust Colson. That guy could hold who knows how many secrets!"

As she left Jason pondered that. Could Colson be the mole? Er... insect? Whatever? Oh this stuff messed with your head!


"It's been a while Malthazar." Jason said, slapping the Thermian on the back as he gave him a man-hug.

Definitely a man-hug. Honestly, he wasn't absolutely certain Thermians had two sexes or not. What that said for Fred and Laliari was anyone's guess. What was worse was that Jason suspected if he told Fred the guy would just shrug and go 'Meh, could be worse'.

"Yes Commander Tagaaaart. We are honored to have you back aboard our vessel one last time before we leave this zone." The collected Thermians all bowed their heads at this and looked suitably sorrowful. "It seems that we were not up to your standards in dealing with the local civilizations. We have no choice but to vacate this area and look for somewhere less... Mmmmm... hazardous to live."

"Malthazar! Come on, you're Thermians! You manage to... er... duplicate our tech in an incredibly short span of time. You helped us overcome Sarris. You've kept your race alive. Surely you can't be giving up?"

Malthazar looked shamed as he stared back awkwardly at Jason, but didn't seem to changing his position either.

"We have come too close to annihilation too many times Commander. This ship is all of our species. We cannot afford to take the risks that you take every daily cycle. Again, I must apologize that we have not matched your efforts."

Jason looked across and Colson, attempting to seek help in bolstering Malthazar's fleeting spirits. Colson seemed to be idly studying his nails with a frown. Damn the man, didn't he have a soul? This was a race's salvation at stake here!

"Look, we have a lot to talk about here, just don't leave the area just yet. I don't want to loose a friend." Jason said, placing his hand firmly on Malthazar's shoulder.

Malthazar turned his head to stare at Jason's hand and seemed to suddenly get water in his eyes.

"Commaaandaaaaar!" He bawled and wrapped Jason in an inexpert hug... Man-hug. Suddenly the other Thermians joined in, also bawling and hugging him in an odd cluster.

"Oh for the love of god." Colson muttered "Can't go five minutes without grandstanding can you Nesmith?"

Max and Andre, standing behind the General, looked up at the back of his head.

"Never 'ad a date." Andre whispered to the engineer, who promptly spluttered a laugh, stifling it as fast as he could. He did manage to get a thoroughly dirty look from Colson with that at least.

A few minutes, and many handkerchiefs, later the group were sitting around the conference table. Jason from the original crew, the Thermians, and the new assistants were all there, though it looked like Colson wished he weren't.

"...and we we'd just build up enough armor for a pass at him when you jumped in and shot him." Jason finished, recapping their side of the recent strife from exiting distortion space to when Malthazar shot the Ixian ship.

"Oh, Commander!" Teb said suddenly sullen. "We had no idea you were dealing with the situation! I apologize for interrupting your tactics!"

"Teb, Teb! Come on, you saved us. Doesn't matter that we were about to open fire ourselves. As ever, it's the thought that counts." He said, the last with a look of scorn at Colson. "Well, anyway, enough of our trip. How have you been doing since we last met?"

More dour faces on the Thermians.

"Twice we attempted to colonize a world as a base, and twice our efforts failed Commander." Malthazar stated. "Mmmmm, it was difficult to continue after loosing thirty five on Loosentiop to marauding Veilderbeats, but on Landwhoop..." Max spluttered into his drink at that planet's name, "... we encountered an alien race we had not seen before. We attempted standard NSEA contact protocol, but the locals were dangerously hostile, and attacked us on sight. We only just escaped the system with out lives."

"I'm sorry to hear that Malthazar, but two bad journey's can't sour you for all contacts... OK, three with Sarris. I'll admit that."

A Knee jammed awkwardly into Jason's leg and Colson glared meaningfully at him. Yeah, right, the 'Trade'.

"Look, maybe we'd better change the subject?" Jason said, staring daggers at Colson. "Our assistants here might benefit from your knowledge Malthazar, and we hoped we might develop a trade."

"Trade?" He said "I was under the impression you were journeying here to allow us access to the rest of your historical documents to assist us when we leave this zone of space?"

"Well, yes. Of course." Jason managed, still glancing at Colson, who annoyingly was staring fixedly at the wall barely even changing expression let alone helping. "However we have some older ships of ours we were considering upgrading recently, and since you've done such a fast job of duplicating our tech, we were wondering if it might be easier for you to upgrade them for us? As an example this ship has been retrofitted with an older model, crude fusion reactor. If you could improve it's functionality it would help a lot." He said, then jerked as he realized he'd forgotten the Tab. "Oh, here. This Tab has the details on the old Dauntless class ships. We're already equipping them with Time Knot drives, but the rest of the systems you could help a lot with. If you could come with us and work on a couple of them we'd appreciate it."

"Of course!" The Thermian's face was practically beaming now, as were most of the others here. "We would be glad to assist you in this. But why can you not upgrade them yourselves?"

"It's, complicated. And political in nature." Jason said, trying to keep a neutral expression. "But if you could help with just these two ships it might spur matters on with other ships in the series."

"Thank you Commander, for letting us repay the vast debt we owe you."

"Good god." Colson whispered. "I can see why most of your crew missed this. I think I'm gonna puke if this goes on much longer!"

"Oh yes, that reminds me." Jason said. "You took... Dr Lazarus in for medical assistance? How is he doing?"

"Ah yes. Dr Lazarus. I was most sorry to hear about the incident. Ever since then we have been attempting to find a solution and we believe we have come as close as we are able."

'Solution? He just had a broken leg!' Jason thought, but managed to keep it to himself as Malthazar escorted him away from the others towards the med center.


"Oh god, what hit me." Alex groaned as he opened his eyes... straight into the beaming face of a female Thermian. "Who the?... Er, where am I?"

"You are in the medical bay on the Protector Two. I am Paliki and it has been my honor to heal you Dr Lazarus."

"Well, better than the interns anyway." He mumbled to himself.

"Al... Dr Lazarus!" Jason said, striding into the Med center. Wait, why was Jason looking at him like that? "You look... much better."

"Ja... 'Quincy'? What's going on?" Alex said, now rather nervous, but still managing to mimic Jason's slip over names. "Last I remember I was being carried on board the Thermian pod."

"Yes... well, you look well."

Again Alex frowned.

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Oh, no reason." Jason said, fixing a smile on his face.

Wait, he did feel a little odd.

"What's wrong with me?" He said, feeling his cheeks nervously.

Paliki smiled broadly.

"You are fine Dr Lazarus, but you may still be under the dulling effect of the anesthetic. Soon you will be able to think properly."

"Think properly?" He said, the frown now seemingly a permanent fixture on his face. "I can think just fi..." His roaming hands had gone to his scalp, and suddenly Alex went white. Fingers traced across ridges, not just some sculpted fake ridges, but ridges he could feel as if they were his own skin! "Wh... what have you done?" He almost whispered.

"There is no need to thank me. Myself, Oyieuo and Lep worked diligently to repair your condition."

Alex gulped.

"You don't mean my leg do you?"

"Oh certainly not. That was easily repaired." She said, still beaming while Jason turned away, whether to wince in sympathetic pain or to resist bursting out laughing was in debate. "No, ever since hearing of your incident with the Digitizer we have attempted to find a way to undo it's effect. The end result may not be perfect, but it is as close as we are able to achieve. I apologize if there is any variance between your current experience and previous ones, but Mak'Tar physiology was not on record so we had to pour over the Historical Records to glean every detail we could."

Alex gaped at her, not able to believe his ears.

"Hhhhh." He managed, panting slightly. "Hhhhhhhhhuuuu." He repeated, his hands slowly raising towards the Thermian doctor.

Jason quickly took his arms and pushed them down to the bed.

"It's OK Dr Lazarus, no need to thank her right now. Besides, I'm sure she had duties elsewhere now she's finished with you?"

Luckily the doctor did have somewhere else to be and smiled, gave one last gush of thanks to Alex and Jason, then departed, leaving a panting, gasping Alex fumbling to feel his forehead.

"Sh... she made me a FREAK!" He gasped, collapsing back to the bed.

"Easy Alex, easy. You heard her. You're still on the anesthetic. Don't strain yourself!"

"Strain myself? STRAIN MYSELF! I'm a sodding alien! I'll never act anywhere else ever again!"

"Well, on the plus side you won't need the ridge makeup any more."

Alex's gaze slowly, imperceptibly slid towards Jason, a look of ice piercing him, and abruptly Jason realized he probably had somewhere else he needed to be too.

Very quickly!