Session 11

Time stood still in the endless Ganymede night.

Faye stared out at the lights sparkling on the dark water against the background reflection of Jupiter. Ships bobbed up and down at anchor, unmanned but unreachable. The breeze caught some papers and tossed them in aimless circles.

She gripped the metal pipe she'd armed herself with tighter even though nothing had changed over the last hours. Inside this impossible pit maze they were isolated from the rest of Morpeus's world. Non-the-less Jet leaned against a streetlamp, his hawk-like eyes on an endless scan back and forth. One side was protected by the deep waters of Ganymede's ocean. The other was protected by the brick building. Motionless, Spike slumped against with Ed still curled into his side. Both of them out cold so deep they weren't even snoring.

"Jet?" Faye kept her voice just above a whisper so as not to wake them. "How long do you think it's been?"

"A few hours."

Shaking her head, she wrung her hands against the pipe. "That's … not what I meant." Although that was important too. Spike had been down for the count the whole time, not even stirring. "How long since we were out in that forest?" The memory of their picnic in the glade was vague.

He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. His eyes flicked to Spike, closing for a moment too long before offering a slow shake of his head.

"Maybe we should keep moving, try to find a doorway of some sort out of here." Faye took a step toward them.

"I don't think we stand of chance of that. If it were that easy we would have found one by now. Besides, they need the rest."

A whimper turned their heads suddenly. Ed, with her eyes clenched tight, fidgeted, her bare feet kicking against the ground. Her hands tangled into Spike's shirt, tugging and clawing it tight against his side, nearly dislodging the buttons.

Faye started toward them when she spied the faint glimmer of Spike's eye cracking open, already fixed on Ed. A moment later Faye froze to the spot as a soft humming filled the air in a lullaby, a melody she had heard every so often, but only when Spike was deeply preoccupied. Ed continued to fuss until Spike added words to the lilting melody. Words that she had never heard before.

"When the shadows lengthen at the end of day

When the night songs call an end to play

Tis time to lie down and close eyes tight

Time, my child, to look to the light

Eyes to the stars in the vast endless sky

Chasing the moonbeams though we don't know why

Heaven's a beacon far up above

And I am your guardian, forever my dove.

Til the break of the day

Chases the shadows far away

So dreamer look to the starlight

And I will be your guide"

With her head still against his chest, Ed smiled, her eyes halfway open. "Mmmm, Spike song always make all the bad things vaporate."

He ran a weary hand through her hair. His eyes still betraying his exhaustion. "They're not real, kiddo. Back on Earth. You know they can't hurt you now."

Slowly she nodded. "That was a long time ago. Ed has seen lots of things."

Kneeling down, Faye cocked her head. That alluring melody, the words left her oddly at peace, like when she was a child in her parent's embrace, only her parents hadn't sung to her. "I've never heard that before." … not on the radio. Only through Spike's distracted humming.

"Ed has." She patted Spike's hand. "He sings it to Ed when she needs to hear it. When the bad bad men come for Ed in her sleep." Blush rose to her cheeks. "Ed tried to learn how to make them go on her own, but can't. Spike makes them leave Ed alone."

Spike took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I doubt you would have heard it, Faye."

There was something about the way he said that. Even in the exhaustion there was a haunted edge to his tone. "Why?"

"My mother used to sing it to me."

Faye stiffened.

Spike opened his eyes, the left one a little moister than when he'd shut it. "I … I don't have many memories of her … but for some reason, … this one song … stuck."

Ed hugged his arm tight. "Ed likes it when it reaches her and pulls her out of the dream."

It struck like a bolt to the chest, Faye narrowed an eye. "What did you say? Spike … could a song do that?"

He blinked blearily. "Do what?"

"Pull us out!"

"Music can do a lot of things." Scratching his head he shrugged. "Maybe, I honestly don't know. But I doubt it if we're all in here. Dammit, stop staring at me as though I have the answers! I'm staggering through this, same as you."

From the lamppost, Jet inclined his chin. "Spike, you created a hole in the wall to reach each of us. Can you make one to the outside?"

He snuffed a laugh. "You think I haven't tried? No. It never leads there. Always somewhere else. And besides, I'm still far too drained to even try something as taxing as that. The best I can manage now is something small."

Another chill ran down Faye's spine, reminding her of going into a firefight with a single bullet in a gun. The pipe in her hand felt inadequate.

Ed tugged on Spike's shirt again, her eyes bright with fear. "Ed wants to go back home. Ed doesn't want to stay here where the bad bad men can reach her."

Not meeting her eyes, Spike stared out at an unfixed point, his hand idly rubbed her back as she trembled. "To be honest, I don't want to be here either, kiddo."

Ed blinked and jerked upright. "Spike … is shivering."

"Spike is worried." To hear him say that, even as a faint whisper, struck Faye.

She had heard him in a rare moment admit his limit before … in the kitchen after wrestling with a robotic dinosaur while he should have been nursing a concussion. For his cocky ass to acknowledge any concern at all … it froze her.

Distantly, Spike's eyes stared off. "There are things … things I never want to see again."

Faye touched his arm. He was shaking. "I thought Pluto … Quidlivun Cavus was your worst. It … isn't?"

He didn't shake his head. He didn't look at her. His eyes just trembled along with the rest of him.

All the memories of him recovering from missions gone not-quite-right came back to her. How unflappable he had appeared to be. What had he gone through before that to steel him so? Her breath caught in her chest. She didn't really know the full truth.

"Hey." Coming closer now, Jet gazed down, worry swimming in his eyes. "Banish those thoughts, pard. We don't know how Morpheus is getting his information or if this guy is even human."

Spike shifted, climbing his way up the brick wall to standing. "Oh, he was human at one time. I have no doubt in my mind about that. That's the only way to understand emotions enough to pull this shit off. He's damn good at what he does."

"He hasn't gotten very far with us." Faye tapped the pipe against her leg as she watched Spike pick up a piece of brick from the debris and toss it up and down in his hand.

"The fact is, he doesn't have to. Being a pest is enough for now. This is something like water torture. The single drop at a time repeated over and over again in the same spot." With a slightly unsteady step, Spike approached the waterfront and hefted the brick shard in his hand, frustration stalked his voice. "He doesn't have us yet, but all he has to do is wait long enough. Believe me, I know something about utilizing patience as a tool. Wearing down the prey, that's what he's doing."

With a swift flick of his wrist he sent it skimming across the calm waters leaving behind ripples that grew until they overlapped … all five of them.

Before Faye could ask, he gripped his right forearm. "We're still alive."

"How is he doing this to us? How is he holding us here?"

Ed tugged on Jet's jumpsuit. "Remember the hacker in the hospital?"

"Brain Scratch? Do you think this is similar?"

She nodded.

Faye blinked and pointed. "We saw our bodies, there's no equipment attached to us."

Turning toward her, Spike folded his arms. "You weren't wearing any when I found you. The sound waves in that room were enough."

"Could it be that simple?"

Ed chewed on a finger. "For a start, yes. But that can't be all there is. What about all this?"

"Mushrooms."

Spike and Jet eyed Faye darkly.

"What? I didn't have the best trip on those either! Besides, I doubt it is anyway, I don't remember any in our picnic."

With a sigh, Spike shoved his hands in his pockets, heat rising to his cheeks. "Can't be anything eaten … cause I didn't have even a bite that day."

When Faye glanced at Jet the faintest flicker of concern crossed his face before he banished it. He barked, "We can rule that out. But if something on the outside is effecting us, like a sound wave, how can we interfere it from this side?"

Spike stared at him blankly, scratching his chin. "That's the crux of it all. It's like trying to get air to a drowning man at the bottom of the Ganymede ocean without the aid of a submarine."

A voice like a whisper disrupted the conversation. "You think you are so clever. Keep struggling in my trap. None of you are smart enough to figure this out." Framed by Jupiter's looming mass, Morpheus appeared in the distance stalking toward them.

Turning to face him, Spike scowled ramming his hands in his pockets. "Done with your nap?"

Morpheus smiled and spread his hands. "Done with yours? My my, Spike, you look a bit drowsy. Why don't you just lie down and die?"

"You first." He half-hooded his eyes.

Jet and Faye came to either side of him, pipes to palms in a slow threatening rhythm.

"Fact is, Morpheus. You are out of your depth with us. I tried to warn you. But you insisted on this game."

Grinning at Spike he raised his hand, finger and thumb together. "You're going to regret this."

"Oh no. That's your role, buddy."

The signal was minute, but Faye and Jet launched in a simultaneous attack, swinging the pipes in a violent two prong. Jet swung for and connected with his head. Faye's pipe cracked bones in his hand effectively preventing his snapping.

Tumbling back, Morpheus stooped over his crushed hand. Blood dripped from his wounded forehead into his eyes. "You … will … regret … that!"

He'd been distracted, far too distracted.

By now Spike stood back where he'd started, flipping a small device in his hand with a bright green light. He flashed a wicked grin. "You're good, but you're sloppy. When looking at my past, did you even pick up on how I died?"

"Died?" Morpheus raised his head and had to wipe the blood from out of his eye. "You … " he paused, staring unfixed for a moment before glancing back at the waterfront, panic welling.

Holding up the remote, Spike narrowed his eyes. "The only way out of a syndicate… is death!" He punched the button on the remote.

A faint beep emitted from Morpheus's robe pocket as a lump of C-4 exploded sending him tumbling into the water in a shrieking fury. Followed by nothing but the lapping of the waves.

At the edge, Spike looked down and smirked. "Not to brag, but I did it better."

"Do you think that killed him?"

"No. But I think it gave him a really bad backache." As if in answer, Morpheus's blood wreathed corpse twitched.

Ed gave a little shriek, her hand gripped her own arm as she stared at it wide-eyed. "Something is cold in Ed!"

A second later Jet dropped the pipe with a clang and took a step back, gripping his own arm. "What the hell? I … felt something too!"

Were they crazy? But it started, a prick and a strange cold sensation traveling up her arm. Rotating the limb, Faye blinked. Nothing had changed. No one was touching it … here. A slow smile grew as it dawned on her. She looked to Spike's right arm. "Hey, hey! Can you feel it?"

He was smiling that cocksure smile of victory as he raised his arm and flexed the hand. "Bad day, indeed! Haha! If this is what I think it is … we are out of here! See you guys back in reality!"

Standing on the edge, looking down into the ocean, all four of them offered the floundering corpse of Morpheus one finger salutes.

Author's Note: Spike's mother's lullaby was written by me.

See You Space Cowboy