Chapter 25 – Analysis

I get up early next morning. Not that I've slept well. I can count on one hand the number of times I've slept without Riley since we were married. Last night was awful. Finding out what he did last time. He's still so involved with Buffy that he doesn't even see that it was wrong. How could he marry me feeling that way?

I force my mind away from my personal problems. A transport leaves for the dig site in half an hour, and I'm going to be on it. I'll unearth the sphere I've been working on in another couple of hours, I reckon, then I'll bring it back and start work on it.

I shower quickly, and pick up some coffee and a danish from the mess. Then I'm on the truck.

Everything's as we left it, as usual, and I continue my work. I wanted to finish last night, but Riley wanted to do something and dragged me away. Now I know he wanted to visit Buffy. I'm not sure what he really had in mind. Maybe it was just an innocent visit, but I'm not sure I can trust him any more.

I work carefully, but the excitement's growing with every moment. The more of this sphere I've uncovered, the more interesting it's looked. It's now obviously pinkish/purple in colour - or more accurately, magenta. The movement inside is …. Violent. It looks like it's trying to get out. I shake my head. That's obviously not the case. I mean, that would imply intelligence.

At last, I finish the job. I make the appropriate notes on the dig log and take it outside to have a closer look. I'm just in time to catch a transport back to the lab, so I wrap the sphere carefully, and head back.

Riley's in his office when I get back. A glance through the glass in the door shows him, head down, reading something. His face looks, well, a bit bruised. I wonder what happened, but not so much that I want to talk to him. I know we've got to talk, but not yet.

Once in the lab, I get the technicians to set up the standard raft of preliminary tests. They haven't told us anything about any of the other artefacts we've brought back, so I've no great hopes, but I've got to stick to procedure.

While everything's being set up, I take the sphere to an examining bench, and give it the once over. In good light, it's even more interesting. The surface is incredibly smooth to the touch, but there's evidence of crazing - probably of the inner surface.

The sphere was tested at the dig site for radioactivity, and that was clear. The magenta energy - that's what it looks like - is in perpetual motion. It doesn't seem to favour any particular direction, unless you count 'out' as a direction. It certainly doesn't come towards my hand as I hold it - if anything it seems to shy away from me. I'm obviously imagining that. If it were an electrical discharge, it would arc towards my touch.

I get a call to say they're ready for the sphere next door, so I go in, and, rather reluctantly, hand over my prize to a technician.

I'm reading through some of the earlier reports while I leave them to finish the more mundane tests, when Riley comes in. He looks sheepish, as well he might.

"Didn't expect you back so soon," he comments.

"I unearthed the sphere. You know I'm keen to get on with analysing it." I can keep to business too.

"About last night," he starts.

"It's not about last night," I tell him. "It's about the last time we were here. You went out of your way to interfere in Buffy's life. Now, what I don't understand is why? If she's just a friend, why would you spin her that line? You knew Spike was useful to them. You knew he was chipped and couldn't hurt her. So why? Because the only reason I can come up with is good old-fashioned jealousy."

He shakes his head, but I don't think he's arguing with me.

"It's not as simple as that. You know, when I left here, left her, I thought I was heading off to die. That was the plan, well, sort of. I didn't think I could live without her, so I didn't really want to live. I blamed Angel for the fact that Buffy couldn't love me. Well, I did at first. Then, well, I knew Spike was obsessed with her. Then, when she tolerated him, even seemed to trust him, I wanted to kill him, to get him out of her life forever. But, she wouldn't let me. Another sign she cared about him. She insisted it was just because he was helpless, but I didn't believe it. There was more to it than that."

Riley pauses as someone comes in to put something on my desk. The intruder leaves without speaking. I wonder if everyone on the base knows we argued last night. If there's one thing I know about the military, it's that you can't keep secrets like that.

When we're alone again, Riley looks at me, expecting some sort of response. "So, you're telling me you don't love her. That you didn't love her when you married me, 'cos from where I'm sitting, it doesn't look that way."

He has the grace to look embarrassed at that. "Look, Sam, I love you. I wouldn't have married you if I hadn't loved you. But, yes, I love her too. There's no way she would look at me, and I'm resigned to that. It doesn't make me love you any less. It's just, different. What I felt for her wasn't something to build a life on. I know that now. It was, well, it was like the way you feel when you're sixteen and in love for the first time. Except I left it a bit late. I want to be with you, Sam, I really do. As soon as we get out of this hellhole, I'll forget about her, like before. It'll just be you and me, I promise."

"So, you love another woman. She's the one you feel the first flush of love for, but you want to spend the rest of your life with me? Is that it? Because, it doesn't seem such a good deal to me. I'm second best, but you're willing to settle, because the competition winner isn't available."

"I love you, Sam. I can't bear the thought of losing you. I need you. Please, give me a chance to prove I love you. Please."

"I'll have to think about it," I tell him. I turn back to my reading, and he knows better than to carry on. He leaves the office, and I allow the tears to fall.

The problem is, when I first met him, I was drawn to his vulnerability. It was the first thing I noticed about him. He was hurting, and I took it as a challenge to put him back together again. And, seeing him today, he's back to the same Riley I met. He's hurting, and I'm itching to make it better. So, maybe he's going to get another chance, but I'm going to make the most of it. If he's not the most attentive, generous husband on the planet, he's going to know all about it. But, I don't have to tell him that yet, do I? I think I deserve another day or two of keeping him stewing.

I get a call to tell me that they're ready for me in the lab, so I head along the corridor. The lab's overlooked by a control room, and I see Riley's there. I know he's as fascinated as I am about this sphere, and I'm relieved he's decided to watch things from up there rather than crowding me down here. He might outrank me, but this is my baby, and he'd better not get in my way.

In many respects, he'll actually get a better view anyway. Not only can he see what's happening directly through the glass partition separating the two rooms; he can also watch in detail on one of the closed circuit monitors. There's even a facility to over-ride the controls we have down here, but there's no reason for that to be used today. It's just a safety feature, and we really don't expect trouble.

As I watch the routine tests, including various types of spectroscopy, electron microscopy and output characteristics, I let my mind wander.

This whole lab's an amazing place. To think it's just part of what used to be an amazing complex. Riley doesn't talk much about the Initiative these days. It wasn't a comfortable time for him, and he thinks it's better forgotten. The Initiative complex was the last word in safety and security. Of course, it didn't withstand what was effectively a saboteur in the person of Adam. Still, even the mistakes learned from that particular debacle were incorporated into the renovations for this part of the complex - the only part not destroyed.

Each lab and room can be hermetically sealed - no chemical, be it liquid or gas can escape from a room once the lock down procedure has begun. The complex has state of the art security too. There's no way for anyone to get in here without proper authorisation. Which is probably just as well, since the materials we've found at the dig site would be worth billions in the right hands.

The first set of tests is complete, and I can't say I'm surprised. The other artefacts we've tested seem to be sinks for any sort of energy we throw at them. They absorb everything - it doesn't matter what wavelength, from microwave or radio wave, through visible, into UV, x-ray, even gamma, nothing comes back. Of course, the object, whatever it is, just heats up. We've taken some to temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius, and there's been no sign of melting, or any other change in properties.

The sphere is different. Of course, it looks different. While everything else is black and opaque, the sphere is clear. And the results are different. The light coming from the sphere is specific to two wavelengths - one in the red part, another in the blue part of the spectrum. In terms of what we're throwing at the sphere, it's like a mirror. Everything but those two wavelengths is thrown back at us. The sphere looks like a perfectly reflecting mirror, and initial tests imply it's an unreasonably perfect sphere too - well beyond our ability to manufacture.

I take the first printout back to my office, telling the technicians to carry on, alerting me if they find anything significant, or when they've finished.

Within ten minutes of my arrival in my office, Riley's there too. He's all business, which is just as well.

"What do you think?" he asks.

"You've seen the results?"

"I was following them from the control room. What else do you think we should try?"

"I don't know. We should certainly try some sort of abrasion - diamond, or one of those ultra-hard ceramics we've got. Heat it up, freeze it, check its output characteristics, same as we've done before."

Riley's nodding. "Some sort of chemical tests would be good, too. We'll try some acid and base solutions, start with something not too corrosive, and work our way up. Chlorine gas, or even Fluorine, if we don't get anything else to react."

"Have you tried Chlorine on anything else?" I ask.

"Not yet, we've had our hands full just putting everything through the standard tests. Now, I think we should concentrate on a single sample of the black stuff, and this sphere. I don't know about you, but the sooner we can get something out of this, the sooner we can hand the whole project over to someone else, and get ourselves out of Sunnydale. And that can't happen too soon for me."

There's a bit of pleading in his voice as he says the last bit, and I can't help but agree with him. If there's a future in our marriage, the sooner we get out of Sunnydale, the better.