Nightmares
Chapter 2
By
Armitage374
Denmark
The Kazamatz
Copenhagen.
Jean send out an impressive, and very loud, string of curses. This was NOT a good time. Despite the many hours, she had spent familiarising herself with the alien technology, she was still not certain, as to what to do about a waking clone. She would, in other words, have to improvise. Again. As if she hadn't done enough of that already during the occupation.
The clone in the chamber went through a series of violent convulsions, as it fought the artificial sleep. Punching in what she hoped was the correct series of commands on the console next to the chamber, she vaguely recognised a skrill on one of "his" arms, as it ripped loose from the restraints holding it and hit the side of the cover. She had no time to contemplate the implications of this, though, as a new set of alarms went off. Not only was the clone waking up, there was nothing she could do to prevent it. It, HE, would die if she didn't do something. There was only one thing she could do. She send one final command through the console and slowly the chamber opened.
Bridge
"Larya"
Enroute to Earth.
Lily sighed as she worked the controls of the ship. This interface was so...stiff in comparison to the one of the Taelon shuttles. But the new interface wasn't finished yet. Punching her hand through the data stream making it out for controls, she adjusted their course as they went through a series of irregularities, the id version of turbulence. One thing about this old ship, though. Once the new interface was finished, this ship would be one of the most agile in the fleet. And Liam would be flying again. A small smile caught the edges of her mouth as she remembered the joy in his eyes, as he was allowed to fly the ship during take-off. Off cause Guardian had been monitoring his every move, making sure, that nothing went wrong, but still. Liam had obviously missed it, the flying.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Juliana approached her from one of the portals.
"Guardian, take over."
"Acknowledged. Initiating autopilot. Remaining time to goal: 10 hours and counting." A metallic voice answered, coming seemingly out of nowhere. Lily made a note to herself about having the voice altered. It's robot like quality grated on her nerves. The controls morphed into a series of mathematical forms and a map of their course to Earth. They were just passing Sirius. She opened her security harness and rose from the command chair.
"So, what were you thinking about?" Juliana inquired. She had walked onto the bridge and found Lily looking completely lost to the world.
"Oh, this and that. Mostly about Liam." A look of worry passed over her Jaridian*Human features. "Is he still having nightmares?"
Juliana rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Yes. And they are getting stronger. I'm starting to wonder if returning to Earth was such a great idea after all."
"He'll have to face it sooner or later, Juliana. And rather sooner."
Juliana nodded. "I know, but it seems so hard."
"You can't protect him from everything. And his grandparents will be there if things goes out of control. Not to mention, that we'll only be a portal away. Even Sandoval is here." There was no love lost between her and the former implant, but Lily had to admit, that the former protector had come through for Liam.
"Speaking of Ron. Have you seen him or Augur around?"
"Knowing Augur, I would try looking in the computer core. As for Sandoval, who knows?"
The computer core
"Larya"
Lily was right. Augur WAS in the computer core. And so was, much to his own surprise, one Ronald Sandoval, leaning against the wall while trying to keep his amusement on the inside. The cyber wiz was trying to make one of the consoles run again after a small "accident" had fried a lot of circuits.
"Augur, when are you going to learn NOT to mess around with technology you don't understand?" Sandoval smirked as Augur send him a disgusted look.
"Well, if I don't "mess" around with it, how am I to find out how it works? Ouch! Christ.." Augur jumped back, muttering curses as he had unwittingly touched a still electrified wire.
"By asking ?"
"Ha ha, very funny !"
"Well, you have to admit, it would save you a lot of trouble."
"And where's the fun in that ?" Augur walked over to another, still functional, terminal.
"Guardian, bring up the terminal schematics again." Sandoval watched Augur go over the blueprints for a couple of seconds, then lost his patience and decided to come down to business. "What did you want to talk to me about ?"
"Liam."
"Oh. What about him ?"
Augur abandoned his schematics, straightened up and looked straight at Sandoval. "Nothing much. Just don't hurt the kid or I'll rip out your spine and use it for a toothpick. " The silent and deadly serious tone in Augurs normally animated voice sent a shiver down Sandoval's spine. But before he could open his mouth to defend himself, Augur waved a hand in dismissal.
"I know, that you have done a lot for him these last couple of months, but that doesn't make up for the fact that you have the power of hurting him the most. Remember that, and we'll probably all be friends for a very long time." Sandoval was slightly taken aback by the unveiled threat in Augur's voice.
"I would never hurt him on purpose. You know that." It came quietly, honestly.
"I know you say that now. Just don't forget those words anytime soon, ok ?"
'Sandoval frustrated ran a hand through his hair. To be fair, he had expected this for quite some time now. They didn't trust him. He couldn't blame them. Not after what he had done. But it still hurt like hell. And as time had passed by, he had hoped as well. But there was only one way of dealing with it. The same way they were dealing with Liam's recovery. One step at the time.
Strandhill
Ireland.
Renee Palmer was watching the Beckett couple from a distance. Ok, the thing about calling the press hadn't worked out completely to her advantage, but if she could get proof, then maybe things would turn out to her benefit after all. A few rumours here, a few half-truths there and Voila, instant revenge. Of cause, she could have no obvious part in it, after all, she was the President of Doors international and supposedly above this kind of thing. The cold smile returned. This was going to be fun. A couple of hundred metres away, Fiona stiffened and looked around suspiciously.
"Fiona? What's wrong ?" A sigh.
"Nothing, just felt like someone walking over my grave."
CNN offices.
Washington DC
Another dead end. Abby was frustrated. Palmer had seemingly disappeared from the face of the Earth. A couple of plane tickets invaded her line of vision as her boss threw them her computer keyboard. She picked one up.
"Ireland? What the hell is in Ireland ?" Her annoyance shone through clearly in her voice.
"The Becketts." Her boss answered nonplussed. "One of our informants from the Herald Tribune snatched up a rumour, that Liam Kincaid is returning to Earth. They didn't pay much attention to it. We will."
"What will our angle on this be ?" Abby asked suspiciously, not wanting to participate in anything, which would get her friend in trouble.
"I'll leave that up to you." He pointed a warning finger in her face " Just doesn't overdo it !" To be truthful, he had reviewed some of the stuff, they had run during Kincaid's fall from grace, and felt more than a little guilty. Which was also why he put Abby on the story. He was very aware of her relationship with the man and hoped, that they could somehow make it up to him, or, at least, his family.
The Kazamatz
Copenhagen
Jean watched the results on her monitor. The man on the table was stabilised. It had been a harried few hours. They had almost lost him twice already, only the grace of the Gods had pulled him through that last one.
"Jean ?"
"Hi, Erik."
"How is he ?"
"Stabile, should be waking up any moment now." She rubbed her neck tiredly. "I just wish that some of the Taelon Medical stuff had survived. At this point, I've only got a vague idea of what they have done to him."
"Maybe the Kimera can help ?"
She sent him a smile. "Maybe. Could you contact them ?"
He caught her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it. "For you, anything my lady."
"Ham." As the couple continued to banter, none of them noticed that Boone had woken up and heard the entire thing. Nor did they notice how his skrill started to glow as he slowly raised his arm. And in the farthest recesses of his mind, all the former Commander could do was scream as his CVI took over.
Liam's Quarters
"Larya"
Anr'el was pulled out of her restful sleep abruptly as a scream erupted from Liam's lips.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
The Kazamatz
Copenhagen
Later, Erik was never able to discover exactly WHAT had warned him. A shadow? A Sound? All he knew was, that if he hadn't turned around that instance, both he and Jean would have been dead. As it was, he barely had time to throw them both out of the line of fire, as Boone, or whoever he was, fired his skrill at the exact spot, where they had both been standing.
In his mind, Boone kept screaming silently, cursing at every deity he could think of. This couldn't be happening! He needed to get back in control before more people got hurt. As the noise of running people reached him, his CVI-controlled body drew upon his military memories and disappeared into a nearby tunnel. After all, why fight a battle, when you are bound to loose it?
Liam's Quarters
The "Larya"
Enroute to Earth
Liam's heart pounded as fear slowly left him. As reality returned step-by-step, he became aware of the woman next to him, Anr'el, trying to calm him down.
"Calm, you are safe."
Taking a deep, cleansing breath and listening to her soothing voice, he slowly managed to get his mind out of the hurricane of terror, which had caught him so unprepared. Normally Anr'el presence was enough to keep him from dreaming like this, but something about this dream had been vastly different. Anchoring himself in the feeling of a hand rubbing circles on his back, he finally allowed himself to think about the dream again. This time, it had skipped the part about the Man and the Room completely and entered straight into something else. A feeling of being trapped. Of being forced to do things against his will. Weird flashes of a cave. Trying to kill people, he was fairly certain was friends, even though he had never seen them before. And the Terror. A scream of anguish. A living hell. The scream was what had wakened him up, finally. Liam took another deep breath, then focused his eyes on his friend.
"I'm OK now." He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry for waking you up."
"It's OK. I was going to get up anyhow. There's some stuff I need to do at the bridge." Anr'el send him what she hoped was a reassuring grin while resting her hand on his shoulder. His screaming had scared her something fierce.
"Want to talk about it ?"
Liam thought about it. He could feel An'rel's worry, even though she tried to hide it. She had already done so much for him, she and his Family, as he had come to call the makeshift bunch of people now surrounding him. And now this.
"Nah, it's ok, just a dream."
Anr'el send him a suspicious look. "Sure ?"
Mustering up the last remnants of confidence, he forced a smile. "Completely."
She didn't believe him, but if he didn't want to talk, there was no way she could force him, not without resorting to methods of a kind which went against everything she believed in. A soft sigh escaped her, as she tucked him in again. Brushing some damp hair from his forehead, she then, as on an afterthought continued. "You might feel better if you tell me about it ?" There was an unspoken question in her voice.
His smile faltered a little, as he thought it over. Maybe he should...Then he remembered all the things this amazing creature had already done for him and his resolve returned. No, this he had to deal with for himself. He wouldn't turn another one of his burdens over on her.
" No, it's Ok, I'll be fine."
Acknowledging a lost battle, when she saw it, Anr'el let it pass for now. "You know, where to find me if you change your mind, Liam."
Another small smile, then he tapped his head. "Right in here."
She gave a small laugh, then settled back in her chair for a while, watching his eyes glaze over with sleep and finally slide shut. Silently making her way to the doorway, she looked back one last time, to make sure he was still asleep. "One of these days, you'll have to talk about it, Little One." Turning around again, she made her way to the bridge. "Guardian, Lights out."
Strandhill
Ireland
Reneé had booked a room at a small inn. It was, what most people would have considered a romantic little in, complete with straw covered roof, a pub*restaurant and a nice elderly couple tending to it. But to Rene' it was only an annoyance. Here she was, the president of Doors International, and she had to put up with these hicks. But then she remembered her little revenge plot and that cruel smile made it back on her lips. Schooling her face carefully, she entered the restaurant area.
"Good evening. Ms Palmer. What can we do for you tonight ?" The elderly woman, Meg, greeted her from the bar.
"Well, I am getting kind of hungry." Putting on her best front, Reneé approached Meg, trying to look as friendly as possible.
"Well, we got the days special, a steak with chips, potatoes and the rest of the show, or what about a nice chicken soup with noodles ?"
Reneé groaned inwardly. Of cause this WAS farmland and out where the crows fly backwards, but couldn't these people, at least, TRY to have something civilised on the menu. Wasn't it enough, she had to put up with the SMELL? Outwardly, however, she kept up her facade. "The special sounds good."
"HENRY !" Meg's voice cut through the air like a razor, making Rene' wince with its volume.
"Yes, dear ?" A timid voice answered from the kitchen area.
"One special for Ms Palmer."
"Yes, dear."
While they waited for her order, Reneé decided, that it was perhaps a good idea to start her little plan. Meg was as far as she knew, as big a busybody as anyone.
"You know, I almost didn't come here, I mean to Strandhill, at all." Reneé sent Meg a hesitant smile as if she didn't really know if she should tell her.
"Oh, why not dear " Meg's confusion was obvious.
"Well, I heard that that alien Liam Kincaid has family around here and, after the things he did in Washington...Well...I'm not one to run with gossip, but I could tell you things that would make your head spin."
"Oh ?" Meg's interest was firmly caught.
"Well, you wont tell anyone, will you ?" At Megs shake, Rene' leant closer. "Well, there was this time when..." And as she spun her lies, Rene' couldn't help but laugh on the inside. Liam wouldn't get away this time.
The "Jira"
Orbiting Earth
"Sir, there's a message from Bettis."
Ca'el waved his data stream open. At least SOMETHING interesting was happening now. In the month, since he had been in command of this ship, due to a recommendation of An'rel's, absolutely NOTHING had happened. And he was getting bored. "Bettis, what may I do for you ?" A genuine smile spread on Ca'el's face as he saw the other man. This human had helped rescue Liam. And had turned out to be a true friend as well.
"Well, we've located the disturbance you asked us to investigate, it originates from some sort of Taelon cloning facility. We could really use some help in finding out what happened here ?"
"I'll have a team on its way immediately. We'll use the portal in the liberation headquarters."
"Thank You."
"Not a problem." As the connection died, Ca'el smirked. "Yon'el, you have the bridge. I have an away team to lead."
"But sir, protocol..."
Yon'el's protest fell on deaf ears as Ca'el left the bridge. Yes, finally, something was happening.
The Kazamatz
Copenhagen
Zeke stalked the tunnels warily. Boone, or rather his clone, was no easy prey. From what that resistance doctor, Jean, had been able to find out so far, the Taelons had found a way to copy one's memories, even soul it seemed, from one body to the next. Remembering the cases during the occupation with the pad'ar warriors and the bio-surrogates, he figured this was some sort of experiment to go further. But what did it mean when concerning this man, they were now hunting? He would most probably have all of his memories, including those from his black ops days, and that made him a very dangerous adversary. Boone had been one of the best, had almost been asked to join the ODK team, but then he had married Kate. Jean had also said something about genetic alterations, but she hadn't been able to go into specifics, lacking the equipment to do a more exact analysis. And then there was the matter of the unprovoked attack. That just didn't sound like Will. But with all the dirty tricks the Taelons had pulled, who could know, what they had done to his mind. They really couldn't know, not until the Kimera had had a chance to examine him. And to do that, they would have to capture him first, preferably alive. Zeke stiffened and then fell back into the shadows, as he heard a sound, like falling pebbles, up ahead. Now was really NOT a good time to fall into thoughts about the past. Because as much as he respected Boone, and as much as he owed him his life several times over, he wasn't going to let the other man kill him.
Altering his grip on his rifle, Zeke became one with the shadows as he stalked the man he had once called "Friend".
A few hundred metres up front, Boone's body stumbled again. Without the active participation of his mind, his CVI couldn't move with the grace, which normally was such a big part of his persona. That gave him hope. If he could somehow keep up his struggles, then maybe, he could gain enough control back to make a difference, when it mattered. He could also feel a growing rage. How could Da'an have allowed this? He trusted him! The last thing he remembered was being put in that blue tank after his fight with Hag'el. That, and some fussy memories of facing a tall, lanky man on the bridge of the mother ship.
"This is not right..." Da'an's voice. But when? A name. Lazarus. Memories, to diffuse to distinguish or to make sense flew past his inner eye as he fought the special programming of THIS CVI. This was what he had feared when Doors and dr. Belman first approached him. This loss of control. But there was something different. Sandoval had always been there 100%, even with the CVI, not fighting it. What was different? And as Boone fought for control, Zeke started to close in.
Liberation HQ
Denmark
The Portal flared to life with a bright flash, spitting out a small group of Kimera from ID-space. Ca'el quickly took inventory of the church loft, wondering what human saw in a church, which made them seemingly always put up their refuges at this kind of places in their time of need. Granted, he had only been to two places like this...
"Ca'el" Bettis approached him.
"Bettis, how are you my friend ?" Calling on some memories from his last human host, he remembered to stretch out his hand for a handshake. While in Rome...
"Fine, but a small problem has arisen since our last conversation." Bettis looked, and sounded, worried. He continued. "One of the remaining two clones woke up and are currently being chased though the underground maze, where we found the facility. And we don't know exactly WHAT we are dealing with here, so I hope you people brought some medical scanners with you." At Ca'el's affirmative nod, Bettis lead him towards the exit. "Good. I'll explain on the way."
Bridge
"Larya"
Enroute to Earth.
It was An'rel's turn at the con. The "Larya", being equipped with an AI, only demanded a small crew, and she and Lily both enjoyed flying intensely, so they had agreed to be the pilots on this small outing. And the peace and quiet during the nightshift allowed her to do some serious thinking. Despite all of her own experiences during the Taelon*Kimeran war, she found herself at a loss at how to help Liam with his problems. But he needed help. And she was the only one who could give it. Or so the Council said. She was seriously starting to question the validity of that decision. Through the previous months, from when they had rescued him out of that Hellhole, he had seemed to cope with the entire thing, had shown a resilience, which had amazed everyone, even Juliana and Lily, who had known him all his life. Even with the nightmares, he had somehow managed to convince them all, that he was ok. And no one had questioned him. Not until now. She couldn't help but feel, that he was, once again, putting up a front, that he gave them what he thought they wanted. If she could only get him to open up. The last couple of training sessions before going to Earth, she had noticed a part of his mind with what in the real world would be a big sign screaming "No Access !" on it. She hadn't wanted to push him, but now...Now she couldn't help but feel, that whatever was behind that wall of denial, could be the key to it all.
And that was when Liam's mind suddenly screamed out in terror, gripping onto hers by instinct as yet another nightmare invaded his sleep. Caught by surprise, she felt herself sliding from one reality to the next.
Strandhill
Ireland
Earth.
Ambrose pulled over the car, as he and Fiona returned from getting yet another "We-really-need-this-for-Liam" item. This time, they had to go to Belfast as well as making a small beeline to the local store. That last stop hadn't been a pleasant one. They had both noticed the strange stares and whispering behind their backs as well as the downright hostile behaviour of the clerk. Not noticing where he was going, his vision obscured by the mountain of bags with "Absolutely necessary" things he was carrying, he didn't notice Fiona's sudden stop as she walked up to the main door, and almost knocked her over. She had gone completely white in the face.
"Why don't you.."He started to complain as he noticed the...Thing..., which had stopped Fiona dead in her tracks. It was a black swarzsticker freshly painted on their front door.
In a parked car, not far away from there, Renee' Palmer allowed herself a small, cruel smile. It had begun.
Liam's Mind
Anr'el had her breath knocked out of her, mentally, as she impacted with the hard floor. The darkness around her was impenetrable. A feeling of pain and misery seemed to be in the very air of the place.
"Ok, you've somehow got sucked into Liam's nightmare. Now how do you get out of here ?" She wondered out loud.
"You don't." She whirled around to see Liam, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, hugging his knees and starring lost at a steel table, stained with the dark red of blood. Carefully she approached him.
"Why not " Those eyes. No hope in them at all.
"Because there's no escape. " So final those words seemed. So lost.
"Liam..." She carefully moved over, slowly as not to frighten the Child, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Liam, there's always a way out." She tried to sound confident but wasn't having much success. Suddenly the surroundings changed. She was trapped in a stasis capsule and pure, unthinking panic washed over her. A cacophony of feelings not her own threatened to drown her, drag her into the abyss along with Liam. She didn't care about herself anymore. She had already seen too many millennia to really care. But Liam. He was too young to loose like this. She barely deflected the onslaught on her mind, grabbing hold of Liam and fought to get them both out of there. She managed to get the situation somewhat under control and became aware of another presence in Liam's mind. Male. That signature was definitely male. And not Kimera.
"GET OUT OF LIAM'S MIND RIGHT NOW !" With a roar of anger, she attacked the Other, not really caring who he was, just knowing instantly that here, this, was the reason of this weird twist of things. "GET OUT !" Then there was a blinding light as she felt the other consciousness loose its grip on Liam. And she saw no more.
The Kazamatz
Copenhagen
Boone felt an agonising pain in his head. "GET OUT !" His own voice, coarse with not being used, startled him. Where had that come from? But at last, he felt his CVI finally weakening. Encouraged, he renewed his assault on the alien mechanism's mind control. Distracted by this internal battle, Boone failed to notice that Zeke had finally caught up with him.
Main Cave
The Kazamatz
Jean cursed. There were some weird fluctuations in the last stasis capsule. So far she had been able to keep it stable, but for how much longer? A deep frown made an appearance. It seemed like some sort of data transmission, but directly into the clone's brain? And what was the receiver? And why?
"Jean !" Bettis's voice cut into her train of thoughts, bringing her back to reality.
"Bettis. Did you...Oh, hello." First now, she noticed the small group of strangers standing next to Bettis. One of the strangers moved, and she found herself staring into a familiar face.
"Greetings Doctor. I am Ca'el." A slender, dark-haired man looking like a complete double of Keanu Reeves stretched out his hand in greeting. Jean almost felt her mouth drop. The Kimera. She had forgotten about their ability to change shape.
"It's an honour to finally meet you face to face."
A little unnerved, she grasped his hand, finally remembering her manners. "Eh..Ca'el ? Next time, you might want to choose someone a little less...famous... as a host. And please, call me Jean."
"Agreed on both counts, Jean. It is quit frightening how many people seem to accumulate around this person. Especially when you try to be invisible. " Ca'el smiled crookedly at her. Well, at least, this was one alien with humour. Ca'el was making a quick assessment of his own. This woman might have been surprised, but she still managed to function. She reminded him of Street in some ways. Or what Street would one day become. "Bettis said, that you have discovered some clones ?" Better get down to business before his mind wandered to more pleasurable things. Jean sighed inwardly.
"Yes. This way please."
Running over the displays on the capsule, Ca'el frowned deeply. It seemed like the Taelons had been up to some of their old tricks again.
"Look at this." Jean pointed at the display with the transmission. "Looks like some sort of transmission to me. Ever seen anything like this before?"
Ca'el closed his eyes, loosing his facade as some of his ancestral memories bubbled up, dragging along with them ancient pain. To Jean, this was most frightening. She knew from the tales of Zeke and the others, that the Kimera could maintain their facades in almost every situation.
"Ca'el ? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Hesitantly, she reached out to him, placing her hand on his "shoulder". The touch brought him back from the memories.
"It is quite Ok, Jean. I was just remembering something from a long time ago. Something, which happened to one of my ancestors." Taking a deep breath while rebuilding his facade, he concentrated on finding the correct words in Earth's English.
"During the Taelon-Kimera war, the Taelons captured and experimented on our children. Most of them died after going through hell, as you humans would put it. Some, however, were rescued. One of my ancestors was one of these children." He turned his head to look straight at her. "She was barely sane when she was rescued. You see, the Taelons had tried to force another mind into her body, tried to erase her own personality, her very soul while doing it."
Jean blanched at the prospect of doing something so utterly evil. "Why? Why would anyone think of doing something like that to a child ?"
Ca'el gave a bitter laugh. "The usual. They would, once the method had been perfected by experimentation, have transferred some of their own into the bodies of Kimera's then used these Taelon inhabited bodies to procreate, mixing their gene pool with ours. Even then, they didn't conceive enough children to keep a constant populous and it was their hope that our genes would correct that." He snorted, then looked down at the barely visible figure in the capsule. "Off cause, once the Kimeran bodies had served their purpose, they would have been "dealt" with. You want to know the most ironic thing about all this ?" He shot her a glance, then continued as she nodded. "If it hadn't been for the war, the Kimera would probably have been able to help them solve their little problem. You see, we have been there as well. Not conceiving enough children, I mean." There was a moment of silence as the echo of Ca'el's voice died down in the cave.
Jean cleared her throat. "So, are you telling me, that some Taelon is about to download itself into Boone's clone and use it to create children?"
"No. First of all, the human brain is incapable of sustaining a Taelon consciousness for a long enough period of time to fulfil this purpose. Second of all, the human body would have to be female and carry the child, since no Taelon is capable of bearing a human*Taelon hybrid to term. There are simply too much of a difference between the matter based child and the energy based Taelon carrying it. Besides, all intelligence we have points in the direction of the Taelons wanting to use the human race as cannon fodder in their war with the Jaridians, not for procreation."
A shiver went down Jean's spine at the calm voice this was said in. She had always known, that there was something rotten about the Taelons, but the facts and they were facts she was certain, that she had been served these last couple of minutes, was worse than anything she could have come up with in even her wildest imagination. The resistance had always suspected, that the Taelons didn't care if humanity lived or died, but still... There was a huge difference between guessing and knowing. Bettis jumped in.
"If it's not a Taelon, then what is going on here ?"
"My guess is, that the Taelons found a way to download a human mind into a clone's body, that way they could utilise the knowledge and experiences of that person time after time after time in their sordid little war."
"Yeah..They did something like that with the Pad'ar warriors. They downloaded the minds of some old people into a new, artificial body." Bettis frowned. He didn't like the prospect of dying only to wake up and having to die again. Which led to his next question. "But wouldn't the warriors at some point simply stop fighting ?"
"Not if they had a CVI. It would simply force them to do as their masters commanded. They wouldn't have a choice."
A thought occurred to Jean. "A CVI. ..I wonder...Ca'el, I need a medical scanner. Did you..." Ca'el grinned and motioned for one of the other Kimera to step forward.
"What are we looking for, Doc ?"
"I'm not sure...I'll know when I see it..." Absentmindly she started scanning the body in the capsule, concentrating on the head area. Ca'el, watching over her shoulder, suddenly noticed something.
"Jean, could you bring up the DNA profile again ?" The result left them both in a stupor.
"Oh my God. He's part Kimera..."
The residence of the Becketts
Strandhill
Ireland
Fiona was standing at her window, not noticing the splendid day on the other side of the glass. Why now? Why would something like this happen now? She had hoped, that once the reporters had left them alone, the rest of the world would soon forget them as well. A hundred day and all that. But apparently not. She sighed, then returned to her kitchen. It had taken the better of two hours to clean off the swastika from their front door. At least, they hadn't broken any windows yet. She was eerily reminded of the many fights years before between the Catholics and the Protestants of Ireland. Even then, she had wondered why her fellow humans could not just accept, that there were people, who were different and move on. There were so many other things, which was more important than race, skin colour or religion. Ambrose entered the kitchen with his arms full of freshly chopped wood. He had his own way of dealing with the anger.
"Where do you want this ?"
"Put it next to the fireplace, dear." Catching his eyes, a silent vow was exchanged between the two people. They wouldn't let these people drag them into the mud with them. She felt lucky knowing, that whatever happened, he would be there. And so did he.
The Inn
Strandhill
Ireland
Renée was at her best. These people were more stupid than she had realised upon arrival. They were soaking her "innocent" stories up. Just speak a little to their dark sides, play on their fears, mixed it up with their prejudices, disguise it as the talk of a concerned citizen and Voila. Soon these people would believe that even the old people were aliens, just by association. Now all she needed was some sort of event to heat things even more up, and Liam and his darling grandparents would be ancient history. Some days, it was good to be her.
TBC...
