Leonid
Admitting You Have a Problem...
11:30, November 21, 2065
She roamed his apartment, but he was glad to know she was calmer now. A lot calmer than four days earlier…
"Why did he have to say it?" Sudden – aggravated. Ryan laced his fingers together, and stared at her through the gaps between them.
"Si'down, would you? You're making me dizzy…" he yawned as she dropped gracelessly to the floor. This was a bit worse than he'd imagined last week – somehow, he thought helping the population increase was a good thing, "I have chairs, you know? So… who; and said what?"
"Captain Edwards…" Jane pouted, "He told me not to do anything 'illegal.'"
"Sound advice," the woman glared, and the sergeant stared innocently back, "Isn't it?"
"I hadn't thought of it 'til he said it, but…"
"Jane," he sighed, thinking of good wording, "I know we couldn't… I wouldn't stop you if you decided to… do… something severe, but I wouldn't want to see you in any danger 'cause of it."
"I wouldn't anyway," like anyone of the time, she had too much respect for life's plight. She shook her head slowly, "I wouldn't…
"I just don't know what to do."
"I don't understand," Jane rested her head in her hand as she stared up at him. Ryan frowned. She was composed, but it was difficult, and must have taken all her energy to keep the wall in place. She never recovered, after all… The sudden insight didn't make him feel well, "If you don't want to take care of the kid, why not give it to a shelter"
"I couldn't do that," the dull drone of her voice betrayed that she'd considered it, or was still considering it, and trying to convince herself she could, "They're horrible."
"Hey, I grew up in one; they aren't all that bad," he smirked, but he understood her concern perfectly.
"Yeah," the woman breathed, "But I'd prefer… it," she had an inkling to the nature of the zygote, but didn't want to acknowledge that just yet, "has a choice of its life."
Ryan nodded, trying to think of anything that would help.
"What does Neil think?"
"I, uh… I haven't told him," she was terrified to think, "I'm actually a little afraid of what he might say."
"Well, you can't hide it forever. Sooner or later, you'll start to get heavy…." Ryan chuckled, "Though, knowing Neil, he might just miss that."
"He wouldn't," Jane smirked a little, somehow amused at the thought of Neil being totally oblivious throughout her pregnancy. Hell, if that were the case, she could wait a little longer surprise him with a giftwrapped toddler for next Christmas. That is, if he's even interested, her smile faded, and she sat up straight, "Nah… but… I'm scared, Serge."
"Jane, if you don't find a way you like; I'll take care of the kid."
"I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You wouldn't have to, I just offered."
"And what would you tell it?" she snapped, not even wanting the option, "About me? Would you lie, or let it know I was the one that was careless, that abandoned it, and let it think I hate it?"
"You really do care, don't you?"
"…I'm not sure; I mean," she was taken aback, as though she hadn't already thought about it, "Babies are ugly, you know? And they grow into brats, which grow into total pains in the ass. So, no, I don't really care about the baby," she admitted, "but it's a powerful feeling, being… this is…" she bowed her head, hoping the jumbled words would fall into place, "Yeah."
---
13:13, November 22, 2065
"Jane?"
She ignored it. It was a distraction, promising nothing.
"Where the hell are you going?"
She slid under the broken window, into the crumbled foundation of the decayed building. The closed-in space was dangerous, and enticing for just that reason.
The cement crumbled ominously behind her, and she whirled to face the one following her.
"We're done here; where are you going?" Was that right?
"What about Nelbe's group? We can help them."
She needed this. Why couldn't Gray understand that?
"They're doing fine," he replied, "They don't need us."
"Captain," Jane felt her body chill, "There…"
Gray couldn't help but notice that there something odd to her voice. A kind of energy… a thrill, he realized, as he turned… and consequently stumbled back as his helmet's display registered the alien life pattern behind the wall. For a moment he thought they might have been able to get back out the way they came… until the thing moved.
"Let's go," the captain whispered, backing up. She didn't follow.
"Jane…"
"But I want to kill it," she mumbled vacantly, leveling her weapon and waiting for the sluggish Phantom to come at them through the wall.
Gray huffed; sure, they could have been on the way home by now. To one side, something moved.
"Lookout!"
The Phantom died under Gray's cautious fire, and that one was now the least of their problems. They had stumbled into a nest, and it was waking up as a whole.
"We're leaving – now," she hesitated a moment before following him, and the entity in the wall lunged at her as they retreated through the no longer silent sub-level of the office building.
It was almost a maze, and made deadly by the enemy creatures prowling it.
"Do you know where we're going?" Jane asked dubiously as they had to backtrack out of a dead-end or a storage closet.
"No," Gray sighed, "Come on," he tried to keep along the outer edge of the building – to find a way back up into the street. They had been there for too long… they already ran the risk of being left behind, and it increased sharply as long as they were down there.
"Wait, sir, I have an idea…"
"I'm listening," he growled, hoping it wasn't, let's go back and face the Phantoms, as he imagined. He could only handle so many stupid risks in one day…
"We passed a stairwell a couple of turns ago – we might be able to get up top through the first floor."
"Show me," sure, she sounded sane enough, but the little voice in the back of his mind was telling him the horror stories he'd heard of pregnant women… And Jane had already proven herself certifiably insane on numerous occasions.
He was relieved to find she was telling the truth, but the pain of the situation presented itself in a new way. The door to the first floor was blocked by debris, which left going back down… or continuing up.
"Keep going," Gray commanded as Jane hesitated by the stairs. She did, and he trailed slowly, keeping a sharp watch behind them.
The second floor didn't have a recognizable door. The third was locked, with something barring it shut from the other side… and it opened outward. The fourth doorframe existed – a portal to a preserved point under time. It was here that they made a path through the grisly, tomb-like rooms, leaving a trail of upturned dust in their wake. It didn't take long to find a window, but it opened into a cluttered alleyway; the landing would be questionable.
"Captain?" a voice from farther away, from full across the transmitter in his ear, "That's you up there, right?"
Gray cursed. "Who else would it be?"
"A suicidal businessman, but I'd say we're a little too late for him," the shadows detached from the gray walls below to become more the visible bluish human forms of his teammates.
"Or Jane," Ryan reasoned.
"Or Jane, yeah."
"She's here, too," Gray said, unnecessarily as the woman leaned out the window next to him, "I thought I told you to go back to the transport."
"So?" the dual answered sounded almost like an echo, and Gray grimaced behind his helmet.
"You never told us when to go back to the transport, so we fig-"
"Okay, I get it; just… clear us a landing zone, would you?"
"Sure thing."
While they waited, Gray measured the situation a little more carefully.
"You think we can make it in one jump?" he asked, prompting Jane to take another evaluation of the alleyway.
"If we're careful," she considered cautiously. It would be a risk, but it was possible, "Probably."
"Well, Better safe than…" Gray shuddered at the ghastly wail that emanated through the deceptively empty place, and Jane froze beside him.
"Better safe," she mumbled as it faded.
"All clear."
Not soon enough, the captain thought, "Let's go, ready?"
"Always am," Jane nodded, her reply betraying her hidden smile.
Within the minute, they were airborne. The gel-pac that exploded in the seconds before they reached the ground was harder than it should have been. Gray hit the edge, and the vaporizing green goo flowed outward under his weight.
"Let's get out of here," he grumbled, crudely regaining his feet. Behind him, something moved.
There was no warning, as Jane scrambled by him, opening fire on the Phantom, and crippling rather than killing it. She watched with a fascination as it writhed, taking a guiltless pleasure in its enraged squeal. And something more dangerous flickered through her mind – how easy it would be to step, 'accidentally,' on the periphery of that disintegrating mass of still living cells…. What would that feel like?
"Happy, now?" Gray demanded.
The answer was wavering, but genuine.
"Very."
