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Work in Progress. If you like this story, check out my other stories on the Fanfiction Net, Twisting the Hellmouth, and Fonts of Wisdom websites. Other sites please ask before using.
by Marcus L. Rowland
VIII
"Near as I can figure it someone neuralyzed you when you were about two," said Kay, reading the pattern of brain waves displayed by his scanner.
"And wiped out my memory of learning Baltian?" asked Willow. "Why can I remember the language then?" She typed a command into her computer, swore, and entered another password.
"I'd guess you were told to forget something specific, not the language."
"Don't you guys have rules against using neuralyzers on babies?"
"Wasn't us; I'm guessing the Baltian bought her own with her, or got it on the black market. Highly illegal.
"Wiping a particular thing makes sense," said Tara. "To wipe out everything you know about Baltian they... she.. would probably have to destroy all of your language skills including English, and that obviously didn't happen. I've seen your school records, you were above average even in kindergarten. She must have erased the memory of knowing it, rather than the language itself. If you didn't know that you knew the language, and never heard it again, there's no particular reason why you would ever think to use it."
"Can you speak it," asked Dawn, "or only understand it?"
"I don't know. Uh.... gtyurt forg wan koja fp'op. I guess so."
"What did that mean?"
"'Holy heck, I can', only not quite. I don't think my accent was very good. I don't think Baltians have lips quite like ours."
"That's a good vocabulary for a little kid," said Jay. "Kinda dirty though."
"Nobody ever called me stupid... not often, anyway. You speak Baltian?"
"A few words. Know what fp'op means."
"Uhh.. oh, oh dear, so do I now you've reminded me." Willow blushed. "Sorry." She peered at the screen then said "Hey, I've found me!"
"Found me? You?" asked Buffy.
"Hacked the adoption records. I was taken into foster care by Ira and Sheila Rosenberg aged approximately a month, finally adopted a year later."
"Not a surprise, I guess. Who are your real parents?"
"Unknown. I was found in a basket in the Mall a few weeks after it opened, when I was about forty-eight hours old. When my mother couldn't be traced I was put up for fostering and adoption."
"How the heck is it you never knew that before?"
"Why would I? Anyway, it got surprisingly little publicity," said Willow, "I just looked at the papers for that week, the big story was a multiple murder by reefer addicts."
"Wearing horror masks?" asked Dawn.
"That's right."
"Nice to know Sunnydale hasn't changed much. How come you never looked at your own records before?"
"Never needed to look that far back, always thought I knew who I was. Jay, your guys have access to all sorts of computers, right? Can you ask them to see what they can find that might point to my real parents? Medical records, blood groups, that sort of thing?"
"Sure. But it could be nothing was recorded, so don't set your hopes too high. It's a mighty cold trail."
"Okay. I guess."
"Your knowledge of Baltian could help us get to the bottom of this," said Kay, "There are a lot of records in the habitat module, thousands of hours. We could use our computers but it would take a couple of weeks, and we really do need to solve this one before the next Baltian ship arrives in a couple of days. Obviously you can't go through them all, but maybe you could skim through and see if there's something that indicates where she might be."
"I can try. Maybe there's some sort of index. Otherwise, I'd better start out with the ones at the beginning and the end and see if that gives us any leads."
"I still can't get over how completely we were fooled," said Buffy. "The whole Jewish thing I can understand, I guess they... she... wanted to blend in, but why the heck did Sheila do things like join MOO? And wasn't she one of the people controlled by the demon eggs?"
"Under their spell, I guess," said Willow, "same as Joyce. Would a Baltian have any defence against magic?"
"Not that I know of," said Kay, "Baltians have advanced science, don't think they've gone the magic route at all."
"What about the records from the dog?" asked Jay. "Anything there that looks interesting?"
"Not really," said Buffy, "I watched through the rest of it, looks like it just wandered around town for a couple of hours after leaving the bar. Nothing to indicate it was followed, or that anything nastier than usual for Sunnydale was going down."
"Odd coincidence that Spike saw the dog for the first time that night."
"I remember him mentioning it, around the time that the basement flooded and that demon robbed the bank. Don't you remember, Will, I had you researching Hell-hounds."
"That's right," said Willow, "Would have been a week or so after that that Sheila called me to say they were off on another trip. To be honest, I hadn't really noticed they were back from the last one."
"Spike wasn't in bars much over the summer," said Dawn, "he was helping us patrol. Guess he just didn't run into it until then."
"Dead end then," said Jay. "Okay, Willow, I'll connect my computer to the one in the Baltian module, show you how to access the records. Do you think you could take a look for us?"
"Sure," said Willow, "but I have classes at three, so I can only do a couple of hours right now."
"Any way you can cut them? It's just possible that your.. um.. mother is in some sort of danger, and we really do need to find out what happened to her."
"Uh.. Okay. I guess. Can you do something to cover for me? Don't want to lose credit."
"Me too," said Tara, holding Willow's hand. "Tell the college we're witnesses or something."
"Baby, you don't need to stay. I guess this is gonna be kind of boring."
"I'm staying with you."
"Okay. Not gonna complain."
"Dawn," said Buffy, "let's take the jeep and get some food for everyone. Chinese okay? Kay, you guys are gonna have to pay for this, I'm kinda broke."
"I think our expense account will cover that. Think a hundred will take care of it?"
"Six of us, including Dawn? Just about."
"Hey, I resent that," said Dawn. "I'm a growing girl. Just because your body stuck at small..."
"Food now, argue later. Come on."
Jonathan parked in the basement garage of an apartment block two miles from Willow's house and helped Warren across to the back-up mini-van they kept there for emergencies. Outside he could hear screeching sirens, gradually fading into the distance.
"Think we shook them?" asked Jonathan.
"Must have. Let's get out of here before someone notices that wreck."
Three miles later Warren realised that they'd left the wheelchair behind in the damaged van. "You'll have to steal another."
"We can't go back to the hospital for another," whined Jonathan, "there's bound to be cops there."
"I can't walk like this," said Warren, "I'll find somewhere else we can get one." He rummaged in the back of the van and found a copy of the Yellow Pages for Sunnydale. "Here, Sunnydale Mobility Aids at the Mall."
"Okay, that isn't far. How do you want to play this?"
"I can't go in like this, and you'll only mess up if you try to steal one on your own. Have you got any credit cards left that aren't on the hot list?"
"Mastercard, Visa, two American Express."
"Use the Mastercard, I think that one'll hold up for a day or two. Just go in, buy a wheelchair, say it's for your grandmother. Oh, and stop off at the food court and get something to eat."
"What do you want?"
"Thai would be nice."
"Are you really sure you're okay with me and Spike?" Buffy asked as they got into the car. "Only you sorta have a crush on him yourself."
"Sure I'm a little jealous, but there was never any future in it. He thinks of me as a kid, his little bit, that's all I'll ever be to him. Only..."
"Only what, Dawn?"
"Don't drive him away, Buffy, I don't want to lose more people. He's not gonna be a perfect boyfriend so don't expect it, you have to make allowances for what he is. And try not to drive Xander away either, he doesn't exactly like Spike but he kinda respects him now, he'll be okay with it if you don't weird him out too badly."
Buffy hugged her, and said "You've been planning that speech, haven't you?"
"Well yeah, someone needs to tell you how to keep boyfriends."
"Right, and of course you're the expert. Okay, I promise."
"But I still wanna see Xander squirm a little."
"Sadist."
"You always hurt the one you love," sang Dawn.
"I find you playing mistress of pain like vamp Willow there's gonna be big trouble. Now buckle up."
"And you're sure that this is the right size for your grandmother?" asked the wheelchair salesman.
"Yeah," said Jonathan, "she's just about my size."
"There's a little adjustment of height and seat angle built in, but if you need more I'd recommend going for the deluxe model."
"It's okay, this is just for use while her electric buggy is being repaired. She'll only be using it for a few days."
"Okay, that's ninety-nine ninety-nine. Just sign here Mister...."
"Rosenberg. Jonathan Rosenberg."
"You can read Baltian too?" asked Jay.
"Sure looks like it," said Willow. "It doesn't translate as easily as their speech, but it looks like she was writing a thesis on the behaviour and psychological development of human children. Anthropology."
"Oh honey..." said Tara, squeezing her hand in sympathy.
"I was her freaking guinea-pig!"
"Breathe, honey. Calm down."
"Oh God." Willow sat for a moment, trying to get her emotions under control. "Tara, I'm sorry. You don't have to see this."
"It's okay, that's what I'm here for, to help."
"Do you feel that you were treated like one? Like a guinea-pig?" asked Kay.
Willow pulled herself together with an effort. "She never seemed to pay much attention, to be honest. When she did it was usually a disaster."
"So more of an observer than actively experimenting on you?" asked Tara.
"I guess... although she must have done something. How did I come to know Baltian if she didn't experiment on me? How the heck did I learn to read it? And why did she wipe it all away?"
Kay's pager beeped, and he looked at it then said "We'll have to go out for a few minutes. There's a chance we've located your mother."
"I'm coming with you."
"Me too," said Tara.
"How was I to know that Mr. Wu's restaurant was closed?" asked Buffy. "It was fine last week."
"Well, he's on vacation this week."
"And three people were ill the last time I ordered from the China Palace. Which other ones do you like?"
"I think the nearest is in the food court at the Mall."
"Okay, let's hit the Mall. But no other shopping, we've got hungry people waiting."
Warren was waiting in the mini-van, and wishing he'd asked Jonathan to get more pain-killers, when four black vans screeched into the car park. He slumped down in the seat and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as a dozen black-clad agents left the vans and headed into the Mall. He could see someone move in one of the vans, and guessed that it would be a very bad idea to try to steal one. Once he was sure that nobody was looking his way he painfully slid across to the driver's seat and discovered that Jonathan had taken the keys with him.
Jonathan left the shop and pushed the empty wheel-chair towards the nearest bank of elevators, finding one waiting. He pressed the button for the food court and headed down. A few seconds later another elevator arrived, and MIB agents streamed out towards Sunnydale Mobility Aids.
Jonathan studied the Thai menu and tried to find something that wasn't made with shrimp or pork. He wasn't really religious, but old habits die hard. He made some choices and waited to be served. Then heard an all-too-familiar voice drifting across the food court.
"I'm sure I said that we didn't have time to visit any shops, Dawnie."
"One pharmacy, Buffy. Oh, and the Chocolate Box. And maybe we could swing by...."
Jonathan left the line and tried to look inconspicuous as he pushed the wheelchair towards the elevator and pressed the button. He stepped inside, then froze as he saw the occupants. Jay, Kay, Willow and Tara.
"Going somewhere, Jonathan?" asked Willow. He screamed, turned, and ran back into the crowd.
"Did you hear..." began Dawn, then realised that Buffy was already running towards the disturbance. She decided to stay in line for food; after all, there wasn't likely to be a problem here that Buffy couldn't handle.
Jonathan hurtled across the food hall leaving chaos in his wake, swerving around shoppers until he ran into Buffy. He didn't bounce. Within seconds Buffy had him in an arm-lock and slammed against a trash-can, and was just recovering her breath when Jay and Kay arrived, with Willow and Tara close behind.
"Okay Jonathan," said Buffy, "where's Warren?"
"Jonathan?" asked Kay. "Jonathan Rosenberg?"
"It was only a hundred dollars," sobbed Jonathan.
"What was?" asked Buffy, twisting his wrist a little.
"The charge on that credit card."
"His name isn't Rosenberg," said Willow, "it's Levinson. Part of Warren's little gang."
"Then he's got some explaining to do," said Jay, "because his Mastercard seems to think he's a relative of yours."
"He's human," said Kay, scanning him.
"Do you guys want to take him away?" asked Buffy, as more agents arrived. "I'll finish getting the meal and meet you back at the house."
"He dumped a wheelchair," said Tara. "Must have been getting it for Warren."
"Where is Warren?" asked Buffy.
"I can't tell you that," said Jonathan indignantly.
"Want I should give you to April, Jonathan?" asked Willow menacingly. "She'd like someone else to play with."
"Yikes! No.. he... he's in the car park, silver mini-van." The main group of agents headed for the elevator.
"Mall security," Jay said loudly, as he noticed a crowd starting to gather "just arresting this shoplifter. Thanks for your cooperation, ladies and gentlemen, please carry on."
"No neuralyzer?" Buffy asked quietly.
"No need," said Kay, "they haven't seen anything they need to forget."
"Okay. You guys round up Warren, I'll see you back at Willow's in about twenty minutes. Hope you both like egg fried rice."
Warren cowered underneath a pickup as the MIB agents searched the mini-van and eventually drove it away. He saw Jonathan taken by the last van, and knew that he was on his own. Eventually he crawled out and recognised one of the nearby cars. The one belonging to the MIB agents. It was his mistake to try to get inside by smashing one of the side windows with a loose brick he found in a dumpster.
By now the car's computer was seriously annoyed. People kept disturbing it when it was trying to surf the web, so after the brick bounced for the second time it decided to teach Warren a lesson. Just as he was about to swing again the door clicked and swung open a few inches. Warren didn't think it through, and touched the door handle to get inside. 20,000 volts surged through his body for a fraction of a second, paralysing him, while the door closed itself, reopened with the force of a kicking mule, and slammed shut again. He ended up underneath the pickup truck again, this time with concussion and a broken arm.
Two minutes later Jay, Kay, Willow and Tara came out, the women carrying some notepads and pens Willow had stopped to buy before they left the mall. None of them noticed the comatose body as they drove off.
"Well, I guess I know now why my parents always seemed to think I was going through phases," said Willow, tucking into beef and crispy noodles, "I found Baltian translations of every baby and child psychology book I've ever heard of in there, and a lot that I hadn't. Wonder if the authors get royalties?"
"Probably," said Kay. "Lots of terrestrial books and movies have off-world sales, it's one of the things my organisation handles. For example, I hear that Harry Potter is really popular in the G'tnurk Confederacy, they're using the books to reform their educational system."
"Wow!" said Dawn. "You mean they're riding around on broomsticks and brewing potions?"
"I think it's more the idea of teaching pupils rather than eating them."
"Okay... maybe I don't want to go there for my vacation then."
"If you don't breathe methane it probably isn't a good idea."
"I've been meaning to ask," said Willow, "why are you guys so hyper about this? I know you want to find my mom, but is it really that urgent?"
"This isn't hyper," said Jay, "Hyper is having an hour to track down an alien bug-monster before another bunch of aliens destroy the world. This is pretty close to a vacation for us."
"But we do have a deadline," said Kay, "we need to know what's happened to her in the next couple of days. We don't want to lose another Baltian citizen, it was bad enough when your uncle... sorry, you know what I mean... was murdered."
"Uncle Saul was murdered? Who by?"
"That giant bug-monster Jay mentioned. It was an assassin, disguised itself as human to kill your uncle and steal something very important to the Baltians. The aim was to start a war. We dealt with that, but they're still prickly where Earth is concerned, we really don't want to upset them more than we have to."
"Well, I guess I didn't really know him that well, but it's kinda unsettling. Is anything like that likely to have happened to.. uh.. Sheila?"
"Not that we know of, she wasn't involved in any way and as far as we know that whole business is over."
"That's good." Willow finished her food and said "Back to work."
"I've just gone through the last few weeks of her records," Willow said an hour or so later. "apparently she wanted to take a break from pretending to be a human, so she just told me they were going on vacation, went down to the cellar, and moved into the Habitrail. She seems to have spent her time writing up her notes. What I've mostly been listening to is her diary. It just ends abruptly, in mid sentence."
"Can you play it?" said Jay.
"Here, let me just get it to the right place.... she's complaining that after twenty-odd years she still doesn't really know how I think, then she says 'treforkil snoe g'takli ediv human.' It means 'Would that I really understood humans.' After that there's just a lot of silence."
"Play it again," said Dawn, "I think I heard something in the background as she finished speaking."
"Okay... 'treforkil snoe g'takli ediv human.'... Hey, I think you're right, there is something there but it's really quiet.
"I'll enhance it," said Jay.
"treforkil snoe g'takli ediv human...." followed by a faint voice saying "Tflok."
"Holy crap," said Willow. "Tflok? They've gotta be kidding."
"What does that mean?" asked Jay.
"Wish granted."
To Be Continued
