Unscathed?

The trek round to the sewage outlet took a bare five minutes, something which Alice was pleased about. She was less pleased by what she found at the outlet. Thick, foul smelling effluent was flowing, a couple of feet deep, from a pipe that was no more than three feet in diameter. She wrinkled her nose in general disgust. Tight squeeze.

"In our time," she commented off-hand, "this would be illegal."

Namir gave a humourless laugh. "It is now, too."

"Sure looks like it, Nam," Rick observed.

"We have two hours," said Alice. "Let's do this."

She pushed up her sleeve and uncovered her morpher, a gesture matched by both Rick and Namir. She glanced at them both. Rick looked calm but sure. He offered a fractional smile as she met his gaze. Namir looked nervous at the prospect, this would be the first time he'd morphed, but he managed a nod.

"Vengeance descends!"

There was a flash of light and a burst of energy and the morph took hold.

"Whoa!" Namir's exclamation made Alice smile. "What a rush."

"Sure is," Rick agreed, a chuckle in his voice.

"Let's go," said Alice. "I'll go first. Nam -- you follow. Rick, you come after Nam."

"Got it."

Alice grimaced as she stepped into the sludge flow, grateful that neither Rick nor Namir could see her expression. You can do this. The current was surprisingly strong, and even despite the air filters on her helmet, the smell was nearly suffocating. Don't think about it, just do it. She lowered herself into a crouch and started to inch into the pipe.

Behind her, she heard the muted splash that heralded Namir's entrance into the flow, closely followed by a half gasp/exclamation that indicated the smell had hit him. She didn't have the heart to tell him that once he got into the pipe, it was even worse. He'd soon know.

~*~

Kimberly felt nervous as she took her seat for the afternoon session of the trial. She'd done her bit. Carmen had been delighted with it. So had Lucas and Wes. Kerin had been seething. That was all she could have done, so it was now in the hands of the judges.

"Major Kendall!" Captain Detourney, a member of Covert Operations, appeared. The normally placid woman looked agitated and, Kimberly decided, faintly excited.

"Marissa -- what's up?" Lucas asked. "We're just about to get under way."

"New evidence -- from you know who and where. You need to get an adjournment until Monday."

Kimberly felt her heart skip a beat. They'd found him?

"Any details yet?"

Captain Detourney shook her head. "The message was 'Get adjournment -- K's case is about to be screwed!'."

Lucas instantly leaned forwards and relayed the message to Carmen, who nodded. "OK, thanks Marissa -- we'll do our best."

Captain Detourney smiled and departed, her job done, leaving Kimberly on the edge of her seat.

"It's going to be OK," Wes murmured, giving her hand a squeeze. "It really is going to be OK."

~*~

Alice half crawled, half swam against the current, hauling herself along the pipe and concentrating her attention on the scanners that were inbuilt in her helmet. If she focussed on that, on checking for defences and sensors, then she wasn't thinking about what she was crawling through. It did help that thanks to the pitch darkness she couldn't see it, but every now and then she'd come into contact with something that was just barely solid and that reminded her of exactly what they were moving through.

Behind her, Namir had long since stopped reacting. The first mile or so had been punctuated by small gasps, which had gradually turned to whimpers and then to silence. Alice could sympathise but she couldn't spare the breath or effort to comfort him. It was hard going and she needed all her energy for the onwards journey which, for the last half mile, had been steadily up hill.

"Ali, I'm picking up comm. voice traffic," Rick noted, presently. "We must be almost there."

"Really?" Rick's news seemed to rouse Namir.

"Rick, what're they saying?" Alice asked. "There's an access hatch just up ahead, but I don't want to take it if it's just going to bring us up into the yard."

"Working on it."

Alice stopped, just shy of the hatch, waiting for Rick's answer.

"It's chatter from the guards," he finally supplied, "but, given what I've just heard, this access hatch should be perfect."

"Care to explain that one?"

Rick offered a chuckle. "They're in the john. We're under the guardhouse."

"OK." Alice turned her attention to the hatch. Scanning it, she found no sensors and only a very elementary lock mechanism. Not surprising. I mean, who's gonna be dumb enough to crawl through the sewers... "Rick, am I clear to open the hatch up?"

"Yep -- go for it Ali."

Carefully, Alice started to push upwards at the point where the lock was situated. It would have been easier to materialise her blaster and melt the lock, but with the assorted gasses in the pipe, that was not a great idea -- so brute strength was her only option. Moments passed then there was a sharp crrrrrrrrack sound and the lock gave way.

She froze and waited.

"In the clear Ali," Rick reported without needing to be prompted. "Let's get the fuck out of this place!"

"You've got it." Alice shifted a little further up the pipe. "Nam -- you go first. Demorph and see if you can find us three guard uniforms."

"OK." Alice wasn't surprised to see Namir achieve something close to warp speed in getting out.

"Rick, you next," Alice continued. "I'll follow."

"Got it."

Rick scrambled out of the pipe. Alice followed him and found herself standing in a cramped access hallway. Rick, still morphed, had his head cocked, clearly listening to more comm. chatter.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I thought we'd been made," Rick answered. Alice felt her heart stop. "But it was a couple of the guards talking about a holonet film they'd both watched."

"Richard Collins don't you ever do that to me again!" she hissed. "C'mon. Power down so's we're ready for Nam when he gets back."

Rick shrugged and demorphed. Alice followed suit. To her relief, the lingering smell finally vanished with her ranger suit, leaving the only signs of their crawl as a couple of footprints and the busted hatch.

She was just setting the hatch cover back into place as Namir returned, having already changed into his guard uniform, bearing not only two more uniforms but also a floor cloth. He smirked a bit at Alice's raised eyebrows.

"Figure we don't wanna leave footprints," he said.

~*~

"I hate waiting," Al muttered as he kept a close watch on the TOI.

Rob offered a snort. "Not as if we can do anything else."

"I know."

"I swear you didn't moan this much on stake outs."

"That's because my son wasn't walking in undercover," Al retorted. "It would have been me."

"Leaving the rest of us to stew," Rob finished. "Al, like it or not, Nam's an adult now. He's gotta make his own choices. Wes and Jen, Kim and Eric are in the same boat too, you know. Maybe when this is over you should..."

"I can't," Al cut in with a sigh. "It's hard enough keeping the charade up for people who barely knew me, like Hawking."

"You should have told them," Rob replied.

"Alex Collins needed to die. Shit!" Before Rob could ask for any explanations, Al was squirming rapidly backwards down the hill. "Hill patrol! We need to get under cover and quick or else everything's screwed."

~*~

As Alice had hoped, the uniforms allowed them to move through the guardhouse without anyone asking questions. Rick had managed to find Eric's location via the computer system and they had been able to head easily into the cell complex. Unfortunately, in the cell complex, they hit a snag: The area they needed to get into was highly secured.

"There's no way we can sneak past all that!" Rick muttered softly as he returned to where Alice and Namir were waiting. "Cameras, probably IR scanners, motion sensors...all that plus a guard check point and at least one locked door. Fort Knox would be easier."

"Easy is not the way of the Jedi," Alice murmured. "OK. We've got two choices. We can try morphing and shooting our way in, or we find another way in."

"Ali, there isn't another way in," Namir objected. "We've already established that."

Alice offered Namir a smile. "Sure there is. Look around. What do you see?"

Namir frowned. "I see hallway. I see a broom closet..."

"I see a ventilation duct," said Rick, the look on his face telling Alice exactly what he thought of that idea. "We can't possibly all fit through that."

"We can't," Alice agreed. "I can." Rick opened his mouth to object. "Don't argue. The only other options are you create some sort of computer phantom -- which will be a one way trip -- or we quit. I'm not prepared to quit."

"And how are you going to get Eric out?" Namir retorted. "I don't know him, but I'm willing to bet he's bigger than you are."

Alice nodded. "He is, and he won't -- but he won't have to." She held up a hand to still more protest. "Listen. This is what I have in mind. At full power, the Ranger comm. channel isn't jam-able. It's also one hundred percent secure." Rick nodded. "I get in, find Eric and free him. When I do that, I can give you a signal via the comm.. That is where your computer phantoms come in, Rick. They'll get us either in, or out. They won't do both." Rick looked reluctantly agreed on that point. Alice glanced at her watch.

"You're going in morphed?" Namir queried.

Alice nodded. "Safest way." She looked at them both. "Objections?"

"I think you're nuts," Rick responded, "but you're also probably right."

Namir shook his head. "You know more about this planning shit than I do. If this is the only way..."

"It is." Namir sighed and nodded. "You've got forty-five minutes tops. If I haven't contacted you in that time, head back to where we came in and get the hell out."

"Just you make sure that doesn't happen, Ali," Rick warned. "I don't wanna have to explain this to your mom. She scares me."

Alice found herself chuckling as she stepped away from them to morph. "And what the hell do you think she does to me when I get in shit with her?"

In the time it took her to morph, Namir and Rick between them got the cover off the ventilation duct.

"Good luck," Namir offered.

"And you. Remember -- forty-five minutes. No longer." So saying, Alice climbed into the ventilation shaft.

~*~

Rob lay, barely daring to breathe, beneath a combination of bushes and camouflage netting in a shallow dip. The hiding spot had been picked out and set up, jointly, by himself and Al on first arrival. Both had hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

"Any ideas what we're looking for?" asked one of the searchers.

"Anything out of the ordinary," answered a second searcher tersely.

"Like?"

"Boss thinks there's someone out here."

"Think he's right?"

"I think you should stop asking questions and start looking!" the second voice snapped.

Under any other circumstances, Rob would have found the exchange funny, but with the speakers barely a foot from his position, it wasn't remotely amusing.

~*~

Even more so than the sewer pipe, the ventilation shaft was a tight squeeze. Before she'd gone more than five yards, Alice knew she was going to be covered in bruises when she finally demorphed, but there was little alternative. Worry about that later; get Eric now.

She wriggled, climbed and crawled through the ductwork, grateful that for the most part, it was the original, twentieth-century brickwork rather than anything more modern. It meant that she didn't have to worry unduly about making a noise.

Which is just as well, she decided as she whacked her elbow against the brickwork for the umpteenth time. Being morphed prevented it from hurting too badly, but it didn't prevent there from being a thud each time she did it.

She finally reached an intersection in the ventilation system and paused. Which way? She instantly discounted the duct that led off to the right because that led away from where she wanted to get to, but that still left two: The one to the left and the one straight on.

Instinct said to veer left. But I wanna back that up with something a little more solid.

Across the bottom of her helmet visor a message scrolled:

{Recommend switching to search and rescue mode.}

Huh? Before she could do anything, her visor view shifted from displaying the inside of the ductwork to showing a scan of the whole immediate vicinity. A steady stream of readings flashed up the right hand side of the view.

{Analysis complete. Target is to left.}

Whoa. What the hell?

{Low-level Intelligence Asset. LIA for short.}

Lia?

In so far as blank text could look exasperated the next message did.

{LIA is installed in your transmogrification device as a back up option in situations where the user has not been fully trained.}

You mean my morpher thinks?

{Yes.}

Alice found herself smiling. Cool.

{Temperature is irrelevant to current situation.}

OK. You and me are gonna have a little 'discussion' about slang when we get done here. There was no response from LIA. Alice started to take the left duct. So how do you know what I'm thinking, anyway?

{The user has a neural interface with the transmogrification device. LIA is programmed to pick up on certain types of neural transmissions.}

You mean you read my mind.

{Yes.}

Cool.

{Temperature...}

Is irrelevant -- I know. You already told me. Alice shook her head. This was going to take some getting used to.

Another hundred yards of crawling went by, then LIA flashed up:

{Stop here.}

Alice looked around and found the vent cover. Through here?

{Yes. The only person in proximity to this location is the target.}

And you know who the target is because you read my mind, Alice thought dryly.

{Yes.}

Who knew blank text could look sheepish. Do you only read my mind when I'm morphed, Alice wondered as she worked the cover loose, or is it all the time?

{LIA is programmed to detect specific forms of neural transmissions.}

Guess I'll take that as all the time. The cover came off, allowing Alice to slip out of the vent and into a grim, stone corridor. She shuddered. Not a nice place.

{Target is in closest cell. Cell is locked.}

Any suggestions on how to get through that? Alice wondered as she headed in the right direction.

{Chemical structure of door suggests composition is ninety-percent partially decomposed carbon. Entry will be easy.}

Alice blinked. What was that supposed to mean? Then she reached the door and the truth dawned. It was a wooden door, which, from the looks of things, was mostly rotten. Wonder why Eric didn't bust out.

{Target is restrained.}

Oh. Guess that makes sense. Alice kicked the door. It imploded in a hail of rotten wood and metal bolts. And if I can do that, you can bet your ass Eric could have done it, if he hadn't been restrained.

Stepping through the wreckage, though, she came upon a sight that stopped her cold. Eric had been chained to the wall opposite the door with his hands at such a height as to force him to either hang by his wrists or crouch. That would have been bad enough, but as her helmet display compensated for the poor light levels in the cell, she could pick out visible signs of neglect and maltreatment.

"Dad?" Alice called.

Eric's head jerked up at her voice and Alice felt sick as milky, sightless eyes fell on her. "No more...you won't fool me again...you're not real...you can't be real...if I can't see you you're not here..."

"Dad -- what've they done to you?" Alice took a step forwards.

"Not real...not here...just a phantom..."

"I'm not -- dad, I'm really here. I'm gonna get you out of this. Get you home."

"Not here...just a figment...not real..."

How do I convince him I'm real?

{Suggest freeing target and demorphing.}

How is that going to help?

{Target is blind and/or mistrustful of sight. Therefore freeing target will permit him to use touch.}

I'm an idiot... Wisely, LIA made no comment. She stepped up to Eric and crouched before him. "Dad, I'm gonna get you out of this." He flinched as she touched him. "Please -- you've got to believe me. I'm really here."

"I...feel you..." he whispered. "Are you real?"

The note of hope in his voice was pitiful. Alice had to swallow before she could answer, "Yes -- and if you'll let me get you free, I'll prove it to you."

"Oh-ok."

Alice reached up. With one hand she took hold of the chain that was securing his right wrist. With the other, she braced his wrist. "On three. One -- two -- three!" Under the full force of brute, power assisted strength, the chain snapped and gently she helped him lower his arm.

"Hurts."

"Sorry, dad. Gonna do the other arm now." So saying, she repeated the trick, freeing his left arm. Before the chain had even finished snapping, he started reaching for her, trying, instinctively, to use his fingers where his eyes were failing him. But all they came in contact with was the hard shell of her helmet.

"You're not real...no face."

"That's my ranger helmet," Alice answered. "Lemme get it off." She opted not to power down. Instead, she reached up and undid the catches that held the helmet in place. As the plastic shell lifted, his fingers sought her face.

His touch was clumsy and awkward but she let him 'read' her face with his fingertips, praying he would finally believe.

"You feel real," he finally whispered. "But the other one felt real...she wasn't."

What the hell? "Dad I'm really here," Alice answered. Screw it. "Power down." She let the morph drop away and guided his still groping fingers to the narrow, gold chain around her neck. "Remember this?" She helped his fingers find the tiny ring that hung on it. "You proposed to mom -- in East Mall. You were on crutches. You proposed to me, too -- gave me a ring, just like mom's but 'Alice sized'. That was how you described it."

"A little ring for a little lady..." Tears started to roll down his face. "You are real...why can't I see you?"

Alice pulled him into a gentle hug, silently vowing that if she got her hands on the bastard that had done this to Eric they wouldn't live long enough to regret it. "They've done something to you, dad -- I don't know what. But I'm gonna get you outta here -- you're gonna be OK."

She shifted a little and Eric clung to her. "Don't go. Don't leave me," he begged.

"I'm not leaving you," Alice answered, "but I need to morph. Once I morph, it's ten minutes until we're outta here completely. Promise." I hope.

"OK."

He reluctantly let go and allowed her to move away. As quickly as she could, she morphed again. Via the comm. system, she sent, "Ready when you are, Rick."

"Phew!" came the response from Namir.

"Understood, Ali -- expect fireworks in one minute," Rick answered. Then he added, "How is he?"

Alice looked down at Eric, still crouched where she'd left him. "Not good, Rick. So very 'not good' I don't know where to start."

"OK. Fill us in later."

Even as he said it, alarms started to go off in the building.

{LIA detects a series of fire alerts in progress -- suggest...}

That's Rick's distraction -- it's computer phantoms, Alice responded, cutting LIA off. Aloud, she said, "OK, Dad, time to go." Without waiting for him to respond, Alice bent over and gently took hold of him. "Up you get." Even as gentle as she was, though, he still grimaced in pain as she helped him stand up. "Guess you've been stuck like that for a while, huh?"

"A week. I think."

She hadn't expected an answer. That he gave one meant he was more aware of his surroundings now; that it was coherent gave Alice cause for a certain amount of relief. Maybe he really will be OK. "Can you walk?"

"If you guide me."

Alice nodded. "Of course." So saying, she helped him put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm not gonna let you go, 'kay?"

"OK."

Carefully, Alice led Eric towards the door of the cell. LIA can you pinpoint Rick and Namir's location and direct me there?

{Yes.}

"Watch out -- the door's kinda wrecked," Alice warned aloud while LIA worked.

"Just tell me how high to lift my legs. I'll manage."

Despite the situation, Alice found herself smiling as she did just that. Eric was starting to sound more and more like himself. Maybe his sight would follow... Once out in the hallway, progress was better. The further they went, the better Eric's balance became and the faster they were able to move. She knew this had to still be hurting him, but a sidelong glance told her his jaw was clenched, swallowing back any reaction to the pain.

Almost as if sensing her concern, he said, "Worry about physical damage later. Get us outta here now."

Alice started to chuckle at the response, but as they rounded a corner, the laughter died on her lips.

"Well, well. A touching scene."

Standing, in the middle of the hallway, was a tall, thin, completely bald man, backed up by ranks of cyclobots and, to Alice's horror, someone who looked exactly like her. But the other one felt real and wasn't. The words suddenly made sense.

"Ali?" Eric murmured softly. "What's going on?"

"Company," Alice answered.

"I have to commend your efforts," the man continued. "You really have managed to do outstandingly well -- such a pity it wasn't good enough."

Alice angled herself so that she was partially shielding Eric. LIA if you have any suggestions about this, now would be a good moment for them.

"Get them!"

The cyclobots surged forwards.

"Shit!" Alice pivoted, kicking out at the on-coming robots, connecting with one and driving them back momentarily.

"Ali let go of me and fight them," Eric advised. "Don't worry about me."

Then he took the decision out of her hands by shrugging out of her hold. Easy for you to say, dad -- I'm not you; I'm not John... But there wasn't another option. She moved in front of Eric's position. They weren't going to get their hands on him again without having to go through her first.

{LIA has options.}

Well good -- what are they? Alice asked, even as she tried to put into practice some of the defensive drills Taylor had been teaching her.

{Surrender.}

Nothing doing, LIA, Alice mentally retorted, punching an encroaching 'bot. Surrender is not an option.

{Not to them. Allow LIA to take over.}

You can do that?

{Yes.}

Then do it.

For a moment everything blurred and her perceptions shifted. Clarity returned a split second later, but not as a visual image. Instead, she 'saw' everything in terms of vectors and co-ordinates on a three dimensional, red grid. It was LIA's view of the world, and it might have been frightening, but her perception of fear had shifted. Fear was a human emotion. Emotion was irrelevant. Only the objective mattered.

The hostiles closed in. Each hostile was prioritised and tagged on the grid. Then LIA/Alice started to methodically take out the robots, moving from target to target with precision. No movement was wasted. Each punch and kick was measured for the greatest effect.

"I don't believe this!" The lead hostile -- the bald man -- was dumbfounded.

"{Believe it, jackass,}" LIA/Alice retorted as the last cyclobot hit the floor.

Threat sensors indicated the lead hostile had drawn a blaster. Energy readings showed it was set on kill. The vector indicated the aim was not at her but at Eric. Objective was to protect Eric. LIA/Alice dived forwards, flowing across the space between her position and that of the lead hostile as energy readings indicated a build up of charge in the blaster. Lead hostile was firing. Chance of preventing serious or fatal wounding was minimal. Objective was to be achieved at any cost.

The blast struck her, full on the chest. Fiery pain spread out from where the blast hit her, but LIA/Alice shunted the pain aside. Pain was a human feeling. It was irrelevant. Stopping lead hostile was paramount.

"I...but...you..."

Then LIA/Alice bulled into him, slamming him into the wall. There was a vague 'ouf' sound as the breath was forced from his lungs on impact. Then his head snapped back against the wall with a sickening thud and he went limp in her grip. Sensors indicated he was dead.

"Ali?"

LIA/Alice turned at the sound of the voice. The clone was standing beside Eric; a blaster aimed at Eric's head.

"{Step away from him,}" LIA/Alice ordered.

"Make me," the clone retorted.

A millisecond was all it took to analyse the situation. Energy readings indicated the blaster was set to stun. The risk of it going off and causing permanent damage was negligible. One second was all it took for LIA/Alice to draw her own blaster and fire it. The aim was perfect. The clone never stood a chance.

"Ali?" Rick. Approaching.

"Alice?" Namir.

"Holy shit!" Rick.

"A---alice?" Eric.

Everything wavered for a moment before shifting back to normal. Rick and Namir were standing, both morphed, in the hallway, just beyond her in one direction. The thin man was in a heap of dead flesh at her feet. The clone was a mess of pinkish goo beside Eric. There were remnants of cyclobots everywhere.

"I did this?"

Then a wave of pain and exhaustion hit her. The ground seemed to suddenly be getting closer. I think I'm going to faint... And then everything went black.

TO BE CONTINUED...