I don't own anything except Victor Corvin, James MacPherson, and Tamara Klein

The next morning, I awoke on the park bench with stiff muscles and an aching neck. I immediately resolved never to sleep in such a place again; when one's neck refuses to straighten past a ninety-degree angle, fighting is difficult.

Once my body functioned well enough, I left the park and headed for the Bridge. I assumed that that would be the place Jr. met us, since he was in command of the ship.

When I reached the Bridge, I found the others already there. "Finally awake, Victor?" Shion asked, amused.

"Yeah, yeah." I attempted a glare, failed. "Look, yesterday was a long day, and I didn't exactly pick the best place to sleep, okay? And it's not like I have to be so alert here. There are no Immortals aboard the Durandal, and anything else the ship's forces could handle. Right, 'Little Master'?"

"Of course. You think the Foundation doesn't have the money to train our people right?" Jr. snorted. "We've got more money than we know what to do with."

"So I gathered," I said dryly. "I take it there was something you wanted to show us?"

"Yeah. Come on, let's get to the Quarantine Hanger."

"The Quarantine Hanger?" My eyes narrowed. "So you did retrieve the last Emulator, then."

Shion looked at me in surprise. "You knew about those, Victor? You didn't mention them before."

I smiled. "Chalk it up to being a professional paranoid, Shion." I wrapped an arm about her shoulders. "I'm just not used to being around people I can trust." I shook my head. "Assuming we ever get the time, there's quite a bit I could tell you about the last four thousand years. I was there, after all." A thought occurred to me, and I glanced at Jr. "By the way, Jr., have you had any contact with Dr. Mizrahi lately? I seem to recall that the Foundation deals with the Subcommittee fairly regularly."

MOMO looked up at me. "Dr. Mizrahi...? You know Mommy?"

"Yeah, as it happens, I do. When you live as long as I do, you meet a lot of people. I also know Representative Helmer, from the Second Miltian Government, and a lot of other people."

Jr. glanced our way. "If you guys are done chatting, can we get on with this?"

"Yeah, sure." I smiled at Shion. "Lead on, MacDuff." I carefully ignored the look Allen sent my way. Tough, buddy. You'll get over it.

The Quarantine Hanger itself was huge, with large storage containers lining the walls. "What is this place?' MOMO asked. "The environmental controls here seem very strict."

"It's huge," Shion said in an awed voice. "What are those?" She pointed at the storage containers. "Six to each side, and one directly across."

"There's something written on them," Ziggy noted.

"You've got great eyes." Shion squinted at them. "Let's see... Peter... Andrew... Boanerges... Thomas... John... Um..."

KOS-MOS picked up where she left off. "Philip, Matthew, Bartholomew, James, Thadeus, Simon, Judas."

"And the last one...?"

"It appears to say, 'Marienkind'."

"Marienkind..." Shion said thoughtfully. "I think I've heard that somewhere..."

"It means 'Child of Mary'," Shelley said.

I nodded slowly. "The twelve Apostles, and Jesus Christ, in other words."

"This is where we keep all the really dangerous items," Jr. said. "Like these." He touched a control, and twelve of the containers slowly opened.

"Zohars!?" Shion exclaimed.

"Actually, they're all Emulators," Jr. responded.

I nodded. "Yeah. The Original is still sealed on Old Miltia. I hope."

"But what are they doing here?"

"Well, our corporation does dabble in a little of everything," Jr. said. "Besides, these days you can't get by without something to combat the Gnosis, and we can't just wait around for the Federation to get off its lazy backside."

"What's in the room across from us?" MOMO asked.

Jr. shuddered. "Nothing pleasant, I'll tell you that much."

Shion looked at him. "You're not going to show us?"

"Believe me, it ain't anything you'd want to see." Then he shrugged. "Well, I guess if you want to see it that badly..." He tapped a code into the panel next to the door, and the hatch slid open.

I hesitated before entering; I knew exactly what was in there, from previous visits, and I'd heard they'd picked up even worse examples recently. In the end, though, I went in anyway; if nothing else, I wanted to be on hand when Shion caught sight of the specimen at the end of the room. I doubted she'd react well. Not to that room of horrors.

She entered first, walking down the center aisle, then stopping at the tank at the far end. "What is this place?" Then she looked up, and saw the half-human, half-Gnosis monstrosity.

I was right behind her when she shrieked. I held her then. "Calm down, Shion." I glanced at the thing and quickly looked away. "I hate to say it, but the girl is dead, and she's a lot better off that way."

"I told ya you weren't gonna like, didn't I," Jr. said smugly.

I turned my head slowly. "Jr., kindly shut up before I am forced to knock your teeth down your throat. This is not the time for that."

He looked at me strangely, glanced at Shion, then back at me, and did a double take. Then he laughed. "I don't believe it! The girl who finally caught Victor Corvin?"

I glared at him. "Look, you diminutive gunman, this is not the time, and another crack like that will earn you a hit that will leave you wondering why you're looking at your legs from a couple of meters away," I hissed. "Understand?"

From the look on his face, Jr. had suddenly recalled that every time in the past, when I had threatened violence, I had followed through. I never bluff.

"Is that a lady?" MOMO asked, looking up at the horrifying creature.

"She was a little girl," Jr. said softly, "the last time we saw her." He walked up to the tank. "Most people just turn white and crumble to pieces, but there are a few exceptions. And they always end up like this. We've named this one Betty for now. It's hard to look straight at them, but I don't want to refer to them by some code name or number."

"What are they?" I asked. Some of this I knew, but I was hardly an authority on the subject. I was a simple soldier, most of the time.

"No one really knows. Plenty of Gnosis remains have been recovered to date, but not much has been learned from them. You know what they're made of?"

"No," Allen replied.

"Sodium chloride. Plain old salt." Jr. shook his head. "How can such simple compounds produce creatures like them? Nobody really knows much about them." He tapped the tank. "And why is it that those who survive Gnosis encounters always turn into them?"

"Always?" Shion asked. "No exceptions?"

"Nope. Not as far as I know."

I suddenly realized why Shion was so concerned, as a memory from the Gnosis attack on the Woglinde came to mind. She'd been attacked by one herself, just before Allen, KOS-MOS, and I had rescued her. She'd had a near-whitening, just as Commander Andrew Cherenkov had aboard the Elsa.

But Cherenkov had been attacked later than Shion, and become a Gnosis already, whereas Shion hadn't...

"How long has this been going on?" Allen asked.

"Unofficially, phenomena like this have been occurring periodically for the past few centuries. But it wasn't until a certain incident that the Gnosis leapt into the forefront of history." Jr. paused. "The Miltian Conflict. It was Joachim Mizrahi that opened Pandora's Box, and unleashed the Gnosis upon the galaxy."

"Joachim Mizrahi..." Shion murmured. "The brilliant scientist who founded the U-TIC Organization."

"Brilliant?" Jr. snorted. "He was a lunatic. Unable to bear his curiosity, he invited the Gnosis into our world, and we're all paying for his ambition."

Almost unnoticed, MOMO looked down and walked out of the room. That's right, I realized. She thinks of Mizrahi as her father. Jr.'s revelations must have hurt, and she might not even believe it.

"Come on, Shion," I said quietly. "Let's get out of here. This place freaks me out, and that takes some doing." I lightly stroked her face with my hand. "Besides, I don't think this place is doing you any good, either."

She nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She shuddered. "I don't think I ever want to come here again."

"I don't blame you a bit. If I hadn't been worried about you, I would have stayed out completely. That's fit to give even an Immortal nightmares."

As we left the chamber of horrors, Shion leaned against me. "Thanks, Victor."

I looked at her, puzzled. "For what?"

"For caring enough to come in with me."

I shrugged. "Hey, I am supposed to be your bodyguard, remember? Besides," and I grinned, "I still have to show you that restaurant, and I can't exactly do that if you flip out on me."

She frowned. "I wonder where MOMO went?" she asked abruptly. "She seemed kind of down."

I nodded. "I don't think Jr. realized the Joachim Mizrahi was MOMO's creator. If he had, I don't think he'd have spoken of Mizrahi like that in her presence. Despite how he acted back there, he's not normally that insensitive." I stopped. "Maybe you should go find her. I have some things I need to discuss with Jr."

"Okay, Victor. See you later." Shion turned and headed for the ship's train system.

As I began heading back for the Hanger itself, however, an alarm blared. "Security Alert! Transfer waves detected in the Quarantine Hanger!"

"What the!?" I picked up the pace, running to meet Jr. "Hey, Jr., what's going on!?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. It looks like somebody was stupid enough to short-jump himself into here. You know what happens when organics use transfer jumps."

"Where did he jump in?" I demanded.

"I think in the specimen room. Why? It'll just be a corpse."

"Jr., hasn't it occurred to you that an Immortal could have done that? He may be a corpse now, but if I don't hurry, he'll be up and hunting me in moments!" I drew Lady Vivamus.

Jr.'s eyes widened. "You think one would risk it? And that it's you he's after?"

"Yes, one would risk it, and who do you think he'd be after!?" A moment later, I felt the familiar Buzz, which drowned out all else. "Jr., everybody, get back. I think there's trouble."

I was correct: a man with a broadsword was approaching from the specimen chamber. "Victor Corvin," he said with a thick Russian accent.

My eyes narrowed. "Vladimir Nevsky. Is MacPherson pulling in everybody that has a grudge against me?" I leveled my blade, point toward his throat. "I suppose you're here for my head?"

Vladimir smiled and shrugged. "Well, if you hadn't decided to ruin my arms business on Zoar thirty-seven years ago, perhaps things would be different. But, your old friend James is indeed gathering together those who have reason to hate you, and he kindly told me where to find you." He raised his heavy blade. "Of course, the fact that you're a Westerner, from the country that nearly destroyed Mother Russia four thousand years ago, is an added bonus."

"Volodya," I began, using the familiar form of his name, "you weren't even born when 'Mother Russia' disintegrated. You were born on Alpha Centauri, about five centuries after that. So don't try to tell me that you hold that against me."

"Perhaps. But I have all the excuse I need: In the end, there can be only one."

"Yeah. And it won't be you, Volodya." I glanced back at Jr. "You guys really should leave. And while you're at it, shut off the internal sensors around here. The Quickening is something that shouldn't be recorded, lest the wrong parties become aware of it and start asking questions."

"Right." He and the others still present hurried out of the room, with Jr. already giving orders.

"Just you and me now, nekulturny." I grinned when he flushed at the insult. "Ready to die?"

"It's you who will die this day, American!" Nevsky advanced slowly, swinging his weapon in an attempt to make me move early.

"Not going to work, Vlad." I began moving as well, circling him. "I have a question for you, Volodya. I tried to ask Reinhardt Mittler, but he forced me to kill him before I got an answer: What happened to Tamara Klein?"

Vladimir appeared to consider this for a moment, then smiled. "Well, Victor, if it means that much to you, perhaps I'll give you a clue before I die. If you win, of course. Honor among Immortals, if you will."

"I don't believe honor means anything to you except as a word in the dictionary, Volodya, but I suppose you'd do it just to torment me by giving a piece without the whole." I thought for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, Volodya. That's better than what I got from Mittler."

"Then fight, Corvin!" The big Russian swung his heavy blade at me, starting with a feint toward my head, then a cut at my stomach.

I ignored the feint, however, and blocked the stomach cut. "Nice try." I launched a fast and furious attack at his chest, putting him on the defensive. When he recovered, I dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding an arm slash, and blocked his next strike with my prosthetic arm.

"What?" Nevsky pulled back, then suddenly whacked me in the face with his sword's pommel. "Take that, overconfident American!" He followed up by opening a cut in my left arm, ruining the sleeve of my jacket in the process.

I snarled. "Blast you, Nevsky, you just ruined my favorite jacket!" I redoubled my efforts, opening a dozen minor wounds on his body in seconds.

"By the time I'm done with you, Corvin, your jacket will be the least of your worries!"

For the next several minutes, we went at it, wounding each other occasionally, neither of us getting the upper hand. It was a battle of attrition.

Until I finally broke through his guard and sliced off his sword hand. Nevsky went white and collapsed to the floor, clutching his stump. "Arrgh!"

I stood over him, katana poised over his throat. "All right, Volodya. We had a deal."

He nodded jerkily. "Very well, Victor. I will tell you this: it was not MacPherson himself who went for your friend's head. Instead, he sent a Japanese woman, whose name I do not know. And that is all that I know."

I nodded slowly. "For once, I believe you." I drew back my blade. "There can be only one." I struck.

Once I recovered from the Quickening and picked myself up off the floor (I'd been blown clear out of the Hanger by it), I first found Jr. and informed him that the internal sensors could be reactivated in that area. Then I went looking for Shion.

She was just leaving the observation room in the park when I ran into her. "Hi, Victor. What's up?"

"Just thought I'd let you know that the cause of that alarm a few minutes ago has been... dealt with," I answered.

"What was it?"

I grimaced. "An Immortal, using a transfer jump to get aboard. Vladimir Nevsky. He's dead, now."

"Are you okay?" Then she shook her head. "Of course you are; I of all people should know that." Shion smiled. "So what did he have against you?"

I chuckled. "Volodya was an arms dealer, during the Zoar Incident. I was with an anti-terrorist unit at the time, and was responsible for shutting his operation down. When MacPherson started gathering together Immortals to send against me, Nevsky joined him pretty quick." My expression turned dour. "Unlike Mittler, he did give me a bit of information about Tamara's death."

"Was it of any use?"

I shook my head. "Hard to say. According to Nevsky, and in this I believe him, MacPherson sent a Japanese Immortal to do his dirty work. Right off the top of my head, though, I can't think of any Japanese women I've caused to hate me in quite a while." I changed the subject. "Did you find MOMO, by the way?"

"Yeah. She was in the park. You were right about what was wrong; but I think I cheered her up." Shion frowned. "I'll need to check KOS-MOS' systems later; she was empathizing with MOMO."

My eyebrows rose. "Really? Maybe her emotion module has finally begun working. We never did figure out why it didn't work in the first place."

"I hope so. By the way, Victor, are you actually going to get some sleep this time?"

I mock-grimaced. "It wasn't that I didn't sleep at all, last night. I just chose the wrong place for it." I touched her arm. "See you in the morning, Shion."

"Good night, Victor."

The next day, we viewed the approach to the Kukai Foundation from the Observation room. Jr. has suggested we watch from there, as it was quite an impressive sight.

MOMO was right up against the window as we approached. "I can't wait to see the Durandal turn into a skyscraper, it's so beautiful!"

Shion glanced at her in surprise. "What? We're going to dock, just like this?"

"This ship is supposedly one of the most famous landmarks in the Foundation," Allen said. "I read it in a travel guide on the Elsa."

"I wouldn't know," Shion replied. "I don't check out vacation guides very often."

"The Durandal is the Foundation's main propulsion when docked," I said. "It's quite the engineering feat."

"Oh, look! We're docking!"

And so we were, spearing up through the lake in the center of the Foundation. As usual, I got a profound sense of vertigo, feeling as if I was about to fall onto the wall, because of the ship's orientation relative to the surrounding city.

After the ship completed docking, the door behind us opened. "New Year's Eve is the best time to visit," Gaignun said, walking in with Mary and Shelley in tow. "The city is a sight to behold with all her lights." He turned to me. "By the way, Victor, there's someone here I believe you'll be pleased to see."

Even as he spoke, the Buzz filled my head, and I spun toward the door, Lady Vivamus in hand. "Get back, there's an Immortal coming-"

I broke off as the woman entered. She looked about thirty, with blond hair and a curved katana thrust through her belt. "Hello, Victor. Get my message?"

"Tamara!?" I couldn't believe my eyes. "But-" Words failed me for a moment. "But MacPherson-"

"Sorry about the scream you probably heard; it wasn't mine." Tamara Klein smiled. "Remember Sakura Takashi? Japanese Immortal, whose drug-smuggling ring we deep-sixed five hundred years ago? MacPherson sent her, but she was fatally overconfident. All I had to do was turn and slash. As for the comm cutting out, Takashi made the mistake of shooting it."

I finally regained enough motor control to sheath my blade. "But, a couple of MacPherson's lackeys as much as said that you were dead."

She shrugged. "Apparently, they concluded that Sakura killed me and fled, so they used it against you. I gather it was a mistake, though, since Reinhardt Mittler and Vladimir Nevsky have since vanished." Tamara then apparently noted that I had moved between Shion and the door when I sensed. "So, this is the woman who finally caught Victor Corvin, eh? Introduce me, Vic."

Realizing I was gaping like a fish, I shut my mouth for a moment. "Ah, right. Shion, this is my old friend Tamara Klein. Tamara, this is Shion Uzuki, Chief Engineer of the KOS-MOS Project, Vector Industries First R&D Division. You've already figured out that connection, it appears. Also, these are Allen, also of Vector; Jr., whom I believe you're familiar with; chaos, of the Elsa's crew; Ziggy, a cyborg with the Federation government; MOMO, a prototype 100-series Realian; and KOS-MOS, the battle android. Don't let the fact that she's a weapon fool you; she's very good at manipulating people, too."

Tamara nodded to each in turn. "Pleasure to meet you people." She turned back to me. "That reminds me, I was cut off before I could finish my message. I apologize if I caused you too much trouble; what I was trying to tell you is that the Gathering is near. I think it'll be another year or so yet at least, but it is coming. And it'll happen even faster if we don't kill MacPherson and his people."

"Don't I know it. Mittler came for me at a Dock Colony, and old Volodya short-jumped himself aboard the Durandal itself." I shuddered. "I'm glad I wasn't around to see what he looked like before he revived. I'm sure it wasn't pleasant."

Meanwhile, Gaignun was introducing himself to Shion, who seemed to be in a daze. I did notice that she spotted the number on Gaignun's right hand; I wondered what she made of it.

As Gaignun moved on to speak with MOMO, Tamara walked over to Shion. "Glad to meet you, Shion. I've wondered for a long time when Vic would be caught; as far as I know, you're the first mortal he's gotten this close to."

"I...see." Shion seemed at a loss; I didn't blame her. Sometimes Tamara was hard to figure out. "Victor's kind of gotten into the habit of saving my life; I guess that helped."

I cleared my throat quickly. "Perhaps you two can discuss this later. In private." I cocked my head toward Tamara. "Now, just how is it that you wound up with Gaignun, anyway? I wasn't aware that you two had met."

She shrugged. "Business connections. I'd worked with him before, though neither of us realized that the other knew you. So when Sakura came after me, I thought it prudent to disappear for a few days, and the Kukai Foundation made that possible." Tamara glanced at me. "Need to talk to you alone later, Victor. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Not long after docking, Shion, Jr., chaos, MOMO, and Allen headed for Gaignun's private beach, while KOS-MOS returned to her service module for a recharge and Ziggy made a report to the Contact Subcommittee.

Tamara and I joined Gaignun himself at the Kukai Mansion, situated outside the main city. He had indicated he had some information for us.

"So what's up, Gaignun?" I asked, leaning against a wall in his office.

He was seated at his desk. "First, I think you should be aware that your engineer friend, Shion, isn't exactly a normal human."

My eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I think she may be onto Jr. and I. And our powers."

Tamara shrugged. "It's possible. After all the genetic engineering that's gone on over the centuries, there aren't that many people left who are 'normal' humans. The pure strain has nearly died out. But she isn't Immortal, or even potentially Immortal, if that's what your asking. We'd have known instantly."

Gaignun nodded. "I know. I just thought that you should know." He stood and looked out the window. "The main reason I asked you here is because I have some disturbing information regarding your old nemesis."

I stiffened. "MacPherson?"

"Yes. Sources have told me that MacPherson and his group may be working with the U-TIC Organization."

Tamara nodded slowly. "Makes sense to me. It would certainly explain some things. What do you think, Victor?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, it does seem likely. It would explain how Mittler knew to find me on the Dock Colony."

"Oh?" Gaignun turned.

"One of the survivors of the Woglinde disaster, Commander Andrew Cherenkov, was with U-TIC. He probably alerted them, though I rather doubt that most of the Organization knows just who and what we are." I walked to the window. "In any case, we don't need to worry about him anymore. He turned into a Gnosis while we were within the Cathedral Ship, and we were forced to kill him."

"I see." He paused. "That was all that I had to tell you. Good day."

As we headed out of the mansion, Tamara looked at me. "Kind of abrupt, wasn't it?"

I shrugged. "I've known Gaignun for fourteen years; if he's busy, that's how he is." I glanced at my watch. "If get going, we should be able to catch Shion and the others at the shuttle pad. They should be leaving the beach about now."

She looked at me sidelong. "You're serious about her, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am," I said quietly, as we went out the door. "Does that surprise you?"

"Kind of. I never knew you to get that close to mortals."

"People change, Tamara." I stopped. "After we were separated three hundred years ago, it was even worse. Took me those three centuries just to start to trust people again, and when I joined Vector, mortals were all that I had. You were the last Immortal that I trusted, and I never managed to track you down again. Believe me, when I first met Shion three and a half years ago, I didn't expect it happen. We weren't even more than acquaintances until a little incident two years ago, when the Chief Engineer, who was also her boyfriend, was killed, and I saved her life. That kind of experience forges friendships better than anything else; you know that."

Tamara nodded. "And with mortals, you may have to worry about them being caught in the middle of the Game, but you don't have to worry about fighting them."

"Yeah, something like that." I started moving again. "Look, Tamara, if the Game is drawing to a close, it might not be a good idea for us to stick together very long. Not with the Gathering near."

"When it's here, we'll worry about it, Victor," she replied. "Until then, I'd like to see this through to the end." She smiled. "You don't mind me tagging along, do you?"

"The more of us along, the more chance we can resolve this. But I'm not really sure how much of this is left. We got to the Kukai Foundation, we're on our way to Second Miltia, and U-TIC seems to be out of the picture for now. What can go wrong?"

Tamara grimaced. "Don't say that, Victor. The last time you said that, you got hit with a missile, remember? Come on," she added, touching my arm, "let's get back to your friends."

Author's note: A little short on the action, I realize, but then there isn't much in that period anyway. I trust that Tamara Klein's reappearance was a surprise, at least. Next chapter will have more, with the Encephalon dive and such.

Also, I could use some more reviews here. The more reviews, the more reason for me to continue the story. No reviews, no reason to continue.

That should cover things for this chapter. Please read and review. Solid Shark