Author: Wyrd Sister
Fandom: Babylon 5
Disclaimer: I
know you know, so I keep it brief: I own nothing apart from Chris and the
characters I make up on the way.
Unfortunately I´m not making money with
this story. But presents and cheques (and most of all: reviews) will be
gratefully accepted… grin
Rating: Suitable for all ages
Summary: Dimension travels
are possible after all! Join Chris on her third adventure in another world -
this time she´s visiting Babylon 5.
You are about to hear the story of a traveller between worlds, between dimensions that have only one thing in common: All of them had been created by people of this world – my home world, the world you´re living in. My name is Christine, I´m 20 years old and live in Germany. And not long ago I had an experience most people dream of all their lives…now I can jump into TV- and book-dimensions, visit the heroes and their sidekicks - and jump back home whenever I want (IF I have some water - for whatever reason - to do the trick).
Ever wanted to see Babylon 5? Meet the guys who are running the station?
Well, I leapt there last Friday (home dimension time)…
Chris´ ChroniclesJournal of a Dimension traveller
Part 3 – Who´s afraid of the Psi Corps?
"Hey you! Give me a koghertyco!"
I can´t guarantee this
was the exact name of the drink the Narn had ordered, but that´s what it sounded
like. I swallowed a rude reply (I don´t like to be refered to as "hey you") and
turned to Katar, the owner of the bar I was working at.
He nodded and mixed
a few ingredients I didn´t want to look closer at, poured a yellow liquid over
them and filled a huge glass with the thick content. Fortunately the light in
the bar was usually dim and I couldn´t see much of what I served the
customers.
There were only few at this time of day, but they kept me busy anyway, addressing me in a wide variaty of alien languages that made my ear itch.
The right ear, to be exact.
The one with the babelfish in.
I´d bought it during a short trip to the "Hitchhiker´s Guide"-dimension, it hasn´t been easy to get, but finally I returned home with a small fish in my ear that had unlimited access to my brain waves. No x-ray scans in the near future!
But thanks to this little animal I could understand nearly every language in nearly every dimension I traveled, which, of course, was a great advantage. And it had gotten me this job in the "Dancing Lobster" in the Brown Section of Babylon 5. I doubted the green alien with the three tentacles who owned this place had ever seen a lobster or knew what it was. Katar had kept the name anyway, maybe because he didn´t want to risk losing his regular customers.
When I came here for the first time - about three weeks ago - he was searching for a waitress to help him during the busiest nights. I applied, mainly because there´s no better way to learn about a city (or – in this case – a space station) than to work there for a while. And I needed money for souvenirs, of course.
The Brown Section was a logical choice: No one asked for legal documents or working permits. Katar asked me a few questions in different languages and – quietly praising the bablefish – I answered him in English. He was surprised that I could understand him, but wasn´t able to respond in the same languages. But as he didn´t want me to actually talk much anyway, he was satisfied and we discussed my wages. This took more time and much wailing from his side, but I wasn´t willing to work for nothing. He assured me that I would ruin him with my claims, even drew a detailed picture of his starving family (not that he had one) and finally I headed for the door. This brought him back to reality (well, his reality, that is) and we came to an agreement both of us could live with.
The "Dancing Lobster" is a popular bar in the heart of the red light district. The clientele consists of all kinds of aliens, but also humans come regularly and seem to enjoy the atmosphere. Every night except Monday there are dancing girls who bring even more customers in.
During my stay I had seen most of the different parts of the station. I spent some time checking out the neighbourhood around the bar, I knew the regular lurkers by name and Katar had pointed out a few individuals I´d better avoid. But most of my free time I spent hunting for celebrities in Blue and Green Section (Political officialdom and Ambassadorial accommodations). Once I´ve seen Delenn and Londo, another time G´Kar in a crowd of Narn and just the day before yesterday I nearly ran into Commander Sinclair, presumably on his way to the bridge!
Garibaldi´s face is more common in the area they call "The Downbelow". I try to avoid him as well as the people Katar had pointed out, just in case he was here officially and wanted to check legal documents (better not take any chances). But I´m quite sure Katar would know about an official check in advance and warn me.
Katar is a nice guy, but a bit lonely. He tends to stay in the bar up to 20 hours a day. Not much of a private life, but that´s why he knows so much about what´s going on on the station.
Just when I thought "And actually the waitress-job is quite good" one of the regulars, the Narn I´d served the yellow stuff earlier, leaned over the back of his seat and threw up.
I sighed and went to fetch a mop.
Narn puke is the worst.
Today I wanted to check out the Red Section, where the business people work. It was 10 o´clock in the morning and busy in the corridors and the negotiation rooms.Unshaved traders argued with elegant people in suits and sometimes people even started to shout at each other.
I walked through the corridors, marvelling at all the different sights and watching humans and aliens that went past me, often in a hurry. I recognized a few races I had already seen in the bar, but in broad daylight - literally spoken - they looked nothing like the drunken guys downbelow.
I had arrived somewhere in the beginning of season one, the
festival of religious beliefs had been just a few weeks earlier. I hadn´t
planned to leap into this particular time, but hadn´t found out how to control
the time period of the leap yet.
Now I just wanted to take a look around,
get to know the station and the people living here better, buy a human mask or a
few other funny things and go home. I still had a job there and besides: There
were even more dimensions out there I wanted to visit.
But for now I was quite happy watching the crowd of traders flowing through the corridors of the Red Section.
Suddenly I saw another familiar face:
Talia Winters.
She was accompanied by an alien I´d never seen before and kept walking briskly in my direction. When her gaze fell on me, I saw her raising an eyebrow, but that probably didn´t have anything to do with me.
However, I quickly changed directions and hurried into
another corridor – that was the last thing I needed: A telepath who accidently
picked up my thoughts and alarmed someone. I didn´t know what she could possibly
pick up or whom she would alarm, but better be careful around
telepaths…("great, now I already sounded like a damn racist").
Anyway,
maybe Talia wasn´t dangerous, but people like Bester and his groupies definitely
were.
Again, better not take any chances…
Strolling through the market place I found a few shops – or
rather stands – selling souvenirs of the station, but it was mostly
junk.
Around noon I took the shuttle and went back to the Brown Section.
Outside the bar I saw a few suspicous looking people, two Drazi, a Narn and a
couple of humans, but there were often Lurkers hanging around before Katar
opened, so I didn´t take much notice.
I let me in and found him wiping
tables. I threw my backpack behind the bar and grabbed the broom and another
cloth.
"It´s okay, Katar, I can do that."
He nodded and turned to check the stock, leaving me cleaning up the room and rinsing the glasses. Whistling I moved the broom over the floor and mopped afterwards. It´s not exactly hard work.
"Um…I just saw we don´t have any
carion juice left." Katar said when he came back from the small room behind the
bar. "Would you mind getting a few bottles from the supplier? He´s right around
the corner."
"Sure. How many do you need?"
"About 50. You can take the
cart."
In the store room I pushed a button on the old-fashioned (well, for this dimension) "shopping cart" and it came to life with a cough. These carts can carry quite some weight, even the older models like this. I steered it in the direction Katar has pointed to and found the supplier, who helped me putting two stacks of crates onto it. On the way back it hovered in front of me, swaying only slightly. Katar was just opening the bar and I entered the room with the first few guests who practically stormed the counter and ordered drinks.
I steered the cart into the store
room and came back to take orders. There were none for the moment, so I grabbed
a datachip I´d bought on the market and put it into the small device I also used
for writing down customers´ wishes.
It was a chip – or rather "crystal" –
about the history of the Babylon stations and I started with reading about the
fate of the first four spacestations – with special interest concerning the
fourth, being aware of the fact that I knew more about it than most people here.
When more people came in Katar
called me and I started taking orders.
Just a normal evening.
Around 7 o´clock there was a tumult at the entrance and a small crowd of people in dark cloaks were storming into the room.
All of a sudden five Drazi were
standing in front of the counter, two had stayed behind, obviously to guard the
door. All of them were armed with small phaser weapons and looked very
grim.
Their leader, a tall guy with dark green skin addressed Katar, pointing
the phaser in his direction.
"You! The box!" I heard him say.
From a corner of the room I watched Katar waving his tentacles in what probably
was intended to be as a calming gesture.
"Please…" he began, but the Drazi
didn´t wait for him to continue.
There was a red flash and Katar fell backwards and hit the shelves with bottles behind him.
A few guests had jumped up, but
the other intruders kept their weapons aimed at them and – grinding their teeth
– they sat down again.
I didn´t know what to do either. There were too many
of them. I wasn´t frightened – everything had happened so fast – but I wasn´t
stupid enough to try something to stop them.
The Drazi who had shot Katar reached over the counter and took a box from the shelf underneath. Then he turned around and waved his friends. Quickly they moved out of the bar. I saw some regulars hurrying after them, but they probably only wanted to get away from the site of crime before security was here.
I ran over to the counter and
kneeled next to Katar.
He waved his tentacles and was bleeding heavily from a
head wound. He needed a doctor!
I picked a familiar face from the silent
crowd that closed around us.
"Tel, please call MedLab! Now!"
He nodded hastily and used the device under the counter.
The paramedics arrived shortly after the security guards.
I stared at Katar laying in the
white bed behind the glass wall, connected to dozends of machines. The colour of
his skin looked grey, a nurse checked the connection cables.
Dr. Franklin
stepped out of the revolving door and removed the white mask from his face.
"He will be okay."
I exhaled relieved. I hadn´t
realized that I´d held my breath.
"He´s lost a lot of blood," Dr. Franklin
continued, "but his race can cope with blood loss much better than humans. A few
days rest and he´ll be able to go home again." He smiled, "Are you a
friend?"
I hesitated.
"Well, sort of. I
started working for him about two weeks ago. He´s a really nice guy."
"Don´t worry, he´s in good
hands." the doctor took a closer look at me. "Are you okay? You look a
bit pale."
I nodded hastily.
"Yes, I´m fine. But I better go now. Can I
visit him again tomorrow?"
"Of course." he extended a hand. "It was a
pleasure to meet you, Ms. …"
I shook his hand.
"Chris. Just Chris."
The
warm smile never faded.
"See you tomorrow, Chris."
When I left MedLab I felt a
strong need to get away from these narrow corridors. I would fetch my backpack
and go home.
"No, you can´t do this." I thought, "you can´t just
leave Katar in the infirmary and go away."
I decided to wait until
tomorrow and tell him that I wanted to take some time off.
Deep in thoughts I went around a
corner and bumped into a man.
"Uh, sorry." I looked up and into the face of
Garibaldi.
"Oh great, must be my lucky day."
He grinned at me.
"That´s
okay. You are Katar´s new waitress, Chris, aren´t you? I´m security chief
Michael Garibaldi. Actually I was on the way to meet you in MedLab."
"Me?
Why?"
"To ask you a few questions about the robbery."
He looked around at
the people walking by.
"Why don´t we go somewhere quiet, where we can
talk?"
I didn´t feel like a tiny
office.
"The garden!" I said firmly and after a moment of surprise he nodded
in agreement.
We walked past the stone garden
towards a huge green field of alien plants.
No one was around.
"How long
have you been on the station?" Garibaldi asked in a conversational voice.
"A
couple of weeks."
"Where do you come from?"
"Earth. Germany."
He
raised an eyebrow.
"Frankfurt, by any chance?"
"No, but not far from
there."
"My ancestors came from Europe, too. Italy, to be exact."
"I
know." I thought, but remained silent.
"It´s nearly impossible to get
good spaghetti on this station, you know."
"I´m sure you have your sources."
I grinned (couldn´t resist the remark).
He raised the other eyebrow and threw
me a suspicious glance.
"How long have you been working for Katar?"
"Two
weeks. I started by the beginning of the month."
"Did you recognize anyone of
the guys who attacked him?"
"No, but apart from their leader they all wore
these dark cloaks. And it´s pretty dim in the bar, so I couldn´t see their
faces."
"Would you recognize the leader?"
I thought about that for a
moment, then shook my head.
"No, I don´t think so. This may sound racist, but
Drazi still look all alike to me."
He sighed.
"That´s okay, I understand.
Sometimes even I have problems to tell them apart."
Now I looked surprised.
"No,
it´s true." Garibaldi said and shrugged. "There are some people apart from
the ambassador I know, but the others…anyway, did you say you came aboard
the "Felicitas"?"
"I didn´t mention a ship´s name." I replied, smiling to myself. This old fox wouldn´t trick me.
"Oh. So which ship did you
take?"
I stopped and turned around to face him.
"Mr. Garibaldi, what´s
this got to do with the attack on Katar?"
He gave me an innocent
look.
"Uh, nothing, I was only interested."
We walked a few steps in silence,
then the device on the back of his hand beeped.
"Excuse me." he pressed a
button. "Garbaldi."
"Chief? Ambassador Delenn wants to talk to you. She is
waiting in your office."
"Thank you, Pete, I´ll be there in five
minutes."
He dropped his hand.
"I have to go. Can we continue this
conversation tonight?"
"Sure. When?"
"Around six? I´ll come down to the
bar."
"I won´t open the bar without Katar."
"Then nobody will disturb us."
He waved and turned away, walking quickly in the direction of the shuttle station.
"Great, must be your lucky day." the voice in my head remarked maliciously.
I went back to the „Dancing
Lobster" and cleaned the place up. When the bloodstains disappeared I began to
feel better. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and waited for
Garibaldi.
He arrived shortly after 6.
I let him in and went behind the
counter.
"A drink?"
"What have you got there?" he
asked, pointing at my glass. He probably thought I was drowning the memory of
the past events in alcohol.
"Orange juice. Want some?"
"Yes, please."
I poured another glass and placed it in front of Garibaldi, who eyed it
sceptically.
"You can drink it – it´s the healthiest stuff in this room, you
know." I assured him amused.
He sipped carefully and raised an eyebrow.
"Mhm, not bad." Then his face went serious again.
"I heard the robbers
took a small box with them. Do you know what it contained?"
I
shrugged.
"No idea. I´ve seen it before, but never paid attention when Katar
opened it."
"Did he open it often?"
"Three or four times while I was
here."
"Where was it?"
I showed him the niche under the counter.
"Mhm.
He could reach it easily. A good place for a weapon."
"If it had been a
weapon he probably wouldn´t lay in MedLab right now." I remarked.
"Right. But
he´s a trader as well as a bartender. So it could have been something he was
about to sell – to a customer who wouldn´t want to wait long."
"You think
this customer was so eager to get it he just sent a couple of friends to steal
it?"
"Or they were sent by a competitor who wanted the same
thing."
"That´s not very helpful – to find out who did it we´d have to find
out what was in the box first."
Garibaldi raised an eyebrow –
maybe he wondered what I meant with "we" – but he couldn´t stop me
now.
"Katar had a couple of meetings after I started work here. Two humans, a
Narn, a Minbari and…" I thought for a moment, "…a Drazi. In fact he spent quite
some time with the last one – that was on Monday. Do you think he could´ve been
the customer?"
"Well…"
"But when he left, both looked very happy – so they
were either satisfied with the trade and something came up later,
or…"
Garibaldi raised both hands in a calming gesture.
"Slowly, slowly…for
now we still don´t even know if there was a trade. What if he had no
intention to sell whatever was in the box in the first place? What if someone
only learned about this thing, maybe even made an offer, but Katar
refused?"
"Sounds pretty unlikely to send people to steal something out of a
packed bar – even when we´re talking about Downbelow here. It must have been a
very valuable object."
"Or it was just important to get it fast."
There
was a moment of silence when we both tried to imagine what could´ve been in the
box.
Finally Garibaldi´s gaze wandered
through the bar.
"Why did you start working here of all places?"
"Oh
no, not again!" I thought annoyed. "Why can´t he leave me
alone?"
"Katar was searching for a waitress and I applied. He took me.
End of story."
"There must have been better offers for someone with your
qualifications."
I looked at him sharply.
"What exactly are you talking
about?"
He gave me the same innocent-puppy-look I had seen before.
"I met
some friends who are regulars in the Dancing Lobster. They told me you
understood at least six different alien languages. That´s a bit more than the
common waitress. What did you do before you came here?"
I bit my lip and didn´t
respond.
He nodded.
"People working in Downbelow are often running away
from something…or someone. If you´d tell me about it, I might be able to help
you."
Sighing I looked him in the
eyes.
"I´m not on the run. I just needed money and don´t have any legal
documents. Katar didn´t ask for them."
"How did you get here? I checked every ship that arrived around the time you said you came aboard. There was no passenger that matched your description."
I grinned.
"I hopped
onto my broom and flew straight to the nearest airlock."
His expression
didn´t change, so I added:
"If I told you, you´d think I´m crazy."
"Try
me. I´ve heard lots of strange stories in the past."
"Rather not. Really, it
is a crazy story and I don´t want to talk about it right now. Maybe
another time."
He wasn´t satisfied, but I couldn´t help it. Telling him the
truth was out of the question. I didn´t want anyone to know about this.
Even in this dimension my way of travelling would be considered weird at
least.
Garibaldi stared at me, obviously thinking about further questions.
But now was my turn.
"You said you talked to guests of the bar. What did you
learn?"
He didn´t respond right away.
"They didn´t seem to know more than
you. A couple of guys in cloaks entered the bar, their leader, a Drazi, shot
Katar, grabbed a box from under the counter and they disappeared
again."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I´ll ask Katar what he had in
this ominous box. That´ll probably help finding out why someone took the risk of
stealing it out of a packed bar. Katar may already have an idea who took it
after all."
Garibaldi gulped the rest of his
orange juice and rised.
"Well, thank you for your help. With a little luck
this puzzle will be solved by tomorrow."
He smiled at me.
"And if you ever
need someone to listen to a crazy story, you know where to find me."
I
smiled back.
"Thanks Chief, I´ll keep that in mind."
"Call me Michael."
There was nothing I could do, so
I went to bed early that night. Katar had offered me the folding bed in the
spare room when I´d started working for him and I had gratefully accepted.
However, I couldn´t find sleep for ages.
The next morning I walked straight
to MedLab to check on Katar. There were a few guys repairing a panel outside the
infirmary door. They had to squeeze a bit to let me through. When I entered
MedLab Dr. Franklin just came out of the room behind the glass.
"Good Morning,
Chris."
"Morning, Dr. Franklin. How is he?"
He smiled.
"Better. He´ll
be able to leave in two or three days."
My gaze wandered to the motionless
alien in the hospital bed. His skin still looked a bit grey, but the normal
colour – a dark green – was returning as well. Katar definitely looked better
than the day before.
"Can I say hello?"
"Certainly.
Go right in."
I thanked the doctor and entered the room.
Katar´s eyes flew
open.
"Chris! What are you doing here?"
I turned the chair next to the bed
around and sat down.
"What does it look like? I´m visiting a friend in
hospital. How do you feel?"
He grunted.
"Better than yesterday. I told the
human doctor I needed to go back to my bar as soon as possible, but he said he
wouldn´t let me out here until the day after tomorrow."
"You should listen to
him. He´s the expert."
Another grunt.
"Expert, eh?
Tell this expert I can´t just close the bar, not even for a few days. There are
thirsty people out there I have to take care of."
"Take it easy, they´ll
still be there when you return. What I wanted to ask you, Katar: What did these
guys took with them?"
He eyed me suspiciously.
"Now you´re talking just
like this other human, Garibaldi. He left before you came. I tell you exactly
what I told him: That´s my business, nobody else´s. I appreciate that you both
want to help finding this Narn who shot me, but I won´t share business secrets
with either of you. My business partners would never trust me again if I
did."
I sighed.
"I understand this,
but…"
"No "but". Please don´t interfere here, Chris. Some trades in DownBelow
are dangerous, and many people coming there either. And not only Drazi, but
other, influential people, too. I wouldn´t want you to get hurt, okay? Just stay
out of this."
I scratched my nose.
"So are you saying there are other,
powerful forces behind this theft?"
He blinked irritated.
"I´m not saying
anything! Just stay out of this. Take…a day off, see the sights, relax. Forget
the whole incident."
I stood up and patted his tentacle.
"Okay, I´ll try.
And you try to get better – I´ll see you later."
Waving in the direction of Dr. Franklin I left MedLab quickly.
Of course I had no intention
to lay down and do nothing.
Katar had refered to the initiators of this
robbery as influential people, other than Drazi. So who else was there?
The Vorlons were probably the most influential race in this universe, apart
from the Shadows, but at this point of the TV-show they hadn´t been
"introduced". But even if Kosh had wanted whatever was in this box – this theft
seemed to be a bit too … clumsy for the mind of a Vorlon.
Minbari, Centauri,
even Narn? And the human race also had some very mighty people. But also too
intelligent for this kind of assault.
"Hell, there are too many
possibilities! I need more information!"
On my way back to DownBelow I
had a strange feeling, as if someone was following me.
"That´s the nerves,
Chris, pull yourself together or you´ll freak out soon."
But the feeling grew stronger
and when I stopped to buy a Hot Dog (or the sausage shaped rubber that was
called "Hot Dog" here) I noticed a man staring at the display of the stand next
to the Hot Dog cart. He looked like someone I´d seen before, but I couldn´t
remember.
However, to test if he was really following me, I began to walk
quickly in the direction of the bar, moved around a few corners and kneeled
behind some containers in a loading section. There were a couple of workers
around, but no one had seen me. I peeked through the slot between the
containers.
Hardly 10 seconds later the man came around the same corner, stopped and let his gaze wander through the area. He was so close, I could have touched his leg. After a moment the man muttered a curse and walked briskly into the next corridor. I jumped to my feet and followed him carefully.
"Let´s see what you´re up to, buddy."
I thanked Katar silently for pointing it out to me on my 3rd day and went through the trapdoor into the store room behind the counter.
What next?
Someone was following me for no obvious reason, I still didn´t know more than before and didn´t have a clue about how to change this. I poured myself a glass of water, set it in front of me on the counter and stared at it intensively.
"There´s not much I can do here. What about hopping back home and working on a few other things for a change?"
No.
I didn´t want to leave right now.
So there was someone
stalking me? Fine, I could cope with that.
I fetched a small bottle of carion
juice from the other room, filled it with the content of the glass and closed
the screw-top tightly. Then it went into my trouser pocket.
Kind of an
insurance.
Just
when I turned to leave the bar again, something beeped. It came from under the
counter. I checked and saw a tiny device like the pad I had for writing down
customers´ wishes. There was a text on the small screen. It read "Incoming call"
and, curiously, I pressed the "connect" button.
The face of a very angry
Minbari appeared. He´d already opened his mouth to say something, but closed it
when he saw me.
"Who are you? Where´s Katar?"
"I´m afraid he isn´t
available at the moment. Can I take a message?" I chirped in my best
secretary-voice.
He moved closer to the screen in a threatening manner, but
the monitor was too small for this effect to work.
"I need to speak with
Katar." he said slowly, as if he thought I was retarded. "Get him instantly. It
is most important!"
I
smiled politely.
"I´m sure it is. But right now Mr. Katar is not available. I
can take a message for him, though, and he will call you back later, if you
want."
The veins on the Minbari´s forehead grew red.
"Tell him Jarom
demands an explanation why his delivery hadn´t taken place as agreed. He´d
better find a good excuse." he spat, then the screen went black.
I put the
pad back under the counter and left the bar through the trapdoor. My shadow was
still standing in front of the bar. Quickly I took a side corridor and headed
for MedLab to deliver the message.
"I expected it." he simply said.
"So Jarom was the one who was supposed to get the box?" I asked carefully.
He threw me a short glance.
"I didn´t say that."
"Oh, come on, Katar, it´s pretty obvious."
He snored.
"I have more than one transaction to take care of right now. Stop asking about the box, will you?"
Disappointed, I nodded.
"Now leave me, please. There is a call I have to make."
He reached for a pad next to his bed and I rised.
"Later, Katar."
When I
came out of his room I ran into Dr. Franklin.
"Hello Chris. How are you
today?"
I smiled.
"Good, thank you. And from what I´ve seen so far Katar
is already much better as well. You worked a miracle."
He waved the
compliment away.
"I told you his race can cope with blood loss much better
than others. He wasn´t that badly hurt."
I was
just about to respond when his communication device beeped. With an apologizing
smile he raised his hand.
"Franklin?"
"I have three badly injured Drazi in
Brown 6, Doc. They´ve been…slaughtered. Two others are already dead."
"I´m on
my way."
He
began bellowing orders to his nurses and grabbed some medical instruments on the
way to his office.
I moved out of the way when two med teams rushed out of
the infirmary. Slowly I followed them as they stormed in the direction of the
core shuttle. The next one came shortly afterwards.
Brown 6 wasn´t far from the Dancing Lobster.
And I wasn´t exactly busy right now.
A
curious crowd had formed near the corridor and several eyewitnesses told
security officers and bystanders their story. The constant murmur faded away
when the first med team came out of the closed area.
They were carrying a
strecher with the body of a Drazi, covered in blood.
The next one looked only
barely alive either.
When the corpses had been brought away as well, I felt someone stepping at my side.
"Did
you recognize any of them?"
I shrugged.
"It may have been the first one.
But I´m not sure."
Garibaldi nodded.
"They were mercenaries, arrived here just last
week. Whoever did this to them must have been very angry."
He
shot me a glance.
"Maybe this person didn´t get what he wanted."
I
met his gaze.
"Or maybe it wasn´t their client but someone else. Someone who
also wanted the box."
"Do you know anything?"
"No. It´s just a
hunch."
"Spill!"
I shook my head.
"Nothing I could put my finger
on."
"Don´t try anything on your own."
I gave him a half smile.
"Me?
Never! I don´t want to end like these guys."
Again, he wasn´t satisfied with this reply, but let me go anyway.
The bartender looked a bit greyer than the day before and his tentacles kept on moving around in circles all the time.
"Are you okay?" I asked concerned.
He
was muttering in his language, something about a contract.
"Katar! What are
you talking about?"
His gaze fell on me for the first time.
"I shouldn´t
have done it!" he exclaimed nervous.
"What?"
"B…Business with this guy. I
knew he was dangerous, but I didn´t…"
I sank onto the chair. This could be my
chance.
"Tell me about it." I urged, "It was this Minbari, Jarom, wasn´t it?
He killed the Drazi."
Katar´s tentacles grew even more active.
"He wanted
to get the box back. I ordered the haru-device especially for him, but somehow
the Drazi knew about it."
"What´s a haru-device?"
"Some species use it to
lengthen their lives with this device. It has great healing abilities."
"Why
would anyone kill for it? Is it that rare?"
"No no, but for some species it
can be poisonous. And it doesn´t leave a trace."
I gasped.
"So the Minbari
wanted it to kill someone? Whom?"
One of the tentacles grabbed my arm.
"I
don´t know! But I didn´t want to get involved with that. I told myself he just
wanted it for healing purposes. I should have known better!"
"Katar! Which
species can be killed with this device?"
"Narn, Centauri, Humans…I don´t
know, maybe others…"
I jumped up.
"I´ve got to tell Garibaldi!"
"Chris!"
I turned around at the door. Katar still gesticulated
wildly.
"He needed it today at the latest. So the assassination must be today as well."
Dr. Franklin and his nurses only glared when I shot out of MedLab.
When
I raced into the security office I bumped into a man who was just leaving. I
looked up and into the familiar face of Commander Sinclair.
He smiled
friendly.
"Easy. You don´t want to overrun an old man, do you?"
I
wished I had time for jokes, but I hadn´t.
"Is Garibaldi there? I´ve got to
talk to him!"
Sinclair´s expression grew serious as he pulled me inside the empty
office.
"He´s not here. What´s the matter?"
"I´ve got new information
about the theft in the Dancing Lobster. Seems like there was a weapon for an
assassin in the box that was stolen. And this guy wants to use it today. Where´s
Garibaldi?"
"He got a call from DownBelow and went to meet with an
informant."
Could Garibaldi be the target? Maybe this informant had been instructed by Jarom to bring the Chief down and kill him. There didn´t seem to be a motive, but I was willing to bet that there were a whole lot of people who wanted to see Garibaldi dead.
I
turned to Sinclair.
"Commander, it may be a setup. We´ve got to contact him
immediately!"
He
didn´t ask any more questions, but raised his hand.
"Sinclair to
Garibaldi!"
Nothing.
He
tried again.
"Michael, respond!"
I
jumped up and down.
"Where did he go?"
"Brown 5, as far as I know."
Together we ran out of the door and in the direction of the shuttle.
On the way Sinclair ordered other security officers into the area.
Aboard the
shuttle, he gave me a quick glance.
"Who are you anyway?"
"Chris. I´m
working in the Dancing Lobster, the bar where the weapon was stolen."
Seeing
his expression I added:
"I don´t have anything to do with either the weapon
or the assassin. I just happened to be there."
When we arrived two security
officers were already waiting for us.
"We haven´t found him yet, Commander,
but he could be anywhere. It´s a huge area to search."
Sinclair shot him an
angry glance.
"We won´t find him by standing around here."
He pointed
down the corridor.
"You´re taking this level, I´m going to the loading
section."
The officers nodded quickly and hurried away. I followed the
Commander.
"Why aren´t there more officers?"
"We are short of security
personnel right now. The next teams will arrive tomorrow."
He increased his
speed.
"You shouldn´t be here. It could become dangerous."
I
shook my head.
"I´m staying."
He´d
have to shoot me first if he wanted me out. Sinclair seemed to sense that,
because he remained silent.
We searched the area, but Garibaldi wasn´t
around.
In fact, no one seemed to be around at all.
I
didn´t like the silence down here and I´m quite sure the Commander had the same
feelings.
"Looks like the rats have abandoned the sinking ship." I
thought uncomfortably.
Suddenly a figure in a cloak moved around the corner in front of us, stopped cold, looked up for a moment – a frightened human face – , then turned and ran away.
"Kurdan!" Sinclair exclaimed surprised and broke into a run. I followed at his heels. We stormed around a few more corners and finally arrived in a warehouse area where huge containers were stored.
The
cloaked figure stood at the other side of the room.
"Kurdan, what´s the
meaning of this?" Sinclair demanded.
The figure raised his hand.
It held a
phaser weapon.
All of a sudden I felt very sick.
"What´s the meaning of this? Who are you?"
Sinclair´s voice
was firm and showed no sign of fear. The cloaked figure rised his other arm and
pulled the hood of the cloak back.
It was Jarom.
I
felt sweat appearing on my forehead.
Jarom walked slowly in our
direction.
"I know you." he said to me, "You answered my call this morning.
Is Katar still unavailable?"
I was still staring at the
weapon.
"Unfortunately yes." I heard myself saying and forced my eyes to meet
his gaze, "but I´m sure I could arrange a meeting for tomorrow morning."
While part of my brain felt like it was melting away, I wondered how
the other part could produce a sentence in such a calm, cold voice.
The
Minbari snored.
"This won´t be necessary. I got back what was mine and will
leave soon. After I took care of everything I came here for."
With
these words he raised the weapon again and faced the Commander.
"And what a
fortunate coincidence that you came down here yourself, Commander. You spared me
the trouble of setting up a suitable trap for you."
I could have kicked myself.
Of course Sinclair had been Jarom´s target all along. How could I have been so blind? He obviously belonged to the warrior caste and tried to get rid of the Commander just like the guy in "The Gathering". Only this time they surely didn´t want to take any chances.
This time the order was to kill him.
"Who
sent you?" I heard Sinclair asking.
"That´s not important." Jarom waved the
phaser. "This way, please."
I glanced at the man next to me. He nodded and we
started moving down the dim corridor.
There wasn´t anything else we could do
right now.
"Don´t you think it will raise suspicion when you shoot us?
Garibaldi won´t let anybody off the station. You´ll be caught for
sure."
I admired Sinclair´s calmness. And with this remark he might cause Jarom to talk about what happened to Garbaldi (if he had anything to do with his disappearance) as well as his further plans for the two of us.
Not that I was so eager to find out.
Jarom chuckled without humor.
"Your head of security had to follow
the trace of a powerful drug dealer and is meeting an informant right now. He
wasn´t allowed to take his communicator. Don´t worry about me leaving the
station. Before your bodies are found, I´m already far away."
We
walked into a room with four cubes sitting on the floor. Jarom waved us to step
in the foursquare they formed.
"I thought I´d have only one…guest, but I´m
sure you´ll both fit in."
Hesitatingly Sinclair moved into the foursquare and
I followed. Jarom reached out and grabbed the communicator from Sinclair´s hand,
then – the weapon still aimed at the Commander´s chest – took the water bottle
from my trouser pocket.
"What´s this?"
"Water. People keep on telling me I
don't drink enough, so I carry it around."
That was at least halfright. I
desperately hoped he would give it back, the bottle was probably our only chance
out of this mess. However, it wasn´t my lucky day.
"You won´t need it
anymore." Jarom growled, stepped out of the foursquare and pressed a button on
the side of one of the cubes. A blue forcefield built up around us.
"Why
are you doing this? Who sent you?" Sinclair demanded again.
With us being
trapped in the forcefield, Jarom lowered the weapon and buried it in the depth
of his cloak.
"Some people are sure they can erase a very disturbing part of
Minbari history with your death."
Out of nowhere he produced a small box, the
one that had been stolen from Katar´s bar. Now it was speckled with dark stains,
almost certainly blood.
Drazi blood.
"I´m
not sure if they are right, but it doesn´t matter. I will fulfill my assignment.
Have you ever seen a haru-device, Commander?"
"I heard about them. Some
species use them for healing purposes."
"That´s only one possibility. There
are many more. The reason for earth and other planets to ban it from use is that
some species – underdeveloped species – don´t respond to the waves of this
device in the same manner Minbari do."
He
placed the box carefully onto a nearby container and opened it.
For all I
knew the small piece of metal he took out could have been a pencil
sharpener.
An orange glow appeared at one side when Jarom pressed a few
invisible buttons.
"It won´t happen quickly, I´m afraid." the assassin continued, "it takes about 5 minutes for a human to become affected by the haru-device. After 20 minutes you will be beyond hope. It will look as if you´d been killed by what your people call "heart attack". Which is quite a common way to die for a human as far as I´ve heard."
"Only for older people it is." Sinclair said carefully, "younger
humans having heart attacks are barely heard of and at least Dr. Franklin will
grow suspicious."
Jarom placed the Commander´s communicator and my water
bottle next to the device and walked back to our prison.
"By the time the
good doctor will have finished the autopsy, I´ll be long gone. Even if there is
an investigation – nothing points to the Minbari."
He turned and went to a
corner of the room, sat on another container and picked up a small pad. When he
started to read Sinclair turned to me.
"We have 19 minutes to get out of here."
Quickly I set the stopfunction on my watch. The Commander kneeled
down to examine the cubes. Touching them didn´t harm him, but there was no
result either. The blue wall held and the cubes never moved an inch.
"Did you
tell anyone where you were going?" he asked me while working on the forcefield.
The assassin obviously didn´t mind us trying to break out. He continued reading
something on his pad.
"No, I just said to Katar I´d go to Garibaldi. He´d
already confessed he´d wanted to sell Jarom the device."
"So Jarom is his
name? You think your boss informed him?"
"I don´t know. But I don´t think so.
He doesn´t seem to be that kind of guy."
Sinclair smiled tired.
"Didn´t
anyone tell you? No one on this station is exactly what he appears to be."
I
smiled back.
"Yeah, I heard that. Anyway, female intuition tells me he´s not
involved."
The stopwatch kept on running.
00:05:34
I began to feel the effects of the device. My limbs ached and I had to sit down to avoid falling. The skin tingled and my mouth was dry. I would have given my left arm for a glass of water.
00:08:12
Water. Ice cold water. The vision of a surfer, gliding through
perfect blue waves.
I shook my head to get the hallucinations out of my
mind.
Sinclair´s breath became harder, but he continued working on the cube.
With no visible result though. I wanted to ask him what he was doing, but
couldn´t find the strength.
My gaze wandered through the room, to the Minbari
with the pad sitting on the container, patiently waiting for us to die. The
device on the other one, next to the communicator and the water bottle.
00:11:45
Time
seemed to pass faster now. The Commander sat next to the cube and kicked it
twice. Nothing.
"We´re going to die here." my mind announced
surprised, "And I didn´t even have time to use the dimension portal
properly."
What a shame. But didn´t part of this sentence contain a hint
I could use?
Dimension portal.
The water bottle was still there, but too
far away to reach.
I stared at it and wondered how far exactly it
was.
Couldn´t I use it anyhow?
I concentrated on my home dimension.
Nothing.
I
tried harder, painting a detailed picture of my appartment in my mind.
Nope,
nothing.
I
tried to picture the gargoyle dimension, any place would be better than this
right now.
Wasn´t there a blue shimmer around the glass?
My heart was
racing and I couldn´t breath very well.
00:17:09
My
vision became blurry. Maybe that was why I´d seen the blue shimmer. Less than 3
minutes to live. I sank against the Commander, who had his eyes closed and
looked like he was meditating.
Suddenly Jarom was standing next to
us.
"Don´t worry, it´s over soon. Only another two of your minutes."
He
bend over to me, with a curious expression.
"That´s no water in this bottle.
It´s glowing blue. What is it?"
There was a barking sound, followed by a red flash and something
smashed into the forcefield. It looked like internals from a splatter movie, but
then everything looked like this right now. I heard glass smashing on the
ground.
There was a cry of surprise, a familiar voice, then Sinclair next to
me, eyes wide open, muttering "…the device, Michael…destroy it…".
The forcefield went out and was immediately replaced by another blue wall I couldn´t see through. I felt this "wall" pushing against my arm and a wet cloth touching my face.
Then I passed out.
Drowsily I opened my eyes and found a smiling man next to my bed. Not
exactly a bad thing to see after nearly being killed.
"Good morning. How´re
you feeling today?" Dr. Franklin asked.
I tried to respond, but couldn´t hear
my voice, only a distant mumble.
The doc grinned.
"It will take a while
till the effects of the haru-device wear of. Expect your voice back by tomorrow
afternoon. Then we´ll talk about what happened, okay?"
Not
okay.
I shook my head – slowly – and mouthed a question.
"The Commander is
doing fine either." Franklin replied, "He´s sleeping and you´ll do the same
now."
I threw him an angry glance when he gave me the shot, but couldn´t
move a muscle.
Before I sank back into the soft cloud of unconciousness I saw
another face bending over mine.
"Hey! Didn´t I tell you not to try anything on your own?" Garibaldi said and sighed dramatically, "We have a lot to talk about, young lady!"
In my dreams Ambassador Kosh was selling fortune cookies in the Blue Section.
We
were sitting in Dr. Franklin´s office.
Neither the Commander nor I were
allowed to leave MedLab yet – doctor´s orders – but we didn´t want to stay in
bed anymore.
So the meeting was transferred to the office of the first
medical officer and everybody was pleased.
That´s what diplomacy is all
about.
Anyway, first there were only Sinclair, Franklin and me. The Doc
informed us about what the device had done and our healing progress. I didn´t
understand all the medical stuff, but he seemed to be satisfied.
Then Susan
Ivanova knocked at the doorframe.
"Just wanted to check on the patients."
We were introduced and she took a seat.
Next
visitor was Zack Allen. He announced Garibaldi would be late for the meeting and
leaned against the wall next to the door.
I threw Sinclair a glance and
raised my eyebrow.
"What´s this all about?"
He smiled.
"There are still
a few unanswered questions that need to be discussed."
"But what am I doing
here?"
Ivanova´s voice came from behind.
"We assume you have some of the
answers."
Surprised I turned to her.
"What answers? Do I miss anything
here?"
Dr.
Franklin made a calming gesture.
"Why don´t we start at the beginning?"
"Right." Sinclair agreed and turned to me, "Would you mind telling us who
you are?"
"Actually, yes." Nope, I was too polite for this reply.
But before I spilled my guts I wanted to find out how much they already
knew.
It´s not like I didn´t learn anything from watching the show.
"Mhm. Why do you ask?"
Ivanova came around and leaned against the
desk.
"Because you are involved in a case of attempted murder. Someone
tried to kill the Commander and you happen to work for the guy who sold the
weapon."
I
rised from my chair.
"Now wait a minute! Are you accusing me…?"
"Stop!"
Sinclair´s voice was calm, but firm. I grew silent as did everyone else.
The
Commander turned to me.
"Nobody´s accusing you of anything. But we are trying
to figure out who sent the assassin and why he wanted me dead. I´m sure you can
imagine that I keep on asking me this question over and over again."
I nodded uncomfortably. No way I´d tell him I knew exactly why he was No. 1 target for some Minbari, especially from the warrior caste. He would find out soon enough.
"So all we want is to find out if and how you fit in the whole…situation."
I
sank back on the chair.
"Let me make one thing clear: I haven´t got anything
to do with the attempted assassination! Hell, I nearly got killed as well! All I
wanted to do was working here for some time, seeing the sights and keeping a low
profile."
Zack
Allen grinned.
"When it comes to the last you haven´t been very successful.
Almost everyone on the station knows about the…incident by now – and who was
involved."
"Yeah, I figured that. But…"
"There´s more." Dr. Franklin added
and I accepted the pad he handed me. The picture it showed could have been a
colorful starship for all I knew. Confused I looked at him.
"What´s
this?"
"Your brain was scanned to find out if it had been damaged by the
haru-device. As I pointed out earlier, there was no damage, but we
found…something else. A parasite of some sort, who seems to have access to
several brainfunctions."
I
needed a moment to recover from the shock, then – suddenly – it occurred to me
what he was obviously talking about.
I exhaled relieved.
"This parasite
is called "bablefish". It serves as a translator and doesn´t influence the brain
in any other way."
"That´s why you understand nearly every common alien
language here?" Sinclair asked, fascinated, and reached for the pad. I handed it
over.
"Yes, but how do you know this?"
"Garbaldi told me about you. He
mentioned your language abilities."
Franklin took the pad back after the
Commander had studied it for a moment.
"Is it a difficult operation?"
"No,
you just take the fish and put it into your ear. It finds its own way to the
right spot. It just…kind of tingles a bit."
Before anyone could ask further
questions about the nature of the bablefish, Ivanova came back to the
point.
"I´ve never heard of such a creature. So where do you come
from?"
I was just considering how much I could tell them, when there was a
cough from the door where Zack Allen was leaning and Garibaldi stuck his head
through the frame.
"Let me rephrase this: Where do the two of you come from?"
And
with this he made way for half a ton blue mischievousness walking straight
towards me and placing its head in my lap.
I nearly fell from the chair.
"BRONX!"
They
watched me caressing the gargoyle´s ears. Bronx panted with delight.
"Hey
buddy, what are you doing here? I thought I´d brought you back to New
York."
Eyes without pupils stared up at me and he sniffed my fingers, working
his way up to my face, licking it as he´d done before, down in the container
warehouse.
"Hehehe…yeah, I´m glad to see you, too."
He settled down at the side of my chair, taking a bit more space than your usual St. Bernhard.
When
I looked up again, everybody was staring at us.
I sighed.
"You won´t by
any chance buy the "we-just-fell-from-the-sky"-story?"
Garibaldi leaned
against the desk next to Ivanova – who had moved a few inches away – and patted
Bronx´ head. The gargoyle didn´t seem to mind.
"I´m afraid we want a better
one. Preferably the truth."
I
thought about this for a moment.
"First you tell me what I missed out."
He threw a quick glance at Commander Sinclair, who nodded.
"Okay. I found out about a drug deal in Brown 11 that was about to take place yesterday and met an informant to learn more. Seems like this guy had been paid for keeping me busy till the Minbari … finished his assignment. While I was with the guy, suddenly this…" he pointed at Bronx.
"Gargoyle." I added cheerfully.
"…gargoyle came out of nowhere and acted like Rin Tin Tin. Ran around
us for some time until my informant was so shaken he blurred out his part of the
story. I left him there and followed my new friend to the other side of Sector
Brown. You know the rest."
I thought hard about the last seconds I
remembered.
"You
shot Jarom? To death?"
"I had to, given the circumstances. He´d already
killed one of my other sources, a guy named Kurdan."
I nodded
slowly.
"Just wanted to check."
I
bent over to Bronx.
"Looks like you have your own little secrets, buddy,
haven´t you?" and ruffled his ears.
He yipped in approval and licked my
hand.
"Okay", I said and leaned back, "the truth."
My
gaze fell on the person standing in the doorframe and I gasped.
All eyes went
to the door. Ivanova and Garibaldi jumped up when they saw the man, Zack Allen
flinched and Sinclair rised from his chair slowly and with a frown.
"Mr.
Bester. I understood you were on your way back to earth."
The Psi Cop smiled
his usual patient smile.
"I was ordered back to the station just a few hours
ago. Even had to change shuttles on the way. But please…" he waved, "…keep your
seat, Commander. I heard you had a rough day and certainly don´t want to
interrupt your meeting."
"This meeting is confidential!" Garibaldi growled.
He wanted to
say more, but caught a glance from Sinclair and stopped.
"Oh yes?" Bester
said cheerfully, "Then maybe you should consider closing the door next time.
There are people who´d take advantage of an opportunity like this." He stared at
Garibaldi.
"Bad people."
Garibaldi grind his teeth, but didn´t reply.
Sinclair stepped
between the two and turned to Bester.
"How can I help you this time, Mr.
Bester?"
"Ah, Commander, I´m here to help you. I heard about the incident with the Minbari assassin and that you were rescued with the help of at least one unknown…alien lifeform. I was sent to assist you in the first contact situation."
Great.
Just what I needed.
A telepath who searched my mind
while I was telling them my story.
Or at least the part I felt sure about
telling.
Not a very pleasant thought.
Speaking of thoughts – I´d better try to conceal mine, at least till I got hold of some water and could hop out here. I searched my mind for a song to recite (I don´t know so many poems) and found only "Ghostbusters".
Better than nothing.
"When there´s something strange in the neighbourhood, we them call…Ghostbusters…"
Sinclair still blocked Bester´s way.
"Who sent you?"
Bester
gave him a pad.
"Here are the orders."
The Commander took the pad and
started to read. After a moment he lowered it.
"You must be kidding! A scan?
Since when is this first contact policy?"
"It´s in earth´s – and the
station´s – best interest. And it had been confirmed by Admiral Powel
personally. He only answers to the president…"
"I know who Admiral Powel is!"
Sinclair interrupted im bruskly.
"I´m afraid in no ghost…"
No, but the uncomfortable feeling
grew.
Bronx, sensing my mood, started to growl deep inside his throat. I
continued to stroke him.
"…an invisible man sleeping in your bed…who can
you call…Ghostbusters."
Sinclair turned to us with a helpless expression.
"I´m afraid I
can´t do anything. Mr. Bester has his orders."
"I´m afraid in no ghost!"
"I understand." I said calmly and
to Dr. Franklin, "Could I have something to drink?"
He nodded and ordered
some water through the intercom.
"The nurse will bring it in a minute."
Bester had finally walked around Sinclair and introduced
himself.
"You see", he went on in my direction, "I´m sure neither you nor
your friend are a danger to anyone, but… well, a surface scan of your mind would
remove all doubts. It doesn´t even hurt."
"Yeah, right. As if I´d believe you, Mister. Scans can hurt like hell when you try to resist."
Cursing silently I continued reciting the Ghostbuster-song. Where was the nurse with the water?
The Psi Cop sat down in Sinclair´s chair and Bronx´ growl grew
louder.
Was there a touch of insecureness in Bester´s eyes?
But he kept
his seat and stared at me as if I was some kind of interesting
artefact.
"Just relax. This won´t take long."
"As if I could relax
right now – where´s this damned nurse? Does she have to search for a water hole,
for God´s sake?"
Bester´s eyes narrowed and I prepared for the pain.
It never came.
I didn´t feel anything, apart from the trembling of Bronx´ body under my hands, his growl sounding like a truck engine.
After a moment Bester removed his glove from one hand.
"Would you
give me your hand, please?"
Garibaldi stepped forward.
"Now one moment –
you asked for a surface scan and you got it! What else do you want?"
The Psi
Cop looked slightly irritated.
"The scan was not successful. I need to touch
her."
He reached for my hand, still on Bronx´ head, but fast as lightening the gargoyle had jerked his head and Bester let out a cry of surprise as his hand disappeared in Bronx´ fang.
I heard shocked gasps all around me and jumped up.
But the
gargoyle didn´t bite his victim. He just sat there, with Bester´s hand between
his teeth and looked at him.
"Just…relax." I studdered, hoping desperately
Bronx wouldn´t act differently from his usual self.
From the right side I heard a snigger that sounded like Garibaldi´s. Zack Allen still looked a bit horrified, Ivanova´s mouth twitched a little and Sinclair and Franklin glanced over at me without a readable expression.
I kneeled next to my blue friend and touched his cheek.
"It´s
okay, Bronx, let him go."
The gargoyle moved his head to the side as if to
ask "are you sure?" and Bester winced painfully.
"C´mon Bronx, do it."
With a snore he opened his fang and Bester quickly pulled his hand
back.
"This…this…thing should be locked up!" the Psi Cop gasped.
Bronx growled again and my nervousness changed to anger.
"It was
just a warning. He didn´t even scratch the skin."
"Don´t act like a baby."
I added in my mind, but Bester didn´t seem to hear the thought.
Dr. Franklin moved over to take a look at the hand, but Bester had already turned away and covered it with his glove. The doctor shrugged and stepped back as the Psi Cop left the room.
At the door he looked back again.
"There will be an investigation
about this matter!"
With this he turned and stormed out of MedLab.
When he was gone, Garibaldi and Ivanova burst out laughing and the
security chief kneeled next to Bronx to pat his back.
"That was a great show
- you should get a medal for this! Boy, I think I´ve never had so much fun since
we blew up our last starbase, Jeff!"
Sinclair sat down in the chair Bester had abandoned and threw us a
thoughtful glance. He was smiling a little as well, but – or so it seemed – more
about his friend´s enthusiasm than the situation.
"I don´t know, Michael, I
don´t like to have Bester as an enemy. The man is dangerous. And…" with this he
turned to me, "…now he certainly thinks you´re hiding something. This little
incident won´t stop him."
I hung my head.
"I know. But how come he didn´t read Bronx´ mind
and saw the…attack coming? And why couldn´t he read my mind in the first
place?"
"This is a question I may be able to answer." Dr. Franklin said and waved the pad with my brain scan, "I´d have to run a few tests to be sure, but I think the reason for him not being able to read your mind is the bablefish."
"What? How?"
"It covers the speech centre of the brain completely and everything that comes in is filtered through a very complicated system, then translated and sent to its destination. We don´t know enough about the human brain yet to exactly say how it works…but there´s a chance that the filter system operates like some kind of wall a telepath can´t get through."
He threw a last glance on his pad and put it back on his
desk.
"Anyway, I don´t know where you got the bablefish from, but I´d wish I
had one myself. Could come in handy here. Not only as a block against
telepaths."
I shook my head. That was just too much for one day.
"What about
Bronx?"
The doctor bent over and stroke the gargoyle´s head. Bronx apparently
enjoyed being the center of attraction and closed his eyes with a joyous
wail.
"I don´t know. But then I´ve never seen a creature like him before. Who
knows what his brain is really capable of?"
Ivanova had stepped closer as well. She seemed to warm up to my blue
pal now and her voice had lost some of its sharpness.
"Let´s come back to
where we were when Bester interupted. You wanted to tell us your
story?"
"Uh…right." I remembered, sat back and began, not without throwing a
glance at the door. Zack Allen went over and closed it with a wink in my
direction.
"Enough surprises for today."
I smiled back and began, nodding in Garibaldi´s direction.
"As I
told you before, I´m from Germany. You probably checked this information and
didn´t found anything about me at all. That´s because I´m from the earth of
another dimension. We have the year 2002 right now and it should be similar to
your historic records. One day I went over a flea-market and found this weird
old book..."
And I "forgot" to tell them about the water-connection, though I´m sure Sinclair and Garibaldi know there´s more to the story than I told them so far.
Hey, this is Babylon 5 after all – let me at least keep a few secrets!
"Hey Chris!"
I stopped and Bronx wagged his tail when Zack Allen
moved through the masses of people that swarmed around the Docking area.
"Hey
Zack." I greeted back. Bronx yipped cheerfully, what caused several people
nearby to take a few steps back. With a gargoyle at your side you always
have enough space, even in a packed room.
"You two want to grab something to
eat? We could go to the new Narn restaurant – I heard the meat balls are
fantastic."
"Maybe another time, I have to pick someone up for Katar."
He
made a face, then sighed.
"Okay, another time. So how´s he?"
"You know
Katar. Nothing can upset him."
After cooperating with Garibaldi, the chief of security had pulled some strings and helped the barman out of the mess he´d caused. He could keep his bar, and that mattered more to him than avoiding a possible prison sentence.
"I heard you´re leaving soon." Zack continued with a questioning
glance.
"Yeah, I have to. Lots of work to catch up with at home. In fact, I´m
here to welcome a new waitress - a cousin of Katar´s as far as I know."
We waited in silence as the passengers of the last shuttle were floating into the Docking area. A tall figure with two purple tentacles moved hesitatingly through passenger´s control and walked slowly onto B5-territory.
I nudged Zack slightly.
"There she is. I gotta go."
"Sure. See
you later then. Oh, by the way: Are you coming to Garibaldi´s pasta
night?"
"I wouldn´t dare missing that." I grinned, "He´d hunt me down if I
tried."
"Fair enough." Zack smiled and walked away.
I joined the group of family members and company employees who were waving at the people they had come for. Bronx fulfilled his usual assignment and kept a 2 metre circle around me free. From a distance it must have looked as if I was walking under a glass dome. I felt a bit like a leper.
Katar´s cousin spotted me instantly and walked over.
"You must be
Chris. Katar told me you couldn´t be overlooked. I´m Kari." and she shook my
hand in a very earth-like manner with one of her tentacles.
"Hi Kari. Welcome
to Babylon 5. Katar´s already waiting for you." I smiled and gestured in the
direction of the core shuttle that would bring us to the Brown section.
"This way, please."
"Hello, Chris. Come on in, the spaghetti are nearly finished."
With a wink he took the bottle of orange juice I´d brought and disappeared in the kitchen area. I stepped in the room and glanced around. Everything looked as I knew it from the show. I grinned when I saw the Daffy Duck poster at the wall. My brother´s got the same.
"Ambassador Delenn officially apologized for Jarom´s actions."
Sinclair announced when we were finally sitting around the table.
Interested
Ivanova looked up.
"Did she say anything about his motivations or who sent
him?"
A thin smile appeared on the Commander´s face.
"Of course not. She
said the Minbari gouvernment was still investigating the matter."
"Investigating the matter…"
"That reminds me", I said and rolled a few noodles on a spoon, "did
Bester try anything since he went out of MedLab?"
Garibaldi shook his
head.
"No. At least not that we know of. I have a few people keeping an eye
on him, though, while he is on the station."
"One of them a dark haired guy
with a scar between the eyes, by any chance?" I asked innocently.
Garibaldi grinned.
"I´d already assumed you´d found out about him.
Yeah, it´s the same guy I sent after you. You lost him pretty quickly, I´ve
heard."
I grinned back.
"I knew I´d seen him before, but only remembered
where after the attack, when I was laying in MedLab. He´d been working outside
the Lab repairing a panel, when I visited Katar for the 2nd time."
"He was actually waiting for you. But I´m sure he´ll be more careful now. By the way: He was the one I told where I was going before I went to the meeting with the informant the other day – but due to the fact that we were short of personnel – and as this seemed to be only a routine meeting - he left the office for another emergency."
Zack was still fighting with a very long spaghetti.
"Did Bester
ever approach you again in the past few weeks?"
I shook my head.
"No, but Bronx was always with me when I
met him, maybe that´s why. He already starts growling when Bester´s near us – he
gets this reddish glow in the eyes as well – it´s like a compass needle pointing
in the direction of possible trouble."
They laughed and Dr. Franklin helped himself to another bowl of
salad.
"Where is your friend today?"
I shrugged.
"No idea. He vanished this morning, he does that
sometimes. Probably touring DownBelow. By now he should already be back annoying
Katar and the regulars in the bar."
After a questioning glance around the people at the table Ivanova
took the rest of the spaghetti.
"Why was the device stolen in the first
place? What did the Drazi wanted to use it for?"
Garibaldi scratched his head.
"I´d be damned if I knew, Susan.
There are always people who pay for this kind of instrument. Maybe something
comes to light sooner or later."
Zack had finally given up and cut his spaghetti with fork and spoon.
Garibaldi groaned as if in pain.
"You´re supposed to spin the fork … like
this … till you have all the noodles on your spoon."
Zack threw him an apologizing glance.
"Sorry, Chief, but I´d
rather eat them instead of playing around."
This caused another wave of laughter and Sinclair patted Zack´s
shoulder.
"You´d better practice this till next time - some Italians
insist on perfect table manners when eating pasta."
If looks could kill...
Later Commander Sinclair and Dr. Franklin walked me back to
DownBelow.
"Why are you really carrying this bottle around?" the
Commander asked me curiously and pointed to the bottleneck sticking out of the
my back trouser pocket.
"You never know when you might need water." I replied
grinning and quickly changed the subject.
"Stephen, did you find anything new
after the last tests?"
"Nothing", was the answer, "there´s only so much you
can test with conventional instruments. But as you don´t want to let - for
example - Talia Winters assist me with the tests, I won´t find out more."
I shook my head.
"Maybe another time. When Bester isn´t snooping
around here anymore."
Sinclair nodded.
"No one can blame you for being careful."
After walking around the next corner, we stopped cold.
Three men
were standing in the dim corridor.
The one in the middle was Bester.
"What the…?"
"Commander, I have new orders concerning this girl.
She is to accompany me to earth for further questioning by the Psi Corps."
I snored.
"Yeah, right – and where do you hide the army that makes
me go with you?"
Even more confident than usually Bester stepped forward and
smiled.
"I don´t need an army." He looked around as if searching for
something. "As far as I can see your little bodyguard is not here to protect
you."
I clenched my teeth.
"What did you do with Bronx?"
He gave me a hurt look that made me want to kick his
butt.
"Nothing. I just took the liberty of arresting the … creature for
further tests. Who knows, it might be the result of an illegal bio-experiment."
Before I could tell him what I thought about him and his attitude,
Sinclair put an arm on my shoulder.
"Who signed the orders?"
"You don´t
need to know, Commander, it´s Psi Corps business."
"How come?"
"This girl
can block her mind from a P12, that makes her very powerful. We just want to
know why she´s here, that´s all."
"Liar!" I spat, "You probably want to open
my brain with a scalpel to find the information you are searching for."
"Of
course not. We are no monsters." he said in his irritated voice, "All we are
here for is to ensure the security of earth and Babylon 5."
I really wanted to jump back home right now, but I had to take care of Bronx first.
One of the other guys stepped forward and Bester turned around in
shock.
"What?! How?!"
Something was going on and obviously it wasn´t
pleasant for Bester.
I began to feel better.
Then the third guy – also a
Psi Cop of course – moved away from the scene and Bester turned around
again.
"You shouldn´t try to resist. And if you think Commander Sinclair or Dr. Franklin could help you – they can´t. Even if they were stupid enough to try, Mr. Larson here", he pointed at the remaining Psi Cop, "will make sure they aren´t capable of doing so."
I turned and saw he was right. Both men grind their teeth, but couldn´t move a muscle. "Now if you´d please follow me…"
Suddenly he seemed to be in a hurry.
There could be only one
explanation.
I grinned as half a ton blue fury stormed around the corner and
stopped at my side, growling like a chainsaw.
"Good boy, Bronx."
Unfortunately he was followed by a couple of people in dark uniforms
armed with phaser weapons. I made a quick decision.
"Commander Sinclair, Dr.
Franklin, it was a pleasure to meet you. Mr. Bester, with you it wasn´t. Anyway,
please excuse us, we have to leave now."
Smiling in the direction of the men
in the B5-uniforms I took the bottle out of my pocket, unscrewed it and
concentrated.
When the blue circle grew everyone stared at it in amazement. Larson was so busy getting away from me that he broke the connection to Sinclair and Franklin. They stepped back a little as well when the wind started to drag them to the portal.
Sinclair was the first to regain control. He threw me a broad smile and lifted his arm in a subtle greeting.
I waved back.
"I´ll see you soon. Say goodbye to Susan, Zack and
Michael from me, okay?"
With this I jumped into the blue opening, closely followed by Bronx.
"Hey Bronx, what do you think? Should we order pizza to celebrate our victory over the Psi Corps?"
The gargoyle barked twice and I took the menu from the cork board.
"Pizza Hawaii? With extra ham?"
He wagged his tail and hopped in a circle. Sometimes I´m really wondering if he can actually understand me.
We shared a family pizza, then – laying next to him on the carpet – I
balanced the "Guide For The Dimensional Traveller" on my knees and thought about
my next destination.
"Wherever I go, buddy," I told the yawning gargoyle
slowly, "I stumble into dangerous situations. Of course that´s the nature of my
favourite shows and books. Anyway, I think I should prepare a little for next
time, what do you think? I can´t always depend on you saving me."
Bronx
sniffed the empty pizza carton, but there was nothing left. Disappointed he
wailed and pressed his head against my shoulder.
"Of course I ordered a second one. Wait a sec, I´ll get it."
On my way to the small kitchen I made a list of places where I could
get the kind of education I was looking for. Only one school offered everything:
The Assassins' Guild´s school of Discworld.
I looked at my desk where a huge
pile of folders clearly indicated that I had to stay in my home dimension for a
few days.
While Bronx gobbled the second family pizza, I hopped on the
internet to order the latest Terry Pratchett book (for research purpose) and
started to get rid of my paperwork.
Discworld would have to wait for at least another week or so. But then I´d make an appointment with Lord Downey.
Rubbing my hands I thought of the people I was most likely to meet on my trip to the Disc.
Rincewind
Granny Weatherwax
The Librarian
Nobby
Nobbs
Susan Sto Helit
DEATH
Well, hopefully not a business meeting.