Title: Sojourn: Part 4 – Restoration
Author: JadeHeart
Located/Archived: If anyone would like it, please ask me first!
Creation Date: 1994
Fandom: Blakes 7
Rating: M
Timeline: A few years after the end of the TV series.
Original Characters: Kitra and Griffen are mine.
Summary: Fate brings the players from the past to gather again.
Disclaimer: I do not own the idea/outline/characters of Blake's 7, this belongs to the original creators, nor am I making any profits from this.
Chapter 2
"We've got clearance." Griffen said, breaking the silence.
Kitra breathed a sigh of relief. For all Orac's assurances that the station would take little notice of another freighter wishing to dock, she had still been half expecting to have them open fire on Pegasus. "Okay, Griffen, take her in. Follow all instructions to the letter. We don't want them thinking we're doing anything unusual."
Following the instructions beamed to them, Griffen docked the ship with his usual skill. Kitra stretched before standing and picking him up, tucking him under one arm.
"Orac, keep in constant contact and direct us. I don't want to be wandering around in there any more than necessary."
"Of course,"
"Let's go then." she said to Griffen, making her way towards the hold.
Once the ship was docked securely, they had been instructed that they would have access to the left quadrant only, and if they required access to the rest of the station they were to enquire from station personnel for the relevant pass. Kitra had decided to try and do as much as possible legally, so the first thing she did was to stop one of the station technicians and ask if there were any electronic components that she could salvage in the other area. The technician was more than helpful and directed her to the next section, even providing the access code to those doors. After thanking him, she followed the corridor he had indicated and once they were out of site, released Griffen.
With him floating at her shoulder she spoke to Orac through the communicator. "Have you got a fix on us, Orac?"
"The tracking device is functioning adequately at this time." Came the prompt response.
"Where to from here?" she looked up and down the three intersecting corridors.
Orac began giving brisk directions which they followed carefully. The access code the technician had given them allowed them to pass the first three doors before they were forced to halt.
"This looks like as far as we can go," Kitra said, motioning Griffen to move closer. "Your turn,"
Metallic tendrils stretched from Griffen's shell and touched the door's lock. After a few moments the door swung open. "Orac?"
"No alarm has registered in the station."
"That's a relief. Keep monitoring though in case there's some form of delay to it."
"If you insist," Orac sounded a little peeved.
"I do." Kitra insisted, "Now where?"
They continued to follow Orac's instructions, opening four more doors along the way. The corridors they were traversing were dimly lit with emergency lighting only to save power. It gave an eerie appearance over their surroundings. Kitra shivered. "I don't like this place," she said.
"It's a little unnerving," Griffen agreed. "We're not far away now though."
Finally they halted outside the door that Orac said lead to the Supreme Commander's private quarters. Upon closer inspection of the lock, Griffen found that there was an alarm connected to this one, unlike the previous doors they had opened.
"Now what?" Griffen asked.
Kitra pondered for a moment, trying to think of a solution when Orac's voice came to them over the communicator as he had been monitoring their conversation, "If you wish to open the door, I can set up a brief electrical surge that will disrupt the alarm so it doesn't sound."
"Do it," Kitra commanded taking advantage of this opportunity. Griffen set to work on the door with his probes and upon Orac's final command, let it slide open.
Inside was dark and Kitra felt a strange sensation emanating from the room, a feeling that she couldn't define clearly, but it made her hesitate to step over the threshold and into the dark room before them.
Griffen noticed her reluctance, "What's up?" he asked quietly, not moving forward himself.
She shook her head in response, "Something's wrong in there. I... don't know what, but something's not right. I sense..." her voice trailed off as she frowned.
"What?" Griffen pressed.
She shook her head again, as though clearing her mind. "I don't know. I can't pinpoint it. Be careful. If I'm picking up this emanation with my barriers up it must be strong, so watch your self. Let's get this over with."
Carefully she entered the room, hugging the wall, Griffen following. She felt along the wall near the door in search of light activators and felt her fingers brush over the controls. Slowly the lights brightened in the room, the light increasing from a dull orange to a clear white.
She looked around the area. It was a fairly sparse office; a large desk, a low couch and table, a couple of chairs, a dispenser in the corner. There were no personal touches, though there was a faint outline on one wall where a picture must have hung at one time. Apart from that, the room was bare.
"You blew it, Orac," she said out loud. "There's no-one here. This is the only room to these quarters and it's simply an office, nothing else." She ran a finger over the desk, noticing the black smudge. "And no-one's been here for a while from the looks of it." She turned to where Griffen hovered. "Looks like we just wasted a trip."
She turned and began to make her way to the door when Griffen called to her sharply, "Kit! Look!"
Spinning quickly her eyes widened as part of the far wall slid aside to reveal a human male floating in liquid. She stared at it in horror and took a backwards set as the sensations she had felt before grew stronger, almost like a physical blow.
"Gods! Griffen, come! Let's get out of here!" she turned away again, ready to flee, irrational fear taking hold on a purely instinctual level.
"Kitra," Orac's voice halted her. "That is Avon. He is in complete physical suspended animation. You must attempt to free him."
She glanced over her shoulder with a look of disgust and horror on her face. "That's Avon?" she said, pity in her voice.
"Yes. He has been like that since his capture on Guada Prime."
She shuddered. "It's obscene," She shook her head. "Look, if he's been in there that long, he would be entirely dependent upon whatever is keeping him alive. If we take him out of there he'll probably die, and we don't have the facilities on board Pegasus to help him." She was searching for excuses and she knew it, as did Griffen and Orac.
"To an extent, you are correct. I do not know if he will survive retrieval from the chamber, but death would certainly be preferable to remaining in that state." At that Kitra could only agree, but it didn't lessen her loathing at the object she could see.
"Kitra, when you extract him you will need to stabilise his condition. If his physical condition can acclimatise to the change all we need to worry about is his mind. You can do that."
She shook her head, backing away, never taking her eyes from what was before her. "No. No, I can't do it."
"Yes, you can." Orac insisted calmly.
She looked at Griffen with eyes wide and, for the first time since their initial meeting, he saw fear plainly written there. "Griffen. I sense... madness." she whispered.
"Are you saying he's insane?" he asked, for if Avon was mad perhaps it would be a kindness to simply kill him and not attempt anything else.
"I..." she began then shuddered, "I can't risk opening up to him, Griffen. All I can feel is churning emotions, all mixed up and intertwined. They are so strong. I have rarely met any human with such a strong mind." She continued to look at Avon. "It is as though the mind is so much stronger than the body, almost as though it were a separate identity in itself."
"Like a split personality?" Griffen asked.
Kitra shook her head, "No, nothing like that. It's just…" she grasped for a way to explain herself. "It is just that it feels like the mind is all that is keeping him alive, that the body is merely an extension of it, and a minor extension at that. I know I'm not making much sense here."
Griffen cleared his figurative throat, "Kitra, we don't know for certain what's going on here. Perhaps he is mad, he may be, but we don't know for sure, so we've got to at least try. He's been through a great deal, and we both know about the sort of things that can push a person to the brink of insanity. We know how close we can come to that but we also know that we can step back from that point - and usually we need some help to do it. Could you turn your back on him, knowing that you may be the only chance he has?"
Kitra stared at Griffen knowing he was right, but dreading it all the more. "All right," she finally agreed, gathering her courage.
Griffen moved closer to her until he was resting on her shoulder near her neck. "I understand the danger you'll be facing, Kit, and I know what it'll cost you but I'm here. And I won't leave you."
She nodded sharply, accepting his assurance. Taking a deep breath she spoke again, "Okay, Orac, what do we do?"
"You'll have to remove Avon from the support chamber. The controls will probably be found at the side of it in some place." Orac instructed.
Steeling herself Kitra moved closer, avoiding looking at Avon's silent form. Seeing a faint hairline crack, she pressed upon a section of the wall and it slid aside to reveal a panel of switches and buttons. "I've found it."
"Very well. You must follow my instructions precisely. Any deviation will most likely result in his death. Once he is removed from the chamber you must hold him stabilised until back on the ship."
"Hold on," Kitra turned to Griffen. "Try and find a float pallet. We'll need something to put him on to try and get back to the ship."
"Will do," and Griffen slipped out the door into the darkness.
Kitra tried not to let the feeling of abandonment overwhelm her at being left alone in the room. Taking a deep breath she turned back to the wall with its gruesome display. "Okay, Orac. Go ahead."
With utmost care Kitra followed Orac's instructions, pressing the appropriate switches and buttons in the order he told her, watching the flights flash, change colour and the monitors shiver in reaction. Gradually the fluid drained away, then grapples descended and grasped Avon's body, turning him so he lay horizontal, limbs hanging awkwardly.
At that moment Griffen returned and Kitra turned at his approach. "This do?" he asked, bringing his burden to a halt. It was a long container, approximately six foot in length and three feet wide. Kitra flipped the lid up and found that the sides also folded down.
"Perfect. We can put him inside and no-one will be the wiser. We'll have to put some things on top in case we're stopped by anyone, but we should get through without a problem."
"How are you going here?" Griffen moved closer to the window.
"Last phase," Griffen could hear the fear in her voice. With an audible breath she said, "Let's get this over with."
Pressing the final switches the glass frontage rolled down and the grapples extended forward this time until Avon's body was past the walled recess. Kitra manoeuvred the float pallet under him and directed the grapples so they lowered at the touch of another switch until the body was resting within the container Griffen had bought.
"Ready?" she asked Griffen, looking over at him where he hovered near the feet.
"Ready," he responded.
This was the final step, and the most hazardous to Kitra. Once the grapples withdraw so would all the life supporting tendrils, like fine spider webs, connected to Avon. At that moment it would be up to Kitra to provide the support until Avon stabilised, if he did.
Tensely, she depressed the last button and the grapples withdrew. Immediately she extended her senses and with a gasp, her hands came up before her in a gesture of self defence. Her eyes closed and she quivered all over. When her eyes opened a moment after, Griffen could see the struggle taking place, the first signs of madness beginning to show in her face.
"Hold on, Kit!" he urged, coming closer quickly. "You can do it."
She shook her head minutely. "Can't," she whispered hoarsely, "I..." her voice faltered.
"Kit!" Griffen came to hover in front of her. "Hold me, Kit! I can support you. Let me help you. Use my strength!"
With trembling arms she enfolded them around Griffen's silver shell and hugged him closely to her chest, letting his positive emotions flow into her, bolstering her faltering reserves. She closed her eyes again, shutting out everything around her and focusing entirely on her task. Her entire body quivered in exertion as she battled the effects of Avon's unstable physical and mental state, and beads of perspiration touched her forehead.
Slowly, the shaking lessened and she released her grip on Griffen, as she opened her eyes which were clearer now. "His vital signs have stabilised," she said, as Griffen floated clear. Her eyes still had a wide staring aspect to them and there was a slight quiver in her voice, but she seemed under control once more. Her hands hovered over Avon's still body, clenching and unclenching in a nervous reaction. "We have to get him back to the ship - fast. I can't hold this for long." Her eyes closed briefly before opening once more.
"What is it?" Griffen asked, seeing the play of emotions over her features but they were too fast for him to put a name to any of them.
"I... I don't know. I can't explain." She frowned a little.
"Is he truly mad?" Griffen asked, moving closer to the body laid out before them.
"I...don't know." She turned haunted eyes upon Griffen. "If he is not, he is as close to madness as any of us are likely to walk." Griffen knew that she did not exaggerate and could see that she was barely holding together under the strain.
"Come on then," he instructed, "Close up and throw the tarp over. Let's go."
Unsteadily she did so and they pushed the float pallet out into the darkness and began to make their way back to the ship. "Hold on," Griffen said.
"What?" Kitra questioned. "I need to get back, Griffen."
"We will," he assured her. "But we have to put some things on top of the pallet. Remember, we don't want them looking inside."
She ran a hand over her eyes, trying to bring her mind back into focus upon the present. "Yes, you're right."
"This room is full of bits and pieces. Just pile them on top and throw the tarp over the lot. That should be safe enough." Quickly Kitra did so and then they continued on their way, with Griffen settled on top of the pallet.
When they reached the loading dock, Kitra could feel the relief begin as she felt they were close to their destination and the opportunity to be released from her burden. A hail from behind made them halt and Kitra was hard pressed not to draw her hidden gun, shoot the approaching technician and make a run for her ship. She knew this irrational urge came from the need to be free of Avon's mind which could only happen once he was safely in the medical unit on board Pegasus. She took a deep breath and waited for the technician to approach them, noting that it was the same one who had directed them earlier.
"Did you have any luck?" he asked, his manner friendly.
Kitra gave a weak smile in response. "A few things," she replied, "I'm hoping that once I sort through it there will be enough to have made the trip worthwhile."
"What did you get?" he asked, curiousity in his voice.
With nervous anticipation for trouble, Kitra flipped an end of the tarp up so the technician could view what was beneath. He gave a casual glance over it and gave a nod. "In the right market you could probably do all right with that stuff."
"That's what I'm hoping," she replied as she flipped the tarp down.
He gave a harder look at her and his expression changed to one of concern.
"Are you okay? You look pretty sick."
She smiled weakly again. "Must be the gravity," she lied. "I'm used to much lighter. I didn't think about it before."
"You got the necessary equipment on your ship to counter the balance?" he asked. "If you need it, we've got facilities here. The med unit's still functional."
"I'll be fine, thanks. Just need to get back to the ship and get rid of this load." She had never said a truer word.
"You sure?" She nodded. "Well, okay. I'll let you go. Good luck with your business."
"Thanks," and with a wave he left her and she moved quickly onto the ship.
As soon as they entered Kitra headed for the med unit. "Orac, get us out of here! Back to the others!" Griffen shouted, then followed Kitra's disappearing form.
She entered the med unit almost at a run and with a frantic sweep of her arms, she pushed the junk piled on top of the container to the floor, heedless of the noise and mess. Dropping the sides of the pallet and opening the lid, she pushed a med table hard up against it.
Reinforcing her shielding she reached out and grasped Avon's shoulders. The physical contact sent a psychic shock wave through her that nearly brought her to her knees. Almost sobbing she heaved and managed to get his torso upon the table. Moving to the other end of the table she did the same to his feet.Once he was upon the table and laid out straight she pushed it over the life-support chamber. With frantic fingers she hooked him up to the unit. As the machine hummed into life and the readouts began, Kitra broke the mental link.
With a gasp of pain she stumbled backwards until hitting the far wall, sliding down it till she sat on the floor. Tears ran down her face and she cradled her head. Griffen moved away from his position where he had waited silently during her ordeal, unable to assist her in the physical struggle.
He drew close to her and hovered at eye level. "Kit?" he said quietly, knowing how sensitive she was likely to be in all her senses, hearing included. "You okay?"
She raised a tear stained face to regard him, the signs of the strain were clearly evident. She closed her eyes briefly, but nodded. "I will be," She rubbed the tears away and took a deep breath, before releasing it slowly. Griffen could see the muscles in her neck relax a little. "Now."
"Why did it affect you so badly?" Griffen asked. "You've stabilised people physically before without this much pain, and you've delved into minds before also. You helped Tarrant without this sort of reaction."
"This was different. The physical side of things wouldn't have been a problem, tiring certainly but not a problem. With Tarrant his memories were behind a block so all I had to do was break that down. Avon ... his mind and body are like two separate entities. Whilst I was trying to stabilise his body I had to also combat the mind." She shook her head. "Griffen, I can't explain it well enough for you to understand, but his mind is... incredible. I have never encountered a mind so strong in a human before. He... sensed me and reached out to grab my presence. If you had not provided support I would have been drawn into his mind and I may have lost myself completely, been completely absorbed by it. I find it so….amazing, and frightening. There is such power there."
"But is he mad?" Griffen asked. "Has the sensory deprivation driven him mad?"
She shrugged. "I can't answer that. How can I judge madness? I'm not sure he's exactly sane but then who would be after being like that for so long. But that does not mean that he can't be cured. I can't say if he is mad or not, but I do not want to touch his mind again. There are too many... ghosts."
"Ghosts?" Griffen asked, battling to understand. This area of physic manipulation was too abstract for his more scientific aligned mind, but after having been so long with Kitra he had learnt to never disregard any of it.
Kitra waved a hand vaguely in front of her, grasping for the right words to use. "So many memories, so many people, all having had profound effect upon his life, and many of them recently – or at least recent in his mind's opinion. There are many...debts to be cleared. I can't explain it any better, Griffen. Just take my word for it - when Vila said that Avon was complex person, for probably the first time in his life, he wasn't exaggerating."
"Well, leave it. You've done your part now let the med unit do the rest. You need to get to bed and sleep. This has taken more out of you than we had thought. Come on, get up."
Kitra dragged herself to her feet, using the wall as support, and with Griffen ushering her along, he waited till she was settled back in her own room and sleeping, before leaving.
He made his way back to the med lab to check that all was well. The monitors showed a steady quiet rhythm for all requirements. Looking down at Avon's stern visage he said, "I hope you're worth all this trouble, and you'd better not be insane after the pain you've caused Kit. Otherwise I'll gladly kill you myself."
Turning away he left to make his way to the flight deck, not seeing a faint twitch of the eyelid.
"Are we clear, Orac?" Griffen asked, settling into the console back on the flight deck.
"Yes. I have linked the life-support chamber to the console so readouts can be obtained and progress monitored from here."
"Okay. How long before we reach Verin?"
"We will be arriving in approximately 22 hours."
"Wake us when we get there."
"Very well."
As Griffen no longer had a physical body he needed very little sleep, but this time he wanted nothing more than to lose himself in oblivion for a number of hours and rest. From this point on he had the feeling that things would never be the same again. A step had been taken that could never be reversed and he felt uneasy. He wanted to ignore these feelings so he slept.
Kitra met them at the door of the cargo hold, arms crossed over her chest, as they trooped up the ramp. "Where have you been?"
"Where have we been! Where the hell were you?" Tarrant said sharply, every long stride indicating his anger.
She shrugged as she turned away, "Had an errand to run. Come on, hurry up. I've got a job to organise still." And she moved off briskly, leaving them to follow in her wake.
As the engines were firing up already they had little choice but to follow her instructions but questions were burning in the three of them. However, once they had cleared the planet's atmosphere and moved off into deep space, they turned to her almost as one.
"So where were you?" Tarrant asked bluntly, anger still evident in his tone.
"Told you. Orac found some information and we went to check it out. We went to pick up a possible…..passenger."
"You could have told us. We could have come and helped out." Soolin put in. She didn't sound angry but there was still a slight edge to her voice.
Kitra shook her head. "Not this time."
"What's the big secret?" Vila asked, leaning back in his chair to look at her with a frown. In all the time he had been with Kitra he had never seen her trying to hide something from him and that confused him. No, it worried him.
"It's not a secret now. Come on, there's something to show you." They followed her as she lead them down to the med unit
"Why..." Tarrant began as they drew closer to the door. He didn't understand what was going on.
"Just wait," she told him, keying open the door.
As she entered she stood aside and waved them forward. With puzzled expressions they followed, hearing the door swish closed behind them, and moved further into the room, closer to the sheet draped form on the bed. When they were close enough to view the features, as one they stopped and stared.
"Avon!" Vila let out a shout of disbelief, frozen to the spot. This…this couldn't be real!
"How?" Tarrant said, turning to Kitra, with disbelief in his eyes, no less shocked. "Where did you find him?"
"Orac found where he had been kept all these years." Kitra explained briefly, not going into details. "Griffen and I went and got him."
"Then why didn't you want us along?" Tarrant felt the anger build again. Avon had been part of their group. They had a right to go along!
Kitra fixed him with a steely glance, which helped quell his anger a little, "Because he has been under sensory deprivation for the past five years, and if you don't know much about that let me enlighten you. Sensory deprivation has been a form of torture since the beginning of time. Few species can tolerate such conditions for long before going mad. Humans are the least adaptable to those conditions. Avon has undergone it for five years. Does that give you some idea of what might have been the scenario we would have found?"
"Are you saying he's insane?" Vila asked, watching the still figure warily. Avon supposedly 'sane' was scarier enough. Insane, that was just downright beyond belief!
She shrugged, "I don't know. Neither does Orac. His mind and body seem to have almost separated – not surprising under the conditions. The simplest way to think of it is there being a cord connecting the mind to the body. They severed this cord so the two have learnt to function individually. That way the body can be kept alive and the mind is still completely sentient. We have to wait and see if that connection can be made again. It may be that too much time has gone by and it will not happen."
"And if it doesn't?" Soolin asked, guessing the answer though needing the clarification.
"That is up to you," Kitra replied calmly. "But it may be a kindness to kill him."
"What..?" Vila started in shock.
Kitra turned to him, "Vila, do you call that living? If the connection cannot be reforged his mind is trapped within a body that is totally unresponsive. He is not even aware that he has a body anymore at this point, and we can't access his mind. Don't you think it would be a kindness to kill him than leave him in that state?"
Vila looked uncertain for a moment, "Why don't you talk to him? You could go into his mind," he said earnestly.
"No." was her simple firm answer, and her tone brooked no discussion on the topic as she turned away from Vila. "Come on." She motioned them back to the door to leave, "There's no point you all waiting here. Orac has linked this room up to the flight deck so we'll know whatever happens. Once we're back at base, we can get him settled properly."
"When will we know if he's going to be all right?" Tarrant asked, giving a last look at the silent figure on the bed, feeling a little queasy at what Kitra had tried to explain to them about Avon's state.
"I have no idea," was her honest reply as they left the room, making their way back to the flight deck.
"So we've just got to wait?" Vila asked, following.
"That's right," she replied as they walked. "We can't hurry this healing; if you tried you're liable to cause more problems. We just have to wait and see if Avon's mind and body can reconnect and function as one again."
"When will we know?" Vila asked.
"I'm presuming when he wakes up, yes?" Soolin put in dryly.
Kitra nodded, "Exactly. If he regains consciousness and seems normal enough then we'll know he should be fine."
"And if he doesn't wake up?" Tarrant asked the question.
Kitra looked over her shoulder, face completely blank. "Then you'll need to decide who's going to pull the trigger."
She left the three of them standing frozen there in the corridor as she disappeared behind the closing door.