The Universe Blinked

Chapter 9

Alisa could feel her legs weakening. She lost her grip and felt the mental connection snap as she slumped back into Dr. Sheridan's arms. She closed her eyes and let him half lead, half carry her to a chair.

"Alisa, are you okay?" she heard him ask. He sounded like he was calling from the other side of a wall. "Come on…talk to me. Let me know you're okay. Someone help me get her to a bed. I want her monitored-"

"No," she groaned, "I'm all right." She shook her head slightly to try to clear her mind. She was having a hard time processing what she'd just seen. It had been awful to watch, and she'd seen it play out six times. She couldn't even begin to guess how many times this poor man had lived through that scene.

"He's stuck. He's trapped in the most horrible part of his own mind. I have to go back in there. I have to get him out." She opened her eyes to see the shocked look on Dr. Sheridan's face.

"Absolutely not! Maybe tomorrow, after we've monitored your condition, but there is no way you're-"

"Dr. Sheridan, I don't think you fully understand what we're dealing with here. You have just revived a man who has been living in his own personal hell longer than your precious Interstellar Alliance has even existed. You have taken him off of the life support system at a time when his mind can't support his basic bodily functions for very long, and his body is too weak to withstand the intrusion of the machines again. If I don't bring him out of this soon, he – will – die!" She'd gone from a tense wisper to a loud yell during her tirade; she'd managed to get up out of her chair so that she was yelling right in Dr. Sheridan's face. Now she lowered herself back into the chair as the exertion took its toll. "Just get me a sandwich and some water," she whispered, "I want to start again within the hour."

Vicarri hurried through the halls in search of a meal for the miracle girl. He fumed silently at having been reduced to an errand boy. As he hurried down the corridor, he felt a hand touch his arm. Without missing a beat, he ducked into the little used service corridor.

"Well done, doctor," whispered the voice attached to a man almost completely hidden in shadow. "Here is the access code for your payment."

He took the offered envelope and stared at it for a minute. "Thank you," he whispered, "but I still don't understand. After all of the time and money spent on this project, why sabotage it when it's just about to be completed?" He looked up, anticipating a response, but he found himself alone. He shrugged to himself and continued on toward the cafeteria.

"And our most recent intel says that all contact was lost with the Nashow colony Manlor Theta early this morning." The young Abbai Ranger took his seat at the long conference table.

Robyn sat back in her chair near the end of the table and looked to her left. "Entil'Zha, if we know that the Kymer are behind these invasions, then why hasn't the Alliance filed sanctions against them yet?"

"Because we're still looking for concrete proof. They are using ships that they haven't disclosed to the Alliance. At first, we didn't know who we were dealing with. The manned vessels involved in the attacks were shielded so well that we couldn't even scan for life signs, never mind matching them to a particular race. They never landed those ships. In fact, they usually didn't even stay after the initial invasion. Control was maintained by automated weapons systems."

"So what changed?"

"They made a mistake," announced a Centauri Ranger sitting near the other end of the table. "As I'm sure you're aware, Manlor Theta is a popular vacation spot. The invaders assumed they could safely land there and blend in. No crew has been seen actually entering or exiting the ship, but it's too convenient a coincidence that there is an exclusively Kymer security crew guarding the ship. Especially since that particular security crew had managed to arrive on planet after the invasion."

"So now we need to prove that that coincidence is more than just a racially exclusive group having been hired to watch a ship," Robyn stated, finally feeling like she was up to speed.

"Exactly. And that is why I called you in. We want you to train our under cover agent. You're an expert on Kymer language, culture, political structure, and technology. We need you to teach him everything you know. We also want you to stay here and consult while we run the mission."

Robyn stared at her boss for a long moment as she processed the information. She sat up a bit straighter, and looked Kate straight in the eye as she gave her answer.

"No."

"What?" Kate asked, astounded. "You don't mean to tell me that you came all this way to refuse to help?"

"Of course not. I fully intend to do my part. I just disagree that my part should be limited to teaching and consulting."

"Keep firing."

"Collision in thirty seconds."

"Keep firing!"

"Susan," he called almost questioningly, too concerned with what was going on around them to be bothered with formalities.

"If we let them get away they'll bring back reinforcements. Stay on course!"

He stared at her for a second as she stood watching the battle through the view port. He wished he'd told her how he felt when they'd talked earlier. She'd actually smiled at him. A genuinely happy smile. She'd never done that before, and if they didn't stop losing ships soon, she may never do it again.

He watched his console helplessly as one Whitestar after another disappear from the screen. Scanners were showing that while the destroyers were taking damage, they were still in tact. They, mean while, were down a third of their fleet.

He checked on the status of their own ship, and when he looked back again, he felt the smallest bit of hope. In the last two seconds, three of the destroyers had vanished from the screen. Maybe they weren't so indestructable after all.

When one of the last two dots vanished from the screen, he didn't instantly register the fact that it was the one with which they'd been on a collision course. It took an alarm on his console telling him that there was a problem with navigation to drive the idea home. He was glad he had more important things to deal with. He'd think about what just happened later.

"Navigational control damaged," he called out. "Working to repair."

"How many are left?"

"Just one," he answered, knowing she was inquiring about the destroyers. "Whitestars four and nine are on it." He looked up just in time to see a large piece of debris heading right for the view port she was now facing away from.

"Susan!". Time seemed to slow down as he watched her turn to see what he was yelling about. She tried running out of the line of fire, but it was no use. The massive chunk of metal struck, and the bridge of the Whitestar was blotted out by a massive flash of light.

Alisa felt like breathing a sigh of relief as the scene ended without looping back. There was no time for feeling victorious, however. She now found herself standing in a cavernous, pitch black room. "Hello?" she called into the darkness. "I know you're here. I can feel you." She took a few tentative steps forward and turned in a circle, trying to get a lock on him.

She sensed a change in the surroundings just to her right and turned to look. Standing there, in the middle of the room, was a man with long dark hair. His back was facing her, and he was wrapped in a long brown cloak. The terror and confusion radiated from him in waves. She reached a hand out to him, but he recoiled from her touch and spun to stare at her. His eyes were wild, like a man who'd been to hell and back.

"Marcus?" she whispered as she reached out to touch him again. He jumped back and reached helplessly for something he was expecting to be at his hip. His panic level rose when it wasn't there, and he backed away from her until a corner in the previously endless room stopped his retreat. She walked slowly toward him with her hand outstretched, as if she were approaching an animal. He continued to shrink back into the corner, ultimately sliding down the wall and curling into a defensive position with his arms over his head.

He may not have spoken yet, but the nature of their meeting made her accutely aware of the essence of his thoughts. He had been caught in the mental loop for so long that he couldn't comprehend the idea of anything else existing. He didn't understand where he was, or why he was there, and he certainly didn't know who she was. She pulled her hand back and crouched down in front of him.

"Marcus, my name is Alisa. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe." She felt the distrust growing, and she knew she had her work cut out for her. "You were having bad dreams for a long time, but I made them go away. It's safe to come out now." He raised his head and glared at her, and she realized that he thought she had stopped him from saving Susan. She realized then that Susan was the key. She called up a memory of hugging Susan goodbye when she'd left Babylon 5 for Minbar and projected it to him, saying, "I'm a friend of Susan's. You've been caught in an awful place, but I'm here to rescue you. Just like you rescued Susan. She didn't die in that battle. You saved her, and now I'm here to save you."

His glare softened as she spoke now, and he began to calm down. He was still confused, and would probablly be a bit crazy for a while when he woke up. Who wouldn't be after what he'd been through. He'd be okay, though. She'd make sure of it. She smiled at him as she realized what this meant. This man had saved Susan's life, allowing her to go on to do great things. Before that, Susan had saved her from a lifetime of pointless servitude in the Psi Corp. Now, here she was saving this man from an eternity in hell.

"I can take you home," she said as she looked into his hope filled eyes. She reached out once more, and this time, he didn't pull away. He let her take his hand in hers. "Let's go, Marcus. It's time to complete the circle."