Chapter 6: Debt Payoff

Donovan spent most of his morning at the HQ, in contact with a Fifth Columnist friend of Willie's, trying to track down Sean's location. He was surprised to learn that Diana had Sean transported to the Mother Ship after leaving the embassy yesterday. Donovan begged the Fifth Columnist for assistance in sneaking aboard to retrieve his son. But the Fifth Columnist refused to participate in such a risky endeavor.

Shortly after noon, Donovan heard Elias's ranting and raving in the kitchen above. The yelling piqued Donovan's curiosity and he took the secret passage upstairs. The scent of catfish frying in the deep fryer infiltrated his nostrils and made his stomach gurgle.

"We've got fifty-seven reservations this afternoon. And my dishwasher up and just quit," Elias said, shoving a counter full of soiled pots into a suds and water filled sink. "Who's going to do the damned dishes?"

Donovan saw the opportunity to work off his meal tab, and maybe have something left over for a surprise for Julie. He hoped to see her again tonight. He stood next to Elias who leaned against the sink, looking hopeless.

Elias gave him a dirty look. "What's the problem now, Donovan?"

"Nothing. I thought I'd help you."

'You want to do dishes?" Elias chuckled.

"To pay off my debt, and maybe earn a little extra."

"How much extra you talking?"

"Dunno. Maybe twenty… a little present for my lady friend."

Elias smiled. "Maybe you won't need any extra if you can persuade her to come here at close this evening."

"What do you have in mind?"

"A little candlelight dinner for the two of you, and music, courtesy of Ms. Aidele the piano player."

"That sounds like more than a day's worth of dishes."

"We'll even up later."

Donovan pursed his lips. His original plan was to surprise Julie at her place after she got off work. She might even let him stay the night since it was Friday. He knew she didn't like him calling her at work, unless it was an emergency, and doubted she would stop by here afterward.

"Would you call her and ask her to stop by and check on Elizabeth this evening? Say around a quarter til ten?"

"What's wrong with Elizabeth?" Elias asked.

"I dunno. I'm sure you'll come up with something."


Diana had about all the insubordination she could take this morning. To her dismay, the technician overseeing Sean's withdrawals from Procorb balked at her insistence to start the memory implant experiments.

On the other side of a glass partition, Diana and the technician watched the young man toss and turn in his bed, grasping at his stomach. Every now and then, waves of vomiting ensued.

"Let me give him the sickness treatment," the technician pleaded.

"No, we must start the experiment this evening," Diana said.

"How do you intend to perform it when he's so nauseated, that he can't even sleep?"

"He'll have no meals this afternoon or this evening. The sedative we give him later will quell the remaining nausea spasms."

"I hope so, Commander." He cast a forlorn glance at Sean, and then Diana. "For his sake."

"You shouldn't care so deeply about these Human's, Paul. It could cost you your position as one of my top aids."

Paul's eyes narrowed. "You'd have the subject choke on his own vomit during his sleep, just for the satisfaction of a memory implant?"

"My decisions will not be questioned."

Diana raised her fist, striking the technician full at the base of the nose. He fell to the floor, green blood spilling over his human mask.

Paul laid there, his hand covering his bloodied nose and mouth, looking stunned.

The panel doors whined open and the blonde Chief of Fleet Security, Lydia walked in with a paper printout in her hands.

"What happened here, Diana?'

Diana gritted her teeth. "None of your concern."

"My concern is for the welfare of all our people," Lydia reminded. She motioned for the guard outside and ordered, "Help him to sick bay." Without a second thought, she said to Diana, "I could have you investigated for abuse of power."

"And I could have you arrested for incompetence, and letting Donovan go."

Lydia's jaw tightened. "I already told you, I knew nothing of Donovan's escape from his confinement."

Diana grinned, knowingly, "Well, we'll see who the counsel believes, me or you?"

"I'm certain they'd believe me too if I invited them to my quarters for experiments."

Diana smiled. "No worries about that, dear with your reputation of… shall we say… not knowing how to properly entertain a male?"

Lydia strutted out of the cell with the document in her hand. Diana concluded that whatever the report said did not seem so urgent to Lydia after all.