Orphans Beloved: "Attack of the Fifty-foot Clones…"
Summary: Like my Immortal Beloved and Sheldon Swifties bits in my Buffyverse and Sheldonverse, these are fragments and short bits, some longer…Just to fiddle with ideas, possibly forming longer tales later.
Disclaimer: No copy write infringement intended…
Note-There are always these minor consequences to any great advances in Science.
(PS-Some divergence from S-3 in that Aldous did not…Yet…while in mine Cal left without Kyra and engaged to Sarah, to resolve the pesky problem of a murdered police officer, and Ally is not going in for breaking somewhat bad. (And of course the ladies are not yet18-50 feet tall…Yet. And Seth is not…Yet…Dead. But we need Seth. The Castors deserved their own road trip, right?)
Part XXII…
"All I know is…You sent your brother to my shop to spy on me." Grim look at Sarah on wall screen. You're working for the people who made us." Cool eyeing of a sheepish Cosima. "Some of you guys…Whether you're my 'sisters' or no…Have the same trouble I'm having. And I was brought here, kidnapped, in my book…And if any of you were, you sure don't seem bothered by it."
"I've…None of us…" Sarah, insistent on screen… "Got any great love for Dyad Corporation or their bosses at Topside."
"Funny. You seem to be callin' shots here." Crystal noted, calmly. "If you don't trust them why are you tryin' to get me to listen to them? And who the hell is 'Topside'?"
…..
"So you're prepared to be 'reasonable'…" Alison eyed Appleyard standing before her, most of the group withdrawn, including Bonnie, though armed guards remained at his side. "Not even Helena or Sarah, just the samples you say Helena 'stole'…Our tissue, if I understand rightly."
"That's about it, ma'am." The old man smiled. "I think it's a reasonable request."
"Please…Even if Sarah or Helena were willing…And we don't have any such 'samples' that I know of…Dyad's people would never agree."
"Then better we leave them out…I agree with you on that. They're only too eager to seize the Lord's work for themselves."
"Dr. Ethan Duncan's work, if we're fair…" Ally noted.
"The instruments of the Lord are many." Appleyard shrugged. "And lets not forget Dr. Susan Duncan…" slight smile.
"Did you know her?" Ally stared. "I'd heard she was not only dead, but even more pro-eugenics than her husband, poor man."
"People can surprise you…And our views aren't really as divergent from the Neolutionists as Dr. Leekie and his Dyad might have you believe. Just the motivations…To speak frankly, Hendrik wasn't our only scientist, Mrs. Hendrix." he beamed to Ally's stunned look.
….
Dyad…
"You're freakin' bloody crazy…" Sarah on computer screen, glaring…
"Sarah…" Delphine sighed at the screen as she sat in the containment area conference room across from Crystal's "hospital" room, Leekie with apologetic expression beside her, Cosima next to her…Chad, with benevolent smile watching from another seat at the table. "I know this is hard for you…"
"What? 'Be nice to Rachel'…Rachel Duncan, the bloody Biofeld of my sorrows? The bitch who was going to steal my kid and mutilate me and didn't bloody well care who got killed or hurt in the process? 'Be nice to her'…" simpering smile on the angry face. "Why, sure…Piecea cake."
"Sarah…" Aldous raised a hand. "For Rachel, right now, it's over seventeen years ago…She has no recollection of you, Kira, or what she did to you. She's a lovely young girl who lost her parents just a few years before and she views you…All of you…As sisters she cares about but has never met."
"Till you got your Neolution hooks in her…" Sarah frowned. Fee behind her giving annoyed look.
"Look, Sarah…" Cosima tried. "I feel the same way. But, I believe Dr. Leekie and Dr. Norris about Rachel's neural developments. She really doesn't know us or what happened."
"Till she heals up and does…And maybe uses this to get at us." Sarah noted grimly. Fee nodding in agreement. "You wanna play nicey-nice with that bitch, go right ahead. Just leave me out of it."
Leekie, earnestly…"Sarah, Rachel's healing could be an important clue to how this process started. We need to have her full cooperation and to do that, we need to make her believe your interests are hers."
"They are and they aren't. I'm sure she wants to live to see another day like us…But I for one could bear to see her the one who doesn't make it." Sarah, coldly.
I've got Crystal practically signed up…Chad thought, eyeing Sarah's image calmly. While I know there's no chance with Manning, maybe, just maybe, there's a chance with Rach.
After all, I've always had a way with impressionable young women…
"Sarah…" Delphine tried.
"No, no…" Aldous shook head. "We have to respect Sarah's concerns here. It would help but we can manage without her. Cosima? If you'd still be willing…?"
"Ok…" nod. "Sarah, I really think you should try. It might affect Rachel's full recovery, maybe give us a chance to…"
"A bitch like that doesn't 'change', Cosima." Sarah, set face. "I've no intention of letting her get under my skin and use that…"
"We thought the same about Helena once…" Cosima noted.
"Helena was abused and brainwashed and she reached out to us, to me, in spite of it. Rachel's never asked to join us, this is an aberration, probably a temporary one, and we can't trust it. We can't, Cos. I can't keep you from makin' what I think's a colossal mistake but I won't be party, ok? Now what about Alison, Leekie? You're supposed to be finding her for us?"
"And we are bending every effort to do so…" Aldous nodded. "There's no doubt the new Proleithians have her…Our security has confirmed that."
"Even with that Johannsen dead and his place torched by Helena…?"
"Johannsen wasn't the head of the movement and his wife is still running even what's left of his group…" Aldous began…
"But, they've gone under…" he added quickly to Sarah's "Well, then?" look. "…In the black, as your foster mother would say." He smiled. "We will find her, Sarah. Give us a little time, I promise you, we'll find her."
"Probably has them cleanin', doin' crafts, rehearsing a play, and beggin' for mercy anyway…" Sarah, finally cracking tiny smile.
"She'd never start rehearsals without her acting coach." Fee sniffed.
…..
The Appleyard estate…
"Dr. Duncan…Mrs. Duncan?...Was a Proleithian?" Ally, slightly recovered from her surprise.
"Not precisely. She shared some of our views, we, some of hers…" Appleyard smiled. "We found it possible to find common ground, especially as we had a common enemy as well as shared interests."
"Aldous Leekie?" she eyed him shrewdly.
"Leekie's just a face for a much more dangerous foe, Mrs. Hendrix." Sigh. "I take it you and your sisters have heard of Topside? And of the Castor group?"
….
Northern Canada…
"C'mon, c'mon…" Rudy, urgent hiss as he and Seth slid down and arose, stumbling near the bottom of the hill just beyond where Helena had managed to force Paul's copters down or to retreat and was currently carefully dodging his (hopefully, at last) masked troopers and waiting tanks and artillery.
"We shouldn't leave sis…" Seth, brushing himself. "We oughta…"
"What? What's your brilliant plan to take on Colonel Dierden's boys. Kiss his boots harder?!" Rudy sneered. "Lets go! We've done enough for a stranger."
"You just don't get it, do you…" Seth shook head. "She and the Ledas are family."
"Not mine…" Rudy grimly, stepping off.
"Then go…And good luck. Me, I'm stayin'." Seth declared, turning.
Rudy glaring back… "You crazy son of a whoever was the source. That freak…And she was a freak even among the Ledas…Is dead or miles from here already. You'll never catch her, just wind up in stockade or in Coady's lab."
"I don't need to catch her…Just buy her some time." Seth hurriedly as he began struggling back up the slope.
"Don't be an idiot!" Rudy cried. "Seth!...Damn you, brother! We're family! We're all we have!"
"She saved our lives, I owe her that much in any case…" Seth continued up.
"Go on, then! You fool! I don't need you!" Rudy hollered. "I'll do it without you! Without any of you! I'll show you and these inferiors!"
Machine gun fire, just gazing the rocks near him…
"Seth?! Sethie! Help!" shriek…
Sigh…Seth, concealed in trees at the top of the hill.
"Brothers…Sestras…What you gonna do, yes?" Helena, bending over with smile.
…..
