CHAPTER 4

This is Martin right now:

Your cadence is quick yet unhurried as you part ways with Diana. You barely acknowledge the sentries guarding the entrance of the room before you turn to your left.

Your mind is racing as you weigh the risks you've already taken, calculating just how many more risks you know you must take going forward given how things are.

You're a professional soldier, with more than two decades' worth of battlefield experience, you tell yourself. You've seen people die, and you've made your fair share of kills in the Leader's name.

So why are you so afraid right now?

You enter an elevator and take it to the officers' quarters section of the Mother Ship. The ride takes you down a few levels, giving you more time for reflection.

It's one thing to calculate risks when they impact just yourself.

When those risks involve other people – many other people – then the equations change.

The doors slide open, and you step out. You turn again to your left, heading towards a cabin you've visited many times. It's not yours, but it's familiar to you given how often you visit.

You activate the intercom.

"Lorraine?" you ask quietly.

"Get in," she replies, even as the door into her quarters slides open.

You step inside quickly, and the door slides shut behind you. You see Lorraine standing by her desk, where the controls for the door to her cabin are.

"Are we secure?" you ask her.

"I've activated the protocol," Lorraine replies, referring to a specific recorded data loop feeding into the cabin's surveillance system. It was no secret among officers that there was no such thing as privacy aboard most Mother Ships.

"Thank the fates our movement has developed fully-effective countermeasures against our leadership's paranoia," you say.

"Indeed," Lorraine says.

You look at Lorraine, struggling for words.

"Well?" she finally asks.

"I've reported to Diana that what happened at Master Control tonight was an unfortunate yet completely random equipment failure."

"Did she accept that explanation?"

"Not completely. As you might have expected, she believes it was sabotage. She thinks the fact it occurred at precisely the worst possible moment means that it was unlikely to have been a coincidence."

Lorraine allowed herself a small smile. "Or the perfect time, depending on your point of view."

"Indeed." You pause for a moment. "I think you and I shall escape scrutiny for our roles in tonight's incident. Few things are certain, of course. But we have manipulated the situation as best we can."

"It certainly helps that you had assigned Barbara to head the forensics crew composed entirely of our people 'investigating' the incident."

You give her a wan smile. She looks back at you, her eyes eloquent with their betrayal of her unease.

"I don't understand," she says. "You don't look at all pleased."

"We are not out of danger. Not completely."

Lorraine's eyes widen, surprised. "I don't understand. I thought the operation was a success; the rebels unmasked John, and we arranged their escape."

"You obviously haven't heard. One of the rebels was captured."

"What? I thought the plan you and Donovan had come up with was foolproof!"

You slump your shoulders. "Clearly something we didn't anticipate happened."

"Who was captured?"

"No less than the leader of the local rebels."

"The leader? You mean the woman who unmasked John?"

"Yes," you say as you drop your gaze to your boots. "Juliet Parrish."

Lorraine is silent for a moment. "What does Diana intend to do with her?"

"I'd spent the better part of the last eighty three minutes preparing her for the conversion process." You are still staring at the floor. "It was a direct order from Diana herself."

Lorraine goes quiet again. "Do you know if this Juliet Parrish knows you? Have you met her before?"

Now it's your turn to be silent. "I am certain Donovan has told her about me, just as he had told me about her," you say after a few moments. "I don't know about the extent of her knowledge of me beyond knowing my name, but she and I have never met."

You pause for a long beat, trying to read Lorraine. You watch her tense up, struggling to keep her breathing steady. "I took every precaution I could. I stayed out of her view as the technicians undressed her and searched her for contraband. By the time she was implanted with the neural nano-transceivers, she had been drugged unconscious. I didn't take her to the conversion chamber either." You let the memories of all you did and saw wash over you. You feel Lorraine's unspoken hunger for more details, but the squeeze of shame and guilt prevents you from disclosing the details of everything you did. You sigh before speaking again. "I am sure she never saw my face, just in case Donovan had shown her my picture."

"Maybe we are exaggerating the danger?" Lorraine says, after a few moments of silent contemplation.

"All it will take is for Diana, or any of her staff, to ask her about any allies her group has, Visitor or human."

You see Lorraine slump. "Truth serum," she says with equal parts dread and dejection. "Can she resist it?"

"I doubt it."

"How well-versed are you with the conversion process?"

"Not at all. Diana has compartmentalized the staff who participate in the process; the crew of conversion specialists on our ship is small, composed of no more than nine people."

"Paranoia," Lorraine comments.

"Or the need for absolute control and secrecy," you offer, when a thought occurs to you. "I have to somehow find out who has been assigned to Juliet Parrish's conversion."

"What do you have in mind?"

"It occurs to me that we might – might – have one of our own people in position to at least keep us informed."

Something else enters your thoughts. "Did you know I was almost involved in a prisoner's conversion, several months ago, albeit at just a peripheral level?"

"Oh?"

"When Donovan himself was captured. Diana interviewed him briefly; she originally wanted him executed, but I suggested Donovan might be useful as a convert. Diana first said she didn't want to bother, citing his likely stubbornness, but I appealed to her ego and challenged her. She finally agreed with my suggestion, which allowed our people the opportunity to smuggle him off the Mother Ship."

"I remember. Poor Barbara had to take a stun blast."

"I still feel very guilty for that, to be honest."

"She volunteered."

"She took a huge risk. At that point we did not know who Donovan was yet, much less his tendencies. He could have killed her, if he wanted to." You look down at the floor again. "I know we all take them, but I've never been comfortable when the risks I take for myself might involve other people as well."

You look at Lorraine, and you see concern in her expression. "That's the price of empathy," she says, smiling. "You can't change who you are."

"I fear that Diana might dispute that as well, particularly as it relates to Juliet Parrish."

Lorraine just looks at you, and you could tell that she understands exactly what you mean.