Criticism is welcomed. Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
******************************
By the twenty-third century, most of Earth's prominent countries had
established 'Earth Resources' satellite systems in orbits that monitored the
entire surface of the planet. In some instances more than one country used the
Earth Resources functions of a given set of satellites. It was a poorly kept
secret amongst the various intelligence services of these countries that very
high-resolution spy devices were also sent into orbit aboard the satellites and
that encrypted data streams were piggy-backed on the normal monitor down-
link channels.
It was because of these satellite systems and the former uses of Nevada
Facility Number Four that the increased activity there came to the attention of
a number of intelligence agencies throughout the world. At one super-secret
facility buried beneath the regular commands located within Cheyenne Mountain,
the activity caused the constant monitoring of other data being relayed from
the Nevada facility.
During the Clark administration, clandestine monitoring of military bases
and offices reached a height unparalleled in human history. Cameras were
redesigned to provide information of which the local regular security
monitoring personnel were totally unaware. Even some Shadow tech had found its
way into some of these systems. The results were that a super secret
surveillance unit was monitoring what happened on and in the Nevada facility
for two days before it was destroyed. How to sanitize the data so that it could
be presented to appropriate parties turned out to be the hardest part of the
data gathering effort.
******************************
In Leftcourt's office, early morning after the Nevada base explosion:
"Good morning, Tom," said Luchenko. "Tell me what in hell happened in Nevada
this morning?" (The time difference between Nevada and Earthdome is nine
standard hours.)
"Madame President, we’re investigating that even as you and I speak."
"In other words, you don't know, do you?"
"No, ma'am. There shouldn't have even been a nuclear device at the site. The
self-destruct device had been removed about six months or so ago."
"I've already got the press corps trying to rip my skin off for answers.
Telling them we don't have a clue isn't an option."
"Give me half an hour or so, Madam President. I'll have something for you.
However, I can't guarantee exactly what form it’ll take."
"You have one hour, Tom. After that, I'm going to start offering them raw
meat. The Secretary of Defense, his staff and the JCS will be the first to
bleed."
"Yes, Madam President."
As soon as the president signed off, Leftcourt put through calls to General
Sanchez's subordinates. Fifteen minutes later, he was looking at Sanchez's face
on his communications display panel.
"Manuel, what’s happening in Nevada?"
"I'm sorry, Tom, but I can't discuss it on this circuit. If you’ll go to the
secure communications room in the communications center, I'll send you some of
what we have. My people tell me that sanitizing the data will take some time. I
can give you enough for you to brief the President. I can say this. You are not
going to believe this data, not in your wildest dreams. I'll tell you about an
incident on Babylon 5 that may put it in perspective. I'll be waiting on the
red circuit."
Leftcourt cut the circuit and headed out of his office. It would take almost
ten minutes to get to the ultra top secret communications room.
******************************
In a high security facility somewhere on the North American continent:
"Are you sure this’s a good idea, General Sanchez?"
"No, I'm not Major Brown, but I know as sure as the sun is going to rise,
President Luchenko is going to be all over him and Sec-Def screaming for
answers, because the press is going to be all over her."
Major Brown pushed a data crystal across the general's desk. If the truth
were known, Sanchez had a number of similar desks and offices in security
facilities all over the Earth Alliance. His job required that he do a great
deal of traveling, on short notice, for indeterminate lengths of time. "We’ve
managed to copy this data in such a fashion that there are no dates or times
displayed, We've left out the audio portion. Hopefully, he won't recognize what
we've done. I'd rather not give him anything that could be traced back to us,
general, for his own good as well as ours."
******************************
In the ultra secure communications room of the communications center:
Leftcourt was sitting down and facing the display screen, and waiting for
Sanchez's call. It occurred to him that if they had some of the crystals that
Lyta Alexander used, they could almost dispense with rooms like this one. He
made himself a mental note to earnestly look into that situation. While he was
still mulling the idea over, the display came to life and he was looking at a
giant image of Sanchez's face. "I'm ready, Manuel."
"Just watch the video, Tom. Save any questions until it finishes running."
Leftcourt did just that. He watched the video. It lasted almost thirty
minutes. At the end of it, he was at a loss of words. What he had seen couldn't
be real.
"Tom, I'm waiting. Surely you must have some questions."
Leftcourt looked into the pick-up and snapped, "What kind of tripe did you
just show me, Manuel. I want something that I can take to the President."
"What you just saw, General Leftcourt was what the cameras we monitored in
that facility transmitted up until the time it was vaporized. With all due
respect, I don't take kindly to your referring to what I showed you as tripe.
If you can't use it for whatever you’re going to tell the President, it's not
my fault. I've just given you what I have at the moment. We're working with the
images we recorded, and accessing various databases to try and identify all the
people we can. Hopefully, that’ll help shed some light on why the base was
destroyed. We know that ugly something Ms. Alexander was addressing was a
Drakh. Question is how did he get down here on-planet?"
"I'm sorry for the 'tripe' remark. I have trouble believing what is shown
happening to the Alexander woman. It's even harder to believe that she and the
other woman just faded out of the video moments before the detonation. As to
your question: we'd better damn-well find out how and why he was down there in
that facility; and, given what we're both learning about Lyta Alexander, I bet
they're all involved in something. The question we need to answer is what they
were guilty of?"
"There's something you should know, Tom. I was involved in an incident with
General Marsh and Lyta Alexander." Sanchez proceeded to tell him about the
disquietingly improbable story.
When Sanchez finished his story, Leftcourt asked, "Did you review all the
data about the attack on the Zeus when Ivanova was still her captain?"
"Yes, I did. That coupled with today and my experience on Babylon 5 leaves
me in a corner, Tom. She's probably responsible for the Nevada situation. I
don't know how, but I'll be damned if I'm going to admit to anyone that someone
may have managed to get one of our nukes placed where they wanted it, then used
it to blow a large crowd of people into dust particles."
"The point is, Manuel, that everything we're saying is nothing but
conjecture at this point. We're describing someone with 'powers' so far beyond
our understanding that the Alexander woman may be, for all practical purposes,
an entirely new entity... and I don't know for sure just who's side she's on!"
Sanchez thought about if for a full minute, then he asked, "What could we
do about it in any event?"
Leftcourt had no answer, so he made one comment, "Remember, Manuel, Lyta
said she would make those who were connected with Captain Conrad's debacle see
the error of their ways. You don't suppose..." and left Sanchez with a
questioning look on his face when he closed the channel.
Just before the channel closed, Sanchez managed to say, "Good luck with
President Luchenko."
******************************
In a high security facility somewhere on the North American continent:
"What do you think now, Major?" asked Sanchez.
"If I were asked to give odds, I'd say we know who, how and why. However,
I'm going to wait until all the data has been thoroughly analyzed. Even then, I
don't know what good it’ll do us. I want to know who the woman with Lyta was,
and now I really want to know who all those other people were."
"Let me know as soon as you find out. I have a feeling we aren't the only
ones who’re going to be asking these questions."
"General, one other thing. We think there’s a tap on the fiber lines we were
using to monitor that site. We've begun an investigation. There used to be
rumors of some super secret agency or bureau during Clark's administration. I'd
been hearing about them even before Santiago was elected President. What do you
want us to do?"
"Investigate. If there is any substance to them, make it go away,
discretely... very discretely."
******************************
In Leftcourt's office after the visit to the Communications secure room:
An Earthforce colonel was waiting for General Leftcourt when he returned to
his office. "What can I do for you Colonel Gale?"
"I've launched an investigation of the destruction of Nevada Facility Number
Four. I know for a fact that the self-destruct mechanism was removed some time
ago. I also know that the device that was removed couldn't have made that hole
in the ground where the base used to be. My people are checking things out as
quickly as they can. I hope to be able to give you more before the day is out.
My recommendation in this incident is to be fairly truthful. Tell them that we
are investigating the incident along several lines of inquiry. Which is the
truth. Tell them it was an accident. That's true as far as we know at present.
Tell them we don't know what the yield of the device was. That is also the
truth. None of these true statements really tells them anything concrete, but
it gives us some 'wiggle' room. Tell them we will keep them informed, and as
soon as we know what happened we will issue a public statement. Nothing in my
scenario can come back to bite us in the ass. We really don't know what
happened out there, General Leftcourt. Trying to cover up whatever it was,
without having any idea what it was, could leave us open to major embarrassment
later. Worse still, we could be accused of lying to cover up our own
incompetence."
"For a minute, Colonel Gale, I thought you were auditioning for the job of
public affairs officer. However, you make good sense. Tell them the truth until
it's in our best interest not to. I think I can come up with something useful.
I do have a question of my own to ask. I've seen reconnaissance photographs
that seem to indicate that there were several hundred or maybe as many as two
thousand or so civilians on the base when it was destroyed. Do we tell the
press about that?"
"They have access to the Earth resources satellite images, general. You can
bet your ass they know about them. I haven't a clue as to why they were there.
Maybe in a week or so, I might be able to develop a scenario to explain them,
but until then, your guess is as good as mine."
Leftcourt called his PAO as Colonel Gale departed. If memory served him
correctly, that base had been closed down before President Santiago had been
reelected. It had been reactivated by the Clark Administration. Then it had
been officially closed down again. Gale was right, trying to cover up
something, without any idea of what it was, could be a real embarrassment.
Leftcourt spent an hour discussing options and information with his PAO. At
the end of that time, he had a scenario for Luchenko. She wasn't going to like
it, but it had the merit of essentially being the truth, his and Sanchez's
conjecture notwithstanding."
******************************
In the precinct station:
Lieutenant Kelly sat in his office deep in thought. He had reviewed several
days worth of security surveillance videos that had been recorded while the
Alexander woman was shackled in the precinct's maximum security cell. The
camera in her cell had failed. That had been traced to video cables that had
been gnawed through by rodents. However, the ones in the passageway that
covered her cell door had worked perfectly. Absolutely no one had entered or
left the cell except the authorized visitors. With all his examinations of the
videos he still could not explain the discrepancy. He had promised himself that
when they returned, he would get an answer of some sort from Johnson and
Handon. They seemed to have the inside track on the Alexander woman.
******************************
Justine Johnson sat down at her desk and immediately began running a check
on the identicard that she had taken from the psi cop the previous evening. As
she waited for the computer to respond, she went over what she remembered
happening the night before. She simply could not bring herself to believe her
memories.
The morning news had been saturated with live coverage of the thermonuclear
explosion that destroyed the military base in Nevada. It took all of three
minutes for her display to show the information she wanted, and when it did, it
posed more questions than it answered. The image matched the one on the
identicard, but the general information only went back four standard years, and
there was no indication that he was a telepath. It was as if he had not existed
before that. She looked into the databases of the schools that he had
supposedly attended and his picture wasn't in any of the class photo data
bases. It took her thirty minutes to access the databases of the companies he
had worked for and came up empty on those too.
She looked at the gloves and got an idea. She was just leaving her desk when
Lt. Kelly walked up to her and asked, "Could I see you for a minute in my
office?"
In his office, Lt. Kelly handed her two large photographs. "Those are
enlargements of two frames from our surveillance cameras, Officer Johnson. Can
you explain them to me?"
Justine looked at the two photos and then looked at Kelly. "I'm on my way to
forensics. After that, I'll let you buy me some decent coffee. Then maybe we
can discuss your pictures."
Kelly looked at her and replied, "Lead on."
In the forensics lab, Justine showed the gloves to her friend, Lee Chan. "Do
you think you can get enough skin cells out of these to make a DNA profile?"
Chan, wearing latex gloves, carefully turned one of the gloves inside-out.
Examining the glove closely, he replied, "I think so, but it'll take me at
least an hour to know for sure. May I ask why you want this?"
"I want you to do a database search and find out who the gloves were worn by
and if possible who their parents are likely to be."
"This is going to cost you, Justine."
"I'll let you take me to dinner somewhere expensive."
Lee turned away from Kelly and Johnson, "I'll call you when I have
something. Don't corrupt her, Lt. Kelly."
It took them ten minutes to walk to a coffee shop down the street from the
precinct station. "Why did we come down here? Surely, it isn't the coffee?"
"Actually they have terrific scones, Lt. Kelly, and the best mocha in town,
and I want to talk away from interruptions and surveillance systems. Besides, I
don't want you having proof of anything I'm about to tell you."
"Are you paranoid?"
"The woman in your pictures told me last night that if I told anyone what
happened to me just before that base blew up, they'd put me in a strait-jacket
and throw me in a padded cell. After we get through talking, you may feel the
same way. That's why I don't want any proof that this conversation ever took
place."
Their coffee and scones were served, and they had both started to eat and
drink. Kelly put the two pictures on the table in front of Johnson. "What do
you know about these?"
"Obviously, they’re pictures of the Alexander woman. One was taken when we
brought her in, and the other was taken as we took her out. In one, she is
drugged, and in one she is not. They were taken three days apart and she has
fresh clothes on in the later picture. The clothing in the pictures has
slightly different patterns in spite of the fact that she never left her cell.
What else do you want to know?"
"How does someone in chains and drugged so thoroughly they can't even see
straight, lay in a constantly guarded cell for three days, not use a bathroom
and leave in a freshly dry cleaned outfit that is different from the one she
had on when she was thrown into that cell, trussed up in said chains? Houdini
couldn't have pulled that one off."
"Let me tell you what happened after we left the station yesterday, Lt.
Kelly. Oh! This conversation is not happening."
Justine Johnson spent the next fifteen minutes telling Kelly what she had
witnessed and experienced. He just kept eating and drinking, all the while his
face showed an expression of increasing disbelief. After she finished her
story, Johnson asked, "Now do you know why this conversation didn't take place?
I wonder how long it’ll be before people begin to wonder where Handon is? They
know we left together."
"I can help with that. When we get back to the precinct, you give me a
personal leave slip for yesterday afternoon. Since you traveled by private
corporate jet, and it was a black bag operation, there probably won't be a
passenger manifest. You simply say you didn't go with them and that you took
the rest of the day off for personal business. It's not likely there’s anyone
handy to say otherwise. Fortunately for us black-baggers like to keep a low
profile."
It was just after lunch when Lee Chan called Justine. "Justine. I think you
should come down here, and bring Lt. Kelly with you." Ten minutes later Johnson
and Kelly arrived in Chan's work place.
"What do you have, Lee?" Asked Johnson.
Chan laid out several printouts, showing family trees and pictures. "Your
glove man doesn't really exist. At least not in the databases I can access. The
data that's available is a jumble. None of it fits together. We've been
gathering DNA data on newborns and their parents for the last hundred years or
so, and neither your man nor his parents are in the database. What I can find
seems to indicate that someone who knew what they were doing altered the data."
Johnson and Kelly studied the information. There was only the conclusion
that Chan had already discussed that seemed to fit the available facts.
Johnson and Kelly returned to their desks. It would be a few days before a
new partner was assigned to work with Justine, so, she set about catching up on
overdue paperwork.
******************************
Late that afternoon Earthdome time in Earthdome:
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press. President Luchenko will be out in a few
minutes to make a statement concerning the situation at the Nevada Facility
Number Four this morning, local time. She will entertain questions after her
statement, but only questions pertaining to that subject."
President Luchenko marched out to the podium accompanied by General
Leftcourt. She wasted no time in addressing the situation. She had little of
real substance to give the waiting news people, and quickly handed the ball off
to Leftcourt. The general proceeded to explain as much as he knew about the
destruction of the base. He explained its history and past uses, and how it
came to be closed down. He no sooner finished that a voice from the news people
asked, "You don't expect us to believe that the installed self-destruct device
made a hole that big in the desert floor, do you, General Leftcourt?"
Recognizing a drinking buddy, Leftcourt answered, "Not at all, Mike. It had
to be somewhere in the twenty megaton range. The problem we're having is that a
device that large isn't normally kept on the planet. We're investigating where
it came from, and how it got here. Records checks show that our people
supposedly installed a two megaton device less than a month ago. However, they
report that they did not arm the device. They sealed it into its proper place
and welded the doors to the room shut, as they were instructed to do. A lot
about the situation smells, and we're busting our humps trying to find answers.
As soon as we get better answers, you will have them. That is unless they
present a clear threat to Earth security." Holding his hand up, Leftcourt
continued. "I'm not using planetary security to hide anything. The damned truth
is, we just don't know a hell of a lot, yet."
Luchenko let the questions go on for another fifteen minutes then ended the
press conference. As they left the pressroom, Luchenko said, "That went better
than I expected."
"We told them the truth. They can't catch us in a lie this time. To be
honest, Mrs. President, this whole situation bothers me a lot. I showed you
pictures and they raise so many questions it's scary. I can't even begin to
explain what all those civilians were doing out there. That part makes no
sense, whatsoever. Someone is going have to answer some very hard questions
about what a nuke that size was doing on the planet. We have rules and
regulations that forbid it, not to mention how many treaties amongst the
planet's countries also address it," replied Leftcourt.
"It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Keep me informed, Tom. I
can't afford to get bitten by this."
******************************
On Babylon 5, three days after the destruction of the Nevada base:
Diamond had landed on Babylon 5 and passed through the customs and
immigrations checks without anyone even raising an eyebrow. The Glenthorian
diplomatic passport worked like a magic key. Without hesitation, he started to
leave the customs area when he overheard an older man tell the customs officer
that he and his wife were looking for Doctor Balor. They were informed that she
could be found either in Medlab or in Downbelow where she ran a free clinic.
Diamond, hearing this exchange, offered to show the couple where Medlab was
located, since he also had business with the good doctor.
They were approaching Medlab and Diamond had learned that they were the
parents of Lieutenant Corwin. He also learned that Doctor Balor was involved in
a relationship with their son. Diamond didn't pursue that branch of the
conversation. He already knew about Corwin, his telepath bias and his
involvement with Dr. Balor.
In Medlab, they learned that Dr. Balor was off-duty, and that she was
working down in her free clinic. It took them almost twenty minutes to find the
place. It wasn't much, just a few curtains to act as room separators and a few
tables and fourth hand cabinets. The room could be locked, but few drugs were
kept there. Those that were weren't worth much on the black market, so no one
bothered to try and rob the place.
It took only one look for the Corwins to realize that the young doctor who
identified herself as Cathy Balor was very pregnant. They also immediately
realized that their son must be the father.
"Miss Balor," said father of Lieutenant Corwin, "David has written us quite
a bit about him and you and how much you mean to him. However, he never gave us
a clue that you and he were this involved."
"Actually, Mister Corwin, we aren't involved anymore. That ended a few
months ago. He lost interest in the relationship," replied Balor.
"Does your family know about your condition?" asked Mrs. Corwin.
"Indeed they do," replied Balor. "When I explained that the relationship had
dissolved, they were very quick to let me know how stupid I am to have been so
careless. They feel that being a doctor I should have had better sense, and
truthfully, I can't argue the point with them. However, it won't be that much
of a problem. I've made arrangements for the baby to be cared for after it's
born until my contract with the station is fulfilled."
"You mean your family simply told you to take a hike?" asked Mr. Corwin.
"Essentially, yes," replied Balor.
"I find it hard to believe that David would simply turn his back on his part
of the responsibility for this child," commented Mrs. Corwin
"I'm sure he'll explain his reasons when you see him, Mrs. Corwin."
"Why don't you tell us?" asked Mr. Corwin.
"I want you to hear it from him, Mr. Corwin. Now, if you don't mind, I have
patients to see." Cathy looked at Diamond. "What do you want?"
"I was just checking on you. Lyta has assigned me to pick up the baby when
it’s born. I thought I should at least meet you and become acquainted with you.
She said a baby isn't like a pet cat or dog, and she is very correct."
Balor quickly wrote something on a scrap of paper. "This is the address of
my quarters. I’ll be getting back there about midnight. We can talk then."
Diamond turned to leave and told the Corwins, "I'll show you where Command
and Control is located. Your son may be there. If he isn't, they'll be able to
locate him for you."
In one of Babylon 5's transit cars, Mr. Corwin asked, "Are you the one who
is going to be taking care of her baby after it's born?"
"I'll pick the infant up and transport him to the planet Glenthor. Once
there, I'll turn him over to Lyta Alexander. She has arranged for him to be
cared for."
Diamond dropped Corwin's parents off at the security station that commanded
the passageway just outside C&C. The security guard wanted to know how they had
managed to get out of the transport tube on that deck, but Diamond just told
him that he had told it where to go and it had deposited them there. Diamond
walked back to the waiting transport car, and its doors were closing before the
guard questioned how it had remained on the floor for such a long period of
time.
The guard checked with C&C and was told that Lt. Corwin had gone off duty
more than an hour before. He had apparently left by another exit, since the
guard had no record of his leaving.
"There is more than one entrance to C&C?" asked the elder Corwin.
"Yes, sir. If you have the proper clearance and ID badge, there are two
other entrances that can be utilized. This station is primarily to screen
visitors. If you wish, I can let Captain Lochley know you’re here."
"Do that, please. I'd like to meet my son's boss."
******************************
In Lochley's office:
Lochley looked across her desk at the older couple sitting in chairs she had
provided. "You are Lt. Corwin's parents?"
"Yes, captain, we are," replied Corwin's father. "I'm retired Earthforce. We
haven't heard from David in several months."
"Surely, that isn't what brings you to Babylon 5."
"No it isn't," answered Corwin's mother. "We’ve been on an extended visit
with our oldest son and his family. When we were getting ready to return to
Earth, we checked in with our travel representative, we learned that for only
the cost of our lodging here, we could take a ship that would stop here, and
that it would give us a three day layover. We grabbed it as a means of visiting
David with out having to spend a lot of money."
"Being retired isn't all it's cracked up to be, captain, even for an
Earthforce colonel," added Mr. Corwin.
"Have you obtained a place to stay, yet?"
"That'll be the first thing we do after we leave here," replied Mr. Corwin.
"Avoid brown sector if you can. It's one of the rougher parts of the
station."
"I take it that you know Dr. Balor, captain?" asked Mrs. Corwin.
"Of course. She’s a very good doctor. She has a bedside manner that the rest
of the medical staff envy. Why do you ask?"
"David, when he was still writing us, mentioned her in his letters. He
seemed quite smitten by her, if you believed what he wrote about her. I got the
feeling that he was getting serious about her. Then, he quit writing. I don't
suppose you have any ideas about his change of behavior, do you?" asked Mrs.
Corwin.
"To be honest, Mrs. Corwin, if the off-duty behavior of my officers and
enlisted personnel doesn't impact on their on-duty performance, I don't
consider it any of my business. However, if it affects his or her performance,
that a completely different situation," replied Lochley.
"Even though I've been retired for a couple of years, Captain Lochley, I do
try to keep up with what the selection boards are doing. I know from his
letters that David was up for selection by the last board. He wrote that you
had given him high marks and a glowing recommendation. However, I also noticed
that you still refer to him as lt."
"That's true, Colonel Corwin. When the board results were received, he along
with several other selectees were listed as being on hold pending further
investigation."
"Pending investigation of what, captain?"
"I'm not free to discuss that at this time, Colonel. If I can be of any help
while you are aboard the station, don't hesitate to contact me."
The finality of Lochley's tone of voice, left no room for further
questioning by either Colonel Corwin or his wife. He realized that
sometime during the time she had made her recommendation for his son's
promotion and the time the list was released, his son had done something to
jeopardize his career. He had done as much to errant young officers during his
career. The Corwin's took their leave and went hunting for quarters to rent.
******************************
In the Glenthorian Ambassador's suite:
"Lyta has never mentioned you, Mr. Diamond. Your credentials are genuine,
but it seems odd that you seem to have come out of nowhere," commented the
ambassador, as he turned away from Diamond to fix himself a drink. "Would you
care for a glass of juice?"
"I'm sorry to fool you, ambassador," said Diamond. Then the voice the
ambassador heard changed and became feminine. "I didn't want anyone knowing
that I'm on the station."
Hearing the voice talking to him change in quality, the ambassador slowly
turned to look at his guest. "Lyta?"
"Of course, Harly. You of all people shouldn't be surprised by my ability to
make people see what I want them to see. Surely, you remember the first time I
came to Glenthor. What you didn't know is that I used this ability to derail
the coupe d'etat that was attempted at the time, saving your cousin Rohe's life
and your planet's present planetary governmental system."
"I never knew the particulars, but I learned that you were responsible for
us not being one large dictatorship. You have been a real supporter of our
planet's interests. If it weren't for you and your friend G'Kar my planet would
not be a part of the Interstellar Alliance. You are a good example of what a
Glenthorian should strive to be. I stress that to my children, even though they
are all adults, and my grandchildren. Now, what can I do for you?"
"I have arranged to take custody of Doctor Cathy Balor's baby when it's
born. I want you to keep an eye on her to make sure she is taken care of. I'll
show up as Mr. Diamond when the time comes to take custody of the child. If you
have been watching any of the news programs for the last several days, you are
aware of the accident that occurred at a military base on Earth."
"If you mean the one that was destroyed, yes, I'm aware of it. What does it
have to do with you?"
"I was involved. It was my way of keeping a promise to General's Leftcourt,
Sanchez and Marsh, and Captains Ivanova and Conrad. There were people who
essentially sold out the Human race and were still dealing with the Drakh. They
could never have been brought to justice. I provided the justice option."
"Why isn't the father involved?"
"Lt. Corwin is the father and he hates telepaths. If he had his way, he
would butcher every telepath he could get his hands on. So, you can see the
problem. He didn't know she was a telepath when he impregnated her."
"I'll have my people take care of your wishes, Lyta. Just leave me a way of
contacting you directly. As soon as she goes into labor, I will give you a call."
It was then that the ambassador's door chime rang, followed by Harley
saying, "Enter."
The door opened, and in walked Larry Evans. Lyta had become aware of him
just before he pushed the chimes button. When he entered the ambassador's
quarters he found the ambassador talking with a slender black-haired man who
appeared to be in his middle thirties. He missed the shock on Harly's face from
having seen Lyta disappear and Diamond appear in her place. "Mr. Evans, I'd
like to introduce you to Duncan Diamond. He is a good friend of Lyta
Alexander's."
Evans looked Diamond over and said, "Lyta has never mentioned you."
"I'm sorry about that, Mr. Evans. I'm sure that if she had felt it necessary
to do so, she would have done it."
Returning his attention to Harly, he continued, "The attacks on our
telepaths on the station have just escalated."
The ambassador, watching Diamond's face for reactions, asked, "What do you
mean?"
"One of our P-5s, Donna Howell, was just attacked in Downbelow, and she’s in
Medlab 1 now fighting for her life. I have it from one of the doctors that she
isn't expected to live."
Diamond was sitting up and very alert in his facial expression at this
piece of news. "What's this about a telepath hate group?" queried Diamond.
Evans looked at Diamond, "Since you're new here, I'll explain. According to
Captain Lochley, since the Psi Corps was disbanded, there have been a number of
small hate groups sprouting and dying in short order that focus on hatred of
telepaths. In some cases, there have been telepaths butchered and killed or
very seriously injured. The latest one, and so far the worst of the lot, is a
group calling themselves A Good Telepath is a Dead Telepath, (DTGT) for short.
There have been a number of attacks on telepaths in the last couple of months,
but up until just recently, they were your basic assault situations. There have
been four killings, more like butcherings, of telepaths holding EA citizenship
in the last three weeks, and the command staff is sweating blood trying to get
a handle on it. Security is putting in so much overtime, it threatens to trash
the station's budget."
"He is the station commander's boyfriend, Mr. Diamond, and he is privy to a
great deal of information concerning the everyday events on the station," noted
Harly.
Diamond thought over what Evans had just told him. "I know how to solve the
problem, gentlemen. Just give me a few days to get my act together."
"Just what are you planning, Diamond?" insisted Evans.
"Believe me, Mr. Evans, there are some things you don't want to know."
"If you do anything illegal, the captain will have you arrested and tried."
Diamond just smiled at Evans and the ambassador. "I promise there won't be
anything to upset the good captain. What I have in mind will not be detectable."
"It's your ass, Diamond," noted Evans.
"It's always been my ass, Mr. Evans; so, nothing is new." Diamond got up and
walked out of the ambassador's quarters.
Less than fifteen seconds after Diamond walked out, Evans thought of
something he wanted to ask him. Evans rushed out the door, but Diamond had
already disappeared. Evans looked back inside the doorway at the
ambassador. "He's gone."
"Maybe he walks fast, Larry," commented the Ambassador.
Evans was looking down a passageway that was almost fifty meters long before
there were any cross-corridors. [Walks fast, my ass!]
******************************
In the Corwins' quarters:
"That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, Mary."
"It isn't costing as much as we thought. I suppose you should contact David.
Do you suppose he will be disappointed that we didn't contact him when we first
arrived?"
"From what we've seen and heard, I think we did the right thing. If he has
gotten himself into some kind of trouble, maybe we can find some way to help."
"Do you think Captain Lochley might have something to do with his promotion
being held up?"
"I'd bet on it. If it were someone else, she wouldn't hesitate to display
her annoyance that her prize lt. was being screwed. I've been in her shoes
before. David wouldn't be the first young officer to get careless just when he
was reaching the first real plateau in his career. Hell, he's been functioning
as XO on the station for quite a while. If it hadn't been for the civil war,
and his reluctance to rejoin Earthforce until recently, he would be wearing
full commanders stripes by now."
After a few tries, Colonel Corwin had his son on the Babcom screen. "Hello,
David."
"Dad, Mom, why didn't you contact me when you arrived?"
"We had a few things to do first, Son," replied his father.
"How did you get here. I wouldn't have thought you could afford the trip."
"We've spent the last month visiting with Ken and his family. We checked and
found out that we could take a different route home, which included a stopover
here at Babylon 5, and the only extra expense is a room for three nights."
"If you've settled in, Dad, I'd like to invite you and Mom to supper. The
station has several five star restaurants. I'll call you back after I make
reservations."
******************************
In Medlab:
Doctor Hobbs and her people had done everything they could for the young
telepath, but the damage to her intestines and the organs in her abdominal
cavity, with the exception of her heart and lungs, from having been cut into so
many pieces was too great. They had evacuated the bodily waste from the cavity,
but she had lost massive amounts of blood. They had managed to stymie most of
the major bleeding, and they had given her massive transfusions of both whole
blood and blood substitutes. All they could do now was keep her sedated and
wait for nature to take its course, which would result in the woman's death.
She had been moved into a room off the main Medlab area to await her death.
Other than being hooked up to a life-signs monitor, no one was watching her,
nor were there any video monitors activated in the room. The life-signs monitor
would alert the personnel in other parts of Medlab when Donna Howell's life-
signs failed.
If anyone had been looking into the Howell's room they would have seen
nothing out of the ordinary, even though there was an entity standing next to
her bed. Lyta examined Howell's injuries and became infuriated that someone
would do this to an innocent person. However, her anger would have to wait. Dr.
Hobbs and her people had stitched Howell's insides back together as best they
could, but it wasn't enough.
Lyta looked for and found a syringe. She immediately made herself manifest
enough to draw some of her own blood. She then used the same syringe to insert
the blood into a vein in Howell's arm. According to the data on the monitor,
she and Howell had the same type, O+. She wondered what the long term
ramifications would be, but thought, [What the hell.] Howell would just have to
live with having unknown DNA coursing through her body.
It was black. Howell was unaware of anything. The coma she was in was one
step removed from death at best. Suddenly, she found herself sitting at a café
table and squinting at a blindingly bright sun and a cloudless sky. She was not
alone. There was a young redhead sharing her table. She recognized the woman as
Lyta Alexander.
"Lyta. What’s happening?"
Looking thoughtful, Lyta replied, "You've been mortally wounded, and you're
in Medlab fighting for your life."
Howell looked confused. "I don't feel like I'm dying."
"That's because this place and our conversation are occurring in your mind."
"It seems real enough, but I accept your word for it."
"I need your help to make sure you recover."
"Just tell me what to do."
"Come with me." Lyta led Howell over to another table. Arrayed on the table
were what looked like pieces of intestines and body organs. "I have supplied
you with a selection of tools, including staples, sutures and medical
adhesives. You will notice a number of documents laid out for you. Those
documents illustrate how the intestines and organs are supposed to look when
they are correctly assembled. There are also hints about what method works best
for each item. All you have to do is reassemble the items correctly. Do you
understand?"
"How long do I have to accomplish this task?
"That's one thing I don't know. I'll be back to check on you shortly."
Lyta vanished, and Howell picked up a document and began speed reading it. A
few minutes later, she began reassembling a kidney. She also became aware of a
very putrid smell. Like a flashbulb going off in her mind, she realized the
mess she was reconstructing was herself.
******************************
Somewhere in the Zocalo:
Diamond strolled through the Zocalo looking at the various races represented
by those souls that were there. Amid the hustle and bustle, he found an
unoccupied café table. Juice and a sandwich soon appeared on the table in front
of him, attesting to the efficiency of his waiter. Diamond had retrieved the
images of Donna Howell's assailants and the feel or their minds that she had
managed to capture as they were attacking her. He hoped that at least one of
them might be out and about. He started concentrating on lowering his mental
shields and filtering out anything that didn't resonate with the thought
patterns he had retrieved. He was always amazed that he could block out
individual thought patterns until his mind was quiet, instead of just blocking
out everything.
It didn't take long for Diamond to block out virtually all thoughts within
two hundred meters. If they were out there, they were not within that area. He
let his mind expand farther out and blocked out individual thought patterns as
he proceeded. It would take him several hours to find what he wanted, two
needles in a very large haystack.
******************************
In the Fresh Aire Restaurant:
David Corwin looked across the table at his parents. He had spent the last
half hour telling them about the Shadow War and the civil war from the Babylon
5 point of view. His father had advanced some penetrating questions about his
part in that war. They were about half way through the main course of the
dinner when his mother looked over at him and asked, "Tell us about this Doctor
Balor?"
David almost chocked on the food he was chewing. He took about a minute to
regain his composure. "There's really nothing to tell, Mom. We dated for a
while then decided it wasn't working. So, we stopped seeing one another."
"Why haven't you been promoted, David? You wrote that Captain Lochley had
given you a really glowing recommendation. I know that the board results have
been sent to the respective commands. I saw a copy of the complete board
results, and I didn't see you on the list of those being advanced," commented
his father.
"I don't really know why, dad. On the list our personnel department
received, I'm listed as being held pending. It doesn't say what is
pending, and Captain Lochley hasn't said anything to me."
"I'm a retired colonel, David. I've been in Captain Lochley's position on
more than one occasion. You have done something that is out of line. I'd like
to know what."
"I told you, Dad. I honestly don't know why."
"Could it have anything to do with that young doctor?" queried his mom.
"I don't see how. We aren't involved, and besides, it's my private life."
"I can tell you from experience, David, that your private life very much
impacts on how your commanding officer perceives you as a whole person. What
aren't you telling us about this girl and you?"
"There isn't anything other than what I already told you."
"Your CO comes across to me as a no nonsense person, David. I'm sure she
doesn't think much of liars. Are you going to tell us the baby that young woman
is carrying isn't yours?" asked his mother.
"How did you know she’s pregnant?"
"We met and talked to her earlier today, before we contacted you. We had a
somewhat interesting exchange with Captain Lochley," said his father.
"You didn't have to go behind my back!" snapped David.
"Don't get smart with me son. We didn't go behind your back. You quit
writing us, and we didn't know that the two of you were quits. We met your
captain by accident. I think I'm beginning to see why you weren't promoted. You
have a problem dealing with reality," replied his father.
"What would you know about my reality? Huh? You haven't lived out here
almost ten years on this tin can. You didn't have to choose between going along
with your government, when you knew it was screwed up, and opposing it. I
really didn't want to rejoin Earthforce, but if I wanted to advance, I didn't
have a real choice. There's not much use for the 'Army of Light' since the
Vorlons and Shadows left."
"That doesn't explain you and that young doctor, David. She said we should
ask you why the two of you broke up. So far, all you've done is evade the
issue. Shall your mother and I go back and have her tell us the truth?"
"Just what do you know about her, dad?"
"We know that she’s female, a doctor and she’s pregnant. Is there more?"
"She's a telepath and an empath."
"I don't think I've ever met a telepath who was a doctor before," noted
Colonel Corwin. "I don't see what that has to do with anything now, or does it?"
"I didn't know she was a telepath when we started dating. I only found out
the night we broke up."
"Why don't you tell us about that?" asked his mother.
"We had gone out to dinner. We met Captain Lochley and her live in
boyfriend. He just happens to be a former psi cop. After we were seated at our
own table and starting to eat our meal, I began unloading on her about my
feelings toward telepaths. I didn't hold anything back. I even raged about how
I'd like to put them all in cages and ship them to the other side of the
galaxy. What I was really thinking about was how much I'd enjoy butchering the
whole lot of them, if I could do it without repercussions." His parents were
looking at him appalled at his admissions. He continued, "I noticed that she
was very quiet and only pushed her food around the plate after I started my
harangue. But, I didn't pay any attention to it at the time. I just continued
to spit vitriol as if I had an endless supply. After dinner, I escorted her
back to her quarters. We were just outside her quarters when I tried to propose
to her. That's when I learned that she’s pregnant and that she’s a telepath.
She told me that she could never be with someone like me. That's what happened.
It's not very pretty."
"We never taught you to hate like that. What happened to make you have these
feelings toward telepaths?" asked his mother.
David explained about the Psi Corps training episodes and how he came to be
included in them. His parents were angry about the incident, but his father
asked again what that had to do with Doctor Balor. That was when David broke
down and told them about his involvement with the A Dead Telepath is a Good
Telepath group.
Looking his son in the eyes, Colonel Corwin said, "That's why you weren't
promoted. They’re investigating your relationship with these people. I can tell
you now, David, if I were in Captain Lochley's place, your career would already
be history. The fact that you're still here serving in your present position
tells me that she still thinks you might be salvageable. I can't say the same
for your relationship with the Balor girl. Do you know that she has already
made arrangements for her baby to be taken off station the day it is born?"
"I never thought about it or her, dad. As far as I'm concerned it's a non-
issue."
"This will be our grandchild, David."
"You have others, dad."
******************************
In a medium size meeting room on Babylon 5:
There were thirty-five men of various ages and dress gathered in the room.
All of them were staring at the gentleman in the front of the room.
"I'm glad all of you could be here tonight. Those who couldn't make it will
be visited by me over the next few days. We have authorization to go forward
with our plans for the telepath situation. I will be giving each of you your
personal agendas for the immediate future. Does anyone have any questions?"
"I do," said a voice from the back row of people.
"And who might you be?" asked the man in front of the room.
"I'm Jason Saunders. I want to know who you are?"
"Fair enough. My name is Duncan Diamond. I'm out here from Earth to help
coordinate our group’s efforts."
"What efforts might those be, Mr. Diamond."
"Come up here, Jason."
Saunders complied.
"Look at all these people, Jason. What is different about them and you?"
Saunders looked at the assembled group and noticed that they seemed to be
asleep with their eyes open.
"They don't even know we're here, Jason. I scanned you, and I know why
you're here. You're going to leave now. After you get to the Zocalo, you will
sit at a table and have a few drinks. Sometime later you will see some of these
people and ask why you weren't invited to the meeting. You will not remember
you were here or this conversation."
"You think so?"
"Goodnight, Jason."
******************************
Later that night in the Zocalo:
Jason Saunders was having a drink when he spotted his friend, Lee
Townes. "Hey Lee, let me buy you a drink."
Townes sat down at Saunders' table. "What's the occasion, Jason?"
"I missed tonight's meeting. I wasn't told where it was to be held."
*******************************
END PART 10