Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 12:59:20 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish- read first Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) WARNINGS: violence and bloodshed. Some language. Highest rating Certificate-15. Hi all! Well as Georgie as the latest has remarked- where are the stories? Here is an answer for you. This is a short story for me- it is really!!!! Well, actually it's a collaboration- Sabrina's bits are more than blatantly obvious... so equally obviously this is ELF. It's also got some Ben... a fair amount actually if I think about it. I think I put in all the corrections- many thanks to Diena for all that work! Well, I'm off to look at TEMD 3 and the edits... All usual disclaimers apply- seaQuest belongs to its owners ... amblin, sci-fi channel, etc... whatever... you already all know the spiel. This story is Copyright by E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes 1997, 1998, all parts inclusive. Hope there aren't too many errors and everyone enjoys... Merry end of exams to all! Dedication: To Diena... thanks. For just being :) Sorry- couldn't find a little quote i liked so here's the whole poem... it fits well :) I like this one- weird... very weird... very, very charactistic of our favourite villain. I couldn't resist sticking it in when I saw it. 'Lurks deep in caverns possessed of demons, Shrieking devils, sated on pain. Black night shadows creep in the noonday sun, Beneath the moon, And red-eyed stars drip bloodily into the sky. Deep night settles with tormented cries in the clock's steady beat, In an inaudible footstep. Insanity and maddness see and hear all these and note them down And in this book they keep, closely guarded, closely worshiped, hated, adored An account of all wrongs and deep the demons scream As the blood rises and hate And thought mix and mingle. Evil creatures, roaming and unseen, Monstrous crimes, unpaid for by blood, by pain, by terror- These are where the demons dwell and thrive, Gorging on hateful, pain filled thoughts as the inner mind sees the enemy perish, Bones crushed beneath the weight of the hatred. Eyes no more a threat, blank, to be taken, the price exacted. In the caverns of hate, in the ground of revenge and grudge And unpaid debts, Inhabited by the personifications of madness and waiting and planning, The demon sees out with blood dripping eyes, crying tears of scarlet, Until all perish. And so in the room, dark, blank and bare The madman sits and shrieks again, 'Until all perish who wronged me!' Nurses with bright gazes and neat hair and pressed uniforms stop and sigh And pity and compassion wells in their hearts for the tormented man, Possessed by his insanity. If they were to see his thoughts- They would be shocked and then blame it on the madness, They might be afraid but not for so long. They will not feel the demons gorging, feasting on the pain their innocent madman is visioning for them, They will not see the torn out eyes and blank sockets of staring hatred. Have pity for him, have fear for him and know the man who keeps the demons- Insanity touches all, but not the demon hunger, Not the rage of fire that burns in heart and stomach, Blistering and unsoothed, Met only by further fire. These grudges are welded in blackened iron, twisted and bent And made to last. So listen in the cry, As echoing through the halls falls on deaf ears Is muted by pity, For it feels none, desires none And will not be appeased but by massacre. Listen for the demons as the madman, cries in his cell, 'Until all perish who wronged me.' It is not an idle threat.' Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 14:44:18 -0400 From: Georgie Subject: Until All Perish- read first Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: Georgie To: "INTERNET:tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu" Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu id NAA13712 I have just read the read first bit of the story and seeing that this is going to progress into an ELF story I must share with all how horrified and darn right scared I am for the poor baby. That poem is nasty.. dont hurt my Lulu toooooo bad will ya? I want SOMETHING left to molest y'know? On the other hand, the harder he is hurt, the more hugs he will need to get better... proceed :-> Georgie ( off to get her nurse's outfit ) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 15:55:46 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale & Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Well, here's a little teaser to give you an idea who the story includes... hope it seems worth the read. If and when you want more... I need feedback- the rate of sending depends *entirely* on the readers- it's done, finished... and up to you! And after my exams I am prepared to be merciless. Chapter 1 The screen waited before him; all the systems and codes were his. He sighed. It had all been too easy. The UEO was getting sloppy about their security: it at least had been slightly more of a challenge before. He sighed and looked through systems, rotas and schedules, cross referencing with two names and smiling as he found a coinciding interval. There would also be plenty of additional things to use as diversions. There would be fewer guards and the two prisoners he was interested in were in the same block, being considered high security risks. He opened a new file and started to write the program he would need for the day. First of all... Well, it would be useful if there was a wall breach over the other side of the prison. Yes, that would do nicely. He quickly typed in a time to activate the alarms and then the relevant codes that would get the guards out of the section he wanted to clear. When they went to check the wall breach- that would leave the section nearly unguarded. Really, it was pretty silly to have that on a computer; you could just program in the guards' codes and send everyone to one corner of the building! What else? He looked through the corridor maps, checking for the shortest route, and which guards he would need to clear from it. A fire in block C would clear the main corridor, and then... pipes burst in the main bathroom section would clear the guards out of the next corridor and finally... A bomb incident at the storage warehouses would clear a back entrance and then... a vehicle... Yes, 245 would be there... they could take that and he would just have to send permission to the gates for the vehicle to exit... done. All timed to go off in sequence and leave them a clear passage out into freedom, including unlocking doors, gates and other security checks. There was only one other thing. He scrolled though the staff manifest and selected two people, bringing up their ID information and printing it out. Fingerprint pads, ID passes, the start up code for the vehicle and that was it, finished. Planning an escape had never been so easy and at such a remove. He would only have to activate the program and it would work itself. He wouldn't even need to go out of his room, or hire anyone... He could do it all from the safety of his screen and chair. He swung the chair over to the desk and started typing on a separate machine, while the IDs and finger print pads were forged onto the relevant materials, which he always had samples of, just in case he should need them quickly. He typed out the instructions carefully, including maps of the route out of the prison to the vehicle, the codes and what passes and IDs to use where and then where to go after getting out of the prison, for money, clothes and safety. That had already been arranged; a car ordered at the airport, hotel, suitcases in storage and new instructions waiting there. The only thing that would be a problem was getting these two to co-operate: they were used to working solo, still they would just have to get used to it. If they had to rely on the other for the rest of the codes to get them out of the prison, they would do it together and then they would see how similar their desires and directions were. He quickly brought up pictures of the two men, pasting them onto the different letters so they could recognise each other, and then cutting the instructions in half, one half to go to each man. The IDs and pads were finished by the time the instructions letter had printed, so he slid those and the letter into envelopes and then pushed the chair over to the out letter box on his wall. Nothing metal or that would be picked up on a scan. All he had to do now was wait. The letter would arrive the next day and the day after... well, that would be the start of the real fun. It had really been a very clever idea, not having to get involved himself and being sure that his tools would not need money or other motivation to do the task, apart from their own. There were new letters waiting at the hotel, as were the keys to pick up the suitcases and bank account information. He wondered what they would think, whether they would be believe it to be a trick. Well, he would find out soon enough and there was nothing to be lost, not for him. He smiled at the wall, flicking up a file of his work, watching the diagrams, charts and data, he had collected so far, scroll past, smiling. It would all pay off soon and he would have what he needed to finish his work and prove them all wrong. And they would come crawling to him, like little insects, crawling and slithering on their bellies, cowering before him. And there would be nothing in his way. Two birds with one stone, really. He just wished it had been more of a challenge: hacking into the systems to steal the codes and set up his program. Never mind, what could he expect of such petty little minds? After all they had never been able to see the genius of his theories before, so... He thought about the men he had picked: repulsive creatures, yet intelligent, especially the doctor. It was a pity they were both so warped and spitefully vengeful; that, at least, would be useful in this instance though and after that, well, he wouldn't need them anymore so it didn't matter. If they had to have their fun, he didn't care so long as he got what he wanted. It was a pity that he was reduced to working with murders, criminals, violent, insane men, but then, the UEO had hardly been much better with how they had treated him. Prejudice, that's what it was and he could almost sympathise with those low wretches. They enjoyed pain, but he enjoyed power, intelligence and he had a goal, a great goal, something removed from anger, suffering and money... something that would change the world. He didn't care, though he knew these two would not just do what he wanted, but execute their own petty and horrible little revenge plots, but that didn't bother him. In the scheme of things it didn't matter, and after all, these were UEO, they deserved to suffer, if anyone did, so it would all work out as he wanted, as it always did. No one else could possibly match the power and force of his mind; no one could approach it and therefore, despite the physical problems, he couldn't be beaten. In this world of computers, he could be thousands of miles away from the action and still have perfect control and authority. The physical needn't impair his intelligence in these times. Ironically people still thought him incapable, still looked on his appearance and defects, but never saw all his greatness and what he had to offer. The progress in civilisation was merely in facts, machines and programs, nothing deeper. Easier lives, less hard work, more rules, more mercy, human rights, and yet people were as miserable, as apathetic and as cruel as ever. Maybe that was the extent of man's progress in terms of the soul. He didn't care. He had reached and passed the limits of the mind; he didn't need to worry about other evolution. In this world he was a god compared to them. And now he would start to demonstrate it. Frank Cobb sat, staring at the letter in his hand and then let it drop, staring instead at the wall, only a few feet away in the small cell. He frowned deeply. At first, he had thought it was a hallucination, then a joke, but it had all been so thorough. He didn't think any of the guards here were up to something so inventive. So did he believe it or was it a trick? But why? He already had a life sentence, they couldn't be trying to get him to escape to then convict him for a longer sentence. Could it be a trick to kill him while escaping? He didn't think the guards were that intelligent either, definitely not smart enough to think of something this convincing. So what was it then? Could it be true? All the letter said was that it would be arranged that he should escape and the only requirements would be to meet and work with this other person, who he would need to escape anyway, and that the task would be much to his liking and his own goals in any case. " More instructions waiting at the Hilton Hotel at the New Cape Quest airport." Why would someone want to free him? Well, he was an intelligent man, and a criminal, and he would do what he had to to stay out of prison. He also didn't have moral reservations, which would be very useful. But who was the other person? He looked at the name. He had never met him, had heard a few stories but not much. Well, if this other man had the rest of the instructions, they would have to work together. When they were out, they could always split up and go their own ways; there would be nothing to keep them to the task, but the note, about the job being to his liking, intrigued him. Who was this man who said he would get him out and how did he know what Frank Cobb most wanted? There was nothing about the letter to indicate it was from anyone he knew and he couldn't think of anyone who would help him anyway, not someone with these recourses and intelligence. What did he have to lose? Well, death might be preferable to being stuck here and, after all, what task could be so bad? He would wait and see if the things happened as the letter set out. If they did... well, then he would take his chances about the things he didn't know. It was worth the risk to get out of this hell hole and back into the world. He needed to be back out there before he was too much older so he could find and enjoy all the money he'd been planning on retiring with. He knew what he wanted to do first and he would accomplish that after the 'task', if he found he couldn't just get out of it. Simply the chance at revenge would be worth it all. He looked around his room and sorted out the few things he would want to take. All could fit easy into his pockets then he sat back to memorise the information and the plan in the letter, trying to dissect it to find out anything else that he could from it, but it was surprisingly clear of any other useful information, not that escaping without risk, according to this, wasn't good information... Dr. Rubin Zeller regarded the letter pragmatically and quickly worked out that it wasn't a trick, not with the IQ of those in the prison, criminals or staff, and therefore... it was an opportunity and worth the risk. Sitting here had been boring anyway. Whatever the plan of the sender was, he would be playing the game again and he would get it back on his own terms soon enough. This Cobb would be a problem, but one that could be quickly dealt with, as he knew from past experience. He could put up with him for a while anyway. After all it was someone else to play with. But who was this 'sender' and why would he, Dr. Rubin Zeller, like the task that this man wanted him to perform? He didn't know the answers to that and found that the result was exciting, exhilarating, and invigorating. He lay back on his bed, smiling slightly as he started to plan. He knew what he really wanted and he knew he could do it this time. This time he knew the enemy and its tricks. This time he would win, and after all it had only been the first match he had lost. In the next, he would ensure a permanent victory. He would spend a lovely few hours planning; what would be most painful, most inventive, most destructive and fun, while he waited. The day passed as it always did: walk for half an hour, meal for forty minutes, chores for four hours, three hours of silence in his room to think, another meal and more chores and then lights out. He was glad that the escape would be in day time. After all, it wasn't fitting that he would have to escape using the cover of darkness. They slept comfortably that night, hopeful and alive with their plans. Tomorrow, they could start acting them out. Tomorrow was for anger and revenge. In the morning they went down to breakfast as usual and then did their chores for three hours again, before they were returned to their cells. They looked at the clocks on the wall. Ten minutes until freedom, if the letter was right. Five minutes later they heard the first alarm go off and the guards started to leave, running out of the section they were in and across the grounds to the far side of the compound. Then the second alarm went off and their doors buzzed open. They each stepped out and looked around smiling with satisfaction. Everything was as the letter said. They hurried, each down his own corridor, and to the end and tried the door. It was open. They stepped out into the main corridor and looked around, seeing each other and slowly Cobb walked down towards Zeller and the exit. They stared at each other for a moment and then nodded, each noting the other's letter and then they turned and silent walked, side by side, down the corridors. The doors were all open and where they weren't, their finger pads and IDs got them through with no problems. It was all so easy. It was almost too easy, but there was nothing to demonstrate that it was a trick and they had nothing to lose. They opened the door into the transport warehouse and crossed the empty hall to the vehicle listed in their letters, it's large red numbers beckoning, quickly slipping the transport worker's uniform over their prison ones. Zeller sat in the passenger seat, inserting his part of the code, then Cobb put in his and the vehicle started. They drove away, out of the building and down the drive way, looking straight ahead, not around or at each other, both tense with excitement and interest to see what happened next. It seemed so unreal, and yet it was all happening. They had both known stranger things. Freedom, fresh air, sunlight... away from those disrespectful guards and the disgust and hatred their faces always wore. They were away from being a number, a criminal, a monster, a useless piece of trash that would remain like a caged animal, kept a live, fed, watered until they died naturally. Execution might have been more humane but it would have meant that they didn't have this opportunity. For both, the thoughts of what they would do when they figured out how to escape, that they knew they would eventually manage, had kept them strong, oblivious to the harsh conditions and the cruelty. They had focused on that, glorying and finding daily thrill in the hatred and anger that they would release once they were out. They slowed as they approached the gates, and handed over their papers and IDs. The guards nodded, checking it on their computers and lifted the first, then the second barrier. No alarm sounded and they started forward and were free. The road stretched out in front of them. They could get down and walk where they chose, sleep when they wanted, eat, drink... when they chose. They could hurt people when they wanted, they could enact all the plans they had made, they had power, because they had freedom, money, resources, that they could get, now there were no doors and bars restraining them. " Which exit?" Cobb asked, looking up at the signs on the side of the freeway. Zeller didn't need to check the letter. " The next one: for the airport." The car pulled off the main highway and then onto another and they started to see the planes, low overhead from take off or coming in to land. So the letter was real. They were free. But who had freed them and what did they want now? They drove on, just at the speed limit, silent, with the windows up and no music, watching the open land around them, seeing everything different and yet the same, just waiting for them. Cobb drove smoothly and relaxed, even after all those months in prison he hadn't forgotten how, and the wheel felt good under his hands, the power and drive of the thing he was controlling. He swung the car off the highway and down a ramp, turning off and circling the courtyard in front of the hotel and then stopping, handing the keys to a waiting valet and then they opened their doors, got out, and walked briskly into the hotel and across the shining lobby floor, taking in the crystal chandelier, the mirrors, the marble columns, the plush sofas and deep pile carpets by the reception desk. They stopped at the desk and then Zeller stepped smoothly forward. " Reservation for Smith, two room suite." The receptionist typed it up and smiled, after a brief hesitation, looking at their uniforms. " We were unfortunate enough to get caught in a fire alarm. These were all the airport could gives us, as we don't have our luggage." " Oh, dear, but welcome to our hotel," she said, handing them the papers to sign and then their keys. " I do hope your stay will be more enjoyable from now on. Your room has been prepaid and everything has been arranged as ordered for you. We trust you will find it comfortable. When your luggage arrives if you just call down we will have it sent to you." Zeller reached across, taking the key, letting his finger brush hers as he smiled. " Thank you very much," he said and then they turned and walked to the elevators. " Third floor, please," Zeller said when the doors closed. The elevator man pressed the buttons and they waited while they rose swiftly. The lift stopped and they stepped out into the corridor and walked down it until they found the right door. Zeller slipped the key into the lock and turned it and then they walked in and across to the table where they could see further letters waiting. " Yours I believe," Zeller said, handing Cobb the letter labelled for him, and taking his own. Each took a glass of the champagne that was ready on the table, beside the letters and sat in opposite chairs, across the table from each other, reading, with a slow and surprised smile spreading across their faces. Cobb looked up. " You know who this guy who got us here is?" Zeller shook his head. " I have no idea, though I am much intrigued." " What I can't figure is how he got us out so easily and why he wants us to do this," he said waving the letter. " You don't wish to? I thought it was meant to be of common interest to us both." Cobb sat back. " I don't know who this person is but I want to know how he knew what I was planning." Zeller shrugged lightly. " My guess is that we were both arrested by the crew of the seaQuest and our benefactor has a disagreement with them. I have no problems with his plans, especially as they combine perfectly with my own and there is no part of my plans that I will have to give up to fulfill his wishes. I do not consider the task a price to be released, but certainly I am amenable to it, if that is what this man should require. What I am not so keen on is the idea of a 'partner in crime'. I have never found the need for one." " Then we agree on that. I am going to take them down though, so if your going to do it at the same time, I'd rather work with than against you- so long as we can compromise about of what we each want to... do with this." Zeller nodded calmly. " I foresee no problems. We have a safe place, money, clothes, when we go and fetch them, and it seems that our benefactor has no interest in meeting which I quite applaud. After this we can all go our separate ways. You and I won't turn each other in, and when we have done this, neither will he and we will both have achieved our primary goals for execution on release. There will be nuisances, like adjusting to working together, but the situation is so... ideal... presently that I'm sure we can come to mutually agreeable terms." " And they won't be looking for us? I can't believe that." " Red tape. The computer says we've been transferred and they will believe it no matter that they haven't actually signed us out and it's all electronic. If the information is there they assume it is correct. I m glad that this person has such a sense of humour and such wonderful ability in manipulating the UEO. It gives me confidence in the success of the rest of his help and plans. Well, shall we go and collect our clothes and the further information?" Cobb nodded and they left the room, careful to lock it after them, and then walked out of the hotel and across to a little shuttle cart which drove them to the airport entrance near the storage lockers. They each found the lockers they required, side by side and took out the bags in them, returning silently to the cart and then back up to their rooms. There they opened the bags, taking out the clothes and then the information folders, glancing over the information. " Well, I'm all for a wash and then plans. I want to get out of these bloody uniforms. They make me itch." Zeller winced slightly at Cobb's crudeness, but was forced to agree. " Shall we say half an hour to clean, shave and then we will meet here to discuss the matter for fully?" Cobb nodded and they each went into one of the bedrooms and from there into the en suite bathrooms. Cobb showered vigorously, letting the hot water pour down hard against him while Zeller lay back, luxuriating in a steaming bath, washing the grim of the prison and captivity carefully off himself and then wrapped the clean soft bathrobe around himself and shaved, brushing his hair straight and then picking out a pair of slacks and a polar-neck jumper. Comfortable, warm, clean and free, glowing from the removal of all the external and the feeling of internal dirt. Cobb took out pair of jeans and a shirt, tucking them in and tightening the belt a little. Zeller was waiting for him when he came out into the main room and offered him a drink, which Cobb swallowed in one gulp. Zeller replenished it and then sat, sipping his own, leisurely, watching Cobb over the rim of the glass. After a few minutes of staring and considering they both reached, simultaneously for their envelopes of information and started reading, finally sitting back. Zeller spread out the main crew files on the table; he had read Cobb's file, as Cobb had read his. Light fell through the windows that lined one side of the room they were in, plush furniture deep and comfortable, pressing down on think pile carpets. The glasses were cut crystal that shone in the light, casting rainbow patterns on the smooth walls, papered with a slightly marbled design in very pale peach. There were even fresh flowers on a small table by the window. The choice seemed to suit both men, white, arum lilies, rising pure, conical heads flowing down into bright green stems and long leathery leaves, though these flowers were the symbol for death. " So I take it your primary interest is in Hitchcock, Ford and... Lieutenant Krieg?" Cobb nodded. " There are others, but those are the ones that I want first." " Good. I want the doctor, the chief of security... oh, and, of course, the Captain. But then you have the second and third in command. I think that about balances out and we can always share our 'favourites' for a while. We might even have some ideas for each other." Zeller sat back in his seat, smiling as he sipped his drink for a moment, before continuing. "So, we need to get control of the ship and we need to get our revenge. It seems simple enough to combine the two." Cobb sat back, waiting to hear Zeller's thoughts on this. " But I don't just want a simple suffering: just violence. I want to play with them, use my intellect, show them as the worthless and futile creatures that they are. I want them to suffer first, in different ways. I think what we have both learnt can be used for this purpose. They are a crew, they care about each other. Therefore to make those we are most interested in suffer, we must use some other focus, to start with at least." Cobb nodded. " But we need one that will get all their attention. Someone that they all care about... and it seems a little redundant to try and get the Captain." Zeller waved a dismissive hand and handed Cobb another file. He frowned at it and then smiled slowly, looking over the reports that they had been given on other seaQuest missions and the press photos. "This was one I never knew about, otherwise I would have used it before. But I think it will be a most effective first step." " So we get ahold of," Cob brandished the sheet, " And then we let them know that we are..." " Displeased. Then we use that to get what we need to get the rest and to make them suffer at the same time." " So how do we get hold of his one?" " Ah, I have a few ideas for that- here." He passed Cobb another file and they smiled. " It shouldn't be hard to arrange and then you will also have one of yours as well, though I would prefer that you not enjoy that to begin with. I think our actions will be enough for him simply to watch." Cobb looked at the photo from a report on one of the seaQuest's many adventures. " I see what you're getting at. You think we can get them to give us what we want?" " I think we can get what we need to get that for ourselves." They looked across at each other. " Then let's do it. I'm not a very patient man." " No, Mr. Cobb. I never imagined that you were," Zeller replied as he turned the vidlink towards them. Copyright E.Casale & Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 15:14:29 -0400 From: Georgie Subject: Until All Perish: Part 1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: Georgie To: "INTERNET:tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu" Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu id OAA23006 You are very naughty ladies. Giving us such a lovely taste of that story and not sending out all the other bits with it. BAD BAD BAD It is simply intriguing. I wanna know everything. What are these plans? If you have not read this story bt are reading these comments... SILLY!!! Read the story, then you will know what I am babbling on about. BTW.. this mail is actually meant to congratulate the writers and is not just an excuse for me to talk. ( even though it is a good excuse :->.. hi all ) Georgie ( Queen of Haagen Daz ) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 12:17:53 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 2B Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Krieg walked quickly down the corridor, winding around towards the music, that was growing steadily louder. Finally, when it was practically deafening him, he pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and looked in. The room was crowded with papers, but otherwise empty. He sighed and started back down the corridor, hearing raised voices and then quiet. Lucas must have found the guy after all. He hurried up around the corner. The corridor was empty here, but Lucas had been right by the door. He must have gone into the warehouse room to talk while the other man found the equipment. These suppliers were always too busy to keep still why they chatted. He turned into the room and stopped dead, as someone grasped him firmly from behind, grabbing his wrists and pulling them behind him. He heard the cuffs, rather than felt them lock around his wrists, as he wrenched round to look at his captor, struggling hard, trying to kick out behind him at the man's legs, and then opening his mouth and standing still. He swung back to where the second man was pinning Lucas against the wall, struggling, but not having any effect on the stronger man. Then he turned back to the man who was holding him. " Let him go. You've got me, you don't need or want him. He's got nothing to do with what happened," he said in a very strange voice. Cobb looked across at Zeller and then at Krieg. " But he does, Lieutenant. You see, I want my revenge to be more than your usual anger and violence. I want to make you suffer, really suffer first and that's where he comes in." Krieg paled slightly and then struggled suddenly, kicking back and wrenching to one side, but Cobb simply, raised a weapon under his throat. " You going to help him by getting your head blow off? Or," he moved the weapon, motioning to Zeller, " or shall I just ask my friend to shoot him if you don't start behaving." Zeller hit Lucas across the face and Krieg stopped struggling immediately, looking across fearfully at Lucas, trying to work out what to do. He had to get the boy out of there; they were both in danger, but Lucas was his first responsibility. " Just let him go," he repeated firmly. Begging or pleading would only make it worse. " You've got what you want." " Lieutenant, I thought I had explained myself to you. This is what I want and I have it and there's really nothing you can do about it right now." " seaQuest will notice we're gone, we have to report in... They're very close by... You can't get away with this..." " Ah, but we weren't planning to stay hidden," Zeller said, stepping back from Lucas, pointing his weapon at him. Lucas looked around trying to decide what to do. " Stay there!" Krieg ordered him. Lucas looked over at Ben and then nodded slightly, clearly afraid, but managing to put up a good front, better than the one Krieg knew he was displaying, but he was aware of what sort of trouble they were in. Lucas had never met either of these two. He had been on the boat at the time and heard about them, but he didn't recognise them, which was probably for the best. Krieg just had no ideas of what he could do to get him out of there. He was furious with himself as well as terrified. God, he was useless! He'd brought him here, promised to look after him and here they were, held at gun point by two of the craziest men he had ever encountered. He swallowed hard, trying to come up with something, but he couldn't think of anything that would work, that wouldn't get them both killed. The only thing he could do was stand silent and unresisting. He thought of making a move, but the gun, boring into his shoulder blade, seemed to indicate that this would not be successful. And Zeller was too close to Lucas. Zeller crossed over to an communications rig and scrambled a channel. Krieg looked out of the doors, down to the docks... where was the launch? It simply wasn't there. Cobb grinned. " We sent it off. We wouldn't want your friends finding you here, now would we?" Lucas slowly put his hands down as Zeller released him. " What do you want?" Cobb remained silent. Krieg looked over at Lucas trying to give him a reassuring smile that failed miserably. Lucas looked back at him, bewildered and scared underneath the exterior he was trying to put on, his eyes darting about, trying to think of a way to get them out of there. " Are you OK?" he asked. Lucas nodded. " I-I tried to warn you." " I didn't hear over the music," Krieg replied. He should never have left him alone, even for a few seconds, less than a minute. Damn it all, why was he always so irresponsible and careless! Probably because this time it wasn't just himself that he'd got into a mess. He'd never had to be responsible for someone else. The comms link crackled badly and then Zeller smiled slightly and turned back to them. Krieg didn't like the look on the man's rugged face. His eyes were very hard but full of enjoyment and pleasure. He looked more dangerous than ever. " How much longer do you need to gather the samples?" Bridger asked, as Kristen came up to the bridge to report on her progress. Westphalen thought for a moment. " Another hour should do it." She thought and then nodded with more certainty. " Fine, Krieg and Lucas won't be back until then anyway and after that we can set of to the Mariana Trench." " Course plotted, Sir," Ortiz reported. And Bridger crossed over to Ortiz's console to look. He nodded. " Good work. We should be there in only a few..." " Sir, I'm getting a message coming through from the launch, it's pretty badly scrambled... Who is that?" Tim asked suddenly. Motion on the bridge stopped. Tim swallowed and looked back. " Sir, it's the launch, but it isn't Krieg... H- he- the person wants to talk to you." " On screen." " It's voice only, Sir," O'Neil replied, flicking switches, frowning worriedly as he listened carefully to the signal. " Who are you and what are you doing on our launch?" Bridger demanded. " Mr Ortiz, get a fix on the launch and that signal." " The launch is... heading out to sea at bearing 260 degrees- it's heading away from us... The signal is being badly disrupted. I can't tell why. Our location could be off on that... but it doesn't seem to be from he launch- routed through it but..." Bridger sighed, waiting for the answer from the comms link. The static cleared slightly and a voice came over. " You don't remember me, Captain? Really I am very disappointed, I thought I'd made more of an impression." Bridger stood staring at the ocean outside the main screen while Kristen leant heavily on the chair in front of her, her knuckles going white with the pressure. She looked up at Bridger, her face pale with shock and fear. Bridger shook himself slightly. " You're in prison..." " Was, Captain. I must admit I didn't like it very much, but then I never did. The rest of the UEO probably won't realise for another few hours, until you tell them. It's very stupid really. They should know whether or not people have been transferred." Zeller sighed slightly. " But it was more convenient that way for us." " Us?" Kristen asked. " Who...?" " Where are our people?" Bridger asked, interrupting. " I was wondering when you would get to that, Captain." " Nathan, you don't think..." Kristen went whiter still. They had the launch, so that meant they also had... " No!" " Ah, but yes, my dear doctor. You didn't seriously think I would consider our little game over until I had a chance for... taking back control. I don't like to lose. I though you knew that." " Where are they, what have you done with them?!" Bridger pulled Kristen back, as Ford stepped forward to hold her slightly, trying to keep her under control. She was breathing fast and her eyes were wide with shock. Bridger turned back to the screen, which was blank. " We want our people back." " I'm sure you do, Captain, but that's not what we want." " We? Why this we? Who are you working with Zeller?" Who would trust him? " I thought you liked to play by yourself." " Oh, I do, Captain, but I found that I would be playing the same hand against you as someone else... another old acquaintance of yours. We decided that it would be simpler to agree to play in unison rather than at cross purposes." Zeller's voice was silky as he continued. " Though, of course, we have our own objectives, which, fortunately, it was very easy to compromise over. We both have a score to even and then game to win with you, Captain, and with your crew and boat. We have the control here, though, and the first stage is simply... the start of our... what do you call it, Captain, 'payback'? Don't interrupt me, Captain, you will regret it. We will get to what we want later, for now we would like to leave you with a few thoughts..." " Let me talk to them! How do I know you have them?" There was paused and muttering on the other end. " Captain, I'm sorry." It was Krieg's voice. " Where's Lucas?" Another pause. " I'm here," a sullen voice replied. " Are you all right?" Bridger asked quickly, worry clear in his voice. " What the... You can't..." Krieg gasped in fear. " Lieutenant?" Bridger shouted, as other members of the bridge crew rose from their seats in fear at the Lieutenant's tone. " No, for God's sake!" " A few thoughts to leave you with Captain..." Zeller said calmly, over Krieg's terrified and helpless shouts. " No!" The link dropped as a shot ran out. They all stood motionless, completely tensed, then Kristen turned back, against Ford as he tightened his arms around her, as much to comfort himself as her. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 02:14:18 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 3A Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Chapter 3 What was he doing? Krieg craned round, trying to make sense of Zeller's actions, as a voice came across the vidlink. " Who are you and what are you doing on our launch?" Bridger demanded. Lucas looked over at Krieg, who had no reply for him. He just shook his head very slightly. Zeller was planning to use them against their friends. Under other circumstances that would have been bad, but with Lucas here...Krieg knew he had to get him out, but how? Did he betray his friends, or look after the kid? Ben Krieg had never faced such a hard decision. All the choices he had to make before, in situations like this, had been just about himself with no one else involved. He had no idea what he would do. As he stood, his mind whirling with the thoughts, trying to come up with an answer out of the mess, he heard Bridger and Zeller talking. Zeller was completely calm, taking great pleasure in the exchange, but Bridger's voice was full of concern for them and Krieg forced himself to concentrate on the words. " Let me talk to them. How do I know you have them?" Zeller looked over to Cobb, who raised his gun under Krieg's throat. He blinked, trying to keep his voice steady as he replied," Captain, I'm sorry," more than anyone could know. " Where's Lucas?" Lucas looked over at Krieg, who nodded to him. Lucas then looked at the other two men, not sure what to do and then back at Krieg, who motioned more vigorously for him to answer. " I'm here," he replied sullenly. He wasn't sure what they should be doing, but they shouldn't just co-operate with these people. They should put up a fight and if the crew didn't know they had them, they couldn't be used against the boat, but he didn't know what to do. For once he just had to trust Krieg. He didn't want to put his friend in danger either and he had no idea what he should be doing in this situation. He was scared but also confused. Krieg seemed to be terrified, which only made him more nervous; he seemed to know these men. The word Zeller struck him like a cold wave and he paled, thinking back about the file of evidence that he had found from the trial, waiting on the bridge, unable to stop the missiles. Yeah, they were in trouble. He opened his eyes. There was nothing he could do, nothing either of them could do but obey. " Are you all right?" Bridger asked quickly, worry clear in his voice. Zeller smiled slightly and Krieg felt Cobb doing something to the hand cuffs, and suddenly he was released. Cobb walked towards Lucas, raising the gun. " Don't even think about trying something," he said meaningfully to Krieg. Lucas backed up so that he was standing against the wall. He made a slight motion to Krieg to try and run, but there was no point. There was nothing to hide behind and they would both be dead before Ben got ten feet. Cobb changed his grip on the gun, standing back slightly so that he could see both of them. Zeller gave him a nod and he started to sight along the gun. Lucas stared at him, blinking, pressing back against the wall, silent. Krieg looked between them, from Zeller's expectant smile to Cobb's concentration. " What the... You can't..." Krieg gasped in fear. " Lieutenant?" Bridger shouted. " No, for God's sake!" " A few thoughts to leave you with Captain..." Zeller said calmly, over the shouts. Cobb started to squeeze down. " No!" The shot rang out, throwing the boy back. He slid down the wall slowly, leaving large trail of blood, and then crumpled onto the floor, the noise of the shot drowning out his cry of pain. " No!" Krieg forgot about the other two and ran across the floor, dropping down beside Lucas and rolling him over quickly. " Oh god, oh my god," he gasped, seeing blood staining his jacket. Lucas looked up at him, terrified, and then his face twisted with pain. " Oh god... hold still, just stay still," Krieg begged helplessly, looking around. The other two were watching them with amusement. Lucas gasped, moving, trying to get away from the pain Krieg panicked. His jump-suit and T-shirt would be no use to bind the wound. He carefully tore a strip off Lucas' overly long shirt and then sat behind him raising him slightly, trying to ignore his gasping breaths. " OK, you're going to be OK," he murmured softly. " It hurts!" Lucas whispered. " God, I know kid. Just hold on, OK. Come on." He gently pulled the jacket back slipping a folded section of the strip over the wound and then trying to secure it. Lucas gave a small cry as he started to tie it tightly. " I'm sorry. I have to stop the bleeding," Krieg whispered helplessly. " Only a few more seconds." Lucas gasped again, and then passed out. Krieg let out a sobbing sigh, working on tying the knot off while the boy was still unconscious. He cradled the limp body gently against him. " How could you?! He's a child!" Zeller shrugged; Cobb was gone. A few minutes later, there was an engine roar outside and Zeller motioned with the gun. " Get him up." " I can't. He needs to be kept still to stop the bleeding." " Lieutenant, it won't matter if I decide to kill him if you don't co-operate." Krieg looked at Zeller for a moment as a van pulled up outside the door. Lucas shifted slightly in his arms, groaning in pain. Krieg slipping an arm carefully under his shoulders. " Come on," he said, pulling Lucas up against him, and supporting him and they stood. He half led, half dragged him across the floor to the van, lowering him onto the floor in the back and then getting in ,while Cobb shut the doors and then they drove off. The doors were locked so he sighed and went back to where Lucas was drifting in and out of consciousness. Lucas opened his eyes, looking at Krieg through the swirling darkness, trying to stay awake, despite the pain. Krieg held him to soften the jolting of the vehicle as they drove along, silent. They had no idea where they were going, but Lucas was in too much pain to care, and Krieg was too worried about him, trying to think about what he should do to help him. Lucas breathed fast and shallowly against him, trying not to show how much pain he was in. After a while he sighed slowly. " You awake?" Krieg asked softly, relieved as Lucas nodded slightly against his arm. " OK." What was he going to do? He had to get him to a hospital, but they were trapped, by two people with weapons: two very dangerous people who wouldn't hesitate to kill them and Lucas wasn't going to get far in this state. He had to figure something out and quickly. He couldn't think of anything. God, he was hopeless and this was his fault! He closed his eyes. He couldn't believe this was happening. It was impossible, more than that. It should have been him who was hurt, but what could he have done? Something, anything...Lucas shifted against him, letting out a slow pained breath. After a while, filled with pained breathing, the van stopped and then the doors opened. " Out," Cobb ordered pointing a gun at them. Krieg got down and then helped Lucas, swaying unsteadily, and then taking most of his weight as they walked very slowly across a paved area into a warehouse through a door that was thankfully very close to where Cobb had parked. Cobb went a ahead and opened a door, motioning them in with the gun and then locking it as Krieg lowered Lucas slowly onto the floor, propping him against the wall: raise the injury to stop bleeding. He pushed the boy's hair back. Lucas looked up at him and tried a weak smile that faltered immediately. Ben sat down beside him. " God... I don't know what to do. I'm so sorry..." Lucas shook his head slightly. "It's OK," he said very quietly, trying to put up a front of bravado, which wasn't convincing either of them. Krieg reached over trying to check the bleeding, but only making Lucas wince, drawing in a sharp breath. Lucas breathed heavily for a few moments and then just lay against the wall with his eyes closed while Krieg got up and paced, checking the door. It was locked and too solid to break through. He shouted for a few minutes, trying to get one of their captor to return or tell them what was going on, threatening and then pleading with them, but it did no good. He looked back at Lucas, who was frowning, as he lay back limply against the wall, one hand clasped tightly, and bloodstained, over his shoulder. Krieg crossed to him and knelt down beside him. "What can I do?" He was meant to be sounding certain and comforting and yet he was the one asking for help. " Nothing," Lucas whispered, not opening his eyes. He was too tired and his shoulder hurt so much he didn't have the energy to say anything else. " It should stop bleeding soon," Krieg reassured him. The boy sighed. " I'm so tired." " Should I keep you awake?" Krieg asked worriedly, completely at a loss at to what he should be doing for him. " No. It won't help." He was too tired to stay awake even if Krieg tried to keep him conscious. He didn't care so long as he could rest. " What can I do?" Just stay with me," came the quiet reply. Krieg watched him for a while. " It's cold," Lucas said finally, shivering a little. Shock. Krieg had no idea what to do, so he sat down beside Lucas, pulling him into his arms, trying to share his warmth. Lucas sighed, gasping slightly as the movement brought a fresh wave of pain with it and then settled back into his friend's arms. Krieg took of his uniform jacket and carefully wrapped it around him. It was really quite warm in the room, but Lucas' face was white and pinched, his skin cold. Krieg sighed. He had to do something, be in control, help. He was the one who was OK. " Did I ever tell you about how Katie and I met?" he asked finally. " No," Lucas replied softly. " Well, it's a pretty good story, you know, rather surprising really... Well, I guess the first bit wasn't. I saw her getting out of a bus from the station with a lot of other students coming to train at the academy, but she stood out a mile. I was in a friend's car, nice car, big, red... anyway, I just stared and my friend started laughing and jabbed me in the ribs to get my attention, so I turned back to him and we started chatting, but I watched her behind him as she went up into the building." " God she looked gorgeous." Ben paused for a minute. " Anyway, I jumped out of the car, swung my bag over my shoulder and raced up the steps after her. She was trying to find her quarters on a big list, so I shoved some people aside and asked what her name was, and if I could help. She took one look at me... one look, but what a look. So I gave her this grin, and reached out to take one of her bags- sort of brushing against her a little... you know." Ben sighed reminiscantly. " And then she turned around and her bag hit me right in the balls," Ben said in an embarrassed tone. " I just remember making a sort of squeak and collapsing to my knees. She didn't even look back. Man that hurt for my first week there." " Next time I saw her was in class and she was just so smart- knew all the answers... and then we had our first test. I wanted to see her so I followed her out of the lounge one day when she went to look at her results. She was just standing there looking pissed and a little hurt so I wandered over... and it was my name at the top, above hers! Anyway she turned around and I just jumped back, you know- safe distance and she smiled. That god damn smile and I didn't have a thing to say." " I know you won't believe it but I couldn't think of one smart ass remark so I just stood there with my mouth open while she walked off." Ben paused, looking up at the ceiling but not seeing it. " So anyway, one week I'd beat her and the next she's beat me... It was really fun having her there- the only reason I studied was she looked so god damn cute when I beat her. And then one week we both arrived at the board at the same time. We sort of both stopped and she glared at me and I gave her this adoring smile back and then she just stormed up to the board, ignoring me. And we'd both come joint second!" " And we were both pissed. I never worked so hard in my life as in the week after and from then on we were always joint first- right at the top together... so everyone got talking. I didn't mind it, but one guy who said it too loudly when she was in the room got the balls treatment. He didn't get up for five minutes. Geez she was so mad, and she just stormed up to me and I thought, here we go: she's going to tell me to say nothing's goin' on... but I'd sort of let the rumours go how they wanted so that would be a bit awkward..." Ben paused. " And?" Lucas asked very softly, following the words more as a distraction and hardly understanding their meaning. And she just stood in front of me with her arms crossed and glared at me, and tossed her head. And then she said, " If everyone's going to believe we've slept together no matter what I say, then you're bloody well going to buy me a drink and take me where I want for dinner tonight- eight. And I know perfectly well you didn't deny it and you're not going to cheat me out of getting some fun here." And she just turned around and walked out. " I honestly think I stood there with my mouth open for ten whole minutes and then I ran upstairs and started despairing of what I'd wear... I'd never even been so scared on my first date. And then I was pacing about my room and there was a knock at the door. She was all bundled up in this trench coat with the pockets all torn and the hood up and I was all dressed up and... I turned beetroot and she just folded her arms and asked if we were going. So I followed her out and she led the way out of the base and down the main street to the most expensive restaurant in town and then she ordered tiger prawns, lobster and death by chocolate cake." " And we were there in this fancy place and she was in her trench coat. Anyway the waiter came over and she got up to take off her coat and I was just floored- I missed my seat. She had this blue... dress on and half the restaurant stopped to look at her- you know the colour of her eyes and some fresh water pearls and it was sort of silky and then she sat down and looked at me on the floor and just said, " Ben pick up your tongue, get your butt off the floor and sit on a chair." So I sat down and she rounded on me and told me to stop gaping like a half wit and talk." " And afterwards we went for a walk along the beach and then back to the base and she looked at me sideways and then full on- sort of thinking and then went up to her room. I just couldn't sleep and I was wandering around for hours- and I hadn't even got laid! I was just so lost with her- and believe me that was a new experience..." He talked on quietly and smoothly, keeping his tone gentle and comforting. He had never told anyone else this, but he knew that it would help to keep Lucas' mind of the pain, so he talked on. After a while he glanced down, but Lucas had passed out again, his pallor worse. Krieg sighed and gently pushed back the jacket. Blood had started to well up through the improvised bandage already and he tore off another strip, securing it over the first, then they waited. There was nothing else to do. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 12:17:20 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 3B Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? He listened for someone passing by the door, but no one did. How long were they going to leave them here? He knew that time was precious, but there was absolutely nothing he could do. He tried to push away his fear, sniffing slightly and then tried to paste on a less terrified look in case Lucas woke up. He couldn't believe this was happening. He should have looked after him. He needed to get Lucas out of here. He couldn't bear the pain on his face when he was awake. He hadn't realised just how fond of the kid he had become. Lucas was someone who actually valued his opinion, came to him for advice, admired him and trusted him. The others just treated him like the character he put on, afraid to be a person rather than a show. They thought he was untrustworthy, immature and trouble. Lucas didn't seem to care, only enjoyed that, looked up to him. That had meant a lot to him and they had become close friends, both out of step and place with the other people on board and he was a really sweet kid, when he wasn't trying to be difficult. He sighed, thinking about what he'd been like when they'd met. Lucas had strolled into the loading bay, looking around." There's meant to be some equipment arriving for Lucas Wolenczak," he told Krieg impatiently, without introducing himself. " That's Wolenczak with a 'w'." Krieg rolled his eyes, not bothering to look up. " Look kid, I know how to spell it, OK, and you're just going to have to wait like everyone else. I don't have time to figure out which box is your toys right now." " They aren't toys, they are highly advanced linguist and acoustic instruments and I don't want them damaged!" Krieg sighed. " Look, just go play and I'll get it sorted and brought down to the science section later, OK kid?" " No, it's not OK. I'm meant to be setting it up today. Admiral Noyce said he wants it working by tomorrow." Krieg blinked at that and then grinned. " Noyce? Admiral Noyce? Yeah, right kid. Put that over there," he directed one of the men loading the supplies. " Yes, he did!" Lucas insisted angrily. " And I don't think he'd like it if I told him I could do it because some moron couldn't read the labels on the boxes." Krieg sighed and finally looked up from his clip board. " You got a keeper around here somewhere, or somewhere you should be rather than bothering me?" " I'm meant to be working," Lucas replied angrily and sullenly. " Something you seem to know a lot about," he added sarcastically. " I..." " There you are," Dr. Westphalen interrupted, hurrying across to them. " Lucas, you have to tell me when you are going to wander off." He folded his arms sulkily, glaring darkly at Krieg. " Yeah, well, I was trying to find my equipment." " And I'll get to it after I've loaded the other main supplies," Krieg replied patiently, smiling ingratiatingly at Westphalen. She sighed. " I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but it is actually a matter of some urgency," she said apologetically, not looking too happy about it. Krieg looked between them for a moment. " Admiral Noyce?" They both nodded and Krieg turned, grimacing. " Roberts, get 382 over here now and then get someone to take it own to the science section." He turned back to Westphalen ignoring Lucas as a man came up with a large box on a trolley. " I'll take that," he said smiling politely and then letting her lead him down to the science section. " Settling in OK, doctor?" " Yes, thank you. You're the supply and morale officer?" " Lieutenant Krieg," he replied confidently, smiling charmingly sideways at her. " Here we go, where do you want it?" " By the moonpool," Lucas replied irritably, annoyed and insulted by Krieg ignoring him and the man's whole attitude. Krieg looked to Westphalen, who nodded and he slowly lowered the box onto the floor. " What is all this? It weighs a ton. And in English this time," he added. " It's a translator. It turns dolphins' clicks and whistles into our language, so we can understand." Krieg burst out laughing, while Westphalen looked doubtfully at Lucas. " Noyce didn't tell you?" he asked her impatiently and already getting more sulky by the minute. " Well, it does. You'll see when it's set up." " Yeah, right kid. Bye Doc." Krieg wandered off still laughing. Later, when he had finished signing in all the supplies and getting them delivered to the right places, he finally returned the papers to his quarters and then wandered down to the mess hall, picking up and tray and crossing over to where Katie was talking excitedly with O'Neil. " Hey, what's going on?" he asked curiously, spearing a vegetable. " And did anyone see that kid? Real attitude. What's he doing here?" " Lucas Wolenczak, son of Dr Lawrence Wolenczak one of the UEO's most eminent scientists," Tim briefed him. " He's meant to be a computer genius." " Well, I'd certainly agree with the genius part," Katie replied. " This is a joke right?" Krieg asked. " You're serious?" he added, looking at them at their sincere expressions. They looked between each other and then back at him. " You didn't hear?" " Didn't hear what?" " The great gossip Ben Krieg doesn't know what the whole boat is talking about?" Ortiz interrupted, laughing, joining them. " What!" he practically shouted. " The dolphin- it talks!" Krieg blinked. " The kid designed some sort of program that acts like a translator." Krieg blinked again. " You've got to be kidding." " Inter-species communication. And he's sixteen." Krieg put down his napkin. " OK, enough. Very funny, ha, ha. You had your laugh, you even had me going for a few minutes. He put you up to this?" " Ben, it's true," Katie assured him smiling at his surprise. " Go and see." " Uhuh," he said faintly, getting up and leaving while they bent over their meals, laughing over his expression. He half jogged down to the moonpool area and stopped in the doorway, almost sitting down with shock. " Play!" " Later, Darwin. You know I have to get this set up," Lucas replied, petting him idly, talking around a pencil in his mouth, while he connected more wires to a control panel. " Play!" Lucas sighed and threw him a ball. Darwin came up and splashed him. " Hey, cut that out! You'll get the equipment wet!" " Sorry. Darwin want to play catch. Work later." Lucas sighed putting down the tool he was using and then looked up, seeing Krieg coming down the steps, staring at the two of them. " It talks!" Lucas nodded, grinning at his expression, a told-you-so one on his own face. " Yeah, like I said." " It really talks, it's not a trick?" "Ask him something," Lucas said holding out the vo-corder hand-set. "What?" " Anything." " What colour is the water?" " No colour, water clear. Sand make yellow. Blue deep." Krieg almost threw the vo-corder back at Lucas and then sat down. " You did this." Lucas looked at him for a moment and then decided on being proud of his invention instead of annoyed with Krieg. " Yeah." " You'll make a fortune on this." " I didn't do it for that," Lucas replied, sighing. "Besides, it's classified." " Well, you want a buyer, you just come to me." " Before or after you load the other supplies? And shouldn't I send Dr Westphalen?" " Hey, sorry about that Kid, I was just busy. This is incredible," he said, moving closer and petting Darwin, " You know that kid?" Lucas frowned at him. " Lucas. I have a name." " Ben Krieg- morale and supply officer." " Well, Ben," Lucas said daringly, " I'll let you know if I need anything." " Hey, come back to the mess with me. The others want to meet you and I want you to tell me how the hell this works. They must let you off to eat." Lucas considered for a moment and then smiled, following him out. " You really a computer genius?" Lucas blushed slightly. " What does that mean anyway? What do you do?" " Write programs, like the one for Darwin, hack systems..." Krieg smiled at that. " You know, I think you'll be a pretty useful person to have around." Which he was. Lucas liked having a friend and was equally happy to help, liking to be of use, especially as Krieg was friendly in return, including him in other things, introduced him to other members of the crew, and was more like someone his own age than any of the rest of them. It was also fun to have someone to get into trouble with, and they soon became friends over being in the Captain's bad books at the same time. Krieg had always been slightly in awe of Lucas' intelligence, but in other ways he was such a normal teenager and, when he wasn't feeling threatened, he could actually be really sweet and considerate, not that he would let that show. With most people he put on a confident and rather arrogant front, but Krieg realised that he was being honoured by seeing that drop more often than a lot of people. Krieg accepted him and Lucas enjoyed that and the easy friendship. Krieg looked down at his watch. Four hours. seaQuest wasn't going to find them. The door opened and he tightened his hold protectively, as Cobb walked in. " What did you pay Murray to get us here?" he asked angrily, feeling betrayed. " Nothing. You're friend is really pretty stupid: thought we were just suckers offering him a good deal." "What do you want? Look, Bridger will give it to you. The kid's lost a lot of blood and he needs a doctor." Lucas shifted slightly, hearing the voices, and opened his eyes. "I'm all right, Ben." " No you're not. What sort of animals would do this? He need help. Just tell me what you want!" he begged. Cobb smiled. " I'm getting it. Seeing you suffer is what I want." " Bridger won't be as willing to bargain for a hurt hostage." " I don't care. We've got you for that," Cobb said and then left, closing the door. " Damn you, let us out of here!" Krieg shouted, sitting back breathing hard with anger and then propping Lucas against the wall, while he checked the bandages again. There was fresh blood, wet beneath his fingers. " It started again a few minutes ago," Lucas said quietly, looking up at him with wide, scared eyes. Krieg stared at him helplessly. Lucas sighed unevenly, biting his lip. He would not cry, and he would not start whimpering like a baby no matter how much it hurt. " We have to get you out of here." " How?" Krieg sighed. He didn't have any ideas. " That's your part genius," he tried to tease, but Lucas was frowning with pain again. Krieg moved closer to him as he started shivering slightly with shock. " OK, it's going to be OK." " How?" Lucas asked tiredly. " It just will be," Krieg comforted, feeling the boy sigh in his arms and then relax, trying to sleep. He stayed awake through the night, as Lucas slept light and pained. In the middle, when Lucas had finally fallen into a deeper, Ben allowed himself a few tears of fear and worry. The boy was shivering badly around midnight, but gradually it eased off, though that started the bleeding again. By dawn, Krieg still hadn't come up with a plan. He stared through a high window, covered with a plastic sheet, where a tiny slip of light was finally showing. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 10:30:01 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 3C Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? " We don't know that. We don't know anything," Bridger said firmly. " We need to work out where they are and what they want." No one vouchsafed an answer. " Anything." Silence. " Then we just have to wait. They know what they want and sooner or later they'll tell us. Let's get back to the bridge and see if we can do anymore with the signal and find out if they picked up the supplies." They nodded and trooped silently back to the bridge, Kristen included, standing silently, petting Darwin, but not turning on the vo-corder. There were too many questions and no answers. The others refused to consider Kristen's comment. Even Zeller wouldn't... It was unthinkable even for someone like that, so they tried to put it out of their minds. Katie found herself battling a very different set of problems. She didn't know which option would be worse. Theoretically, it had to be Lucas they were most concerned about, who was a child and completely innocent in this, but she couldn't help wishing for something to take the danger away from Krieg. The problem was that she cared about both of them. And thinking that either was hurt was too terrible. She focused on her panel. There was nothing to be gained from deciding which she was more worried about now, only further stress, which wouldn't help anyone. As the night grew later, they still had no word and could find no leads. Bridger sighed, exhausted from worry and turned to Ford, rubbing a hand across his eyes wearily as he took a last look around the bridge. "Commander, you have the bridge," he said tiredly and then left. He didn't notice Kristen coming towards him down the corridor. " You look exhausted," she said, as they drew level and he stopped, looking into her face. " Come on, let's get a hot meal," she said, putting an arm through his and leading him down to the mess. They ate in silence, hardly noticing the food apart from the warmth it gave them, trying to ignore the fact that they were far from hungry. Bridger sighed. This was surely more difficult for her than any of them. " Are you all right?" he asked finally. " Do you want to talk about it?" He didn't know what he could say but he should at least off his support. She looked up at him and smiled very slightly. " Actually I surprised myself. I am all right. I had my revenge and worked through my rage with Zeller before. After that 'game' it was hard, but it was an ending. I just thought it was over." She sighed, not sure she fully believed it to be that simple, but a hopeful look in her eyes that she could convince herself to try and keep it that way. " The past is the past; it hurts and it always will, but... but there are people in danger now that I care about." Her eyes grew suddenly very bright. " Nathan, I can't stand to think what's happening to them. Nathan, he's only a boy." Bridger closed his eyes. " I know. But there's nothing I can do. I don't know where to look, who to ask... If Zeller asked me for something... I half think I'd agree no matter what it was." He flashed a glance at her. " Not a very good attitude for a Captain to have." " But a very human one," Kristen replied, putting a hand on his arm. " We heard the shot, but it could have just been another one of his games. We don't know anything." She pulled back very suddenly, her lip quivering. " What's happening to them?!" she asked quietly and he held her for a moment. " I'm very all right, aren't I?" She sniffed a few times, trying to smile through her tears. " I don't want anymore people to suffer from him: no more people I care about." " Krieg... he may be difficult, but he's a good man underneath. He'll do his best to look after Lucas. And no one should be in that situation. I'm sure Zeller won't hurt him. He knows how much bargaining power he will have with him. He's just trying to scare us." Kristen didn't reply, staring at the table. "I'm not going to imagine that anything's happened." He sighed. " It's been very important for me... having Lucas here..." " I know." " Do you think he does?" " I think you should tell him someday." If I get the chance. He left it unsaid and they sat, holding hands across the table, joined in mutual fear and worry. Bridger was dozing at his desk when the comms link beeped, in the morning. He looked up, reaching over for it, as he brushed a hand across his face. " Bridger." " Captain, it's Zeller," O'Neil told him urgently. He sat up straight. " I'll be right there." He ran for the door, and down the corridors, hurrying past other crew members in the corridors and arriving on the bridge slightly out of breath. He turned to the screen, nodding to O'Neil to put him on. " Ah, Captain. Good morning," Zeller said smoothly. " How are my people?" " After my demands, Captain. Courtesy first." "What do you want Zeller?" Bridger demanded. " Really Captain, you are far too blunt, you should work up to it... but yes, I do want something," Zeller admonished him. " And Cobb?" " So you heard about us both. Congratulations Captain. It's only taken the UEO about three days to realise. And now, what we want... We want money, Captain, simple money and safe passage out of UEO waters," Zeller explained. " Why didn't you just cut and run?" " The money, Captain. And we don't want to get shot crossing the borders. You see we both have rather high standards of taste and, after those months in prison, we would like to enjoy those things that we like, fully, for which we need funds." " I don't believe that's all you want," Bridger argued. Folding his arms and glaring hatred at the blank screen. " Oh no, Captain. We also want one of your launches- free from bugs and tracking devices, please, and a few weapons. Cobb will explain what sort." Bridger glanced around at the other angry faces of his crew and then turned back to Zeller. " And for that you'll return our people...safe" " When we are satisfied." They breathed a sigh of relief. That must mean they were all right and it had only been a bluff. " Not good enough. You get what you want, we get them back." " Ten million, Captain... dollars." " I'll have to talk to command," Bridger replied cautiously. " Do that Captain. But I would advise you to do it quickly. Last time we talked I left you with a 'few thoughts'. Those thoughts will need attention rather soon. So whatever time you take, will be time that your people don't have." Everyone on the bridge froze. " Damn you, Zeller. What did you do?" " I thought you had ears, Captain, but let me assure you, they are both alive at present, though I do believe a doctor would not go amiss." " Zeller...!" Bridger shouted, as the screen went blank. " Get him back!" he ordered O'Neil desperately. Tim typed hurried and then turned, sighing. " I can't." " Can you trace the signal?" O'Neil nodded. " It's from about twenty miles down the coast line." " Crocker, take a team and get down there... and be careful. Ortiz, give the launch exact co-ordinates when they're ready." " Aye, Sir," came the replies as Crocker and Hitchcock left to gather a security team, while O'Neil tried to get Zeller back and Ortiz triangulated the signal. They worked fast and angrily, worried. It could still all be lies, but they didn't think so and that meant that every second they took was valuable. Katie ran down to the launch bay, hurrying the team. " We don't have time for this!" Crocker, caught her arms. " Commander, we're leaving. We'll get there." She nodded, pushing her hair back and following him into the launch, quickly confirming their launch permission and then pulling them away from the boat and towards the place where the signal had come from. It took less than ten minutes, but those seconds seemed to take forever to pass, as they looked at each other, worry on all their faces, willing the seconds to last longer on the other end, pushing the craft past its limits. " I'll go and see that medbay is ready," Kristen said quietly, turning and leaving. Ortiz, Ford and O'Neil looked back at their Captain and then down to their stations. " We're just going to give them what they want?" Ford asked angrily, thinking about his time with Cobb in the mines. " Right now I don't see what else we can do, Commander. We know that at least one of them is hurt and we don't have time to search a hundred mile radius." Ford sighed. " O'Neil get me a link to Noyce," Bridger ordered. " I'll take it in the wardroom." He turned and walked to the exit, motioning for Ford to follow him. " You think he's telling us the truth?" Ford questioned him as they walked quickly. " Commander, like before, we have no way of knowing and we have to assume that he is." Bridger's face was set and expressionless. " But we can't give someone like that weapons... a launch... Captain!" " You prefer for him to kill them?" Bridger stopped in the middle of the corridor very sudden, still without expression on his face, while his eyes were bright with pain and worry. " Commander, I haven't said we will. I said we're thinking about it and we need to have it ready if that is our only option." Ford looked at Bridger for a while and then nodded and followed him into the room. Bridger turned on the vidlink. " Zeller is demanding ten millions dollars, a launch, some hand weapons and safe passage out of UEO waters," he told Noyce who was waiting on the screen as soon as he turned it on. " You haven't found him?" " We're following a lead from the signal of his last message, but I doubt it will help us. Zeller's too clever for that." He sighed before continuing. "He has two of our people and we believe one of them is hurt." " Who?" " Our supply and morale officer, Lieutenant Krieg and Lucas." " The Wolenczak kid? How did he get involved?" " I though he would like a change of scene, so I said that Krieg could take him when he went to get our supplies." Noyce swore under his breath. " This creates a real problem ,Captain, getting children, civilians, involved." " Two of my people are in danger and one of them is hurt. That is a problem already!" Bridger shouted angrily. Noyce sighed. " We can't give them weapons." "I know. But we need to have the money. We have to trade with what we have, if there's no other option. We're looking now, but we need to have that as back up. He won't give us extra time and he will kill them." Noyce nodded. " I'll have a launch deliver the money tonight. Keep me informed." Bridger nodded and closed the link, looking over at Ford's strained face and sighing. The door opened and Krieg looked up warily, holding Lucas closer to him, protectively. The boy was passed out with pain and loss of blood, limp in his arms. Cobb moved around the door. " Get up," he snarled unpleasantly. " You can leave him there." Krieg looked down at Lucas' white face. " What do you want?" " Just for you to come and talk with your Captain. You said you wanted to get him out of here... well this is your chance." Krieg looked down at Lucas again and slowly lowered him onto the floor, crossing over to Cobb, keeping himself between the man and the unconscious boy. Cobb nodded, pushing him out into the hallway. " Bridger not so keen to co-operate with terrorists?" he asked angrily. " He will be," Cobb replied confidently and Krieg knew he was all too right. He knew that he was going to ask Bridger to give in to their demands for Lucas' sake... and Bridger would want to on his own account. He was a child and didn't have any place in this mess, hurt and without medical attention. It was his responsibility for getting him shot. He had to get him back to safety and help. Cobb pushed him into the room with the communications equipment. He glared at Zeller, who looked around briefly. " Stay quiet until we tell you to speak and then tell him only what we agree with or the boy will be the one who pays for it." Krieg clenched his teeth. " Lieutenant, I think you are aware that we do not rate those scruples highly." " I wasn't aware you rated any morals highly," Krieg said with cold fury. " Only a bastard and a coward would shoot a boy." Cobb raised his arm, but Zeller shook his head and then laughed quietly. " A succinct and precise summary. I commend you, Lieutenant." Krieg clenched his teeth again and said nothing, looking down at the floor. Finally he looked up at Zeller, who was watching him. " No one on the boat is going to let you live after this," he told him: it sounded like a promise. " Indeed? Well then, I'll have another two corpses joining me," Zeller replied unfazed, connecting a link. They waited in silence until the screen opened on a very worried bridge crew. " Zeller, what have you done with my people?!" Zeller smiled. This time he was letting Bridger' see them. " There will be no deal unless we get them back safe and unharmed." " I'm afraid it's a little late for unharmed, but you might get them back alive if you co-operate." Bridger took a slow breath between his teeth. " I want to speak to them." Zeller looked very satisfied and nodded to Cobb, who pushed Krieg forward. He could hardly look up to meet the eyes of his crew mates, as they looked him over and their expressions grew distant. They didn't know who was hurt or how bad it was, but Krieg looked all right. That meant... but it couldn't. So they must both be OK. They tried not to think about anything else. Katie had been so relieved hearing Tim report to her over the comms link, but maybe she shouldn't be, because that meant... but like all of them, she refused to believe it. Deep down they were afraid and knew what it meant, but they refused to think about it or accept it, even for the briefest of seconds. It was unthinkable. Finally he looked up pleadingly at Bridger. " Lieutenant?" Bridger's voice was a deathly whisper. " Lucas..." Krieg looked down. " Captain, please just do what they say." Bridger and the others stared at him aghast and unaccepting. " Cobb..." Bridger's eyes shifted to the blood stains on Krieg's uniform, almost with hope. " He shot him... He's been bleeding and... He hurt pretty badly... That time when..." They had heard the shot, the day before. He'd been held captive and injured for more than a day already. Tim looked away back at the console, letting the cross drop from his fingers. His faith was starting to suffer once to often. Where was God during all of this? How could he let a child get shot? He knew it happened all the time, but not quite so intentionally, so callously, so viciously, just to make the rest of them suffer. In a way it made them all responsible. He looked over at Ortiz, who was staring blankly at his screen, clearly finding it hard to believe. It was impossible that he could be dying, or hurt even. They had played poker together only three nights ago! Kristen sat down on the edge of the moonpool, a hand pressed against her stomach, very white. Bridger gripped the back of his chair very hard, as his eyes grew murderous. Ford looked away, horrified; it was real now, holding a hand to his mouth, trying to swallow the sick feeling in his stomach. " Captain, I'm sorry... please, just get him out of here..." Cobb pushed Krieg out of the way and pulled him towards the door, still shouting. " Lieutenant!" Zeller returned back to the distraught crew. " Captain, I have all the time in the world to wait, but I think if you want both of them back alive you'd better hurry." Smiling, he reached forward to turn off the link. " Zeller...!" The screen went blank. Bridger took a deep breath, bowing his head and then slowly sat down in his chair. He was going to kill them; Cobb and Zeller for shooting him, and Krieg if he wasn't careful, for not looking after Lucas. How could this happen? He was responsible for the boy! How could a civilian get shot! How could anyone do that? It surpassed belief, but the rust-coloured blood stains on Krieg's clothes and the panic in his eyes had been very, very real. The bridge was silent for a long time. Kristen got up and stumbled a little as she crossed to the exit. " I'm going to go and... and get some of the right type blood ready..." she said, as Bridger caught her arm. She wouldn't look at him before she left. Finally he turned and met the horrified eyes of his crew. " Get me Noyce." His voice sounded strange, very loud and oddly thin in the silence, as only O'Neil typed and the screen opened quickly. " Nathan..." He stopped quickly, seeing the expression on Bridger's face. " What happened?" Bridger looked down at the floor. He couldn't put what he knew into words. " Lucas has been hurt. How badly we're not sure, but Lieutenant Krieg says it's serious. We have to get them out of there now." " Jesus Christ." Noyce rubbed a hand through his thin hair and looked away with disgust, turning back wearily. He hadn't missed the frozen undercurrent in Bridger's voice and he nodded. " I'll make sure the money arrives as fast as is humanly possible, Nathan." They all knew it wasn't soon enough. Bridger nodded to O'Neil to close the link and they waited. No one knew what to say. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 08:06:13 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 4A Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Chapter 4 The room was cold in the morning. Krieg woke, not knowing where he was, looked around and then felt the weight in his arms and he remembered. He hadn't meant to go to sleep, but the exhaustion from worry and fear for both of them had closed his eyes and he had drifted off with it. " Lucas?" There was no reply. He lowered him onto the floor gently, checking the bandages, relieved to see that the bleeding had finally stopped. He was deathly pale though, lying still. Krieg walked over to the door, trying it again, seeing if he could work something out in the new day. " Ben?" came a hoarse whisper. He turned and quickly crossed over to Lucas, helping him to sit back against the wall, brushing his hair off his face. " How are you doing, kid?" " Been better," Lucas sighed tiredly, closing his eyes again. After a few minutes he opened them slowly, his face bruised and grey around the eyes. " Wh... what happened?" " Nothing. They didn't come back." Lucas nodded and closed his eyes again. Krieg sat down beside him and they waited together, Lucas half sleeping from exhaustion and the effects of shock. When he next woke, a few hours later, he looked at Krieg through a sort of mist, his vision unclear. He swallowed hard and sighed. His shoulder was throbbing painfully now, his head felt light, and it was hot. He pushed Krieg's jacket off his shoulders, lying down on the floor to stop the dizziness. Krieg tried to cover him again, but he pushed his hand away. " I'm hot." Krieg dropped a hand in to his forehead, noticing for the first time a thin sheen of sweat on his face and some colour, high on the pale cheeks. Lucas opened his eyes again. They were huge and very bright in the white face. >From what Krieg knew, he should be cold from blood loss and shock. Why did he have a fever? " It's OK," he murmured comfortingly. Lucas swallowed and moved slightly against his cold hands, sighing. Everything ached and seemed to be moving when he tried to focus his eyes, and yet his mind seemed terribly clear and yet empty. There was nothing there at all except the pain. He was so tried; he wanted nothing more than just to sleep, to lie back and let himself stay completely still and not move again until it was all gone. But he couldn't sleep; the pain disturbed him, and his mind swirled with confusion, jumping around from one picture to the next: random unconnected images. He sighed. He was getting stiff but it hurt to move, everything ached and there was no escape from it, and it was hot and his heat hurt. A noise interrupted his daze and he forced his eyes open , rolling slightly onto his uninjured side, and then letting Krieg help him to sit, closing his eyes as the nausea washed over him. When he opened them again, Cobb was leaning in the doorway. He put down a container. " Thought you might like some water. He ain't looking so good," he remarked to Krieg. " I'll do what you want, I don't care, just get him to a doctor. At least give me something clean to use as a dressing!" Cobb smiled. " I'm enjoying this far too much. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll be able to keep it going too long. Your people are trying to meet our demands. You better just hope Bridger sorts it quickly." Lucas stared at him, too tired to speak, while Krieg curled his fists in rage, but Cobb was too far away from them and Lucas needed his help. " You don't need him; let him go." " You really don't give up do you? Well, just watch. It'll be your turn soon enough." " He's getting feverish..." " Old bullets. You get metal poisoning from if they're in too long, Zeller told me," Cobb said proudly and with great satisfaction at Krieg's horrified stare. Krieg closed his eyes as Cobb laughed and closed the door. Krieg got up to fetch the container, his face white with fury and pain. He sat down beside Lucas and helped him drink a little. He coughed slightly and then pushed it away, though the coolness did help. He was too tired for it. " I need to check this," Krieg said, trying to undo the bandages, but Lucas gave a gasp of pain. The blood had dried them together and onto the flesh. He sighed and left it. " OK." He brushed the boy's hair back. He was obviously getting worse, quickly. " Lucas, I think I need to clean it. You've got a fever." Lucas shook his head. " Leave it. It'll just start bleeding." He sighed. Krieg looked down at him and then away. " Ben, just leave it, it won't help." " I've got to do something!" He turned back, but Lucas had closed his eyes again, his face twisted with pain. Krieg sat back beside him, trying to ease him through it. After half an hour, he relaxed a bit, soaked with sweat. Krieg noticed his sleeve was wet, stained with blood. He quickly tore off an other strip of fabric to use as a bandages and tied it around the other, soaked through ones. Lucas cried out as he did it and then went limp, his breathing fast with pain and fever. Krieg looked around. They had to get out of there soon. Lucas was getting really bad, even he could tell that. He just didn't know how bad. " Come on kid, hang in there. They'll get us out of here," he told both of them. Katie and Crocker took a deep breath as they opened the hatches onto the beach near where the signal had come from, and ran out, gradually working their way up the beach in stages, until they reached the building. Katie checked the co-ordinates and nodded to Crocker. He motioned to his men and then made a run at he door, while the others covered them, splintering it in one attempt and stumbling in with the momentum. " Back!" one of them shouted, as they ran out again and they all stumbled back down the beach, before the blast from the house exploding threw them to the ground. Katie looked up, but the team members were all out of the way, sitting up and rubbing their bruises, staring in shock and horror at the burning building, the dry timbers already falling and being consumed. " Was it empty?" Crocker shouted above the roar of the blaze to the two men who had been inside. They nodded their heads and all sighed, relieved, as they picked themselves up slowly, brushing themselves down to get the tiny pebbles off themselves. The house blazed brightly against the trees, but they were far enough back, with only stones around, for them to worry about anything else catching fire. The house stood in the middle of the pebbly beach, backed with trees and greenery a few metres off. The air was cold as the birds circled over the water behind them. Somehow it was very bare and dead. Crocker felt a shiver go through him. He didn't like this place. He stood slowly and stiffly, hearing the pebbles crunching under his feet, small shells snapping with his weight. " Captain? Crocker. They're not here. The might have been, but the house was empty- thank God. They had a bomb rigged and it blew, but we were all out of there." " Come on back, Chief," Bridger sighed on the other end. " Yes, Sir," Crocker replied, motioning the team back to the launch. He fell into step beside Katie. "We'll find them, Commander," he assured her. She smiled slightly, but doubtfully, at him, as they got into the launch and headed back to the boat. " Captain, the launch is leaving the city with the money." Bridger nodded, pacing about the bridge. The others waited, their faces tired from lack of sleep and anxiety. " Any word from Zeller or Cobb?" Tim shook his head. " Nothing." " And we have nothing from the last signal." Bridger sighed helplessly. " We need anything, any ideas- places that they might go- people that they know- who got them out of prison..." He sat down. They had been through it all before and had come up with nothing, and now there was just this endless waiting and worrying. And time was passing. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, various -pathic tendancies, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) SpiritShadow Sabrina Familiar 'Armalade--Meg Greenbelt Shinbudo Innochi Karate And rabid feminist and an Italian: be warned, be worried, be afraid. 'Bring me the Big Knife!' 'Trash bags! I want some trash bags!' 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' 'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' 'Here, put a pillow in your lap; it'll muffle the voices.' 'Don't throw stones and your mother, throw bricks at your father instead.' Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 07:04:08 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 4b Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Lucas groaned, moving his head weakly, trying to find a cool place on the wall. Krieg soaked a strip of cloth in the water and gently bathed his face. Lucas opened his eyes finally, looking at his friend's worried face bending over his. He swallowed, closing his eyes. " We have to get out of here," Krieg said quietly. " You got any ideas?" Lucas nodded tiredly and explained it haltingly to Krieg, who shook his head. " No way." " You got any other suggestions? Ben, I can't stay awake and you need to get out of here. You heard what he said... He's going to turn on you soon..." Krieg brushed his hair back, stopping him from getting up, as he was trying to, with feverish energy. " Sit still. It's you we have to get out of here." " Ben, I won't be able to." Lucas sighed, closing his eyes again and then opening them pleadingly. "Ben please." Krieg sighed and then nodded. " OK," he said finally, though still worried. Cobb looked up angrily, as a loud noise disturbed his reading of a magazine filled with startling and fascinating pictures, to his mind. He ignored it for a while, trying to block it out, but it continued and eventually he sighed, and got up, seeing that Zeller wasn't in the least interested by it. " Leave them alone. They can scream as much as they like. There's no one who will care around this derelict place," Zeller said in a bored tone. " Well, I don' like the noise," Cobb replied difficulty. " And I haven't finished having my fun yet. Don't get in my way, Zeller." " So long as you don't harm either of them further, I have no objection to your indulging your particular fantasies," Zeller replied with a note of derision. " Zeller, we're workin' together for this, but that don't mean you're better 'n me. It means I'm letting you in on this, but I don't like your ways. I don't like it when people talk to me as if I'm stupid. All your brains didn't keep you out of prison- and you were there before." Zeller didn't deign to look up at Cobb. " Indeed. And I escaped." " And got caught again." " Mr. Cobb, I have no interest in arguing with you. We both agreed to have our different types of 'fun', as you would say, out of this. You can torment them all you like, but we need the Lieutenant unharmed and the boy will probably die if you try and hurt him anymore, which is not what we agreed. So long as you stay within our agreement, I have no objections to raise with your activities." " I don't like your tone." "That's regrettable, but I'm afraid I can't see the amusement you get out of spitting comments at them. It's more like mere childish insults." Cobb raised his hackles. " And I suppose your way is so much better then." " More refined," Zeller replied. " I don't wish to simply harm people, I wish to play with and control them. That does far more harm to them, and especially their little values than any insult could ever do. I like my 'work' to have lasting effects." " Death is pretty lasting." " And that I'm sure you would do with brutal and primitive relish." " Murder is murder, Zeller, even if you're standing away from the chemicals you drop or the viruses you use." " Yes, it is still murder. But it's a more civilised form of it, using technology and intelligence. Any fool or animal can kill. Not everyone can kill by maneuvering the situation with the skill of a chess game. We have our players and the seaQuest where we want them. That's the area of superiority." " So long as I get what I want out of this, you can play all the games you like, Zeller, but now I'm off to play mine." Cobb stomped down the corridor and opened the door, carefully looking in. Krieg was standing in the middle of the room. Cobb raised the weapon at him. " What's all the noise about?" " I think he's dead," Krieg said quietly. Cobb glanced over at the still figure. " What is this?" " You think it's a trick? You shot him for Christ's sake. I'm not a doctor; I don't know first aid and I couldn't' stop the bleeding. He won't move or anything." Krieg paced frantically. " You're bluffing me." " Does it look like I'm bluffing you, Cobb? What do you expect to happen? You think I'm going to try and jump you while you check?!" Cobb narrowed his eyes at him, but he needed to know if he was telling the truth. Zeller would want to know. It would effect their position. The boy should still be alive, but then he was very young... " You stay back there. I'm going to watch you," he warned Krieg, who obediently stood back against the wall watching him with scared eyes. Cobb liked the fear in those eyes and he smiled slightly, relaxing. That amount of fear couldn't be made up. He bent over the inert form, reaching for a pulse, watching Krieg, who hadn't moved from the wall, training his gun on the man. He looked down, feeling for the carotid artery when something struck him and he over balanced onto the floor, a cry of pain ringing out. Krieg ran across, kicking away the gun away and then grappling with Cobb. " Stay where you are!" Lucas gasped, holding the gun in a badly shaking hand. Cobb looked at him worriedly. " Put the gun down, kid!" Lucas shook his head, leaning back against the wall for support, trying to ignore the fresh bleeding that the sudden movement had brought on. " Let him go." Cobb released his grip slightly, watching the gun wavering unsteadily. Krieg crossed over to Lucas and took the weapon gently out of his hand and then trained it on Cobb, walking back across to him and then quickly hitting him on the back of the neck with it. He couldn't shoot the man- Zeller would hear. " Come on," he said, turning back to Lucas and helping him to his feet. They staggered out of the room, ran down the corridor and out of the main door. Zeller looked up at the shout. The main noise had died down at least. Well, Cobb could have his little games. He knew the rules. He sighed and continued with playing patience. He couldn't bother himself to think more about Cobb than that. The man was hopelessly simple. Zeller regarded him much as a primitive life form, such as a worm. Cobb had about the same amount of spine, but he had been useful so far. Zeller had already decided that as soon as Cobb wore out his usefulness, he would spend an enjoyable evening tricking him with his own stupidity, watching the irony of the situation as he trapped and killed the other man. It would be a fittingly unimpressive end. Cobb was a worthless scrap, but he would be mildly amusing. Hardly a challenge, but more of a satire on the limitations of normal human intelligence, a way for him to demonstrate his prowess. They squinted in the sunlight and half ran across the paving stones, stopping, panting at the corner. "All right?" Krieg asked. Lucas nodded, mutely, gasping for breath. " Come on," Krieg sighed, pulling him onwards. Lucas tried to keep his feet moving, the fever seeming to block some of the pain and exhaustion, but also making the ground move in strange rippling motions and feel unsteady under his feet. He couldn't focus enough to tell that Krieg was pulling him towards a street, shouting to the people on it, when they got there, for help. " I need to rest," he sighed, leaning back against a wall, closing his eyes. " Not yet, just a bit further." He nodded wearily and let Krieg support him and they staggered on. Krieg looked around helplessly. No one made a move to help them, just stood back. In this area no one would even call for help for them. He saw a public phone down the road and hurried towards it, pulling Lucas. " OK, I'm going to call for help. Just take it easy," he said as he lowered Lucas onto the ground. Lucas nodded, not really hearing him, thankful to just be still, leaning back against a wire fence in front of a basketball court where weeds were breaking through the tarmac. Around, the buildings were shabby, many boarded up or half demolished, garbage littering the street, lying all along the gutters. The walls were coloured with faded graffiti and people watched them warily, leaning against buildings, smoking or talking quietly to each other. The scene was so clear. Suddenly he felt his energy start to fade and he closed his eyes, clasping his hand over his shoulder, trying to stop the fresh bleeding. He groaned weakly as the pain started to come again, though the fever. He was too tired to care. He had done enough and the darkness closed down. Krieg dialed furiously. " Come on, Tim, pick it up! Come on!" He glanced at Lucas, slumped against the fence." Damn it where are you! Tim!" " Ben?" Tim asked tapping his headset as the bridge went quiet around him. " Is that you?" " Yes. We need help..." Tim lifted the headset. " It's Krieg," he told Bridger. " He's on a public phone line..." Tim put Krieg on the main speakers. " Tim, where are you?!" the frantic voice shouted. " We're here, Lieutenant. Where are you?" " I don't know." Krieg sighed. " Can't you find it from the call or something... We need help, now! They'll be coming after us." Bridger looked over at Ortiz, who nodded, pinpointing the location. " We'll have a team out to you in a few minutes. Stay close to where you are and look out for us." " You'd better bring a med team," Krieg said softly. Bridger closed his eyes. " And try to be quick. I need to get us out of the open," Krieg said, hanging up. He didn't want to have to explain the situation. They would find out soon enough. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) (LIG) SpiritShadow Sabrina //Familiar:'Armalade--Meg //Greenbelt Shinbudo Karate 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' //'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 15:21:25 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 4C Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) People who comment are rewarded. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? " Get Dr. Westphalen down to the launch bay. Crocker, Hitchcock: with me," Bridger shouted as they swung into action. " Ortiz send those co-ordinates down to the launch. O'Neil stay on the line. See if he calls back, or if Zeller does. Commander, deal with Zeller if so. Try to find out where he is, but if he doesn't know they've escaped, keep it that way." Ford nodded as the group ran off the bridge. They looked around at each other. They were free, but they needed a doctor. They tried not to think about anything else. Tim held his cross, muttering a prayer, as he listened for Krieg. God wouldn't let anything happen to them. God was the protector of children anyway. Ford wished he was going. He wanted to be there, in the middle of it, especially with these people involve. He wanted a chance to get his own back with Cobb. He also had no idea what he would say to Zeller. He wasn't sure he'd be able to fool or delay him for long and everyone was counting on him. Please let Bridger find them first! Otherwise they were in a deadlock situation. They would have to give them what they wanted, no matter how much they feared it; they couldn't have taken any other decision when it came to it and they all knew that. " Captain, they're free. They escaped. They've got to be OK," Crocker tried to reassure him as they waited, while the launch sped towards the shore. " He said they needed a doctor and quickly." Bridger sighed deeply, his hands tightly clasped. " He'll be all right. You'll see." Bridger tried to smile, but found he couldn't. Kristen was staring blankly at the wall, her face tight and tense, anxiety lining it from the past two days. He patted his friend's arm and went to sit by her. She looked over at him fearfully and then they sat silently, waiting. Katie stared forward, concentrating on piloting the launch. They're alive, they've escaped, just concentrate on getting there and helping them, she told herself. " Come on, Lucas, get up. We just need to get out of the road. Captain Bridger will be here in a few minutes," Krieg pleaded, brushing back his hair, but he wouldn't respond. " Damn it," he half sobbed and then gently slid an arm under his shoulders and lifted him, carrying him into a small side street and then laying him down, applying pressure over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. " They're nearly here!" After a few minutes he looked around. " Where are they!" He turned back to Lucas, gently stroking his face with a blood-stained hand. "OK, just hang in there for me. Where are they?!" Cobb groaned and stumbled to his feet... He looked around the empty room and uttered some choice and exclusive profanities before stumbling out into the corridor. He looked through the front door and down the other side corridors, cursing as he went and then stopped. " Zeller!" Rubin Zeller didn't bother to look up as the crass Australian shouted his name in an unpleasant, snarling drawl and continued placing his cards with care. After a minute of waiting, Cobb kicked the wall, and stormed back to the room where Zeller was. " They're gone." Zeller looked up at that and then placed his cards carefully on the table. " I have always considered other people of inferior intellect, but you are an idiot but anyone's standards, Cobb. It's really quite fascinating that anyone could be quite so incompetent." " Watch yer..." Zeller stood his ground, unmoved, sighing impatiently. " Go and find them. They won't be far with the boy in that state, unless the Lieutenant leaves him which I doubt." Cobb stood and glared at Zeller, who continued calmly. " I am going to fetch the car so we can leave." He turned to leave the room. " I'm gonna kill you slow, and then you'll see what you all your fancy words get you." Zeller didn't pause. " That's only fair. I've been intending to kill you since I received the letter in the prison, but for now we have mutual usefulness, even you can see that." Cobb clenched his fists and picked up a gun, flicking the safety on and off, loudly, as he hurried to the front door. In the meantime he would take his anger out on the two that he was setting out to find. Zeller he wanted to plan for and gloat on the possibilities. His head was filled with a sharp pain, where he already had a lump. That kid was going to pay... they were both going to pay, he thought, as he stepped out into the sunlight, squinting and then hurrying across the concrete, alert, in his mind seeing their blood sating his fury. " We're docked Sir," Katie called, and Bridger lifted the hatch handle that he'd been standing by, ready, holding it and they ran out. Katie looked down at her hand-set and pointed. " This way !" and they set off at a run, Crocker and Hitchcock leading, weapons lowered to the ground, but watchful; the rest of the security team spreading out around them, Bridger and Kristen behind slightly. " About three metres." They ran through the warehouses and onto a street, following Hitchcock as she stuffed the map into her pocket. " Up ahead," she panted. They ran on, their hearts stuck in their throats ,making the running harder than ever. Please, let them be all right. Katie stopped, staring at the handset. " Ben?" she called. They looked around, fear on all their faces, waiting for answer. The streets were quiet, her shout falling dully in the still, oppressive air, heavy with dust . " Here!" Krieg shouted a few minutes later and they ran on down the road. " Katie!" she pulled up short as she ran past an alley, looking in, and then stopped dead. " You're not going to get away unless you leave the boy!" The voice ran out around the empty buildings, making Krieg freeze over the figure in his arms, who was breathing shallowly. " I'm going to find you... no way to avoid that, but if you stop running now, you won't get hurt so much for trying." Cobb's voice was growing louder. " Don't think the boy's up to much more punishment at the moment. Give it up, Krieg. You're not going anywhere." Krieg closed his eyes and looked down at Lucas' white and pinched face. Bridger would be there soon, but not soon enough. Even with the magnifying effect of the echoes, he could tell Cobb was close by, and getting closer. He had to keep him away from Lucas. He had to get Lucas help. He took a deep breath and slowly lowered the boy onto the ground, slightly behind a discarded crate, and stood up. He looked down one last time at the boy before he left, running quickly, but silently, to the next alleyway and then starting down there, pausing to listen to Cobb's shouts. " You think you're going to get far with the boy like that?" Krieg slipped down an alley towards the voice. " Give it up now, or you're dead when I find you." Cobb was standing about a hundred yards down the alley that Krieg was peering into. He stepped out, his hands raised. " I'm here." He tried not to flinch as Cobb turned, leveling the gun at him and then narrowing his eyes warily. " Where's the kid?" " I left him. You won't find him. I called Bridger, they'll be here soon. You don't need both of us, and you don't have time to look." Cobb walked towards him. " Where is he?" " You can't kill me. You need one of us." " Ben!" They froze as the shout echoed around. Katie. Cobb turned back to him furiously and then grabbed his shoulder, pushing him forward. " Move!" Krieg walked silently as Cobb directed him. They would find Lucas in time; they had to! He didn't want to think about the mess he was in now. He had done what he had had to. Now he just had to take it as it came. He stopped dead in his tracks, Cobb walking into him and then pulling him back behind the wall. Bridger and his team were crossing the area towards them. Cobb cursed, looking around for Zeller. He turned to Krieg, pointing the gun in his face. " Don't move!" He looked around again, sighing with relief as he saw a van slowly stop behind a nearby building, but if Bridger hurried anymore he wouldn't be able to reach it's safety without being shot. " You won't make it if they start over here in a hurry." Cobb stared at him. " If I shout, you'll shoot me, but you won't make it to the van. If you shoot me before I can yell, they'll hear the shot." " You'll come to the van with me." " No." His breathing was hard, but it wasn't audible, though his fear felt like a live thing, clutching at his gut and making him dizzy and light-headed. He had to get Bridger to Lucas. It might take them hours to find him in this mess of alleyways... if they looked that hard. Cobb's eyes narrowed. " Move!" He motioned emphatically with the gun. Krieg shook his head, not trusting himself to be able to speak. Finally he took a deep breath. " We both die or you let me go, and I won't yell. I don't particularly want to die, but I'm not going with you. I'll be in your sights until you reach the van. If you go, I'm not going to try anything." They stared at each other and then slowly Cobb started backing away, towards the van, keeping Krieg covered with his weapon. Ben found he couldn't shut his eyes, however much he wanted to. He had to survive this to tell Bridger where Lucas was. Cobb stepped back, slowly putting more cracked pavement between them, stumbling slightly over uneven stone slabs and raising a small cloud of dust, as a flag rocked unsteadily under his feet. Krieg hadn't thought it was possible to be this scared and survive, as Cobb glanced at the van, a few metres away and then turned and flung himself at the door, while Krieg threw himself around the corner into safety and slid down onto the floor. He could hear his heart drumming loudly in his ears, and his rushed breathing. " Katie!" " Ben!" It was Katie's voice and he opened his eyes, as Bridger's team started to run towards him. He swallowed and stood up, running across the concrete, beckoning them to follow him, turning back to where he had left Lucas. They were shouting but he was running as fast as he could and the sounds of his breathing blocked out their words, as he cornered into the last alley and dropped down beside Lucas, finally letting out a sigh of relief, listening to the footsteps close behind him that would provide him with he care he needed. Cobb panted as Zeller pulled the van away and quickly wove in and out of the small alleyways. He had clearly studied the location in case of such an emergency, Cobb thought. The man had nothing better to occupy his mind with than that. Cobb glanced into the side mirrors and then craned around, opening the window, drawing back as a wall nearly took of his head. " Bloody 'ell!" " They're not following us," Zeller said calmly. " You nearly took off my head, you..." " Cobb, if you hadn't been so intent on your own pleasures and quite so lacking in intelligence, we wouldn't be in the mess and we would still have our prisoners. Sit still or take your chances looking out of the window, but I am in no mood for an argument about your safety at this time." He faced straight ahead. Cobb muttered something darkly, probably a curse. " How did you loose them?" " The Lieutenant said the boy was dead. He was out cold so I watched the man while I checked, but the little... he knocked me over and the man jumped me and knocked me out. When I get my hands on..." " If you hadn't been so careless you could have your hands on them right now. For the moment we have other more important things to worry about before we can concentrate on our own personal agendas again." " Oh, my god," Crocker gasped. Bridger and Westphalen pushed past him. " No!" Kristen shouted, taking in the limp figure lying in Krieg's arms, his pallor and the bloodstains on his clothes. She dropped down beside them, checking quickly for a pulse and then quickly peeled back the jacket, placing another piece of padding over the blood-soaked improvised bandages. " Lucas?" She stroked a hand across his face, but there was no response. " What happened?" Bridger asked, his voice toneless, his face deeply lined with worry, as he watched Kristen working frantically. "Cobb... I couldn't do anything. I..." Krieg trailed off. " Will he be all right?" he asked Kristen desperately, as she worked on the boy he was holding. " I don't know. We have to get him back to medbay. This happened two days ago?" she asked, suddenly realising. " My god." She gently pushed back Lucas' hair as the rest of the team came up to help. " Gently!" She walked beside him as they carried him back to the launch, trying to keep pressure on the dressing. " Put him down here," she ordered, when they reached the launch, kneeling down beside him. " Bring that box closer and open it." She reached in and took out a bag of blood, checking the label and then rolled up Lucas' sleeve, rubbing the veins quickly and then inserting the V needle and attaching it to the bag. " Hold that up," she told Krieg. " Are you all right?" " I'm fine," he replied dazedly, staring down at Lucas. " Kristen!" She paused looking up at Bridger. " Just get us back to the boat," she said, trying to keep her voice calm but her eyes were flooded with scared tears. " What sort of monster would do something like this." Lucas gave a weak moan of pain, shifting slightly. " You're OK. We're nearly home," she said stroking his face, but he couldn't hear her. " He's got a fever..." She pushed his damp hair back off his face. " Shh. OK," she comforted. Bridger stared down at the boy, his eyes hollow with shock, distraught. Krieg wiped an angry hand across his face, smearing it with tears. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) (LIG) SpiritShadow Sabrina //Familiar:'Armalade--Meg //Greenbelt Shinbudo Karate 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' //'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 04:41:30 -0500 (CDT) From: Silvia Casale Subject: Until All Perish: Part 4D Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: silvia.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) People who comment are rewarded. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? " Commander, this is MR-4. We have Krieg and Lucas and we're coming in fast. We need permission to dock and a medteam standing by," Crocker told them, looking across at Katie's white face. He shut the link off. " He'll be OK, he's got to be OK." He stared forward furiously. " We're going to get the bastards that did this." " How's that going to help?" Katie demanded, brushing a hand across her face. " It won't mean that he isn't hurt or..." She glanced back quickly at the work going on in the back of the launch and then faced the front again, swallowing. This was not happening. He was far far to young for this... With that amount of blood, it was serious. He couldn't possibly die, but then she had thought it was impossible that he could have been hurt. She was shocked at the brutality and cruelty of it, the fact that part of it was revenge against her, but also that anyone could do that. And she cared about him; she was very fond of him, as they all were. She could see the worry in Crocker's face, reflecting her own. But he was worried not only about Lucas, but the effect it would have on Bridger. He didn't think his Captain would be able to cope properly with it if they lost Lucas now; he would leave again and go back to that island of his for good. Damn it, his whole life was about protecting people from stuff like that, children, families, civilians and they had failed completely. He was furious about his guilt and about the horror that was the men who had done it. They would pay for it and he would exact the price. " I should never have let him go," Bridger whispered. " Captain, I..." Krieg looked up at him. " I left him alone. It was for less than a minute, but... I didn't realise... I'm sorry." " You think sorry helps?! Damn you, for once couldn't you obey orders!" Bridger shouted at him, glaring at him, his eyes full of hatred and rage. " Damn you!" Kristen looked over at Krieg and gently eased the plasma bag out of his hand. " Wait in the back," she told him gently and then turned to Bridger. " It wasn't his fault. You can't blame him for this." " I told him not to leave him, at all! I should have known better than to trust him. I thought he cared enough about Lucas to be careful." " Nathan, it's not your fault and it's not his. Now stop shouting and help me!" she cried through her tears. He blinked back his own, and obeyed her commands. Krieg retreated to the back of the launch and sat staring at the group on the floor blankly. Bridger was right, it was his fault. He had made mistakes before, but no one else had ever got hurt, not someone he really cared about. Why could he have taken a few seconds more?! Kristen was bending over Lucas, working fast, giving Bridger orders, her uniform already stained with blood, as was his, he realised. " Captain, we're docking," Katie called from the front, hurrying to open the hatches. Kristen caught her arm as she passed. " Talk to Krieg," she whispered quickly and Katie nodded. They hurried down to medbay, Kristen shouting orders to her staff as they arrived, and they gently transferred Lucas to a bed. Bridger turned to Crocker. " Take a team and search the area." " Yes, Sir," Crocker replied eagerly, leaving quickly. One of the nurses hung up the IV, while another started an X-ray. The pictures came up almost instantly, as Kristen was washing and putting on overalls. She nodded, giving further orders for medications and tools. She snatched a syringe from one of the nurses, injecting it quickly as Lucas started to stir. " Nathan! Keep him calm and still!" she ordered, talking gently to him. He moved restlessly, and in pain, a few minutes before the drugs started to work and he lost consciousness again. Kristen nodded at Bridger, motioning him to get back out of the way. He stood back watching with sick horror as they started to operate. Katie ran behind Krieg and pulled him up when they got to the medbay. He looked down at her, blinking and she pushed him to a seat, sitting down next to him. " I left him alone... Bridger told me not to- I was careless. If I'd just taken five more seconds..." " They surprised you right?" Krieg nodded tearfully. " Ben, they would just have surprised you together... I heard you talking... when it happened you were both there." " Katie, I tried but they wouldn't listen. They just said they'd kill him if I tried anything." " Ben, it's not your fault, it's not," she insisted and then gently out her arms around him as he sobbed exhausted against her, tears rolling down her own cheeks. " It's them. No one could have thought they would do this. No one could have known." " I couldn't do anything. I didn't know what to do and he kept bleeding... and I was the one who was being hysterical. He was shot and he was calm about it." " Ben, you kept him alive. He's going to be OK, I promise," she whispered. He had to be, for all of them. It couldn't end like this, they would never be able to move past something that horrible. " You know, I was so scared for you. I'm sorry about what I said, Ben. Sometimes I get a little carried away teasing you." " You were right. God, I was so stupid!" " Ben, you've made mistakes, lots and lots of mistakes, but this isn't one of them and the reason you did those other things is what makes you so fun and why I married you. Ben, you have to believe me, this isn't your fault. Captain Bridger's just scared and angry... You know how he feels about Lucas." " You think I don't care?" " Ben, we all do. He just needed a target. Now are you going to listen to me. You know I'm always right, right?" " And I left he at the end, but I had to! Cobb was going to find us while we were waiting, but I thought if I could get him away form Lucas... I was right there next to him and I didn't shout though I could hear you... I tried to believe it was because you needed me to find Lucas quickly enough., but really it was just because I was scared..." " So you drew his attention away from Lucas?" Ben nodded. " He was unconscious and I couldn't move him... so I went to find Cobb, but I wouldn't go with him when Zeller pulled up- we could hear you and if he'd shot me you would have killed him... he ran for the truck finally and I got away..." Katie touched his arm. " Ben, that was very brave." He looked into her eyes seeing them sincere and proud. " No... Katie it was my fault he was hurt in the first place... I had to!" " No, Ben, you didn't." She found she wasn't the least surprised at what he had done. She knew how badly he was feeling now and how he blamed himself. Katie just wished there was so way she could convince him that it wasn't his fault. Bridger would have to do that now; she couldn't. He sighed and sat back. Katie got up after a few minutes and sent one of the nurses off to get a coffee. He returned a few minutes later with one for each other them. " Drink!" she ordered Krieg firmly and he obeyed her automatically, the warmth and caffeine bringing some colour back into his face. " Are you all right? They didn't hurt you?" He shook his head. " Not me." " Ben, you're exhausted. Go and rest." " Katie I can't..." " I'll come and tell you as soon as we know anything at all..." " I can't. I have to be here." She nodded and they sat together, holding hands silently. A few minutes later Ford walked in, looking around. Katie sat up, wiping her face slightly. " What happened?" he asked breathlessly. " Why didn't anyone come to the bridge?" Katie sighed. She had been busy with Krieg, while Bridger and Westphalen were looking after Lucas and the others had gone back to search for Cobb and Zeller. " I'm sorry, Jonathan. We didn't think." He sat down looking at her worriedly and then at Krieg and the blood stains on his clothes. He drew in sharp breath. " It was Lucas?" " Yes." " Is he all right...?" " We don't know yet. He.. didn't look good." " Who...?" " Cobb," Krieg said quietly. Ford closed his eyes. " Two days.... Dear god." He sat silently for a while. " Where are 'they'?" " Crocker's looking." Ford nodded and stood slowly. " I'd better go back to the bridge." He turned to go. " Would someone remember to tell us when you know if he's all right?" he asked from the door. Katie nodded. Ford walked back to the bridge slowly. That left him to tell the others. He tried to focus on what they had to do next. Without hostages they didn't have to worry, they just had to catch them, and he'd better tell Noyce they wouldn't be needing the money. He'd be pleased about that. Ford walked quietly onto the bridge and the others turned expectantly. " We have both of them back on board." The crew let out a sigh of relief. " Crocker's team went back to look for Cobb and Zeller. We just need to find them now." " Where's Captain Bridger and the others?" Tim asked, " Did they go back to look?" The smiles dropped slowly as they realised that they hadn't heard all the news. " What happened? How is..." " Captain Bridger is down in medbay waiting for news. Krieg is all right, but Lucas is pretty badly hurt," he told them finally, looking down as the room went very still and quiet. Tim and Ortiz blinked at him. " Who did it?" Miguel asked stunned. Ford sighed, " Cobb." " He is going to be all right though, right?" Tim asked. " Dr. Westphalen didn't say anything. I don't know. Katie's going to tell us when they do." Ford sighed; he had to get them back to work, focusing on finding Cobb and Zeller before they did something else. " Get me a link to Admiral Noyce," Ford ordered. The crew looked at him for a moment and then sprang into action again, starting sensors sweeps and scans of the area Crocker's launch was in. The screen opened. " Admiral. Thank you for sending the money but I'm glad to say it won't be needed." " You have Zeller and Cobb?" Ford shook his head " No, but we have our people back and we've got teams out looking for them now." " Whatever you have to do, Commander. These aren't criminals who we can let get away." " Yes, Sir," Ford replied and the screen closed. He sighed. " Well at least that bit wasn't so bad. How's the search going?" he asked Ortiz. " Crocker's been to the house and the warehouse, but so far, nothing." " Tell them to keep looking." Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Don't neeed to remind you how it works do I? Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) (LIG) SpiritShadow Sabrina //Familiar:'Armalade--Meg //Greenbelt Shinbudo Karate 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' //'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 11:40:57 -0500 (CDT) From: i.casale@ukonline.co.uk Subject: Until All Perish: Part 5A Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: i.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk (Unverified) To: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) OK guys- I'm still getting set up at this new addy but as soon as I'm back on all the lists, I'll be signing off there. All parts will be coming from here in the future though... I hope This new system is driving me mad! Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Chapter 5 O'Neil looked up. " Commander, the launch with the money from Admiral Noyce is arriving, requesting permission to dock. I guess they didn't get the message." Ford sighed. So much for communication between different sections. " Granted. Tell them it won't be needed anymore and then get someone to take them to the mess and to clean up, if they're tired, while we refuel the launch." " Aye, Sir," O'Neil replied, typing. The launch bay doors cycled open and the tired pilots stepped out, stretching wearily. An officer came up to them. " Commander Ford told me to thank you for your help in bringing the money, but thankfully it won't be needed. Would you like to freshen up or have a coffee while your launch is refuelled?" The two shrugged. The first nodded. " Thank you, that would be very pleasant," he said smoothly, following the man as he lead the way. " Would you be so kind to give us a quick tour as we walk?" he asked. The officer nodded and started a short, running commentary as they walked down towards the mess hall. The first pilot looked over and nodded to the second. After a few minutes, when the corridor was empty of other people, the second pilot stepped forward, hitting the officer hard on the back of the neck and lowering him to the deck. The first pilot smiled briefly, picking up the man's feet and, between the two of them, they carried him back into the nearest launch bay, which was deserted. Cobb nodded to Zeller. " Real slow on the uptake. Guess they haven't found their people or they wouldn't think they still need the money. Can't believe how easy it was to get on here!" Zeller sighed. " It's really quite simple when the opposition is so incompetent," he replied, dusting himself off from carrying the officer and straightening his uniform. " Yeah well, we're here, so let's get on with it." They hurried on down the corridor, turning into another passageway, down the stairs and came to the correct room. They had passed a few people on the way but no one took much notice of them in their UEO uniforms, except to recognise them as strangers. They were walking about freely on the prize boat of the UEO, and these soldiers were walking past them with absolutely no idea. It would be an interesting encounter to dwell on, Zeller thought, over a dry wine. Cobb gave a snort of derision, casting a backwards glance at the last couple of crew members to pass them. " They don't stand a chance." Zeller nodded, as they stopped at a door. " We'll regroup in the launch bay." " I'll get down to the engine room," Cobb whispered, as Zeller opened the door into the launch control room. Cobb started off down the corridor, knowing the route from Zeller's explanations and the maps that they had been given in their files of information. Zeller had fussed like anything about testing him on the route. This resulted in the ensuing and very frustrating argument. Cobb had finally given up trying to understand Zeller's self-intended remarks and retreated to a corner to pour over the maps, sulkily. He had no time for this know it all. Zeller stepped into the room and started to look over what he wanted, locking the door and setting the co-ordinates for the missiles, working on cutting off the power to the bridge with an override code. It was wonderful what people could find using computers now-a-days and this handy little piece of information had come complete with the key to their hotel room after their escape from the prison. He didn't stop to wonder how the person, who had helped him escape, had got the information. He was curious to meet this man though; the only person that would be equal to his intelligence that he had met in many, many years. It would certainly be an interesting experience. This little piece of work was by that man's orders. Zeller didn't take orders. He had simply accepted this as a suggestion. It was really quite brilliant anyway and he agreed wholeheartedly with the principles behind it. It was all working according to plan. True, the other bit hadn't quite worked out, but he had expected something of the sort working with someone like Cobb, but it had enough for them to hijack the money launch, which no one would doubt. After all, they were meant to be trying to get away with the money, not bringing it. He smiled; it had all been so simple. They had simply had to watch for the launch and then, thanks to the codes, override its power systems and then off load the real UEO men and take their places. It had all taken less than five, simple minutes. He smiled as he worked. Cobb hurried down to the engine room, waking past the people in the main room and down the corridor, stopping by one of the generators to attach a small device. He bent down to secure it under a bulge in the equipment. After this, he could focus on finding Krieg again and that woman, that conniving, vicious woman. Ford frowned as he sat on the bridge, as did O'Neil. They looked at each other. Something was wrong. Not simply what had happened, but something else. Something didn't fit. " Cobb would want money, but not Zeller," Tim said slowly. " So why did Cobb tell us about the weapons, but not about the money as well?" There was silence again for a while. " Why didn't he tell us about the money?" " Would they really just want money?" Ortiz pondered, joining the conversation. " Cobb and Zeller would want revenge- shooting Lucas was to get revenge on us, but it won't be enough for them... not for them." " So why? Who would want to get the two of them out of prison?" Ford sighed and frowned. " Zeller tried to start a new war but Cobb didn't have any motives except for money... the only thing they have in common is us- this boat." " And hatred." " Well it makes them a pretty nasty team, but a good one," Tim pointed out, " If you need to get people to do your dirty work." " Very dirty work," Ortiz added, " If it requires these two." Ford was rubbing his forehead. " We're missing something... Zeller would just have one plan, he'd have a back up as well... and kidnapping only two people- it wouldn't be enough for either of them... maybe a start, but..." " Or a distraction." Ford looked round at Tim. " Well, we've been pretty distracted, and you both said this wasn't enough, so that means they want something else and so, if they're bothering doing this... then why? it makes sense that it's to divert us." " So what have they distracted us from and why do it like this? Why kidnap two people?" Ford started pacing. " Why that distraction? Neither of them even knew about Lucas... it wasn't just to get revenge on some of us- having Lucas there was for a purpose... and if we've decided it wasn't just for extra bargaining power to get the money... it couldn't be for a launch or the weapons... that doesn't include the rest of their revenge- Zeller said it himself. So what do they want? What's the point of their demands... Why a kidnapping?" " Could they need the launch or the money for the rest of their plans?" Ortiz suggested. Ford shook his head. " Whoever got them out had all the codes he needed- breaking into a bank or a weapons shop wouldn't be a problem for him, so why take the risk? Why? What do they gain from this?... Why didn't they look for Lucas and Krieg after they escaped?" " They didn't care enough that they had escaped: it wasn't important enough." " Then why risk taking them in the first place? And why did they want Lucas there?" " That could have been a mistake..." " No," Ford shook his head. " Krieg took him because his friend who was arranging the supplies said he'd got some computer equipment Lucas might be interested in... We talked to him and he didn't have the equipment- he sent them down to see it. He was terrified when I called up, but I don't think he was involved in this, something illegal, but not this. They wanted him there." " But the only good reason for that is to make us give into their demands," Tim sighed hopelessly. " So if they don't want what they're demanding for, and I don't think they just want us to give in to them, what do they want?" Ford leant over one of the rails, staring at the floor. " What happens it we give into their demands... not for them, for us? what does that entail?" " We call McGath," Ortiz offered. " We arrange the launch and the weapons and people to take it. Bridger gets McGath to agree to it and talk to the banks and then sends the money... then we go where they want us to deliver it." Something struck a chord in that. " Repeat the last part," Ford said, frowning. " McGath finds the money and sends it to us and then we... That's a hell of a lot of money, you'd think they'd be so happy it wasn't needed that they'd race back home with it, not stop off here first. They could have made it back with the amount of fuel they had..." Tim and Ford looked at each other at the same time. " McGath sends us the money. They bring it here, on board..." " And why weren't they quicker about telling the launch. Not that the UEO is fast at that sort of thing but..." " When there's ten million dollars involved..." Ortiz finished. " And who would think that the people who wanted the money to get away with it, would actually be bringing it to us. Alert security and find them!" Ford shouted. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) (LIG) SpiritShadow Sabrina //Familiar:'Armalade--Meg //Greenbelt Shinbudo Karate 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' //'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 11:28:07 -0500 (CDT) From: i.casale@ukonline.co.uk Subject: Until All Perish: Part 5B Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: i.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk To: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Cobb heard the alarms go off. He finished with the device and ran out, back to where Zeller was working in the control room. " Stay where you are!" someone ordered him as he approached the door. He stopped and stood still, turning slowly to see Ford training a gun on him. " Commander Ford..." He didn't have time to finish his sentence, falling forward, propelled by a shot from behind as Zeller ran out of the control room, abandoning his activities. He didn't care enough about what he 'owed' the man who had released him. He would come back, anyway. Now was not the time. Ford ran up to where Cobb was lying, watching him carefully as he approached, another man keeping his gun on the 'pilot' while Ford reached to check for his pulse and the rest of the security team ran after Zeller. Cobb's eyes were open and glazed, blood spreading across his forehead to trickle through his hair. Ford checked his pulse anyway and then stood up with a sigh of relief. he turned to the man who had stayed with him. " Get this out of the corridor and have someone clean up the mess," he said with disgust before turning on his PAL to contact the leader of the security team. " Where's Zeller?" he asked. The man sighed on the other end. " We lost him on C deck... we're searching the whole area." Ford cursed and slammed the PAL off. Zeller ran calmly, knowing the corridors, smiling as men ran past him ignoring him because of his uniform. It was such fun playing with these people; they had even surprised him this time. Cobb had been a nuisance and he didn't want him hanging around. He had messed things up from the start. It was a pity, though, to have shot him like that, because he had planned a much more interesting way of killing him. He ignored the footsteps running behind him. He had memorised the lay out of the boat so he got away from them quickly enough. He ran into the launch bay and across to the launch, getting in and powering it up, casually telling one of the crew members, who had seen him arrive to open the bay doors, then he pulled the craft out and away, smiling as the water rushed around him. It was dark down here and cool, beautiful and held more knowledge than even he did. " Commander? Someone just took a launch. They're heading out to sea really fast." " What?" " They won't answer... Security team for you." " Put them on!" " Commander? I think we've found where Zeller went... but he's left, in a launch..." " Damn it!" Ford shouted. " Are our weapons back on line?" he asked Tim. There was pause. " Aye Sir. He didn't managed to complete the override," O'Neil replied, calling to Ortiz. " Ready, Sir..." He trailed off looking up as an explosion rocked the boat. " What the hell was that?" " Launch destroyed Sir." " I didn't tell you to fire!" " We didn't," O'Neil replied as the screen opened. " This is Captain Yarharden of the Saroga. Target has been eliminated as ordered by Admiral Noyce, UEO command." " Did you hear that..." Tim asked, looking up, confused with all the different people on the line. " I heard." Ford sighed on he other end, listening to this over his PAL. " Tell him thank you and we will report back to HQ on the other matters," he said, cutting the link. He was furious and yet relieved. They were both dead, but he had wanted them to suffer. He wanted to have had a hand in that. The thought disgusted him. The action did as well. It wasn't necessary to act with such force, not for a launch; the other ship or theirs could have just fired a grapnel. They had murdered him as he had murdered hundreds of others. That didn't make it any better or any worse. It was just the same, except the UEO would get away with it under the cover of justice, law and government. He sighed. It made them almost as bad as he was, though not quite. Tim looked over at Ortiz and relayed the message from Ford to the other Captain, shutting the link and then sitting back. They were both too shocked for comment, but they were both relieved. Even if the action had been unnecessary, they had stopped Zeller from escaping and really everyone was safer with those two dead. A lot safer. And if anyone deserved it they did, they thought angrily, thinking about what was happening elsewhere on the boat, what had happened on their first meeting with Zeller and with Cobb. Maybe it was justice after all. Ford turned on his PAL again as it chirped. " Ford." " Commander, security. We traced where they went. Zeller went to the control room..." " O'Neil has it under control. Zeller didn't manage a complete override. We've regained control and canceled all his commands. I'm still having O'Neil and Ortiz check to see that he hasn't done anything else to our systems." "Cobb went down to engineering. We think he did something to generator two there." " Katie!" Ford switched the channel on his PAL. " Go to engineering, generator two and check it out- but be careful!" He shut the PAL and started to run down the corridors. She was closer, but he didn't like her being there, though she knew the area better than anyone. Katie sat up, as her PAL beeped, turning it on. Krieg looked up at her. " Hitchcock... Yes, I'll be right there..." She closed the Pal and turned to Krieg. " Ben, I have to go... Cobb and Zeller got onto the boat and we need to check they haven't set any explosives or anything..." " Do you need some help..." " Just stay here and try to get some rest," Katie called over her shoulder, as she ran out of the medbay and down towards engineering. The corridors were fairly empty, people standing back to let her pass as she ran. When she arrived, crew members with scanning equipment were starting to scour the area, trying to confirm accounts of where Cobb might have reached. " Commander..." An ensign came towards her. " We've checked reactor one and we've started on two, but there's a lot to cover." " Good work. I need a scanner. Tell them to keep looking, but not to rush it. We need to do this thoroughly, not just fast." The ensign nodded and went to fetch some equipment for her, quickly returning with it. " I'm trying to find out which areas Cobb was in, so we can narrow the search down." " Good," Katie said as she hurried off and started looking over reactor two and the equipment around it. She hadn't had a moment to pause for thought, but while she was looking and working, the thoughts came unbidden and frightening. There could be a bomb. It wasn't a person whom she could disarm, and it could be about to go off and she would have no warning but she's couldn't run away. She had to stay, knowing that the danger could be there. Then she froze and reached out her hand to the device and paused considering. Footsteps approached and Ford squatted down beside her. " A bomb?" She nodded, still focused. " How long do we have?" " Two minutes." " Can you disarm it?" " I think so." " Katie, 'think' doesn't cut it." She looked into his scared eyes, meeting them with her own fear and then swallowed. " Yes, Sir," she replied and then turned her attention back to the bomb as Ford gave her arm a quick, reassuring pat. Ford turned around. " Keep looking!" he shouted to the others. " There could be more than one device. Anyone who isn't scanning clear the room!" They were both breathing quickly from fear and running, all senses focused on the device. Katie shut her eyes and then opened them again, pulling out one wire. " OK. One more." She pondered for a while and then reached over. I can do this, she told herself firmly. Ford was watching her face. " Katie... cut the wire." She nodded, cutting quickly with a knife. " Done." She sat back, sighing with relief and Ford smiled at her. " Good work." " Yeah," she replied as he helped her up. " What happened in the control room?" " Zeller had an override to the bridge control- I have no idea how he got that, but he didn't have time to finish. I canceled his commands. It's all fine," he said, as they walked slowly back along the corridor. " Zeller's dead. Another UEO ship shot him down while he was escaping." Katie turned quickly looking at him and stopped in the middle of the room. It was over, as simple as that. And they were dead... they were safe. " Is it wrong to be glad?" Ford shook his head. " It's perfectly right." " It's doesn't feel it- being relived when someone's been killed." " In this case it's merited." She smiled at him as he put an arm on her shoulder and they walked out of engineering. Ford switched on his PAL. " O'Neil. Tell Crocker he can stop looking and come back now." The young ensign came over to them nervous, but smiling. " The rest of the room is clear." Ford nodded, sighing. " Good work." Katie handed the other woman the equipment. " Well done, Commander," she said to Katie, as she took it. " Thanks," Katie said, rather dazed. Ford looked down at Katie. " I've got to go back to the bridge." She nodded. " I'm going down to medbay... Jonathan... about Ben..." She sighed and then explained what Ben had told her about leading Cobb away form Lucas. " I think Bridger needs to know that..." Ford nodded. " I'll tell him," he promised. He turned and walked away without a reply. It was all over. She stayed still a few minutes more and then started back to the medbay. A few sentences and that meant they were dead. She couldn't believe it; it had all happened so suddenly. She hadn't even known that they were in the area- thought they were trying to escape, and they were on the boat... The thought chilled her with fear and she took a calming breath. It had all been so quick at the end though. Any longer and the bomb would have gone off. It didn't take long for someone to be killed, but it seemed that it should before she could believe it. Krieg looked up at her, his eyes dark ringed with lack of sleep. She sat silently beside him and they waited. Finally she looked over at Ben. " Cobb and Zeller are dead." He didn't move, but sighed deeply, leaning back and closing his eyes. " How?" " Zeller shot Cobb and another UEO boat blew up Zeller's launch when he was trying to escape." Krieg was silent his jaw muscles working. " I wanted to kill him myself." Katie was shocked at the fury in his voice- Ben who was always so much fun. " I owe him that." " Ben..." " Katie you weren't there... Lucas got shot... I watched him get shot... I watched him bleeding and in such pain for two days!" Katie sat quietly while Ben bent his head, staring at the ground. " Oh, God," he said finally. " It's over, Ben, it's over... Ben..." She didn't know what to say, what there was she could say? So she just put a gentle hand on his arm and sat with him. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) (LIG) SpiritShadow Sabrina //Familiar:'Armalade--Meg //Greenbelt Shinbudo Karate 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' //'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.' Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 02:38:37 -0500 (CDT) From: i.casale@ukonline.co.uk Subject: Until All Perish: Part 5C (end) Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Sender: i.casale@pop-3.ukonline.co.uk (Unverified) To: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (16) Well, this is it folks. Comments? Well I'm going to be gone from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning so don't be surprised if I don't respond to mails straight away. Anyway, take care and hope you all have a great weekend. Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 On the bridge, Ford explained the situation and the crew relaxed slightly, checking that no other systems were tampered with. Ford left to prepare a report, knowing that Bridger wouldn't have the time or energy to do it, leaving the silent and tense bridge with relief. Finally Kristen stood back, peeling off her gloves and then took Bridger's arm and lead him to the side, while the others transferred Lucas to another room. She took off her scrubs, and sat down by the bed, checking the signs on the monitor. " He lost a lot of blood. Nathan, it was two days." She sighed. The bullet lodged in his shoulder, breaking off part of the shoulder blade, which caused further bleeding. We got the bullet out and we've realigned the bone pieces, but he's got metal poisoning and an infection from the bullet being in there so long." She paused again. " I can't give you a definite answer until the fever goes down." Bridger sat down beside her and they continued to wait, through the night and into the morning. Lucas didn't wake. For a few hours the fever grew slowly worse and then around dawn started to fall. At four, Kristen looked over at Nathan, after checking her patient. "He's much better today... I think he'll be all right," She said softly. " You're sure?" " Fairly. It'll take a while to get the toxins out of his blood and for the damage to heal, but he will be all right." Bridger sighed and then put his arms around her. " Thank you," he whispered. " I'll go and tell the others," she said, knowing she wouldn't get him to move. " You stay here. Ford can look after things." He nodded, taking one of the limp hands in his and staring down with intense relief at Lucas as he slept. Kristen sighed tiredly, rolling her neck as she walked out into the waiting room. Katie and Krieg looked up at her. " I think he's going to be all right," she told them, smiling as they broke into equal smiles and nervous laughs. " You both look exhausted. Go and rest." Katie looked across at Krieg, but Kristen made a motion for her to leave. " I'll see you later Ben." He nodded at her as Kristen sat down beside him. " Are you really all right, physically?" Krieg nodded. " Nathan, wasn't in control when he said that, and Lucas will be all right. You do realise that this isn't your fault." He looked at her. " Or don't you trust two opinions over one terrified and pretty much hysterical babbling?" Krieg smiled slightly at her. " Go to bed. You can come back later. He won't be awake for a while anyway." Krieg nodded and left. She turned on a link to the bridge. " Commander, he's going to be all right." She heard Ford tell the others and the general sigh of relief, smiling to herself. " Tell the Captain, Cobb and Zeller are dead," he added as she shut the link, before she returned to the room where Bridger was watching Lucas. " I guess I can't persuade you to sleep," she commented dryly. " No." She sighed. " Just don't wake him up and don't expect him to wake up, not for at least eight hours. And if you have to stay, at least try to nap, OK?" Bridger didn't reply so she just sighed and then sat down beside him. " Mind some company?... Cobb and Zeller are dead," she said unemotionally. " Ford didn't say how. I suppose it was when they were escaping." She sounded more bored by it than anything. When they found out, they were surprised to find that it didn't bother them. They were dead and that meant they were safe. And they had other things to occupy them. No one seemed to care in fact, the only regrets were that they couldn't have had a more personal hand in the deaths. Bridger sat up, rubbing his eyes, slowly focusing on the medbay room and Lucas, still sleeping. He must have fallen asleep and he had no idea what time it was. It didn't matter though. The horror of the past two days came flooding back and he shuffled the chair closer, brushing a stray lock of hair off Lucas' face. Kristen came in. " He's doing much better. The fever and infection are under control. His blood content is returning to normal. He should be awake in a while." Ford came up beside her. " I'll let you talk business, but only quietly. He needs rest," she warned them. Ford sat and explained the situation and what had happened quietly, including what Katie had told him about Ben's actions. He didn't react much to this, just grew thoughtful. At the end, Bridger nodded, agreeing with how Ford had dealt with the situation." Thank you. I couldn't leave..." " I know, Sir. I understand." They smiled at each other. " I'll get back to the bridge. Everyone's very glad to hear he's all right," he added, as he left. Bridger sat back watching Lucas. A few hours later, after Kristen had brought him several cups of coffee, Lucas sighed slightly and his eyelids flickered and then two blue eyes turned to focus on him. Bridger gently took his hand. " You're safe. You're home," he told him softly as Lucas' confusion changed into fear. " They aren't coming back. They were killed escaping, we're all safe, everything's fine. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." " Can I have a drink?" Lucas whispered. Bridge raised him gently, helping him to sip and then lay him back. Lucas smiled slightly and then frowned for a moment. " Captain, it wasn't Ben's fault. Please tell him that." Bridger didn't answer for a moment. " Captain, please tell him," Lucas said worriedly, shifting agitatedly. " I'll tell him. Just relax and stay still." Lucas lay looking at him peacefully for a while. " I was so scared," he whispered. Bridger got down by the bed and wrapped his arms around the boy. " Me too, but it's over. Everything's going to be fine. I promise I won't ever let anything like this happen again." Lucas nodded against his shoulder. He wouldn't have believed it from anyone else, but he trusted Bridger completely and he was too tired to argue, as he usually would have done. He closed his eyes to sleep again. " Don't forget to talk to Ben," he reminded Bridger, as he drifted off. Bridger smiled, shaking his head and going out into the waiting room and turning on the comms link. " Lieutenant Krieg to medbay," he ordered and then stood, leaning against the wall, waiting, after he reported to Kristen that their patient had woken up and she had left to check on him, smiling, as she heard his announcement on the speakers. A few minutes later Krieg hurried in, looking very tired and still intensely worried. " Katie said he was all right." Bridger nodded. " I need to talk to you." " Captain, I don't have an excuse for what I did... and I know sorry doesn't cut it..." " Oh I hope not. I owe you an apology. I heard what you did... drawing Cobb away and I can see that you couldn't have done anything to stop them before hand. You acted when it counted and it was something that took a lot of courage. And he'll be all right, but I'm not so sure if he would have been, if you'd been captured again... This wasn't your fault and I was just angry... But let me make this clear, if you ever disobey my orders again, I will have you keel hauled." Krieg blinked and then stood straight, waiting for the rest of his punishment. Nothing was forth coming. " Sir?" he asked finally. " Nothing else, Mr. Krieg." Bridge said, turning away. " You aren't going to punish me or demote me or chuck me off the boat?" " No, I'm not." " Why?" " Because it wouldn't have made any difference if you had done anything differently and it was a mistake. You were lucky that your actions didn't make a difference this time, but I think you've learnt what you need to, so you won't do it again." " Thank you, Sir," Krieg said finally, not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. He half wanted to be punished to feel that it was over, that he had paid his debt. Bridger paused, turning back. " Oh, and Lucas told me to tell you- insisted on it- that it wasn't your fault. I think he'd like it if you stopped by to ' hi' later." Krieg was left blinking at the wall, smiling dazedly. When Krieg returned later and knocked on the door, Kristen got up from checking her patient. " Don't get him excited and if he gets tired, don't keep him up," she warned him. He nodded quickly, crossing the room and sitting nervously. Lucas looked over at him smiling. " Hi," Krieg said softly. " You all right?" " I'm fine. You're the one who's not." " Dr. Westphalen says I will be in a few days. Ben, thanks for looking after me. I don't remember what happened at the end." " Don't thank me. Lucas, this was my fault!" " No, it wasn't. Don't argue with me, I not supposed to get excited," Lucas reminded him, with a slight, tired grin. " Just quit it. Guilt doesn't suit you. Did Bridger talk to you?" he asked worriedly. " Yes. You didn't have to do that." " I was worried about you." Krieg smiled softly. " And what do you think we've been? You know hardly anyone on this boat slept for more than a few hours the last few days. You better get used to the fact that you're too important around here." Lucas frowned. " Ben, did I... Was I... Did I act like a coward," he asked finally, staring at the wall. " I mean I should have been quiet and..." Krieg reached over and took his hands. " Lie still or Westphalen will come back in and throw me out. And you weren't. Lucas, I've never seen anyone being so brave. You didn't complain, you looked after me! Don't ever think anything like that." " Really?" Krieg sighed. " Really." Lucas smiled, relieved at him. " Go to sleep. You need rest." Lucas nodded, yawning and settling slightly. ******** In the days following, Lucas found he quite enjoyed all the attention, wearing his sling proudly, when he was finally allowed up, though it was far too long before Westphalen allowed him to. Krieg watched him chatting with Kristen and Bridger over the other side of the room. They had brought him down to the mess hall for his fist meal up, to make sure he was all right. He smiled slightly and turned back around to find Katie watching him. He looked down at his food. " You know, Ben Krieg. It's the times when you don't think people are watching that you're more you than any other time. I wish you'd do it more often. I get tired of trying to convince you I'm looking away." " Then I am in your thoughts all the time." Katie rolled her eyes, sighing and Ben stopped grinning. " Thanks Katie. I know you're still angry and disappointed with me, maybe I am too, but even just as friends, you mean a hell of a lot to me. You know that don't you." " Yes, Ben I do. And I feel the same way." They smiled slightly at each other and then returned to their meal. The End Copyright E.Casale and Sabrina Helayna Ardeloes, 1997, 1998 Alexia ( Keeper of neurotics, psychotics, dementias, phobias, obsessions, disorders, general insanity, and Wielder of sharp, pointed objects) (LIG) SpiritShadow Sabrina //Familiar:'Armalade--Meg //Greenbelt Shinbudo Karate 'You could say we broke up because of artistic differences; he saw hiself as alive, and I saw him dead!' //'A compromise: you give it to me and I take it.' 'I do not need to learn patience; I've perfected impatience, that should be enough.'