FIRSTS Book Four of Dimension Out Of Range PARIS, FRANCE All around were unfamiliar faces and voices, going about their normal daily business. Jason wasn't altogether worried at all; he could understand bits of French here and there, due to his lessons in school, and he was satisfied that nobody was talking about him, or the parcel he was carrying. Or rather the parcel he had tucked under his leather jacket, which lay across his lap as he and Brianna sat down to lunch in a sidewalk cafe. They looked quite the pair, all dirty and sweaty. Crawling through the secret tunnels underneath the Louvre would do that to you. Inside the package was a fairly priceless artifact that the two of them had found during some investigations a few weeks earlier. They'd guessed its location while doing some unrelated computer work, and had come to Paris at this particular time to find it and get it. Gina was going to be so happy that the two of them were about to complete their first truly solo mission! Suddenly a bottle of champagne arrived on the table. Jason looked up at the waiter, as did Brianna, and the waiter informed them that it was a gift from a man nearby, and relayed the message from him that they should enjoy their last drink while they were still able. Slowly, curiously, they looked around and finally caught a glimpse of someone on the other side of the cafe. He was quite a large yet short man, in a white suit, with jet-black wet-looking hair and a thin mustache. He had those beady little eyes that villains seem to have, as well as the loyalty of several dark- suited men arrayed out at various tables, no doubt carrying automatic weapons beneath their jackets. Tempting fate, and trying not to think about the possibility of drugs or poison, the two of them each had a glass of champagne, silently toasting Mr. Big, or whoever he was, and then got up and headed for the exit. As they neared it, two more men in dark blue suits appeared from the other side of the doorway. Jason did an about-face and slowly, calmly, led Brianna towards the short, meter-high railing that separated the cafe from the sidewalk. As they got closer, several men, including Mr. Big, got to their feet and drew old machine- gun style weapons. << "The Raiders Theme" _The Raiders of the Lost Ark Soundtrack_ >> Tucking the package and his jacket under his arm, Jason hurdled the fence, dragging Bri' along behind. The two of them ran away from the cafe, which was disgorging small arms fire and innocent bystanders at a dizzying rate. They ducked down a side street, and Brianna pointed out an antique car left running. Jay dove for the driver's seat and threw his SO into the other side, leaving a wake of burnt rubber, smoke, and an irate car owner, who leapt out of the way just before a large black sedan, also from the 1930s, roared past in chase. They wound through the streets of Paris at a stomach-churning speed, with Bri' temporarily lunging for the wheel as Jason turned around to shoot at the car with their GyroJets. They failed to elude their adversaries at all, and were followed all the way to the airport. They dumped the car at the edge of the tarmac and ran through. Brianna's hat fell to the ground as she made a mad dash for the rapidly-closing gateway. As the gates were about to close, Jason reached back and made a last-second grab for the brown fedora. He snuck it back in just before the gates clanged shut. They made it back to a ancient-looking propeller plane they were using, and started it up. As they were taxiing, Jason noticed the black car stopped on the taxiway, Mr. Big shaking his fist at the aircraft. Jay grinned and unwrapped his jacket from around the parcel and put the jacket on. He then took Bri's hat, which he'd had in his hands, and tucked it down over his face. She smiled and shook his shoulder. "C'mon, Jay, wake up." He looked at her curiously. "Wake up, Jay," she continued, "it's almost noon." 2 JUNE 1997 ATLANTA, GEORGIA "Jason, will you get up already?" Jason awoke with a start to find Brianna there, trying to shake him awake. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was 11.54. She stood up straight, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. "All done your dreaming?" "I wasn't sleeping," he said, "I was checking my eyelids for cracks." "Yeah, right. C'mon, let's get this show on the road." Jason adopted Caveman Voice #2. "Ugh. Come. We go." He got up off the bed and headed for the shower, as Brianna went out towards the Bay, presumably to get the truck ready. For once, Jason didn't analyze anything--dreams, conversations, why he slept in so late today, or anything like that--while he was in the shower. (He did sing, though, so they almost negate each other.) When he stepped out and towelled off, he felt great, although he wasn't sure why. He tried not to think about it and instead got dressed and went to the kitchen. "Good afternoon," Gina said as he entered. "Do you realize you just broke a record?" "Really?" Jason said, opening a cupboard and getting out the peanut butter. "Yeah, Brian's been up for three hours earlier than you. He says it's one of the first times ever." "Oh, ha. I am sorely wounded, without a doubt." He put some toast down. (Actually, he put some BREAD down. When it came UP, it'd be toast. I imagine you got my meaning, though, so I'll carry on.) After breakfast, he wandered unhurriedly to the Bay, finding Brianna under the vehicle. They'd put a hoist in the bay, right where the truck was normally parked, so that they could do maintenance on it without occupying Gina's dedicated and only repair bay. Brianna lowered this as Jason entered the room. "You ready yet?" she said. "Yeah, yeah," he said, plodding towards the truck. Just as it was back to floor level, he was at the driver's side, and climbed in. "You didn't eat much, did you?" she asked as she got in the other side. "Just my usual breakfast, why?" he returned, powering the truck up. "Oh, 'cause A, it's almost too late for breakfast, seeing as how it's one o' clock, and 2, I prepared this whole big feast." "I can eat anything anywhere anytime," he declared almost proudly. "Pizza for breakfast, you're saying." "That's mild for me. How about a plate of spaghetti sauce with meatballs--no pasta--a loaf of garlic bread, a liter of Pepsi and quarter of a box of Ranch flavor Crispers?" "Ugh!" After a moment, though, she said, "Hm.. that sounds interesting.." He turned onto I-85 and headed northeastward, knowing the route well. Several miles out of Atlanta, they turned right, following what had used to have been a cart path, but was now well worn down, exclusively by the Tonka Truck. After a few more minutes, they were there. Their private secluded spot was well out of view, and had gone unnoticed all the time they'd been travelling there. They were off in their own little world, which included within it a narrow expanse of grass, a dense forest, a small pond, a Tonka Truck, and the two of them. Anyway, they got out and sat down at the edge of the pond, just content to be together. They had lunch, provided from the tailgate of the truck, and then explored a wee bit through the periphery of the surrounding woods. They later returned to the pond, and one thing led to another, and before either knew it, they were being pushed or pulled into the water by the other. Jason came to the surface first and bobbed there; then, after a few instants, Brianna emerged, took in a breath, and then laughed. She'd been the one to push Jason in, and in the tradition, when she reached out to help him climb out, he grabbed her wrist and hauled her off the bank. "I guess we're even," she said, still laughing. "I guess so," Jay agreed. "But don't expect that that means I won't be pushing YOU in here sometime to get even." "Oh really?" she countered. "That's not the way the rules work." "There're rules to getting half-drowned?" he wondered aloud as he swam back to shore. "Sure. Rule 1 is that you have to make sure it's safe, of course." "Of course. Wouldn't wanna toss someone into a six-inch puddle full of broken bottles and rusty nails." "Exactly. Rule 2 is they can't be expecting it, or else it's no fun. Rule 3 is that they have to be completely submerged, or it doesn't count." They were back on the bank. "And rule 4 is that if you pull someone in using the classic 'I'll-help-you-no-I'LL-help-YOU-into-the-water' bit, you can't get them back at a later time." "Who made up these rules, by the way?" "'They' did," Brianna said, then shook herself to get rid of some of the water. "You know, 'They' as in 'that's what They say'. What?" she said as she realized Jason was staring at her. "I've never seen you shake yourself dry like that," he said. "Well, I AM part cat," she countered. "I guess one-quarter, right?" "Something like that," he answered, noting in the back of his mind that they'd spent almost the entire day without making one productive statement at all. It'd entirely been silliness. And he didn't really seem to care. The next day was only slightly different. They put some new and useful goodies into the truck, but other than that, it was all a Stupid Day. They went out and did utterly unproductive things, like wander around in the mall, or go watch a movie, or things like that. The strangest part was that Jason didn't appear concerned at all. He normally would've been always wondering if something had happened to them, or someone had been messing with reality, or something like that, and what he'd be able to do to stop it. Instead, he was just enjoying himself. Truth be known, something HAD happened to them, particularly Jason. He'd finally become comfortable and happy, and realized (subconsciously) that he had not been put there for some grand purpose other than to just live, and be Brianna's Significant Other(tm). To that end, for the next several days, since Gina had no 'adventures' lined up, all the two friends did was go out and have fun. 9 JUNE 1997 Jason flipped on the radio and tuned in a rock station, and was rewarded with a good dose of rock'n'roll. He powered down the windows and let the world (or at least a good part of northeastern Atlanta) know that he was listening to some very loud Van Halen. "Feel like doing me a favor?" Brianna asked from the seat beside him. "What?" he said. "Let's go to Shangra-La for the day." "Hey, I got no problems with that." He found a relatively deserted side-street and activated the light-gate generator.. but not until the song was over. Fifteen minutes later, they were in the outer library. Brianna was leafing through some miscellaneous books, and Jason noticed that one of them was on Zardon Weather Disruptors and their use during the Hundred Day War. He smiled, in spite of the memories the words brought forward. he told his subconscious. That notwithstanding, he did go and find some books from the past and dove into them. Not exactly his best choice for a day out of the house, but whatever worked was fine. He read about subjects he'd never concentrated upon before-- no dimensional crap this time around, he wanted to LEARN something. He explored the world of medicine, going further than the basic EMT level he maintained, and then abruptly switched to Australian history. For the hell of it, he skimmed over a book on archaeology too, to prove to Gina that he had learned something she'd think was useful too. It went on like this for several hours, and then they just got up and left, not even signing out one single volume. On the trip home, they wowed each other with bits of knowledge they'd absorbed during the day. When they arrived home, it was almost nine p.m., and Jason chose to head for the gym to start a fitness program. "A WHAT?" Brianna said, smiling. "What brought that on?" "Idunno," he shrugged. "I just feel motivated, that's all." "You could run with me in the morning," she offered, laughing. "Um, thanks, but no. Either you'd have to stop running with your sister and start taking it real slow, or I'd break and dislocate my legs being 'forced' to keep up. I'll be content with just a bit each night in the gym." "Suit yourself. I'll be in Lab 6 if you need me." "Roger, over." He headed for the gym. Again, he failed to be his normal self, all analytical and brooding, while he worked out with the weights. Naturally, he didn't notice this (if he had, he'd've been analytical, right?). While he was exercising, he thought only of the task at hand. An hour later, exhausted, he made his way to their room and the shower within, using it, and then dumped himself into bed. The next morning, which was a Tuesday, found him getting up at the usual time. He went into the kitchen, got out the peanut butter, and thought for a second. Finally, he put back the peanut butter and started rooting around in the other cupboards. "What are you looking for?" Genn asked from the table. "Cereal." "What kind?" "What do you mean, what kind? Cereal.." "Genn means like Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, what?" Brit said as she came into the kitchen. "Anyway, they're above the microwave." Jason went over there as Brit continued, "What is it with you, anyway? I hear you're on a fitness kick, now." Jason opened the cupboard over the microwave, chose a box of Corn Flakes, and snagged a bowl and a spoon and sat down at the table. "I just got motivated, that's all. I'm thinking it's about time I did this." "Wanna run with us?" "Um, NO, thank you. Bri' asked me about that last night. I don't think I could handle it." "Hey, you can do anything if you put your mind to it," Cheets countered as she left. Genn finished eating and washed up, then left as well. Jason ate the cereal, cleaned up, and headed back to his and Bri's room. Bri' was out with her sister for their daily run, so Jason was alone. He gweeped about in the computer for a while, then updated his GyroJet. Bri wandered into Lab 6 about half an hour later to find Jay hunched over the guts of his opened-up pager, a screwdriver in his hand. Bri watched for a bit, then said, "You'd think it'd be easier than that to change the battery." Jason looked up. "I'm not changing the battery. It doesn't need batteries. I'm adding a few things, combining this with the key and the alarm remote and all that." Jason touched a button on the face of the pager and the truck started up. Brian turned and looked at the idling monster. Then he looked back at Jason. "I thought it wouldn't run unoccupied." "I got rid of that. If someone inside the cab doesn't have this 'pager' on them, it'll sense that and not move. Oh, and I'm going to strip out the transmission later if you can give me a hand." "Why?" "I realized that it's wasteful to have a standard-style tranny hooked up to a fusion engine with direct drive to the wheels. So I'm going to put in a selector switch for forward, neutral, and reverse, and that'll be that." "And you know how to do that?" Jason pushed the button again; the rumbling vehicle quit. "Well, I'm gonna need Bri' for most of it." He fiddled with the pager/controller some more. "Whatever. Give a holler when you need a hand, okay?" "You bet. Thanks." "No sweat." Brian was off, and Jason continued with his work. The phone rang once, and he looked over to see that it was Gina's line, and someone else had already picked it up. He continued with his work. Moments later, Gina burst into the bay, all panicky and out of breath. "Did you.. see.. a mouse.. in here??!" she panted. "Did you say a mouse?" he said, wondering what would make her so terrified of a rodent. His mind drifted back to the graphical chronicles of her past, before he arrived, and his eyes widened.. Just then, Cheetah and Brianna arrived. Bri' came over and hadn't quite begun her greeting when a demonic chuckle sounded out from the shadows beneath the workbench, and a tiny figure hurtled at her. Somehow, it managed to knock her flat on her behind, and she was half-sitting-half-lying on the floor, a ferocious look on her face as she threw a hand up in front of it, trying to shield herself from the demon-mouse. Without warning, and from some unseen force, Brianna's form began to appear to change. As they watched, first, her right arm, which was up in an effort to defend herself against the monster, grew larger and muscular, the same color as her hair, with hideous claws and talon-like outcroppings. Similar things faded in and out all over her form rapidly, her expression never changing from that of a look of determined pissed-offedness, and suddenly, the mouse with its flaming aura of energy seemed to turn back at those viewing the scene, and then vanish from sight, taking Brianna with it. "What happened?" Genn whispered to Brian, coming up quietly on the latter, who'd rushed back to the bay when he'd heard a commotion. Genn could see Jason, Gina, and Britanny standing and/or sitting there in shock, apparently unable to console one another. "Bri'.. she's.. she just dis.." Brian tried to begin. Then he sucked in a great breath and tried again. "She's gone." "WHAT?" Genn burst out. The Rakshasa looked from Brian to the other three. "What happened??" Brian explained what he'd been able to glean from the others: Gina had received a call from the Rat Exterminator people that had originally trapped the demon-mouse that had followed her home one time. The mouse had somehow escaped their compound, and was likely headed their way. Gina had been in the process of locking down the complex when she came across Jason, and had tried to explain it to him. Before she'd had a chance, though, Bri' and Brit had come back from their morning run, and the mouse had taken the opportunity to strike, apparently working some magic on Brianna before whisking her away. Genn was at a loss for words, as was everyone else, evidently. Momentarily, Brian walked up to Jason, and reached down to where his friend was sitting on the floor, and put a hand on his shoulder. It was immediately batted away. No matter how hard he stared at anything--the walls, the ceiling, the truck-- Jay couldn't get that last image out of his mind's eye; of Bri' trying in vain to push the mouse away. Even with her speed and strength, it'd been no use. Now as he looked at the floor where she'd ended up, there wasn't so much as a wisp of smoke. Gina and Britanny were in a state of utter shock, and after a short time, they started towards Jason. "Computer, about a minute ago in lab 6, a demonic mouse attacked and kidnapped Brianna," he said slowly in measured tones. "I want to know where they fucking well went and I want to know yesterday." "Cannot comply," the computer's voice answered. "Requested function will take forty-five minutes to complete." "Acknowledged. Priority one." "Priority status confirmed." "Jason.." Brian began, and was cut off. "We were just finally starting to get used to each other, d'ya know that?" Jason said. "At long last, after so many weeks and months, we were comfortable being each other's SO. We started having dreams about each other, god damn it-- and we were trying to plan out our first solo job, too." He fell over backwards, supine on the floor. "IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!!" FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER As promised, the computer had an idea about the whereabouts of the mouse, and likely Brianna as well. The same signature of magical energy had been located only one other place in the world--in the tomb where Gina and Britanny had first encountered the mouse--and the curse that had ultimately led to Brianna's creation. "You don't think it was taking her back home, do you?" Brian said aloud, then caught himself just in the nick of too late. "I think it was mostly random," Jason answered, still using a monotone with an angry edge to it. "The mouse could just as easily have gone after any of us. Brianna was just the first one it saw." "I tend to agree," Gina said, her sorrow also having given way to a fierce devotion to getting her sister back. "Dad removed the curse--there's no way that it could've singled Bri' out in any way." "Then our task seems to be simple," Brian declared, attempting to redeem himself for his earlier blunder. "Go there, kick some demonic mouse ass, and get Bri' back." Trying not to think of the horrific form Brianna had taken briefly before her departure, Jason said, "Number one is easy. How do we accomplish number two, so we can complete job 3?" "I think I may be of assistance." Everyone turned. "Dad!" Gina and Brit blurted out. "Dr. Diggers," Jason said. Beside the archmage was his wife, Julia. "No need to waste any time," Julia said. "You can explain it all on the way to where ever we're needed." Forty minutes later, with Gina, Britanny, and Julia in one of the Ginamobiles leading the way, Jay and Brian were heading towards Iran, with Theodore Diggers riding with them. Jay couldn't help but notice, realizing he was going all silly and picking on the unimportant again. He had to stop that! "That is truly going to be difficult," Dr. Diggers said, and it took a moment for Jason to realize that his friend's father hadn't read Jason's mind, and was actually talking about his daughter. Or was he? "Being in its native territory gives the demon what you would call a 'home field advantage'," Theodore was saying. "It shall take everything we can throw at it to subdue it." He didn't point out that the description he'd been given of what had happened to Brianna just before her disappearance didn't make sense. Why would the mouse alter her form, her genetic makeup, in such a way? Any beast it would have turned her into, from what Gina and friends had described, would've been no less powerful than Brianna herself when it came to defending herself against the demon. Unless the demon hadn't been the one changing Brianna's form.. Hours later, they arrived under cover of darkness. Gina and Britanny climbed out and blinked. "Jinkies," Gina said to her sister. "I don't think anyone's been here since we have." "I believe it." Cheetah turned and saw Jason heading her way. "What's this?.." "When we DO find Bri', if we still have to go after that mouse, I want her to have her armor, just in case. Since it's too heavy to carry around for very long, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind wearing it for now." After a few seconds, she smiled. "Sure." Brian was suited up, so Jason quickly put his own gear on and was ready to go. They were at a lava-chasm that Gina remembered as being one of the traps she'd encountered due to the curse they'd awakened 3 years previous. Dr. Diggers easily moved all the non-armored people across to the other side. Brian's boosters cut out as he touched down, and the lot of them were safely across. "So we're not going to be caught up in that curse, right?" he asked. "Definitely not," Theodore Diggers confirmed. "What remained of it existed only in Brianna when she was first created, and I eliminated it promptly." "Good. I'd hate to have any more bad luck than usual," Brian quipped. They moved deeper into the maze of corridors. As they cautiously carried on, Gina explained what had happened the first time she and Cheetah had been on site, in vivid detail. She'd been hoping to find the tomb of the world's first ruler, and other than the terrorists, the cleaned-out treasure room, the curse, and Genn, they found nothing. "Genn probably would've been a big help," Julia realized. "I asked," Brian said. "The offer was, um, politely declined. Something about Brianna's usual habits. Even with Jason around, Genn's still a bit scared of being around Bri'." Jay smirked in spite of himself. The group traversed all the traps Gina and Brit had previously set off, and some they'd missed as well. Thankfully, they were able to elude injury in all cases. "We must be pretty far below ground now," Julia observed. "Yeah," Brian answered. "I can't even get CNN." Everyone turned and saw a small static-filled screen on his helmet's HUD wink out. "Aw, Bri, c'mon, get serious," Jason cut in. "I AM being serious," Brian shot back. "Look.. we're all as upset about what's happened as you are, Jay. But we're going to get to the bottom of it pronto." Brian looked down the descending tunnel they were in. "Literally." "Yeah. I know. I'm just on edge, as usual." "As usual," Brian repeated in a tone that would normally be used by one who was agreeing that yes, everything was normal. Too many hours passed. The lot of them were tired, hungry, and upset. The random spatters of blood didn't help, although Dr. Diggers kept to himself that he didn't feel it was Brianna's. Julia was lost in thought, reflecting on her youngest daughter's predicament. For a fleeting moment, Julia felt odd calling Brianna her daughter, and then the moment passed, and it felt as right as anything. Gina and Cheetah remained ever-vigilant, trying to push to the backs of their minds that their sister was missing somewhere within the maze of corridors. Brian, while he scanned his suits' instruments, was really feeling for his friends; for Gina, because her sister was missing, and for Jason, who was really taking it hard. Jason remained mostly silent. He was making promises to whatever deities that would listen that once they found Brianna, he'd take her someplace special and just be with her for a while. That got him thinking about the Frakes system, and why it hadn't kicked in, again. Then he realized he was being analytical again, and got angry with himself. Finally, as they rounded a corner, there was the mouse. It had to be, since it had a glowing aura about it, even though said aura was quite dim, and the mouse appeared to be not so well off. "You!" it seethed. "It's bad enough she brought me back here.. and now.. now you rabble.. are here to finish me off, eh? Well, I won't go without a fight!" It leapt at the group. The armored in the group reflexively brought up defenses, and Dr. Diggers shot a conflagration at it. Its mouse form dissolved, returning it to the giant demonic figure it had always been. Momentarily, that slumped to the floor and then disintegrated into a pile of dust. While the lot of them were just letting it sink in that the demon had said "she brought me here", Cheetah quickly ran ahead and kicked at the large pile, scattering the ashen debris all over the place. She looked up as the others watched her. "Just one last kick at the mouse, so to speak," she grinned. A whispered "yess!" drifted by, and the lot of them turned just in time to see a shadow disappear. "Wh--" Jason began, directing his question to Cheetah, who could hear and see better than anyone there. "Was that..?" "Grab on," she told him, and took hold of his armored wrist. She raced to catch up to the shadow, and they did at a dead-end corridor. Jay flipped on his helmet lamp and gaped. A huge, catlike, muscular, horrifyingly savage-looking creature cowered before them (as much as a twelve-foot-tall beast can cower before a seven-foot were- cheetah and a six-foot armored man). Three things stuck out immediately to Jay: A) The creature had a black mark from left eyebrow vertically down over the left eyelid to the base of the left side of the jaw. 2) The creature had the tattered remains of Brianna's running outfit du jour on. Thirdly, it also used a low, rumbling approximation of her voice to plead to them. "Go away," it said, turning to crouch so that it wouldn't have to look at them. "Leave me here." "Sis?" Britanny said in disbelief. "Bri'?" Jason said equally surprised. "Bri', do you know who we are?" "I said GO AWAY!" The voice rose enough that it was recognizable; it was indeed Brianna within that unfamiliar body. Just then, the rest of them caught up. More than one gasp was heard. "I can't stand to be near you like this!" Brianna rumbled, and turned away again. "What--" someone began, but Dr. Diggers stepped forward. "I have a theory," he said, and whispered something to his lycanthrope daughter. She looked at him, smiled and nodded, and turned to her youngest sister, and in turn, whispered something. After a moment came the deep rumbling voice again. "I--I can't!" "Just concentrate.. just try, Bri'. Trust me." Cheetah laid a gloved hand on her sister's massive shoulder. All at once, in a way not dissimilar to Cheetah's transformations, there was Brianna again, in tattered clothes, but herself again nonetheless. She looked at herself and made a surprised sound. "Bri'!" Jason said and hugged her. She returned it, looking at her father and sister for answers. "You have, and will always have, part of your two sisters within you," Theo began. "To that end, you have some lycanthropic tendencies--not quite as developed as Britanny's, but still present. However, you don't have any forms to change to--or at least DIDN'T, until now. My suspicion is that when your life was in grave danger, your instincts took over and changed you into something that you could use to defend yourself." "Yes.. I really mopped up the floor with the demon before you guys got here. I was too tired to finish him off, having only wore him out, when you showed up and did the job for me. Thanks, by the way." "Ah, that was nothin'," Brian quipped. "You'd do the same." "It said that you'd brought it here," Julia spoke up. "Do you know anything about that?" "Not a lot. I didn't do it consciously, anyway. I DO remember this place, of course, since I have Gina's and Brit's memories. I was able to use that to my advantage and try to find some metal to use to attack the mouse. I guess I was too fast for him, 'cause I really cut him up bad." "You sure did," Brian answered, "and we turned him to dust. He's gone." "Why did he go after you?" Jason wondered aloud. "And how did he escape the Rat Exterminators' lockup?" Julia asked. Brit walked over to Brianna. "Here, take this until we get you some clothes." She began to remove the powered armor and hand it to her sister. "And guys, I think we should let these two go somewhere together, alone, for a bit, to relax. You can teleport the rest of us back home that don't go in the car, right, Dad?" "Child's play, my dear," he told his daughter. Britanny turned back to Jason and Brianna. "Jay. Take your truck home and let Bri' get some clothes. Then, you two go out and unwind. I don't want to see either of you back at home until you're both completely over this, or I WILL force you to come along during one of my morning runs. Get it?" Jason smiled and gulped. "Got it." "Good. Bri', go have some fun. Get your mind off of this." The truck emerged from a light-gate around the corner from the house and then drove into the bay. Brianna turned to get out of the truck, but Jason stopped her. "Listen. Get us both about a week's clothes and other stuff, will ya?" Bri' looked at him for a second, then smiled. "Sure. Gonna fill me in on it?" "Sure. Later." He started to load a course into the computer while he waited for her. It was time for him to take his chances and talk to someone, to follow a hunch. Less than an hour later, they were on the road, manually driving westward. Brianna looked at him. "What's up?" "Mind a short trip down to Texas?" "Texas?" "Quagmire." "What's up with Quagmire?" Jason explained about his relationship with the Asrial from his dimension. "Do you really think that this Asrial will know you?" "Not in the way that you think," he said. "But the Asrial that I knew was quite receptive in the concept of cross-dimensional stuff." He suddenly realized something. "..You don't mind me doing this, do you?" Bri' smiled. "No, of course not. You're looking up an old friend. That's all." "I appreciate that." "No sweat." They both sat in silence for about 30 seconds. "This is gonna be a long drive, isn't it?" Brianna said. Jason chuckled. Not much later, the inevitable conversation started. "Um.. about my, uh,.." As soon as she started talking, Jason knew what she was trying to say. He tried to help her along. "About the events that took place this morning?" "Yeah." "What about it?" "You're okay with it?" "Of course I am." He looked at her briefly before having to look back at the traffic ahead, lest he wreck out. "It's just part of your life now." "Don't you worry about what might happen if I accidentally change into that thing and--" "'That thing' is YOU, Bri'. Do you ever hear Brit talking about any of her alternate forms as 'that thing'?" "No, but she's a lot more used to it, too." "You will be, too, in time. And to answer the question you were trying to ask, no. When you changed forms, and fought the demon mouse, were you able to control your actions, or was it like you were watching from somewhere else?" She took a long time to answer. "I.. just acted. I didn't notice the change until I'd stopped for a second, when the mouse fled." "And then, when you noticed, same question: were you possessed or anything like that?" She scoffed. "No, I wasn't POSSESSED. I knew who I was." "In order to beat the mouse, you surely had to be comfortable with your body, to be able to use its reflexes and advantages." "I told you, I never consciously thought about it. I just did it." "My point exactly. It was like second nature. Do you think your sister goes through any other changes when she switches to a cat or to a human? The answer's no. She's the same person inside, just in a different body." "But.. that wasn't the point." "I think it IS. You're afraid that someone's going to set you off, and when you change back and 'wake up', there'll be blood and gore everywhere, am I right?" She didn't answer, so he continued. "Your father and I and Bri discussed this earlier. The change you underwent was an instinctive response triggered by your life being directly threatened. Your dad believes that the lycanthropic abilities you have from Brit aren't full and whole, and that you can't change when you want to, only when you NEED to. You CAN change BACK whenever you want, after the danger has passed, so long as you remember what Brit taught you. But there's no danger of you getting pissed off with someone and accidentally tearing their throat out. You're a whole and sensible person. Okay?" She smiled. "Okay," she finally said quietly. "Sorry." "There's nothing to be sorry about. It was a perfectly legitimate question, even if it was uninformed." The next day, as they passed through Houston, they decided to stop and see what there was to see in the Texan city. There were a couple of space museums here and there, and Jason insisted on at least looking at the AstroDome, so the day wasn't entirely wasted. But for the most part, they just drove around, stopped when they found something interesting, and didn't when they didn't. They were just alive. Jason realized this as they left one of the space museum type sites, and he tried not to think about it much more. He noticed he was thinking about things a wee bit too much ever since Brianna had had her little unusual occurrence. He just wanted to live, and not be hampered by thinking about things like that. While they were wandering around, they quite literally ran into a fellow who was darting around, acting weird, holding a tricorder-like device, and dressed rather poorly. The short, skinny man, appearing to be in his twenties, yelped and looked up at Brianna. "Oh! I am truly sorr--" He cut himself off as he saw her. "My, my, aren't YOU a healthy one." "What?" she said. "Quite a beautiful specimen, if I may say so. I have an offer--" "Let's get the hell out of here," Jason told Brianna, taking her wrist as she was trying to get the same statement out herself. "Wait!" the man called after them. "I need to ask you something!" "Do YOU know what that was about?" Brianna asked as she climbed into the driver's side of the truck. "No, but I was getting some really bad feelings outta the whole thing," Jason told her. "Rule #5150, never hang around wacked-out mad scientists." "Good point," she agreed as she pulled away from the curb and headed westward, not noticing the beat-up Volkswagen bus that pulled out six cars behind them. Brian idly checked the computer that afternoon and saw that Jason had logged in. His curiosity rising, Bri checked the inbound and saw that Jay had telnetted in from a computer at the Houston Public Library, not the truck, and had taken six tries to get his password. Brian's head instantly screamed 'hacker', but he wasn't 100% sure on it. Maybe the truck's antenna packed it in and they didn't have the resources to repair it right away. The password thing could be due to typing on an unfamiliar keyboard, but things just didn't mesh right in Brian's mind. He used the backdoor that Jason didn't know about and examined the session log. That cinched it for him: Whoever had been in Jay's account had been looking for information on Brianna, and also anything related to Jason that had even the remotest link to her. They were all under strict orders from Cheetah to not make contact with Jay or Bri' at all, under threat of, quote, 'bad things'. His only recourse was, therefore, to get some help, he decided as he picked up the phone. Moments later, Gina was there, suitably intrigued as well. "Hm. I'm not sure if we should disturb them, but there might be something else we can do." "Like?" "Ping the truck." "Ping it?" "That way, if it's down, we'll know, and if not, we can fire off a message and hope that one of them reads it." As Brian began typing, he said, "I dunno--apart from the hacker, the last time Jay read his mail was the morning of the mouse thing." "Well, we can hope that one of them succumbs to the urge to catch up with the world." Gina smiled and watched as the screen responded to the information sent back and forth between them and the truck. "Looks like the truck is up." "Yeah," Brian agreed. He sent an askme to the Usenet Oracle routed through the truck's server and the question came back immediately. "Mail router's up, too." He opened another blank mail window. "What do you want to say?" She leaned in over his shoulder. "Here." Bri' pulled into Quagmire exactly eighteen hours after leaving Houston. She found Maple Street, drove past the Feeple house, and found nothing. Jason slapped his forehead. "Doh. This is after the Monster attack. She moved to the northwest outskirts of town." Brianna looked at him strangely, smiled, and started driving again. Several minutes later, they turned off the main road onto a dirt path in a hilly section of the outside of town. After a few twists, turns, dips, and bumps, there it was in a quarry, an ExoSalusia Model 3 Probe Ship, decked out in the royal colors of orange and black. A vehicle that looked suspiciously like a 1961 Corvette was parked beside it. "Carefully fly down into the quarry and park near the car," Jason instructed. "She might have some defenses I'm not aware of." Brianna did as she was asked, and was able to set down without being accosted. She looked at Jason, who was looking up at the battle-scarred spaceship like he was seeing an old friend. "Oh," he said when he realized he was being watched. "Carefully, let's head around to the starboard side on foot." "I'm going to be careful, Jay," Bri' said. "You can stop repeating yourself." They walked around to the other side of the ship, and Jason reached up to unlock the hatch. "Should you be doing that?" Brianna wanted to ask, but before she could even begin, he had the access panel open and the controls in operation. A whining noise broke the silence as the ramp started to descend. It was empty for a second or three, just long enough for them to feel relaxed, and then Asrial showed up with a large beam-rifle type weapon aimed at them. "Hold it, Earthian scum!" She didn't know what else to say, because nobody had ever cracked her ship's security lock before. She ordered the thieves to put up their hands, and started to identify herself. "I am Princess Asrial, Salusian of.. Imperial.." She trailed off as the male's 3/4 sleeves on his T-shirt slid up and exposed more of his arms, as he raised his hands in the air. On the inside of his right elbow was a dark marking.. Just then, Asrial's pet appeared at the top of the ramp. "Poki?" it said, with its curious habit of saying only one word. It spotted Jason. "PokiPOKI!!" it yapped, racing down the ramp and leaping onto Jason's arm. He seemed relatively unperturbed by the event, but Brianna was puzzled, and Asrial was entirely shocked. "Poki's are cross-dimensional creatures, maintaining a presence in several places all at once," Jason asided to Bri'. "I'm willing to bet that this is the same one I knew well in my WDF years." Asrial just stood there dumbfounded. Finally, she got up the wits to speak. "Identify yourself, Knight-Defender." "Majesty," Jason said, turning back to her, arms still high (seeing as how As hadn't yet put away the weapon), "my name's Jason Low. I was once a dimensional traveller, and in the place I once came from, I knew you well. I got sent to this dimension a few years back, and since I'm on vacation this week, I thought I might come visit and get to know the you that lives here." Ten minutes later, they were inside the ship, the weapon put away, and Jason explaining his existence to Asrial. The Infamous Origin Story got its run again, this time concentrating more on Jason's relationship with Kylie and Salusia in general. "You were married to a Spilogale?" Asrial said in astonishment. "My father's sister married Arken Spilogale." At that exact moment, Jason realized that Bri' was still sitting patiently beside him. "Oh--I'm sorry. By the way, As, this is Brianna Diggers, my SO. I believe you met her sister a while back." A smile showed up on Asrial's face. "I KNEW you looked familiar!" She shook Brianna's hand. "Is your sister well?" "Quite well, Princess," Brianna nodded, smiling back. "Please, call me Asrial. I feel like I know you two, now. You through your sister, and you--" gesturing to Jay "--through, well, I don't know." Jason laughed briefly. "By the way, we had a run-in with the Dynasty again after you and Brit dealt with them." "You DID? Tell me about it." So they did, sharing the task of retelling their story of the trip to Aebra and helping to shove the Dynasty off towards another realm. Asrial sat enraptured for the duration. "My, my, you've been a busy bunch. So, Jay.. tell me how you became a Knight- Defender." "Hm.. okay, so long as you promise that anything I tell you won't affect you here. I mean that you won't pack up and return to Salusia." "O..kay," she nodded. Jason launched into yet another story, this one about the Greub Revolt, and how he and half-a-dozen others helped stop a madman from taking over the Palace Imperial. He reluctantly related the part about the taking of the King's-- Asrial's father's--life. Asrial smiled. "Don't worry. I know you did your best. Otherwise, the other me wouldn't've given you that, right?" She gestured to his elbow. "Um, I guess, yeah. But I was more concerned about you worrying about your father's safety and ordering close surveillance on anyone named Greub." She smiled again. "I understand dimensions as well as you do, Jay. Anything you did there is like a story to me here. The odds of it affecting us here are so low as to be insignificant." Jason said silently. "Yeah, you're right." "So anyway, how'd you get here? I never built a ramp down from the lip of the quarry.." Both Jay and Bri' broke into wide grins. "Come outside," Jason said proudly. "Wow.." As said, walking around the truck at a distance of about twelve feet. "That looks impressive." "Check this out," Bri' said, and popped open the hood. The fusion motor didn't exactly shine, seeing as how they'd driven a few hundred miles in dusty, muddy weather, but it was a sight nonetheless. Asrial gaped, probably wondering if she could get one too. Jason went around the back and opened the tailgate, about to say something to Asrial, when he stopped short. He looked around the end of the truck at Bri', then shook his head, smiling. "What?" Asrial asked. "I thought this was supposed to be a vacation," Jason said to Brianna. "What?" Brianna echoed Asrial. Jason gestured to the two sets of armor inside. "Hey," Brianna countered, "Always be prepared." "I DID get the beep repaired," he said, walking up to the cab and tapping the horn, which sounded once. He walked back to a pair of women who didn't know how to react. As they walked back inside the ship, Asrial whispered to Jason, away from Bri', who was closing up the truck. "She doesn't mind you coming here to meet me, does she?" "No, I don't," came Brianna's voice. "He's been friends with the other you while being married to someone else before, and was also with his best, closest friend ever at the same time. He knows how to handle himself. I'm OK with it." Jason spoke as Asrial's face was a look of surprise. "Oh, by the way, being part were-cheetah, she has incredible hearing. Probably on par with yours." Asrial eventually smiled. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. Bri', I just wanted to be sure that everything was okay. This mark--" she grabbed Jason's arm and held it up "--was made with my own personal device. Each member of the Royal Family can designate someone a Knight-Defender. As you can see, in the realm Jason came from, there're less than a thousand in existence. Here, it's not that far off, either. In any case, a person is made a Knight-Defender only when they put all else--their life--aside in order to protect the Royals. In that group of less-than-a-thousand people, I know of only fourteen that were strangers to the Royals that they swore to protect. In other words, usually a Knight-Defender is very well-known by the people he defends. I wanted to make sure that everything was okay between you, me, and Jason, regardless of what dimension any of us came from." Brianna nodded. "I understand. Jay told me all about it." The two girls turned to a crackling noise in the nearby brush. Jason, without any enhanced hearing, was missing out. "That's Jeremy," Asrial smiled. "He was going to come over for a while today." The Salusian princess turned to Jay. "You know Jeremy too, don't you?" "Only as Earth Ambassador to Salusia," Jason nodded. And now, it seemed, he was going to meet him again, this time as a 22-year old Earthian boy. Jeremy was told all the stories about Jason, and seemed to accept them quite readily. When told of Brianna's origins, he, a few inches shorter than Jason, looked up at the girl that towered over the both of them. Bri' smiled widely. Jason even dropped the bomb that involved him having read about Quagmire and everyone there through a comic book from another dimension. After the initial surprise, everything seemed to be okay. "So, I've been out of the proverbial loop for a while," Jason said, smiling. "Last I heard was you two were getting together after you and Ichi officially called it off. And your dad had shown up in a spacesuit. What's happened since then?" The four of them headed out for dinner that night. (The local Pizza Hut would never be the same.) "So how was the drive out here?" Jeremy asked the two travellers. "Must be nice this time of year." "It would've been, except for the mad scientist," Brianna said. "The what?" Jason started to answer, but paused as he picked a piece of seafood off his quarter of the pizza and tossed it onto Brianna's plate. "Here, they went a little overboard with your toppings." To Jeremy: "In Houston, while we were sightseeing, some mental escapee accosted us and tried to get us to go somewhere with him, but we got rid of him." "That's good," Asrial said. "But it's not the mad scientists you have to look out for these days. Now it's mad engineers and mad marketing consultants." Bri' and Jay didn't know how to answer that. Three tables away, a man sat with a homeless girl, acting like a couple. He'd paid her to sit and eat with him, so he could be less conspicuous. He just about choked when he heard the young people nearby talking about him. They returned to Asrial's ship later on. "So, what are you going to do now?" she asked Jay and Bri'. "Well, if you don't mind, we're just going to crash here tonight in the truck, and in the morning, we'll head out and be on our way." "Why leave so soon?" Asrial said. "I could show you a lot here. There's tons of stuff to do." Brianna smiled. "That'd be great. We've got nothing pressing to do." "You don't have to stay out in your truck, though; I have--" "Some nights, that truck is more comfortable than our bed," Jason cut in. "We'll be fine. Thanks." True enough, that night was one of the few times recently that Jason had a full, restful night's sleep. That distressed him in the morning, because he'd missed something important. He woke up to find himself alone in the truck. A brief panic ensued, and he realized that Bri' must've gone inside with Asrial for breakfast. Jason got up, walked over to the ship, and lowered the ramp so he could get in. When he was inside, his mind was pointing out to him that Bri' didn't know how to work the ship's hatch. He felt troubled as he realized he'd awakened Asrial, and save her Poki, there wasn't another living creature around. "What? What's wrong?" Asrial asked, getting up. "I think Brianna's missing," Jason said, strangely calm. "She wasn't in the truck when I woke up, and I thought she was up here with you, but apparently not." Jay did an about-face and went back down the ramp. The hard clay ensured that there were no footprints to follow. Asrial came out to see Jason in the truck again. He was looking totally confused. "Her armor's gone, too," he said to As as she approached. "It is so NOT like her to not wake me up and drag me along, or at least tell me where she's headed." He powered up his ride's computer. "Oh, I hope.." "What?" "That this works." He drummed out a sequence on the keyboard and was rewarded with a satellite map of the general area, with a blip moving towards Houston at about sixty miles an hour. "Yes!" "That's her?" "That's her suit," he said. "We installed beacons in them after, um, one of us went off on his own without telling the other two one time." He coughed. "Um, not to dump my problems on you, but would you be willing to come with me, after her? I could use the help." "Jay. We're friends now. Absolutely. Just let me get some stuff." Asrial went back around the corner of the ship, out of sight. Jason sighed. The thought made him jerk his head back toward the screen again, watching the blip travelling down the highway, back toward Houston. If she'd been abducted, she'd've subdued her captors long ago and returned to Quagmire. Wouldn't she? She'd had time to get her armor and take it with her. Had she gone willingly? What the hell was going on? Asrial came back around to the truck and motioned for Jason to open the back hatch. He did, and Asrial dumped some weapons and her own personal armor into the truck. She closed it and came back up to the front passenger seat. "Ready," she said. "Excellent." Jason launched the truck into the air. ATLANTA THE SAME TIME (ABOUT 9 A.M.) Brian wandered around the complex after having had his shower. If Jason was going to commit to getting up at a decent hour and working out, so would he. He felt exhausted from the workout he'd put himself through, but the day was still so young. He passed the living room and saw an apparently bored Gina, flipping through channels on the TV. He doubled back and entered the room. "What's up?" "Absolutely NOTHING," she said, her chin resting on one hand, the remote in her other hand. Short cuts from each program all around the dial were playing as she switched channels continuously, making it sound almost funny. "Nothing to do, nothing to watch, nothing at all." "Did they reply to your message yet?" "Nope. Nothing yet." "I'm not worried. They can handle themselves. If the truck hasn't been destroyed, they're still out there, and safe." Brian paused for a second. "Wanna go out?" "Out?" Gina looked up at him and stopped playing with the TV. "Out where?" "I don't know. The mall. A museum. A secluded area somewhere. Anywhere." Gina smiled. "Sounds good." She got up and told him to wait for a couple of minutes while she got changed. He stood there, wondering how he'd gotten into this and where it was going. "I must say, I AM impressed with your handiwork," Asrial told Jason, watching the truck she was in flying at a hundred and fifty meters above the ground at just under seven hundred kilometers an hour. "Thanks," Jason said. He followed the course plot to the letter, changing his heading every now and then to compensate for whatever vehicle Brianna was in making turns. "It's a work in progress." "..I hope you don't mind me asking, but.. well, what's your life been like?" "Weird," he responded, strangely satisfied that he didn't feel the urge to sigh or collapse at the thought of his past. "A convoluted mess, and yet I'm not sure I'd change anything, given the chance to do it over." "How so?" "I'm old enough to have seen civilizations rise and fall," he said, putting the truck into a banked turn. "Through it all, I've managed to keep several friends close to me. That was the thing that troubled me most about my jumping and the drug we took near the beginning. I was afraid I'd outlast everyone else, much as I'm sure everyone else felt about their own situations. I've been married four times--me, the guy who thought he'd never find someone to settle down with. Of those four women, two have died, and two have been lost when I jumped from the realm we inhabited together." He tried to figure out why he was telling her this, but he was on too much of a roll to let it bother him. "Anyway, it's not only my friends and family that've made this a strange journey. I've seen things I never would've thought possible. Like I said, when I was a kid, the concept of offworld living, let alone living things from offworld, was so far-fetched that it was the stuff of science fiction. Now, not only have extraterrestrials visited Earth, but I've visited their worlds too, and an intergalactic federation is something that's taken for granted, something that in my youth would've been part of a fantasy." He shrugged. "I guess after 3400 years, I'm still in a bit of a state of shock." He glanced at the HUD. "Woops, they're down below us now." He dove the truck toward the Earth's surface, and could see it now--a brown VW van with an orange stripe, tapped right out, heading roughly northward on the highway. "Do you want me to do anything?" Asrial said, looking at the group of controls arrayed around her. "Not for now," Jason said. "I'm hoping I can just get him--them--whatever--to stop." The tires chirped as the truck transited from flight to driving mode. Sixty miles an hour, the microbus' apparent limit, was barely ticking over the Tonka Truck's fusion motor, which surged as Jason pushed down on the throttle. He passed the van on the left and, using a classic police-style maneuver, angled in sharply and forced the van to the shoulder. He and Asrial bailed out quickly, but somehow he was able to reach the van faster than the Salusian, even though she was a) physically faster and 2) on the closer side of the truck. Jay threw the driver's door open and came up with two handfuls of the same guy that'd accosted them in Houston earlier. Jay was speechless; seeing Brianna sitting calmly in the passenger seat threw him off course. "Did he do anything to you?" he asked her breathlessly. "No," she said, with a tone of confusion. "It's okay, Jason. Really." "You went with him peacefully?" Asrial asked. "Yes," Brianna said. Jason interrupted. "Why didn't you let me know?" "He asked me not to wake anyone." "Oh, so now you trust him more??" Jason snapped. He tossed the guy against the side of the van. "What did you DO to her?" "Jason!" Brianna hollered, leaning toward the driver's door. "STOP IT!" Meanwhile, Dr. Wackmobile was trying to get a word in edgewise, and jumped in as Jason fell quiet. "Sir, I need to show your friend something. I can't say much more, but there's an old U.S. Air Force Base nearby--long decommissioned-- with some .. THINGS there that might interest her." Try as they might, nobody could get any more out of the guy, except that it was in a wilderness area northwest of the town of Kosse, which was about fifteen miles north of them. "I'm an ADVENTURER, Jay," Brianna pointed out, "and so are you. We should jump at the opportunity to check this out." "My curiosity is piqued, too," Asrial said. "I agree with Brianna." "Looks like you're outvoted, young man," the lunatic said. "Follow my lead." Jason said nothing as the two vehicles continued on. When they reached the backcountry area, Bri' and the scientist/escapee/whatever crammed into the truck with Asrial and Jason. "It's just over this last ridge," the man confidently stated. Jason looked at the guy and drove ferociously to the top. "There," the man screamed excitedly, hopping out of the truck. "That's the compound." The three of them turned and followed his pointing finger to a glimpse of a sprawling military base, partly shrouded by trees and undergrowth. "Okay, buddy," Jay finally spoke, "There's a base here. What's so special about it? What's kept here?" "One of your friend's ships," came the whispered response. At first Jay thought that the guy was talking about Asrial, but as Jay turned around again, he saw that the man was gesturing to Brianna. Bri' caught on a the same time. "I don't HAVE any ships." The mad scientist's expression fell. "You're not an alien?" Bri' wasn't sure how to respond, since she'd never been mistaken for an extra- terrestrial before, but Jason was already talking. "She's not, but SHE is," he said, pointing to Asrial. "But--" "Then maybe it's yours," the man said, with the tone of a man who's just saved his life's work from a building fire. "Come on!" He scrambled down the incline. Jason shrugged, his mood changing. "I guess we humor him." Caveman Voice #2 came to the fore again. "Come, we go." They followed the man to the fence. "Okay," Jason said. "Before we commit the crime of breaking into a military installation here, which may or may NOT be still in use, I think we should know your name, at LEAST." "I'm sorry," the man said genuinely. Apparently he was as poor--or worse--with introductions as Jason was. "I'm Benjamin Hutchence. I've studied these types of sites for years." Jason paused for a moment, until he realized he'd heard the name wrong. "Mr. Hutchence, you're CERTAIN this place is abandoned?" "As certain as I am of my name," he said confidently. "I watched them move all their equipment out weeks ago." "If they took off, would they REALLY leave an alien craft behind?" Bri' said. "You'll either have to believe me or come see for yourself," Hutchence said, and scaled the fence. They watched him go toward a hangar. Asrial asided to Jason, "And why is the fence still secured with gates if this place is abandoned?" He shrugged again. "At least it's not electrified." He looked to Bri'. "Gimme a lift?" She picked him up, muttering something about his tendency to not bring his own armor, and the two armor-suited girls jetted over the fence and the tarmac, landing near Hutchence, who was at a large door on the number-7 hangar. "Ladies and gentleman, welcome," he said in a hushed voice, "to Area 57." He threw the door open and it rolled aside with a resounding groan that seemed to echo throughout the empty hangar. "No, no," he said, interrupting the protests already forming. "It's a front. The base is all underground." "Why build such a large complex if the entire operation is underground?" Asrial mused aloud as they continued into the building. "I already told you, it's a front. Now shush." "Why, you--" "Gets on your nerves, doesn't he?" Bri' asided to the Salusian girl. "Stand inside that yellow square," Hutchence commanded, indicating a painted box about thirty meters to a side. The three friends did as directed and watched Hutchence run to a control on the wall and throw it. The floor began to descend, and he ran back and joined them. "Nine levels down," he said, raising his voice over the platform's rumbling machinery, "is a ship, twenty yards across, nine high, and eighteen or so long, tapered around its edge." "A saucer," Jason said bluntly. "Some might call it that, yes. It's not as important as the energy field within. It can--" Just then, Jason's pager beeped once, and he reflexively grabbed it. The display was blank. "Must've been radio interference," he shrugged. "Carry on." "We're here," Hutchence said plainly. He threw an arm wide to indicate the room that was making itself visible as the floor descended. Jason, Brianna, and Asrial couldn't believe their eyes. "This is the only craft of its kind anywhere around the world," Hutchence was saying in a whisper. "The government was trying to duplicate it when they departed abruptly." "Wow," Bri' drew out as she walked toward the ship, which was up on stands, as if in a drydock. Jason just stared at it, openmouthed, as did Asrial. Finally, Asrial blinked a couple of times. "I recognize this, I think," she said quietly to Jason. "I know," he said. "I do too." The two of them moved forward, closer to the vessel. Neither could remember exactly where they'd seen it, but it did look quite familiar. It also wasn't easy to try to determine where they'd seen it when they were both realizing that the two of them, from different realities, were familiar with the same ship. "Hey! Careful!" Jason yelped as Brianna began climbing on the thing. He bolted towards her position and hauled her back off of the vessel, and she turned around and gave him A Look. "Asrial and I KNOW this thing, from somewhere," he said. "We just can't remember WHERE or WHEN right now. I think the best thing would be to stay away from it until we figure it out." "What is that SMELL?" Asrial cut in, her face screwed up in a look of disgust. Jason and the others had apparently just noticed it as well; it didn't belong in a military 'clean room', that's for sure. Jason wondered if the introduction of the outer atmosphere from when they came in had tainted the air in the room, but Hutchence shook his head, almost knowingly. "The floor up top sealed up when we descended. It's an airlock." Jason got up on top of the ship, which he now noticed had a hatch in the center, which was open. Bri' angrily folded her arms and snapped at Jason. "Oh, so YOU can climb all over it like it's a set of monkey bars, but it's off limits for US?" He ignored her and slowly crept up to the hatch. He peered inside, and winced. "Ugh." "What?" Asrial said. "Dead guy." Jason stood back up. "Some really old guy in a Marine unif--" He cut himself off as he realized what he was saying. He saw Asrial's expression change, much as he figured his was changing, as they both remembered where they'd seen this ship. "But.. but it was a MYTH!" Jason blurted out. "They never got it working!" Asrial said nothing, just nodding, agreeing with Jason. Jay turned back to the open hatch. "Someone find a computer and do a personnel check on.." he peered at the nametag. "Barnes." After a few seconds, Brianna spoke up. "Got it here. Sergeant Al Barnes, USMC. What do you need to know?" "Age." "Age?" "How OLD is he?" "Twenty-eight," Hutchence said without looking at the screen. Jason stared at the scientist, then at the body on the floor of the ship, lying beneath a large spherical generator of some sort. The person there appeared to be a hundred-and-change-year-old man. The girls stepped up, looked, and gasped. Jason spoke before anyone else could. "Asrial.. is it.. is it possible, what I'm thinking's happened here?" She was still wearing an expression of disbelief. "I.. GUESS," she said. She finally explained things for the benefit of the others. "One of the enemies of the Conglomerate was once rumored to be working on a very top-secret weapon. Only extremely high-ranking SSM officers and several members of the royal family knew. Although, in your case," she said to Jason, "I suppose it was in your intelligence community, too." He nodded. "My division of ships knew, and the WDF High Command knew, as did the people you mentioned." To Brianna, he went on. "If this is what we think it is, it comes from a planet known as Xepotl. It's a world the Cardassians took over in my WDF years. The Cardies were long rumored to be developing a weapon that would be transported in an unassuming, unidentifiable ship, such as this one. The thinking was that the ship would be taken aboard one of our vessels for investigation, and when it was opened and the sphere inside taken out, the sphere would radically alter the DNA of anyone it came into contact with, running their aging rampant and reducing their immune systems and resistance to injury to nil. In other words, they'd age incredibly fast, and a gentle breeze could break a bone. They'd die within minutes or seconds. That's what happened to that guard." He looked up at Asrial as he carried on, his voice trembling as he realized what he was saying. "It was believed by the joint Salusian/Earthian intelligence task force assigned to investigate the weapon that exposure for a few seconds would be actually BENEFICIAL rather than detrimental, having the exact opposite results--aging halted, immune systems improved beyond belief, and all that." He looked to Hutchence. "How long were YOU exposed?" Hutchence's expression was of understanding and awe, as if the story was finally being told in full to him for the first time. "Ten, maybe twelve seconds." "Long enough," Jason nodded. "How old are you?" Hutchence's response was flat. "Sixty-nine." Jason blinked. He stood up. "They've had this thing down here for forty years, then? And you must've been one of the techs." Hutchence nodded. "It was brought here in 1960 from a crash site in the Gulf of Mexico. We spent a week trying to open it.." His eyes unfocused as his mind went back in time. "I was one of the first to go down there. Nobody was around, of course, and I planned it that way. When I realized I was feeling a bit strange, I climbed back out right away, but the damage had already been done, so to speak. I figured it out--what'd happened to me--later that night, when I smashed a glass down in frustration and the cuts healed themselves within a minute. Since then, I've been in a couple dozen car accidents, been stabbed a few times, and shot seventeen times--once with a shotgun at point-blank range." His eyes clouded over with tears. "I refused to tell anyone what'd happened, and I sealed the hatch shut again. The project was abandoned, but my colleagues sort of figured it out five years down the road when they'd all aged, but I hadn't. By then, I'd managed to get this to be marked a top-secret site, and only a couple of people besides myself were allowed down here. The hangars and buildings aboveground were part of the new base that had been built here, for testing new aircraft." He turned to look at the hatch. "And a couple of weeks ago, a Marine somehow managed to find his way down here while on routine patrol. He spent three minutes down below and ended up the way you found him. In the typical Marine mindset, two of his buddies, who found him the next shift change, tried to save him, but they fell victim to the energy field too, and made it back topside before they died. The entire site was declared a Class 1 Biohazard and was completely abandoned." He turned back to face them. "This.. 'immortality', if you will, is more of a curse than a blessing. I should've brought my Angela down here the moment I realized what'd happened. I didn't. And here I am, young and alive, and.. and she's gone." He looked down, then up again. "I just can't live with that. I was hoping that this ship would belong to one of you, and that you'd be able to solve my problems with it. But it wouldn't appear that you know much more about it, other than its origins, than I do. But that's okay." As he spoke, Hutchence suddenly had an air of calm about him, which gave Jason an uneasy feeling. He was proven right as Hutchence stepped up to the hatch and jumped into the ship. Asrial and Brianna tried to move forward to effect a rescue, but Jason held up his hands to block their paths, and they stopped and looked at him. "He's been alone for thirty-seven years, watching all of his friends pass on without him," Jason said quietly. "This is the only way he'll get peace." After a few moments, the threesome edged towards the hatch and peered inside. There were now two very old, very dead men lying on the floor. Jason turned to Asrial. "What did we decide could wreck this thing?" "What??" she said as she turned to him. "Oop--I'm sorry." He blushed as he realized he'd talked to her as if she was the Asrial he'd known for centuries. "The other you and I worked for a good long time trying to figure out what kind of munitions it'd take to destroy the vessel and the sphere." "Normal Cardassian weapons are highly susceptible to proton torpedoes," Asrial shrugged. "You have any?" "Half a dozen, on my ship." She held up her wrist communicator. "Want 'em?" "Let us get to the truck first," he declared. They gathered around the Tonka Truck to watch through the rangefinder as Asrial remotely called her ship to the area. Soon they could hear its engines, and at once a half-dozen orange balls of light streaked across the horizon and slammed into the base. Tremendous explosions cooked off all over the area, and when it was done, there wasn't anything left except some rather warm soil. "Thanks, As," Jason said quietly. "No problem," she said, remotely returning her ship to its spot in the quarry. "Anything for a Knight-Defender." Brianna came up to Jay and kissed him. "Good job, Knight-Defender Mulder." "Does that make you Scully?" he asked her. She grinned. "Well, I don't remember them ever being this close to each other, and I don't try to dispute your theories, but I guess I AM your partner. So there." "True enough." Jason glanced at the sky. "Sorry this didn't turn out to be the vacation we needed." "I can live with this," she grinned. "Do you realize we just finished our first solo mission?" He smiled widely. "Hey, that's right!" He turned to the baked earth behind them and frowned. "Too bad we don't have anything to show for it." "There'll be hauls from other missions," she said. "For now, I think we should go back to Quagmire and visit for a while longer, if Asrial's okay with that." SEVERAL DAYS LATER BACK IN ATLANTA "So how did this all start?" Cheetah wanted to know as the three of them--she, Bri', and Jay--were lounging around in the living room. "Well, we were out for a short drive--" "To Quagmire," Brianna cut Jason off. "To Quagmire," he acknowledged, "and we stopped in Houston to see the sights, and Hutchence--the old guy, the mad scientist--talked to us briefly, but we carried on our way, thinking he was just a wacko." "Then he caught up with us again one night while we were hanging out at Asrial's ship," Brianna picked up the conversation. "He thought I was an alien, and he wanted me to come with him." "What's up with you, by the way?" Brit asked Gina as the latter rushed through the room a third time, gathering up her stuff. "I'm going out with Brian tonight," Gina said. All the rest of them looked at each other with surprise. Finally, Brit's face developed a look of understanding. "Ah, we heard you wrong," she nodded. "I get it now. You said RYAN." "No, I did NOT," Gina said as she blew past once more and turned right, heading toward Brian's room. The rest of them once again stared dumbfoundedly. Brianna was the first to break the proverbial spell. "..So, anyway, when he got to us at Asrial's ship, I said to the guy, 'Look, pops, give it up. Mad scientist or not, --'" "'Pops'?" Jason cut her off. "Look, why don't you go back into whatever Archie comic you walked out of, and bring back the REAL Brianna." Bri' smiled. "You can't handle the real Brianna. *I* have a hard time handling the real Brianna. Thank God it only happens when my life's in extreme danger." "Of course I can handle the real Brianna. I want to know the truth about Guantanamo Bay, General." "Do you think I ordered a Code Red?" "Do you remember that show? With who, Lorne Greene, that lasted about half a season." "And it was ten times better than New Wilderness, that's for sure." "And L.A. Firefighters, too." "Is this how it's going to be from now on?" Cheetah cut in. Bri' and Jay looked at each other and smiled. "Probably," they stereoed. TO BE CONTINUED IN 'ALONE TOGETHER' BOOK FIVE OF DIMENSION OUT OF RANGE