“Snerk,” said Minas, stifling a laugh.
“What?” promted Zora.
“I was just thinking about what first drew my attention to this parasite. I ran across a record of Stang visiting Schulpas.”
“But that was turned over to the Dulchan at the Treaty of Porthanamau!”
“Exactly! There’s no way any they’d let any unescorted Alliance in or out without a fight, and that’s likely where our friend has taken him. If Stang really was there without an escort, it would have created an intergalactic incident!”
“Which we would have…” Zora trailed off when he noticed a figure standing in a corner.
Everyone turned toward where Zora was looking; Sturdivant’s hand instinctively went for his blaster. “This wasn’t part of the plan!”
“Easy there, Captain. He’s one of mine.” Minas then addressed the newcomer. “Ziggy, what are you doing here? More importantly, how?”
“I’ve been ‘merged.’“
“You’ve what?”
Ziggy’s voice became increasingly resonant. “It’s only temporary. We of the Wyrie…”
“You’re Wayre!”
“Yes. We of the Wyrie would like to express regret for placing the world you know as Dona Salo and the immediate vicinty in this predicament. Our struggle against the new order can have rather unpleasant side effects.”
“There have been others?”
“Yes. Xavvia, Qaag, Damasi, Khavakh, Sevastol–sorry for the loss of your friend–and now here. We would like to make amends; to that end, we are also visiting those who have been corrupted.”
A large canine suddenly appeared in the interrogation room where the Quillar were being held. At least it appeared to be a canine to the Quillar but nobody else seemed to notice it was even there. They only saw their captives become stressed. Then the Quillar saw the canid figure rear up on its hind legs and morph into a humanoid shape, growling at them menacingly. “Call it off! Call it off!” they cried. The Independents were about to indicate that they had no idea what “it” was but their captives started telling the whole story about being paid to bring the parasite on board.
Another large canine also appeared where Col. Egon Stang was being held. It saw how the Giga was having no problems getting Stang to talk so it shrugged its shoulders and returned to non-space but coninued to monitor the conversation. Col. Stang, however, didn’t say anything helpful.
A third Wyvern had managed to make contact with the Program and obtained the necessary information from there.
Back on Victory Station, the Wyrie that had borrowed Ziggy’s body had already related what its colleagues had learned when Dr. Frankie Sverba re-established contact.
Ensign Jonathan Kaval asked, “So we need to explore D’Roid now?”
“No,” replied the Wyrie. “We have already done so and the remnants of the Human known as Solomon Tali are no longer present.”
“Then where…?”
“That we do not know.”
Minas Sulat spoke up. “I have an idea how to find him. Bring Col. Marcam to Computech and set a trap!”
“I don’t want those two in the same room,” said Capt. Sturdivant. “No telling what would happen.”
Dr. Eleazar Fujisawa interjected, “Hold on. The Panil have set up a rather interesting lab in Marche territory. I bet we could find something to not only trap Tali down there but also put his consciousness offline.”
“I like that better. You think they’ll cooperate?”
“Let’s find out.”
Bridig picked up a very interesting signal from the surface. “Sounds like someone else had the same idea. Col. Marcam is on his way to the Marche!”
Dr. Fujisawa brought up a map of the warren and pointed toward where he thought the lab was, then addressed the Wyrie/Ziggy, “We need transport, fast. Can you get us to there?”
“Not a problem.”
In a flash, Brigid, Minas, the two doctors, the ensign, the captain, and the admiral all found themselves in a large cavern within the Marche warren. They weren’t in the area that had been occupied by the Panil but close. Dr. Fujisawa recognized as something he passed by on his way to the place with the slightly psychic décor. He waved his hand in the air then pointed toward where he met Shirely. “Follow me.”
The area was remarkably quiet. The Independents must have finished their business and went elsewhere, leaving only the Marche. Dr. Fujisawa soon found himself once again in a Japanese tea house. For Brigid, it was Barava Moke’s, a little out-of-the-way place on Spannix where she once worked as a bouncer. Dr. Sverba saw Araspo, a place he always tries to visit whenever he’s on Archanas. Kaval saw Omni Crown, a popular club near the Academy. Both Minas and Adm. Innison saw Ringer’s, the bar at one of the most popular ringball stadiums. For some reason, Capt. Sturdivant didn’t see much of anything at all, or so he claimed later. The place was virtually empty; those who were there weren’t anyone Eleazar recognized. He approached the bartender and inquired, “Is Shirley around?”
He shook his head. “Everyone’s pretty much exhausted from all those Independents coming and going and going and coming. She’s expected later, though. Can I offer a drink instead?”
“I could use one,” said Brigid, who took the opportunity to get off her feet. “What is this place anyway?”
The bartender set out a glass and started to explain but Zora cut him off. “No time for that. We’d like to use the facilities that the Panil recently vacated, ASAP.
“Reason?”
“To remove a threat.”
The bartender stared at Zora for a moment, pressed a button on his counter, then communicated in Pure Marche: teeth clicks and nose twitches.
“Someone will be with you shortly. Please, have a seat.” He turned toward Brigid, already seated at the bar. “You wanted a drink?” She nodded. “Anything in particular?”
“Something Spanni would be nice.”
“Spanni?” He looked through his inventory, “Spanni…Spanni…Spanni…ah!” then pulled out a transparent bottle that held a thick black liquid, opened it, and poured a bit into Brigid’s glass. It looked like melted very dark chocolate and smelled of fruit.
Brigid was amazed! “Selam Dista! I didn’t really expect you to have anything and you pull out Selam Dista!”
The bartender smiled. “We treat our customers right,” then looked around the room. “Nobody else wants a drink?” He waited a bit then said, “Guess not,” and went about explaining how the place works.
Brigid was halfway into her second glass when a large figure strode into the bar. Eleazar remembered him right away. “Harry! I see you’ve healed well.”
“I’m not surprised to see you back here. However,” Harry turned toward Minas, “I am surpised to see you!”
“Nice to see you, too. Anything unusual going on lately? Other than the Independents, I mean.”
“Nope. We run a clean operation.” Harry held out a big, furry hand. “Capt. Sturdivant, I presume?”
“Right.” Then he introduced the others, “Adm. Zora Innison, Ensign John Kaval, Dr. Frankie Sverba, and over at the bar, Brigid O’Connell.”
Harry continued shaking hands in turn. “I understand you want to use the equipment those eyeless wonders installed?”
“Yeah,” replied Minas.
“Sam said you want to remove a threat. What kind of threat?”
“The biggest.” Minas followed that with some teeth clicking.
“I see. Very well, the Marche hereby grant permission, and anything else you need.”
“A few of your scientists would be nice. They can help linking us with the subject and keep an eye on the readings.”
“And preparations?”
“The bait should have that covered already. All we need to do is…” Minas paused as the lights dimmed then recovered “…wait for a signal.”
“I’d say we just got one,” added Kaval.
The group, sans Brigid who had enough running around for the time being, hurried to the former Panil lab and found a security droid enclosed in some sort of plasma net. Col. Marcam was nearby, howling with laughter.
“This is your doing!” cried the droid.
“I knew you’d follow me, Tali. But I didn’t trap you; they did.” Marcam pointed toward Harry and company.
“Sorry to dissapoint you, sir,” said Capt. Sturdivant, “but it wasn’t us, either.”
“Then who?”
Ziggy emerged from the shadows. “We did. We are Wyrie and we are atoning for the trouble that has resulted from our dealings with the new order. Such dealings have unintended and far-reaching consequences, one of which is currently residing in this droid.”
With the help of the Marche, Dr. Sverba connected Dr. Fujisawa, Harry, Minas, and the Alliance officers into a network. The Wyrie connected the Tali-droid to the same network. “Insertion commencing.”
“Lets get in and out as quick as possible,” said Dr. Fujisawa.
“Right,” agreed Zora. “Sorry you can’t come with us, Colonel.”
“No, I understand. He might try to take over my systems and we can’t have that.”
The group, or at least their virtual representations, found themselves within the Tali-bot. programming. They had been equipped with disruptors, except Dr. Fujisawa, who had the necessary tools to unplug Tali once and for all.
Kaval was the first to comment. “This all looks very familiar. Everyone see what I see?”
Zora glanced around. “A combat training program inside a ringball stadium?”
“Good, I’m not the only one.”
Sturdivant remarked, “Probably can’t get out of this by disabling projectors, though. Everyone, form a ring around the doc and make for the exit. Shoot anything that gets in the way!”
And so they did, but the door wouldn’t open. Eleazar pulled a pistol out of his kit and vaporized a good part of the exit. “Go! Go!”
The group then found a layer of ice and snow, as if they were on Joffa. Some domed structures were several meters ahead. Everyone started off for them; everyone, that is, except for Minas. He stayed put and looked around. “Wait a minute,” he called. “It’s a trick!”
“Trick?” asked Sturdivant. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve been watching TALON for going on 30 years now. I know their methods; the real exit would be much closer and not so obvious.”
“So what now?” prompted Harry.
“Everyone spread out. Look for clues.”
A few minutes had passed when Kaval called out, “I got something! I’m on some sort of mound.” The group converged on that spot, Eleazar pulled out his pistol again, and pointed it down. It opened a hole in the roof of an igloo. Inside the igloo was a hatch marked E11T; it opened with no problem.
“How…?” started Harry.
“Roman numerals. E-XI-T.”
“Huh?”
“We’ll explain later.”
The hatch led to a recreation of D’Roid. “Split up, and be careful,” advised Zora. “Shout when you find the control room!”
TALON didn’t expect anyone to survive the Joffa room so security in the D’Roid room was minimal. The few that were around were easily dispatched. Eleazar headed off as if he already knew where to go, for he was being guided by the Wyrie. Harry tagged along, who was in turn shadowed by Minas in an adjacent corridor. Lights brightened then slowly dimmed as each being moved on.
“I’m at the operations office!” called out Eleazar and fired his squareness gun at the door. Now everyone converged on his location. Harry, of course, was already there; they were soon joined by Minas, pistol drawn.
“Minas? What…?” started Harry.
“Just making sure you’re not a sleeper. Can’t be too careful, you know.”
Eleazar slid into a high-backed chair at a console labeled Master Control. “Hello, Sol. Been a long time.” The doc. noticed Minas and Harry exchanging glances. “We know each other, don’t we, Sol?” He paused. “Don’t feel like talking? No need. We already know everything anyway, thanks to Wayre.” Eleazar laid out the story. “We were childhood friends but drifted apart. I went into medicine, Sol into mining. Didn’t see much of each other after graduation, even less after Sol and his Talon staged that uprising around Sigma Theta. I bet he didn’t even know I was on Hemer.”
“No.” said a tinny voice.
Eleazar directed his attention back to the console. “Ah, there you are. You know I’m here, and why.”
“Yes. And those who paralyzed my work are with you!”
“You should have stayed dormant. That was Wayre doing; if you need someone to blame, talk to them.”
“Can’t you just make me dormant again?”
Eleazar looked up at the rest of the party, who had no joined the trio. “You’re the senior officer here,” he said to Zora. “What do you think?”
“I’d prefer not to take the chance of another Wayre side-effect.”
“The side-effects seem to emanate from Forsetti but the Planet of Eternal Peace itself hasn’t been affected. We could isolate his consciousness and put him there, make him the responsibility of the Wyrie.”
“That’s certainly a viable idea. But first let’s isolate him.”
“Right. Kaval, I understand you dealt with the Victory problem. Will you assist?”
“Sure, Doc.”
And with that, the group went about disconnecting the remnants of the Human known as Solomon Tali from his droid. Dr. Sverba and his assistants isolated Tali’s consciousness, then uploaded it to a holocube. Then they went about disconnecting everyone from the network. Zora negotiated with the Wyrie and they agreed to take the holocube to Forsetti, where it would be under their everlasting attention. “What the?” Where am I?” asked Ziggy, after he was released from Wyrie influence.
Minas and the Alliance officers returned to Victory Station, along with Ziggy, having been informed that he’ll be debriefed there. Minas Sulat and Adm. Zora Innison went to Computech to catch up.
Eleazar returned to the place with the slightly psychic décor, where he found Shirley and Brigid having a most interesting converstion.
