07/13/01

"Life is chaos, chaos is life. Control is an illusion."-- Trance Gemini, Andromeda: Forced Perspective

198 to 203-1121.

Now about the token Imperial.
Malcolm didn't get invites to the official functions, but he did get around. After all, he's an exotic man with an accent. It's looking good for Malcolm and the twin redheads - Vickie and Vanessa. They want to know if he'd like to see their apartment. Malcolm: <thinking with the small brain> "Why yes, I would." It's a nice little place, one of those huge open rooms with Doric pillars. There is music, well-presented sushi, and sparkly liquids of a variety of colors. Vickie: "If you can't decide, here try this." She pours him something with layers. After a couple of these drinks (non-alcoholic, but not non-pharmaceutical), Malcolm is feeling no pain. The apartment has tastefully risqué art, and the twins are very interested in Malcolm. And everything he's been doing. He's feeling very chatty, and the girls are attractive and smell nice; Vickie sort of musky, and Vanessa is lightly vanilla-scented.

Vickie: "I know, let's go for a ride in the car, with the top down." That sounds like a wonderful idea! Off they go, driving around for a while with the three of them in the front seat, then they drive into a building. Vanessa: "Come on down here, the room's just up ahead." Giggles and mutual groping, and Malcolm is laid down on some sort of recliner. Malcolm's feeling great. He feels safe and happy, and he's had six or seven euphorics, which do not effect other abilities like alcohol does. Vickie: "Do you think he's ready?" Vanessa: "Oh yes, I think he's ready. Are you ready?" Malcolm: "Sure!"

The lights come up, and Malcolm is in a dental chair (well, sort of), and there are other people who are not attractive red haired females there. It's a nondescript room, and the chair isn't uncomfy at all. Vanessa gives Malcolm a shot of the same stuff he's been ingesting all day, which makes him even more mellow. He glances around the nondescript room with a decidedly not nondescript picture of a male in a uniform and a female in a gown. They look vaguely familiar. Remarkably like the Imperial emperor and empress. Malcolm decides to cut these guys some slack, as they're obviously new at this covert stuff, and he's in a really great mood.

The men asking the questions know that Malcolm's group is being carefully watched by SolSec. [Not that it's been that hard for SolSec to follow the party - just track the path of mayhem and destruction.] Man: "And you're also travelling with this man." A very bad surveillance picture of some one that is probably Dr. Neil is produced. Malcolm: "Oh yes, Dr. Neil. He's been along for most of the trip." Man: "So this is Dr. Neil then?" Malcolm: "I think so. It's kind of blurry." Man: <to the others> "We finally have a picture of the infamous Dr. Neil." It's passed around. [But "infamous" for what?] They want to know about Dr. Neil's plans, his group, and how an Imperial citizen ended up with them. Malcolm is eager to please, but he rambles on, and on, and on, and sort of gets things mixed up. Malcolm: "...and then I told the SolSec agent that I wasn't going to give him my lunch money." Man: "What?!?" They use various and assorted drugs, but Malcolm keeps drifting off topic and off task, although he feels perky and happy. The people who've been questioning him are exhausted and bleary-eyed. They have Malcolm taken to a holding room where he bounces off the walls until the drugs wear off and he falls over.

The euphorics may not have any unpleasant side effects, but the stim and the babble drugs do. Malcolm has a screaming headache and there's horrible banging and scraping and screaming going on next door. Malcolm bangs on the wall. A section of the wall opens (like a secret panel). There are several people in the doorway with fingers to their lips. A blond good-looking man waves at some one behind him. There's a fwwt noise and Malcolm's been darted. Everything goes dark.

Female voice: "Ah, we're awake. How are we feeling?" Malcolm: "Better than the last time I woke up. I'm very thirsty and very hungry." Female: "George, would you see to it that our guest gets something to eat and drink?" Malcolm is in a small room with one sloping wall. Probably a ship or submarine or something. Very high tech, very modern. Probably a starship. There's a young woman with raven black hair, porcelain skin, sapphire blue eyes, and ruby lips. [This would be Lisa v3.0.] Very attractive, wearing a flight suit. And she has cute little dimples when she smiles. Malcolm: "My compliments to your tailor; it brings out the blue in your eyes." Lisa: "Thank you." A tray of food is brought in bearing a large glass of cold lemonade, and a very large sandwich with fresh bread and meat. Malcolm digs in.

Lisa: "So how are you feeling Mr. Edwards? Better I hope." Malcolm: "Much." Lisa: "I'm glad we were able to effect your escape. Please call me Lisa." Malcolm: "Thank you, Lisa." Lisa: "I'm sure you have a thousand questions." Malcolm: "Yes. I was travelling with some people and I'm a bit concerned about their safety, considering what happened to me." Lisa: "I'm afraid your friends are in the company of...how can I put this, a rogue agent." Malcolm: "Small man, well-dressed, little blue glasses?" Lisa: "Yes. I believe he's infected your friends with some sort of biological agent. He's quite mad you know." [Hey, at least there's just one of him.] Malcolm just nods and listens. Lisa: "We've been tracking him for some time. We hope that we can get him to a facility where he can no longer be a danger to himself or others. He can't help it, he's quite ill. He escaped from a mental institute. He was at one time a valued member in the service of the Confederacy, but he's gone over the edge completely. The things he's done...There are rules to the game." Yes, and she has them all written down so she doesn't forget to break any of them. Lisa: "This man, who is travelling under the name of Dr. Neil, is a danger not only to us, but to your government as well. More coffee?" She's drinking too, so Malcolm agrees. Lisa: "Any way. I'm afraid my initial encounter with your friends did not go well." [You think?] Lisa: "You understand that government agencies do not like to air their dirty laundry in public. I hope we can effect the re-capture of Dr. Neil without further loss of innocent life." Malcolm: "What role do I play in all this? We hope to place you back with your companions, and assist us in getting them safely away from Dr. Neil and his influence. <pause> I'm afraid though that I have some other unfortunate news. It seems that the pilot of the vessel your friends are on, in order to effect the escape, executed an unplanned jump. The jump field propagated, and there were interfering...stellar bodies, and we were carried along." Malcolm: "Well, I'm no astrophysicist..." Lisa: <smiles> "We have a lack of those on board." Malcolm: "I have heard that mis-jumps can end rather abruptly." Lisa: "Yes, well there isn't much we can do beyond making emergency preparations and waiting."

On board the other ship (the one without the good food processor), Trevor and Gabrielle wake up. They feel better, although they're ravenously hungry, and Gabrielle's left hand itches. No, it hasn't grown back. But it's smoothed over and there's a bump on the end; some one must have given her a shot of Regen™4.

? - 1121.

On the nice ship, Malcolm has been forced to endure plenty of good food and companionship. Lisa: "You're something of a rogue, I'll wager." Malcolm catches her checking him out on several occasions. She's very friendly, but avoids any topic that might be considered inflammatory - like politics or religion, that sort of thing. A dark haired, middle-aged man comes out and speaks to Lisa a couple of times. He's wearing a military jumpsuit with no insignia, and everyone listens when he talks. Must be the captain. Malcolm gets the impression that Lisa is a passenger, not one of the regular crew.

Lisa discusses her concerns about Malcolm's friends, and the fact that she did not handle Working for the government, she took the heavy handed approach and realizes she shouldn't have. Lisa: "I was a bit brusque and officious." Oh, is that what that was! Malcolm: "Well, they might have been influenced by Dr. Neil. He is after all an evil genius." Lisa: "I've never met anyone like you . Is everyone in the Marches like you? You're so direct." Malcolm: "It works for me." Lisa: "In Solomani space, restraint and self-censorship are the norm." Malcolm briefly flashes to the Nasty Panda, but then he's back with Lisa.

The beans taste slightly different than the day before, but that's about it. Dr. Neil is ready to try fixing the fucking food processor himself. Trevor and Gabrielle figure they'll help him, but Mitchell just goes back to the bridge by himself again. After several aborted efforts, Gabrielle reaches in and something sparks. The processor makes some whirring noises, and a single, perfect-looking orange pops out. The room is quiet for a moment.

Dr. Neil: "Who will do the honors? Does anyone have a knife?" One is found. Mitchell, drawn by the unusual citrus scent, comes out to find the others gathered around the table with all the concentration of a neophyte Druid at his first solstice. Trevor cuts into the orange; an incredibly orange flavor bursts into the air. Dr. Neil carefully wipes a tear from his eye (behind the glasses). The orange is cut into quarters. Trevor licks the orange, and it's the most perfect orange in the universe. It is consumed. Mitchell takes his quarter back to the bridge, and makes the orange peel grin in anti-social solitude. Then the others try the food processor again, and it gives chili. And eventually beans.

As near as anyone can figure, they've been in jump for about 3.5 weeks, living on chili, beans, and one glorious orange. Yikes. Trevor eats the chili, he's a bachelor. Actually, he and Gabrielle eat whatever food the processor gives them, they're really hungry, all the time. And they're buff. They have to trim their nails frequently, and they appear to be building more muscle mass (not the useless bodybuilder muscles), and Gabrielle's hand has grown back as if she had been given Regen™4. Nice trick.

Lisa is enjoying spending time with Malcolm. He's been to so many different worlds, has had so many adventures. Lisa's room is full of books - Mallory's Morte d'Arture, books of poetry, all very romantic in a classical sort of way. Malcolm: "There's nothing quite like a book." Lisa: "Yes, they're friendly some how."

Mitchell isn't sure how long they've been in jump because the ships chronometer isn't working. He'd like to know what's going on in Engineering, but there's a section of the engine that's giving off so much heat it's not comfortable to be in there. The "check engine" light keeps blinking on the bridge. How helpful.

Malcolm is with Lisa. They've been spending a lot of time together, talking. Malcolm isn't sure, but... Lisa makes a number of veiled comments that might be construed to mean she's interested in being more than merely friendly. And all her books are of the escapist variety - she'd love to live the life of the Dick Salamander style agent. It's all so wonderful and exciting, and not boring like her real life is. Malcolm seems nice and she's bored and/or lonely. Malcolm tries a more direct approach, but carefully so he doesn't scare her off. Lisa blushes. Lisa: "Well, I...I'm kind of tired." Malcolm: "You should get some rest then." He doesn't leave. Lisa: "I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Malcolm: "Of course." Lisa lets him out. Argh!!!!

Late that night there's a gentle tapping at Malcolm's door. He answers. Lisa: "Uh, I though you'd like something to read." She's wearing a robe she just tossed on, and there's a long sliver of creamy white flesh revealed. Malcolm takes the book from her hand, lightly touching her fingers. It's Wuthering Heights. Lisa: "Would you like a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine or something? I couldn't sleep. I'm sorry if I'm keeping you awake." Malcolm: "Not at all." Lisa: "Wait here." She runs back to her room across the corridor, and comes back with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Looks like the Imperial's finally going to get lucky.

Things go pretty well, although Lisa reacts rather strangely for a few seconds in the middle of things. There's a brief moment where she freezes up and grabs him, but then she relaxes. No, it's not a seizure. No, we're not going to go into more details. Yes, it gets kind of noisy in there. Crewman: "Sir, are you alright in there?" Malcolm: "Never better." Muffled giggling from Lisa, under the pillow."

228-1121.

Malcolm wakes up and he's not alone. Now he knows how men who've been in prison feel. Yes!! Then there's a lurch and a nauseous feeling.

Suddenly there's a hideous lurch and Mitchell can see stars. Not to mention big chunks of rocks or something. (What's left of Alderaan?) Slam! The power plant is failing and the ship is losing air.

On the black ship, it sounds like gravel being thrown against the side of the ship. That's because this ship is armored. Everyone gets into vac suits.

Mitchell wants everyone into the EPLS balls, but they don't have any. He checks and the air leak is coming from the cargo bay, which apparently now has no air. Would the captain like to visually inspect? No. There are only two vac suits on board, one of which is in very poor repair, what with the multiple small holes and red-brown stains on it. Probably rust.

The captain comes out of the bridge, leaving the door open. Captain: <to Lisa> "We've come out of jump Ma'am, we have a firing vector." Lisa: "No. We don't want to harm them." The captain raises an eyebrow. Lisa: "Dr. Neil is ill, we want to help him. I think you've been in space too long. Is there some way we can determine how far away the ship is from us?" She and Malcolm follow the captain to the door of the bridge, to take a look at the view screen.

Very impressive bridge. There are no keyboards, just flat black glass. Almost alien looking. But through the view screen Malcolm can see the other ship. It's not very far away at all, and the back end looks like a giant space shark took a bite out of it. And it's spewing liquid. The liquid is because Mitchell is using fuel to try and avoid colliding with things the only way he can.

Oddly enough, most of the views of the ship ahead have cross hairs and various other targeting symbols on them. One man is seated at a console with several switches that have security covers that are all flipped to the open position. Crewman: "I have a solution captain. We're locked." At this distance? Some of the debris might bounce and scrape the paint on their lovely ship. Malcolm: "And what asteroid belt are we in?" Officer: "We're still computing our location....<pause> Captain, I have our position." Captain: "Well? Out with it." Officer: "We're in the Saxe system. We're about 60,000 metres away from our original location." Three and a half weeks in jump with nothing but chili and beans, and they've travelled a whopping 60 kilometres. <insert anguished screams here>

Captain: "Call that ship, tell them to heave to and prepare for boarding." Officer: "Yes sir.....They're not responding." Malcolm: <to Lisa> "They may not be receiving. That's not a military vessel, it's not armored, and it's been heavily damaged." Captain: "Bring us in closer." Officer: <to captain> "We've lost 80% of our maneuver capability, sir." Malcolm files that information for later.

Mitchell is screwed. All he can do is increase his speed, and not by much. And he can't control it very well. He's heading out in to the open now, but there's no way in hell he can get away from the other ship, and once he's out in the open...

Lisa: "Hold your fire, captain. We have an expert on board. <to Malcolm> What do you want to do?" I need an EPLS, and a couple of hundred metres of line." Lisa: "Don't we have some sort of tractor beam or something?" Officer: "We can grapple them, ma'am, that's not a problem." Malcolm: "But do you want them to know you can?" There's some discussion, but Lisa overrides the Captain and asks that Malcolm be sent over. Captain: "Fine. <to crewman> Take our guest down and get him suited up and ready to go." Lisa accompanies them. Malcolm: <to Lisa> "So what's my story? I'd guess something along the lines of this vessel is also badly damaged..." Lisa: "Whatever you think is right. Don't alarm Dr. Neil. And take this. <hands him a small gun> It's just tranq. Don't aim for the head though, it could still be fatal." Malcolm: "Right." Crewman: "Sir, here's your vac suit." Luckily, it's a very high tech vac suit, and it doesn't take much on the part of the wearer. Malcolm is given a skinsuit to put on under his clothing, then the vac suit, which is very well fitted - almost like a foam rubber wet suit. Malcolm: "I'll need tools for the access on the side. Nothing violent." He's give an appropriate tool kit.

Mitchell kicks the control panel a few times, and some things do come on. He picks up a radio beacon, probably from a station (the computer can't interpret it). Not that he can get there. He could turn the ship, but it will be very ponderous, and take about a half hour or more to come about.

Malcolm: "If we were to call for help, who would show up?" Lisa: "That would depend. If we call our friends for help, that's one thing, or we could send out a general distress call, and any ships in the area would respond." Malcolm just wanted to put the idea in her head. Out the air lock, and towards the hideous wreck of a ship, but not around the end where the razor-sharp ice crystals are being dumped out. Malcolm jumps, sailing the 500 metres through space. Ah, he hasn't lost the knack.

Inside the ship, Gabrielle and Mitchell both hear the sound of something odd hitting the hull, and the sound of someone landing on the ship. Or at least Mitchell identifies it this way - Gabrielle has no clue. Trevor is unconscious and slightly feverish again. Mitchell advises the others that they may be in the process of being boarded.

Malcolm taps on the airlock with a tool, after securing his tether. Dr. Neil takes out his little silver gun. Mitchell dogs the inner airlock door. Malcolm opens the outer door, transfers his tether to an inside hook, enters, and closes the outside door. Mitchell doesn't like this at all. There's a figure in a very nice vac suit, with a clear bubble helmet - oh.

The airlock is now at minimum pressure. Mitchell flips on the intercom to the airlock. Mitchell: "Malcolm." Malcolm: "Mitchell." Mitchell: "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just blow the explosive bolts?" Malcolm: "Because I can tell you where you are." Mitchell: "Give me another reason." Malcolm: "Like I can tell from in here that the explosive bolts control panel isn't working?" Mitchell: "How the hell did you get here?" Malcolm: "An attractive woman gave me a ride." He describes Lisa. Mitchell: "That doesn't answer my question." Malcolm: "Well, there's a very nice ship off your side, and you're tethered to it." Mitchell: <to Dr. Neil> "You want to talk to him, Dr. Neil?" Dr. Neil: "What would that serve?" Mitchell: "Do you want me to space him?" Dr. Neil: "Again, what would that serve? He is on board the only functional vessel in the area. And I'm willing to admit we are at a disadvantage currently. This is the spaceman's environment, I will defer to you." Mitchell: <to Malcolm> "Is this the same black ship that fired seventeen missiles at us just before we jumped?" Malcolm: "I wouldn't know, they never let me all the way on to the bridge. You Navy types are so selfish. I've been sent to convince you to come over to the other ship peacefully. Judging from the condition this one's in, I don't think we'll be able to make an unexpected escape any time soon." Mitchell: "Well, bummer darn. That's what happens when you burn up your power plant." Malcolm: "Can I come in?" Mitchell: "Tell you what, have them send over four more vac suits and then we'll let you in." Malcolm: "As soon as I figure out how to work the commo on this thing." Suit: "Do you wish to establish communications?" Malcolm: "Yes." He makes contact, asks to speak with Lisa, who relays the request to the captain. After a few moments Lisa gets back on the commo. Lisa: "The captain says he doesn't have four spare vac suits, you can have two." Malcolm: "Just a minute. Mitchell?" Mitchell: "Yes?" Malcolm: "Your counterpart says he doesn't have four vac suits, you can have two. It's all he can spare. Will EPLS do?" Mitchell opens the inner airlock and lets Malcolm in. Mitchell: "I want to talk to him." Malcolm removes the small commo device after telling the others what he's doing. Then Malcolm goes over to check Trevor, who's feverish and sweating yellow again. And it looks like he's developing calcification on his elbows and knees. Malcolm uses the small attached first aid kit to make Trevor more comfortable at least, while the Navy guys work things out among themselves.

Mitchell: "This is Mitchell Taylor. To whom am I speaking?" Captain: "This is the captain of the pursuing vessel." Mitchell: "Well, captain, I'm told you want us to come over to your vessel. We'll need four vac suits to do that." Captain: "Unfortunately, in order to give you four vac suits I would have to take two off of my personnel. We do not carry many spare vac suits; this is not a commercial vessel." Mitchell: "I kind of gathered that, since commercial vessels don't normally have missile bays." Dr. Neil is just sitting there listening and being Dr. Neil like. Who knows what he's thinking? Mitchell: "But that's not the point. The point is we still need four vac suits." Captain: "And you actually expect me to tell some of my men to give up their vac suits when we're in a potentially dangerous situation?" Mitchell: "That would depend, captain, on the value some people place on the contents of this vessel. We've both had to make this sort of decision." A woman's voice demands the two vac suits, and offers hers. The captain, under protest, agrees. Captain: <to Mitchell> "You will approach along the" Mitchell: "We have no maneuver, sir." Captain: "I know that. You will EVA..." Directions are given, cable has been strung (by Malcolm), the Nav-speak flies thick between them for several minutes.

Malcolm takes off his helmet Dr. Neil can see it's him, but the doctor isn't in the room. Probably packing his torture kit. Mitchell dons his blue glasses (not that he's becoming obsessive about this, mind you) and cycles through the man dropping off the vac suits. It's a lot easier to get these high tech vac suits on, which is good considering Trevor is unconscious and Gabrielle has no experience. Mitchell: <to Malcolm> "By the way, Malcolm, since I've let you in, where the hell are we?" Malcolm: "Saxe." Mitchell stares at him and blinks. Malcolm: About 60,000 metres away from where you jumped." <lengthy pause> Mitchell: "Ah. <pause> Just as I planned." Malcolm: "Where's Dr. Neil?" All the vac suits are accounted for, where could he go? Mitchell goes to the stateroom to find Dr. Neil. He's not in the stateroom. He's not in the bridge. He's not in engineering. Nobody should be in engineering, it's 450 degrees in engineering, you could bake bread in there. Dr. Neil appears to have disappeared into thin air. Perhaps he was a hallucination all along. Malcolm: "I'm more concerned about getting Trevor to medical care right now." Mitchell: "I'll stay here and handle this end of things." Malcolm: "We should alert them as to your medical condition." Mitchell: "These are the people who injected us with the serum. They already know our condition!" He's assuming the black ship is the same side. Okay, so it is, but he doesn't know that. Malcolm gets his commo unit back and contacts the black ship. Malcolm: "One person is sick, exhibiting symptoms of plague." Crewman: "Right. We'll get him into isolation." Mitchell puts Trevor into the suit that looks the nicest, thinking it might be the captain's. Once Malcolm leaves, Mitchell looks for Dr. Neil again, calling out to him. No response, no Dr. Neil. Err?? Outside of the off-side airlock there appears to be a dead man floating in space; no one Mitchell recognizes. The dead man is not wearing a vac suit, and he's tethered by his neck (not recommended). Mitchell says nothing, but assumes that Dr. Neil has found another way off this ship. Predictable, really.

Malcolm takes Trevor across, drops him off, then comes back. Next he takes Gabrielle across, successfully. Once Malcolm is across with Gabrielle, Mitchell unties the one side of the line and takes it across to the other ship, taking the fourth vac suit with him. Half way over, there's a bright flash from the ship Mitchell just left, and the hull cracks open. This is bad. Mitchell lets the extra vac suit go. Mitchell doesn't recognize the make of the black, wedge-shaped ship covered in antennas. Mitchell is pulled inside. Officer: "What happened to your fourth man?" Mitchell: "Didn't make it. I barely made it." The all too familiar female shows up. Lisa: "Where's Dr. Neil ?" Mitchell: "He didn't get off the ship." Lisa: "Unfortunate." Gabrielle: <to Lisa> "How many of you are there?" Lisa: <to officer> "Inform the captain I want him to search this area. If Dr. Neil is dead, I want a body." Gabrielle: "I've seen you die. Twice." Lisa: "You're...I think you're mistaken." Gabrielle: <very calmly> "No, I'm not." Lisa: "You've been through a lot, I think you need to rest. I'll show you to your cabin." She helps Gabrielle down the corridor, like she'd escort an old woman, glancing back to Malcolm with a "she's not right in the head, poor dear" sort of look. Lisa: <to Gabrielle> "I'm sure you're exhausted and very frazzled after what can only have been a very challenging adventure." Mitchell asks for the captain, who's not available. Mitchell will also be escorted to a cabin. Trevor has been taken away, probably to medical. Lisa takes Gabrielle to a real room. Lisa: "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Gabrielle nods.

A crewman escorts Mitchell to a cabin. Crewman: "Mr. Taylor, I hope this will be all right." It's small, not a cabin on a cruiser, but it's clean and neat. Mitchell: "Could I have a jumpsuit?" Yes, they can find one for him (black, one each). It adjusts to fit Mitchell; if it were Navy blue, it would be perfect. Mitchell: "I'd like to request to speak with the captain." Crewman: "Yes sir, I'll pass on the request. In the meantime the captain thought you'd like something to eat." A tray is brought in, heaped with food. Mitchell: "Is that coffee?" Crewman: "Yes." Mitchell: "Take it away." He'll drink water, thank you. Gabrielle is also left alone with food. Very good food. What she'd really like is a fresher. This can be done, and is. Mitchell also takes advantage of the opportunity to get cleaned up, and afterwards asks for pen and paper. He writes a short note, then knocks on his cabin door to speak with the guard. Mitchell: "Could you please give this to Miss Vanek?" Guard: "Yes sir." Gabrielle gets the note from Mitchell, asking "How are you doing?"

Malcolm gets to meet with Lisa in a small briefing room. Lisa: "What shall we do now?" Malcolm: "Whatever you want." Lisa: "I'm concerned about Dr. Neil. That man was an evil genius. They don't die like that in a convenient accident." Malcolm: "Maybe things didn't go as he planned." Lisa: 'The ship shouldn't have blown up like that any way, it should have failed safe." Malcolm: "What about the others?" Lisa: "I have your two friends locked in their cabins, as much for their own safety as ours. They might have been exposed to the contagion." Malcolm: "How is Trevor?" Lisa: "The doctors are working on him. It would help if we knew what he'd been exposed to." Malcolm tells her about the "plague" on Saxe; other than that, he doesn't know what they've been exposed to. Lisa: "I want to get an idea as to how to approach your friends. Dr. Neil is a serious threat to everyone he comes into contact with, and he must be dealt with as quickly as possible. Your friends have vital information, whether they know it or not, and I need their cooperation. I don't want to frighten them any more than necessary. <pause> That came out wrong." That would be Lisa's Freudian slip showing. Malcolm: "They seem to be quite on edge. Let them rest. I'm sure that couldn't have been a very pleasant trip." Lisa: "Yes, you're right. Let them get cleaned up and rest. We're on our way back to Saxe any way, we'll be there in a few hours." The steward brings in food and leaves Malcolm and Lisa alone. Lisa gently pumps Malcolm for information on how to deal with his friends. She's taking the attitude that his friends have been stuck with a Manson-like figure, and he's turned them into crazed killers. Lisa: "It wouldn't be the first time. As I said, the man is a psychopath, but he is a genius." Malcolm: "Gabrielle comes from a very structured society." Lisa: "Yes, but she's probably suffering from Stockholm Syndrome." Malcolm: "She'd probably respond to more structure, maybe some one in a SolSec uniform, some one she'd be comfortable with. Trevor is a former policeman. Give him something that relates to that."

Mitchell and Gabrielle don't feel drugged, but they do feel very tired. And they've just had a big meal that included Gobbler™. Not to mention all the stress they've been under. Mitchell gets comfy in his proper bed and goes to sleep. There's a tapping on Gabrielle's door, then Lisa comes in. Lisa: "Is everything all right? I thought you might need a few things, since you had to leave the other ship so quickly." She leaves a small packet with a comb, brush, toiletries; those little feminine extra goodies. Gabrielle brushes her hair, then lays down on the bed.

Lisa comes back to talk to Malcolm. Lisa: "Well, it appears that both your friends are sleeping peacefully. We'll be in Saxe soon. I'll be very busy. It may be a while before I get to see you again, probably not until all of this is done." Could take 50 years, could take 10 minutes. This conversation leads to exactly what everyone would expect, given what Malcolm and Lisa have been up to. Good thing Lisa locks the door first.

Meanwhile, in Gabrielle's cabin. There's a soft rapping on the door. Then the door latch turns, opens. Another light tap. Gabrielle: "Come in." A figure in a black jumpsuit comes in; the cuffs are rolled up. Dr. Neil: "I hope I'm not imposing. I don't suppose you have a little niche I could nap in? It would be very awkward if a member of the crew were to find me." Gabrielle: "Of course." Dr. Neil gets down on the floor and slides under the bunk, out of sight. Gabrielle: " Dr. Neil?" Dr. Neil: "Yes?" Gabrielle: "There's another Lisa on board." Dr. Neil: "I see. Well, we don't need to worry about that for now. I think we should try and get some sleep while we can. We'll be on Saxe soon, and I have a feeling things will get very interesting. Good night my dear, pleasant dreams." Gabrielle: "Good night." He reaches up and pats her hand, a gesture which has actually become comforting under the circumstances.