Displaced

Displaced
An Earth - Final Conflict story by Tina Price
(TinaP@prodigy.net)

Preview: Da'an faces the prospect of losing the one being he has grown closest to...

Disclaimer: Earth - Final Conflict, all characters and images therein are the property of the Tribune Entertainment Company. Render unto them your praise...

Acknowledgments: This story refers to, and reprises events which occurred in the episode, "The Joining". I thereby would like to give credit and thanks to the original screenwriters, Paul Gertz and Jonas McCord. Also, my sincerest admiration and thanks to my personal favorites, Kevin Kilner and Leni Parker for breathing life into Boone and Da'an. I hope I have done their characters justice, and if not, I apologize.

Rating: PG-13. Some mature themes.

Authors note: This story takes place during the events of the episode entitled, "The Joining". If you haven't seen the episode - MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! My other stories should be read first. This story is based upon my own idea of what is happening in the EFC universe. I am in no way receiving 'privileged information'. A friendly warning: I have taken steps to protect my stories. As always, advice, criticism and kudos are always welcomed. Please contact me at the above e-mail address.

Displaced

Image is the Property of Tribune Entertainment

        Boone sat on a bench out in the embassy gardens and listened to the birds chirping around him. It was still early - around seven in the morning, but he had nothing better to do...Da'an was already tied up, handling a minor diplomatic emergency and had not required his aid or presence.
        It was still very early in the spring and an unexpected storm had powdered the area with an inch of snow overnight. The garden was beautiful... in a chilly sort of way.
        Knocking more snow off the bench with his gloved hand, he leaned back and inhaled deeply, savoring the crisp, fresh air.
        Ever since his success in sharing with Da'an the wonders of smell, he had developed a new found appreciation for life. There was just so much that people took for granted. What would this garden be like, if he lost his sense of smell? If he couldn't taste the metal crispness of the air or feel his skin come up in goose bumps?
        He shook his head and sighed, even finding pleasure in the white vapor formed by his warm breath.
        The first few days following his return to Da'an's service had been wonderful. He'd put his house on the market and finished moving his essentials into his chamber within the embassy. He had spent a goodly amount of time in Da'an's presence, serving in the capacity of his attaché.
        They had had ample opportunity to talk , discussing subjects which ranged from music to freedom...
        But then, Zo'or had made a reappearance in Washington...with a vengeance. He had simply been there one morning when Boone started his day...and hadn't gone away since. Sandoval had, of course, arrived with his master and could, more often than not, be found loitering in the audience chamber. Da'an had been dismissing his ex attaché several times a day in the hopes of having some time alone with his current attaché. He was not able to do so when Zo'or himself was in attendance.
        Even more alarming, Boone had discovered that the Taelon Representative to the United Nations and his attaché, had taken rooms on the second level - far away from the offices and human quarters and he had been wanting to ask Da'an what was going on. The main problem was that Zo'or seemed to be closely monitoring the both of them, almost as though he had been assigned to restrict the amount of information Da'an could pass along to him.
        The last he and his Companion had enjoyed any time together had been in this very garden three days ago.
        They had walked in silence, content simply to be in each other's presence. Finally, they had begun a polite conversation only to have had Zo'or - who often stated that he had no appreciation for the garden - show up with Sandoval and begin strolling with them. Frustrated over the interruption, he had taken his leave and knocked several items off his 'to do' list.
        The United Nations would be back in session in three weeks. Surely, Zo'or would have no choice but to move back to New York at that time...
        A bird landed on the powdered pavement right in front of his bench, distracting him briefly.
        "Sorry, fella," he said. "I'm afraid I haven't any snacks with me."
        He watched as the bird grew frustrated with his lack of response and eventually took wing.
        As he watched it move on, his thoughts drifted back to his relationship with the North American Companion. He had been weighing the pros and cons of completing his bonding with the Taelon.
        Everything had become so clear to him lately...
        Having lost Katie, he had lost interest in developing another such relationship. He had come to realize this when he encountered Katya Petrenko. She had been lovely, intelligent and determined to do the right thing - all the qualities which in the old days would have had him pushing for a date, but none of that had touched him now. He knew that this might not be his permanent state - that one day he might heal enough to once again desire such a relationship, but for now.... he just couldn't foresee that happening.
        Perhaps it was his CVI. Yes, perhaps the damned implant had skewed his mind, rendering him incapable of beginning such a relationship, for it was able to bring back every memory of every moment with Katie in perfect clarity.
        It was Da'an - and Da'an alone whom he felt himself drawn closer and closer to, and he had to admit that outside of their close interaction, all other friendships were optional.
        He had often wondered if his CVI were responsible for this as well. Had some of the original motivational imperative remained? Had it pushed him towards the Companion? He preferred to believe that the two of them had simply met on a higher plane because of their similarities. They both believed in making the correct moral decisions, in seeing justice served...
        The facts were that he was now closer to Da'an than to any other living being and he didn't see that changing anytime soon. They simply knew each other too well.
        Over the last months, they had grown close enough to be able to communicate mentally over long distances when danger threatened or share dreams when he slept. The last impediment to their bonding had been removed as well. They needn't fear that the commonality would learn his secrets, for it turned out that only Da'an could sense him. To the others, he was a virtual blank, unless HE willed it otherwise...
        He had decided that he would accept the Companion's offer at a Taelon-Human pair bond.
        The rest of his race wouldn't understand and they certainly wouldn't approve. Neither would the Taelons, but...
        It felt right.
        So, the question now was, 'why hadn't Da'an made any move to complete the bond?' He hadn't even raised the possibility. Was he having second thoughts or was something more sinister at work here?
        He sat up straighter and watched people in the distance moving down the sidewalk to his left. Already traffic was building, infringing on the quiet solitude of the garden.
        As soon as he had a moment alone with his Companion, he would raise the subject of the bonding and see where it went from there...
        He also needed to speak with Da'an about the strange dream he had experienced last night - a dream in which the Taelon had been 'recharging' in his energy stream and suddenly bolted upright with a mental shriek....
        Had the dream reflected reality as it so often did when it concerned the Companion? He hoped not! Anything which could cause such terror in a Taelon had to be very bad indeed... Still, Da'an had made no mention of it...

        In the audience chamber above, Da'an moved to the huge virtual glass windows and looking down into the garden, spotted his implant. He had just resolved the misunderstanding with the finance minister and knowing instinctively where Boone was, moved over to the windows so that he could observe him while remaining unseen himself.
        His attaché sat upon a bench and watched the world go by around him, seemingly content to simply take in the white shrouded landscape. Da'an smiled softly to himself. Boone's current leisure activity was an admirable one. Perhaps he would join him...
        "What is it that you observe so avidly?" came a sly voice he knew so well, from behind him. "What...or should I ask whom?"
        Zo'or moved to stand beside Da'an and looked down into the garden. "Ah...William Boone. I expected as much." He looked his fellow Taelon up and down. "I dare say that your pursuit of the human and worship of his people has become worrisome. Why is it that you keep company with that base creature and not with me?"
        Da'an's head turned slowly as he brought his eyes up to meet Zo'or's. His mouth was compressed into a tight line. "William Boone is worthy of my respect, trust... and admiration. You are not," he answered, as though speaking to a child.
        Zo'or blushed brightly with indignation. "You...have become an abhorrence..." he spat, apparently unable to do any better.
        "One could say the same of you..." Just then, Da'an's eye was drawn to a movement in the garden. Turning to look, he realized with disappointment that Boone had risen and was striding away towards the street entrance.
        "See how he leaves you without so much as an explanation?" Zo'or whispered. "Humans are fickle creatures. The day will come when he meets the right female and then where will you stand? You will be cast aside - treated only as his master, which is as it should be."
        It was Da'an's turn to blush slightly. "I know that you believe that you are enlightening me," he said as he regained his composure, "...yet, you are still but a child who is unable to grasp the simplest of truths, let alone the truth about Boone and his fellow humans..."
        "And what might that be?"
        The look Da'an turned on him was one of pity. "That they are deserving of our trust, because they are our equals. What they yet lack in technology, they make up for in sheer determination and strength of will. I pray that they never evolve to the point where they have lost their very identities - as we have." Without further word, he turned his back to the sneering Zo'or.
        "Where are you going? Your place is here while we await word..."
        Da'an continued out of the chamber. "Boone shall contact us at the appropriate time," he stated, aware that Boone had, no doubt, received a summons from Captain Morovsky. He had taken an awful risk, one his brethren would find...incomprehensible, in not immediately sending Boone to investigate the situation. The truth was that he did not wish his friend to be the first to confront Hag'el, should he still be lurking about the crime scene.
        He feared losing him...
        He had instead managed to explain to Quo'on and Zo'or that should Hag'el absorb their most trusted implant's memories...that they would be vulnerable indeed. They had agreed that he was correct in sending Morovsky instead.
        Now, as Boone began his dangerous assignment, he wished nothing better than to feel connected to his friend...
        He would stroll in the garden for a short while before returning to his audience chamber to await Boone's confirmation of the dreaded news...

        Ronald Sandoval had arrived at the entrance to the audience chamber in time to hear the words exchanged by the two aliens. He had been completely astounded by the implication that Da'an and Boone...
        No, it was too bizarre.
        Such a thing just could not be... or could it? He had often chided himself for the jealousy he felt with regard to Boone. Was there was a real basis for his having experienced that negative emotion when he saw them together?
        He was so absorbed with his thoughts, that he almost missed it when the North American Companion showed signs that he was about to quit the room.
        Sandoval hastily backtracked down the central corridor and ducked into an office.
        He had a great deal to ponder...

        Boone had been about to quit the garden when his global bleeped. Quickly fumbling it off his belt, he opened it and saw the face of his old partner, Robert Morovsky come into focus.
        "Yeah, Bob - What have you got?" he asked.
        "A possible 'alien event' occurred at a Maryland warehouse sometime last night. I was hoping you could meet me at the site.."
        "What do you mean, 'last night'?" Boone looked both confused and angry. "And why were you called into Maryland?"
        Morovsky fidgeted.
        "Bob???"
        "Da'an contacted me and asked me to check it out..." Morovsky admitted.
        "What? Why? What reason did he have in not notifying me?"
        "The police captain looked uncomfortable. "He said he already suspected that we would recover several interesting artifacts and little else..."
        Boone's eyebrows drew together. "Anything else?" he asked in a no-nonsense tone he frequently used to intimidate.
        Morovsky confessed. "He said he didn't want your sleep to be disturbed..."
        Boone blushed three shades of red and was momentarily speechless. "He's becoming obsessed by my sleep habits..." he commented.
        "Hey, I don't mind covering for you buddy. I got a shuttle ride out of it and a whole lot more authority than I usually wield."
        "All right. Download your coordinates to me and I'll meet you out there."
        Boone snapped the global shut as soon as the location flashed up on the screen, and rising, made his way out of the garden, via the street entrance. He would walk around the block in which the Taelon embassy was situated.
        Hopefully, by the time he re-entered it through the front door, he'd be a whole lot less red faced...

        He met up with Morovsky in the parking lot outside a nondescript marine warehouse.
        "So, what have you got?" he asked, as soon as he stepped out of the shuttle.
        Bob glanced over at him and shook his head. "The details are sketchy at this point. You might as well skip the conjecture and see for yourself."
        Boone began walking quickly towards the warehouse with his friend at his side. His recent dream about Da'an began to take on sinister overtones and he was convinced that whatever he was about to encounter was already known to his Taelon friend.
        Known and feared.
        A short time later they entered a storage warehouse belonging to a small underwater salvage company. The sign above the entranceway said, "Marine Services". As he made his way into the supposed crime scene, Boone rounded some stacked cases which appeared to be covered with some sort of goo. Since he was wearing his leather gloves, he felt no qualms in scooping some up with his fingers.
        Seeing his friend rubbing his goo-covered fingers together, Morovsky spoke up. "Forensics says its mostly water," he hinted.
        "Mostly?" Not only did Boone not clue in, he actually sniffed the substance, hoping his CVI might kick out some information based upon the smell. Trouble was that the goo had no smell.
        Bob watched him for an instant and offered up the rest of the information.
        "Yeah...It's filled with fragments of human genetic material," he said, matter-of-factly.
        Boone lowered his hand and shook the goo off his fingers as profound sense of dread filled him.
        "You know, I once had a slice and dicer who thought his neighbors were a major food group," Morovsky related. "...but this is definitely from outer space." As he spoke, he moved to stand behind a bizarre, stylized statue of of a man and positioned himself as the statue was - with outstretched arms.
        Boone's attention was divided between the statue and a strange...oval container which was pod like in appearance and had what seemed to be Taelon relief writing on it.
        "Have these things taken to Washington to be examined by the Taelons," he ordered is old partner, as he bent closer to the pod and ran his fingers over the writing. He couldn't help but note that the container was a color which was very popular in Taelon society. Slowly, he turned to look at Morovsky. "If anything else...unusual...comes up, call me," he instructed as he looked meaningfully at him.
        "Oh...Yes...." the Police Captain assured him.

        Less than two hours later, Boone joined Da'an, Zo'or and Sandoval in the embassy's main audience chamber, where the 'pod' had been propped up atop some packing material. The atmosphere in the room was tense and he was able to pick up Da'an's own anxiety through their link.
        As he straightened from once again examining the Taelon characters on the object's surface, he addressed Da'an.
        "I'm not able to decipher this Taelon text," he admitted, hoping for some help from his friend.
        "What it says is not your concern," Zo'or instantly snapped.
        "I have a suspect encased in an alien cocoon. That IS my concern," he replied.
        "This writing dates back to the beginning of our recorded time." Da'an offered. "It says..." he continued, only to be interrupted by Zo'or.
        "The cylinder is a prison," the sly Taelon explained. "It holds an ancient Taelon criminal by the name of Hag'el, who was cast into the stellar sea millions of years ago."
        "And just happened to land on our planet..." Boone raised an eyebrow.
        "Unfortunately, yes," Zo'or replied.
        "Does he pose a danger to the Taelons?" Sandoval asked.
        Zo'or's face was grim. "An extreme danger! Which is why he must be hunted down and eliminated."
        "How will we find him?" his implant asked.
        It was Da'an who spoke. "By ascertaining the identity of the human in the cocoon, for it is his identity that Hag'el has assumed." His eyes slid over to meet Boone's.
        "You're saying Hag'el can assume the appearance of anyone he wants?" Boone asked, as the difficulties of finding such an entity flitted through his mind.
        Da'an nodded. "Like your chameleon... except in Hag'el's case... he assumes not only the physical characteristics of the victim, but all of his knowledge as well."
        Boone blinked and shook his head. "...How could a Taelon commit murder?" he questioned.
        It was Zo'or who answered. "Hag'el is no more Taelon than your Neanderthal man was human," he sneered. "Use the police and whatever force is required to complete your mission. Your skrills will be the only weapon effective against Hag'el."
        Boone turned to face the U.N. Representative. "Then why use the police?" he questioned. "I mean, if our skrills are the only thing which can bring him down, the police would be useless..."
        Zo'or nearly snorted in disgust. "Not if they lead you to him," he explained. "Enlist Lieutenant Beckette to help you. You will require her additional skrill to stop Hag'el."
        "Beckette?" Sandoval looked puzzled. "I thought she returned to Ireland with the English Companion."
        Zo'or shot him a knowing look. "No," he said with a smirk. "She remained behind to investigate a security breach..."
        During the time that Zo'or was addressing Sandoval, Boone had moved closer to Da'an and caught his eye. He knew that they would not be able to talk until the current emergency was over, but he hoped that the Companion caught his heartfelt desire to do so.
        Da'an nodded slightly at him, a gesture which could very well have been an acknowledgment.
        As soon as Zo'or's conversation with Sandoval ended, he directed a formal leave-taking gesture toward Da'an, and having excused himself, left the chamber with Sandoval hot on his heels.
        It was time to gather their forces...

William Boone - Disk 2, Year 1 Private journal entry number two hundred fifty-one.

        It's been a very hectic two days since my last entry and I've little time to relate every detail of those days at this time, so I'll make a brief synopsis of what has occurred.
        After escaping from his containment pod, Hag'el assumed the form of one of the members of the salvage operation which retrieved him from the ocean floor off the coast of Maryland.
        The man's name is Randy, and he had apparently led some of his friends back to the storage warehouse the night following the recovery so that they might make off with the more valuable finds.
        As is usually the case, the human predilection for greed lost the day. Despite the other wealth available to them, Randy could not resist opening the strange pod in the hopes of obtaining more treasure.
        Once released, Hag'el immediately possessed Randy and apparently destroyed his friends when they threatened him. Then, disguised as the human, he wandered about the city until he encountered a young lady. Somehow, they both ended up at her place and she ended up in our morgue.
        I was able to examine the crime scene before the body was removed. It was...incredible - as though a mini tornado had struck. Everything that was not bolted down, was flung against the outer walls of the room and smashed. At the center of the room, the victim lay dead upon her bed with a blissful smile upon her face. Cause of death is as yet unknown.
       Meanwhile, Doctor Park had analyzed the DNA of the victim trapped within the cocoon found in the warehouse and was able to identify the human as Randy, which is how I was able to piece together the above scenario.
        While we searched the streets for Hag'el/Randy, he was spotted attempting to enter a downtown building. Confronted by the police, he killed five, one on foot and four who were in their patrol cars. A sixth man, the partner of the officer who was on foot, managed to avoid Hag'el's blasts and directed us to his last known location.
        We came up empty-handed.
        The surviving officer described energy blasts which seemed to emerge from the perpetrator's palms.
        Sound as though Hag'el's Shakarava are in working order....
        The Doctor has just informed me that Randy has suddenly been released from his cocoon, which means that Hag'el has most likely taken over another form.
        We have not recovered another cocoon, which means...
        He could be almost anyone...

        Da'an stood before his windows and watched as the humans who lived or worked near his embassy went about their normal daily activities. If Hag'el was not stopped, and soon, this would rapidly become nothing but a nostalgic memory.
        As he reflected upon how much could be lost, upon how very much this planet with all its inhabitants was to be protected - at all costs, he heard a soft set of footfalls to his right. Glancing out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Boone approaching him uncertainly. He had known it would be his implant, for he had felt his presence from the moment he had re-entered the embassy. He imagined that Boone's hesitant demeanor was due to his desire for information which he was uncertain of receiving.
        "I need to know what's driving Hag'el, Da'an," Boone announced. "It's the only way we're going to be able to stop him."
        Without only a slight hesitation, he answered his friend. "Ten million years ago, Hag'el's species conquered the Taelon home planet through a war of genetic assimilation. Using their chameleon powers, they infiltrated the Taelon culture and began infecting our race with a genetic virus that would join our two species for all eternity." He looked straight ahead, humiliated at having had to tell the tale.
        "How did you defeat them?" his startled implant asked.
        "We didn't." He looked over at Boone, aware that he could not hide his inner turmoil from his friend anyway. "The Taelon race you see today are the result of that genetic assimilation."
        Boone blinked slowly, a look of horror creeping onto his face as he took in all the ramifications of the frightening tale he had just heard. "...And now he's here to assimilate the human race..." he said, in a heavy tone.
        "Is it finally clear to you why Hag'el must be destroyed?" came Zo'or's voice from behind them. The other Taelon had just entered the audience chamber and was approaching them. "Every species deserves the right to evolve according to the natural laws of the universe," he added. "...not according to the will of another race."
        Da'an hung his head and closed his eyes in frustration at yet another intrusion. Moreover, he found Zo'or's words embarrassing in their irony. He was aware of Boone glancing quickly at him before turning to confront Zo'or.
        "Will the taelons honor this principle in their dealings with humanity?" he asked, unable to resist throwing Zo'or's words back at him...as Da'an had known he would.
        "Of course..." Zo'or's voice said behind him. Da'an was able to feel his fellow Taelon's irritation at having been so neatly trapped.
        Boone seemed to dismiss the U.N. Representative from the conversation. Turning back to Da'an, he gently squeezed his arm - the first contact either had made in many days. He didn't speak until Da'an met his eyes.
        "I'll report back when I know something more, " he said aloud, but through the contact, Da'an could feel him asking that they meet to discuss other things as well.
        He watched with an inexplicable sadness as his implant moved quickly out of the room and spoke to his fellow Taelon without yet turning to face him. "Boone is not so easily deceived, Zo'or," he said. "He has the uncanny ability to sense when we are lying to him."
        "Boone is an implant," Zo'or sneered, as Da'an turned to face him. "...and an implant would never question the truthfulness of a Taelon's words."
        Da'an moved towards him. "Then why lie to him?" he asked, as he passed him, intent upon resuming his chair.
        "Are you suggesting that I should have told William Boone the truth?" Zo'or asked in amazement. "That it was our race that destroyed Hag'el's after they had saved us from extinction?"
        Da'an swiveled around and stared at Zo'or in shock. It was several seconds before he was able to speak. "Every Taelon knows how the war unfolded. Your statement is a clear fabrication... an intentional distortion of the facts."
        "Is that so?" Zo'or moved nearer. "Then why is it that you are so troubled by my...statement? Could it be that you sense that I believe I am telling the truth?" He reached out and grasped Da'an's arm. "Know then that those who rule...The Synod...know the truth of the matter. They alone have kept the actual facts alive in their memories."
        Through their linkage, Da'an saw that his fellow Taelon WAS telling the truth and his world seemed to crumble around him. Breaking free of Zo'or's grasp, he moved out of the chamber as quickly as he was able and proceeded in a daze to the garden, where he stopped before the fountain.
        Dropping down to sit upon the wall around the artificial pool, he stared into its fluid depths.
        His last belief in the good of his own kind had been obliterated. His excuses for their more recent atrocities - that they were a wronged race attempting to return to their origins - became nothing more that empty rationalization. His people had no excuse for their actions, none other than that they themselves were an aggressive, amoral race. They moved through the universe, taking that which they wished and destroying those who stood in their way, whilst assuring the populous that they were merely doing what was necessary for survival.
        He knew the truth now. This mission to earth had been planned with only one objective in mind - to take what they could form the human race, whilst bending them to the Taelon will.
        He seemed to collapse inward on himself, so hunched over was he.
        What was he to do now?

William Boone - Disk 2, Year 1 Private journal entry number two hundred fifty-one. Continued          Dr. Park has just told me that our female victim seems to have died of a massive overload of endorphins, the chemical released by the brain at the height of sexual activity.
        This begins to make sense in light of my most recent meeting with Da'an.
        He has informed me of the true danger Hag'el poses, but many questions still remain.
        Can just one of his species infect an entire planet genetically? Is such an infection of humans even possible, given the fact that the first he encountered did not survive the... mating? What would he gain by infecting us anyway? Surely, if his anger is directed against the Taelons, he realizes that we could be powerful allies. Am I off base here? Does he wish simply to recreate every species he encounters in his own image?
        Something is not adding up.
        I need to talk to Da'an - in private - where Zo'or cannot interfere.
        I need to do so soon!

        "Da'an!" Lili's tone of voice, as she appeared in the data stream he had activated, was enough to confirm the Companion's greatest fears. He had felt Boone cry out with his mind a short while ago and tentatively reached out to meet him, only to have been driven back by a sensation which had to have been pain, so unpleasant was it.
        "How badly is Boone injured?" he asked her, as Zo'or entered the chamber and stopped before his chair..
        "It's very bad. I've already transferred him to Dr. Belman's care," she gulped.
        "Watch over him, Captain. I shall meet you there once I have obtained... additional aid." As the transmission ended, he stepped down from his platform and passed the smirking Zo'or with his head lowered. There was much to be done and he had no time to trade words with his rival.

        Belman finished checking her monitors and turned back to lay a hand on her patient's head. She had spent the better part of the last twenty minutes getting him stabilized.
        God, how it broke her heart to see him like this!
        Boone's handsome face was severely lacerated on the left side, muscle torn and nerves damaged so that it had remained slack and motionless, regardless of the implant's previous grimaces of pain. His neck and torso were even more badly lacerated and he had suffered another pneumothorax as a result of the stone shrapnel generated when the pillar behind him had exploded. His injuries were life threatening and surgery might need to be considered despite his poor condition.
        With a sigh, she turned an looked at her monitors again and satisfied with what she was seeing, addressed her assistants.
        "Call down to pathology and have them crossmatch three more units, just in case," she ordered. I want a repeat blood count and blood gasses every thirty minutes for now. Make sure that respiratory and pathology work together on it."
        "Yes ma'am," one of the P.A.'s answered, as he ran for the nearest phone.
        Belman turned toward her other P.A. "Where are those new X-rays? I've been waiting for the film too long. Get down to radiology and fetch them yourself if you have to!"
        "On my way!" The physician's assistant ran from the room, nearly barreling into the arriving visitors in her haste.
        Belman looked up as Da'an arrived with Captain Marquette and two other Taelons she had not seen before. He walked slowly into the room, as though hesitant to confront that which he knew awaited him inside. She moved forward to meet him... and try to warn him.
        "How is he, Doctor?" the North American Companion asked with a troubled look upon his face. Behind him, Lili looked as though she were fighting for contol.
        "He's...not good," she replied, not wanting to give them false hope. "He was still conscious when he arrived - using his CVI to try to fight down the pain and boost his blood pressure, but there were things I had to do...I knocked him out to spare him the additional trauma," she admitted. "He's on full life support and paralyzed to prevent him from fighting the machines and hurting himself worse." She blinked rapidly, trying to keep her voice from breaking. "Before I put him under, he said to tell you that he has no regrets."
        Da'an's head twisted to one side as he briefly glowed blue. "Thank you Doctor. I'm sure that you have done everything you could." He slowly made his way past her to the patient who was partially screened from view by a curtain.
        As the Companion approached Boone, Lili remained behind with Belman to afford him some privacy and held out an arm, stopping the other two Taelons from following. .
        "There's no way to know for certain, but he may be aware of what's going on now," Belman called out. "Reassure him that we're here..."
        Da'an stopped on the left side of the gurney and stared at his implant's still form. Half his face was covered in blood soaked bandages and various suction tubes exited his chest, held in place by gruesome black sutures. The only motion was the steady rise and fall of his chest as the ventilator breathed for him.
        Boone was deathly pale, his lips slightly gray.
        Laying a delicate hand upon the uninjured side of his human friend's face, Da'an stroked it lovingly. He did not speak aloud, but rather probed Boone's mind for the thoughts which would signal his awareness.
        "He is profoundly unconscious Doctor," he said, lod enough for her to hear him over the respirator. "He does not even dream... and I can sense nothing to make me believe that he will soon awaken.."
        Belman quickly approached with Lili trailing behind, and moved to Boone's other side.
        After checking the monitors and Boone's pupils, Belman spoke to her assistant. "Have them send up one of those packed cells," she ordered. Turning back to Da'an she explained. "We've been having problems with his blood pressure. His blood counts are not all that bad, but I believe his heart may have suffered some damage."
        Lili took Boone's left hand with both of her own. "Is he stable?" she asked.
        "Stable for now, but critical... very critical."
        Da'an looked at Lili, his face an emotionless mask. "He alone defeated Hag'el?" he asked in disbelief.
        "...Yes," she choked. "He tried to talk to him... to convince him that we weren't his enemy, but as they were approaching each other, the police burst in and Hag'el and Boone fired on each other simultaneously. Boone was hit indirectly when Hag'el's blast blew up the church pillar behind him. His own shot vaporized Hag'el."
        The two other Taelons stared at each other in disbelief at the news that a single human had brought down their ancient enemy.
        Da'an turned back to his implant and stroked his arm as a bittersweet look of pride flitted across his face.
        "The two Taelons who have arrived with me are scientists specializing in human physiology," he told Belman. "They will examine Boone and inform us if they have any treatments which may aid his condition. I wish everything to be done to preserve his life, but I am to be informed before any new treatment is undertaken."
        Belman nodded her understanding as the two Taelons bowed slightly.
        With a final, sad look at his implant, Da'an motioned Lili to accompany him and the two of them slowly exited the room.
        Out in the hallway, Da'an move in close, causing the marine to back against the wall. Leaning closer still, he took Lili's hand. "Tell me all which transpired," he urged.
        As the shuttle pilot began to speak, Da'an initiated a 'sharing' and pulled the memories from her mind:
        Lassiter's call to her informing her of Beckette's investigation of her records. Her headlong rush to St. Michael's Church. Beckette's discovery of the Liberation HQ and her transmission to Sandoval. Augur's call to Boone informing him of the situation. Sandoval's arrival and seduction of Beckette. Boone's arrival and their joint discovery that it was not Sandoval, but rather, Hag'el in his stolen form! Hag'el kissing and then sweeping Beckette up in the whirlwind of dissociated energy he had become. Boone's confrontation of the once again corporal Hag'el after the lightshow was over. Lili's rescue of the unconscious Beckette. Boone reasoning with Hag'el as they fought. Boone and Hag'el lowering their arms and moving slowly toward each other...The disastrous results of the police's ill-timed entrance. Boone, severely wounded, being lifted onto a pew. Boone calling out to his dead wife, Katie....convinced that he was about to die....
        The North American Companion saw it all as though he had been there and when it was over, Lili began to sob as the shock of the situation ebbed and reality finally settled in.
        Dropping her hand, Da'an wrapped her in his arms and held her close, as he too sought comfort.

        Sandoval stood next to Da'an's chair in the main audience chamber confused by his summons. His presence had been requested a half hour ago...as soon as Da'an had returned from a trip to the medical facility.
        To make matters even stranger, Zo'or had urged him to follow the Companion's request.
        He hadn't even quite come to terms with having awakened naked in a dumpster while the temperature outside was nearly freezing...
        It had been a very bad few days, from having rejected Beckette's sudden direct play for him... to having been attacked by Hag'el and encased in a pod... to having awakened naked in public... to having learned that Boone had single-handedly brought down Hag'el and paid the price for his heroic feat.
        God only knew - he needed this summons like he needed a hole in the head... Still, the Companions knew best and he was being a poor implant in bemoaning his orders.
        Da'an glanced over his shoulder at him as though sensing his impatience.
        "I realize that you have had a trying day," the Companion said in an unusually lackluster tone. "However, I fear that you must endure one last trial. Please prepare yourself for what may come."
        "Yes Da'an," he answered, completely nonplused at this point.
        Da'an waved open a data stream, in which the English Companion appeared.
        "Da'an," Kha'rha spoke quietly. "I have only just become aware of Boone's status. I grieve for your loss...."
        "As I grieve for yours," Da'an replied.
        For a brief moment Kha'rha stared at his American counterpart in uncomprehending surprise. Then he completely lost his human appearance, reverting back to his true form.
        "My implant has not joined the void..." he said, in apparent denial. "I would have felt her passage..."
        Da'an's look became one of pity as he finally realized the truth - that Kha'rha and Beckette shared a bond. "I am sorry, Kha'rha," he murmured. "I have received confirmation of her death from a reliable source."
        Sandoval paled as the truth sank in. Siobhan dead? It couldn't be! She was....
        In the data stream, Kha'rha hung his head and let out an unearthly wail as he cut the transmission.
        There was sudden silence in the audience chamber as both its occupants remained unmoving and lost in their own thoughts.
        Finally, Da'an spoke. "Agent Sandoval...you are dismissed."
        As he stepped down off the platform and walked in a daze towards the door, the Companion spoke again.
        "Agent Sandoval...."
        Sandoval stopped and looked back.
        "I am sorry for your loss as well."
        Unable to speak, he nodded and continued on his way.

        Da'an watched him go and bowing his head, reflected upon the lie he had told both Kha'rha and Sandoval. It was a very hard thing to deceive them in this way, now that he, too, knew what it was to have such feelings for someone.
        Lili was, however, correct - With Beckette a guest of the Liberation, it was best that Sandoval believed her dead, else he would stop at nothing to find her...
        There was an even more important reason to keep her continued existence secret from Kha'rha...
        Obviously the resistance had not yet discovered the truth behind Beckette's condition... It was imperative that it remain a secret lest his people take advantage of that which was 'becoming'...

        Lili re-entered the Liberation's underground facility and made her announcement.
        "Boone's touch and go," she said as soon as she entered the medical exam room where the others were gathered about the fallen Beckette. "All we can do now is wait."
        "What about Sandoval?" Augur asked as he uncrossed his arms and stared down at Beckette. The doctor was scanning her with a portable medical imager.
        "Well there's no adverse effects from Hag'el's possession of him," Lili replied. "...He bought the story about Hag'el killing Beckette."
        The doctor looked up from the monitors she was scanning. "She's not out of the woods yet. But her vital signs are strong," she informed them. Suddenly one of the monitors started beeping rhythmically at a rate of about two hundred per minute. "Oh my God!" the doctor exclaimed. "I should have known!"
        "What is it?" Lili asked for all of them.
        "Hag'el's plan...She's pregnant."
        Everyone stared at the doctor, the monitor and Beckette in absolute shock.
        "All this might have been avoided if Lassiter had known I was Resistance," Lili mumbled brokenly.
        Doors stared at her, a look of pity on his face. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty vision, Marquette," he growled. "Thinking that way won't solve any of our problems."
        She turned and left the room, intent on returning home and polishing off a bottle of wine, but Augur caught up with her almost immediately.
        "Don't torture yourself like this Lili," he soothed. "None of us could have avoided this, and Will wouldn't want you taking the whole thing on your shoulders anyway."
        She stared at the ground, hearing his words, but unable to believe them.
        "Come on," he said, pushing her towards the elevator. "We're going out for a few drinks and a nice long talk afterwards..."

        Not three hours after his previous visit, Da'an again arrived at Belman's medical facility. He had canceled all his audiences that morning with the confirmation of Hag'el's presence on the planet and with little else to occupy his mind, Zo'or's presence had become oppressive. Now, as he re-entered Boone's room, he realized that he would not feel right anywhere else so long as his implant was fighting for his life.
        The first thing he became aware of upon entering, was Dr. Belman, slumped over a desk, asleep. She would not think of leaving so critical a patient, most especially one she knew so well, while they were so ill. Da'an reflected that he had chosen well when he had nominated her as head of the new facility three years ago.
        Moving to her side, he gently placed his hands upon her shoulders. "Doctor," he said in a soothing tone, as she began to awaken. "Go home and rest, Boone shall be well looked after while you are away."
        Belman rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. "I could use the sleep..." she admitted. "and I know that YOU'LL watch over him properly," she added, glaring over at the other Taelons. Standing, she gathered her things. "I'll be back before seven tomorrow,"
        That said, she paid a final bedside visit to Boone, patted his hand and left.
        The two Taelon scientists moved to greet Da'an as soon as the doors closed behind her.
        "Present your report," he ordered as he moved to Boone's side and again checked for signs of awareness. The human was still in a coma.
        "We have extracted the stone shards from his flesh," one of them said. "His cardiac muscle was lacerated, but we were able to regenerate it with little problem."
        "His blood pressure is greatly improved, however, he still hovers on the brink of the void," the other continued. "We recommend that a host body be prepared, should the possible become reality."
        Da'an frowned slightly, instinctively knowing that his implant would not approve such extreme measures. "All care must be taken to preserve his present form," he replied. "It is doubtful that a transference would be... accepted."
        "Then I recommend that we begin a duplicate form," The first scientist immediately suggested.
        "However, you should know that we have experimented with such transference and found that the clone must reach a gestational tank age of three weeks before there is a chance at success." the second added. "That is the length of time required for the proper neural pathways to complete their formation."
        "If he is so greatly improved..." Da'an asked. "then why is he still so far beyond my reach?"
        "It could be that he has intentionally chosen to withdraw," the first scientist responded.
        "Who yet knows the limits of an implant's abilities?" the second added.
        Da'an stared down at Boone as he gently brushed his fingers over his wavy auburn hair. He wished that his friend might guide him in the decision to be made, but knew he would have to make it himself.
        "Begin the cloning process. Preservation of the original body is the primary objective, however if it cannot be achieved, he shall be transferred to the duplicate body. Procure the first available host body in the event that this form fails before the clone form is ready. If transference becomes necessary, he shall be kept unconscious until he is in the clone form and it is of an adult age." Da'an glared at them. "I will tolerate no deviance from this course."
        "What if the human doctor objects?" Vi'in, the first scientist, asked.
        Hin'nel, the second one, added, "She is very opinionated."
        "She is not to know," Da'an answered hesitantly. "If she becomes aware of the preparations, have her contact me."
        Both Taelons bowed quickly.
        "You will contact me at the slightest change," the Companion added, again drawing acknowledgment from the scientists.
        With a final gentle stroke of Boone's cheek, he turned and left the room.

        She had consumed quite a few margaritas and somehow they had both ended up at her place... although she couldn't seem to remember the trip back...
        Lili kicked off her shoes, still surprised at finding herself snuggled up against Augur on the sofa. Her gas fireplace was burning cozily and the TV was on. She couldn't help but feel that letting him get even this close was asking for trouble...that she should be guarding Boone...but she had to admit that the implant would be the first one to tell her to relax. In fact, he would, no doubt, find the whole situation of her tying one on and waking up in Augur's arms highly amusing....
        Lifting her head slightly, she got a better look at her company.
        Augur seemed to be enjoying an old movie about a man with an overloaded neural processor... Tilting her head back to get a better look at him, she was able to absorb the fact that the cyber wizard was laughing as tears ran down his cheeks.
        THAT's what woke her up! Apparently he found the movie extremely amusing in its stupidity...
        With a groan, she let her head flop back down unto his chest...The room was spinning unpleasantly.
        "Are you all right, Lili?" Augur asked between laughs.
        "Never better," she lied. "How mush did I have?"
        "I lost count. Anyway, it won't hurt you any this time...so long as I'm looking out for you..."
        Raising her head again, she met his sincere gaze and felt her heart turn over. "Have I ever told you how mush..." she began, only to have him press her head back down to his chest.
        "No. And I don't think that you'd better be saying anything right now," he advised. "Better to wait till later..."
        "Later?"
        "Later. When you know what you're saying..."
        She smiled. He really was a good friend.... As she started to doze again, her global bleeped.
        "Wha? Where iz that thing?" she asked as she fumbled at her belt.
        "I have it," Augur said, as he reached up over his head and snatched off the end table.
        Lili was thankful that he activated it for her and held it out to the side where they could both see the screen.
        "Da'an!" she exclaimed as she saw him. "Boone's OK, isn't he?" he voice sounded small, even to her.
        The Companion looked surprised at the scene before him. "...he is still in a coma, but he has stabilized somewhat," he announced.
        Lili smiled as her head dropped back to Augur's chest and her eyes closed. "Thank goodnezz..." she mumbled. She just needed to rest her eyes for a moment...
        As she began to snore quietly, Augur shrugged at the Companion. "Sorry, she's had a bit much to drink..." he explained. "Is there anything you need?"
        "No...Thank you," Da'an answered. "I simply wished to check upon her well being..." With a small nod, the Companion cut the link.
        Augur put the global down, a troubled look upon his face. He knew Da'an had called in the hopes of obtaining Lili's company and for some reason, he was actually feeling guilty at having her to himself... "Sorry..." he mumbled aloud, as though to himself. "This time she's staying with me..."

        Da'an waved off his data stream and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. He had been caught off guard by Lili's...situation and was now feeling very much overlooked.
        Could a Taelon feel lonliness? Envy? Jealousy?
        No. They could not. They were above such things.
        But then...why had seeing Lili with Augur, increased his own yearning for Boone?
        With a frown marring his otherwise tranquil face, he lightly rested his wrists upon the arms of his chair and sought enlightenment through meditation...

         Hin'nel and Vi'in stood over the gurney which had just arrived at the clinic, discussing the suitability of its occupant. Hin'nel reached down and touched the red hair of the brain dead form and looked up at his partner.
        "We should question the feasibility of a cross gender transfer," he said. "Boone might not adapt to such a difference of form."
        "Should the need arise, this form shall do well enough. We are to keep him sedated. He shall never know," Vi'in reasoned.
        "We must think of his mental state should he regain consciousness for whatever reason..."
        Just then the doors banged open as another gurney was wheeled into the room by two very large human males. Trailing behind the entourage, was Zo'or. The two Taelon scientists exchanged questioning looks before turning to greet the higher ranked Taelon.
        Zo'or approached the female form they had been discussing. "I take it that this form has been procured for Boone?" he sneered. "He is worthy of a warrior's form. This one will not do..."
        As if on cue, one of the humans stepped forward and turned off the body's life support systems, as the scientists gaped in shock and then blushed blue. The dying body was abruptly pushed out of the way by one of the humans, as the other moved the other gurney into its place.
        "I mourn Boone's condition...as does his Companion," Zo'or informed them. "and I have taken great pains to provide him with a fitting host form...should the need arise." He quickly uncovered the new body, revealing a human male of medium height and build.
        The body had olive skin, long, straight, deep chestnut hair and a skrill upon its arm. Save for a single, dextrose IV, it was not on life support.
        Vi'in looked up in shock. "This is an implant!" he exclaimed. "What has happened to him?"
        "How could an implant end up in such a condition without us hearing of it?" Hin'nel accused.
        Zo'or's expression was frightening in its coldness. " This man, Jared Desario, had only just been recruited by our European Companion. His implantation was not successful - something which was not determined until after he had received his skrill." Zo'or gestured at the body. "He suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. Only his CVI prevents his entire system from collapsing. Technically he did not survive the implantation, which is why you do not recognize him."
        Vi'in looked over the monitor which was propped on the gurney between the body's feet. He exchanged glances with his fellow scientist.
        "We find this body unacceptable," Hin'nel answered for him. "If it expired as you say, the brain is most likely irretrievably damaged."
        "It would be too risky to attempt a transference into such a body."
        "Very well. I have a second body which you may find more acceptable." Zo'or nodded to his assistants, who quickly moved out into the corridor. "I had hoped this form would prove usable, given that it already possessed a skrill and CVI," he explained as a second gurney was wheeled into the room.
        The second male body was tall and blond, with pale, freckled skin. Although it was on life support, its readings pleased the two scientists greatly.
        "This form is most acceptable," they said in unison.
        "Excellent. You are both dismissed," Zo'or looked down his nose at them.
        "We have been charged with looking after Da'an's implant until Dr. Belman returns," Vi'in replied. "We may not leave..."
        "Are you implying that I am not capable of such a task?" Zo'or's voice was deadly.
        The two scientists blushed and exchanged helpless looks.
        "You now have a suitable transfer body. Your services may now be offered elsewhere," the sly U.N. Representative continued. "While I care for Boone, you are to check upon the other human patients and see if Taelon medicine may aid any of them."
        Again the two scientists exchanged looks. They were being ordered to perform their chosen function, something which made perfect sense. As one, they turned and withdrew.
        As soon as they were down the corridor, the two humans, both of them Taelon operatives, wheeled the host body next to Boone's....

        Boone dreamed that he was walking down a corridor aboard the Taelon home ship. Seated before a window at the corridor's end was his Companion, a look of grief upon his face.
        He quickened his pace, determined to cheer his friend by showing that he had recovered....
        As he drew to within twenty feet of Da'an, Zo'or stepped out of a side corridor, blocking his Companion from sight and opening his own arms in welcome of the advancing implant.
        Boone could not stop his forward momentum in time...

        He came suddenly, jarringly awake. his eyes flying open as the terror of his dream continued.
        He couldn't move!
        He was strapped down!
        To make matters worse, Zo'or was standing over him, a smile splitting his face in a way which caused Boone's stomach to churn. They appeared to be in an operating theater...
        "What have you..." Boone croaked out, only to stop in shock at the sound of his own voice.
        "Do not worry, Boone," the Taelon said. "You're out of danger now." With a movement of his arm, Zo'or gestured to a gurney on Boone's left.
        His eyes shifted over...only to find that he himself lay upon it. As his eyes widened in extreme shock at the realization of his condition, he called out, "Where's Da'an? What have you done with..."
        "Never mind about Da'an," Zo'or interrupted. "You'll be thanking me for saving you...by becoming MY implant..."
        The man who had been William Boone, stared at the Taelon, finding that he seemed unable to generate any kind of protest.
        "What? No arguments?" Zo'or asked. "Did I mention that the form you inhabit also possesses a CVI... and an experimental model at that? Da'an shall never know of your plight. You will never tell him or inform him by any means. Is that understood?"
        "Yes." he answered, as he slipped into a state of utter despair.
        Zo'or turned and addressed his assistants. "Get him to the shuttle - and send his discarded body back to his room."
        Boone closed his eyes, so that he would not have to see his own body as he was pushed towards the doorway.

        Da'an sat alone in his audience chamber, staring straight ahead in a meditative state. He had found it nearly impossible to keep his mind off his implant's state. Such a lack of concentration, could, for a Taelon, be deemed a mental illness.
        He had begun meditating on the more important difficulties he faced, whilst desperately trying...and failing to ignore Boone's plight.
        He understood the human concept of regret quite well now. How he wished he had taken the time to ensure a private conversation with his implant before this tragedy had occurred!
        Zo'or entered his presence, unannounced, and with a strange human.
        "Forgive my interruption," he said, with a small bow, which was echoed by the human. "...however, I have an announcement I wish to make."
        Da'an inclined his head to the right and brought up a hand. "Please continue," he offered, intrigued by the new arrival.
        "I have procured a new implant, to serve me, as we are both aware that you will require Sandoval for a time."
        Da'an looked at the human, taking in his appearance.
        He was what most humans would consider handsome. His two most extraordinary characteristics were the dark hair, pulled back into a tail which hung all the way to his waist, and eyes, which were a startling, vivid blue in an otherwise dark toned face.
        He had never seen the man before, and yet, he felt a certain uneasiness in his presence. It was perhaps due to the intense stare of those incredibly blue eyes....
        "My implant's name is Marshal Ledeoux," Zo'or introduced the human, who stepped forward and bowed.
        "I am pleased to meet a new member of our...extended family..." Da'an replied, politely holding out a hand to the new implant.
        Ledeoux moved to take it, but stopped at the last moment and lowered his arm. Da'an inclined his head and stared at him, certain that something significant had just occurred. Even now, the man stared at the floor, unwilling to meet his gaze.
        The beep of an incoming message distracted him and with the wave of an arm, he opened the data stream.
        It was Vi'in.
        "Da'an...there has been a change in the human's status," he began.
        The North American Companion had already come to his feet and cut the transmission. Now he opened a new one.
        "Agent Sandoval, have a shuttle readied and meet me in the shuttle bay. Immediately!"
        The haggard implant, who had obviously been sleeping, came to full attention. "Yes, Da'an," he managed to reply before his transmission was also cut.
        Without a word to his guests, Da'an stepped down from his platform and left the room, unaware that two sets of blue eyes watched him - one with anticipation...the other with dread.

        Accompanied by Sandoval, Da'an entered Boone's room at nearly a trot.
        "What has happened?" he asked as soon as he had cleared the doorway.
        Hin'nel looked up from his monitors. "Boone's body began to fail," he replied.
        "We felt that we could not wait for your approval before commencing the transference," Vi'in added.
        Da'an moved to his implant's side. The monitors showed erratic readings and several new tubes now sprung from his body. "Has he..."
        "The host body expired during the transference!" Hin'nel confessed. "We do not know why this should have occurred, but..."
        "We fear that Boone's essence has been lost to us," Vi'in finished.
        Da'an's gaze traveled behind him, where a shrouded form lay upon another gurney. Moving slowly towards it, He pulled back the sheet, revealing a tall, blond male. With little hesitation, he placed his palm against the body's forehead.
        "I cannot detect any sign that Boone's being was ever here," he announced.
        Everyone's head turned back to Boone's form.
        This time Da'an moved forward very slowly, obviously afraid of what he might discover. As though afraid he would be burned, he hesitantly laid a hand upon his friend's brow and concentrated.
        A full minute ticked by...
        Da'an became a translucent blue, and dropping down suddenly, embraced his implant's body.
        Sandoval almost expected to hear him emit a sob and ended up reflecting that the fact that Da'an was incapable of such physical expression seemed to make his grieving that much more horrible to see. He watched fearfully as the Companion laid his cheek upon Boone's chest, and fought back his own tears at the sight - that of the Taelon he admired most, grieving so piteously....
        Behind him, the two scientists had backed away and averting their eyes, grasped each other's hands.
        Biting his lip as he fought the urge to go to Da'an, Sandoval curled his hands into such tight fists that his knuckles popped. If there was anything he could do to bring Boone back, he would - even if it meant playing second fiddle to the security chief.
        He'd do anything to spare Da'an...this!
        Knowing that such a thing could not be, he waited out his Companion, ready to do whatever might be asked of him.
        The doors opened behind him and he jumped as the very tall, wide shouldered Taelon he had seen for the first time that very afternoon, passed him and headed for Da'an.
        Stooping down, Kha'rha took hold of Da'an's shoulders and gently guided him away from Boone's body. His touch seemed to bring Da'an back to an awareness of his surroundings.
        "I came as soon as I heard that Boone was failing," the English Companion explained.
        "How did you know?" Da'an asked, with little real interest, his eyes still turned towards his implant's form.
        "Zo'or's new implant, Ledeoux, contacted me."
        Da'an gave Kha'rha a strange look, before turning his attention towards Vi'in and Hin'nel. "Transfer Boone's body to a stasis tank," he all but whispered. "I'll not see it destroyed. If it can be healed, it may give life to another."
        "What of the clone?" Vi'in asked.
        "Turn it over to Dro'vha. Once it has reached birthing age, he is to contact me."
        Da'an's eyes seemed lifeless, his face but a mask, as he traced Boone's profile with his fingers. When he appeared about to linger next to the body too long, Kha'rha gently led him from the room.
        Sandoval fell into step behind them.

        "This shall be your room," Zo'or announced, as he showed Marshall a bedchamber in his New York complex.
        The implant looked around quickly and then returned to his brooding silence, bringing a frown to Zo'or's face.
        "I do not see why you are acting like the dead," he commented, as he ran his fingers through the implant's long hair.. "You have a new form which I find far more attractive than your original one, and you are now paired with the one Taelon who can truly appreciate your scheming nature."
        "I'm surprised that you didn't remain in DC long enough to gloat over Da'an's misfortune," Boone replied softly.
        "Ah, finally...a touch of the real Boone," Zo'or smiled. "I needed to see to some business, and besides...it may prove best to remove you from Da'an's influence early on." He stood practically nose to nose with his new implant. "Not to mention that...because of your...cunning nature, I dare not leave you unattended for long. I'm sure that you've already begun thinking of innovative ways to reveal your identity..."
        Zo'or pointed at the floor. "Kneel," he commanded.
        Boone instantly dropped to his knees.
        "Kiss my hand" Zo'or held out his left hand.
        His new implant did not hesitate to press his lips to his master's knuckles.
        "A most enjoyable hobby," Zo'or smiled. "making so proud a human grovel." His look hardened. "Remember that I can do worse - much worse, should you disappoint me. Now stand up. I have some new directives for you..."
        Boone stood, shaking like a leaf inside, as he resolved to end his life with or without Da'an ever learning the truth. He could not bear to live like this!
        Seeing that his new implant had come to attention, Zo'or stated his orders, "You shall take every precaution to prevent ANYONE from learning your identity. You shall not allow Da'an - or any Taelon but myself - to touch you. You shall not even talk to Da'an without my permission. You shall follow no one's orders but my own, regardless of their rank." He smiled unpleasantly. "You shall not harm yourself in any way." He smiled evilly. "However, if Da'an should discover your true identity, you are to destroy him immediately and then yourself! Do you understand what I have demanded of you?"
        Boone nodded, his eyes on the carpeting.
        "Tomorrow we shall...'share' that I might know what it is you are hiding." The Taelon smirked with anticipation. "You may now retire for the evening," he added. "We have a very productive day ahead of us..."
        Withdrawing down the hallway, Zo'or left his implant to close the door to his own room. He understood now why humans laughed aloud. Da'an devastated...his implant completely broken... and their secrets about to be laid bare... Revenge was a pleasant sensation...

        Boone pulled a chair in front of his window and sitting in it, stared out at Central Park. He had tried all night to reach out to Da'an with his mind...and had felt nothing. Why? Was it because he now existed inside a completely foreign shell, or was it because he now possessed a functioning implant?
        Come to think of it...if he were in possession of a fully functional implant, why did he still care what was happening to him? He was most definitely forced to comply with Zo'or's orders, but he still had freedom of thought...
        He again focused on the park and the city line beyond its boundaries, finding that he had no appreciation for the twinkling beauty of the city's billions of lights.
        He had managed to notify Kha'rha before Zo'or had zipped him away. Perhaps Da'an would investigate the occurrence...
        Who was he kidding? He stood a slim chance at best, of being discovered... and now, if he was, both he and Da'an would die!

         Da'an and Kha'rha sat huddled together facing each other on the carpeting in Da'an's chamber. Each had his chin resting on the other's right shoulder as they silently communed. They were each in their natural form, so that their translucence tricked the eye into believing that one was looking at a single being with two heads, rather than two individuals.
        They had remained in that posture for over an hour, each completely numbed by a loss they could barely comprehend, let alone come to terms with.
        "Taelons do not fear the void," Kha'rha finally mumbled.
        "...But we do fear separation," Da'an replied.
        "Is it love which leads to this...pain?" the English companion asked.
        "I believe that it must be..."
        "Taelons are not emotional beings," Kha'rha stated, as though trying to convince himself.
        The North American Companion lifted his head and looked into his fellow's 'eyes'. "...And yet, are not some of us closely connected with humans? Do we not eventually sense...understand... and then share in their emotions? Why fore should we not, ourselves, fall prey to both the beauty and despair such sensations elicit?"
        "I would rather never have stepped foot off the home ship than endure this..."
        Da'an sighed. "My own Boone endured this pain when his beloved mate joined the void. I feel no shame in bearing this...in honor of his memory. Yet, it is the most...difficult experience of my life...and once the sun rises, it is my news of Boone's passage which will bring this same grief to others..."
        For a time they fell silent.
        "I cannot understand why I still do not feel her absence..."
        "I do not understand why I did not feel his passage..."
        "I know that Hag'el and Siobhan..."
        Da'an raised his head and stared at Kha'rha. He had expected this to be the case, for how could any bonded Taelon not know that their other self was so...engaged? "Why did you allow Lieutenant Beckette to remain behind when you returned to Ireland?" he asked. It was a question which had been on his mind for some time.
        "I knew of her infatuation with Agent Sandoval," the visiting Companion admitted. "She had been yearning for a child for some time and it was my own suggestion that she ...engage...him."
        "Best not to let Sandoval know this," Da'an cautioned. "He has only just learned of her involvement with you. He will eventually figure out the specifics on his own."
        "Her affection for him was not false..."
        "I am sure that it was not, however...it was you alone she loved. Let us allow Sandoval the luxury of believing that he was chosen." Da'an rose slowly to his feet and moved to the windows. He looked down at the darkened garden and felt the aching emptiness settle over him again.
        Why had he not felt Boone's passage? They had not yet fully bonded, but they had grown close enough to sense each other's thoughts...Why had Boone not granted him the blessing of a final contact?
        As he reformed his humanoid appearance, he turned and stared at his own reflection in a small mirror which sat on one of his bookshelves. Had he been found wanting in some way?
        Turning slightly, he looked at Kha'rha, who was still hunched over miserably on the carpeting. Of course Kha'rha had not sensed Beckette's passage because she was not...
        He turned abruptly back to the window, so that his face was shielded from Kha'rha.
        His fellow Companion had been utterly convinced that he should have felt his implant's death...Da'an had known that he would not - because Beckette was not dead.
        Why did he not believe the same for himself?
        "Kha'rha..." he asked, with his back still to his friend. "You said that Ledeoux contacted you?"
        "He did."
        "What exactly did he say?"
        "He said that he was Ledeoux, implant to Zo'or. He then said that William Boone had expired, that you were en route to him and that he was certain that you would require my presence." Kha'rha rose and moved to stand next to Da'an, who stared at him with huge eyes. "What is wrong?" he asked.
        "How did Ledeoux, a stranger, know so much of the situation? How could he possibly know to contact you?"
        "He is an implant..." Kha'rha explained.
        "He is a NEW implant," Da'an pointed out. "...a new..." He recalled Ledeoux's his intense stare, his refusal to accept his hand and how he then turned his gaze to the carpet when Da'an began looking at him curiously..."
        The American Companion walked quickly to his chamber door and opening it, passed into the corridor beyond. With some surprise, he saw Sandoval sitting in a desk chair outside his own door.
        "Agent Sandoval..." he asked, amazed by the human's sacrifice. " ...why are you not sleeping?"
        "I felt that you might have need of me," the Agent explained.
        "You are correct in your assumption. I have reason to believe that Boone is not dead, but living within the body of Zo'or's new implant."
        Sandoval's mouth dropped open. "Marshall Ledeoux?" he asked.
        Da'an nodded. "Please, use whatever resources you require to make a full investigation of the implant. It is imperative that we move quickly to remedy the situation...should my....hunch...prove correct."
        "On my way!" Sandoval snapped out, as he turned and headed down the corridor.
        Da'an could hear him calling for a shuttle before he moved down to the next level.

        Unable to sleep - and indeed unsure that he would ever want to sleep again - Boone wandered into one of the offices in Zo'or's complex. A morbid curiosity had drawn him here, for he felt that he had to learn who his host had been - Who he had been and how he had died...
        An hour later, he had managed to piece everything together.
        At least he now knew why he still had free thought...
        Standing, he walked to the window. In complete frustration over the upcoming sharing, which would surely result in Da'an's complete ruination, he was about to start banging his head on the frame...
        And found that he could not. Zo'or's command that he not harm himself blocked even this small act!!
        Leaning his head on the window instead, he silently begged to die as tears of despair welled in his eyes and threatened to spill over.
        Thanks to his new CVI, he couldn't even call out to Da'an mentally...

        At four fifty in the morning - only one hour and twenty minutes after his departure - a triumphant Sandoval returned to the D.C. embassy to find Da'an waiting for him in his audience chamber.
        The Companion looked up eagerly at his entrance. "Make your report," he encouraged, as soon as Sandoval had greeted him.
        "I believe that your hunch about Ledeoux is correct, Da'an." Sandoval paced slowly before the Companion, full of nervous energy at what he had discovered.
        "I ran a check on Marshall Ledeoux and found it to be a 'borrowed' name. There are a total of twenty seven people in all the world bearing that appellation, and of the three which fit our implant's description....none are a possible match. Two were dead over five years and the last was a tall, blond man who worked as a level two operative in europe..."
        "The other body..." the Companion said.
        "Yes. Having reached a dead end as far as a records search went, I returned to Belman's clinic and questioned Vi'in and Hin'nel." Sandoval stopped pacing and turned to look directly at Da'an. "Zo'or arrived there earlier this evening with not one, but two bodies. The first was the body which we now refer to as Ledeoux.... He was a full implant already! The second body was the real Marshall Ledeoux...whom the scientists believed they were transferring Boone's essence into."
        "I say, 'believed', because Zo'or told them the first man had died of a cerebral hemorrhage, which caused the scientists to rejected him as unsuitable. They had no reason to suspect that Boone could have been...for want of a better term...smuggled out in that form. The blond form was the one they retained in case the need for transfer arose."
        "How then was the transfer accomplished without Vi'in and Hin'nel being aware of it?" Da'an asked.
        "Zo'or dismissed them from the room, sending them on an errand elsewhere in the building. The men he brought in with him were trained assistants who have, on occassion, assisted Ne'eg."
        "Zo'or had more than enough time to complete the transfer of Boone's essence and make off with his new implant. It also explains why the transfer the scientists attempted resulted in the host body's death..."
        Da'an stood up. "Transferring nothing to nothing...would surely result in failure..." he said softly. His eyes snapped up to meet Sandoval's. "What of Boone's new form? What is his true name and how did he come to be in Zo'or's grasp?"
        "Zo'or introduced him to the other Taelons as Jared Desario, failed implant of the European Companion. I have taken the liberty of verifying this with the Companion and I've received the following information;"
        "Mr. Desario was implanted with a new CVI prototype designed to allow its owner freedom of thought. Those portions of the motivational imperative which distort personality by channeling all the human's thoughts towards better serving the Companions, was toned way down, in an effort to boost creative thinking."
        Sandoval smirked briefly. "Ironically, it has been Boone's own success in this area which has led the Synod to attempt to recreate his condition..."
        "How is control of the implant maintained?" Da'an asked, as he stepped down from his platform and moved to Sandoval's side.
        "The imperative to serve the Taelons in all things, was changed to a very stict command to comply with any and all their wishes."
        Da'an's face took on a suspicious look. "How did Jared Desario die?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
        "He electrocuted himself. Although everything was done to save him, his mind....was wiped virtually clean by the excessive current. He had intentionally wired a stereo headset..."
        Da'an's face became grim. "He could not live with his condition...To know that one is a slave is far worse than the original motivational imperative..." He blinked and and walked to the window. "Zo'or is wise enough to command Boone not to harm himself, but there is no telling what other things he may have commanded his new implant to do..."
        "He is currently inside Zo'or's New York Domicile," Sandoval offered. "Do you want me to go after him?"
        Da'an turned slightly, so that he was able to see the human. "We shall go after him. I must be certain of his identity, but we must be wary. Zo'or is sure to have taken precautions..."
        "I take it that Zo'or is not to know of our visit?" Sandoval asked, and then cringed as Da'an gave him an incredulous look. "Very well," he responded quickly. "I'll ready the shuttle and...anything else we might require." That said, he left the room.
        Only then did the North American Companion bow his head and allow a look of relief to pass over his face. Nothing was certain, but at least there was now hope...

        Unable to sleep, Boone stared out his window at Central park, the vacant darkness nestled amongst the city's glittering lights.
        Finally giving in to his desire to walk its forbidding nighttime paths, he grabbed a leather jacket which Zo'or had given him and all but fled the building. As he exited onto the street, he breathed deeply of the crisp, invigorating air. There was the faint odor of fast food being carried on a passing breeze, even here on the affluent East Side...
        Lifting his right arm, he stared sadly at the strange skrill he carried. Condor would have started whining for food as soon as Boone's nose had smelled it... Was the skrill still alive? The last time he had seen...himself... he hadn't gotten a look at his wrist. Perhaps....
        No!
        There was no use in hoping. It would only lead to more disappointment. He knew how badly injured he had been. If his body had survived despite his transference, it most likely had expired shortly afterwards...
        If Condor had been spared, he would eventually find him and insist on a reunion. He had lost everything else which mattered - He had to at least have his skrill!
        Noting a mounted officer staring at him and realizing the insane look he was projecting, Boone crossed the street and entered the park. He figured that he'd walk until dawn and then take the time to watch the sun rise over the lake. If he were lucky maybe some mugger would shoot him...
        An hour and a quarter later, he settled himself onto a bench facing east. "The one time I'm actually hoping trouble will find me, and I can't even get myself mugged in Central Park..." he grumbled aloud.
        A sudden displacement of the air around him and the strange blurred effect he had seen a few times before - with Rho'ha - took him off guard. He was only just able to come to his feet before he blinked and found Da'an standing before him, gripping his hand!
        The Companion's face lit up blue. "Boone!" he said, with more enthusiasm than he normally ever showed. "It is as I hoped. You live still."
        Da'an knew who he was...
        "No!" he yelled, as he shoved the Taelon back.
        'Dear God...' he thought, but he was unable to stop himself as he began to bring his arm to bear on his friend. His skrill had already lit up, its abdomen pulsing and glowing a deep lavender with the force it was about to unleash...
        Something hit his arm, causing him to stagger back and fall onto the park bench. A split second after the impact, he had heard the gunshot. Holding his arm before him in a daze, he saw that the skrill's thorax had been neatly bisected. Even now, it whimpered in his mind and died.
        "Stay put," came Sandoval's order from the path where he had taken the shot.
        Boone cradled his arm and stared at Da'an, relieved that he was all right. Without his skrill, he could not harm the Taelon - something which all three of them knew. Still, he was not to speak to Da'an and already the need to return to his master to make report was overwhelming him.
        Ignoring Sandoval's shouts, he jumped to his feet and ran for the woods behind him and to his right. The form he now inhabited was extraordinarily fast and he knew that if he could keep to the cover of the trees, that he would easily outdistance even Sandoval.
        He raced onward, listening for sounds of pursuit behind him and hearing none. With a final burst of speed, he emerged from the woods near the park entrance closest to Zo'or's building. He had taken three strides into the clearing when Lassiter emerged from the shelter of some trees and shot him.
        The shot took him in the side and caused surprisingly little pain. He ran on and was about to hit the sidewalk when his legs simply gave out. He took a nasty tumble, nearly ending up under the wheels of a passing taxi. He tried to rise and found that all he could manage was to lift his upper body off the pavement with his arms.
        Looking down, he saw a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his side...
        As Lassiter loomed over him, he gasped out, "You've got to be kidding..." and then collapsed. Although he knew what was going on, he could not move - not even to blink!
        "Sorry," was Lassiter's only word to him as the operative pulled the dart from his side and managed to drag him back into the park. After checking his pulse and breathing, the Agent stood over him and opening his global, called Sandoval.
        It seemed like an eternity - but was probably only five minutes - before Boone heard approaching footsteps.
        "Good job, Lassiter," Sandoval gasped as he caught his breath.
        Boone couldn't see him, but he could just imagine the implant's smirk as he stared down at his captive. He didn't have much time to dwell on his humiliating position, though, for he felt someone sit beside him and carefully roll him over into their lap. Da'an cradled him gently and turned Boone's head to face him.
        "Do not fear," he said softly. "We shall soon release you from your imperative."
        As a profound sense of relief washed over him, Boone heard the sound of a shuttle arriving, followed by approaching footsteps.
        "Let us have him," Sandoval addressed the Companion.
        With a final, reluctant look at Boone, Da'an shifted his grasp so that Sandoval and someone else - Lassiter most likely - were able to lift him and move him to the shuttle. He eventually ended up propped into a shuttle seat with the harness locking him in place.
        "Make sure that his head stays tilted forward so that he doesn't drown on his own saliva," Sandoval counseled Da'an, further wounding Boone's severely injured pride.
        After taking his own seat, Da'an grasped Boone's left hand, a touch which he found deeply comforting.
        During the trip to the medical facility, he never once let go...

        Da'an followed behind Sandoval and Lassiter as they wheeled Boone's gurney into the procedure room. His implant's true form was already present in it's tank, as were Hin'nel and Vi'in. He had alerted them from the shuttle to ready everything. There was much to be done and he did not fool himself into believing that his friend was out of danger.
        As Hin'nel directed the humans in arranging Boone on the examination table and securely restraining him, Da'an pulled Vi'in into the soundproof observation room.
        "Can it be safely accomplished?" he asked.
        "We do not know. Never has any human been transferred twice, let alone twice within twenty hours..."
        "Do YOU believe it may be done?" Da'an asked, obviously agitated.
        "I cannot hazard a guess," the scientist admitted.
        Da'an looked through the window to where his friend was now restrained. His dead skrill had already been removed and his forearm bandaged. "Then the decision whether to proceed must be Boone's." His head turned so that he was staring at Vi'in. "Administer the anti-cybervirus, that he may be released from his mental prison."
        Vi'in jumped slightly in surprise. "Such an additional procedure may well complicate matters."
        "He must be allowed to communicate with me. Please...comply with my wishes."
        Vi'in would not be intimidated this time. He knew quite well Boone's reputation and would not proceed without fully informing his superior of the danger. "The body he inhabits has suffered a great deal already. The CVI has assumed many of the tasks normally performed by the autonomic nervous system," he explained. "Once the a-CVI has been administered, he could deteriorate very quickly. Perhaps too quickly to perform the transference..."
        Da'an tilted his head downward and glanced back at Boone. "We have no alternative. Should he decide not to undergo the transfer, he will still require a new CVI. It would be a cruelty to allow the experimental model to remain operational and I shall not allow it where MY implant is concerned..." That said, he moved back into the other room and approached his friend's side. Nodding to Sandoval, he indicated that the antidote to the tranquilizer dart should be given.
        Sandoval pulled a hypodermic out of his jacket pocket, swabbed Boone's forearm with an alcohol pad he obtained from a nearby table and injected the fast acting counter to the dart. Within moments, his fellow implant was twitching and testing his bonds.
        Boone's eyes blinked, turned to look directly at Da'an and then shifted to watch as Vi'in loaded the a-CVI onto a robotic arm. When his eyes again came back to the Companion's face, he looked panicked.
        "We are about to release you from the influence of your CVI," Da'an explained. "When you are once more yourself, we shall discuss your... options..."
        Da'an stepped back and watched as the robotic arm swung the probe into position and brought it into contact with the flesh just beneath the implant's jaw line.
        Boone closed his eyes...

        Time seemed to slow and then expand again as the new virus was delivered to Boone's brain. He experienced flashes of light, odd echoing sounds, and strange smells as he was besieged by auditory, olfactory and visual hallucinations...
        As the probe was withdrawn, his discomfort lessened, allowing him to relax and breath easier. He felt a calmness settle over him and no longer felt that he was waging a mental battle at every thought.
        With immense relief, he realized that the original CVI was already being broken down. He felt certain that in another moment he would be able to speak...
        His eyes snapped open as he heard Vi'in mention the cerebral display.
        "The original CVI is breaking down rapidly," the scientist said. "I fear it is as I warned - he cannot function long without re-implantation..."
        Boone turned to look at his monitor. All the CVI areas were lit up a flashing red...
        He quickly turned back to Da'an. "Please..." he croaked out. Swallowing, as the Companion took his hand, he tried again. "Don't re-implant me," he said. "You know what it would mean..."
        The Companion looked up at the others. "Agents Sandoval and Lassiter, you are dismissed. Please return to the embassy until I have summoned you. Hin'nel, Vi'in, wait in the other room. I require some time with my...friend."
        There was a pause, while Da'an's requests were carried out. When he spoke next, they were alone.
        "Boone, you have but two choices," he said softly, as he bent down so that their eyes locked. You must be re-implanted if you wish to remain in this form, or you must risk another transference back to your true body."
        The swirling blue depths of the Companion's eyes had always proved mesmerizing to Boone. Now they served to ease his anxiety. As a preternatural calmness settled over him, he spoke.
        "Put me back," he said without hesitation.
        Da'an began undoing his restraints. "It is a very dangerous procedure," he warned. "There is a high likelihood that you would not survive..."
        Finally free of his bonds, Boone started to sit up, but a wave of dizziness overtook him and he sank back onto the table. He was beginning to feel...odd, as though he were becoming drunk...
        Reaching out to the concerned Companion, he took his hands. "You must know that I would rather die than continue on like this," he said.
        Da'an nodded.
        "Restore me to my true form and allow me the dignity of living or dying on my own," he gasped out as a bout of nausea hit him.
        His friend blushed blue, but nodded his compliance.
        Knowing full well what it was he asked of Da'an, knowing what his life might be without him, he decided to tell him of the decision he had made days ago. "Da'an..." he began, "I was going to tell you..." Suddenly overcome with a massive headache, Boone stopped and shuddered.
        "Tell me what?" the Companion asked as he bore some of Boone's pain for him. Their link was becoming strong again now that his friend's experimental CVI was dying.
        Boone was able to continue. "I was going to tell you...before all this happened, that I was ready to complete our bonding." He squeezed his eyes closed again. The pain was rapidly worsening. God! Had Sandoval been going through this when his CVI broke down? How had he been able to even think? With a gasp, he spoke again. "In light of how things have turned out, it's just as well that I...never had the chance..."
        Da'an gripped his hands tighter and leaned in close. "William...Never could I hope to attain anything which would surpass the honor of such a bonding with you!"
        "It somehow doesn't seem fair to you - to tie you more closely to me, when I may be leaving you..." Boone continued, airing his greatest fear.
        Da'an's face softened at the concern being shown him. He freed his left hand from Boone's grasp, and laid it gently on the right side of his face. "Let us complete the bond, that I might retain a portion of your essence and carry it with me always. ....It is perhaps the only gift you might bestow which would enable me to endure your absence from my life."
        Boone brought his now free right hand up and laid it against Da'an's face, gently stroking his left cheek with his thumb.
        The companion leaned into his hand, apparently savoring the contact.
        "Would you retain my knowledge?" Boone asked.
        "Yes," the Companion sighed.
        Finally convinced that this was the right thing to do and that it was apparently the best time, Boone smiled and nodded his consent. Even if he died, Da'an would be left with a working knowledge of everything human. The advantage he would possess over his fellow Taelons would be enormous...
        He was about to speak when his head suddenly felt as though a nail was being driven into it. Gritting his teeth, he tried to ride out the pain and heard Da'an gasp next to him, as he, too, felt it.
        Vi'in's voice could be heard over the microphone in the observation room warning Da'an that the transference could not be put off any longer.
        Da'an's hand encountered Boone's ear and came away bloodied.
        Knowing what Da'an was thinking, Boone panicked. "No! Don't transfer me!" he exclaimed, even as he grew weaker...dizzier. "Bond with me first, Da'an!"
        "But...now you will surely die if we do so!" Da'an's eyes were huge.
        "I carry knowledge which you must have... It's my final gift to you, one which you deserve. One which can give my death some meaning. Don't get cold feet on me now..." He squeezed his friend's hand tightly.
        The look on Da'an's face was one of infinite sadness... Without any preamble, he leaned forward across Boone and embraced him.
        Boone weakly embraced him in return, only now comprehending that it was right to do so - that it was not, as he had feared for so long, some sort of perversion. Even as he pulled his Companion closer, Da'an seemed to dissolve into a shimmering blue maelstrom of energy and he felt himself being encircled and lifted as though he were weightless.
        As the column of blue light swirled faster, time seemed to stop. Losing all awareness of Da'an's physical state or his own, he became aware only of his friend's thoughts - his very being. Nearly overcome by the sudden rush of his friend's very long memory and experience, he was also bombarded by the physical sensation of pleasure.
        Or was it mental sensation? After all, thought and feeling all occurred in the mind...and right now he couldn't feel his body at all.
        Still, this was...it was...
        He sighed inwardly, slipping into a blissful state.
        Shortly thereafter, everything seemed to wind down. He had absorbed every memory, sensation, desire and fear of Da'an's long existence.
        Then, suddenly there came a shift, a dizzying distortion of his senses and Da'an's mental encouragement not to be frightened.
        Boone felt his own mind being probed and then his thoughts, memories, and very senses were being pulled from him so quickly that he feared he would cease to exist.
        Through it all, he became aware of his Companion's joy - Da'an's absolute revelry in the transference, so that he himself was overcome with the emotion. He could sense Da'an's growing pleasure as his knowledge - his very life - was shared and experienced, elevating the Taelon to a state of bliss Boone himself had experienced just a short time before.
        And then suddenly, it became his bliss as well, for what one felt, the other felt.
        What one thought, the other thought.
        The bond was completed in a rush of pure ecstasy... and the unimaginable words Boone could never have said aloud, were shared as thought:
        He did love Da'an.
        The Taelon's thoughts echoed back to him just before all awareness faded away: 'I have always known that.'

         The blue whirlwind in the exam room finally died down and with its ebbing, various airborne medical supplies rained down to the floor.
        Hin'nel and Vi'in watched as Da'an reformed and still embracing the human, sank slowly to the floor. The two of them were still trembling with the intensity of the secondary emotion they had sensed and it was several moments before either was able to re-enter the procedure room.
        There, they approached the North American Companion, who sat on the floor cradling the human's body in his arms. Stooping down, Vi'in touched the human and gave his fellow scientist a sad look.
        Becoming aware of their presence in the room, Da'an looked up vacantly and allowed them to take Jared Desario's body from him. As they laid the dead form out on the table, Da'an stood and staggered to the stasis tank.
        Throwing his arms out to the sides, he pressed his palms to the cold glass and leaned his cheek against it as well. He was shaking like a leaf...
        "What is going on here?" Dr. Belman asked. She had just arrived to check on Boone and not having located him in his room, had followed the strange noises she heard back to the procedure area. Now she surveyed the scene in confusion. "Why is Boone in a stasis tank? Did he take a turn for the worse? Why wasn't I called? What happened in here? it looks like a cyclone hit this place!" In the middle of her string of questions, she moved to the exam table and felt for the occupant's pulse. "And who in the heck is the deceased?" she finished up.
        As she paused to catch her breath, Da'an slowly managed to push himself away from the tank.
        Only the two Taelon scientists noticed the thin trail of blue luminescence which finished winding its way from his mouth to Boone's form.
        "Everything is well, doctor," Da'an said quietly, as he turned to face her. "Boone's condition worsened and I had Hin'nel and Vi'in transfer him to the tank." He moved to stand beside her, looking somewhat run down. "He has since stabilized..."
        "I see." Belman stared at Da'an, aware that something was not right. The Taelon was paler than ever - in fact, he was somewhat translucent. She could see some of his pulsating inner organs right through his 'skin' and clothing.
        "Are you all right, Da'an?" she asked, as her instinct to help and heal overcame her curiosity.
        "I am not," the Companion answered honestly. "..however, I believe that with the proper rest...I may recover..."
        For a brief moment, their gazes met and Juliette felt a shock pass through her. Da'an's eyes, normally two placid, bottomless blue pools, were alive with some secret pain...and forbidden knowledge. They had become glassy...human... She had a sudden strong flash of insight, as she saw in her minds eye, an angel...
        ...An angel falling from grace...
        Noting Da'an's gesture toward the form on the table, she shook her head and snapped back to reality.
        Da'an looked downward and then met her gaze with his own. "We obtained this form to use as a temporary host body should the unimaginable occur...however, it has since expired..." As the doctor digested his explanation, he turned to Hin'nel. "Contact Sandoval," he ordered. "Have him send a shuttle to retrieve me..."
        That said, the Companion glanced back toward Boone's form and with some hesitation, turned and shuffled from the room.

        Sandoval arrived back at the embassy and put the pilot on alert. He wanted to be sure that Da'an would be returned safely as soon as he was ready. That accomplished, he made his way to the audience chamber, where he paused and stared at the Companion's empty chair.
        He was worried by the complicated situation which he had only just recently realized existed. A Taelon...and a human?
        Why did it have to be this particular Taelon...and that particular human?
        He feared that something terrible was about to occur. It went without saying that Zo'or would be more determined than ever to cause trouble for Da'an...
        "Your favored Companion is taking a terrible risk in joining with a dying Human," came Kha'rha's voice from right behind him.
        He hadn't even heard the large Taelon's approach.
        Swiveling about, he faced him and spoke, "Joining with him?"
        Kha'rha's look was one of pity. "He and Boone shall be one and the same... for all time. It is a state few Taelons ever seek, but which those who do, describe as the most wonderful thing they have ever experienced." Seeing the doubtful look on the implant's face, he held out his palm. "Give me your hand, Agent Sandoval, that you might have but a taste of the experience..."
        Sandoval froze. This was something he most definitely did not want to do, but if Kha'rha was ordering him...
        "This is not an offer of bonding," the Taelon explained. "It is merely a 'sharing'. No harm shall come to you." Seeing that Sandoval still was not cooperating, he tried another tact; "Da'an himself has done as much with both Boone and Marquette. There is nothing to fear..."
        "I'm not afraid," he nearly snapped. "It's just that you're not...Da'an."
        "I understand," Kha'rha said as he bowed his head slightly. "However, it is an opportunity for you to learn more about him...and Siobhan..."
        "Siobhan..." Sandoval breathed. "I have already surmised her relationship to you..." He had trouble keeping some of his anger out of his voice and found himself amazed that he had dared so much with a Taelon.
        Seeing that Kha'rha's hand was still being offered, and almost unable to suppress his morbid curiosity, Sandoval held out his palm and watched as Kha'rha moved his own so that they were touching...
        Through Kha'rha's eyes, Sandoval witnessed Siobhan's transformation from dispirited soldier to Taelon implant. From protector to friend and finally to Kha'rha's great love. He saw her tenderness for the Companion, her giving nature...and her first meeting with himself as she had shared it with Kha'rha. He learned of her affection for him and her certainty that he alone would father her children...
        This last had been a shock to him as he had begun to believe that he had been little more than a diversion to her. That she could feel so much for him when already bound to Kha'rha...had been startling and overwhelming. She had fully intended to make him a part of her world...
        By the time Kha'rha shared some knowledge of Da'an and Boone's relationship, tears were brimming in his eyes.
        Finally, as their palms parted, Sandoval found that he could do little more than stand and stare at the ground. He was not worthy of such... trust...such caring...
        If only he could go back to that day when he had met Siobhan in her hotel room...and rejected her...
        Kha'rha placed a hand on his shoulder.
        "You have a chance to prevent this tragedy from happening to Da'an," he whispered, his face close to Sandoval's ear. "Now Boone is a part of Da'an...an extension of him. What one sees and feels, the other does as well. I know of your struggle with Boone - your resentment of him. That must now end. If Boone lives, you must protect him even as you would Da'an."
        He looked up, as his face hardened with determination. "I shall do what I can in so far as my implant will allow me," he assured the companion.
        "And if I should command you to act as though you had free will...what then?" Kha'rha looked at the implant from the corners of his eyes, in a measuring way.
        Sandoval's eyes widened in shock. "What?" he mumbled. "Is it that simple?"
        "Not quite," Kha'rha sighed. "However you shall find success within the following constraints..." He grasped Sandoval's shoulders, holding his eyes with his own. "Henceforth, you shall act as you see fit when protecting both Da'an and Boone. You need not comply with any Companion's wishes but Da'an's during such occasions."
        Sandoval's mouth hung open as the full implications of what Kha'rha had granted him sank in. Before he could say anything, his global bleeped.
        It was Vi'in informing him of Da'an's readiness to return.
        After informing the pilot, he turned to thank Kha'rha and found that he had already left the chamber.

        Zo'or left his private chambers and immediately headed for Boone's room. Today he would pick the human's brain for any information which might aid him in discrediting Da'an. He actually smiled at the thought of what lay ahead...
        Without so much as a knock, he pushed the door open and entered.
        The room was empty, the bed apparently unslept in.
        With a scowl, he spun about and marched out to his audience room, where he seated himself and opened a data stream to the DC Embassy.
        Agent Sandoval responded.
        "Where is Da'an?" Zo'or demanded.
        "I'm sorry, Zo'or. He's in his quarters and not to be disturbed. May I be of assistance?"
        Zo'or's mouth became a thinner, compressed line. "My new implant, Marshall Ledeoux, is missing. Have you any information to share on this situation?"
        Sandoval struggled to stifle a smile, something which was not lost on Zo'or. "You must be referring to Mr. Jared Desario," he said. "I'm afraid that he has passed on...However, his essence was saved...."
        Zo'or turned a bright blue which escalated to a white glow. "Meet me at the medical facility immediately!" He cut the link as soon as he finished the sentence and after taking a moment to compose himself, called for his pilot.

       Da'an lay curled upon the bed in his chamber. It was the first time he himself had used it, although Boone, and even Lili, had on occasion napped there.
        He was having a great deal of trouble coming to terms with his second parting from Boone in as many days. Only a short time ago he had finally joined with his implant, as he had dreamed of doing for so very long...
        That joining had truly been the joyful event he had been led to believe it should be. Having no previous such experience to compare it to, he found himself comparing it to memories drawn from the commonality and it seemed to him that it had been far more than anything any of his kind had experienced in the time since the formation of the Synod.
        He alone had received the privileged knowledge of what it was to be human...of what it was to FEEL.
        He now retained memories of birthdays and swimming lessons, bike riding and driving, love and loss, war and death, marriage and lovemaking...
        Boone's entire life - everything that he was - was now also a part of him...
        Only Boone himself was missing.
        ...And the commonality would not let him be.
        Even now, he felt the others poking and prying at the part of himself he kept from them, encouraging him to share with them what it was he had learned. As each in turn was denied, their curiosity gave way to frustration and disapproval, until he was being roundly chastised on all fronts.
        Finally, stronger voices intervened. Quo'on, Eh'har and Kha'rha chased back the others with a strong mental, "ENOUGH!", and the common thoughts receded back to the far corners of Da'an's mind - where he had kept them for so many months.
        Da'an pulled his knees up closer to his chest and wrapped his arms about them. He found himself rocking slightly, seeking comfort in the repetitious motion... and not finding it.
        That had been William's secret idiosyncrasy, not his own...
        His thoughts drifted back to the traumatic final moments of their communion...
        The joy... the pleasure he had found in touching Boone's very essence had nearly consumed him. If he were physically able, he would have wept at the moment Boone's mind had sung out in unison with his own - so beautiful had the experience been. They had finally begun to separate again - to sort out whose memories were whose, when there had been an awful wrenching sensation.
        With a shock, he had felt Boone's borrowed body give out and had grasped at his friends essence with every fiber of his being. It had taken a tremendous act of willpower to capture and hold everything which was his friend long enough to transport him to the tank.
        It had been even harder giving him up to the cold form floating within its liquid embrace.
        Even now, he felt strangely... as though he had lost a part of himself as well, or perhaps retained too much of his friend... It was possible, for they had never completed their separation before Boone had begun to slip away.
        Da'an stopped rocking and pulled the covers up over himself, head and all, so that only his faintly glowing eyes were visible within the darkened cowl he had formed. A childhood memory of hiding from monsters came to him...but of course it was not his own. Still, he found that hiding, although irrational, was appealing to him at the moment and made no move to emerge from his enclosure.
        He wished that Boone were here with him...next to him...holding him...
        With a frustrated huff, he flipped over onto his other side. What madness was this? This was the human condition asserting itself! He was not subject to such meaningless pursuits!
        He was a Taelon!
        Or at least a Taelon....who was now part human...
        "Boone..." he breathed. "Perhaps you were correct to doubt the wisdom of our joining, for now..." He actually gulped. "..now I feel your absence more keenly than ever."
        Covering his head completely with the blanket, Da'an found himself rocking again. Odd, but it was comforting in a way...
        He never even realized it when he began to do something else very un-Taelon-like...
        He began to dream...

        Sandoval gulped as he entered the procedure room in Dr. Belman's clinic. He had surmised that Zo'or would track down Vi'in and Hin'nel in the hopes of learning what exactly had occurred. He smiled to himself.
        Da'an had already sent them back to the mothership...
        "Agent Sandoval!" Zo'or emerged from the observation room looking very...upset.
        He quickly bowed to the Taelon, appeasing him somewhat.
        "Get me a copy of the surveillance tape from that camera!" Zo'or continued, pointing at the camera which afforded the best view of the room.
        Sandoval's heart sank. He hadn't reckoned with Zo'or noticing the nearly hidden cameras and mentally kicked himself. Of course he'd know - this was a Taelon facility!!!
        Noting the look Zo'or was giving him, he again bowed slightly. "Yes, Zo'or,' he answered as he turned and headed for the main computer room down the hallway.
        Kha'rha's words came back to him. He had to find some way to prevent Zo'or from harming Boone, for he had no doubt that the U.N. Representative would do just that after viewing the tape...

        Da'an suddenly found himself splashing around in beautiful lake with humans he had never met before. How odd it was to be having...such fun! Looking down he realized that he was human - a female, but the information seemed irrelevant. He was too busy dousing Ronald Miller to care.
        "Will! What the heck are you doing up there? Are you coming in or not?" Ronny yelled up at the overhanging bank above.
        Boone's head popped into view as he looked down. "What's the matter, Ronny? Dana getting the best of you?" he laughed.
        "No. I just need you to get down here before I whup her one!" Ronny laughed, as some of the other females moved to Da'an's side and helped her drive Ronny into retreat.
        Da'an looked up as Boone let out a long whoop and with a running leap, launched himself into the air. Expertly grasping a scrawny tree branch, he used his forward momentum to swing higher up and out over the lake. He dropped the last twenty feet, kicking up a huge cascade of water as he splashed down.
        Da'an and the other teenagers all laughed at his expert entrance, even as Boone broke the surface and whipped the water from his hair with his hands.
        As Boone began swimming towards her, Da'an felt a hand settle onto her head and push her under. This was not a problem, after all, she didn't require nearly as much oxygen as a human did...
        Surfacing and twisting about to give Ronny what-for, she was unprepared for the reactions of her friends. Jon, Ronny, Lili, Augur and all the others were staring at her in shock and dismay.
        "She's one of those Taelons!" Ronny yelled, as he swam away with the others.
        "Everyone! Out of the lake! Quickly!" Jon yelled. "There's no telling what IT might have tainted the water with!"
        Da'an looked down and examined herself. She had lost her human appearance and was glowing a translucent blue. How could this happen to her? She didn't want to be an 'it'... She wanted to be a part of them! Looking up again, she...HE saw everyone scrambled to get out of the water, climbing quickly up the steep slope.
        Everyone but Will, Lili and Augur, who, seeing his acute distress, approached him.
        "Come on guys!" Boone shouted. "You know he's on our side. What the hell are you so scared of anyway?"
        Without a word, Jonathan picked up a stone. Taking a cue from their leader, the others did as well.
        Ronny was the first to let his fly, hurling it as hard as he could.
        Da'an's friends moved forward to protect him, even as he tried to speak - to tell them that he would not be injured.
        The rock hit Boone in the head, exploding into stone shrapnel which ravaged his form and sent him sinking beneath the surface. Lili screamed as Augur gripped her and used his own body to shield her from any other rocks which might fly.
        In shock, Da'an watched as Ronny's face slipped, revealing a smug Zo'or!
        His heart crying out at the injustice being done him and his friend, Da'an dove under the water to save Boone.
        The last sound he heard as the waters closed over him, was Zo'or's laughter...

        Having delivered the video up to Zo'or, Sandoval watched over his shoulder as the Taelon viewed it. Hearing the Taelon's gasp of outrage as Da'an became a luminescent cloud and enveloped his implant's form, Sandoval slowly backed away and moved toward the hallway.
        He had to get to Boone's tank...
        A short time later, he entered a large meeting room where Boone's tank had been put on display. He was confused by this... Why would he be placed in so prominent a location?
        Slowly, he approached and circled the tank. As he passed around the back, where the life support equipment hummed quietly, he looked up at his rival, noting the tremendous damage he had suffered at Hag'el's hands. He could not help but feel an awe of Boone - of the fact that he had defeated Hag'el by himself, after Beckette herself had fallen.
        He looked for some sign of life and found none. The man neither breathed nor twitched...
        Yet, Da'an had assured him that Boone had survived...
        A movement on the other side of the tank caught his attention.
        Zo'or had found them and was approaching with a look of such anticipation upon his face that Sandoval's hair stood on end.
        There had to be something he could do...

        Da'an dove under the cool lake waters and swam quickly toward the place where he had last seen Boone. Funny that he should swim so easily... His kind had an aversion to being immersed in liquid...
        Finally, he spotted Boone disappearing into the dark gloom near the lake bottom and kicked more strongly, reaching out his hand...
        As his fingers closed on Boone's, there was a flash of light which obliterated his surroundings.
        He found himself floating within a tank...
        Sandoval stared at him from the right, while to his left....
        Zo'or approached!
        He tried to move, but could not. He fought harder, kicking out at the tank sides...
        ...and suddenly found himself tangled in the covers of his own bed.
        Quickly throwing the blanket to the side, he sat up and swung his legs over the edge.
        A Battle was about to be waged on many levels....
Epilogue

        Zo'or paused before the tank for a brief moment before bringing a hand up to the cool glass. After a moment's concentration, he had the satisfaction of watching Boone's form disperse in a glitter of blue energy.
        All that was left behind, was the empty, fluid-filled tank... and Sandoval's horrified expression.
        In his mind, he heard Da'an scream out a challenge - something no Taelon had done in many millennia.
        For a moment he felt fear, but he quickly composed himself.
        No matter, he was ready for Da'an this time...

Image is the Property of Tribune Entertainment FIN To be picked back up once the series returns this fall... I promise there will be other tales in the meantime.