They Know Not I Knew Thee
An Earth - Final Conflict story by Tina Price
(TinaP@prodigy.net)
Original Story Idea © 1998, Tina Price. All rights reserved.
Preview: Despite being surrounded by his fellow Taelons and supported
within the Synod, Zo'or walks very much alone. When pride clashes with
desire and ego with the commonality, there can be no room for friendship
or love...Or can there?
!Content Warning!: This story is rated R for strong sexual
content. If you prefer the PG-13 version, drop me a line at the above e-mail
address.
Disclaimer: Earth - Final Conflict, all characters and images
therein are the property of the Tribune Entertainment Company. Several
characters appearing in this story are my own creation. Any similarity
with anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.
Authors notes: This story takes place before the series episodes
"Through the Looking Glass" and "Infection". Nivian's note contains an
excerpt of the poem, "Farewell" written by Lord Byron. The story's title
is taken from this excerpt. I have NOT written myself into the story anywhere,
so don't even go there... As always, I am in no way receiving 'privileged
information'. Any advice, criticism and kudos are always welcomed.
Please contact me at the above e-mail address.
They Know Not I Knew Thee
Image is from Earth - Final
Conflict and is the property of Tribune Entertainment
Zo'or
boarded the shuttle which was to take him from his New York abode to the
Taelon Research Facility in Washington, D.C.
Seating
himself, he waited exactly two seconds after Sandoval took the seat next
to him before addressing the human pilot.
"Well?
Are we to sit here all day?" he asked, unpleasantly.
The
pilot flinched and finished his pre-flight checks in record breaking time.
Taking the shuttle into a jump almost as soon as they had lifted off, he
kept casting nervous looks back over his shoulder.
The
United Nations Representative looked on with a satisfied smirk.
Humans!
They were so easily led - it must be a pleasure for such simple creatures
as themselves to finally have the guidance of a truly superior race.
Watching
the flux which played colorfully over the shuttle as it navigated through
an alternate dimension, he prepared himself for the day ahead. Kee'sha
had need of his opinion upon his latest research. As a one time member
of the Synod, who was familiar with their secret agendas, it was decided
that he should study the situation first hand and report back to them.
This
assignment had taken him away from other important projects, which frustrated
him no end. Still, Da'an was highly unsuitable for the task, harboring
as he did, a strongly protective attitude towards the human race.
Zo'or
allowed himself a small smile. Spending so much time surrounded by human
scientists and workers would not be pleasant, but once again being chosen
over Da'an had been a satisfying accomplishment.
His
self absorbed musings came to an end as the shuttle re-entered normal space/time.
As
they approached the roof of the facility, he observed the human pedestrians
below with contempt. They were like ants - but not so highly organized
- swarming about, ignoring each other, working against each other...harming
each other... His human-looking lips actually curled back in disgust. Research
spies, corporate raiders, complete corporate control of important medications
- these were all things which his people had been bewildered by and worked
hard to eliminate. No wonder they had not developed cures for AIDS or cancer
until the Companions' arrival! How could they when there was no sharing
of research information or medical breakthroughs, when the need to profit
from discovery outweighed the greater good of the populous?
He
carefully schooled his features as the shuttle finally landed. It would
not do to let his contempt for the human race show as he made his way amongst
them. Next to him, Sandoval stood and waited for him to follow suit. His
implant really was nothing more than a automaton - a programed slave who
had no choice but to worship him and protect him with his life.
The
U.N. Rep. looked the attaché over. Humans considered him to be a
handsome, charismatic man and he had certainly made an excellent media
representative for the Taelons... Still, Zo'or could not help but wonder
why he lacked the personality which Da'an's implant, William Boone, displayed.
It was as though Boone retained an essential spark of individuality, of
awareness which Sandoval had somehow lost. It was the fire in Boone's eyes,
the barely controlled disapproval which Zo'or saw there which spiked his
interest in the tall security chief.
With
a mental sigh of disappointment, he followed his implant into the building,
and then took the lead, moving quickly in the direction of the elevators.
A quick ride took them three floors down to the area which housed some
of the more secure laboratories.
Zo'or, in a rush to get
his new assignment over with, stepped quickly out of the elevator as soon
as the doors began to part - and directly into the path of a running human.
The two slammed into each
other and went down in a tangle of limbs as Sandoval looked on in shocked
surprise.
Zo'or sat up at the same
time that the human pushed itself up off the floor with its arms.
"You idiotic..." Zo'or began
and instantly stopped as the human flipped its hair back off its face,
revealing itself to be a somewhat annoyed human female. As their eyes met,
her deep brown ones widened in surprise.
For some reason, Zo'or seemed
unable to put her in her place. "You should not have been running within
these confined areas," was the best he could manage, as he slapped Sandoval's
offered hand away.
He was completely surprised
when she snorted.
"And you shouldn't be leaping
out of elevators the second they stop," she threw back as she rose gracefully
to her feet and offered him a hand up.
With barely a second's hesitation,
he took the offered limb and allowed her to pull him to his feet. He felt
a jolt pass through him briefly during their contact and then as suddenly
as she had appeared, she was moving off quickly toward the stairs.
"Please excuse me, " she
threw back over her shoulder, "but I have a patient to see..."
In the next instant, the
stairwell door had closed behind her.
Mentally shaking himself,
Zo'or turned to glare at the humans who had stopped to stare at the spectacle,
sending them quickly upon their way. Then he turned to face his implant,
who seemed to be hiding a smirk.
"Find out who she is," he
commanded. "and what her function is. Report back when you have something.
I shall be in Kee'sha's lab."
With a bow, Sandoval headed
off towards the stairs.
Turning to the left down
the hallway, he continued towards the secured area. There was a brief pause
before the large steel security doors as his voice was recognized by the
system and then he passed on through...
"...and so, I do not believe
that it is feasible for us to rely upon this method to spread the cybervirus
amongst the humans..." Kee'sha finished.
With some effort, Zo'or
came to attention. Kee'sha's incredible talent for boring his audience
had lulled him into a state where his thoughts had strayed back to the
woman he had quite literally run into in the corridor not thirty minutes
ago.
Realizing that Kee'sha was
patiently waiting for a response, he stood and moved to windows. "This
project would prove invaluable to the Taelon race if we can find a way
to correct the problems you have brought up. We cannot afford to abandon
it out of hand."
"Can we not find an alternate
method of delivering the CVI?" Kee'sha said. "I do not feel comfortable
with using a vector... it is simply too risky..."
Zo'or turned and glared
at him. "Your comfort does not enter into it," he sneered. "Get to work
upon the first problem. I shall offer my input once I have finished studying
your research. Once Agent Sandoval returns, tell him to find me in your
office."
Kee'sha bowed slightly,
but gave him an exasperated look as he made to leave the room.
Walking down the corridor,
he turned into the second office on the right hand side and after closing
the door behind him, seated himself at Kee'sha's desk.
Unbidden, the image of the
female human popped back into his mind. She had dared to reprimand him!
She had looked him in the eye and spoken to him as if to another human!
She had treated him...as
an equal and when their hands had met, he had felt...
There came a knock at the
door and Agent Sandoval entered. With a brief bow, he spoke.
"The woman's name is Nivian
Ibraham. She's one of the top researchers here and a practicing pediatric
specialist. Her research deals with finding a cure for and a way to reverse
the damage of Tay-sach's Disease."
"Ah yes," he replied. "One
of the few genetic problems we have been unable to prevent...as yet."
"She was on her way to an
emergency call at the hospital next door when you ran into her..." Sandoval
apparently couldn't resist saying.
Zo'or stared at him coolly,
prompting the implant to clear his throat and continue.
"She's forty three years
old. I would have put her at about thirty five," he shrugged. "She is widely
known and respected in this facility - a genius with a true eidetic memory.
Apparently they tried to determine her I.Q. twice and were not able to
come up with a definite number..."
"Has she a family?" he found
himself asking. "Is she...married?"
Sandoval looked startled.
"Not married," he replied after a pause. "but I have not yet researched
her family connections.."
"Never mind," Zo'or snapped.
"It is your lunch time, is it not?" At his implant's nod, he continued,
"Eat then and return after sixteen hundred hours."
Sandoval was about to leave
when something occurred to the Taelon. "Wait," he rapped out.
The implant turned and patiently
waited for him to speak.
"Find out when Ms. Ibraham
is expected back in her lab and where it is located before you go."
With another nod, Sandoval
left the room.
Nivian Ibraham sighed as she
washed her hands. She had some bad news to relate to Anthony Jarvis about
his patient. The seven month old was indeed showing symptoms of Tay-sachs.
The tests she had ordered would most likely bring confirmation of the grim
facts in a day or two.
Drying her hands, she pushed
back a stray lock of hair and glanced at herself in the mirror. A slender,
solemn-looking woman with shoulder length hair, which had once been a very
deep brown and had, somewhere along the way, gone almost entirely white,
stared back. Her complexion was fair and lack of exposure to sunlight had
spared her the wrinkles her contemporaries were sporting.
She sometimes wondered if
it had been worth it - the lack of a personal life. She rarely went anywhere
or did anything 'just for fun', having chosen to pursue her research instead.
Yet, here was a small child whose life was about to be robbed - taken from
her slowly over the course of the next year or so...
It made her feel guilty.
She had a been granted life and never really lived it. Surely her life
wasn't a waste - she worked hard in the hopes that others would live -
but lately she had been realizing that it wasn't exactly what it should
be either. There was so much missing from it...
Behind her she heard a nurse
flirting with a handsome O.R. tech and shook her head. She probably had
more in common with the Taelon she had fallen over than she did with most
of the human race...
Slinging her bag over a
shoulder and picking up her charts, she made her way out of the building.
It was a beautiful autumn
day outside. The sun was warm and the air cool. Trees around the medical
center were blazing red and yellow while only shedding a few leaves. She
longed to take her lunch out in the research facility's courtyard, but
as usual, she was running behind. She would have to eat in her office again.
With a sigh, she re-entered
the facility, leaving the outside world behind once more. Taking the first
available elevator up to the fifth floor, she turned right and made her
way into the large laboratory at the end of the corridor on the left.
"Any messages?" she asked
Anne, her chief tech, as she walked through and entered her office.
"Nothing," Anne replied,
poking her head in the door. "I heard that you upended a Taelon when you
went upstairs earlier," she continued with a smile.
"It...He should have been
watching where he was going," she said with a raised eyebrow.
Anne's face became serious.
"You know... I hate to tell you this, but I'm sure you're going to find
out soon enough..."
She sighed. "Let me guess
- the Taelon embassy wants me to apologize on live TV," she joked.
"Don't laugh!" Anne said
sharply. "You knocked over their U.N. Representative!"
For a moment she was flabbergasted.
"Zo'or?"
"Mmm-hmm."
She dropped her things on
her desk and shook her head. "From what I've heard about him, he could
use a good shove once in a while. Remind me to do it again sometime!"
She and Anne laughed for
a moment and then she waved her friend off and sat. She still had to put
in a page to Jarvis.
Anne reappeared only moments
after she hung up the phone. Her face was pale and she looked nervous,
immediately making Nivian think something horrible had happened in the
lab.
"What's wrong?" she asked
fearfully.
"You have a visitor," Anne
replied as a tall, slender Taelon stepped into view behind her.
It was the one she had tripped
over outside the elevators - Zo'or.
Instantly she came to her
feet, although she forced herself to seem nonchalant about it. "Thank you
Anne," she answered, dismissing the relieved technologist. Turning she
gestured for the alien to enter as she greeted him. "Good day, Zo'or. What
may I do for you?"
Stepping in, he pushed the
door shut behind him and stared her up and down. She felt her face coloring
at being so rudely scrutinized and decided on the spot that, Taelon or
not, she wouldn't put up with it.
She waited until his eyes
came back to meet her own. "I want you to know that if you were a man,
I would feel obligated to slap your face," she stated.
His eyes widened for a second
before narrowing ominously. They were incredibly blue - bluer than she
would ever have believed any being's eyes could be.
They seemed to glow with
some inner light as he nodded stiffly.
"Then, it is well for me
that I am not male," he replied, as he continued to hold her gaze. "In
any case, I apologize for any imagined rudeness. There are so many subtitles
inherent in human interaction, that it will be some time yet before we
Taelons are familiar with them all."
Mollified by his apology,
she indicated a chair and sat down herself.
"I guess that makes us even,"
she said with a small smile. "...as I'm sorry about that fall we took outside
the elevators. You were right - I shouldn't have been running."
"Of course," he smirked,
causing her smile to quickly fade away.
Crossing her legs, she clasped
her upper knee with both hands and leaned back in her chair. "What is it
that you want?" she asked bluntly, no longer amused by his presence.
His eyes flicked briefly
to her legs before returning to her face. "Since our...unexpected meeting
earlier, I have taken the time to review your personnel folder," he announced,
causing her to flinch. "I am impressed with your accomplishments," he admitted.
"And?" she prompted, drawing
an annoyed look from him.
He tilted his head and gave
her a look which made her feel like an insect. "I simply wished to visit
with you. You strike me as an interesting individual... and there are so
few who are capable of arousing my curiosity."
She could not help but stare
at him, rendered speechless by what she knew was a grudging admission of
respect.
Noting her loss for words,
he smiled slightly. "May I ask why it is that you have chosen to make Tay-sachs
the center of your research?"
She was momentarily dumbfounded.
"Surely you know that it is one of only a small handful of genetic disorders
which your people have been unable to eradicate? We're working on finding
a way to stop or undo the damage caused by the accumulating GM2 ganglioside!
If we can at least find a way to deliver the critical enzyme, Hex A to
the neurons... Think of the lives that would be saved! Think of the anguish
which would be avoided..." Reaching forward, she laid a hand over his own,
where it rested on his leg. "Don't Taelons love their children? Can you
not imagine the horror of watching a seemingly healthy infant suddenly
start simply fading away before your eyes? First they can no longer sit,
then they cannot crawl or speak or talk or think..."
Zo'or stared down at her
hand and then back at her, his eyes fixed intently upon her own, a look
of pain crossing his features. She shuddered when she realized that she
could not see her own reflection in those blue orbs.
"The Companions did find
a solution," he stated. "We initiated a worldwide screening of the human
population. Those who carried the genes were informed of their status.
The were cautioned to check the status of perspective mates so that afflicted
children would not be born..."
"And still they are, aren't
they?" She shook her head. "You can't squash love simply because there
might exist the chance of afflicted children, Zo'or. Wherever there are
couples who love each other, there will almost always be the desire to
reproduce - to produce a new being who is part of each individual and yet
unique unto itself... I know what it's like," she continued, unable to
stop. The horror, the emotion of the past simply came spilling out. "I
watched my own child die of Tay-sachs..."
Zo'or's eyes closed momentarily,
as he suddenly began to glow blue, lit as if from within. His free hand
suddenly came down upon her own, clenching it tightly, turning it so that
he could clasp it with his other hand, palm-to-palm with their fingers
meshed.
"Share this with me," he
demanded as he leaned forward, bringing their faces closer. "I must feel
more!"
She gasped as she felt his
mind touching her own, at first prying and then cajoling. She shied away,
trying to retreat, only to have him advance, offering tidbits of his own
life and memories. She moved to meet him, suddenly unafraid and more importantly,
curious.
They danced a tango around
each other, he snatching at a memory of her ex-fiancee, her grasping at
a memory of him verbally sparing with Da'an - the American Companion. He
snatched this, she sneaked that...each getting a better sense of the other.
Suddenly they met head on...
Minutes later, they each
slumped backward in their respective chairs, their hands still clasped
together before them..
Nivian struggled to release
her hand, staring at her alien visitor in wonder, fear...and a sense of
shock. The experience had proved to be one of the most erotic of her life,
though she could not for the life of her understand exactly why...
Zo'or slowly looked up at
her as he released her hand. He was trembling enough to make standing difficult,
and yet, that's what he did. Rising to his feet, he steadied himself with
his hands on her desk and stared at her as though she were poison.
Without a word, he opened
the office door and shuffled out, leaving her in a state of complete and
utter confusion.
A second later, Anne reappeared.
"Well?" she asked, interested in hearing about the strange visit.
"I'm going home now," she
whispered, as she rubbed her temples. Her head felt as though it would
split. "Please cancel the three thirty meeting and make my apologies."
"Are you OK, Nivian?"
"No!"
It was only slightly after
two when she arrived home. Quickly locking the front door behind her, she
dropped her bags on the floor where she stood and immediately headed for
the kitchen. Hunting around in the refrigerator, she finally came up with
a bottle of white wine, which she uncorked and after a quick glance about
her, drank without the benefit of a glass.
After polishing off the
little which was left, she tossed the bottle in the trash, made her way
to her bedroom and shucking her outer clothing quickly hid beneath the
thick blankets.
Unbidden, she relived the
moments of her strange encounter with the Taelon, down to the slightest
shared thought. It was the curse of her photographic memory to constantly
dredge up those things she wished she could forget. Once more her 'gift'
was finding a way to torment her...
"What the hell did he do
to me?" she whispered.
Once again she saw him as
he saw himself...different from the OTHERS - possessing traits which no
Taelon should have...
Hiding...
He was hiding what he was...
what he felt...
If the others knew that
he felt desire, fear, anger...loathing...dispair...
If THEY knew, he would be
considered an abhorrence and asked to join the void - something which he
would not willingly do!
The others didn't know -
couldn't possible know - that his emotions made him stronger than them...that
they gave him an edge, the kind of edge which had led to him becoming the
youngest Synod member ever!
Unfortunately, those same
feelings had cost him that position a while back...
Nivian peeked out from under
her blankets as revulsion for the mind she had touched was tempered with
compassion.
He hated humans - despised
them - because they reveled in their emotions and individuality - something
which he himself was unable to do. Secretly, he yearned for the freedom
to simply be...himself. For his entire life, he had walked alone. He was
alone even when in communion with the commonality, having learned at a
very young age to hide a part of himself from the rest of his kind.
He wanted... He wanted to
be a part of them - the Taelon race...but could not be. He even yearned
at times for acceptance by the humans, but that too was an impossibility
- and he was filled with a deep self-loathing for ever having desired such
a thing.
And yet...
To be accepted for oneself
was a human concept which had touched him deeply. Surely it must be one
of life's finest pleasures...
A tear ran down Nivian's
face at the realization that he was so very much like her. While they had
been touching...when she had discovered these secrets even as he had found
her own, their mutual recognition of each other had drawn them closer and...
...The result had been a
spectacular feeling of warmth - a warmth which had blossomed into full
fledged pleasure.
They had collapsed then
and withdrawn from each other. Each suddenly frightened of what the other
had learned.
Sitting up, she threw the
covers off herself as a sudden thought occurred to her.
"Perhaps she knew too much.
What if he decided to simply make her disappear as so many influential
humans who had come into contact with the Taelons had?"
Sandoval re-entered Kee'sha's
office at sixteen hundred hours to find Zo'or hunched over in a chair.
Before he could open his mouth to ask if there was something he could do
for him, the Taelon waved him off with a delicate hand gesture.
"You may go, Sandoval,"
he said without bothering to look up. "I will contact you when I am ready
to leave this place."
"As you wish," he replied
with a bow and quickly left the room. After all, he had plenty of things
he could be checking up on...
Zo'or let a sigh escape him
What had he done? What had
possessed him to reach out to the female human?
They had been talking and
she had reached out to him first! She had grasped his hand and leaned forward,
speaking passionately about her calling...and he had felt something...
Their flesh was making contact
and he had felt her passion, her conviction and something familiar - something
which made him want to know more about her, to feel more of her thoughts.
Beside himself with his
need to know, he had clasped her hand and commanded her to share
with him - and she had not disappointed!
Her mind was strong, her
will stronger. She had denied him what he sought until he himself had yielded
some of his own memories. She had navigated through the realm of the mind
as though long accustomed to doing so and in a flash he remembered what
Sandoval had said about her...
She possessed one of the
rarest human abilities - a perfect memory - total recall. It was a trait
which all Taelons possessed and which had allowed her to stand on nearly
equal footing with him when their minds had connected.
Closing his eyes, he relived
again the experience which had left him shaken, but wanting more...
She had never fit in. Even
as a child, she had been called before psychiatrists and doctors who had
questioned her, tested her...stared at her strangely. School had always
been easy and she found it to be a fun game which occupied her time. She
had been in the second grade when she had finally realized that the other
children found it to be work - that they did not simply remember things
as she did.
By the third grade, they
were all whispering behind her back, shunning her because she was different,
even though they did not yet know why. Before she left grade school they
did grasp why and things escalated to the point that she was called names.
"Freak! Brainiac! Weirdo!
Bookworm!" they had yelled whenever she came close.
The rest of her school years
were spent with her throwing herself into her studies. She no longer sought
out company, but hid what she was and absorbed information like a sponge.
She was not one of them...
She could never be accepted
by them...
When she finally began dating
men, things went from bad to worse. One by one her boyfriends eventually
discovered either her IQ or her memory. Threatened by her intellect - feeling
that secretly she found them stupid, one by one they had quickly vanished
from her life.
Zo'or shifted in his chair
and sighed as his/her memories took a different turn.
Nine years ago, already
a successful doctor, she had loved a man who had not loved her, to whom
she was nothing more than brief fling - not that it mattered - she had
already decided that she would sleep with him regardless. She had been
willing to accept a short time in which she felt wanted and loved - in
which passion finally won out over reason, rather than spending another
lonely few weeks alone.
The affair had been perfect
in more ways than one, as it had led to the birth of a daughter, a beautiful,
dark haired, green eyed child who had smiled and laughed early in her life.
Zo'or had seen the child's
life through her eyes - its brief life and longer death... The genetic
syndrome, Tay-sachs, had slowly destroyed her and a part of her mother
as well.
For a long time, Nivian
had been unable to function, to find any joy in life, but then she had
emerged from her despair with a new purpose - to eradicate the suffering
that Tay-sachs brought...
To that end, she had devoted
all the years since. Outside of work, she had no friends and no family.
Her parents had passed on years ago and all her other relatives lived far
away.
Surrounded by so many other
humans, she was completely and utterly alone and weary unto death of it.
She was just like him...
Zo'or opened his eyes and
stared at his reflection in the tinted office window, but in his mind's
eye, it was Nivian he was looking at.
She WAS just like him -
an outsider - someone different enough that they could find no acceptance
among their own kind.
Be that as it may, he would
be a fool to seek her out again...
Anne quickly picked out a
table as Nivian followed behind her with her own lunch tray. It had proven
to be one of those rare, leisurely afternoons when she had no meetings
or conferences to attend, which was a relief. She had spent the last three
weeks avoiding the Taelon and the fewer places she had to be, the less
likely it was that they would accidentally meet.
"Nivian, what's wrong?"
Anne asked after they seated themselves at a cafeteria table near the windows.
"You haven't been the same since you went home with that migraine the other
day and you look like someone killed your cat..."
"I don't have a cat."
"You know what I mean. By
the way, maybe you should get one. It can't be good to keep going home
to an empty house."
She sighed as she pushed
her salad around on her plate. "I'm OK. I just have so much going on right
now," she said, realizing how lame the excuse was and ignoring the advice
about getting a pet.
Anne took a bite of her
burger and suddenly looked over Nivian's shoulder with a startled expression
on her face.
"What?" Nivian asked her.
Anne struggled to chew and
swallow the bite she had taken, but unable to respond quickly enough, she
merely pointed her chin towards the corner of the room behind her friend.
Even as Nivian began to
turn, a sudden silence fell over the cafeteria, causing the hair on the
back of her neck to stand on end.
Making his way across the
large room was Zo'or and his bodyguard!
As soon as he spotted her,
he approached, seemingly unconcerned with the staring faces around him.
His guard pulled out the chair next to Anne and without a word, the Taelon
settled himself into it.
"This is my implant, Ronald
Sandoval," the alien said with a brief gesture toward the handsome asian
man standing behind him.
As Nivian nodded towards
the man, Zo'or and Sandoval stared about them at the rest of the cafeteria's
patrons, who, realizing their rudeness, immediately went back to their
own conversations.
"Ms. Caldor," Sandoval addressed
the lab tech. "Perhaps we might move to another table?"
Taking the hint, Anne grabbed
her tray and moved off to another part of the room, leaving Nivian alone
with the alien.
The Taelon looked down at
her half eaten salad and then back up at her face.
"Please... finish your meal,"
he said.
She picked up her fork,
but only to play with. "What is it you want?" she found the courage to
ask.
"I think you already know
the answer to that," he replied before changing the subject. "Why have
you moved out of your domicile?"
She stared down at her salad
and let the silence stretch out between them.
"Did you think that I would
harm you?" he asked suspiciously, immediately drawing her eyes to his.
"...I...I don't know what
to think," she stuttered. "I'm not sure what happened to us the other day...
but it scares me..."
He nodded. "It was foolish
of me to initiate a sharing with you," he admitted. "At the time, I could
think of nothing but forging a better understanding of your motives..."
"And?" she prompted.
"And... you and I have now
formed a connection which cannot be easily broken. We recognize each other.
We know each other..."
"We're alike," she finished
for him.
"In many ways." He nodded,
gesturing towards her plate and she automatically took a bite of salad,
thankful for the opportunity to chew it and be silent.
For a time he sat, equally
silent, seemingly content to patiently watch her eat. Then he slowly extended
his hand, palm up on the table top. Glancing around them and finding that
no one was watching, she slid her own free hand forward to met his.
Instantly, the shared feelings
of loneliness and a yearning for companionship returned. She even picked
up that knowledge that he had struggled to remain away from her for the
past three days...until Sandoval had told him that her house was now vacant.
A sudden anxiety - a fear that she would run - had prompted his appearance
in the cafeteria.
Their eyes locked and she
felt a sudden calmness wash over her as she gazed into the bottomless phosphorescent
depths of his very blue orbs. The sudden knowledge that she could be accepted
by a Taelon - an alien - brought confused tears to her eyes even as her
heart began to beat rapidly. She was feeling a sudden desire for him -
a yearning which seemed so very out of place...
Her face flushing
with the sudden warmth which came over her, she gently withdrew her hand.
Looking at him, she could see that he seemed amazed and equally confused.
Portions of his face seemed to be taking on a bluish color...
"You were right to try to
stay away," she finally whispered. "This is...crazy. It can never ever..."
"I do not believe that either
of us has a choice," he interrupted. "I too believe this to be a destructive
course of action...however, my people believe that when a bond is meant
to be, that it cannot be avoided. Good or bad, it will occur, whatever
the ultimate consequence."
"This bonding - is it a
meeting of the minds, such as we shared in my office?" she asked.
He nodded. "That and more.
It is a complete joining of everything which we are."
"But... a human and a taelon...
bonding... Is such a thing possible?"
His face momentarily became
cold and distant again. "Da'an and his implant, Boone, have been moving
towards such an event for some time. I suspect that it is possible."
"You sound as though you
disapprove," she observed. "as though the idea revolts you."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"You are correct. I do not approve. I find it to be...unnatural and shameful..."
She dropped her fork into
her salad plate and grasping her tray, made to stand up.
Everything had changed.
He quickly grasped her forearm,
stopping her in place. His expression had softened and his eyes looked
troubled. "...however..." he continued. "I see you as more than just a
human."
"Thanks," she muttered dryly.
"That makes me feel so much better..."
"Go then," he urged. "but
know that we will speak of this again. We have no choice." His face again
became a cold, inhuman mask.
"I was raised to believe
that we always have a choice," she responded.
His arrogance returned.
"Such human beliefs will not aid you in this," he sneered. "but you will
learn that soon enough..."
Even as she fled the room,
she saw Agent Sandoval stand and move to the Taelon's side.
Anne caught up with her
in the corridor outside the elevators. "What's going on?" she hissed as
Nivian repeatedly stabbed the elevator call button. The car arrived and
they stepped inside just as Taelon and his Implant entered the corridor.
The last thing she saw as
the doors closed, was the expression of both yearning and fear that he
threw her across the space between them...
It was with some surprise that
William Boone entered the embassy gardens late that evening and found Zo'or
seated at the fountain. His first inclination was to quickly backtrack
and return later on, but something about the Taelon's posture halted him
in his tracks.
Slowly he approached. "May
I sit here?" he asked as he settled onto the fountain edge next to the
U.N. Representative.
Zo'or merely glared at him.
"I haven't seen much of
you lately," he commented, trying to draw the strange, and oftentimes unlikable
alien out. "Busy schedule?"
"I am currently aiding Kee'sha
at the research facility," Zo'or replied.
"Still? I thought that assignment
ended a few weeks ago," Boone said, truly surprised by the news.
Again Zo'or glared at him,
this time his bitter expression informing the implant that he had touched
upon a very sore subject. Without another word, Zo'or stood up and walked
off, not so much as glancing at Da'an as the North American Companion entered
the garden.
Boone stood and waited for
his companion to reach him before nodding in the retreating Taelon's direction.
"There goes a Taelon with
some major issues..." he breathed.
"Yes. I have noticed that
he is not himself of late," Da'an replied before turning to look at his
friend. "All is not right with that one..."
"Has it ever been?" Boone's
rhetorical question drew an amused look from Da'an.
Together the two of them
moved off down the path.
By the middle of October, Nivian
had settled into a comfortable, two bedroom condo closer to the research
facility. Although she had come to accept that the Taelon did not
mean her any harm, she decided that getting rid of the house was probably
the way to go and it had finally sold for the asking price a few weeks
back.
Now, as she began preparing
dinner, thoughts of the alien once again filled her head.
Had there been a single
day in which she hadn't thought of him?
She had seen him several
times in passing since the afternoon in the cafeteria, but they had never
done more than exchange a quick, pained look. That very afternoon, they
had ridden the elevator together and he had not so much as glanced in her
direction.
His sudden indifference
had actually hurt her feelings...
Angry with herself over
the sudden turn of her thoughts, she chopped her green onions viciously.
She had to be insane even thinking that there could be anything...
"Ssssssss...." she hissed
as the blade of her knife sliced into her forefinger and thumb. Judging
by the sudden spurt of blood, she didn't need to actually see the wounds
to know that they were bad.
Quickly wrapping a kitchen
towel tightly around her hand, she grabbed her keys and ran for her car.
In her profession, having useable fingers was required!
Five minutes later, she
parked her car in the emergency physician's parking area and ran into the
main E.D. entrance.
Zo'or left Kee'sha's lab
well after dark and boarded the elevator with Sandoval. Since the roof
was being re-tarred, the shuttle had been parked on a grassy hill near
the hospital's helicopter landing pad, which necessitated an elevator trip
all the way to the ground level.
Still - it mean that there
was a chance, however slim, that he might see Nivian again...
As usual, they made numerous
stops on the way down, as several departing facility workers hit the elevator
call button in the hopes of catching a ride down themselves. One by one
they were denied access to the car by Sandoval.
When the car stopped on
the fifth floor, Sandoval once again made ready to stop the waiting worker
from boarding, but Zo'or recognized her as Anne Caldor, Nivian Ibraham's
co-worker and stopped him with a small gesture of his hand.
Without a word, the woman
stepped aboard and after a brief nod of acknowledgment towards him and
his implant, turned to face the closing doors.
"Working late, Ms. Caldor?"
Sandoval asked.
"Yes," she replied with
a nervous glance at Zo'or.
"And are you leaving for
the night?" the implant continued. "Where is your coat?"
"Uh...no. I mean yes...Uh..."
she stuttered as her anxiety became more pronounced.
Zo'or shot his implant a
quick look and Sandoval quickly responded. "What's wrong?" he asked in
gentle tone. "Please - let us help if we can."
Finally the woman turned
towards him and unburdened herself. "It's Nivian. She's had an accident
and needs a ride home from the emergency room."
Zo'or was taken aback. "How
badly is she injured?" he asked, as the elevator doors opened onto the
ground level.
Anne stepped out and made
for the main entrance with him right behind her. "I'm not sure. She said
she cut her fingers...I guess it's not too bad, or they wouldn't be releasing
her..."
Coming to a decision, he
spoke, "We shall accompany you. perhaps there is something we can do to
aid her."
Shooting him a grateful
look, Anne led the way out.
"Oh my God, Anne! What have
you done?" Nivian moaned when she saw Zo'or talking with her attending
Physician. She was still seated on the gurney in bay four while awaiting
her release papers and had nearly fallen off said gurney when Anne had
entered with Zo'or and Sandoval in tow.
"Sorry. They were in the
elevator and one thing led to another and..." Anne stammered.
"It's all right, Anne. I
understand," she said as she tilted her head so that her hair swung forward,
helping to shield her face. "I feel like such an idiot..." she whispered.
"We all have accidents,
Nivian," her assistant replied. "..although a Doctor cutting their fingers
with a kitchen knife is a real no-no..."
"Yeah, if I had used a scalpel
in the lab, at least I could hold my head up," she joked.
Just then the R.N. who had
been caring for her brought the mandatory follow-up care information and
release papers, which she quickly signed.
"Let's get out of here,"
she said under her breath as she stood up.
Too late. Zo'or was blocking
her retreat.
"We shall see you safely
home," he announced, giving her a very serious look. Before she could protest,
he had turned toward Anne. "You may return to the laboratory to collect
your coat," he instructed. "Dr. Ibraham will be... well looked after."
Several of the other E.R.
patients stared in her direction when they heard that she was a doctor
herself.
"Could you have said that
any louder?" she asked the Taelon, aware that her face was red. She could
swear that there was a malicious twinkle in his eye when he answered.
"They are no doubt staring
at you because of my presence and not due to the fact that you have managed
to damage yourself in a needless accident."
"Accidents ARE needless.
That's why they're called accidents," she shot back.
"Ah, but are there not the
unavoidable accidents, which occur through no fault of the victim's versus
accidents which are due to inattention?"
"I'm going now," Anne announced
as more heads turned to stare at them.
"Thanks for stopping by,"
was all she could manage before the shy scientist retreated.
Sandoval indicated that
she should precede him out. "This way, Doctor. Our shuttle is conveniently
located near the helopad today."
Silently, mortified by all
the attention, she fell into step beside Zo'or and made her way to the
alien vehicle.
She was not surprised that
Zo'or insisted upon accompanying her to her home, nor was she upset by
it. On the contrary, she needed to talk with him, be with him. As frightening
as it was, he had been correct when he had told her all those weeks ago
that sooner or later they would be drawn back to each other.
Regardless of how he unnerved
her, he alone seemed able to alleviate her loneliness.
Unlocking the door, she
headed directly for the kitchen so that she could get some water. Now that
the excitement of the shuttle ride was over, her hand was beginning to
hurt. It would be best to take the pain medication now, before it got worse.
She was filling a glass
when Zo'or, having closed the front door behind him, wandered in.
"What is it that you are
consuming?" he asked as she opened the medicine bottle.
"Something for the pain,"
she answered as she prepared to toss down the pills. His hand on her arm
restrained her.
"Wait awhile," he entreated.
She stared at him in confusion.
"Why?"
"Humor me," was his sole
response as he turned away and fixed his gaze upon the bloody chopping
board. "You have not yet eaten," he finally commented. "Shall I have Sandoval
bring you something?"
She carefully lifted the
chopping board with her good hand and threw it in the sink followed by
the knife. "I'm not hungry anymore,:" she finally answered. "...unless
you are?"
He gave her a strange smile
then. "My species does not eat per se. In addition, we lack the sense of
taste, as well as the sense of smell."
"How do you meet your basic
energy needs?" she asked as she moved to face him. It was the scientific
curiosity in her coming out.
"We implement ...far more
efficient methods," he said as he blinked slowly and reached out to gently
take her injured hand. "Your fingers are beginning to pain you," he stated
and then narrowed his eyes. "The emergency physician related to me that
he suggested you see the specialist. Why did you refuse to do so?"
Knowing she had no logical
explanation to offer him, she blushed to the roots of her hair. Feeling
trapped and suddenly very uncomfortable she tried to withdraw her hand,
but he tightened his hold, forcing her to remain where she was.
"Please..." she pleaded.
Carefully he brought his
other hand up to grasp her forearm and then he loosened his grip on her
injured hand and gently moved his hand over it. She stared as he stroked
her hand and gaped as his own began to glow a bright blue. Within seconds
her pain lessened and then disappeared.
Still, he continued, stopping
only when he suddenly reeled backward a step, releasing her in the process.
Without thinking, she made
a grab for his arm and managing to somehow keep him from falling, steered
him to a chair. He looked shaken and drained.
Only then did she realize
that she had easily used her injured hand to steady him.
Quickly she unraveled her
bandages and stared in shock at her fingers.
They were completely healed!
Although the tiny stitches were still there, the wounds were nothing more
than thin scars. What was more, she had complete control of her fingers
and there was no numbness whatsoever!
"They're healed!" she exclaimed,
looking at the Taelon, who was watching her through lowered eyelids. "How...why...?"
"You did not see the specialist,
for you secretly hoped that your injury would provide you an excuse to
stop working in the medical field," he stated, as he struggled to sit straighter
in his chair.
She knelt slowly beside
him as tears began to gather in her eyes.
"You would have eventually
regretted that decision," he continued, as he seemed to slowly regain his
composure. "I could not allow that..."
Overcome by the care he
had shown her and hardy daring to believe what she was doing, she reached
out to stroke his cheek. A second later, she raised herself up, leaned
forward and kissed him on the mouth.
His eyes widened slightly
and then closed even as her own did.
Finally she pulled back
and looked at him. "Thank you," she breathed.
His eyes slowly opened and
he looked at her as though really seeing her for the first time. Every
bit of the arrogance she had come to associate with him was gone. One hand
reached out and pulled her back to him, as he initiated another, longer
kiss.
After several heated minutes,
the fact that she was kissing an alien finally penetrated her addled brain.
Breaking off the kiss, she sat back suddenly on her heels.
They stared at each other
over the distance of a few feet which suddenly seemed to be light years
across. Nivian found herself shaking with reaction, but still was unable
to look away from his gently glowing blue eyes.
After a time, Zo'or leaned
forward slightly and brushed her hair back from her face with a shaky hand.
"Ask," he sighed. "I feel
your confusion."
"You're not...male," she
gulped. "..or female?"
"Both and neither," he smirked.
"...I don't understand..."
"When Taelons join, each
bears young," he replied, clearly proud of his race's physiology. "Each
of us has the ability to impregnate and be in turn impregnated, which,
by human scientific definition would make us hermaphroditic..."
"But Taelons are not matter-based
organisms," Nivian finished for him.
"Precisely," he nodded.
"Our form of procreation is not in any way linked to your own and cannot
be defined by your standards."
She summoned her courage
and asked, "And where does this leave us - provided there is an 'us'?"
He leaned further forward,
bringing their faces close. "When we are linked, I feel what you feel and
I know what you know. I know what pleases you," he said softly, seductively,
as he began stroking her hair. "I could please you if you allowed it...
and in so doing, I would share in your...release..."
Nivian swallowed, suddenly
nervous and confused.
"Agent Sandoval is waiting
for you," she breathed. She needed time to think things through. Their
relationship was already strange and confusing without bringing more intimacy
into it.
Zo'or's eyes narrowed as
his arrogant demeanor returned. "And he shall wait the entire night if
need be," he said, leaning closer still, so that their lips brushed. He
was obviously wishing for another kiss.
Silently, he offered right
hand, palm facing towards her.
Briefly, she wondered if
Taelons really had tongues or if they were part of the illusion of humanity
they assumed. Even as they kissed again, she shuddered at the turn her
thoughts were taking, broke away from him and scrambled to her feet. "Uh...I'm
not... I don't think..." She took a calming breath. "I think you'd better
go."
A look of amazement crossed
his face but quickly faded to disappointment and then barely contained
anger! Rising to his feet, he approached her.
"There is little sense in
denying me," he hissed as he glared at her. "It is unproductive to delay
the inevitable!"
"Don't push me!" she hissed
back, matching his scowl with one of her own. "I decide when AND if and
I don't believe in fate!"
He pulled back a bit, surprised
by her reaction, but then smiled and turning about, headed for the front
door.
"Tomorrow it would please
me to show you Kee'sha's lab," he said, with a suddenly calm tone, as he
opened it. "I will await you there."
She stared as he closed
the door behind him, certain that she wouldn't make sense of any of this
anytime soon. Sinking into the chair he had recently been in, she wrapped
her arms around herself and frowned.
Zo'or was not accustomed
to being denied. Their sharing had revealed the self-centered and very
egotistical side of himself to her. Adding the beginnings of sexual frustration
to such a denial was bound to bring out the worse in him, yet she knew
they had to slow down and tread carefully. There was so much about him
which she didn't like, but the underlying person - the relatively young
Taelon who feared to simply be himself and who was so lonely... drew her
to him. Realistically, she knew that falling for the 'bad boy' usually
led to disaster. She couldn't ever change who or what he was. It was something
he would have to do for himself.
But...would he?
Thinking back to something
he had said during a previous conversation, her thoughts turned toward
Da'an and his implant. Tomorrow she'd pay William Boone a call. Maybe he'd
be able to answer some of her questions.
Then again, maybe he'd tell
her she was an idiot to bother him with such things. Ah well, the worst
he could do would be to throw her out...
Shivering, she stood and
moved off towards her bathroom. She had a pair of suture scissors there.
Maybe she could get her stitches out herself...
Zo'or dismissed Sandoval as
soon as they arrived back at his New York residence and wandering down
a hallway, entered a guest room. The room was pleasant enough and he had
taken some pains to see that it was decorated by one of the best designers.
The delicate cherry furniture glowed with a pleasing warmth and the curtains
and bed coverings consisted of patterns and colors which he himself found
attractive. On the bureau was a crystal vase filled with earth flowers.
Moving to stand before the
large mirror which hung over the dresser, he gazed pensively at his own
reflection before moving to sit in the armchair which stood in the corner.
She had kissed him...
Him!
She had felt no fear - only
some confusion over his lack of true gender.
That kiss... He had always
viewed such human customs as primitive, ritualistic and utterly beneath
him. Little had he realized how wonderful the sensation was! When
she had touched her lips to his, all thoughts of himself had vanished -
he had thought only of her - of her closeness and warmth... He had felt
her sudden desire for him through the contact and had himself felt a pleasure
which was difficult to describe.
When she had drawn away,
all he had thought about was kissing her again. Even now...
He balled his delicate hands
into fists and forced himself away from the memories which now tormented
him.
She had panicked and rejected
his offer of a sharing. She had withdrawn from him and he had made the
mistake of allowing his hurt to manifest itself as anger.
Zo'or sighed. Nivian was
angry with him now and likely to avoid him on the morrow, but he was no
longer willing to allow her time in which to withdraw from him. He would
have Sandoval keep an eye on her and then, at the first opportune moment,
he would seek her out.
Standing up, he looked around
the room.
Implant or not, one way
or the other, he would see Nivian Ibraham living out of this very room...
and regardless of the feelings he had for her, he vowed that no one - Taelon
or Human - would ever know the truth - That he, who professed to despise
the human race, had fallen in love with a human...
William Boone navigated through
the corridors of the research facility and made his way unerringly for
laboratory 5109.
He had memorized the building
layout months ago as it contained several Taelon labs and was funded by
the Companions. In the interests of his position as head of Companion Security,
he had made it a point to familiarize himself with the layouts of all Taelon-
frequented buildings.
Pausing briefly in the doorway,
he poked his head inside and noting the offices near the back, moved forward
in their direction. Several of the scientists nodded at him as he passed
their work areas. Doing as Dr. Ibraham had requested, he proceeded to her
office and knocked on the door.
A slender woman of medium
height opened it. She had hair which brushed the tops of her shoulders
and had gone silver. Her eyes were large and very dark. He had, of course,
checked her profile and knew her to be only a few years younger than himself.
All in all, she was quite
lovely and extremely intelligent.
He nodded to her.
"Please come in, Mr. Boone,"
she asked as she indicated her office.
He moved past her, aware
that he in turn was being sized up. After she closed the door behind her,
he shrugged.
"What can I do for you,
Doctor?" he asked as he ran a hand over a plaque on her wall.
"Please have a seat." She
indicated one of the chairs as she herself sat next to her desk. "Mr. Boone..."
"William," he insisted.
She smiled. "William, then.
I recently became aquatinted with one of the Taelons here at this facility
and I was hoping you could give me some pointers on interacting with them."
He couldn't help but smile
then. "Kee'sha is it? He's one of the more approachable Taelons stationed
here..."
Her face fell. "Actually...it's
Zo'or."
His own smile vanished instantly.
"You don't want to 'interact' with him," he advised her. "You'd be better
off avoiding him like the plague."
"I know he's not very popular..."
she began.
"You could put it that way."
Leaning forward, he sighed. "Look, you asked for my help in this and I'm
about to do you a huge favor. Stay away from Zo'or. He's devious, only
interested in what others can do for him...and he's made more people disappear
than you'll ever know!
He was shocked to see tears
gather in her eyes. "I guessed that," she sniffed. "but I'm afraid that
it's already too late to do as you've advised."
Boone felt the hair on the
back of his neck stand on end. "Are you telling me that you two are forming
a bond?"
She nodded, looking like
a lost soul indeed and, in that instant, he felt his heart go out to her.
Leaning forward, he took her hand in his own and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Tell me," he encouraged.
Less than ten minutes later,
he lifted his chin off the hand he had propped it against and blinked slowly.
He was quite literally speechless for several seconds before he managed
to speak.
"You...kissed him?" he asked,
trying to keep his revulsion from showing.
She gave him a withering
look.
In response, he sat up straighter.
"I'm not sure what I can do to help you..." he sighed.
"You can tell me about you
and Da'an," she urged.
He flinched. "How do you
know about..."
"Zo'or mentioned the two
of you." She placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry. If you feel it's an
invasion of your privacy, I'll understand."
"No...no...it's OK," he
assured her. "I don't think my story's going to help you, though. Your
relationship with Zo'or and mine with Da'an, are very much unique in their
own ways."
She withdrew her hand. "Does
he treat you well?"
Thoughts of the times he
had spent with his Companion brought a soft smile to his face. "He's quite
the mother hen," he laughed, bringing a smile to her face as well.
"Do you love Da'an?"
Their eyes locked. "More
than anything or anyone," he admitted, suddenly very serious. "We've never
kissed and I don't know if we ever will, but when we touch..." His mind
began to wander as he was gripped with a CVI memory.
"Yeah..." she breathed.
"When we touch..." for a moment her expression mirrored his own, but then
it became troubled.
"What is it?" he asked as
he focused on her once more.
"Oh, William, he's so...lost..."
she turned a frightened look on him then. "He hates what he is and he hates
those who surround him - human and Taelon alike because he can never be
a part of either group..."
"What is he?"
She ignored him. "He's got
so much bottled up inside and it all slips out when we touch. He knows
that I understand, because I'm an outsider as well and that's what keeps
pulling us back together, but he..." For a moment, she paused to compose
herself. "Zo'or's afraid that I'm going to discover something about
him," she whispered. "I can't tell what it might relate to, but he's terrified!
I'm terrified as well, because, should I discover his secret, I fear that
he'll harm me..."
"If he's seeking to bond
with you, he knows that you WILL learn everything about him," Boone explained.
"He would have killed you already if he feared discovery."
She nodded. "I suppose you
have something there..." Then she glanced at her watch. "You'd better be
going, I wouldn't want Zo'or to find you down here with me..."
He stood and placed a hand
on her shoulder. "If there's anything at all I can do, please don't hesitate
to ask," he said, as he squeezed it gently.
"Might I perhaps meet Da'an
one day?" she asked. "I've never met any Taelon but Zo'or..."
"I understand. I'll ask
Da'an, but I'm sure that he'd be very interested in meeting you too." With
a nod at the doctor, he slipped out of the room.
She had left him with a
great deal to think about...
Upstairs, Zo'or stood at one
of Kee'sha's lab windows and stared down at the street below. Sandoval
stood at attention behind him, having just informed him of Nivian's unexpected
visitor.
The U.N. representative's
eyes narrowed as Boone finally exited the building and hailed a cab. As
soon as the implant had disappeared, he turned and motioning Sandoval to
remain, left the room.
Nivian stepped out of the lab
and nearly slammed into Zo'or out in the corridor. For a brief moment they
stared at each other suspiciously and then she laughed.
"We seem destined to keep
colliding," she said and then nearly blushed at the double meaning. If
Zo'or had caught it, he showed no sign. He continued to stare at her suspiciously.
Certain that he must know of Boone's visit, she took his arm and steered
him back toward the elevators.
"I was just on my way up
to see your labs," she said. "...If the invitation is still open, that
is..."
"Of course," he finally
replied as he stopped their forward momentum. Backing her against the hallway
wall, he leaned close. "What was William Boone doing here?" he hissed near
her ear.
She decided that there was
absolutely no point in lying to him. "I asked him to stop by. I wanted
to ask him some questions about..."
"About what?" he prompted
when she did not continue.
"..about forming a relationship
with a Taelon," she whispered.
His expression suddenly
softened. "Did his advice prove useful?"
She nodded in the affirmative
and he stepped back while gesturing towards the elevators down the hall.
"It would please me greatly to show you about the laboratory," he announced
as they began walking slowly together.
"Why have you been stationed
here so long?" she finally asked. "You're not a scientist..."
"I have several different
responsibilities," he responded. "And you are incorrect. I do have experience
in the sciences. Be that as it may, I am here to supervise Kee'sha's work.
The Synod wants to be certain that progress is made in the correct areas."
"What areas might those
be?" she asked as she pushed the elevator call button.
He looked sharply at her.
"You must understand that I cannot reveal that to you."
They stepped into a deserted
elevator. "Sooner or later you will," she said as the doors closed. "If
we move towards a bond, you won't have much choice. What then? What happens
to me when I, a lowly human, becomes privy to deep dark Taelon secrets?"
A troubled look crossed
his face and then was quickly replaced by his usual, unreadable expression.
"Once we have bonded, you will not betray me," he said with conviction.
Their eyes met then, and
she felt more closely connected to him than ever. Needing to convey her
feelings to him, she reached out and grasping his hand, gave it a quick
squeeze. She was delighted to see his eyes light up warmly.
The two of them stepped
off the elevator on the twelfth floor and the tall Taelon led her through
the check point. He brought her on a quick tour of the labs which ended
at the office he shared with the Taelon scientist, Kee'sha.
As they entered the small
room, she saw the other Taelon seated before an alien terminal which seemed
to project images within an energy stream of some sort. He looked up, startled
by their appearance and with a wave of a hand ended the projection.
"That was what we call a
datastream, " Zo'or explained. "And this is Kee'sha." he turned toward
the scientist. "This is Doctor Nivian Ibraham," he introduced.
Kee'sha stood and stepped
closer to her, extending his hand in the human handshake greeting. "I am
pleased to meet so fine a fellow scientist," he greeted as they shook.
"I'm glad to make your acquaintance
as well," she replied, liking him instantly.
"Please tell me about your
research," asked eagerly. "I have read everything available on the nature
of your project, but I wonder how you planned to deliver the enzyme, Hex
A to the affected neurological cells of your patients. Moreover, how do
you propose removing the accumulated GM2 ganglioside from the cells? Our
research shows that even in the presence of the correct enzyme, removal
of the accumulated ganglioside is necessary for any acceptable recovery
to be made. Hex A alone cannot completely reverse the damage done to the
neurological cells."
She nodded her head. "I'm
impressed with the interest you show in my work, Kee'sha. It is the highest
form of flattery amongst us scientists, is it not?" At the Taelon's
grin she explained. "Part of my project entails the creation of three separate
virus vectors to deliver the three separate enzyme components directly
into the cells themselves. When subunit-a, subunit-b and the activator
protein are delivered in this way, rather than having to be assembled by
the cell or moved about by carrier proteins, there is a rapid and complete
breakdown of excess GM2 inside the cells as well as in the surrounding
tissue."
Kee'sha's eyes widened.
"An admirable solution," he said with a smile. "I assume the vectors are
self perpetuating?"
"Yes. They replicate in
the spleen, where, due to their slow replication, they do minimal damage
to an already unnecessary organ. Once the vectors have been introduced,
they're there to stay. Our patients will only need a weekly shot of the
actual enzyme components. Perhaps we could engineer some of their own natural
bacterial flora to produce it... thus offering them the chance of a normal
life."
"If I may be of any use,
please...." Kee'sha began.
Zo'or interrupted him. "You
have your own projects to complete," he reminded him. "The Synod is not
pleased with your results to date."
Kee'sha lowered his eyes
and Nivian felt badly for the humiliation he had just been subjected to.
"I must return to my work," the scientist said as he made his way quickly
to the office door and departed.
She rounded on her smug-looking
companion. "Why did you do that to him?" she asked. "It was cruel and unnecessary!"
"It was neither, I assure
you," he said as he moved closer, slowly backing her towards the office
wall. "Taelons are well aware of their duties. We do not feel emotion as
humans do. I was simply reminding him that time was growing short... It
was done with his best interests in mind."
Zo'or reached up to brush
her cheek with his hand and her indignation faded to confusion and then,
as he leaned forward and kissed her, to desire. In a moment he had her
pinned up against the office wall and had clasped her hand firmly with
his own. Her other hand moved up to his shoulder and then curved around
the back of his neck, where she stroked the base of his large cranium.
As they kissed, she felt
his mind connecting with her own again.
<...show me how...> he
seemed to plead as their kissing became more frenzied.
The tip of his tongue brushed
her upper lip even as she realized what it was he wanted her to show him.
Grateful that he at least possessed a tongue, she sighed and began exploring
his mouth with her own. His mouth was warm and relatively dry. Of course,
his kind had no reason to need saliva, so she supposed it made perfect
sense...
His tongue was unnaturally
smooth - no taste buds, she assumed. For some strange reason, he
did possess teeth, although they, too, felt strange to her...
Then his tongue began to
move against her own and sought entry to her own mouth. He explored her
with abandon and all thoughts, scientific or otherwise, fled her mind as
they shared each other's dizzying thoughts and a rapidly escalating passion.
They broke apart as her
knees threatened to buckle and she freed her hand from his own, bringing
it up to meet the other one around his neck.
"What were you saying about
Taelons not feeling emotions as humans do?" she asked as she steadied herself
against him and looked up into his gently glowing eyes. "It seemed very
clear to me that you were feeling exactly the same way I was..."
He rubbed his cool nose
against her own. "I rely upon you to keep this discovery to yourself,"
he breathed.
She sighed as his arms moved
around her waist and held her to him.
"Nivian..."
"Hhmmm?"
"Come with me to New York,"
he asked as he rubbed his cheek against her own. Her skin tingled everywhere
their flesh made contact.
She moved her head around
so she could see his face again. "When? Why?"
"Tomorrow. I have things
I must attend to Saturday, however, I would relish the opportunity to show
you my residence and the city itself."
"An alien to my world is
going to show me around?" she teased. She was rewarded with something which
could be called a grimace. "When are we leaving?" she asked.
"Tomorrow at seventeen thirty.
Meet me on the rooftop," he said, a triumphant glint in his eyes.
They exchanged a few more
kisses before she pushed him away. "I really need to get some work done
if I'm going to be going away with you this weekend," she said as she tried
to catch her breath. A glance at him showed that his eyes were glowing
softly again.
He was wearing a dazed look
and could only manage to nod at her.
She took the opportunity
to slip out of the office.
"William."
Boone turned as Da'an's
voice brought him out of his introspection. After leaving Doctor Ibraham's
lab, he had made his way back to the embassy and up to the room he used
as his own when he was in town. Here, he had spent over an hour thinking
about the strangeness of life.
That he and Da'an could
find themselves so bound together was one thing, but for a Taelon like
Zo'or to become attached to a human as well was... incredible. Could it
be that taelons and humans needed each other in such a fundamental way
that they were destined to seek each other out on a personal level as well?
Now, surprised by Da'an's
appearance in his room, he snapped instantly back to the present.
"Yes Da'an?" he asked his
friend.
Da'an approached him slowly,
his head tilted in a way which made Boone aware that he was curious about
something.
"What is it which occupies
your thoughts to the extent that you have kept yourself locked away for
the past hour?" the companion asked as he came to a stop facing his implant.
The two of them were standing very close to each other.
"Do you believe in fate?"
the redhead asked as he attempted to order his thoughts.
"I do." Da'an looked closely
at his face, as though trying to decipher the emotions which had prompted
the question. "All my people believe that each of us is destined to serve
a purpose in this existence."
Boone raised an eyebrow.
"Have you ever wondered about us?" he asked before he could lose his nerve.
Da'an blinked slowly, making
a sound which was very much like a sigh. "Quite often," he admitted.
"What destiny do you believe
we are serving?" he breathed.
Da'an blushed blue, but
continued to look him in the eye. "I believe we are to show our people
the way to understanding and acceptance of each other," he said softly.
"And what if other Taelon-Human
bondings were occurring even as we stood here? Wouldn't that imply that
it is not our sole purpose in coming together?"
Da'an's eyes searched his
face. "...Then I would say that it is simply our destiny to support...and
love one another," he said whispered.
Boone felt a lump start in his
throat at the verbal admission of caring. Without a word, he gathered
Da'an close to him, enfolding him in his arms. His friend and secret love
put his arms around his waist in turn and rested his head on his shoulder.
A feeling of profound peace
came over him then. He knew beyond a doubt that, for as long as he lived,
his companion would be a part of his life.
"William, what has brought
about this sudden need to define us?" his perceptive companion asked.
"I'm not entirely certain,
but I suppose that I would have gotten around to trying to do so sooner
or later," he sighed.
"How very... Human," Da'an
smiled.
Nivian was a nervous wreck at
work the next day. She told Anne where she was going just in case she needed
to contact her and then spent the rest of the morning catching up on her
work and finding someone to take call for her. By lunchtime she was too
excited to eat and the hours which led up to five pm seemed to go on forever.
Just before five thirty,
she picked up her overnight case and shouldering her soft-sided briefcase,
headed for the elevators. Stabbing impatiently at the call button, she
groaned at the length of time it took for the car to arrive. After a small
eternity, she stepped aboard the tardy car and took it to the fifteenth
floor, where she found Sandoval and Zo'or waiting for her.
"Am I late?" she quipped,
drawing a small smile from the implant, but no reaction from Zo'or, who
simply stared at her intensely.
"Not at all," Sandoval replied
as he took her bag and motioned her to board the shuttle.
She stepped up into the
cabin and waited for Zo'or, who took indicated she should take the rear
left seat. As she sat, he sat in the seat to her right and demonstrated
the use of the restraints.
Sandoval sat in the chair
directly ahead of Zo'or as the pilot began gesturing in the air and punching
at what appeared to be a very sophisticated heads-up display. Before she
even expected it, the shuttle lifted smoothly off the roof and accelerated
away from the building so quickly that a gasp was torn from her. Turning
to face Zo'or, she was amazed by the gentle smile which lit his face.
"Last time I rose in one
of these, the pilot went easy on me, I guess," she laughed.
Sandoval turned to look
at her. "You haven't seen anything yet, Doctor!"
At precisely that instant,
the shuttle lurched forward as her internal organs seemed to bounce off
her backbone. The world around them vanished, to be replaced with a strange
kaleidoscope of colors and images.
Zo'or took the opportunity
to explain the concept of interdimension to her, but before he could even
complete the lesson, the shuttle emerged into real time.
The tall buildings of New
York City appeared directly below them, some looking as though they would
scrape the very shuttle bottom as they zipped towards Central Park East.
Upon arriving, Nivian was given
a quick tour of Zo'or's dwelling and then led to the room in which she
would be staying.
"Please feel free to wander
about," Sandoval said, as he placed her bag on a chair in the corner. "Zo'or
has a few matters to attend to and then he will find you. Any preferences
as to where you'd like to have dinner?"
"Dinner?"
"You do eat?" the bemused
implant asked.
"Yes, but he...Zo'or...Or
are you taking me?"
Sandoval took a step closer
and put on a charming smile - too charming to be real, from her perspective.
"I will accompany the both
of you," he explained. "However, I believe that Zo'or is your actual...companion...on
this excursion."
Not very familiar with the
city, Nivian blurted the first thing that came to mind. "How about Tavern
on the Green?" she asked. "Unless it's too short a notice..."
Sandoval smiled for real
then. "Somehow, I don't think getting reservations will be difficult,"
he chuckled as, giving her a quick nod, he dismissed himself.
Nivian busied herself unpacking,
after which, she lay on the bed and thumbed through a guide book she had
brought along with her. Not long after, something made her look up.
Zo'or was standing in the
doorway watching her. Seeing that he had been noticed, he moved forward
into the room as she sat up and put her book away.
"Agent Sandoval informs
me that our dinner reservations are for seven thirty," he informed her
as he came to a stop next to the bed. "Is this acceptable?"
"That's fine," she responded.
"It'll give me a chance to change clothes."
"Is there someplace you
would like to visit before hand?"
"If it's all right, I think
I'd rather tour after we...I... eat."
He nodded. "Then, may I
show you the view from the balcony?"
She was on her feet in a
second.
The rest of the evening went
by in a blur.
Despite the crisp autumn
air, the view from the balcony had been incredible. On one side of them
was the darkness which was Central Park, while everywhere else, the city
was ablaze with light. Never before had she seen so many lit windows in
the dark!
While she had been admiring
the view, Zo'or had taken her hand and smiled, as he lived the experience
through her.
They had remained outside
until it was time for her to change, after which they had taken a limo
to Tavern on the Green.
What a commotion their appearance
had caused! With Sandoval and the limo driver seated together at a nearby
table, she and her alien 'date' had enjoyed some semblance of privacy.
Zo'or had taken delight
in putting the waiters through their paces, always hinting at some small
disapproval of their performance. He had even ordered his own meal and
not done more than push the food about the plate. When the anxious waiter
had asked if everything was all right, he had merely stared him down.
Nivian had enjoyed her meal
greatly, relishing both the atmosphere and the company, although Zo'or's
penchant for small cruelties had put something of a damper on things.
They hadn't left until nearly
nine and had spent the rest of the evening touring the big apple in the
limo while Sandoval . The sights had been spectacular but their last stop
had topped everything.
Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge
into Brooklyn, the limo had pulled over and she and Zo'or had walked the
Brooklyn Heights Promenade while Sandoval trailed far behind them. The
view of the grand old bridge, lit up at night with Manhattan in the background,
had been... breathtaking.
After a time, they had settled
onto a bench and talked a while while they focused on the bridge.
It would have been the perfect
end to the evening if only Sandoval hadn't been lurking in the background.
Finally, the chill of the
night had driven them back to the warmth of the limo and they had gone
straight back to Zo'or's home.
Free of the implant's disproving
gaze, they had shared a hug and a kiss before the alien had excused himself,
stating his need to attend to certain matters and his assumption that she
must be tired.
With a final kiss, they
had parted...
Nivian awoke to the vision of
two pale hands reaching out to her. In the darkened room above them floated
two glowing blue eyes.
She screamed and backed
away before it penetrated her mind that it had to be Zo'or. Even as she
relaxed, she heard his voice.
"It is all right," he soothed.
"All is well."
She felt his weight settle
on the bed even as she reached behind her and snapped on the bedside lamp.
He wore a concerned expression and with a final shudder, she settled herself
into his arms.
"I only wished to watch
you sleeping." he whispered after a time.
It was as much of an apology
as she was ever likely to get from him, she knew.
"I'm all right now," she
answered. He was warm and solid and she wrapped her arms around him, holding
on tightly. He reciprocated and after a short while, she tugged him down
onto the bed so that they were laying together.
"Sleep," he entreated.
With a sigh, she leaned
over him, propping herself on her outstretched arms.
"I'm suddenly wide awake,"
she declared as she leaned down and kissed him. In truth, all the frustration
from earlier that evening had come back - stronger than ever. In a flash,
their tongues were wrestling again.
He tightened his grip on
her before he began caressing her back and shoulders. Suddenly, he grasped
her hair and pulling her head down lower, brought his lips into contact
with her neck.
Slowly, he nibbled along
its side, working his way slowly toward her ear as she squirmed with delight.
He really did know what
she liked!
Nivian ran her hands over
his shoulders and chest, desperately searching for some way to remove the
thick jumpsuit he wore.
Finally giving up in exasperation,
she pulled away from his mouth. "How do you get this thing off?" she gasped
as his hands slid down to her bottom and began kneading the flesh of her
buttocks.
"Not yet," he husked out,
turning so that they were on their sides facing each other. Again he kissed
her, this time unbuttoning her pajama top and sliding a hand inside. Everywhere
his hand made contact, her flesh tingled, coming up in goose bumps. Her
nipples were already achingly hard before his fingers ever found them.
When he did caress and tweak one, she cried out at the sensation which
traveled down the length of her body and settled between her legs.
Zo'or himself gasped in
counterpoint to her own vocalization, apparently sharing the sensation
simply because their flesh was in contact.
Rolling her onto her back
and straddling her, he gripped both her hands and pinning them to the bed
above her head, slowly lowered his head to her breast. His hand had begun
glowing even as she felt the contact of his mind. His thoughts were no
longer carefully ordered. Now they were disjointed, nonsensical, as desire
drove coherent thought from his mind. As he took her nipple in his mouth,
they gasped in unison and she could feel him quiver strangely as his entire
form began to glow shades of blue and pink.
When he raised his head
to gaze at her, she was looking into two elongated and very large, glowing
blue patches and realized that only now was she seeing his true face. Freeing
her hands, she cupped that alien face and pulled it close for another kiss.
He sighed at her acceptance
of him and mentally reassuring her, left the bed. She watched as his form
seemed to glow even brighter and become insubstantial. His jumpsuit fell
right through him to pool on the floor at his feet. He seemed to solidify
again and stood before her, patiently giving her the opportunity to look
him over.
Her eyes traveled the length
of his form, taking in the broad shoulders and chest which were so much
like a man's and the slim waist and flaring hips which were so like a woman's.
He possessed no sign of any genitalia, the flesh at his crotch as smooth
and unformed as a fashion doll's. His skin - if it could be called that
- appeared as smooth and translucent as glass. He was lit from within by
a myriad of pulsing, traveling lights.
Rising from the bed, Nivian
stood facing him and slipped off her pajama bottoms before unbuttoning
the bottom portion of her top and allowing it to slide off her shoulders
to the floor.
Zo'or looked her slowly
up and down even as she grasped his hand and pulled him back to the bed.
Once again Zo'or's hand
clasped her own and began to glow, but this time any pleasure she might
experience would be physical rather than mental...and felt by him as well.
Looking him over again as he leaned down for another kiss, she was finally
struck by just how very alien he was and she began to feel the beginnings
of a deep-seated panic. She squeezed her eyes closed.
This was insane! It couldn't
work! It was...perver...
<"Nivian!"> His voice
seemed to echo in her head.
All she could do was tremble.
<"Open your eyes,"> he
demanded.
His brilliant phosphorescent
orbs were only inches away from her own brown ones. Their bottomless, churning
depths seemed to mesmerize her - she felt as though she could not look
away.
<"You are not alone in
this,"> his thoughts soothed. <"I too am sharing intimacy with an alien.">
He shared with her then
how very strange the entire relationship was from his perspective. She
saw how truly alien - and yet appealing - the simple act of kissing was
for him. She felt his own insecurity and fear...
Coming to a decision, she
pulled him back down to her for a kiss and felt her skin tingle in a very
pleasurable way everywhere they made contact. Suddenly feeling bold, she
ran her free hand down the length of his body, to his crotch. Once again
she was both amazed and confused by his lack of genitals. Guilt welled
up in her at the realization that he knew everything she thought...she
didn't want to hurt his feelings!
<"Don't,"> he warned.
<"Do not ever be sorry for sharing your thoughts with me."> he punctuated
his words by duplicating her latest exploration, running his free hand
down her torso. He stopped to lightly caress her breasts before moving
lower, past her navel. He paused to linger and run his fingertips lightly
through her pubic hair before moving lower still.
When his hand made contact
with the flesh between her legs, they both groaned and stared at each other.
As his fingers moved over
her, exploring her, Zo'or seemed to shiver with reaction. Even as she found
herself getting lost in the sensations he was causing, Nivian also relished
the thoughts she was picking up from him.
<"I must...I need...It
feels..."> he gasped out mentally.
She kissed him, reveling
in the thought that for all his knowledge, he was completely and utterly
ignorant of physical sensation. Taelons, it seemed, could feel pressure,
heat and texture as a human did, but this was beyond them...unless they
had a willing human partner.
Grasping his hand, she guided
him, orchestrating his movements, demanding more and obtaining it. Within
moments her entire body tensed as she unconsciously arched herself towards
him.
With a sudden wave of fear,
Zo'or sought to break contact with her, but she clung tightly to both his
hands.
<"No! I cannot...It's
too..."> She felt him panic even as she climaxed.
A cry was torn from both
as she experienced a pleasure which, when it finally subsided, left her
shaking and weak.
Fighting to catch her breath,
she released Zo'or's hands and wrapping her arms around him, pulled him
close.
He was still quivering violently.
"Zo'or?" She spoke softly,
suddenly concerned by his stillness.
There was no response.
Pushing him onto his back,
she leaned over him.
His face slowly beginning
to take on a more human appearance, he stared back at her.
"Are you all right?" she
asked, suddenly afraid for him.
He nodded, still staring
at her oddly.
"I guess this must really
have been pretty strange for you..." she gulped.
"Actually," he whispered,
looking somewhat vacant. "It explains a great deal..."
"About what?"
"We could never comprehend
why it was that humans wasted so much of their time copulating when they
did not wish to have offspring..."
Nivian couldn't help herself
- she started laughing. "Now you know," she chuckled as she fell back onto
her side and laid her head on his shoulder.
He put his arms around her
then and finally stopped shaking.
"Are you certain that you're
OK?" she asked again.
"For the moment..."
She raised her head. "What
do you mean?"
"I attempted to withdraw
from you earlier because I could no longer shield our activities from the
commonality..."
The hair on the back of
her neck stood on end as she made sense of what he was telling her.
"Are you telling me that
every Taelon knows what we were just doing?" she squeaked.
"Not every Taelon. Only
those in this solar system who decided, out of curiosity, to...investigate
the strange sensations disturbing the commonality," he explained with a
smirk.
Reaching down to the foot
of the bed, Nivian grasped the covers and pulled them over her head.
Boone stumbled to his
vid screen, certain that only one person would be calling him at this time
of night. He was wearing only his sweat pants, having just been rousted
from his bed. Worse yet, he was certain that he was still blushing over
the dream he had just had...
"Da'an," he greeted as the
Companion appeared on the screen.
"Boone." Da'an stared at
him intently, and he felt his blush deepening.
"What's wrong?" he prompted,
self-consciously pulling on the T-shirt he had carried in with him.
"There has been a disturbance
of dire proportions within the commonality," the Taelon related, blushing
blue in the process.
Boone frowned, unsure of
what Da'an might be trying to say. "I'm not sure that I understand," he
said. "I was sleeping and didn't pick up..." His eyes widened as he made
a connection between his dream and the disturbance. "Did this...disturbance
have something to do with Zo'or and Dr. Ibraham?" he asked.
Da'an nodded. "You dreamed
it?" he asked in turn.
"I think so."
Da'an inclined his head
in a confused manner. "Boone...I did not know...I never suspected that
a moment of such perfection could exist."
The redheaded implant swallowed
hard. "I don't know if I would refer to it as perfection..."
Da'an appeared even more
confused.
"...unless I were an alien
completely unfamiliar with such sensation..." he finished lamely. He cleared
his throat. "Are you all right?"
The Companion blushed again.
"I believe so...however, this may have complicated matters for us..."
It was Boone's turn to nod.
He and Da'an were sure to be closely monitored from now on and he wondered
if perhaps Quo'on might try forbidding them to... He quickly clamped a
lid down on that train of thought.
"What has the Synod had
to say about this?" he asked.
"Curiously, they have not
yet communicated anything on the subject," the Companion related. "It is
my hope that they do so soon. Many of my fellow Companions are now entertaining
thoughts which are most...unTaelon-like..."
They stared at each other.
Boone swallowed again.
"You must warn her," Da'an
whispered, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Go tomorrow, when
Zo'or makes his appearance before the Synod."
"I thought you said that
the Synod hadn't yet..."
"They will," Da'an responded.
"I know my brother well enough. Quo'on will insist upon questioning Zo'or's
sudden..."
"...Attachment to a member
of the very species he had claimed to despise?" Boone finished.
Again Da'an nodded.
Again they stared at each
other silently.
Boone could almost feel
the Companion's desire for him. It mirrored his own, but they were, both
of them, in very dangerous positions. By some unspoken means, they had
decided to tread slowly, building their relationship carefully and gathering
support along the way.
That did not stop them from
wanting more...
Boone cleared his throat.
"You'll let me know when he leaves for the home ship?"
"Be here in the morning,
that we may contact Ibraham at the first opportunity." Da'an stared at
Boone again before bowing his head. "Pleasant dreams, William."
Before Boone could respond,
the link went dead.
When Nivian woke the
following morning, Zo'or was gone from the room. Stretching briefly, she
quit the bed, showered quickly, dressed and went in search of him.
She found him reclining
in his audience room chair, as an alien, phosphorescent energy seemed to
stream around him. Freezing in the doorway, she stared at him, suddenly
unsure of her welcome.
She needn't have worried.
Within a few short moments, Zo'or became aware of her presence and sat
up as the energy stream suddenly vanished. He beckoned her to approach
and when she did so, reached out to gather her to him in a hug.
"Good morning," she said
softly. "Did you sleep well?"
He smiled his typical ironic
smile. "I do not sleep," he informed her.
"Never?" At his his nod,
she continued. "You never sleep? How do you...I mean it seems so...strange!"
"Best not to think about
it," he advised. Rising from his chair, he grasped her hand and pulled
her after him as he left the room.
She was led to his own chambers,
where a small table had been set out with a breakfast fit for a queen.
"Please - be seated and
enjoy your meal," the U.N. Representative urged. "I am expected upon the
home ship, however, I shall return as soon as I am able."
"Is this about...last night?"
she asked as her stomach threatened to roll over.
"Yes."
"What will happen to you?
To us?"
He smirked. "Nothing. I
have already devised an explanation which will satisfy my superiors."
Giving her another, somewhat
awkward kiss, he turned and left the room, but Nivian still worried...
Not ten minutes after Zo'or's
departure, Nivian heard a chiming coming from the audience chamber. At
first she ignored it, certain that one of the staff would take care of
whatever it might be. Several minutes went by before it dawned on her that
the staff might not yet have returned - it WAS a Saturday, after all...
Slowly, she entered the
room, unsure of what she might find.
What she found amazed her
utterly. A strange stream of glittering light formed a column before Zo'or's
chair!
As she moved around it,
towards the chair, she became aware that William Boone was standing within
the stream.
"Ah. There you are," he
replied as clearly as if he were right next to her. In that instant, the
stream brightened and the implant took on a completely life-like, three
dimensional form.
In the background, Nivian
could make out Da'an, sitting in his chair in the audience chamber. The
North American Companion's eyes were lowered, but his entire demeanor suggested
that he was paying sharp attention to them.
"What is this called?" she
asked, as she waved an arm toward the stream.
It instantly blinked out
of existence.
When it returned two seconds
later, William Boone was smiling and the companion behind him appeared
amused as well.
"You just stumbled into
how we turn these 'datastreams' on and off," the redhead explained.
Nivian smiled as well. "I'm
afraid you've missed Zo'or," she told them. "He left here less than fifteen
minutes ago."
"We knew that," Boone informed
her. "I needed to talk to you while he was unavailable..."
She felt herself tense up
and somehow managed to keep a calm tone. "What about?"
Boone looked very serious.
"We know how you spent the evening," he stated, matter-of-factly and causing
her to blush furiously. "I'm sorry to be so blunt about it, but I felt
that you should know that many of the Companions here on earth experienced
some of what Zo'or experienced."
She sat in Zo'or's chair,
suddenly feeling faint. "Then Da'an told you..."
The Companion finally lifted
his eyes to look directly at her. "Boone experienced the event in a dream,"
he explained. "His link with me allowed him to sense what I myself sensed."
"Hey..." Boone's voice was
low and soothing. "It's all right, Nivian." He glanced back at Da'an. "When
you get close to a Taelon, you get used to the sharing of your life. Privacy
is still possible, but difficult."
"But...something IS wrong,
or you wouldn't have called at the first opportunity," she prompted, feeling
slightly better.
It was Da'an who answered.
"Now that you have forged a bond of sorts with Zo'or, he will ask you to
become his implant."
"His assistant?" she asked,
confused.
"His implant," Boone answered.
"I'm one, Sandoval's one...every Companion has at least one and Zo'or's
position entitles him to have one or two as well."
"An implant is so named
for the device he has within his brain," Da'an explained. "It is referred
to as a CVI - Cyber Viral Implant."
"It gifts it's recipient
with amazing mental abilities," Boone continued. "One of which is total
recall."
"Nivian smiled. "I already
have such recall," she revealed. "There would be no point in 'implanting'
me."
"I'm afraid that there would
be a very important reason for doing so," the implant continued. "The CVI
contains a hidden, Motivational Imperative, or MI, which skews your perceptions.
The Companions become your first priority - your reason for living. You
end up devoting all your time, energy and affection to them."
She stared at them in horror.
"Then you are with Da'an because...." The thought was too awful to complete.
Boone winced and even Da'an
looked pained. Neither could ever reveal the truth to Nivian, for what
she knew, Zo'or would eventually know as well.
"I am more fortunate than
most," the attaché said. "I suspect that you would not fare as well.
Once Zo'or has had you implanted, he need fear nothing with regard to you.
He could kill your friends, or destroy your research and you would thank
him for it." Seeing that she was about to protest, he held up a hand. "Believe
me - you would help him do so, if he asked you to...and the entire time,
you would be screaming on the inside, knowing that what you were doing
was wrong..."
Nivian gulped. "What we
discussed in my office - about the secret I fear discovering..."
Boone nodded. "This would
be the ideal way to prevent you from revealing it to others...should you
discover it."
Behind the implant, Da'an
suddenly rose to his feet and moved closer, until he was standing at Boone's
side. "We have done what we can to warn you," he said softly. "I wish you
well and offer my aid, should you find yourself in an...intolerable circumstance."
"Just call me if you need
help," the redhead added. "I'll get you out safely."
"Thank you," she muttered,
still in a state of shock.
The datastream collapsed.
"Zo'or, you understand the
reason for this summons?" Quo'on asked the younger Taelon.
"Of course."
Quo'on stood and moving
away from his chair, slowly circled the U.N. Representative. "The Synod
awaits your explanation," he prompted.
"I have begun, what the
humans term, 'a romance' with a woman scientist," he smirked. "The aftereffect
of our...liason was an unfortunate accident which shall not occur again.
I was simply too overwhelmed to shield the sensation from the commonality."
"And what is the purpose
for so intimate a relationship with a member of the very species you have
proposed that we subjugate?" the offended Synod leader asked.
Zo'or's smile was nasty.
"Doctor Ibraham has developed a carrier virus which is self propagating
and may serve us well... I merely insure her continued... creativity, while
placing myself in a position in which I might learn more."
Quo'on looked startled...and
disappointed. "Rather would I have wished to hear you say that you found
her worthy," he murmured. "This betrayal is unworthy of even you."
For a second, the younger
Taelon actually looked wounded, but he recovered quickly.
"It is a simple matter to
pass judgment on others when one need never bear the pressure of garnering
such information oneself," he hissed.
Quo'on turned a disapproving
look upon him. "I begin to see many similarities between yourself and humanity,"
he remarked. "Very well. You may leave. We shall inform Ne'eg of your discovery."
"I shall take care of the
matter myself," Zo'or declared.
Giving the tall Synod leader
another disgusted look, he turned and left the room.
Quo'on waited a few beats
before summoning Ne'eg.
"Anne, calm down and tell
me what's wrong!" Nivian urged her chief technician. Anne had called a
few minutes back, but was in such a state that her words all ran together.
Nivian was trying once again to understand what had her all flustered.
"Take a deep breath," she
urged.
Anne puffed.
"OK now. Tell me exactly
what happened."
Two Taelons showed up at
the lab this morning and they had what seemed to be about nine guards with
them," Anne gushed. "It was just the three of us working today - me, Sarah
and Lynn. One of the Taelons was Kee'sha, but I had never seen the other
one before. Kee'sha introduced him as the eminent scientist, Ne'eg. Anyway,
Ne'eg asked to see our research on the carrier viruses and we told him
that we couldn't release the information without your approval."
Anne began to hyperventilate
again.
"Go on," Nivian urged. "What
happened then?"
"Kee'sha didn't look too
good. He started wringing his hands together and quickly excused himself.
Then the men - I think they call them implants, or agents or something...Anyway,
the men raided our offices! They called up different aspects of our research
and confiscated critical papers! Ne'eg checked out your computer.
I saw him flipping through files..."
In a state of shock, Nivian
jumped up and began throwing her things in a suitcase. "When did this happen?"
she asked, as her anxiety escalated.
"They just left!"
She looked at her watch.
"Listen, Anne. Make me a
reservation on the next available flight back from LaGuardia. I'll call
you back when I arrive at the airport."
"OK!" Anne hung up the phone.
Within ten minutes, Nivian
had all her belongings and was headed out the door.
Zo'or returned to his abode
shortly before noon, to find Nivian gone.
"She most likely went out
shopping," Sandoval sneered.
He knew better, though.
The rooms felt as though they had been deserted...
Walking down the hall to
her room, he began opening drawers. They were all empty, as was the closet.
Her suitcase had likewise vanished.
He shot his attaché
a look which would have curdled milk and the human snapped to attention.
"I'll get right on it!" Sandoval announced before pivoting about and hastily
making for the front door.
The United Nations Representative
slowly walked back to his audience room and taking his chair, opened a
datastream to Kee'sha. The scientist looked agitated.
"What has happened?" he
hissed. "And do not bother to try to downplay it - I can feel the tension
in you!"
"Ne'eg raided Doctor Ibraham's
laboratory," Kee'sha said. "He did not take any original materials - only
copies..."
Zo'or felt his human facade
slipping. "Copies of what, in particular?"
"Copies of anything pertaining
to the carrier virus."
The younger Taelon's eyes
closed. He actually swayed and nearly fell from his chair. This was disastrous!
With a wave of his arm,
Kee'sha's image was replaced by that of Quo'on.
"What have you done?" Zo'or
asked bluntly.
"What was necessary to further
our objectives with concern to the probe." The Synod leader responded calmly.
"We felt that we could not guarantee your cooperation in this matter."
"And so you sent Ne'eg?
You have allowed him to claim all the credit!"
"On the contrary. All the
credit is Doctor Ibraham's, is it not?" With a small smile, Quo'on cut
the transmission.
Zo'or stared blankly at
his knees for a moment. Everything was undone and if he did not act quickly,
all his hopes would lay in ruins! Rising, with a determined look upon his
face, he summoned his shuttle pilot and Sandoval. He had to get to Nivian
before she began making the wrong assumptions!
Nivian was seated in her
office with a cold cup od coffee and a major migraine when Zo'or came barging
in.
"Get out," she demanded.
The Taelon looked stunned.
"Surely, you do not believe that I had anything to do..."
She interrupted him. "Are
you saying that it was Kee'sha who informed your 'eminent Ne'eg'?"
Zo'or took the seat next
to her desk. "Our Synod leader, Quo'on, dictated that Ne'eg might put your
carrier virus research to use in his own project. I had no say in this."
She stared at him for a
moment and then began rubbing her temples. "This is turning into a nightmare..."
she groaned.
Rising from his chair, Zo'or
moved to stand behind her and laid his hands on her head. Within seconds,
the migraine had vanished.
"There is no nightmare,
Nivian," he sighed. "Ne'eg has not stolen your research - he merely obtained
copies, which he intends to put to good use."
"But I have no control over
what he does with it," she cried as she looked back over her shoulder at
him. "I'm responsible for anything he might use it for!"
Leaning down, he wrapped
his arms around her. "I will check in on Ne'eg from time to time," he promised.
"Is all now well here?"
"I suppose..."
"Come with me then."
"Where?" she asked suspiciously.
"To Kee'sha's lab. He wishes
to see you."
Standing, she followed him
out of the lab.
They found Kee'sha in his
office. The scientist rose as soon as he saw them and approached her with
his hands outstretched.
She allowed him to take
her own hands.
"I am sorry for your troubles,"
the Taelon scientist said. "I fear that in sharing your work with me, that
you unknowingly also shared it with Ne'eg."
"I believe that you did
nothing wrong," she reassured him, unable to think him capable of such
wrongdoing.
Kee'sha nodded. "I still
wish to help, if I may..."
She freed her hands. "Right
now it would be best if you stayed away from my laboratory," she warned.
"But, later...perhaps..."
"I understand." Kee'sha
looked dejected. "I want to tell you that Zo'or never suggested using your
research elsewhere," he added helpfully.
She glanced sideways at
Zo'or, who looked uncomfortable. "Thank you," she told the scientist as
they turned to leave his office.
They moved down the hall
a ways and Zo'or grasped her hand, pulling her into a stairwell. There
he moved her up against the wall and kissed her.
"Come back to New York with
me," he urged.
"I need to stay here now,"
she replied. "Besides, I need time to think and I can't do so when you're
around." Suddenly she frowned. "Where's Sandoval?"
"He is on the roof with
the shuttle. I am relatively safe within the confines of this building...and
I wished to..." He kissed her again. "...speak with you. You will not return
with me?"
"Not this week," she sighed.
"Would you...would you like to stay with me tonight?"
His eyes began to glow.
Sandoval, despite every objection,
was forced to leave Zo'or at the Doctor's house for the night. Every argument
he began against such a blatant breach of protocol was firmly squashed
by the determined Taelon.
Once the shuttle had departed,
Nivian moved away from the window.
"They're gone," she announced.
Zo'or nodded. He had settled
onto her sofa after entering her dwelling. Now that they were alone, he
indicated that she should sit beside him. She did so and he felt a thrill
as she leaned against him, and wrapping her arms about his waist, snuggled
into his side.
"What would you like to
do?" she asked.
"I wish to discuss our relationship."
She looked him in the eyes
then and he seemed to feel a sudden fear run through her. "I don't think
I'm ready to commit to anything," she admitted, as though sensing what
he was about to ask.
He continued anyway. "I
would wish you to be my implant," he stated. "As such, you would be considered
an integral part of me and we would face no opposition with regard to our
relationship. We could complete our bond."
She looked at him strangely.
"What does becoming an implant entail?" she questioned.
"You would have an implant
placed within your brain," he said, matter-of-factly. "The Cyber Viral
Implant would boost your own already considerable mental facilities. I
suspect that you would then easily stand on equal footing with any Taelon."
"How does it boost the mental
processes?" she questioned.
"By forming newer, more
efficient connections between key neural clusters."
She frowned. "Are there
side effects?"
"None that you will be aware
of," he soothed.
She sat bolt upright. "Are
you implying that I might undergo some sort of personality change?"
"It would be necessary for
us to continue," he soothed, trying to change the subject.
"If I have to end up like
Sandoval, I would have to say that ending our relationship might be the
lesser of two evils."
He was stunned. For several
seconds he could do no more than stare at her. "Boone." He said. "William
Boone is also an implant, and yet I dare say that you found him pleasant
enough."
"Even he seemed to be carrying
some secret pain," she replied. "I don't need to have my 'mental facilities'
boosted. I'm afraid that I must turn down your offer."
"You must be my implant!"
"I will never willingly
be your implant," she shouted back.
He opened his mouth to say
something else, but she rounded him, her eyes flashing.
"If you want me, you have
me as I am. If you want to bond with me, you do it now - this night - or
we say our good-byes in the morning!"
He stood, suddenly panicking
inside, and paced slowly in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Zo'or, but it's
the only way we can make this work."
"My way would work out better.
You are simply being stubborn!" he said, more forcefully than he had meant
to.
"It would work out better
for you, not for me."
He took a turn around the
dining room table before returning to the area before the sofa. "It cannot
work any other way. We cannot bond without your prior implantation!"
"Why not?" She stood and
moved to block his pacing. "What are you afraid of?"
So, she knew...She knew
that he was keeping things from her. She could not possibly know just how
much.
He pulled her to him then,
hugging her tightly and for a time, they silently savored the contact.
Slowly, she pulled away
and looked him in the eye. "Tell me the truth," she pleaded.
"I cannot. If we bond..."
"If we bond, I'll learn
your secrets and you may lose me. If we don't bond, you'll lose me anyway,"
she reasoned.
"Once we bond, we will carry
a part of each other always. We will never be free of each other, regardless
of where you run!"
She stepped back two paces.
"Choose," she demanded.
Time ticked by.
He could not - would not
choose!
A tear slowly slid down
Nivian's cheek. Slowly she turned and walking to her bedroom, shut the
door between them.
In a state of numbed grief,
Nivian readied herself for bed.
Unable to sleep, she lay
curled under the covers for over an hour before the tears finally came.
Stifling her sobs with her pillow, she gave herself over to the grief,
knowing in the back of her mind that she had suspected it would come to
this all the way at the beginning of their acquaintance.
Finally, completely spent,
she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
She woke instantly when the
door to her room creaked open. It was already dawn, the sun casting a faint
glow through her bedroom blinds and faintly lighting the room in orange
tones.
Zo'or entered the room.
He was in his natural state and his jumpsuit was no where to be seen.
Slowly he approached her,
and seeing that she was awake, he held his hand out to her.
Without a word, she took
it and pulled him onto the bed beside her. He hugged her close and when
he spoke, his voice was full of sorrow.
"I cannot be the one to
end it," he choked out. "Therefore...bond with me. What happens after will
be your choice."
"I love you," she murmured
as she kissed him.
Zo'or pulled back. "We will
only know that...afterward," he stated with some certainty.
Nivian was completely unprepared
for what happened next. Roughly pulling the covers off her, he gathered
her up in his arms and kissed her.
This time the kiss was different.
This time she felt as though
she were leaving her body behind.
As if viewing the scene
from some third party's eyes, she saw Zo'or suddenly dissolve into a maelstrom
of swirling blue energy - a column of tornadic activity within which her
own form was suspended.
They began to whirl quickly
around even as she felt him in her mind.
Her perspective changed
again.
She began to relive her
entire life over. Every event stored in her incredibly large memory was
revealed one by one to Zo'or, who reveled in each discovery.
The pleasure he felt was
very much akin to the sexual encounter they had shared and his release
was shared with her as well. She quivered inwardly at the sensation of
oneness which was overtaking her and seemed to lose consciousness for a
brief moment.
His voice brought her back,
urging her to take from him - demanding that she seek the core of who he
was.
Slowly, she let him guide
her.
She witnessed the pain of
his own parent's rejection, the separation from his older sibling, Eh'har,
who had held him and cared for him until his removal to the fostering center.
She saw the aloneness of his existence.
Nivian delved through his
memories faster and faster, becoming proficient in the task.
With each new discovery,
her pleasure seemed to escalate, her mind interpreting the sudden acquisition
of such intimate knowledge as the most erotic of drugs.
Then she relived the Taelon's
arrival on Earth from his perspective.
There were the conspiracies,
the coup attempts against Da'an, the attempt on William Boone's life.
A part of her soul seemed
to whither within her as she saw each and every atrocity he initiated.
And then she saw his meeting
with Quo'on that very morning.
"Doctor Ibraham has
developed a carrier virus which is self propagating and may serve us well...
I merely insure her continued... creativity, while placing myself in a
position in which I might learn more." He had said.
Quo'on had turned a disapproving
look upon him. "I begin to see many similarities between yourself and humanity,"
he had remarked. "Very well. You may leave. We shall inform Ne'eg of your
discovery."
In more pain than she would
have thought possible, she searched out the rest of his knowledge of Ne'eg's
work.
Ne'eg was manipulating a
pathogen from a third race, which had been designed to destroy the Taelons!
He was attempting to develop a strain which could be used to destroy the
human race, should they prove to be more of a hindrance than an asset...
<"NO!"> she shrieked
mentally as pain ripped through her and Zo'or both.
She would not accept any
more from him! She would go no further!!
Screaming at the pain she
caused them both, she began withdrawing from him.
<"NO!"> His scream echoed
her own. <"You must know the rest! It is the key to everything!">
Still she separated herself
from him.
<"DO NOT DO THIS!"> Zo'or's
fear became overwhelming. <"DO NOT BREAK THE BOND! YOU WILL KILL US
BOTH!">
<"Perhaps that is for
the best...."> she managed to respond.
She felt him beginning to
fight her, trying to hold her to him just before she blacked out.
Da'an was in the middle of a
meeting with the Vice President when he collapsed suddenly and without
warning.
Boone was beside him in
a second, picking him up from the carpeted floor and cradling him.
"Da'an! Da'an!" he called
repeatedly, as he gently rubbed the Taelon's hands.
The North American Companion's
eyes fluttered open and slowly seemed to focus on him.
"Are you all right? What
happened?" he asked, worried by the Companion's weakened state.
"It is not me who is in
danger," Da'an whispered, for his ears only. "Something has happened to
Zo'or..."
Zo'or regained his form slowly
and struggled to rise from the bed. Nivian was not with him!
Slowly stumbling into the
other room, he found that she had scrawled a chilling excerpt from a human
poem on the living room wall with lipstick:
They
name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me -
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well -
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met -
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive,
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee? -
With silence and tears.
Zo'or did something unique for a Taelon then.
He passed out.
"Sir?" one of the embassy
guards approached Boone as soon as he and Da'an had exited their shuttle.
He could tell from the man's expression that it was something important.
"Yes? What is it Martin?"
he asked as he took Da'an's arm and helped the still shaken Companion down
from the alien craft.
"The lady you told us to
allow in? Doctor Ibraham?" Seeing that he had his superior's complete attention,
he continued. "She's downstairs in one of the guest chambers. She's in
a bad way..."
"She's injured?" Boone asked.
"No sir. She appears to
be insane."
The implant exchanged a
worried look with his Companion and together they followed the guard to
the room in question.
They found her sitting on
the floor with a blanket over her head, mumbling to herself.
Boone slowly approached
and squatting beside her called her name. After a time, she peeped out
at him and he was horrified to see that she had cut hunks of her hair off
at the scalp. Her eyes seemed to be gazing somewhere far away, although
she addressed him.
"William Boone...." she
whispered, sounding more like an old lady than a woman in her prime. "You're
still here. So very much isn't anymore..."
"What happened, Nivian?"
he asked gently.
"I got lost...I got lost..."
she mumbled over and over.
Boone turned a grief-stricken
look on Da'an, who had moved to stand beside him.
"Allow me," the Companion
responded, kneeling down beside the researcher, who had begun rocking herself
back and forth. Placing a hand on her head and one on her other hand, he
seemed to concentrate.
Two seconds later, Da'an
pulled away as though he had been burned. At Boone's questioning look,
he sighed and collected himself.
"She heeded our warning
and refused implantation," the Companion said softly. "...however, she
DID attempt a bond with him."
"You're saying that Zo'or
risked it, even though she was not chained by a CVI? Even though he knew
she would learn everything about him?" Boone was stunned. "Why would he
risk it?"
Da'an turned a sad look
upon him. "He risked it because he did not wish to lose her," he explained.
"He loves her?"
Da'an nodded. "Nivian learned
something she could not accept. I fear that she interrupted the bonding
- that she withdrew. She has lost a part of herself to Zo'or, but has no
part of him to replace what she gave up."
"Can we help her? Please
- don't tell me she'll be like this forever!"
Da'an's look was not encouraging.
"Perhaps, in time, she will recover. If she had been Taelon, they both
would have journeyed to the void..."
"He's going to be looking
for her."
"Yes, once he has recovered."
Da'an stood up as Boone did the same. "See to it that she is admitted to
an appropriate facility. I trust that you know what to do."
Boone nodded and watched
Da'an wander slowly out of the room. He turned and stared at Nivian for
a long time, willing the woman he had talked with so recently to return.
when he finally came to terms with the reality of her situation, he pulled
out his global and began making calls. By the day's end, Nivian would have
a new identity and be safely admitted at the best psychiatric facility
he could find.
Zo'or spent weeks searching
for Nivian, but to no avail. It was as though she had vanished off the
face of the earth. Physically sick with grief and guilt, he shut himself
away on the home ship and did not seek his energy stream for days. Briefly,
he contemplated leaving this life, for he could not bear hearing her whispering
in his mind and calling out for him in her dreams.
In the end, he began to
feel anger at the injustice which had befallen him and finally sought out
the sustenance he required.
Why did fate always dangle
a prize before him, only to cruelly withdraw it as he reached out to take
it?
Slowly, bit by bit, he banished
the portion of Nivian she had bequeathed him to the nether reaches of his
mind. He locked her away to preserve his own sanity and finally emerged
from his self-imposed exile more hateful than ever.
He watched human couples
walking, shopping, eating and raising families and hated them.
He watched as Da'an and
Boone played their little games and slowly formed a bond of incredible
proportions and hated them more than anyone or anything! That Da'an should
revel in the love he himself was denied, was the finally blow to his ego.
One way or another, he would end his happiness.
Ne'eg's project was progressing
nicely and Kee'sha had abandoned his own research at the Synod's request
to joined the lead scientist's team.
Zo'or sneered at the thought
of them working in their quarantined lab. They owed their success to him,
something which he made certain that they, and every Synod member knew.
It was only when he was
alone, when no one else could see, that he pulled a small page from a concealed
pocket and unfolding it, read the poem within. It was the one Nivian had
written on the wall the day she had vanished.
Written by Lord Byron, it
never failed to make his heart weep.
FIN