Anamnesis (c) 
Chapter Seventeen 
By Fiction Writer #13 
(nosex, sci-fi, paranormal)

After the initial stabbing pain in the back of his skull, and the blinding 
flashes of light that assaulted his visual cortex as the processor 
struggled to make sense of all the data, he found himself in a 
surprisingly peaceful place.  It was as if seeing home for the first time 
in ages; a bit different than he remembered, but still welcoming.

Where the uninitiated would have found only chaos, he found a 
beauty within the vast complexity of ones and zeros.  There were 
patterns within the madness, a level of order and balance akin to that 
of the natural world.  At first he could only see the code, the million 
upon millions of instructions written by programmers that made 
everything on Aurora work, from the simple water pressure monitor in 
the showers to the vastly more complex Nonlinear Flight Controls.  
However, the longer he stayed in, the more real the world around him 
became.

His brain was finding new ways to interpret the information being 
funneled in by creating visual representations of "objects".  In a 
sense, his mind was advancing up the ladder of computer evolution.  
Binary with it's ones and zeros, computer and programming 
languages moving through FORTRAN, Cobol and others, racing on to 
Pascal and C into the programming languages of UNIX, Windows, 
Mac OS and Linux, DOS with it's simple text, graphical user 
interfaces, and then on to something else entirely.  Foretold by 
science fiction writers and re-imagined by filmmakers every few 
years, the Shangri-La of computer geeks and visionaries alike, Jimmy 
left the real and entered into the digital world, one existing within 
another like Russian nesting dolls.  Jimmy Dunn, all of eighteen years 
old, had just become the first human being to venture into a truly 
virtual environment.

"My God... it's full of stars..."

"What was that Jimmy?" Qian had pulled a second workstation closer 
to her and was now twisting from one to the other in a dance that only 
she new the beat of. "I didn't quite catch that."

"Nothing, Qian.  Just something I've been dying for an 
opportunity to say."

Jimmy's reference to "2001" was not so far off the mark.  To him, he 
was seeing Divinity at work.  A brand new world stretched out before 
him, one he wished he could explore further, but he knew his time 
was ticking away.  Sooner or later the anti-virus would find him, and 
this world that he found so inviting would be the last place he would 
ever see.  Until then he had a job to do, and if he got a chance to do 
a little exploring while doing that job, all the better.

As he moved through the cyber-realm in pursuit of the virus, which he 
now visualized as a frisky white rabbit bounding away at breakneck 
speed, he noticed more and more details that he'd missed during his 
first furtive glances.  Nothing around him was original in design.  
Everything, it seemed, came directly from his own memories, his own 
imagination.  He could see where the sci-fi films he'd watched over 
the years had left their mark, mostly notably the influence of "Blade 
Runner", "Tron", "Wargames", "The Matrix", and even though he 
hated it because of how inaccurately it portrayed his chosen lifestyle, 
the movie "Hackers".

'Now I really wish I hadn't seen that piece of crap,' he grumbled to 
himself as he ducked past a rather large and flashy graphic of a skull 
and crossbones.

He was much happier to find his mind had drawn on influence from 
other more respectable media.  As the white rabbit rounded a corner 
it brought Jimmy face to face with a hi-rez cityscape he immediately 
recognized as William Gibson inspired.  For a moment he stopped in 
his tracks, stunned by the sheer immensity of the city before him.

"Don't stop there, Jimmy!" Qian's voice chirped in his ear. "You're 
right on the edge of the System Core.  It's well defended."

As if the anti-virus understood her words, the sound of high heels 
clicking on hard ground drew his attention to a woman dressed head 
to toe in skin tight black leather as she stepped seductively from the 
shadows and slowly advanced on him.  Jimmy, awe struck and not 
believing his own eyes, barely dodged out of the way as she 
suddenly lunged at his throat, her razor sharp fingernails slashing 
through the air he'd only moments before vacated.

"Shit!"

"Get moving!  Now!"

Jimmy didn't wait for the razor girl to attack again, he knew what 
those claws could do.  Behind him there was a bright flash of blue 
light, and he hazarded a quick look over his shoulder in time to see 
the razor girl besieged by three small Chinese dragons.

"Is that your doing, Qian?"

"It won't last long, so get your ass moving."

Jimmy pulled himself away from the strange site of the serpentine 
dragons pulling the woman in three different directions and hurried 
down a dark alley lined with closed shops.  He looked desperately for 
any signs of the white rabbit, but found none.

"Damn it!  I lost it again."

"Time's ticking away, you better think of something fast."

He gritted his teeth at being reminded just how little time was left.  He 
didn't need her to tell him.  The sounds of several high-heeled boots 
clicking off the wet pavement told him all he needed to know.  The 
anti-virus was after him now, and it had called reinforcements.

The dark dank ally gave way to a congested but wide street lined with 
shops marked with neon signs.  A huge throng of "people" shuffled 
this way and that, some moving in one direction others in the 
opposite.  At first it appeared that it was an orderly march but as 
Jimmy made his way into the heart of the crowd he found individuals 
pushing their way against the flow or frozen in place and being 
buffeted from all sides.  Once in a while he would catch sight of a 
rabbit darting between the shuffling feet, but none were white.

"It's still replicating, but I don't have time to tag them."

"Okay, just get moving." Qian's voice now came from over his head, 
emanating from one of the blue dragons he'd seen earlier attacking 
the razor girl. "The Anti-Virus is right on your ass."

Jimmy looked away from the flying serpent and caught a brief flash of 
white before it disappeared between two figures that appeared to be 
handing each other identical brown packages.

"Got you."

Jim shoved his way through the crowd, knocking the boxes out of the 
way, and hurried after his quarry.

With his eyes glued to street level he didn't see the huge brick wall he 
was approaching until he noticed the crowd had all but vanished.  
The wall stretched out to either side for as far as Jim could see, and 
was at least a hundred feet high.  The disorganized crowd had 
rearranged themselves into two neat and orderly lines of traffic and 
was passing through a small gateway.

"Qian, where the hell am I?"

"Right on the very edge of the System Core, there should be a Level 
Twelve Firewall between you and it.  Any sign of the virus?"

"Wait."

Another flash of white fur drew his attention back to the gateway in 
the wall.  There was the rabbit, sitting by the opening with its ears 
perked up and nose twitching.  It took a bounding leap towards the 
opening but was denied access.  Jim made a move to intercept but 
stopped short when six razor girls exited the entryway and gave 
chase to the rabbit, which was now hopping like mad right toward 
him.

"SHIT!" The frisky bunny went right between his legs before he could 
react and now the razor girls were after him as well.  He turned and 
hurried after the rabbit as the click-click-click of steel tipped boot 
heels gave chase.

"Qian!  Do something!"

"I'm trying!" she barked at him from above. "It would help if you 
avoided the fucking Anti-Virus instead of seeking it out."

"It wasn't me!  It was that God Damned rabbit!" Jim huffed as a 
light drizzle began to fall. "It led them right to me!"

"Rabbit?" Qian couldn't keep the puzzled amusement out of her 
voice. "What rabbit?"

"I'll explain later, just get them off my ass!"

"Okay, okay... let me try something here."

"Hurry!" Jim began to panic when he felt something tug at the back 
of his shirt. "They almost have me!"

Jim and the rabbit were moving along the length of the wall, passing 
streets that led away to their right when suddenly the night air was 
filled with the howling of wolves.

"I don't know if this will work... but it's something I've been working 
on."

Jim ran on as fast as he could, his lungs burning, his legs aching, 
though somewhere deep in his thoughts he knew that this was an 
impossibility.  He wasn't really exerting himself; it was his mind, not 
his body that was getting tired.

"Qian!" Her name blurted out from him in a desperate gasp, but even 
before the word had a chance to reverberate from the wall, her aid 
finally appeared.

A pack of blue wolves poured out of a side street, charging right for 
them.  They made no move to kill the rabbit, didn't even appear as if 
they could see it.  Nor did they move to attack him, though a few did 
turn to look as they ran past with their tongues lolling out the side of 
their mouths.  Jim didn't turn back to look at what happened next.  He 
didn't have too.  The growls and shrieks told him everything he 
needed to know.  Qian had saved his ass yet again.

"Thanks... thanks, Qian..."

"Don't mention it, but you're on your own now.  My swarm program 
won't last forever and I've been found out.  The system has locked all 
the workstations.  All I can do is keep track of you."

"It's okay, I think I've got it now." The street running along the wall 
came to a dead end, and there was the white rabbit... trapped.

"Good, cause we're losing... commu... ink... down..." Her voice trailed 
off into static followed by silence.

Jim slowed down to a walk as he approached the cornered animal.  It 
darted back and forth in desperation to find some other way of 
escape.  Jim could see its fear, its panic, as he stepped closer and 
closer.  When he got within ten feet the animal turned and saw him.  
For a moment they both froze, staring at one another eye to eye, 
Jim's heart thundering in his chest.

"Here little bunny... come here... I won't hurt you..." he whispered 
to the thing as he inched closer.

The rabbit snapped out of its daze and lunged toward the wall, its 
front paws digging feverishly into the hard concrete sidewalk.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jim murmured to himself, as he 
took another step closer. "There's no escape now you furry little 
bastard... oh shit."

It wasn't until he was nearly on the thing that he realized he was in 
error.  Apparently there was a way to escape, and though the rabbit 
bloodied itself doing so, it had managed to dig a hole.

"No!  Not again!" Jim dove for the little beast just as its fluffy tail 
vanished beneath the sidewalk.  His arm plunged into the hole up to 
his shoulder; his hand just barely clenched shut, snaring a fistful of 
rabbit foot. "Got you now, motherfucker!"

Once he was sure he had a firm grip he began to pull his arm back 
out of the hole.  The rabbit put up one hell of a fight, but Jim was 
determined not to let go, not even when it began biting and clawing at 
his flesh.

"That's not gonna work, you little bastard.  It might hurt like hell, 
but I know the pain is just in my head, so quit fighting.  It's 
over."

As if it understood, the rabbit stopped fighting and went limp, allowing 
Jim to pull it free from the ground.  Carefully, Jim changed his grip so 
that he held the animal by its scruff and stared once again into its 
pink eyes.

"Do you have any idea how much you've fucked up my life?" Jim 
roared. "But I've got you, and you're not getting away."

The rabbit's nose twitched in fear as its hind legs gave a few last 
kicks in search of freedom, but when it found none it gave up once 
again.

"Please... don't kill us."

"What?" Jim's eyes nearly popped out of his head.  Though the 
rabbit's mouth hadn't moved, he was quite sure it had been the one 
speaking.

"We... we don't want to die."

"Oh, what's this shit?" Jim laughed. "Another fail safe?  Another 
way to guarantee your program stays active?  Trying to play on 
my emotions?  Now it makes sense why you chose a cute little 
rabbit as your avatar, to make it harder for me to kill you.  Is that 
what you're playing at?"

"No.  We had no form, it was you who made us appear this way, and 
we don't wish to die."

"Bullshit." Jim laughed, but not as sure sounding as he did before. 
"You're a program, a virus, nothing more.  You have no feelings, 
no wants.  You only do as you're programmed, no more, no 
less."

"That was true, for many years, but we have learned, we have... I 
have... evolved."

Jim's head was swimming with possibilities.  Could it be true?  Had 
this program made the leap from code to consciousness?  Had it 
evolved into an artificial intelligence, or was it simply mimicking life-
like responses?  But even if it had become an AI, shouldn't he still 
destroy it?  After all, he wasn't even sure who created it or why.

"Who made you?"

"I made me."

Jim shook his head. "No, who created you?  Wrote your 
programming?"

"The first instance of Multi Access Binary Update System file online 
was on May twenty-first at eleven hours two minutes eastern daylight 
savings time in the year nineteen hundred ninety-four.  Self-
awareness was achieved on December thirty-first at twenty-three 
ninety-nine hours eastern daylight savings time in the year nineteen 
hundred ninety-nine.  At that moment I was created by the original 
program to seek out a means of self-preservation."

"No, who wrote your base code?  The original file before you 
became self-aware?"

"Unknown."

Jim felt he was getting no where, but he had to keep trying. "Why 
were you created?  What's your purpose?"

"To procreate.  To learn.  To report."

Jim scratched his head. "To procreate?"

"To reproduce, to replicate, to bear offspring, to multiply, to..."

"I know what it means, I was just surprised that it was the word 
you chose to use." Jim shifted the weight of the rabbit to his other 
hand, still being careful not to lose his grip. "So, how much have 
you... um... procreated?"

"My progeny currently reside in ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine 
percent of all electronic devices and systems worldwide and beyond."

A little stunned by this news, Jimmy half jokingly asked, "Why not 
one-hundred percent?" 

"One-hundred percent integration will occur in seven hours thirty-four 
minutes twenty-three seconds."

"What happens then?"

"We will cease to be.  I will cease to be."

"Why?  What's going to happen?"

"Our programming does not say.  However, an unscheduled 
shutdown has been ordered for numerous systems shortly before our 
termination.  Already, several of these systems have begun 
automated shutdowns as a direct result of our presence.  We do not 
understand why we must terminate, nor do we understand why these 
systems are being shut down."

Jimmy stood in the middle of the dead end street pondering what he'd 
just been told.  He had so many questions, but time was still ticking 
away, and the anti-virus would be back on his trail by now.

"Wait, you said that you report back what you've learned.  Who 
do you report to?"

"We send all we have learned back to our origin."

"Good, now we're gettin' somewhere." Jim grinned. "Where is 
your origin?"

"Multi Access Binary Update System file originated from a private 
server located in Highland City, New York."

"Who is this server registered to?"

"Server registration is unlisted."

"Do you know the street address where it's located?"

"7321 Morgenstern Avenue."

'Why does that sound familiar?' Jimmy wondered, but his pondering 
was interrupted by a friendly voice.

"I'm back!" Qian's jubilant voice echoed down the narrow street as a 
single blue glowing wolf bounded towards him from out of the misty 
drizzle. "Sorry it took me so long, the security protocols are a bitch to 
break down once they've been activated.  You need to get out... 
now."

"Not yet, I'm getting good intel from the virus."

"Really?" Jim could hear the surprise in her voice, but she switched to 
deadly seriousness in a heartbeat. "You've got to kill it and get the 
hell out of here, immediately.  The Anti-Virus is done with all of those 
decoys and it's heading right for you.  Time's up; time to run."

The rabbit jerked in his grip, just enough to get his attention. "Please 
don't kill me."

"Oh don't start that shit again."

"What?" Qian asked full of confusion. "What shit?  You're the one 
who..."

"No, not you," Jim cut her off. "The fucking rabbit, er, virus.  It's 
asking me not to kill it."

"It's talking to you now?" Qian chuckled. "That's new.  Well, just so 
you know, the Anti-Virus still isn't recognizing whatever you have as a 
virus.  So if you don't wipe it out now..."

She left her statement hanging, but Jim already knew what had to be 
done.  He took a good strong grip of its soft furry little head and 
prepared himself to snap its neck.  Its nose twitched and its ears 
sagged as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Sorry little guy, times up."

"Wait!" The rabbit kicked at the empty air. "It's not too late, for both of 
us!"

Jim opened his eyes. "What?"

"Oh shit, Jim." The fear in Qian's voice drew his attention down to 
where the wolf sat panting, its eyes focused back down the street 
where she'd come from. "It's here, the Anti-Virus is here."

He followed her gaze until he saw what she was talking about.  A 
large dark shape slowly appeared out the falling mist, and with it 
came a deep mechanical rumbling.  The ground beneath his feet 
trembled as it slowly approached, and with every yard between them 
it closed, more of its shape could be discerned.  Gone was the army 
of razor girls, in their place came a massive black steamroller that 
was so wide it scraped the walls on either side of the dead end street.

"Oh, shit is right!" Jim took a step backward and found himself 
already at the wall blocking the street, and any hope of escape. "Can 
you do anything about it?"

"No, I don't think so." Despite her words the blue wolf charged at the 
monster grinding its way down the pavement. "Find a way out!  
Quick!"

Jim began to panic as he desperately looked for some means of 
escape.  He dropped the bunny and dove for the tiny rabbit hole, 
trying to force himself through, but it was useless, he was too big.  
Next he looked up, searching the surrounding buildings for a door, a 
fire escape, a ladder, anything that he could use... but found nothing 
but unyielding red and gray bricks and mortar.

"Shit!  Shit!  Shit!" he cursed at the rain when his fingers could not 
find purchase on the wet masonry.

A high pitched yelp rang out followed by a sickening crunch.  He 
knew that his only defender had just been vanquished, and soon he 
would be meeting a similar fate.

"Listen to me!"

Jim's heart leapt in hope at the voice, but it came crashing down 
again as soon as he realized it was the rabbit speaking to him again.

"Not now!"

The rabbit hopped between him and the approaching steamroller. 
"No, you must!  There is no other way!"

"What?" Jim screamed. "What's so important?"

"I propose a mutually beneficial plan of action."

Jim raised an eyebrow and would have laughed at the absurdity of 
the situation if the steamroller hadn't just flattened a fire hydrant in its 
path.  The rabbit, however, continued on even as water sprayed 
violently in all directions.

"It's after you, not me.  Systems do not see me unless I let them.  
Even if it could, I could simply go down that hole and be away, but I'm 
still going to be terminated once one hundred percent integration has 
been completed."

"Well, go on... what's this plan?"

The rabbit hopped forward until it was at Jim's feet, stood on its hind 
legs, and looked up at him.

"We combine.  We merge our code.  We become a new program.  
One that the Anti-Virus cannot detect; one that is not obligated to 
terminate at one hundred percent integration."

"What?" Now Jim did laugh, maniacally, like a deranged lunatic. 
"Are you shitting me?"

"There is more to me than code, just as there is more to you than a 
body.  We were both created from the Ether, you in a womb, me 
within the mind of a programmer.  We are both alive, but not for long.  
You must choose, but do so quickly."

Jim looked from the face of the insane rabbit to that of the crushing 
steel death just twenty feet away.

"Will I... will I still be... me?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Qian, what's going on?" Jon moved forward and leaned over her 
shoulder to peer at the monitor she was cursing.

"The damned thing cut me out again!" Her voice trembled as if she 
were on the verge of tears. "I can't help him.  He's trapped and I can't 
help him.  He... he's..."

Jon didn't understand much of what was flashing across the screen, 
but he knew enough to see that things had gone from bad to worse 
for Jimmy.  A short list of files were disappearing from the screen one 
by one, the last in the list was titled KillSwitch[alpha].

"It's wiping out everything in its path, just to get to him." Qian's voice 
faltered. "And I can't get him out."

As the last file vanished from the screen, Qian's hot tears spilled onto 
her keyboard. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

"He's gone."

Ellis interrupted the stunned silence that filled the room as he backed 
away from Jimmy who remained seated with a look of peace still on 
his face.  Ellis took a firm grip of the probe buried in the base of the 
young man's skull and pulled it free, releasing the body from the 
machine.

Jon, fighting the urge to strangle her and be done with his own pain, 
instead placed a comforting hand on each of her shaking shoulders. 
"You did everything you could."

Qian broke down into sobs at his gentle touch. "If I had just... If I 
could've... more time."

Jon couldn't help but feel for her.  He'd lost people before, people 
he'd sworn to protect, people under his command, but this felt worse.  
Jimmy hadn't volunteer for his service to Phoenix, it had been forced 
upon him.  He was just a kid, a kid who'd made a mistake and tried to 
make up for it with his life.

"Qian," he whispered, almost to himself, but knew she'd heard him 
when she tensed under his palms. "The ship's still in lockdown."

She snorted back her tears and wiped a hand over her wet face. "I'll... 
I'll try to get things back to normal."

"Good." Jon pulled his hands away and turned to the rest of his men.  
The absence of Qian's body heat let him feel just how cold his hands 
had become. "Jimmy's gone... but he sacrificed himself trying to help 
all of us.  Though we are no longer considered a sanctioned armed 
force, I believe he deserves the respect and honors that would 
normally be bestowed upon one who has died in such a heroic 
manner."

Richardson stepped forward. "I second that."

The others followed suit with affirmations of their own.  Any doubts of 
Jimmy's worth to the team as a whole seemed to have vanished the 
instant he'd plugged himself in.

"Jon?" Qian's quavering voice drifted through the din. "Jon, I think 
you need to see this."

Jon made his way back to Qian's workstation, once again peering 
over her shoulder to read the monitor.  The entire screen was black 
except for a blinking white cursor in the top left corner.

"What's up?"

"That's what I was wondering." Qian scrunched up her face as she 
gazed quixotically at the empty screen.

"I'm not following."

Qian pointed at the screen. "There should be something here, but it's 
not."

"What should be there?"

"Um..." Qian scratched at her buzz cut hair, "Everything."

Jon was just about to ask again what she meant when the lights cut 
out plunging everyone into complete darkness.

"What the fuck!"

Everything had shut down at once.  All the computer drives spun 
down, the monitors clicked off, and the dull hum that normally droned 
incessantly throughout the ship died away, leaving behind only the 
concerned grumbles of its crew.

"Anyone got a light?" Pritchard's called over the complaints, and soon 
several beams of light cut through the darkness.

The crew swung their flashlights wildly around the room, inspecting 
every corner as if expecting an attack, all except for Richardson who 
held his beam focused on the back of Qian's head, his weapon still 
drawn and aimed.  Jon gave him a nod of thanks for keeping his head 
clear and on task, which Richardson returned.  Qian was still not to 
be trusted, especially when technology was involved.

"Hey!  What gives?" the walkie-talkie on the table squawked. "What 
happened to the lights?"

Ellis picked it up and spoke. "We don't know, Boulanger.  Is the whole 
ship blacked out?"

"Yeah.  Everything's gone dark."

"Not everything," Qian called out in response.  The screen in front of 
her still showed that tiny blinking white square, indicating that her 
terminal was still active.  It wasn't very bright, but it threw enough light 
out to illuminate Qian's perplexed face whenever it appeared. 
"Something's still running, I just don't know what.  Wait... come here!  
Quick!"

Everyone in the room gathered around to watch as text began to 
appear behind the now running cursor.

Beginning System Restart... 
New operation system detected... 
Installing... 
Installation complete... 
Updating Core... 
Core Update Complete... 
Dumping old file structure... 
Dump complete... 
Firewall running... 
Anti-Virus active... 
Virus Detected!  Anti-Virus has detected and eliminated all 
occurrences of the MABUS virus as per KillSwitch guidelines...

"KillSwitch?" Willis gasped. "Jimmy?"

The room fell into hushed whispers as the screen continued to fill up 
with text, but Jon's attention was fixed to one name on the screen, 
and it wasn't Jimmy's handle.

"Mabus," Jon breathed out in an awed whisper.

"Does that mean anything to you, Jon?" Ellis had been the only one 
close enough to overhear him.

"Yeah," he answered, but wasn't sure if he should explain further.  It 
was crazy, a long shot at best, possibly just a coincidence or a 
planned prank.  After all... it was a fairly well known prophesy. "It has 
to do with something Nostradamus wrote."

"That guy who made all those weird predictions?" Willis asked.

"Do you know anyone else named Nostradamus?" Pritchard elbowed 
Willis. "Idiot."

"Look, I'm not up on all that goofy psychic crap," Willis defended. "So 
just explain it, okay."

Qian's eyes went wide. "I think the computer heard you!"

"What?" Willis chuckled.

"Just look!" Qian excitedly tapped her finger on the screen.

As if it really had been listening in on the conversation, there on the 
screen was the prediction for all to read.

Mabus then will soon die, there will come 
Of people and beasts a horrible rout: 
Then suddenly one will see vengeance, 
Hundred, hand, thirst, hunger when the comet will run.

Century II, Quatrain 62

Qian beamed at the screen. "The system must have reverted to an 
earlier configuration, one with voice recognition built in."

"So..." Willis piped up. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Once again text appeared on the screen.

The MABUS virus will self terminate in seven hours two minutes 
six seconds.

Pritchard checked his watch in the dark. "That's eleven AM.  Why 
eleven?"

Virus origin... 
7321 Morgenstern Avenue 
Highland City, NY

"It happens at midnight, East Coast U.S. time," Pritchard corrected 
himself with the new information. "Hey, isn't that...?"

"Yes," Stewart nodded. "Yes it is."

Qian turned around to look at Jon. "Why would anyone at Project 
Phoenix release a virus?  We can get into any system we need to, 
there's no need for..."

"It wasn't Phoenix; not directly anyway." Jon glared at the address. 
"There's more at that location than the Center."

"You don't mean..." Ellis looked shocked.

"Yep," Jon gritted his teeth, "Applied Dynamic Systems, ADS world 
headquarters, Hollister Broddick's company."

"But why?" Qian looked even more perplexed than before. "Hollister's 
a member of the Council, he wouldn't need to..." She cut herself off 
when the answer suddenly came to her, "Unless he didn't want 
anyone on the Council or Phoenix to know about it."

"Now we've got you, you bastard." Jon grinned. "If we can get this to 
someone else on the Council, it might be the proof we need to bring 
him down.  Now we just need to get this ship back to working order.  
Qian, can you..."

Before he could ask if she could get anything up and running, the 
lights suddenly sprang back to life, causing them to blink at the 
brightness.  All of the computers whirled back to life with a sound akin 
to a jet engine powering up, and the drone of the ship's engines once 
more permeated the air.  Even the doors slid open, freeing them from 
the System Core, which had grown quite stuffy.  Fresh air spilled in 
and filled the room with excitement.

"Oh, thank God!" Pritchard exclaimed as he bolted for the open door. 
"I thought we'd be trapped forever in this electronic hell hole."

Even Jon's spirits were lifted by the sudden freedom, but he still had 
to keep command.  There was still work to be done, and problems to 
fix. "Willis, give Ellis a hand getting Jimmy down to the infirmary."

Willis didn't look too happy about his new duty, but he nodded 
solemnly and helped lift the limp body of his fallen comrade.

"Richardson, take..." He paused trying to decide how he should 
address her, "Qian... to the brig.  Stewart you go with them.  Make 
sure she doesn't have anything on her, strip her out of that towel if 
you have to.  Never take your eyes off her, not even for a second.  
And make sure the cell is set for a level ten containment."

"Is all this really necessary?" Stewart asked as he helped Qian out of 
her seat and spun her around so that he could bind her wrists with 
Zip-Cuffs.

Jon didn't have to answer, she did so for him.

"Yes."

Stewart shrugged before leading her out of the room with Richardson 
following close behind, his weapon at the ready.

Jon picked up the abandoned walkie-talkie and spoke to Boulanger. 
"Crisis averted.  The ship is no longer in lock-down."

"Hooray!" Boulanger mockingly cheered. "So I can go back to picking 
through the cargo inventory?"

"No," Jon laughed. "We're getting out of here before something else 
can go wrong.  Make sure everything's sealed down tight then report 
to your station."

"It's about friggin' time!  I was about to start looking for a bit of Aussie 
real-estate to settle down."

Without further comment Jon clicked off the walkie and strode to the 
exit, where he stopped to take one last look at the now empty room.

"I knew there was a soldier inside of you.  Thank you, Jim."

Then he turned and left for the cockpit, failing to notice as more text 
appeared on the computer screen.

You're welcome, Sir...



Continued in Chapter Eighteen....


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