Aite Chp. 2 Jun's car was in the parking lot. Jay drove around and waited for her, and she pulled out, followed by Kyla. Jay followed them both, wishing Kyla would ride with him-- but she couldn't risk the car being stolen while she was gone, after all. Safer to take it with them. His heart pounded and his mouth was dry, racked with nerves. He was going to learn about his past, meet people who'd been his best friends once. There was no doubt in his mind now that he had been Joe-- he remembered nothing, but the girl had sounded so sure, and the chances that he was the exact doppelganger of a racer who'd died around the same time he'd had the accident were far too slim to take seriously. That meant he could recover his past, his former life... ...the question was, would he want to? After all, they didn't know Kyla... or if they did, it was as someone they didn't like. He *wasn't* going to give her up for them. But if they were the sort of people he could be friends with as he was now, they ouldn't make him. In her car, leading the two back to base, Jun lifted her bracelet to her lips. "Jun, calling Ken." Galactor wasn't active and this wasn't official Science Ninja business, so she didn't bother with code names. "Ken here. What is it, Jun?" "Get the team together, Ken, and get ready for a shock. I think I've found Joe! He's on his way with me." Even knowing the difficulties ahead of them, she couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice. "*What*? You found Joe? He's *alive*? *How*??" "I don't know... but that's not the only shock. I found him at the racetrack. He's got amnesia and he thinks his name is Jay Samonetti. But he says, two years ago some doctor saved him from dying-- he doesn't know the details. But there's a problem, and I'm not sure what to think about it. First, he's married." "Married? *Joe*?" "It gets worse, Ken! The woman he's married to, according to both of them, nearly died at the same time he did--" "Oh my God." So Ken had not missed the meaning in that. "Right. And they think they were lovers in the past-- she's amnesiac too-- because the doctor who saved them.... found them dying in each other's arms..." "All that blood..." Ken whispered. "Does she-- look like--" "*Dead* ringer, Ken." There was silence for a few seconds. "Sonna baka na..." Ken finally whispered. "But I don't understand, because they've been married a year and a half! I mean, Joe-- or Jay-- would have figured it out, don't you think? The profile *was* every year, wasn't it? And even if she is, her personality's totally different. When I asked if she'd killed anyone lately--" "You *didn't*!" "They were suspicious! It was all over my face-- I had to explain who I thought Kyla was, and that she couldn't really be, even though I think she is-- so I asked, and she nearly took off my head. Like anyone else would, if they were accused of murder." "Maybe she was mimicking what humans act like." "I don't think so-- I really think she's got amnesia. She accused *me* of being Jay's lover, but when she found out I wasn't, she didn't seem at all suspicious or afraid of me, and that doesn't fit the profile either...." "All right." She heard Ken take a deep breath. "We'll meet at ISO HQ. I'll call Dr. Nambu and the others, and I'll warn them ahead of time... who she might be." "I understand," Jun said fervently. "All right, I'll meet you there." The three cars drove down a tunnel into a vast parking garage, which was attached to an even vaster skyscraper. From the garage, they took an elevator that moved them sideways some distance before going up. Kyla stared around herself, wide-eyed, one hand resting on Jay's arm for security. "Does any of this look familiar?" she whispered to him. "Uhn-uhn." He shook his head. "This is the main ISO headquarters," Jun said chattily, like a tour guide, but Kyla could hear she was straining for the nonchalance. "Dr. Nambu-- he's our mentor-- has an office up on the 42nd floor. There are 123 floors, all told." "Good God," Jay said. "You guys don't believe in doing anything halfway, do you?" "No," Jun said, grinning, "I guess we don't." The doors slid open. "This is the 42nd floor. Dr. Nambu's office is around the corner." The people walking past all smiled and nodded at Jun, or stared at Jay-- none paid any attention to Kyla. They were mostly wearing technicians' uniforms, although some were in lab coats. The antiseptic smell of the place, the bright fluorescent lights, the linoleum, all reminded Kyla of the hospital that haunted her nightmares, and she moved closer to Jay. He was looking around, interested, but not intimidated-- only she was intimidated. *This is ridiculous!* Kyla thought. *I have nothing to be afraid of.* Then they entered a large room, more like a lounge than an office, with four males inside it. The oldest, a 40ish Japanese man with glasses and hair that was too thick, too brown, to look quite real on his middle-aged face, was standing directly by the door. Three youths in T-shirts and jeans were sitting on or propped against sofas. One was an attractive young man, college age or so, with fluffy brown hair and big blue eyes. Another was a fat, somewhat unkempt Japanese youth, and the last was a boy of about 12 with a bad overbite and messy hair. Kyla saw all of them look at Jay with radiant expressions of recognition and joy, and knew that, whatever else, he *had* to be their long-lost foster brother. There was no doubt about that. Tentatively she, too, smiled at their happiness. Then they looked at her, and their expressions changed. Her own smile fled-- there was recognition in those eyes, all right, but recognition tinged with horror. Unhealthy curiosity, staring at her as if she were a monster. A freak. A creature. The staring, horrified eyes resonated with something inside her, and she clung to Jay, terrified, her nails digging into his flesh. "Kyla, not so hard!" he muttered at her. "There's nothing to be afraid of!" The four's expressions had changed again-- they were looking at Jay again, with no sign that they'd stared at Kyla. "Joe!" the blue-eyed man said, and suddenly the three of them were on top of him, the small boy hugging his legs, the fat man pounding him on the back. "Joe n'aniki!" "Joe daa wa! Honto de Joe daa wa!" "Wait a minute," Jay said, looking bemused but happy. "Do you guys speak English? Or Italian? I don't speak Japanese." "Hei? Itsu kara, sono hanashi da?" the little boy demanded. Kyla understood without understanding how-- he meant "Huh? Since when was this?" "You don't?" the blue-eyed man said, in accented but good English. "Joe spoke perfect Japanese..." "Sore wa honto nara.." Jun said-- If that's true... "Uh-- well... to tell the truth, I do understand you, a couple of seconds after you say it. But I haven't got the foggiest idea how to talk in Japanese myself," Jay said. "I guess I must have forgotten that, too." He took a deep breath. "Anyway. You know me, I guess-- I figure I *must* be Joe, if you all recognize me. But I don't remember it. So I don't recognize any of you-- sorry..." Jun said quickly, "This is Ken--" the blue-eyed man-- "Ryu--" the fat one-- "and Jinpei--" the little boy. "And this is Dr. Nambu," she added, somewhat unnecessarily, nodding to the man in glasses. "Okay," Jay said, nodding. "I'm-- well, since I lost my memory I've been calling myself Jay Samonetti. Though if you really want to call me Joe, I guess I could get used to it. And this is my wife, Kyla." Kyla wished fervently he hadn't mentioned her-- the eyes were back again. Just a flicker, but a flicker full of fear and loathing, it seemed to her. *Why am I so afraid?* she asked herself. *Am I a child, to cringe back against Jay because they hate me? If they want to be my enemy, they're damn well in for a fight!* She smiled poisonously at them. "You *will* be sure and tell us how Jay managed to lose his memory in the first place without you knowing about it, if you were such good friends," she said sweetly. "We thought he was dead--" Jinpei started hotly. "Maa, Jinpei. Sonna tsuyoi kotoba wa hitsuyo nai," Ken said-- hold it, Jinpei, you don't need to get so hot about it. His eyes, when they met Kyla's, were open and friendly-- studiedly open and friendly. Did they think she couldn't recognize a facade when she saw one? "We'll tell both of you all about it," he said, "but first we'd like to know your side of the story. For instance, Jun says you've been married two years?" "A year and a half," Kyla said. "We've known each other two years." "And you've been together all that time?" "Hey," Jay said, apparently picking up for the first time some of the tension Kyla had been sensing. "Don't hassle my wife." "I'm not hassling her, I'm just curious. The Joe I remember had a dozen women on a string-- he wasn't the type to settle down with anyone. I imagine that's changed, na?" Kyla glared at him. Mention of infidelity and Jay in the same sentence hit too close to the bone to tolerate a total stranger saying it. "Yeah," Jay said dangerously, "it's changed. I wouldn't've married Ky if I didn't plan on settling down." "I think what Ken's trying to say," Jun said, almost desperately, "is that in a lot of respects, you're probably different from the Joe we remember. But in other respects, you're probably the same. So he's just trying to sort one from the other." "Ah." Jay nodded. "Well, I guess I'll tell you what I remember, then, and then you can tell us what you know." "Yeah, that would be great," Ryu said earnestly. His English was *very* badly accented. "It's great to have you back with us, Joe." Nambu spoke for the first time. "Why don't we all sit down?" His English had a distinct British accent to it. Jay plunked himself down on the nearest sofa, but Kyla was too nervous to sit-- she stood behind the sofa, one hand resting on it. Then she realized that it made her too obvious, too visible. "Won't you sit down, Mrs. Samonetti?" Nambu asked cordially. There was no trace of the dislike of her she felt radiating from the others in his voice. She sat down next to Jay, crossed her legs tightly, folded her arms and leaned forward, sitting at the edge of the seat. "You want to tell the story, Ky? You're better with words," Jay said. "No, you tell it." She wanted to be as unnoticeable as possible around these people. "Okay." Jay leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "About two years ago, I woke up in a hospital bed, and I couldn't remember who I was or how I got there. Kyla was lying on the bed next to mine. In between the beds there was this doctor lady, standing there. She said, her name was Dr. Kymel--" Kyla, whose eyes were roving constantly over the other people's faces, looking for signs of the hatred again, saw Nambu's eyes widen in shock-- "and I was Jay, and she was Kyla. We made up the last name Samonetti when we decided to get married-- we didn't have last names before then. But anyway, she said we'd been in an accident that had practically killed us. She found us dying in each other's arms. It took a few months to fix us up, and we lost our memories in the meantime, but it didn't really seem to bother us at first." "We had each other," Kyla interjected. "Whatever happened before was unimportant." "Yeah. So Dr. Kymel did aptitude tests on us, to find out what we did best and what we liked to do. Turned out, I like to save other people from dangerous situations, so I became a fireman, and Kyla likes to lie to people--" "I do not lie to people!" "She works for a PR agency. Makes corrupt politicians look good," Jay explained. Kyla was furious. How dare he belittle what she did, make her look bad, in front of these people who hated her! So she smiled again, the same sweet, poisonous, dangerous smile, and said, "Jay can't imagine why anyone would ever do a job that takes brains." "Oh, I get it. Morons with an IQ of 3 can pass all the tests to be firefighters, is that it?" The others looked distinctly uncomfortable. Nambu held up his hands. "Let's not have an argument now. I'm sure both of you are quite skilled at your professions." "It's not Kyla's skill I'm worried about, it's how useful her job is--" "I make four or five times your salary, Jay, so shut up!" "Anyway. We got married a few months after we woke up, and we've been living near Dr. Kymel all this time. She has a son who's probably a year or two younger than me, David--" Nambu nodded, as if he expected to hear that-- "and he helps us out taking care of the house and stuff. And now Kyla's pregnant." He grinned with all the pride of a father-to-be-- he had apparently adjusted to the notion, since he wasn't going to be the one who would have to go through the pain of the birth. Kyla's face burned. Why did he have to tell them that? It was private business! "Pregnant?" Ken said, sounding shocked. The others all stared. Jay, oblivious to the horror and disbelief Kyla saw in them, nodded. "We just found out a few days ago. It was tough, at first-- we never expected to be parents-- but we got used to it." *Maybe **you** got used to it,* Kyla thought. "What's the baby going to be?" Jinpei asked, leaning forward. Kyla was confused. "A *baby*. What else would it be?" "But-- will it be a boy or a girl?" "Now how would she know that, Jinpei?" Jun asked. "It's too early!" "Besides," Ryu muttered, and then fell silent. Kyla's fears magnified the word. *Besides what??* "So that's our story," Jay said. "You going to tell us who we used to be?" Nambu interjected, "Joe, we know everything about *your* past. Unfortunately, we don't recognize Kyla at all. It's not impossible that you were lovers, but if so, you never told us." *Liar,* Kyla thought, cold chills going down her back. *You all used to know me and you hate me. Why? What did I do?* *Why do you look at me like I'm a monster?* "I thought you said I was really close to you people." "You mean you've all of a sudden become an open, talkative guy who tells his close friends everything?" Ken said, grinning. "That *would* be a change. You were my best friend, but getting you to talk about your personal life used to be like pulling teeth." Kyla had to admit he had a point there. Jay was not terribly open, even with her. "Since the war with Galactor ended shortly after the two of you lost your memories," Nambu said, "no doubt you don't remember it personally. But you have heard of Galactor, haven't you?" Jay shrugged. "Don't ask me-- I don't keep up with recent current events, let alone old current events." "I read about them," Kyla said. Nambu did not seem to hate her quite as much as the others-- perhaps he was just better at hiding it, but she felt slightly more comfortable with him. "They were some kind of world-wide terrorist organization. I remember feeling that we were so lucky they'd been gotten rid of, because they killed something like 50 million people, didn't they? And in only three and a half years. It must have been horrible, living when they were around, never knowing when your life might be smashed..." She shuddered slightly. "I'm glad I don't remember it." Surprise, calculation, narrow-eyed disbelief from the eyes around her. Nambu raised an eyebrow. "You seem to feel rather strongly on the subject." "I feel rather strongly on the subjects of the Holocaust and the Salem witch trials, too, but they didn't happen in my lifetime. Sometimes... I wonder if maybe it wasn't Galactor that nearly killed Jay and me..." "You never told me that," Jay said. "Think about it. Dr. Kymel never said exactly what did happen, but the Galactor terrorists were killing something like a million people each month-- it could easily have happened to us." "You're absolutly right," Nambu said, nodding. "As I said, we don't know who you were, but we know that Joe died-- or almost did-- at Galactor's hands, and if you were found together, it makes sense that you might have been a victim of Galactor as well. Let me tell you about Joe, and about the Science Ninja Team." "Hakase!" Ken said, very fast. "Daijobu desu ka, ano hito o shiraseru koto--" "Ee, soo to omou." Jay looked blank-- the exchange had probably been too fast for him-- but Kyla had a talent for languages. She pieced it together as "Doctor, is it all right to tell that person?" and "Yes, I think so." Immediately she decided she was "ano hito", that person. Ken didn't want her to know the secret? "Ken was wondering if I should tell you this," Nambu said in English, "since theoretically you are both security risks. But I think you deserve to know. Kyla, in your researches did you come across mention of the Science Ninja Team?" Kyla frowned. "The name sounds vaguely familiar." "Ken, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu are Gatchaman, the Science Ninja Team. I trained them since childhood to fight Galactor. Until two years ago, Joe was their teammate." "I--" Jay stared. "*I* was a fighter?" "Yes. In some respects, what you're doing now is similar. As you said, you like to save other people from danger, and that's exactly what the Science Ninja Team does. But two years ago, in the final battle with Galactor, you disappeared. We found blood on the snow to match your type, enough blood to indicate that you should be dead. Galactor collapsed, due to the death of its leader around that time, and what was left went into deep hiding. The team searched for your body, but-- obviously-- never found it." "We hoped you were alive, Joe," Ken said softly. "We hoped it so much, even though we hardly dared dream--" "But what about Kyla? If I was fighting when the accident happened, what was she doing there?" "I don't know," Nambu said, shaking his head sadly. "If the only reason to believe you were lovers comes from Teriani finding you in each other's arms, it's possible, I regret to say, that you weren't. Joe, you might have tried to sacrifice your life to save an innocent captive of Galactor, protecting her with your body. I don't mean to belittle your feelings for each other *now*, but it might have been entirely chance that you were together." No, no, no! It was all wrong! Fury and grief welled up in Kyla. Jay was all she had-- her only link to the past-- was Nambu trying to say he *wasn't* a link, they had been total strangers? Dammit, why had Jay ever met that girl? Why did this have to happen? "Huh. Sounds like something I might do," Jay said pensively. Then he stretched, leaned back, and wrapped an arm around Kyla. "Not that it matters now, though. Ky's my wife-- I don't care how we met. Right, Ky?" He grinned at her, and she forced herself to smile back, weakly. It wasn't Jay's fault. It was these Science Ninja people who were ruining everything. "In any case," Nambu continued. "I realize that this is a terrible thing to have to ask of you, with a child on the way. But we have seen signs that Galactor is coming back; a new leader appears to have come to power, and has been quietly rebuilding the organization. I realize that you don't consciously remember the training we gave you; nevertheless, your body should remember, and a refresher course should be all you'd need to regain all your former ability. The Science Ninja Team needs you back, Joe. It would take years to train someone else as well; years we don't have. I'll understand if you say no, but..." "Say yes, aniki," Jinpei pleaded. "We really need you!" "No!" Kyla shouted, holding Jay's arm possessively. He wasn't theirs, he was hers, and she'd never let them have him! "Jay won't go off and fight in your war to get killed again! We have a baby on the way, *I* need him--" "Kyla, don't try to make my decisions for me!" Jay yelled. "You don't own me. They need me, Ky. Weren't you just talking about how Galactor killed millions of people? You want that to happen again?" "No-- but why do *you* have to fight? It's not your battle anymore!" "The *world* needs me--" "To hell with the world, *I* need you!" "And who the hell are you? You're one woman, Kyla. One woman, balanced against a fucking *planet*? Besides. Kyla, I *want* to do this. I feel like-- hell, if we found *your* best friends, your foster family, wouldn't you want to hook up with them? And I've always wanted my life to have meaning. To save people-- hell, they're talking about saving the *world*! I've got to do this." Kyla's lips tightened. She wasn't going to give up so easily, but she wasn't going to argue about it, to bare her soul, in front of these people. "We'll discuss it later," she said. Nambu stood. "You've probably both tired. You had an exhausting day. Why don't we resume this discussion tomorrow?" "Yes," Kyla said, standing up. "Let's go." "Now wait a minute! I just got here!" "Mrs. Samonetti," Nambu said, "If your husband insists on staying and you find it too boring to remain, perhaps you'd prefer to take a tour of the grounds with me? Let them catch up on old history." She wanted to say no. The idea of leaving Jay here to be with these people, to be turned away from her, terrified her. But she didn't want to be here, either, watching them look at her-- and maybe if she got Nambu alone, she could find out from him why everyone hated her. "All right..." Jay didn't look at her as she left the room, and she burned with humiliation and anger. Already he was turning against her, and she couldn't stop him... "If you're worried about provisions for the child," Nambu said as he started down the corridor, "you needn't be. Whether Joe-- Jay-- returns to active duty or not, I'm fully prepared to offer you fulltime day care and complete health coverage for the child. After all Joe did for us, the least I could do is provide for his child." "That's only one of the things I'm worried about," Kyla said tightly, matching Nambu's long strides with long strides of her own. Her unease burst out of her. "Doctor, why do they all hate me?" "Hate you?" Nambu raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?" "I saw it in their faces! They look at me like-- like I'm a monster!" "I think you may be overreacting," Nambu said. "What you see is surprise, and some degree of resentment that they will have to share Joe with you. That's all." "Jun said I looked like someone else-- a mass murderer!" "Did she? Well. Now that you mention it, I can see you do bear some slight resemblance to a woman the Science Ninja Team killed, a long time ago, and possibly you remind them of her. But that woman had no morals whatsoever, whereas you demonstrate compassion for the victims of terrorism and revulsion at mass killings. She reveled in such things. Therefore, I feel it very unlikely that you have anything other than appearance in common with her." "When did she die?" Kyla's voice was quiet, fearful. "The last time the Science Ninja Team fought her was two or three months before Joe vanished." She relaxed slightly. "So there's no way I could be her, then." Nambu nodded. "I'll talk to the team, and tell them they're making you uncomfortable. But you must understand, Mrs. Samonetti--" "Call me Kyla. Mrs. Samonetti sounds like a spaghetti sauce." She would have accepted Ms. Samonetti, but "Mrs." never sounded like it should be part of her name, and there was no polite way to get him to switch from Mrs. to Ms. "Kyla, then-- Galactor is returning. You were horrified by the death count they brought about, and thankful you didn't have to live through it, weren't you? But soon you *will* have to live through it. And your husband is one of the only people who can stop Galactor from murdering ten times as many." "Why *him*? He already did enough!" "If he himself said that--" they entered an elevator. "--I would accept it. But it's what he wants to do... and Kyla, the reason why him is because he already has the training. He already chose this as his lifework. He doesn't remember making the decision, but it seems he'd make the same one now..." "I-- I don't *believe* in fighting." There it was, one of the deep reasons-- not the deepest, but still close to the core of her being, and she had to fight to get the words out. "You're telling me-- my husband has to go off and kill people. I-- killing's disgusting. War is evil. The more you fight, the more they fight back, and it escalates. I-- I can't stand the thought that my husband would turn into a killer!" "Galactor started the war, not us," Nambu said grimly. "What alternative do we *have*, but to fight back?" "You could surrender..." Nambu gave her a long hard look as they left the elevator. "Do you think that would solve anything? Do you think the Jews who surrendered to the Nazis fared any better than the ones who fought back? Do you think the women who were burned in Salem were helped at all by submitting to be tried?" "No... I guess not." "It *is* an evil, to fight. But when someone else is ruthlessly trying to take away your freedom and happiness, it's necessary. Do you believe in killing in self-defense?" "I don't know if I could *ever* kill." "If Jay's life were at stake? If your child's were?" The Jay example carried more weight than the child-- Kyla had not yet accepted the growth within her as a human being. "I... suppose." "That's exactly what we're doing. We must kill, yes, but we do it to protect our own lives and the lives of others. And as much as possible, we prefer to avoid killing. We gather information, infiltrate Galactor with spies, sabotage their data nets, keep their plans from coming to completion... That's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you." "Why?" "No one has said, and no one will say, that you need to stay at home and be a good helpmeet to Joe. Or that you need to go work in an office and be left out of his work. How would you like a job with ISO, in Intelligence?" "What makes you think I'm qualified?" "You design images, personas, for people in your work, don't you? And you integrate public opinion-- the raw data-- with your objectives to design plans of action. The work you do sounds very similar to work we do in Intelligence, except that at ISO it's more challenging, because people's lives ride on it. You hate Galactor and all it stands for, but you hate killing as well. Well, Intelligence, in the data analysis and cover design areas at least, is non-violent; you'd never need to harm another person. But you'd be contributing to the defeat of Galactor. What's more, it would give you something in common with Jay-- because, like it or not, Kyla, I'm sure he will end up joining the team again. And have you *ever* been able to persuade him not to do something he wants?" "...no." "That sounds like the Joe I remember," Nambu said, nodding. "But if you, too, are working for ISO against Galactor, his profession would be a bond to draw you together instead of a wedge to push you apart. If you want to share in his life as much as you have been, you must participate in his work... or he'll drift apart from you." If she joined ISO, would it bring her closer to Jay? On the one hand, she didn't want to have to face the Science Ninja Team and their suspicious eyes again... but she would *have* to, if they were Jay's friends, anyway. Better to deal with them from a position of strength, with authority they recognized. And if she worked with Jay, as they did, she would have as much in common with him as they did... plus a child, plus sex, plus love, all things he'd damn well *better* not share with them. So she would have more to offer him, and he would still be hers... and it did sound interesting... "I'll think about it," she said, but her tone of voice indicated that the decision had been made. She would do it. The Science Ninja Team talked with Jay/Joe for several hours, filling him in on his past life. None of it sparked any memory within him-- he had said that the things they said were things he knew himself capable of doing, but he still had no actual memory of the events. The team were disappointed-- when an amnesiac was told about his life, wasn't he supposed to regain his memory? It always worked that way in books and movies... Still, they had Joe back. Sooner or later he would remember. He *had* to. Late that night, when Jay and Kyla finally went home, Dr. Nambu held a meeting with the team. "What did you think?" "It's Joe n'aniki, there's no doubt, it's him!" "Yes, I know it's Joe, Jinpei," Nambu said patiently. "I meant, what do you think of the circumstances? Will he be able to fit into the team again?" "I think so," Ken said, nodding enthusiastically. "He got excited when we told him about our work, and he seemed very eager to be our friend again and go back to his old life. There's just one problem..." The enthusiasm left his voice, and he trailed off. "Yes?" Nambu prompted. "He's married to Berg Katse!" Ryu blurted, upset. "Yeah, it's her!" Jinpei said. "Did you see the way she was looking at us?" "Those cold, hate-filled eyes..." Jun shuddered. "I think she recognizes us from the past, Doctor. She hates us, I'm sure of it." "If she sabotages our efforts to bring him back to us... and she will. I'm sure of it," Ken said grimly. "He's in love with her-- he has no idea who she really is. How can we fight that, Doctor? And *how* can he not know she's a *mutant*? They've been together for two years, in, uh..." "Intimate contact," Jun supplied. "Yeah. If she had *ever* been a man, Joe would know about it..." "Dr. Kymel is very resourceful," Nambu said. "She may have removed Kyla's capacity to become male. I agree with you that Kyla used to be Berg Katse. However, I talked with her privately, and I'd like to point out a few interesting things. Almost the first thing out of her mouth was, `Why do they hate me so much?', referring to you." "Us? Hate her?" Ken was bewildered. "We didn't--" "She was the one glaring at us, Doctor!" Jinpei said defensively. "I'm sure that's how it seemed to you. But imagine this. You are an amnesiac, madly in love with a fellow amnesiac. You've forged a bond based on the fact that neither of you has any past. Then old friends of your lover turn up. They don't acknowledge your connection to your beloved, they stare at you, and they are uncomfortable in your presence. Now imagine that you have paranoid tendencies-- what do you think is likely to happen?" "We... tipped her off, didn't we," Ken said slowly. "You did more than tip her off. You created her suspicions in the first place." Nambu's expression grew severe. "We are not dealing with a stupid person. This woman was once a mimic, a specialist at understanding the meaning of body language. She doesn't remember her past life-- in fact, she is a pacifist to an extreme, and cannot bear the thought of killing, even in a good cause. But deep inside, the old skills are there, and so is the paranoia. If you are suspicious of her, she sees that suspicion as hatred-- if you stare, she thinks you think of her as a monster, a freak. And do I *need* to remind you that the fear of being thought a freak was what drove Berg Katse to become what he was in the first place?! You *must* not dislike her, distrust her, fear her, or she will realize it, and become what you fear her to be! Do I make myself clear? We don't want her becoming Berg Katse again!" "What if she does?" Jinpei asked. "What do we do then?" "Then... we will have to kill her. And Jay loves her. You will never be able to convince him that his wife is a terrorist killer-- and if we kill her, we may drive him away forever." Nambu sat down. "I want to do more than simply keep her from becoming your enemy. I've read Katse's journals-- the 280 IQ we heard about was *not* a fluke. fluke. Katse never understood people well enough to be more than a passable general, and he was always hampered by his own insanity and insecurities-- but had he been in another profession, he would have excelled. He came up through Galactor's Intelligence Department, and if he'd stayed there, we never would have been able to keep our secrets from him as we did. I'm giving Kyla a position in ISO's Intelligence Department-- I want to use that brilliance to *our* benefit. I want to use a tool forged by Galactor to help destroy Galactor. But I *need* you four not to awaken her paranoia, or we may lose her, and Jay as well." "We understand, Doctor," Ken said, nodding. "We won't fail next time we meet her." "I've told her she has some physical resemblance to a woman you killed, who you last fought about two months before Jay's disappearance. Since that was when we discovered Berg Katse and the woman captain were one, and was the last time we fought Katse in her female form, this is essentially the truth. I said that woman was dead, so Kyla will not suspect that there's anything more than a slight physical resemblance. I made sure of that. If she brings it up, explain that that's why you were starng, and reassure her that she can't possibly be who she looked to you at first." "But she *is*," Ryu said stubbornly. "Is she? Berg Katse was a tormented, lonely, insane mutant of both sexes, with no morals and an incapacity to care for others. Kyla Samonetti is a happily married woman and a sane, productive member of society, a pacifist who passionately hates killing, and is deeply in love with her husband. How can they be the same? Even the body has changed, if Kyla no longer changes sex. Some of the same skills are probably possessed by both, but they're *not* the same person. Berg Katse is *dead*. Think of Kyla as nothing more than the woman Joe loves, and we'll all be better off." Still later that night, Nambu sat in his office, staring into nothing. Kozaburo Nambu had always been a megagenius, on a level few human beings could hope to reach. He had been such a rapid learner, and enjoyed it so much, that he'd acquired three doctorates in little more time than it took most people to get one, and he'd done it for fun. It would have been easy for him to become isolated, set off from humanity by his mind, unable to relate to people. What saved him from that was a talent he had for understanding people. His was not the surface understanding of mimicry, like Katse's ability had been; he couldn't mimic a person accurately to save his life, but he could understand that person, and the things that drove them. For instance, it had taken only one conversation with Kyla Samonetti to understand the demons that drove her-- her terror at losing Jay, the nameless fear of being thought a freak, the obsessive love that would destroy whatever came between it and its object, despite the fact that she had obviously been conditioned to be a pacifist-- it was easy to know why she did as she did, easy to understand her. But sometimes, with some people, the talent failed him. And then he was cast adrift, lost in confusion. "Teriani, why?" he whispered. "Why didn't you tell me..." Impossible, that he could be a woman's lover, her husband, share everything with her-- and not know her. Impossible that such a woman could fake her own death to deceive him, and embark on some unknown plan of her own, a plan that involved saving the lives of Condor Joe and Berg Katse and convincing them to fall in love. Impossible-- but Teriani Kymel had done it, and Nambu could not understand why. Why had Teriani disappeared? The two had mentioned her son-- *his* son; what of their daughter? Why had she saved Joe's life without telling the team? Why had she wiped his memories-- because she obviously had; it was far too coincidental that he and Katse should both become amnesiac-- and why, *why* had she encouraged him to fall in love with the person who had been his worst enemy? If Joe *did* get his memories back, and realized who Kyla was... it would be a disaster. Hadn't Teriani realized this? Or were the memories locked away permanently? And if so, why? He could understand the motive for making Katse forget, easily enough-- ut why Joe? And did Nambu want to confront her? He looked down at his desk. It hurt too much-- that she was alive, but hadn't told him; that she had deceived Joe like this, and kept him from his friends and his past. He couldn't understand why she had done it-- *how* she could have done it, if she was the woman he remembered; and that was an acute pain in and of itself, that he could misjudge someone so badly. No, he didn't want to confront her-- not yet. He would try to learn more of her and her motives from the two of them, and when the time was right, then he would go to her. But he had too many things to worry about now, what with the rebirth of Galactor... and he didn't want to see her yet, and risk being hurt worse. There was time. He could wait.