Aite Chp. 7 Almost nine months. Kyla felt miserable. She was fat. She felt like going to the bathroom all the time. Her sex drive was nonexistent. And Galactor had just undergone a dramatic internal purge. In the three months since she'd regained her memories, a lot of good had happened. Ken had finally come to accept her, without sniping, without suspicion. Jun had actually come to be something of a friend, and Jinpei and Ryu often stopped by her office with "something for the baby." She knew Jun was trying to organize a baby shower, a fact which struck her as ludicrous, but touched her all the same. And her relationship with Jay had gotten a little more secure, now that he was no longer torn between his friends and his wife. He had not regained any of his memories yet, and was beginning to believe they'd never come back, but Kyla preferred it that way-- he had hated her so much in the past, his remembering could do nothing but harm to their relationship, she felt. The war with Galactor had been going well, too. The Science Ninja Team had taken out twelve bases, based on her memories, and thwarted 5 major plans. According to Ken, Jay in action was not as murderously obsessive as he'd been in the past, but being a cyborg gave him enough of an edge to compensate. Kyla thought it was just as well. To tell the truth, the idea of being married to someone like Condor Joe sickened her. She was no longer as blindly pacifistic as she'd been before the memories came back-- she *knew* Galactor now, and knew that violence was the only way to stop them. But one didn't have to enjoy the violence. Condor Joe had. Jay didn't. In addition to the twelve bases-- one of which had been the Temple of Science, whose loss had slowed Galactor up considerably-- and the five plans thwarted, Kyla had arranged for numerous agents to be placed in Galactor, at the same time arranging mass defections. A lot of Galactors hadn't been there by choice, and Kyla knew what buttons to press. Galactor had been wounded, bleeding, waiting for the *coup de grace*. Then it had turned around. And that was why Kyla was miserable. "There was a purge," she told Nambu, with that horrible sinking feeling that always came with failure and guilt. *I've failed... again. And this time I can't blame incompetent subordinates or Sosai or anyone. More deaths to my conscience. As if I need any more.* "They killed everyone I'd ever coerced into the organization-- at least all the ones I hadn't reached to offer freedom yet. Then they did Mohs retesting on all new recruits. Most of our agents... didn't pass. From those few that *did*, I learned they're consolidating. Orders are to abandon any base from the old days." Nambu frowned. "That sounds like they know it's you." "*How*?" Kyla's voice was anguished. "I'm supposed to be *dead*! Besides, Sosai wouldn't-- I didn't-- I didn't think, he could think, I would ever... switch sides." "But you have," Nambu pointed out. "Perhaps X is more intelligent than you've been giving him credit for? You *do* have a tendency to underestimate the opposition." "But... I thought..." Her face crumpled. She wanted to cry. Instead, she sagged into a chair. "There's a way to find out, if they know. If they *don't*, it'll tip them off for sure... but before that, I could at least access their top-level database and possibly pull specs on Mobile HQ. Not location-- they'll change that, it's mobile, after all-- but so that when we *do* find it, the team will know exactly what the setup is." "And if they *do* know it's you?" "Then I won't get in. Sosai can trace the line back, but if I go in through G-Town that won't matter, because of the satellite hookup and because G-Town's mobile too." "So you want to go to G-Town." Nambu looked down at her stomach and back up. "How long is it, now?" "Dr. Kymel says it's been almost nine months." "So it could be any day now." "Not likely, she says-- my kind tend to be ten-month children. And I want to clear this up now, Doctor. Those agents *died*. I need to know... if it was my fault." "I'll go with you, then." Nambu stood up. From G-Town, Kyla linked through several nets, confusing the trail, before she finally entered the Galactor datanet. This was the back door into Sosai X's personal databanks, that she alone had had access to. Sweat beading on her face, Kyla typed in her personal access code. And got in. "It worked," she said, stunned. She turned to Nambu. "I got in. They don't know. It wasn't my--" "Look at the screen," Nambu said tightly. His tone frightened Kyla, and she whipped around to look. There was a message there. **Oh, Katse. I had so hoped Marriochio was wrong. The thought of you betraying me... well, I shall have to blame it all on ISO's brainwashing techniques, as I know you would never betray me of your own free will. Undoubtedly you think this *is* your own free will. I would advise a rethink, Katse. Why have you betrayed your origins? Think on that a while. If you wish to come back, I will not kill you. I *will* need to deprogram you, but I will try not to be unnecessarily harsh. This is not truly your doing, after all. I would much prefer to have you back with me, Katse. Gel Sadra was only a replacement, and a poor one at that. But if you do not come back... Well, you know the law as well as I do. There is only one way to leave Galactor. I trust I shall see you again.** The computer had frozen up. Kyla was forced to cycle the terminal from a different station and reboot. The words disappeared, but eidetic memory had carved them into her mind. "Kyla, I'd prefer you stayed at G-Town," Nambu said. He hadn't needed to ask her what X meant by "one way to leave Galactor." "In fact, since Jay's face is known to Galactor as well, I would suggest both of you move into one of the spare suites here. I can have movers bring all your things here." "He won't find me," Kyla said. "He'd never expect to find me *pregnant*." "Kyla, if he made you, surely he knows what you're capable of. Please. We can't afford to lose you." "Why not? What earthly good am I *now*?" She slumped back in her chair. "My information's worthless now, and I personally am too much of a failure to do you any good." "That's your hormones talking. You *still* know Sosai X better than anyone, and you still have an immense aptitude for intelligence work. I think you should go on maternity leave now, and six weeks after the child is born, you can come back and do the work you did before you regained your memories." "Whatever." She was too depressed by the latest events to be rational, Nambu decided. He would talk to Jay about moving the two of them into G-Town, and put her on maternity leave as of now. "Kyla?" It was Jun. Kyla looked up from the television set, where she was watching music videos. "What?" "Um... I heard you weren't feeling well, but... well, I wanted to know..." "Spit it out," Kyla said tiredly. "I was thinking of holding a baby shower for you. Some of the women techs, my teacher Tsushima Sensei... But I know you haven't been feeling well..." "I feel like a balloon stretched too tight. I might pop any minute. That, however, is not why I'm depressed. All my work down the drain, and that idiot Nambu thinks he's going to cure it by taking me off the job." She sighed. "I suppose it goes with being a genius-- you can be so perceptive sometimes, and such a complete ass other times. *He* thinks a woman who's ready to go into labor any minute shouldn't be working. What else do I have to do? Vegetate and watch music videos until my brain rots, that's all. And he won't be persuaded to let me back on. The ass. I could kill him. I need to be working, not lying around." Jun blinked. She hadn't expected a tirade. "Well, if there's anything I can do..." "Yes. Help me drive it into that man's skull that regardless what precautions ordinary women may or may not need, I am *not* an ordinary woman. How did the latest mission go?" "Didn't Jay tell you?" "He said, quote, 'fine', endquote." "It went all right, I guess. An old man died-- someone Ryu'd made friends with, and he was really depressed about it. Oh, and we flew into a magnetic field that fried the computers, and it hurt Jay, but he's fine now. Should I go ahead with the baby shower? Would that help?" Kyla laughed unpleasantly. "A baby shower. Next I'll be joining the PTA. Who *would* have thought it?" She shook her head, less in negation than at the silliness of the concept. "I don't need a baby shower, Jun. I'm flattered that you thought of it, and that you thought enough of me to offer, but... it's a woman thing, and I'm enough of a man to feel uncomfortable in that arena." She turned back to the television. "I look like a fat pig and I feel like one too." Jun got the impression Kyla was not really talking to her as much as to herself. "Don't you feel anything for the baby?" "The baby? I suppose... I'll be glad when all this is over. I'm not built for this, you know. I mean... on the one hand, a child. *My* child. Mine and Jay's. I never dreamed I'd have one... on the other hand, it's a little parasite sucking all my energy into itself, bloating my body, and I *don't* feel well. I will feel considerably better disposed toward it when it's not in my body anymore." She looked over at Jun. "Does that shock you? Here you are, trying to think of me as a human being, somebody who *didn't* kill millions and represent the quintessence of evil three years ago, and I am callously dismissing my baby as a parasite. I suppose that makes it difficult to understand me. People never have, really, any more than I've ever understood them... Oh, ignore everything I've said, I just feel rotten. Is Jay still in the training room?" "Uh-huh. Do you want me to get him for you?" "He won't want to see me. I'm a big fat whale." "You're *not*!" Jun really didn't know Kyla awfully well, as a person-- she knew what Kyla *had* been, and what she was *not* now, but not really what she *was*. But she couldn't help trying to comfort someone in pain. "Kyla, what's wrong? Is there something between you and Jay?" "No. Nothing like that." "Then what's wrong?" "Simple biology. I'm pregnant, and I'm not designed for it. I've always had nasty mood swings, Jun. I just feel like shit, that's all. No deep psychological trauma, nothing you can comfort me out of. And if you don't take the opportunity to get out while you can, I will probably bore you to death with endless and meaningless diatribes on everything I can think of and probably hurt your feelings into the bargain. So maybe you had best leave. I'm sorry I'm not better company." "*I'm* sorry," Jun said, backing up. "I-- I hope you feel better." "So do I." She turned back to the television as Jun left. That bit about biology being all it was was bullshit. How could she possibly tell Jun what was bothering her? Jay was still what he had always been, and that was the only thing keeping her from total depression. Jay treated her the way he always had-- actually, he was even more solicitious of her, now that she was so close to her time. But there was the physical debilitation of her body; there was the fact that she was bored, deprived of her work by Nambu, who was too much of a traditionalist to let her go back to work; there was the depression brought on by the deaths of all her agents, and the failure of her mission to bring down Galactor; and on top of all of it, there was Sosai X's message. **"Undoubtedly you think this *is* your own free will, Katse. I would advise a rethink. Why have you betrayed your origins? Think on that..."** It had never occurred to Kyla to wonder *why* she and Jay had lost their memories; why she had woken up with a sense of morality, when she'd never had one in her life; why she was sane now, when she'd been thoroughly crazy as well as evil before. Never until now. And how could she explain *that* to Jun? That she didn't know who she was anymore, or how she'd come to be this way? Was it true, what Sosai X had said? *Had* Dr. Kymel brainwashed her? Sosai had been her god, once. Her creator, her father, her master. He had been going to give her the world. Why *had* she betrayed him?... Because he was evil, of course. But why had she realized he was evil? Dr. Kymel had done something to Kyla, had to have. Even before she'd become leader of Galactor, Berg Katse had never been a pacifist, nor had a strong sense of right and wrong. Kyla did. Where had it come from? It wasn't that she wanted to *change* it. She knew now that Galactor was evil, however she'd learned, and she wasn't capable of wanting not to know. But it depressed her heavily to know that her fundamental beliefs had somehow been planted in her. She'd thought they welled from some deep source within. To know that she was not, after all, fundamentally different from the creature she'd been... that was painful. The days dragged on. Dr. Kymel came to G-Town once a week to check up on Kyla, who was overdue by human standards and was not permitted to leave. Kyla was angry at this, too, and at the fact that Dr. Kymel wasn't trapped here with her. "Why don't you stay here and wait until I go into labor?" she snarled at Kymel once. "I have my own research," Kymel had replied mildly. "I'm involved in another project now that's very important. Besides..." "Besides?" "I *can't* stay at G-Town. There's someone here... I'd rather avoid." Kyla had noticed that whenever Nambu and Kymel were in the same room together-- which was rarely-- they were unfailingly polite to each other, but there was a tension between them. The air would be heavy with the weight of the things they werne't saying. "Dr. Nambu?" she asked Kymel. "It's him you're avoiding, isn't it?" Kymel sighed. "Yes." "Why?" "We used to be married." "What?" Kyla stared at Kymel. "Galactor's done background checks on Nambu. He was never married." "Galactor wasn't as careful as it could have been in doing those checks. I don't think our marriage was recorded in any databanks anywhere, but anyone from ISO at the time could have told you." "What happened?" "I don't like to talk about it." "Is David his son?" "Yes, and we're dropping the subject, Kyla." Jay was very kind and loving to Kyla when he was home-- waiting on her to the point where he would carry her around rather than let her walk. Kyla didn't mind, although that treatment from anyone else would have driven her out of her skull. From him, she accepted it as a due. Jay *should* wait on her hand and foot, since he was responsible for her condition, and she took his behavior as proof of his love. But he was rarely home, nowadays-- Gel Sadra was trying to recoup her losses by getting hold of the new superfuel, hypernium, and was dedicating a lot of energy to stealing it. Attacks were coming in rapid succession. At the same time, despite the depression, there was a growing excitement in Kyla. She was going to be a mother. She, who had never dared dream of children. Distinctly, she remembered Vail Djannis telling her she was sterile. "You're not human, therefore you can't breed with humans. You will never have a child." *Up yours, Dr. Djannis*, she thought. Djannis had helped Sosai X create her-- proving him wrong was a joy in and of itself. Sometimes she *did* actually feel maternal toward this parasite occupying her body. She had heard of postpartum depression, but was sure *she* would feel much better once the child was born. Her child, to mold and raise. And hadn't Dr. Kymel, who had known all along what Kyla was, said that her child would be normal? It would be her beautiful, brilliant child, hers and Jay's. The days continued to pass, and the tension mounted. There was something pulling Kyla as taut as a harpstring, making her vibrate wildly. She couldn't bear to lie about in bed, despite the unwieldiness of her body. So when Jay wasn't home, she took long walks around G-Town. Today he was off dealing with the destruction of a seaside village or something, and Kyla had to move. She was wound so tightly she thought she might break. What with the baby, she didn't dare resume her old habits of smoking and drinking to relax, and certainly not the drugs she used to take, so she paced, walking out the entire length of G-Town and then back along the periphery. Something was spiraling inside her. The tension was growing greater. Something tugging her in two directions, so she felt ready to fly apart, exhilarated and irritable at the same time. Walking down a deserted corridor because she was too unwiedly to run, she felt like laughing, or crying, or racing down the corridor until the energy burned itself out of her. Then she was struck from inside. A black hole at the core of herself, yanking everything inward in a violent wave. Involuntarily Kyla screamed, putting a hand to her stomach. *It's too strong, too soon-- aren't these things supposed to build? Isn't there supposed to be some water first, or something?* There was something tearing loose in her head. A wave of dizziness enveloped her, and her muscles ached terribly. Nausea assaulted her. Kyla collapsed, throwing up. Pains in another part of her body were marginally easier to control-- she made it to the women's restroom, where her entire alimentary and excretory tracts rebelled against everything she'd eaten in the past 24 hours. It was fifteen minutes before she managed to make it out of the restroom, feeling shaky, hollow and feverish. * Oh no*. She recognized the symptoms. Except for the contraction earlier, they weren't of labor. *Oh shit, no, no, this wasn't supposed to happen, it can't be happening, it can't*... But it was getting hotter, and she was getting dizzier. Kyla staggered, leaning against the wall, tears welling up in her eyes. *It's the Change. Oh shit no it's the Change what do I do now what do I do?* Get medical help. Easy enough in theory, but she couldn't do it. Even for the Change, this was going too fast. It was so hot. Her vision was doubling, and her ears were ringing so loudly she couldn't hear her own gasping breaths. The world was fading out. Look, the floor. She managed to cushion her meeting with the floor by getting her hands under herself, but then her hands wouldn't work right. Another contraction took her, and didn't stop. The pain turned from a clenching to a burning. As if her stomach was a fist clenched around a sponge full of acid. The baby was kicking-- it should be too large to kick, shouldn't it?-- but it was only an insult on top of the injury of the burning. Wetness drenched her legs. Had she wet herself? She hadn't felt the need to go to the bathroom, and anyway she'd just gone a minute ago. Shouldn't she get up? Good idea. No, bad idea, as the world swung dizzily arounf her. The burning wouldn't stop. Doctor, make it stop. I hurt. Why are you hurting me? Kyla began to sob with pain, but she was too weak and the effort was too much. Dark drifting in pain. Doctor, help me, please. It hurts, oh, it hurts. When the security guard found a pregnant woman curled on the floor, face contorted in agony, he knew exactly who it was, despite the fact that he'd never met Kyla Samonetti before. There was only one pregnant woman at G-Town. He bent down and shook her lightly. "Ms. Samonetti! Hang on! I'll get a doctor!" "Doktor?" she whispered in a childish voice, in German. The guard recognized the word, similar as it was to English, but the next thing she said in the childish voice-- "(doctor, make it stop!)"-- meant nothing to him. "Just hang on! I'll get Dr. Nambu!" He started to get up, but her eyes fixed on him. "Nambu?" Her voice cracked, dropping several notes on the second syllable, then rising again before the syllable was finished. "Yes, I'll get--" "ISO!" she shrieked, and shoved him. She was on her feet in a single motion-- surprising, considering the size of her stomach-- snarling, "Nambu won't study me! I won't let him!" The guard started to get up. "Ms--" She kicked him, shoving him backward and breaking one of his ribs. "Won't take me alive!" she shrilled, as the guard gasped raggedly in pain, and she ran past him. The guard staggered to an intercom. "Get Dr. Nambu. We've got an emergency!" Announcements over the PA about catching a Kyla Samonetti. Was that the name she was using now? Couldn't recall. Where? ISO base. So much pain... ISO experiment. Must be. Couldn't remember. Had to get to safety. Someplace to Change, away from prying eyes. Away from here, from scientists. Three guards. In the way. No guns. She screamed curses in German and attacked the nearest one, slamming into him, grabbing him with berserker strength and throwing him at the other two. No gun. It'd be easier with a gun. Or a knife. No time to kill. Just disable and get away. She ran. Around a corner, and there was Nambu, with seven guards. Turn back. But the three she'd disabled were back. Why? Different guards? Or she wasn't strong enough to disable? Why so weak? Something sucking her energy into a burning black hole in the midsection. So weak. So much pain. Had to escape. Nambu there. Like a wild animal, she backed away, eyes rolling. "Kyla," Nambu said, stretching out his hand. She was flushed but not sweating, her breath in gasping heaves, little flecks of foam at the edge of her mouth. She had to be in the Change, Nambu thought-- labor pain wouldn't drive her berserk and disrupt her memory. "Kyla, no one wants to hurt you. Remember, Kyla. Remember who you are. We're friends." "Friends?" she snarled. "Trick me.." She seemed to lose the track of her thought, her eyes mad with pain and fear. Her voice was cracking wildly, shifting up and down. It coalesced in a high-pitched, childishly androgynous voice, which spoke in German. "*Doctor, help me, it hurts, please help me...*" German? Was she flashing back to her childhood in an institution? "I'll help you," Namhu said, taking a careful step forward, eyes locked with hers. "Just calm down, Kyla. I'll fix it. No more pain." "*You always say that*," Kyla whimpered in German, and then her eyes narrowed. She switched to Japanese. "Always! Trying to trick me! You're *Nambu*!" The last was said in Berg Katse's voice. "Kyla--" "*Kill* you!" She ran at Nambu faster than anyone expected, grabbed him and spun him into a headlock before he could stop her-- then doubled over with a scream, releasing him, at an apparent pain in her abdomen. Most likely a contraction. The guards converged on her, but she was still berserk-- she lashed out, kicking one man in the groin, knocking him down and leaping over him, out of the circle of guards. As they pursued, Nambu headed for the nearest phone and dialed Teriani. David answered. "Hello?" "This is Nambu. I want to speak to Teriani, *now*." "She's not here right now--" "This is an emergency!" "Um-- she really *isn't* here. I can give you her beeper number--" "Do so." Where the hell was she? He dialed the beeper and hung up. Then he ran for his office. As he got in, the phone rang. "Nambu here." "This is Teriani, what is it?" "Kyla seems to have simultaneously gone into labor and the Change. Get over to G-Town now." He slammed the phone down, furious at Teriani. Hadn't she suppressed the Change? She'd done an awfully poor job of it, obviously. He used the office viewscreens to try to locate Kyla, and began coordinating the search. Obviously he didn't dare confront her again-- Kyla was delirious as well as berserk, lost in the past somewhere, and could only recognize him as her enemy. Enemy everywhere. Scientists. The Institute? Never going back. Had to get away. Find a safe place. Why was the body so bloated, so sluggish? Experiments. That was it. Acid burning in the stomach, something squirming inside her. Pain, so much pain. Had to find safety, rest, escape. More guards. Still no guns. She was cornered by six of them, grabbing for her, trying to hold her down. Berserk terror gave her the strength to pick them up and fling them, and keep running. Teriani met Nambu at G-Town's main airlock. "Where is she?" "This way." Nambu ran, and Teriani followed, on an interception course. Kyla's movements had no logic to them; she was running around aimlessly, on the instinct of a trapped animal. As a result, it wasn't possible to predict where she would go based on logic, but it *was* possible to outthink and encircle her. There were a dozen injured security guards now, men with broken limbs or ribs, and Nambu had no doubt that if she wasn't caught, Kyla would kill someone sooner or later. On the other hand, there was no way to subdue her, short of physical force, unless they could persuade her to calm down; they didn't dare use tranquilizing darts on her, because of the baby. Nambu's plan was to cut her off, drive her into one area, and then have Teriani try to talk her down. They reached the area ahead of Kyla. "She'd best not see me," Nambu said. "Which direction is she coming from?" "North corridor," a guard said. Accordingly, Nambu stepped into the shadows of the southwestern corridor. Kyla came charging in, eyes wild, lips flecked with white. Blood had soaked through her pale blue maternity dress, some of it in unexpected places such as her upper chest, but most of it staining the waist and hem of the dress. Her legs were also stained with blood. Blisters puffed out over much of her face, her hair was noticeably thinner, and her breasts had dramatically reduced in size. Seeing the guards blocking her exits, she turned to run back the way she'd come-- but that was blocked, too. In an inhumanly tortured voice, Kyla began to wail, voice shifting octaves and doubling on itself. "Kyla!" Teriani called. "Kyla!" Kyla paid no attention. "*Berg*!" That got Kyla's attention. She swiveled around to stare at Teriani, gasping. "Was... ist?" What is it? "It's *me*. Teriani. You know me, right? You know I'll help you?" "Doktor?" The childish voice was back, speaking German. "*Help me... it hurts. Don't hurt me anymore...*" "No one's going to hurt you," Teriani said soothingly. "You can trust me. I'll help you as I did before. Come to me, Kyla. I'll help you." Kyla burst out sobbing. "Help me, doctor, help me!" She staggered toward Teriani, and fell against the smaller woman, who pressed something against her face. Kyla collapsed like a marionette with the strings cut. Teriani then turned in Nambu's direction. "I want a team of medics, now! Emergency Caesarian section!" Under Teriani's direction, Kyla was rushed to the nearest treatment room. "Acid-resistant gloves," Teriani ordered. "They don't need to be sterile. Also a lot of water, and equipment for potential fetal distress." As she washed up, paramedics stripped off Kyla's dress, revealing the body underneath, and began washing her down. Nambu stared in shock and horror. The mutant woman's body was covered with huge blisters, and dark spots of rot leaking pus. Her genital region was bloodstained and inflamed, with a tiny, raw-looking male member protuding from where the clitoris ought to be. She smelled of fecal matter and gangrene. The stench was enough to make some of the paramedics gag. "My God," he whispered. It was hard to imagine how even something as evil as Sosai X could inflict something as awful as the Change on a human being, if this was the result. He looked over at Teriani. "It looks as if she's rotting away." "She is. *His* body is being built out of the ruins of hers. Where are those gloves?" "Here." A paramedic handed them to her. "Your equipment's arrived." "All right." Teriani took a small box-like instrument out of her medical case and pointed it at Kyla's head. "Good. Cortical functions suppressed. I won't need to give her any more anesthetic." She donned the gloves, took a scalpel out of the case, and made a Caesarian incision. Black liquid welled from the abdomen, mixed with the blood. Teriani pushed the lips of the wound apart-- they were sealing back together at the edges, Nambu noted in fascination-- and cursed. "No uterus. Might be--" she reached inside, and pulled out something that bore only a vague resemblance to a human infant-- "too late. Water!" The child was dumped in a tub of warm water to wash off the acids of its mother's transformation. Teriani stripped off the gloves. "Is it breathing?" "There's no umbilical cord," one of the medics said, horrified. "It's been eaten away. Look!" With the black stuff washed away, the baby was visible. It was not only hideously deformed, it was also burned over most of its tiny body, half-eaten by the acids that had destroyed its mother's womb. "Dr. Kymel, what about the mother?" a medic said. "Don't you think the child is beyond help?" "The mother can take care of himself. Wash him down with soap and water, rinse out the cavity with saline before it seals up, get an IV into him and make him comfortable. The incision'll heal by itself." In fact, it already was, fragile fibers of skin crossing the gap in the abdomen as they watched. "We *can* save the baby. Give it to me." They obeyed. Teriani pounded on the tiny, malformed back. "Breathe, child, *breathe*!" It coughed to life, and began to shriek. "Formula!" Teriani snapped, and was handed the appropriate bottle. "Topical anesthetic solution!" She had the medics swab the baby's skin with the anesthetic while she fed it the bottle. Miraculously, impossibly, the burns were beginning to fade. "It'll heal itself," she said, sighing. "It's going to be all right." She handed it and the bottle to a nurse. "Put it in the incubator. It's not vulnerable to human disease, but it needs warmth and lots of food and oxygen." "You keep saying 'it'," a medic said. "What is it?" The baby had a tiny male organ poking out over a slit, no visible testicles, but the urethral canal inside the penis. Teriani poked the penis, and it began to shrink into the body. "Both. But it'll develop the ability, as it gets older, to be one or the other, whichever it prefers. Or whichever its parents prefer, as the case is more likely to be." Nambu studied the child. Its eyes were set so close together, the sockets conjoined. The nose was flat and squashed against the face, the mouth was far too large, and there were no ears to speak of. The baby's hands were club fists, with no fingers, and its limbs were too short. He looked at Teriani. "You told Kyla her child would be normal." "It is." "This is *normal*?" Did Teriani *see* the same way? He knew her people's culture, knew their beliefs on deformity were stronger than Terrans-- how could she call this normal? "That's all cosmetic, Kozaburo. This child is a *shapechanger*. It'll look like a normal human baby in a year or so. The reason it's deformed now is that it *has* no true form, and it doesn't know yet what it's supposed to look like. Within a year, it'll be the infant image of whoever takes care of it most often." "And that is normal." "Normal for the child of a Gemini Linkage, yes. I've never heard of Gemini-human crossbreeds, but the theory indicates they should work the same way the children of two Geminis do." She started for the door. "Where are you going?" "To check on Kyla. Make sure he's all right. He should complete the Change normally, but best to be sure." "He wasn't supposed to Change at all." There was suppressed fury in Nambu's voice. Teriani didn't look at him as she left. Nambu followed her. "What happened, Teriani?" "The best I can guess... The blocking hormone prevented the normal initiation of Change. It wasn't designed to prevent the regenerative Change. There are 3 reasons Geminis Change: on a yearly cycle, by conscious decision, or if they're injured. I wanted to make sure the first two couldn't happen, but the third... might save Kyla's life someday, I thought, so I didn't block it. Her body must have interpreted labor pains as an injury... which means pain is the trigger. I'd thought it was the damage to the body itself." "You thought. You didn't know." "Well, *no*. On my homeworld, it's standard operating procedure to put Geminis to death. They don't spend all that much time teaching us about the vagaries of their biology." "So you gambled... Have you any *idea* what it'll do to Jay to learn this?" She stiffened. "I know exactly what it will do to him. Which is why you can't tell him." "What? How do you expect me to hide--" "If we feed him properly, Kyla should be strong enough to Change back without killing himself in a week. The effort will leave her exhausted and vulnerable, but she'll do it-- he'll do it to keep Jay. Just keep Jay away from Kyla for a week--" "*How?* This is his *wife*-- he'll demand to see her!" "*I* don't know how, but if he sees Kyla in his current condition, Jay'll regain his memories. And probably the emotions that go with them." "*Damn* you!" Nambu was very close to striking Teriani. "You damned incompetent-- you mean to tell me, you played with their minds, set up a situation that would be *intolerable* if they remembered, and then didn't take stronger safeguards against the whole thing collapsing?" "The block is built on Jay's love for Kyla. There was no way to preserve it if she turns into a man. All I could do was take maximum precautions against her Changing--" "Obviously *not*! If you'd taken maximum precautions, she wouldn't be a man now!" "How was I to know she was fertile with humans?" she shouted back. "We were told, when we learned about such creatures, that they were sterile with humans. I never expected she would get pregnant!" "You shouldn't play God unless you have all the facts." "Well, it's done now. All we can do is try to control the damage." "*How*? Jay *won't* stay away from her a week. If nothing else, he's intelligent enough to figure out what's happened. And what do I say when he asks to see his child? How will he deal with *that*?" "Your prejudices are showing, Kozaburo." "My prejudices are irrelevant. I'm talking about Jay's--" Nambu's beeper rang. He went to the nearest intercom phone. "Nambu here." "The Science Ninja Team are on their way in, doctor," a control tech told him. "I thought you'd want to know." "Thank you." He shut off the intercom. "Not *now*..." "If you can't keep him away from Kyla for a week, I'm going to go back home." "*You* can tell him what's happened," Nambu snapped. Unspoken, but clear and distinct for all that, were the words *It's your fault*. "No, I can't. If he regains his memories, he's likely to do violence, and I'm a convenient target. Keep him away from Kyla, one way or another." She turned back, heading for the exit. She had a point. Furious, Nambu did not watch her leave, but headed for the New God Phoenix's bay to intercept the Ninja Team, and Jay in particular. Jay could tell from the look in Nambu's eye, the purposeful way he moved, that something had happened. "What's happened, Doctor? Is Kyla all right?" "Alive and healthy. The baby's been born." "All *right!*" Jay flushed with happiness. The rest of the team, hearing that, offered their own comments. "Joe n'aniki, you're a father now!" "Way to go, Joe!" Ryu clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations!" Ken said. "Is it a boy or a girl?" Jun wanted to know. Then they all realized Nambu was not smiling. "Jay, I'd like to talk to you privately." "What is it? What's happened?" A horrifying thought struck him. "The baby... is it dead?" "No, it's not dead. But the situation... is complicated. I need to talk to you in private." Nambu's office was only a short distance away. "What's happened?" Jay asked when they got there, his voice taut with fear and anxiety. "Can I see Kyla?" "I don't think it's wise right now. The birth was very traumatic-- Dr. Kymel advises she be kept in total isolation for at least a week." "That's bullshit. I want to see my wife." "Jay-- it's not a good idea right now." "I want to see my wife and child! I don't think that's unreasonable of me!" "Of course not. There's no reason you can't see the child. I need to warn you, however-- at the moment, the child appears deformed. Dr. Kymel assures me it will grow out of it, and look normal in another year--" "Deformed?" Something was lurking at the back of Jay's eyes, something fearsome. "What's *happened*?" "Come with me," Nambu said, seeing the disaster that was to come, and praying desperately he could avert it. He was not hopeful, though. "We'll see the baby." When Jay saw the baby, the deformed thing lying in its isolette, he froze rigid, his hands clenched on the isolette cover. "Is it a son or a daughter?" he asked tightly. "Whichever you and Kyla prefer to raise it as," Nambu said. "It's--" Jay interrupted before Nambu could say it was a shapechanger. "It's one or the other, don't give me that crap. Or else it's something like Ka-- Ky--" His hands clamped into fists, and he turned. "Doctor. What sex is Kyla now." It wasn't a question. He knew. "Jay..." Something haunted at the back of the eyes. "Joe." His face was a mask of pain. "I want to see her. Him. It. Which is she?" Nambu sighed. "The stress of labor apparently pushed her into the Change. Teriani tells me it will be safe for her to Change back in a week--" "Fuck a week! What is Kyla now?" "Male," Nambu admitted reluctantly. "I want to see her. Him. Whatever it is." "I don't think that's a good idea--" "I don't care. Where is-- it?" "Not an it, Jay--" "Joe now. I'm Joe. Where is *he*, then?" "Joe?" "Fuck this!" Joe turned from Nambu and ran down the corridor. Nambu followed. "Joe!" he shouted after him. "Joe!" "Where is Kyla Samonetti?" Joe asked a nurse, ignoring Nambu. "Room 135A." "Thanks." He stormed to the room, followed by Nambu. *This is a nightmare*, Nambu thought, *and both of us are trapped in it*. He understood the significance of Joe's taking back his name. What Teriani had warned of-- and stupidly permitted-- had come to pass. *So much for playing God, Teriani*, he thought. He was a spectator, watching only to be sure Joe didn't do something violent. There was nothing else he could do. Kyla was no longer recognizable. A man with thinned-out blond hair the color of Kyla's, slender almost to the point of emaciation, lay in the bed, face slack with sleep. The face looked harder, older, thinner than Kyla's had. More like a face from the past. Joe stared for several seconds, then stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut. "What are you going to do with it?" he asked Nambu harshly. "We have no reason to believe the personality has changed--" "So you'll keep using it as a spy. Fine. Just keep it and its child-thing out of my way." "Joe-- Joe, he's not Katse--" "He's a damn good imitation, then!" Joe snarled. "I'm going to the mainland." "All right." The journey might give Joe time to cool off, and settle his reawakened memories. "I expect you back by tomorrow, though." "Yeah. Sure." Joe stalked out to the subcar launch bay and took off, his mind seething. Behind the furious mask of his face, memory was awakening in chanin, changing him. Jay Samonetti had died, somewhere between the time he'd seen his deformed child and when he'd seen his wife. The creature he'd called his wife. His old enemy. The awakening memories had driven to see her-him-it-whatever; but until he actually saw the creature, his predominant emotion had been fear for it. Grief for it. Then he'd seen it, and seen-- --Berg Katse. In the last moments, when he'd ripped off the mask, just before his enemy had driven the knife into him. He remembered, now. Symbol of everything he hated most, everything that most disgusted him. If Kyla had *only* turned into a man-- if Kyla had never been Katse, but some other mutant-- he would have been revolted, but he wouldn't have hated her. Him. It. The disgust that churned in his stomach, that burned like acid in his veins, came only in part from learning what sort of creature Kyla was. (He'd known; logically, he'd known, but he'd never *seen* Kyla as a man. He'd never fully absorbed the knowledge.) Most of the disgust, the hatred, the utter revulsion, came from knowing, now, *who* he'd been sharing his bed with. An image of Katse from the old days, cackling madly, with his effeminate mannerisms and his unutterable sadism, rose in Joe's mind and made his gorge rise. He had made love to *that*. He had called it his wife. He had *loved* it. The creature who murdered his parents, who'd caused the death of Ken's father, who'd tried time and again to kill them all, *laughing*-- something had to die. The shame, the revulsion, was too great. Joe had to kill something. He had thought of killing Katse, or Kyla, or whatever its name was now; stepping into the room and strangling it in its sleep. Something had stopped him. When forced to think about *what*, exactly, Joe had decided that it was the fact that the creature was sleeping. Even with the hate he felt, Joe couldn't kill a sleeping, helpless enemy. There was no other reason. There could be no other reason, therefore he didn't need to think about his own motives anymore. Anyway, Dr. Nambu might still get some use out of the creature-- and *someone* had to take care of that monster child. Not Joe. The freak's baby was nothing of his. *His* child had never existed, stillborn before it was ever conceived. The son or daughter he'd dreamed of these past few months had never existed. Going out to kill Galactors was usually a good way to rid himself of murderous feelings, but in the first place he didn't know where any were. And in the second place, for once they weren't responsible. Galactor hadn't caused Joe's agony, hadn't arranged for him to take the creature that was his worst enemy to bed. Joe had a much better idea of who he wanted to kill. *She should have just let us die. Both of us should have died*. Teriani Kymel had saved Joe's life, but at the price of his memories, his work, his teammates-- and now, perhaps his sanity. *She* had engineered their amnesia. It was so incredibly obvious, he couldn't understand how he hadn't seen it before. She had encouraged them to fall in love, saying they'd "died in each other's arms" without saying *why*. She was responsible for a love that should never have happened, and for that love curdling into loathing and revulsion. She was going to die. That was the only way Joe could see to soothe the burning rage inside him. He couldn't kill the creature he'd been married to, but he could kill Dr. Kymel. The water currents churned silently behind his subcar as he made his way to the mainland. The phone rang in Teriani Kymel's suburban house as she got in the door. "David, get that." A moment later he called, "It's Dr. Nambu again." *If I have to listen to another tirade*... She went to the phone, switched on the video connection, and looked at Nambu. "Yes?" "Joe stormed out of the base a minute ago. I don't know where he's headed, but it occurred to me after he'd gone that he might be on his way to see you." Teriani went very still. "You botched it, then. He found out." "*I* botched it? Let us remember who the author of this scenario *is*, Teriani." "If it hadn't been for you dragging him back into your war, I could have controlled the damage." "At what price?" Nambu shook his head. "I didn't call to argue with you. As you pointed out before, Joe might seek to do you violence. I'd advise getting out of the way." "Can't you stop him? Call him back?" "Not in the state he's in, now." "In other words, there's nothing you can do when he takes it into his head to kill someone?" "I can send the Science Ninja Team to intercept him... though frankly, I think you deserve whatever you get. I'm probably overreacting in any case. But I *will* send the Ninja Team... and I think you ought to be careful." He hung up. Teriani switched off the phone. "David, get out of the house." "What?" "I'm expecting a visitor. A very upset visitor. Just-- please. Go." When Joe stormed in, he found Teriani Kymel sitting on the couch, waiting for him patiently. "I thought you'd be coming here," she said in a sad voice. "Do you know what you've done to me?" he snarled. "Do you know what you've *done*?" "What have I done?" "Don't pretend you don't know!" He cleared the space between them and dragged her up by the collar. "I'm going to *kill* you!" "For saving your life?" Her eyes were wide, but her voice was more or less calm. "For ruining it! For making me fall in love with that-- thing!" "I didn't make you do anything." He threw her to the floor, hard enough that it might have broken ribs if she hadn't rolled with it. "You wiped my memories!" he shouted down at her. "You made me a cyborg! You-- am I supposed to believe you didn't plant that, too?" "I didn't." Teriani got up off the floor, eyes never leaving his face. She didn't seem to be overly afraid-- either she didn't really think he meant to kill her, or she was showing guts. "I told you as much of the truth as I thought wouldn't hurt you. Nature took its course from there." "You told us we died in each other's arms," he growled. "Well, that was true. If I'd told the whole truth, and said you killed each other, you'd've started out your new life on the basis of hate. Joe, your hate is churning you up inside. Weren't you happier when you were in love?" He snarled in fury and grabbed her again, prepared to beat the crap out of her for hitting too close to home. But-- she *looked* at him, neither cringing and terrified nor arrogant and controlled. There was fear there, but there was trust. She truly believed he wasn't going to hurt her because she trusted him. That defused the murderous intent-- as much as he wanted to, he couldn't kill someone who trusted him. He dropped her on the couch. "I was a poor stupid dupe, was what I was." "You were happier." "I was married to a *thing*!" "But you *knew* that, Joe. As Jay Samonetti, you learned what Kyla was, and you didn't care, did you? It was only after you actually *saw* her Change that it sickened you-- and that made you remember who Berg Katse was. Who Kyla is *not*. Joe, she's helped the Science Ninja Team immeasurably. She may well have saved you and your teammates' lives by catching the Getz impostor. She is not Berg Katse." "She's not a she, either." "So what? She could become a woman again in a week, and this time stay that way forever. Joe, she Changed under the stress of bearing *your* child." "That *thing* is no child of mine!" "No? If you raised it, it would grow up to look just like you. It may not be a normal human, Joe, but then, neither are you. And it's not an alien. Part of you *is* inside that child, whether you want to admit it or not." "I don't *care*!" He turned from her. "You don't understand how I feel at all, do you? Berg Katse killed my parents. He killed *me*. So maybe you reformed him-- her-- whatever. That doesn't change... that can't change how I feel. I remember... what I felt when I was just Jay... before the memories came back. And yeah, I was happier. But it was all a lie, don't you see, it was built on a lie! It was never real. My beautiful wife is a mutant creature who killed my parents. My son is a thing just like his mother. My happiness was all a lie. And it's *your* fault!" He whirled on her, having worked himself into almost a sufficient rage to want to kill her again. "I'm sorry," Teriani said gently. "You died for your hate. I thought you'd paid it enough, so I took it away. I thought you deserved to be happy, for once in your life. As for lies... what lies? Your wife is no longer the person who killed your parents, nor the person who killed you. She's a mutant, yes, and so is your son. But then, you're a cyborg. Have you suddenly decided you'd rather be dead than a cyborg? And if so, have you thought about the fact that if I hadn't brought you and Kyla back, the Getz impostor would have taken your place in the team, and been in a perfect position to kill them all? Your happiness was real, just as real as your hate is now. "With the proper drugs, Kyla can stay a normal woman, as long as she never has another child. You never have to see the evidence of her difference again. And your son is a special kind of human being with special powers. He'll be strong, handsome, intelligent, virtually invulnerable-- what father *wouldn't* want that for his son? Your hate is blinding you to the other side of the truth." "It doesn't matter." The rage had been dying out slowly throughout the conversation, and he suddenly felt too tired to maintain it. "I can't change what I am. I can't love them now, either of them. Better they just stay out of my way." When the Science Ninja Team arrived, Joe was not there. Teriani greeted them, and told them that Joe had expressed a desire to be alone. He'd come back if there was an emergency, but otherwise he'd be staying away until he could handle facing them again. The team gave her some very hard looks-- they, too, blamed her for what had happened, though unlike Nambu they didn't have all the facts. As expected, the team of course took Joe's side-- Ryu said at one point that if *his* wife ever turned into a man, he'd shoot himself-- and yet, no one could truly blame Kyla for what had happened, either. It wasn't her fault-- well, his fault-- that he had Changed. Somebody had to be blamed, though, and that somebody was Dr. Kymel. Ken told her outright that she had ruined Joe's life, and sooner or later she was going to pay for it. "I paid for it already," she said softly, her eyes intent on Ken's. "Don't threaten me, Gatchaman. I'm just as upset about the situation as you are. I did what I thought was right, and I refuse to be treated as if I were a Galactor or something for that." It wasn't until the next day that the doctors informed Nambu that Kyla was waking up. He asked Ken to come with him, to talk to the patient. "We need to see if the conditioning Teriani planted has held up," he said. "I... see. You think... he might have reverted?" "It's a possibility that must be taken into account." "Suppose... suppose he has. What do we do then?" Nambu looked Ken levelly in the eye. "There's only one humane thing we *can* do then." They entered the room. The now male Kyla was lying in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I Changed," he said in a dull, soft voice. "What happened? Where's the baby?" "The baby's fine," Nambu said. "We performed a caesarian section. Apparently the trauma of labor caused you to Change." "Does Jay know?" There was no easy way to say this. "Yes." "I want to see him." "I don't think that would be wise--" "I want to *see* him." The voice was not what Ken had expected-- it was a flat, masculine voice, without the high-pitched, manic, nasal edge that had made Katse's voice so obnoxious. "He doesn't want to see you, Kyla," Nambu said gently. "Oh." The eyes closed in pain. "Does he-- does he-- is..." "He remembers." Kyla opened his eyes. They were hollow, without the lively warmth the woman had had, nor the insane glaze Katse had had. They were-- empty. "I'm not surprised, really. Really I'm not." He turned to look at them. "What are you doing here, Ken? Come to gloat? Do you enjoy seeing my pain?" The bitter anguish in the voice gave it a faint hysterical edge, making it sound a bit more like the voice Ken remembered. "Kyla--" Nambu began. "Kyle, now. Kyla is a woman's name. Why did you bring Ken in here? Or is it Gatchaman, now? Did you come to kill me if I showed signs of incipient madness?" "Kyle-- *do* you feel signs of incipient madness?" "Would I tell you if I did?" His voice had a sudden savage pain in it, and he turned his head away from them. When next he spoke, with his face muffled against the bed, it sounded as if he was trying to hold back tears. "I don't want to hurt him-- I don't-- I *love* him..." "Go on, Ken," Nambu said softly, gesturing at the door with his head. Ken went. "I'm sorry," Nambu said to Kyle. "I do understand how you feel." "*How?*" The muffled snarl had a sob in it. "How can you understand how I feel? Is *your* sex subject to change without notice?" "I, too... have been abandoned by someone I loved. It doesn't matter whether it's a sex change or ideology that separates two people... it hurts just as much." Kyle turned over to face Nambu. His eyes were red and swollen, but he had wiped the tears from them. "You and Dr. Kymel?" "Yes." "It's not the same." He struggled to sit up. "This has happened so many times, over and over again... I knew better. I learned when I was 15 years old not to love anybody. I killed a boy I loved-- he saw me in the Change and I went berserk. I came to myself over his dead body. That was when I learned not to love. But I forgot... and here I am, burned again." He shook his head. "Do you know why I went sociopathic, Dr. Nambu? Do you know what it's like to live, knowing you can't have a relationship with *anyone* that will last? That you will always be alone, forever, for the rest of your life? I had to convince myself I didn't need other people... and then there was Sosai. I loved him, you know. He was my God. And he ruined me. Dr. Kymel tried to repair the damage, but she fucked up and made matters worse, at least for me. She should have let me die, if this was going to happen! She should never have made me forget why it's dangerous to love..." "If it makes you feel any better," Nambu said, "Teriani's intention was only to make you happy. She simply failed to take certain factors into account." "Wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Kymel." He closed his eyes. "What about the baby?" "Do you want to see it?" "Yes. What is it?" Nambu stepped out of the room and told the nurse to get the child. As he stepped back in, he said, "Like you. I have to warn you-- the child's appearance is... disconcerting. It--" "You mean it's a freak." Flat despair. "*If* you would let me finish... According to Teriani, it's a shapechanger. Within a year, it will look like a normal human child. As an adult, it will be able to take any form--" "Like that boy we rescued from the Temple of Science. Meg-what's-his-face." "Yes-- *yes*, as a matter of fact. I hadn't realized it, but they might be similar. Although where the boy would have come from..." "I wasn't the only one of us Sosai made, and if I could get pregnant, the others could too. You're saying then not to start screaming if it has three heads." "It doesn't have three heads," Nambu said dryly. "But yes, that is what I'm saying." The nurse came in with the baby, which was wearing a purple sleeper and sucking a bottle. Kyle's eyes narrowed. "It was for you, then," he said softly, staring at the child with frightening intensity. "For you, I lost my innocence, my womanhood, and my love." He looked at the nurse. "Give it to me." "What do you want to do?" Nambu asked sharply. "I won't hurt it, Nambu. You think I need that on my conscience, too? It should never have been born... but now that it has been, I don't have the right to interfere. Let it get what happiness it can in life. *Give* me my *child*." The nurse obeyed. Kyla took the baby in his bony arms and held it, his face softening. "You didn't ask for this, did you," he said softly. "It's not your fault." He looked up. "What did Jay have to say on the subject of the baby?" "He said... essentially, that as far as he's concerned you have sole custody." "Yes. I can imagine." The face twisted into a savage expression. "We don't need him, do we?" he said to the baby. "I'm the only parent you'll ever need. I'll be your mother *and* your father." He looked up from the baby again. "I don't want to be around Jay anymore, Director. I'll be leaving as soon as I'm recovered." "Leaving?" Nambu shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't allow that." "*What*?" "As long as Galactor exists, I can't allow you to leave. You'd be in danger... and we need you here." "I don't care about the danger. I can handle myself. And I don't care what you need. I'm not Berg Katse, but I'm not Kyla Samonetti anymore, either. That part of my life is *over*." "You still bear Berg Katse's guilt," Nambu said sternly. "You have a *debt* to pay, Kyle. I understand your pain... but it isn't enough to make up for what you've done. There's only one thing that will, as we discussed some months ago. Now, I can give you six weeks of maternity leave, which is standard for ISO mothers, but you *will* be expected to come back to work after that." "I... see." Kyle's eyes fixed on Nambu. "All your kind words, all the things you did for me... another manipulation. I'm a tool to use against Galactor, nothing more, am I? I thought-- it doesn't matter." He looked down at the baby. "Go away. Let me be with my child in peace." "All right," Nambu said quietly. He turned and left. There was no way he could answer Kyle's accusation, as it was of course true. After he had gone, Kyle began to rock the child, tears burning his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. He'd thought Nambu *cared* about him. Fool; why would Nambu care about one who had been his worst enemy? Nambu was a manipulator, a genius with only one focus, only one goal: the destruction of Galactor. He'd do *anything* for that, including acting like the father figure a frightened mutant had never had-- but it had all been an act. Nobody in the world cared about Kyle personally, not anymore. Not after Jay-- don't think about Jay. Should have known better. If it weren't for Dr. Kymel's interference, he *would* have known better. But it was over now. Nambu had taken children and molded them into the Science Ninja Team. He was having the children they'd taken from the Temple of Science re-educated to understand that Galactor was evil-- brainwashing, by any other name-- and would likely train *them* into tools against Galactor as well. He was a scientist, and scientists couldn't be trusted. Look what had come of trusting Dr. Kymel. He would want to study the baby, and train it into a weapon against Galactor, as he used Kyle as a tool. No. Kyle wouldn't permit it. Kyla had felt enormous guilt over Berg Katse's crimes; Kyle felt as if Katse was so far removed from him that he owed nothing anymore. Let Katse stay dead. Kyle had no obligation to the world anymore. Certainly none to the ISO, or Nambu. Or to Jay. No, he was Joe now. Joe the psychotic murderous Condor who had killed-- no, don't remember that. Only pain lies that way. Think of escape. When Dr. Kymel came in to do a check-up on him and the child, Kyle told her the situation, and of his determination to get himself and his child out from Nambu's grasp. He kept his anger at Kymel herself restrained. "What do I do?" "He's doing it again," Kymel said softly, furiously. "He can't let anyone go. He has to control everyone, to force them into his war whether they like it or not." She looked at him. "Kyle, I'll say I need to bring you home to run some tests. I have equipment there that I can't carry here. I'll give you some money and some of David's old clothes, both for you and the baby, and you go disappear somewhere. You're good at that." "You did *what?*" None of the team had ever before seen Dr. Nambu quite so livid. He looked as if he was seconds away from going for Dr. Kymel's throat. She stood there, quite defiant, as if she saw no need to justify her actions. "You heard me. I let him go." "Teriani, you *ass!*" Nambu clenched the table until his hands were white, as if trying to restrain himself. Ken spoke up, furious himself. "Dr. Kymel, Kyla once told me that if she ever reverted to being Berg Katse again, she'd run. Isn't that exactly what she-- what he's just done? And you *let* him!" "I *should* have killed you," Joe said, eyes smoldering with fury. "I still might." "Oh, shut up, all of you!" Kymel shouted. "Kyle hasn't reverted. He simply didn't want to be a tool in your hands, Kozaburo-- and he didn't want you experimenting on his child and training it to be a fighter." "What?" "Don't pretend you don't understand. You've taken those lab-created children you rescued from Galactor and you're training them to fight Galactor. Kyle didn't want that for his child, and *I* can't blame him-- I seem to recall a man who wanted to put his own son in the Science Ninja Team!" "How do you know that was the truth?" Ken retorted. "Katse's a *liar*, Doctor! That's what he does!" "Because." Teriani turned on Ken and fixed him with cold eyes. "I picked his brain apart and put him back together. I know him better than he knows himself." "You're saying-- do you know *me* that well as well?" Joe growled. "More or less." He lunged at her and grabbed her by the shirt, shoving her against the wall. "Who the fuck gave you the right to play with my head?!" he screamed. "Joe! Let her go!" Nambu shouted. Joe reluctantly obeyed. Teriani looked shaken. She turned to Nambu. "You understand me, Kozaburo. You *know* how well I'd know Kyle." "I thought I knew *you* that well." "That was a long time ago. There is *no* way Kyle could deceive me. None at all." "You're staking a whole lot on that, aren't you?" Ryu warned. "With what I know now, Berg Katse himself could not have lied to me, at the height of his career... and Kyle's out of practice. He ran because he was tired of being a tool, and because he didn't want to have to face Joe." "That much was a good idea, at least," Joe growled. "I'll kill the bastard if I ever see him again." "Joe..." Jun said softly. "Be that as it may." Nambu had gotten himself under control again. "Perhaps Kyle is not a danger-- but has it occurred to you that he may be *in* danger? Galactor knows he's alive. They'll be after him." "He's disappeared before. His skills at that are second to none. I don't doubt he'll evade them." "Teriani, Sosai X *made* him! Don't you think it would know how to track him down?" "He's not what Sosai X made anymore." "No," Nambu snarled, "he's what X made and *you* improved on, right? Your passion for playing God is what got us *into* this--" He cut off, and sighed. "He's in danger, Teri. Are you *sure* you don't know where he went?" "He didn't say. He was careful not to say, in fact-- I don't think he trusted me." "And based on your vast knowledge of his personality, you can't guess where he went?" "He'll go someplace he's never been before, probably someplace chosen at random, where no one who knows him can expect to find him. More than that, I can't guess." "Well. We'll have to search for him-- I don't want him falling back into Galactor's hands. There's too good a chance that they could brainwash him back into being what he was." He waved at the Science Ninja Team. "You're all dismissed." On the way back to the Snack J, Jun and Jinpei were having a bit of an argument. "You don't think Dr. Kymel was *wrong*? What're you *talking* about, one-chan?" "I mean that from her point of view, she didn't do anything wrong. She did all those things for the sake of their happiness-- *that's* not wrong, in and of itself. Jinpei, you have to understand-- this whole thing isn't really about Joe and Kyla. It's about Dr. Nambu and Dr. Kymel. There's something between them... This whole conflict is a conflict between the two of them, and Joe and Kyla are just pawns. And the rest of us are just-- in the way." "Joe's not a pawn!" "Yes, he is." Jun sighed. "All of us are, Jinpei, and we always have been. I just wish I knew what it was between the doctors..." "He never said anything about her-- maybe she was some rival, like Dr. Damon or something?" "No, closer than that. Closer than that, Jinpei." Jun looked at him. "The only conflicts this vicious are between people who love each other, or who're enemies. 'All's fair in love and war', right?" She stared out the window of the subcar. "And this-- between Joe and Kyla, *and* between the doctors-- this is both."