Parallel Universe 004 - An alternate Gatchaman II universe by Cal
Based on the works of Alara Rogers, Ennien Ashbrook and Kathleen Coventry
and episodes 12 and 13 from the original show
All Gatchaman characters copyright Tatsunoko Productions
Brace Hoffman, Eric Waide and Ceiran Morag Maragorm (Kai)
borrowed from Ennien Ashbrook
Bergmann (just the name) taken from Alara Rogers



                       What makes a human


Dripping, Katze emerged from the shower and entered the bedroom to
pull a towel from the wardrobe; she had forgotten to hang a new
towel in the shower again. Joe, who was still lying in bed, was
vastly amused.
   "For someone who's supposed to have a perfect memory, you sure
forget a lot," he said, grinning. She whacked him with the towel
before wrapping it around her. Returning to the shower, she yelled
across the corridor: "I don't have to hide from anyone here! This
is my home! I'm alone!"
   "What about me?" he yelled back.
   "Oh, there's nothing *you* haven't seen already."
   "Point," he murmured, slipping back under the covers for another
half-hour snooze. The cold, wet sponge in his neck caught him
entirely unprepared.
   "Was that supposed to be a come-on??" he demanded. Katze, now in
T-shirt and underwear, smiled winningly at him. He threw the sponge
at her. It hit her squarely in the face. With a sigh, she plucked
it off her nose and wrung it out over his own. He spluttered and
turned his face to the pillow, while more water ran down his neck.
"That's not how you're supposed to treat a hero!" he finally cried
out.
   "Suppositions, suppositions... you take too much for granted.
You'll never widen your outlook if you persist in being so narrow-
minded."
   "I don't want to widen my outlook, I want to sleep!" he
protested.
   "Do you, my darling." She knelt at his head, ruffling his hair,
then suddenly leapt backwards, pulling the sheets with her and
leaving him completely exposed on the mattress.
   "Hey! Give those back! I'm not wearing anything!"
   "I know, darling. Revenge is *so* sweet." She joined her hands
behind her back to contemplate him, the bedclothes trailing from
them like grotesquely large ribbons.
   "Are you going to put them back or what? I'm cold."
   "That's funny, last night you were complaining about the heat.
You wanted me to remove the blankets, remember?" Seeing that she
was not about to restore his decency to him voluntarily, he jumped
at her. She leapt gracefully sideways, leaving him to crash into
the wallpaper, but the sheets were not so easily whisked away. He
caught onto them and managed to wrest them from her grasp in a
pulling match. Not satisfied with this, he chased her into the
corridor, cornering her against the door of the computer room. She
tried to vault over him to reach the stairs, but he caught her in
mid-jump and carried her struggling back to the bedroom. Once
there, he slapped all six feet of her on the bed, face down, and
twisted her arm on her back, sitting across her hips to keep her
down. "Now, how about a little respect?" he growled. She was
laughing too hard to speak.
   "How am I supposed to respect you," she gasped at last, "when
you're sitting across my butt in your birthday best?"
   "If I hadn't deactivated those missiles, your butt would be a
cinder by now," Joe pointed out to her.
   "I would gladly have died in your arms, my love. Again, and
again, and again." She shook in another fit of laughter. This, Joe
reflected, was true. As a mutant with regenerative capacities, s/he
would be hard to kill. But killed s/he would have been, if X's last
plan hadn't been prevented, in a slow and agonizing way, Changing
over and over until hir body's supply of nutrients was exhausted.
Unless s/he were shredded instantly by a direct hit, s/he would
have died of the combined effects of burning, radiation and
starvation. And s/he would have been conscious throughout the
process. He released her arm.
   "What is it, Joe?"
   "I was just thinking about last week. That was a close shave."
   She agreed. "I can't believe Rafe could be so stupid. He'll get
himself killed if he goes on like that. What was he trying to *do*,
anyway?"
   "Send some kind of wave into space. I don't know why. All I know
is that X didn't like it, else he wouldn't have blown up all those
stellar stations."
   She sighed. "Oh yes, I forgot about that. Another little side
effect of Rafe's brilliant plans. Trust a Galactor to leave a trail
of destruction, even with the best of intentions." It was true that
Doctor Rafael had originally called X down from the skies, in his
overriding desire to contact alien forms of life. It was true that
he was indirectly responsible for both Katze's existence and Joe's
near death. He had tried to face his responsibility by rescuing Joe
and making him an instrument for X's destruction; he had also tried
to re-establish interstellar communications after the mysterious
disappearance of Selectro, with the result that X had destroyed
station after station in trying to determine the source of the
communication wave, and finally used Rafael's own wave against him
to activate the firing mechanisms of all nuclear missiles on Earth.
With Rafael's help, Joe had only just succeeded in disarming all of
them. There was no question that Rafael was a highly intelligent,
successful and above all well-meaning scientist, but somehow his
efforts always yielded a result of nil. Or lower. The present
mutant was even more destructive than Katze had been, Joe carried
a bomb in his heart that was waiting to go off, and the other
cyborgs Rafael had created were all similarly outfitted with
kamikaze devices. Death and more death, with the hope that one day
all the problems would be solved, and the remainder of humanity
would be able to get on with its life in peace. All they could do
for the moment was to lead as normal a life as possible, consoled
by each other's company, and hope it wouldn't end too soon.
   "I wouldn't say you leave a trail of destruction. Except when we
fight, of course."
   "I've left enough destruction to last me a lifetime."
   "That's all water under the drawbridge, babe. You can't change
it now, so you might as well forget it, okay?"
   "If certain persons who shall remain unnamed will let me." Joe
knew what she was talking about. Nambu was too pragmatic to ignore
Katze's potential as a scientist, but Ken felt somehow cheated of
his revenge, while Jun and Ryu obstinately nursed a grudge. They
all felt that she had been let off the hook too easily. Her mutant
nature, too, unsettled them. Apart from Jinpei, who was too young
to ponder the implications, they still felt uneasy in the vicinity
of this double-gendered semi-human, and her own erratic behaviour
didn't help matters much. Seeing their attitude towards Katze, he
was glad they didn't know he was a cyborg. He himself felt
perfectly at ease with her. He knew she was abnormal by the usual
standards, but his standards of normality had shifted. Cyborgs,
mutants, aliens... it was all part of his life now.
   "Why are you looking sad, Joe?"
   He hadn't even been aware that he was looking sad. "I don't
know. Rafael had better not die, else I'm in trouble."
   "I can repair you if I have to."
   "Yes, but only Rafael can recharge me."
   "That is just so typical. Only Rafe gets to recharge you, never
mind what happens to you if he dies. He's such a megalomaniac.
Well, don't worry, I can find a way to do that, too."
   "You're a life-saver." He kissed her.
   "Yeah, and what do I ever get for it?" She grinned lasciviously.
He decided to turn the tables. "Not now, baby - I've got a
headache."
    "The hell you do." She picked him up as well as she could and
half carried, half dragged him off to the shower. He struggled a
bit for the sake of appearances, but not hard enough to break free.
He was stronger than Katze, and always had been, but now he was
even stronger than Ryu, courtesy of his cyborg body. Another little
side effect, to quote his lover. She didn't think of him as a
machine, but she had no illusions about his new powers, either. She
knew what his strengths and weaknesses were, and was aware that he
had only exchanged one set of vulnerabilities for another.
   "I'll rust!" he cried out, as she turned the water on and pushed
him under it. It was one of their old jokes.
   "I trust Rafe had the sense to make you waterproof." Grabbing
the sponge and a bar of soap, she lathered him thoroughly. He tried
to wipe the water out of his eyes. "Hey! Don't do that!"
   "Stop fussing. Who do you think washed you when you were out
cold at Rafael's?"
   "A brainless robot, I hope."
   "Wrong. The only totally organic life-form in the lab besides il
dottore himself. And his stupid bird, of course."
   "Is that how you fell in love with me? Sponging my backside?"
Suddenly realizing the implications of what he had said, he blushed
deeply. Katze had been a man at the time.
   He could hear by the sniggering behind his back that she had
caught on to the implications, too. "That, and other body parts.
No, I actually fell in love with you when you started bashing me
that time in the lab. I'm a masochist, you see."
   "I never bash," he said, streams of water running down his face.
"Ken does."
   "Oh, I forgot. You throttle."
   "No hard feelings, I hope."
   "No hard feelings." She turned off the water. "Okay, you're
clean - how about a rinse and a blow-dry?" Joe thought about that
one. A blow-dry could mean a lot of things in Katze's private
vocabulary.
   "Ummmm..."
   "It's soaking wet now, so you might as well."
   "I hope you're referring to my hair."
   "Why, whatever did you think I was referring to?" she asked
innocently, hauling him towards the sink and pushing his head down
under the tap. "Here's a towel for your eyes."
   It was damp. "Hey, that's the towel you just used!"
   "That's right. So you can drool over it." She squirted shampoo
into the palm of her hand and rubbed it into a foam before
thoroughly anointing his hair with it. "Right, keep your head like
that for a bit and I'll get you dry. Or you'll really start to
rust."
   "You'd be welcome to oil my joints for me."
   "Mmmm, I can think of a few joints I'd like to oil."
   "And that's *not* one of them. Let go."
   "Why not? It hinges, doesn't it? Look, I can swing it up."
   "Now *look*..." He hit the back of his head against the tap.
Holding back a few curses, he decided to tackle this in a
scientific way. "There's no bone in it."
   "I'd never have guessed," she purred at him.
   "The only joints in the human body are found in the limbs, being
the knees, the elbows, the wrists, the ankles..."
   "The fingers, the toes, the shoulders, the pelvic joints and,
not to forget, the vertebrae." She dried all the parts as she named
them, giving the back of his neck a little nip and running her
fingers down the furrow that was his spine. Unlike her own, his
spinal column was deeply embedded in pads of muscle that twitched
under her nails like a horse's quarters under a fly. Lastly, she
passed the wad of towel she was holding round to his chest and
dried him from neck to knees, finishing off with his calves. As an
afterthought, she rubbed down the insides of his thighs, which had
been left out.
   "Am I supposed to come against the washstand or *what*??"
   "Oh, Joe, you have no finesse. Try to keep it back until I get
your hair done, okay?" Turning on both taps to produce a stream of
lukewarm water, she rinsed his hair out thoroughly and dried it
with the towel she was holding until most of the moisture had been
absorbed. Then she quickly combed it, the result looking as if he
had overdosed on gel. "And now, my handsome mafioso..." Joe found
himself pressed against the damp tiles of the shower wall.
   "The bed might be more comfortable," he suggested. "The floor's
kinda hard here."
   "It'll take, oh, let's see... five seconds to get to the bedroom
from here. Do you think you can hold out that long?"
   "Yeah, I think I could manage that."
   "And do you think you could also hold out for the fifteen
minutes of obligatory foreplay necessary to prevent me from
stamping around the house in a foul mood for the rest of the day?"
   "Umm. Well, I could try."
   "Good." They made a dash for the bed, falling across it
together, and engaged in some passionate lovemaking. Katze soon
lost whatever she was wearing. "I'm not sure I could hold out for
fifteen minutes myself," she moaned in his ear.
   "Now?"
   "Now."
   Little nuclear explosions shook the bed as two humans, one
genetically engineered and the other mechanically reconstructed,
locked onto each other and launched into space. She was yelling out
loud, and he decided to do the same; there was no one to hear them,
anyway. The sexual equivalent of a supernova took place, then the
heat died away and they lay limply over each other, feeling
perfectly calm and satisfied.
   "Drat," Katze murmured. "I just had a shower."
   "Huh... So did I. We'll just have to take another one, won't
we?"
   "Unh. Right. But not now."
   Thinking of Ken and Jun, Joe said: "We're lucky, aren't we?"
   She nodded, saying aloud what was in his mind. "I bet *real*
humans never have this much fun."
   "Just cyborgs, mutants and aliens."
   "Oh, yes. Aliens. Forgot about those."
   "Haven't seen your alien friends for some time."
   "That's just because you keep missing them. They're still
around." She yawned, and let her head flop sideways. "How did we
end up like this, anyway?"
   "Well, it all started when you forgot to take a towel... Or do
you mean on a larger scale?"
   "No, I meant as from seven a.m. this morning, but if you want to
move to the existential level, by all means do... I haven't had a
truly intellectual conversation for a week now, and it's killing
me."
   "Why, what about your colleagues at the lab?"
   "The only one with any sense is Helvig, and he's always off to
some project. Right now he's involved in testing the foundations of
an underground city built at the foot of, I kid you not, a volcano.
Called the Vesuvius, although it's not the old Vesuvius we all know
and loathe. And you thought Rafe was stupid, eh?"
   "I guess that's not too bright. Maybe it was Rafael's idea?"
   "I don't think Rafe has ISO connections. And I also don't think
he would have recommended the location. You see, there's a Galactor
base nearby."
   Joe abruptly raised himself on his arms. "A Galactor base?? How
do you know?"
   "Because I built it myself. Bwaahahahaha."
   Relieved, Joe passed a hand over his forehead and slumped across
her again. "So it's an old base. It's probably abandoned now."
   "One would hope so. I passed a word of warning to Helvig, but...
you know what little-girl Sadra did to our fake dummy Galactor
testing base."
   "Turned it into a real not-so-dummy Galactor testing trap."
   "Exactly. She never misses a chance to mouth off at me, but she
has no objection whatsoever to nicking my handiwork. Or anyone
else's."
   "She doesn't know you're still alive, does she?"
   "I should bloody hope not. I doubt whether I'd survive the
confrontation."
   "That's what I thought when I slugged you in the face about a
year ago," he joked. She didn't bite. He lifted his head. "Do you
hate her?"
   "I don't hate anyone. Not even our good friend Ken, or jolly old
Nambu. I could fry the goon in the tube, though. Someone ought to
cut the power on that thing sometime."
   "You mean, snip a wire?"
   "I'm afraid it'll take more than that... No, he's got this
brick-shaped generator right in the heart of what you could call
his body, which sustains the force field he needs to manifest
himself physically - he's not really alive as we know it, he's more
like a disembodied consciousness. If you blow that up, and stop him
from setting up any other kind of force field to replace it, he
loses contact with the third dimension, and effectively disappears.
By human standards, he dies."
   "That's one confrontation *I* wouldn't survive."
   "With a bit of luck, you won't have to. Rafe's just keeping you
as an ace up his sleeve. I understood he's trying to marshal forces
from elsewhere to deal with the problem."
   "That might be why he tried to send this message into space."
   She groaned. "Don't tell me he's still making his calls to
space... I'll kill him, I really will. Some people just never
learn, do they?"
   "Don't you hang around with aliens?"
   "Maybe, but I didn't invite them in."
   "How did Rafael find out about him in the first place?"
   "Search me. I wasn't born yet, remember? Or maybe I should say
we weren't born yet." S/he had originally been conceived as twins.
Their genetic blueprints had been merged, their bodies had flowed
into one, and their minds had combined into an intellect as vast
and lucid as that of X itself. It had sought to create a being in
its own image, raised above the limitations of the flesh, free of
weakness and the polarity of gender. As the raw materials had been
human chromosomes, it was unavoidable that this creation should
carry a human taint; but there was nothing, the great mind-being
had thought, that strict training could not purge. However, under
its rigorous upbringing, the mind of its creation had not cleared
but cracked, forming pocket after sealed-off pocket of impurity
that no amount of programming could erase, and s/he had
disappointed hir creator time after time. Still, it was attached to
hir, to this half-failed experiment which formed its only link with
the bloodless, balanced purity of its homeworld. All else was
organic on this planet, sickeningly tepid and clinging and
perishable. THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE LIKE, it had said to its creation
as s/he lay bleeding in the throes of regeneration, THIS IS WHAT
THEY DO TO EACH OTHER, THIS IS HOW THEY LIVE. BUT YOU, MY OWN
CREATION, YOU WILL RISE ABOVE THEM. YOU ARE NOT LIKE THESE FILTHY
HUMANS. OF ALL HUMANITY, YOU ALONE ARE DESTINED TO BECOME A
CONQUEROR. YOU ALONE ARE DESTINED TO RULE THE EARTH. And the pain
and disgust had seemed a verification of all it said.
   "What is it?" Joe asked, seeing her mouth corners droop.
   "Just remembering a bit of goon-in-the-tube propaganda. You
know, he'd be so shocked if he saw me now."
   "Working for ISO, you mean?"
   "No, being physically intimate with those filthy humans."
   "I'm not human. I'm half a robot now."
   "Yes, that ought to please him. His next servant will probably
be a robot. After this one runs off, that is."
   "Will she?"
   "Rayek says it's only a matter of time. He doesn't really
control her the way he controlled me. She's a live wire, Rayek
said."
   "She's worse than you were, that's for sure. Good thing she's so
thick." Joe thought back to an earlier remark. "Is that why he made
you work in the dome thing?"
   "To turn me off sex for life? Very probably."
   "I don't suppose he told you that, though."
   "No, he said it was to give me a sense of confidence. Knowing
that nothing could possibly kill me. And, of course, it was my
private contribution to Galactor funds. After all, I was supposed
to take care of myself."
   "But you had to obey the orders of others."
   "Things you don't question when you're a little kid."
   "Especially not when you're a scared little kid."
   "Bingo."
   "My parents weren't anything like that," Joe said.
   "Unfortunately for you, I know *exactly* what your parents were
like."
   Not wanting to go into that, Joe remained silent.
   "Although," she amended, "they probably had your welfare in
mind, too. I'd want to leave Galactor if I had kids. Maybe they
were just trying to do it in a way that wouldn't cost them their
lives." Joe's parents had not merely tried to flee Galactor, they
had tried to go to the other side using top-security information
about Galactor as a passport. Information that papa Asakura had
picked from the brain of a young Katze, still in training at B.C.
Island, in return for dubious comforts and the promise of freedom.
"I doubt he'd have taken me with him, though. I was too much of a
risk, and he may have realized what would happen to me once ISO got
its nasty hands on me. Pity he didn't know about the psi-link."
Through their telephathic link, X had known from the start what was
happening, but hadn't intervened until the betrayal had fully taken
place.
   "If X knew what they were doing to you, why didn't he do
something about it straight away?"
   "I assume he took it as another chance to show me just how
despicable these humans were."
   "And yet you always wanted to be a human."
   "I didn't want to be a freak. Life is hard for us freaks." Joe
assented. "And it doesn't do much for one's self-respect, either."
Joe assented again. "Have you ever considered the fact that what is
termed `self-respect' is in fact the measure of respect allowed to
you by others?"
   "That's pretty deep, baby."
   "It means that there is in fact no such thing as self-respect.
Only the circumstances inflate the ego. Or deflate it."
   Joe thought about it. It was a scary idea.
   "One could say the same thing applies to humanity. It's always
others who tell you what it means to be human. Some people use a
strictly biological definition, others demand a certain emotional
state, or try to define humans by opposing them to non-humans. I
remember a rather spunky director of an electricity plant yelling
at me: `You're not human!' when I threatened to blow the place up.
I could have said: `No, I'm a mutant.' But that wasn't what he
meant."
   Joe could see the point.
   "For instance, Nambu labels goons as not-human by calling them
`animals'. But that's ridiculous, because humans *are* animals.
They are *not* a species unto themselves, no matter what monotheist
sects or racial purists may say. And he's implying that humans
distinguish themselves from other animals by showing less
brutality, an issue on which I totally beg to differ. Of course I'm
slightly biased by past experience, but I would say the human race
is the single most mindlessly brutal species on the planet, with
possibly the wolverine as a close second." Joe nodded. She hardly
noticed, continuing her line of thought: "And the Gene Police - I
do hope the UN will deal with them as soon as they've finished with
Galactor - even maintain that Nordics are the so-called real
humans, and all other races are degenerates; effectively, non-
humans. So even if you are biologically fully human, and have all
the mental development expected of a human being, it's still
possible for someone to say you aren't. Just like Jun thinking
she's not a real woman. One would think a pelvic exam would
suffice, but apparently the word `woman' applies only to members of
an exclusive club that you can't be part of unless you pass a
number of exams. In which case Brace and Jinpei would rank higher
on the femininity scale than Jun does. Basically, it's all an
elitist thing. People form a group, make up the rules and then
decide if you're in or not. And if you're out, you're dead." She
was becoming progressively more bitter.
   "I think you're human," Joe said to console her.
   "There you are. You're kindly allowing me to join the group.
Well, biologically, I'm not. I'm just a very clever imitation of
one."
   "Why are you mad at me?"
   "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the semantic pollution which
allows living beings to be classified in a way that is
discriminatory as well as blatantly incorrect. Stop wincing, Joe.
Eric would have phrased it in the same way, and his IQ is just over
average."
   "I love you."
   "What a totally inept thing to say at a moment like this." She
stroked his cheeks and smiled. "How about another round?" Calmer
than before, they shifted around until their faces were at the same
height and joined mouths for a session of in-depth kissing.
   "Maybe Gel Sadra would ease up a little if she had a love life,"
Joe philosophized.
   "Oh, Joe, don't be sick. She's a minor."
   "She is???"
   "Why do you think I always call her a little kid?"
   "Biggest minor I ever saw."
   "She was force-grown. I was mutated before birth, she was
mutated after."
   "So actually she's just a normal human being."
   "Would you like me to hit you, Joe?"
   "Biologically speaking," Joe hastened to add.
   "I think she's genetically unaltered, yes. Although that would
be a contradiction in terms. The whole point about mutants is that
they have altered genes. I'm not exactly sure what X did to her."
   "He must have altered *something*. I mean, just look at her
hair. She looks like she stepped on a live wire or something."
   "She *is* a live wire. Says Rayek."
   "Yeah, that's right. You told me. Was that supposed to be some
special effect or what?"
   "It may have been one of his cunning plans. I don't know." She
was running her fingers up and down the gully of his spine again.
"I wouldn't put it beyond him. X really is abysmally stupid."

The phone rang. Throwing him off her like a blanket, she ran down
the stairs to answer it. Coming down after her, he heard the usual
neutral-voiced "Yes, Hunt speaking", followed by a delighted-
sounding "That's fine, I'll pass that right along. Look, he's here
right now, do you want to speak to him?" He walked into the living
room to ask who it was. As he entered, she covered the mouthpiece
with one hand and grimaced at him: "Oh my *god* it's *Jun*." He
hastily took the receiver to hear what his teammate had to say.
   "Hi, Joe. I thought you might be here." In the background, Katze
was imitating an answering machine: "I'm not wearing anything right
now, but if you leave your name, number and--" "Shut up!!" he
barked at her.
   "What was that?" Jun asked. Katze was grinning like a rat trap.
"Never mind. Just a bit of deranged humour." Jun made a
commiserating sound. "What I wanted to say was, could you come
right over? Nambu thinks there may be something suspicious going on
near that underground city they've tested the foundations of.
Something that might explain the instability problems they've had
lately." Joe knew what she was hinting at: Galactor activity,
again. Katze, who had been listening, yelled from the other side of
the room: "Tell Nambu that if Helvig gets even a scratch on him,
I'll have his guts for garters!"
   "Will you *shut up*!!" Joe called over his shoulder. "Yes, Jun,
you were saying?"
   "Who's Helvig?" Jun wanted to know. "A giant octopus from outer
space!" Katze sang out. "Shut *up*!! Sorry, Jun, I didn't mean you.
Helvig is a scientist who works for the same lab as Hunt does.
She's concerned about him."
   "I'm glad to hear he has *some* human sentiments," Jun remarked
icily. Katze, hearing this, marched out in a huff.
   "Great, Jun. Now you've hurt her feelings."
   "He shouldn't have been listening. That's another thing Nambu
wants to see you about. He thinks your present relation is
compromising your objectivity and your ability to function as a
team member."
   "Heck, you're beginning to sound like Hunt. To put it more
simply, he wants us to break up, right?"
   "Well, Joe... Do you really think it's healthy? With a creature
like that?"
   "Are you implying she's got VD?" He could almost hear Jun
blushing at the other end of the line, and grinned in satisfaction.
Good. He didn't mind Jun, he liked her - they had saved each
other's lives more than once - but her total refusal to see Katze
as a human being stung him, on more than one account. Ken he might
just be able to trust, but Jun...
   "He's twisting your mind, Joe."
   "She's doing no such thing. She's getting her own mind
untwisted, as a matter of fact. Just what do you think she is,
anyway?"
   "He's a dangerous criminal, and a sadist, and a lunatic. And
he's a... Well, you know what he is."
   "She can't help that, and it's not something you should hold
against her. As for what she *was*, she had no choice at the time.
And I didn't catch *you* trying to help her. Dammit, she's trying
to make up for it now. You should give her a chance."
   "What, and allow him to trick us again?" Of course, it was Jun
who had been kidnapped by the woman captain and strapped to the
Devil Claw, and who had watched Jinpei being dragged off to be cut
open. But he himself had been tortured, and had seen his parents
die. He thought she was being a tiny bit unfair.
   "Why in the name of all that's holy would she want to trick us?
She's settled in now, why would she want to lose everything she's
got just to live up to *your* expectations?"
   "I'm sorry, I just can't trust him."
   "All right then, don't. She's not asking you to. But give her a
break, for heaven's sake. What do you *want* from her?"
   His head on a platter, Jun thought on the other side of the
line, but she was too well-mannered to say it. "Anyway, she's not
your type, is she?"
   The change of pronouns had not gone unnoticed by Joe. "What do
*you* know about that? What do you think my type is, anyway?"
   "Something that doesn't change gender on a yearly basis?" Jun
suggested. "Just wait till he's back to male - maybe then you'll
see what you've been sleeping with all this time."
   Just wait until my power runs out during a mission one day, Joe
thought morosely, and you'll see what you've been in the same team
with all this time. He hung up.

                            *   *   *

   "Joe's left already?" Rayek asked. Coincidentally, he had come
in at the same time as Brace, who was now upstairs ironing. She had
been glad to see either.
   "Stamped off after Jun said something less than tactful. For
someone who tries so hard to be a lady, she certainly knows how to
put her foot in it."
   "Maybe that's why she rarely speaks up. Any news from Helvig?"
   "No. But I'm worried."
   "You should be. Baby Sadra's planning something. And precog
tells me Joe's involved."
   "Oh *no*."
   "Don't worry. He won't be the one to die."
   "Who will? Little-girl Sadra?"
   "No, she won't die, either. No matter how many extras get
killed, the main characters always survive to continue the dance."
   "So, piles of goons will die. No precog needed to predict that,
eh?" 
   Rayek pulled his eyebrows together over the root of his nose to
signify no. It was something he did automatically, but she knew
what it meant. To someone who didn't, it resembled a saddened
frown. Waveworld mimicry resembled human mimicry in many respects,
but there were some differences.
   "Baby Sade's developing precognitive powers, too," Rayek
announced.
   "She is? She's a psychic?"
   "I'm afraid so."
   "That's it. We're toast."
   "Psychic powers are useful in the hands of those who know how to
use them. Even the Selectran doesn't know how to use them wisely.
Consequently, neither would his human pet."
   "His mutant pet, you mean."
   "His human pet. Mutated she may be, she's still human."
   "How can you tell?"
   "She bears enough resemblance to a human to be classified as
one. No two humans are alike, so any standard of humanity must
necessarily be false, but it serves as a useful yardstick to see
what falls within the group, and what does not. I'd say Gel Sadra
still falls within the group. She may be altered, but she's not in
any way abnormal, for a human adult."
   "She's huge."
   "But her growth process wasn't of a pathological nature. She's
healthy, and she has all the right proportions."
   Katze poured some more coffee and thoughtfully stirred a lump of
sugar into her mug.
   "Would you say I still fall within the group?" she asked
mournfully.
   "Mmmm. Tricky." He took a sip from his mug of tea; Rayek was not
a coffee achiever. "It all depends. You see, there are two
fundamental assumptions humans make about themselves, that don't
apply to you. Firstly, it is the rule that every human belongs to
either one sex or the other, each with its assigned role, and whole
civilizations are built on the difference between their social
positions. So if you get humans who actually belong to both and can
change from one to the other at will, that certainly throws a
spanner in the works. Secondly, it is assumed that, after a certain
amount of injury, humans die. Of course, you would also die if the
right damage was done, but your regenerative ability is just that
much more efficient than most people's to make you stand out.
Still, I'd say your fundamental crime is not conforming to gender
restrictions. Other than that, you're entirely human."
   "I am?"
   "Of course you are. You're constructed according to the human
model, aren't you? You may have some genital aberrations, and
believe me, you are not the only one, but I don't see any cloven
hoofs or pointed ears on you. You're a virtually hairless biped
with a big cranium and opposable thumbs. As an objective, non-human
observer, I'd say that makes you human."
   "Physically, you mean."
   "Well, in what other way would you define it?"
   "Nambu likes to set moral standards, too."
   "Nambu, if you'll excuse me, is a narrow-minded prig. I respect
his ideals, but one wishes he would be more critical of himself.
Only the existence of an institute like Galactor has allowed him to
keep up his present mode of behaviour for so long. One could say
Nambu and Galactor need each other to survive."
   "He'd give you a very nasty look if you said that to him."
   "He can look at me any way he likes. I'm not concerned." Brace,
who had finished ironing, came down to join them. "Where's Joe,
anyway?" he asked, as he poured himself some coffee and added
cream.
   "Out," said Rayek. "Reconnoitering around this famous ghost
base, and being lectured by Nambu on the nature of humanity."
   "Or inhumanity," Katze added. "And, as you've probably guessed,
I'm the main subject of the lecture." Brace shook his head as he
stirred his coffee.
   "I guess he doesn't like you two being together, eh, boss?"
Katze also shook her head, while Rayek sadly frowned again.

   "Joe."
   Joe's only response was a baleful glare. This, Nambu knew, was
not going to be easy. But dealing with difficult persons was a
skill of his. He knew when to bellow, when to stay calm and,
generally, when to stop. Interlacing his fingers before him on the
desk, he sized up the defiant adolescent huddling in the chair in
front of him, and commenced the battle of wills.
   "You know why I sent for you."
   "Jun told me."
   "And?"
   "I'm not doing it."
   "Not doing what? Could you explain yourself there, please?"
   "I'm not breaking up with her."
   "With him, you mean."
   "She's both. So you can use either word."
   "Joe, need I remind you of what he is, what he has done, and
what he is capable of?"
   With a look of utter venom, Joe replied between his teeth: "You
don't know shit."
   "Joe, please."
   "I found her before you did! I spoke to her before you even knew
she was alive! I know what she's like now."
   "Do you?"
   "Yes."
   A pause.
   "Joe, he's not a woman. He's not even a human being."
   "How do you know she isn't? Who are you to judge, anyway??"
   "Joe, please calm yourself. Remember where you are."
   "Where I am because I came *back*. I needn't have. I could have
stayed in hiding and left you all to get blown up. Dammit, you
killed me once already! Now you want to kill me again??"
   "Who gave you that idea? Katze?"
   "She didn't give me any ideas. She had me pumped full of lead
and she knows it. She said she was sorry. You made me what I am now
and I haven't heard you say sorry."
   Nambu frowned. "Joe, you're speaking in riddles. Could you
please tell me what this is all about?"
   No, he couldn't. Not even Nambu must know.
   "We're staying together," he said stubbornly. "Either that, or
I leave the team."
   "The world needs you, Joe."
   "Yeah, well, she needs me too. And I need her."
   Nambu sighed. "There are other fish in the sea."
   Joe's face turned a deep red, his hands crushing the armrests of
his chair. "You think she's just another broad?"
   Nambu made a non-committal shrugging movement with his eyebrows.
"What else would he - or rather, she, if you insist - be? I have no
doubt your attitude will change as her gender does."
   "Well, there you're *wrong*."
   "Really?"
   "She was a guy when I met her. And that's when we became
friends."
   This was an unexpected bit of information. "Would you care to
explain to me why you became friends with someone who killed your
parents in front of your eyes?"
   "She didn't. There were a lot of things she did do, but that she
didn't. Why bring all that back again? She *helped* you, dammit!!"
   "Really? How?"
   "She told you about that base."
   "I'm sorry, but that communication came to me from the sub-C's
security department, after they followed up a lead from a professor
Helvig."
   "Who knows her from work, and who she's expecting a call from
any minute now to know if he's still alive. She was the one who
warned him."
   "Anyway, the area has been searched and no base was found, still
less any sign of the Galactor activity reported. You saw for
yourself. I'm afraid the alarm was a false one."
   "I don't believe it. This is Galactor we're dealing with. It's
sure to be a trap."
   "What are your sentiments on Galactor, Joe?"
   Joe could see that he, too, was being set up for a trap. He
considered getting up and dismembering his chair in front of
Nambu's eyes.
   Nambu saw that the moment had come to stop. "You may go. I'll
speak to you about this later."
   Too angry to take the car, Joe transmuted to Birdstyle in the
corridor and broke head first through one of the windows to fly
home. He hoped the sound would give Nambu a shock. His visor
protected his face from the shattering glass, although a flying
fragment opened a tiny scratch on his chin. In the air, he spotted
another flying form coming at him. It was the Eagle.
   "Joe!!"
   "Fuck off!! I'm going home."
   "No you're not. I want to talk to you." Ken was now flying right
above him, at the same speed.
   "That's tough, because I don't want to talk to you. So *fuck
off*."
   "Joe, what's this about your leaving the team?"
   "None of your fucking business! I can leave if I like!"
   "Katze put you up to this, didn't he?"
   Abruptly righting himself in mid-air, Joe hit Ken in the stomach
with the back of his helmet. While Ken coughed and choked, he
soared away in a wide arc.
   "You don't get away that easily!" Ken yelled after him. The
chase was on. Even without an aeroplane, Ken was the better flyer;
he soon forced Joe to land, and hit him on the jaw. Joe staggered
backwards into a tree. They were still in the city, on a pavement
bordering a park. Various passers-by turned to look.
   "What do you mean, you can leave if you like? You're a Science
Ninja!"
   "I *was* a Science Ninja. Now I'm a... a..."
   "A what?"
   "Damn tired of always having to listen to you, is what I am! I'm
fed up with the whole fucking lot of you! You're always out to save
the world, and you don't have it in you to be kind to one...
single..." His voice trailed off.
   "Oh, so you're still infatuated with that *thing*. Looks like
I'll have to knock some sense into you, then." He launched another
blow, but Joe sidestepped and threw him to the ground. "*Thing*??"
Joe hissed at him. "What gives you the right to speak about her
like that?" Ken punched upwards, hitting Joe on the chin. The cut
opened a little wider. Joe took him by the neck with both hands and
flung him backwards like a rag doll. A small crowd was gathering on
the street to watch the fight. From the distance, a sleek red car
was approaching the park.
   "I don't want to get rid of him," Ken gasped, kneeling and
fighting for breath after a well-placed hit in the solar plexus. "I
just want you to see that you can't stay together. It's for your
own good, Joe." Joe gave him a blow on the side of the head that
toppled him over onto the pavement.
   "What the fuck do you know about it??"
   "Joe, he's not a human being. And he's a former Galactor. You
can't trust him. Be kind to him, and he'll just use you. That's his
character, Joe. He can't help being that way."
   "Could you prove even one word of what you said?" Joe shouted at
him. "Damn you, Ken, you of all people should know better! You felt
sorry for her, when we found out what she was! I trusted you!" Ken
struggled to rise. The red car drew up at the kerb and the door
opened to let out Katze in a skirt and high heels, just as the two
were squaring up for another match. She loudly cleared her throat
to draw their attention.
   "Ohh... It's you. Going to the office?"
   "Yes, Nambu gave me a call. I happened to see your flight
acrobatics, so I decided to go and check it out. Thanks for
defending my honour, Joe, but there's no need to get your pretty
face bashed on my account." Ken smiled nastily. "Or Ken's. Jun
would never forgive me. Where's your car?"
   "Left it at the building. I'll pick it up later."
   Seeing red on his chin, she quickly stepped up to examine his
face. "You're bleeding. Did you cut yourself in the fight?"
   "No, it was probably the glass. I'll take a look at it when I
get home."
   "Glass?? Never mind, I don't want to know. I've got some band-
aids in the glove compartment. Wait a minute."
   "No, I'll be fine. Look, you said you had to see Nambu. He'll be
pissed off if you're late."
   "He's always pissed off at me. Are you sure you'll be all
right?"
   "I'm fine. I'll be going home now. See you around, okay?" Ken
was gazing sternly at him, but he ignored Ken. "Fine by me. Don't
know what time I'll be in, though. Tell me how things went at sub-
C. Ciao, both of you." She withdrew into the car, which smoothly
took off, leaving them alone in the street. The crowd had
dispersed.
   "You are *not* going to see him tonight," Ken said.
   "And why the hell not??"
   "You're not going to tell him anything of what happened at sub-C
or anywhere else. He's a security risk."
   "Oh great, first she was a spy and now she's a security risk.
When are you guys gonna wise up?"
   "Joe, confidence has to be earned. I don't think he's earned it
yet."
   It was something all members of the team had said time and time
again, Jinpei repeating it faithfully after his adoptive sister.
"For Christ's sake, what do you want her to *do*? What will it take
to get you lot to treat her like a normal human being?"
   "Well, that's the point, isn't it? He's not."
   "And that means you can't treat her like one?"
   Suddenly, they both felt very fatigued. "Joe, I'm not going to
argue about this. But the sooner you get away from that creature's
influence, the better. You'll be grateful to us one day."
   Joe was sorely tempted to tell him the truth. But he didn't. He 
detransmuted, walked all the way back to his car to calm himself
down, and stopped at a jeweller's store as an act of defiance to
buy a necklace with a dolphin-shaped pendant that he thought she
might like. After a bit of thought, he also dropped in at a comic
store to buy a Dark Elf artbook that he'd seen her admiring in a
shop front once. She was hardly a comic lover, but she occasionally
picked up an issue of the Dark Elf saga to read on the subway. He
flipped though the pages; misty images, cataclysmic explosions,
mythical creatures rearing up in equally mythical landscapes, a
moderate amount of gore and bloodshed. On the whole, more aesthetic
than Codename Blenny or Space Ace. With a near-empty purse, but
with the two paper bags sitting very satisfyingly in the back of
the car, Joe drove off to the solitude of his trailer.


Katze, meanwhile, had taken the elevator to the appropriate floor
and was now seating herself in precisely the chair that Joe had
been mangling the armrests of. "I can see the Condor has been here
before me. What did you want to speak to him about?"
   "That's none of your business, please. I asked you to come here
so I could speak to you personally. Not in order to discuss my team
with you behind their backs."
   "Don't worry, I wasn't planning anything against them. It's just
that I tripped over two of them on my way here. Ken and Joe were
slugging it out on the sidewalk. In Birdstyle."
   Nambu made a mental note to reprimand both of them for
misconduct in uniform. "Could you tell me what they were fighting
about?"
   "As far as I could make out, the eternal question of whether or
not I belong to the human species, with all the social consequences
that that entails. And other things, no doubt."
   "Joe just told me he wants to leave the team."
   "Oh." Her eyebrows rose. "Any particular reason?"
   "Well, it has to do with you. He departed a few minutes ago,
through the window. Without opening it first."
   "Ah. I was wondering what had happened to the window. He was
lucky to get away with just a scratch."
   "A scratch?"
   "His chin was bleeding a bit when I saw him. I offered him a
band-aid, but he preferred to do without. I suppose he's sustained
worse injuries in his life."
   "To say the least. You know why I called you, don't you?"
   "To tick me off about something, no doubt. Or is it about the
shifting strata at the Vesuvius sub-C?"
   "I see Joe has been leaking confidential information to you."
   "No, I knew about it before he did."
   "Oh, really. No, that isn't what I wanted to talk about. You've
known Joe for a long time, haven't you?"
   His casual tone put her on her guard. Was he trying to find out
about Joe's secret? If he was, he would get nothing from her.
   "I found him after the failure of the Black Hole project. He was
wounded, and staying at the house of the person who saved him. I
agreed to look after him until he recovered."
   "Really? Why?"
   "Because there seemed to be no point in maintaining the old
enmity."
   "And?"
   "I didn't want him to die. That's all."
   "I understand there is some sort of relationship between you?"
   Her lower eyelids crept up, narrowing the visible part of the
eyes. "That's none of your business. I don't remember any clause in
the contract allowing you to inquire into my private life."
   "That is because we had no idea of your involvement with G-2 at
the time, and, I regret to say, because the whole affair was more
or less arranged over my head. However, I cannot allow it. His duty
is first and foremost to protect the world against the threat of
Galactor. He can't afford to be weakened by personal relationships,
especially not with former Galactors who have a long record of
anti-ISO activity. I'd hoped the affair would end naturally, but as
he still doesn't seem to have shaken you off, I feel it my duty to
intervene."
   "What?? And exactly how did you think you could intervene?" She
was tense now, her eyes blazing, her nostrils quivering. He hoped
she wouldn't throw a fit in the office. He didn't feel very
comfortable with the mutant, despite his outer composure, and the
fact that s/he was currently female only widened the gap between
them. Nambu was not at ease with women; he could deal with them in
a professional context, but otherwise steered clear of them as much
as possible.
   "Very simple. I am ordering you now to terminate the
relationship and drop all communications with the Science Ninja
Team. If you refuse, I'll call Hakani and advise him to dismiss
you. If that still doesn't convince you, I'll see what other
measures I can take."
   "Nambu, you *bastard*." She looked very close to throwing a fit
now; Nambu felt for the button under his desk that would bring in
a number of security men if he should need them, but she retained
her self-control. Still, she looked as if she might explode at any
moment.
   "Is this some kind of punishment? Is this your revenge for my
trying to kill you?"
   "The notion of revenge does not apply in this context. I am
simply doing what's best for everyone."
   "For everyone?? You're playing one of your little power games,
you mean. I'd like to hear your justification."
   "You are a risk to G-2's safety. I should think that would be
obvious."
   "When have I ever risked his safety?"
   "At occasions too numerous to mention. You have twice
detransmuted him with the aim of disabling him, you have organized
search parties to capture him, you are responsible for severe brain
damage which--"
   "Which you aggravated by subjecting him to a treatment no
medical doctor would approve of," Katze cut in aggressively. "As
well as regularly putting his life in danger with your screwball
missions, and using his past to turn him into a killing machine.
And, speaking of the past, I thought that score was settled when I
signed the contract. I'd like to know what you think I'm supposed
to have done to endanger his life *since then*."
   "Since he knows you, he's sloppy about his training, his loyalty
is flagging, he disobeys orders and he has just now stated that he
wants to leave the team. Also, his standards of behaviour are
falling. It would appear you have a very bad influence on him."
   "Bad influence?? Damn you, I practically taught that baboon to
read, write and clean his fingernails! *I* was the one who..."
   "The one who what?"
   She bit her lip. "Never mind. I hate you, Nambu."
   "The one who persuaded him to leave the team?"
   "I never said or hinted anything to that effect. He didn't want
to join again in the first place. You should be grateful he did."
   "And it doesn't please you?"
   She was completely hostile and withdrawn now. Nambu sensed he
was winning.
   "I don't want to see him get shot to bits again. But that can
happen to anyone, so I suppose he's safest where he is now."
   "And, with an eye to his safety, you'll understand why I must
henceforth forbid you two to see each other."
   "Oh?" Her nose was wrinkling. Their eyes met; Nambu stared back
through his glasses, and they remained locked in a silent battle,
neither turning their head away.
   "Well, in that case, let me tell you something, *Doctor* Nambu.
The only reason I agreed to sign the contract in the first place
was so that Joe and I could stay together. If we can't, then as far
as I'm concerned the contract is void."
   "Are you aware that, in the event of your disobeying the terms
set in the contract, the death sentence will come into effect
immediately?"
   Little currents of electricity ran up and down her limbs and
fingers and shot out through her eyes as tiny shafts of lightning.
Nambu felt for the button again.
   "I'm beginning to see," she said, with a cold, deep hatred that
caused chills to spring up at the back of his neck, "why Joe would
want to jump out of the window. I'd do it myself if it wasn't such
a drop." Without awaiting further orders, she rose, turned and
marched out. Nambu decided to let her go; he was glad to see the
back of her. Turning on a tiny transmitter, he once again contacted
the Eagle.

Katze strode back to the elevator and out of the building, slamming
doors behind her left and right. Few heads turned, and when they
did, without much surprise: "Oh, it's Hunt." She yanked open the
car door, angrily clicked the seat belt shut and roared off, almost
running over an inoffensive businessman who hurriedly jumped aside
to save himself. Once she had passed the city limits, she increased
her speed, burning the tyres on the tarmac. She didn't really want
to go home, especially as home might not be a very safe place any
more; all she wanted now was to get away. She considered driving to
the north and going AWOL for the day. Or for a week. Or for the
rest of her life.
   "Hi, Sharkey," a crystal-clear voice said from the back seat.
"Mind if we slow down a little? I don't think well at five hundred
miles an hour."
   In a reflex Katze stamped down on the brakes, and the car
skidded. She turned the wheel frantically to regain control and
finally brought the car to a standstill at the side of the road,
hanging over the steering wheel and breathing heavily.
   "God you scared me. How did you know where to find me?"
   "I could hear you giving out little distress signals all the way
from Tokyo to the moon. Do you want to come over to our place and
talk about it?"
   Maybe, she thought, the ever-crowded apartment of the twins
would be the only place in the world that was safe to her now.
Linked to another reality through a quantum gate, it was the
unofficial embassy of the Wavelings, as the twins called themselves
and their race.
   "Yes. Yes, that would probably be for the best. Hang on. Just
give me a minute." She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.
Win reached out to put a hand against her neck, and a sensation of
deep tranquillity rippled outwards from the point of contact. The
hand was withdrawn again, and the sensation died away, leaving only
a warm glow.
   "Feeling better now?"
   "Yes. Thanks."
   "I see you're wearing your office disguise - had a run-in with
Nambu?"
   "You could say that."
   "So he's finally decided not to put up any longer with the
unholy union between a man and a mutant."
   Katze laughed. "Yes. I suppose that's the real reason. Of
course, he used my criminal record to justify himself."
   "Nambu seems to have a problem in distinguishing what people are
from what they do."
   "True. That's why he's scared of women."
   "Silly old codger. Maybe he wouldn't approve of Joe shacking up
with any woman at all."
   "Don't see why not. Joe's always been up to his neck in women."
   "Yes, but it was never serious before, was it? Now you've got
the problem of conflicting loyalties. And if Nambu's still
convinced you want to take over the world..."
   "No, he's convinced I want to cause trouble. He doesn't bother
to ask himself why."
   "Because you're a mutant," Win said with heavy sarcasm. "Which
means that the definition of a mutant is someone who's out to cause
trouble. Which would then mean that your average kindergarten class
is full of mutants, which explains, in turn, how the goon in the
tube came by Gel Sadra. So you see, in the end it all works out."
Katze laughed again.
   "Mieux vaut en rire," Win said. It was her personal motto. Katze
nodded.
   "So." She gave Katze a pat on the head. "Let's go over to our
place and have some lunch. I'm starving. Aren't you?"
   "Yeah, me too," Katze agreed. She hadn't noticed, but it was
already half past twelve.
   "And you can stay for dinner if you like. In fact, stay as long
as you like. I'll call Brace and ask him to feed the cat - he's got
the keys and everything, doesn't he?"
   "Yes. Thanks. You know, I may not go back for a long time. Maybe
not at all. I may have to go into hiding again."
   "Nambu threatens to open the hunt if you don't comply?" Win
guessed correctly.
   "Exactly. He's very jealous of his little darlings. Oh well, it
was bound to happen sooner or later. Maybe we shouldn't have been
so open about it."
   "Can't think how he'd have reacted if he'd found you two were
dating on the sly. No, I think frankness was the best option. And
don't worry, he hasn't beaten you yet. You've got us. Nambu may be
influential, but he's not the president, and we have our influence,
too. Don't give up too soon."
   "You'd have to fire him, cut out his tongue and freeze him in a
cryogenic unit to stop him from doing anything against me."
   "That can be arranged," Win said with unusual grimness.

Rayek was in. Angel was out.
   "Where's my divine darling?" Win shrilled out with the silly
flippancy Katze was used to.
   "Our hands and feet on Earth have gone out to do some very
necessary shopping for us," Rayek returned. "I told him we'd be
having guests."
   "Oh, Jon, you're such a life-saver." Unable to hug him in the
normal human way because of the hump on his back, she crunched his
neck in her arms. He imitated the sound of breaking bone, and she
hastily released him. Katze laughed.
   "Welcome back," Rayek said, rubbing his neck and indicating that
she should sit on the couch. "Coffee will be served in a minute,
because my helpful sister will at this instant depart to the
kitchen to prepare it." Win turned up her nose, pouted and left.
"And so, sanity returns. What did Nambu have to say about the
quakes?"
   "Didn't even get round to it. He put the team on it, so I guess
that's all right."
   "Found nothing, and pulled the team off it again. Yes, I made an
illicit little call to Joe. Not quite within my duties as planetary
observer, but... Oh well. It's not our problem, I suppose. Do you
want to call Joe, by the way?"
   "I doubt if he's in. He's probably on the race track now,
wasting petrol. No doubt Nambu threatened him, too."
   "I don't see how he could." They sat back in silence. Rayek
restarted the cd that he had put on pause to open the door,
diminishing the volume. Kate and Ann McGarrigle piped up in
subdued, reedy voices. After some time, Win came into the living
room with a tray and cups. "I took the liberty of making tea
instead. Waffles, anyone?"
   "I didn't tell you to make any waffles," Rayek said, frowning in
displeasure. Katze had smelled the batter baking in the kitchen,
but she knew that, in contrast with their amazing hearing and
eyesight, Wavelings had little sense of smell. Still, she thought,
he should have heard the sound of the eggs being whisked and the
waffle iron being opened.
   "I tend to be a mite disobedient," Win replied, smiling sweetly.
"Also, I was hungry."
   "So you prepared something totally devoid of vitamins and
minerals."
   "I'll grate a raw carrot for you if you like."
   "No thanks." Win passed cups and plates around, and they ate.
   "Aren't you going to save any for Angel?" Katze asked, seeing
the pile of waffles diminish into nothingness.
   "Naah, they're no good cold. I'll chuck a pizza in the oven for
him when he gets back."
   "There's a real woman for you," Rayek said, nodding at Win. "She
can't cook, she can't sew, she never refers to herself in the
feminine and she pinches boys' butts." "Darn straight!" Win said
happily.
   "I'm sure you're very feminine by Waveworld standards," Katze
said placatingly.
   "Not heightwise, anyways!" Katze had been told that a relatively
tall Waveworld male stood at five feet or under, while the women
were almost half as tall. Win was five foot two.
   "Biologically, I suppose she's female," Rayek said reflectively.
"Still, what makes a woman?"
   "What makes a woman what?" Win wanted to know. "Cook, clean and
sew, you mean?"
   "Being threatened with the death sentence, probably," Katze
said. "Can't imagine why else they'd do it."
   "Because, in this bloody hopeless world, mate, if they don't,
nobody else will. I mean, someone's got to do it, ain't they, and
it's always the socially inferior who wind up doing the lousy
jobs," Win imitated a lower-class socialist.
   "Which is why Jinpei's always washing up... Ah, it's all
becoming clear to me now."
   "It's a plot! It's all a fiendish plot!" Win said, widening her
eyes in a maniacal way until she looked quite fiendish herself.
"It's a way to keep the ups up, the downs down and the middle ones
in the middle! Hierarchy, my friend, hierarchy!"
   Katze broke into giggles. "Why am I suddenly reminded of
Galactor goons..."
   "I don't know, why are you suddenly reminded of Galactor goons?"
   "Because--" She tried hard to control her laughter. "We make
them all look alike so they'll know who's on their own side, and
then we put these ludicrous uniforms on the captains so they won't
shoot their own commanders. Honestly, one captain had to wear a
fish mask so everyone would know he was taking care of the
underwater attack and wouldn't bomb his submarines."
   "That's nothing!" Win squealed, falling down over the couch
also. "When I used to live in Canada..."
   "Oh god, the deer hunters," Rayek said, rolling his large eyes
impressively heavenwards. "I've heard it."
   Katze hadn't. "So then he painted the word COW all over his cows
in big letters so the hunters wouldn't shoot them, and guess what?
Next day his tractor was riddled with bullet holes."
   "Why on Earth? Couldn't they see the difference between a
tractor and a moose?"
   "Because it was a John Deere tractor!!" Win doubled up. "A brand
name," Rayek informed Katze, "printed on a plaque on the bumper."
She had to think a while before she buried her face in her hands,
making odd gagging sounds. "Oh no... I don't believe it... How
could *anyone* be so *dismally* stupid?"
   "People find ways," Rayek assured her. A key turned in the lock,
and Angel entered with a shopping bag on either arm. "Hi y'all.
What's the joke?"
   "Deer hunters," Rayek said with a sigh, walking up to take the
bags from him. Angel rolled his eyes, too.
   "Irrefutable proof," declared Win, "that the distinguishing
characteristic of the human species is the possession of a superior
intellect." Katze hid her face and shook in silent mirth.
   "Yeah, right. Hi, Sharkey. What brings you here?"
   She wiped the corners of her eyes and smiled at him. "I had to
break out for a bit. So, how are you?"
   "Never better. How long will you be staying?"
   "I don't know yet. A long time, maybe."
   "That's good, because we've got plenty of books we want you to
read, plenty of music we want you to listen to and plenty of other
things to waste your time with. Did you take a holiday? By the way,
do I smell something baking?"
   "Go chuck a pizza in the oven, Win," Rayek said. Katze giggled
again, then cast down her eyes. "I guess you could call it a
holiday. Nambu's going to make sure I lose my job."
   "What for??" Angel demanded indignantly. While Win slipped off
to heat a pizza, Katze told the other two what had happened. Win
rejoined them just as she finished.
   "The *bastard*!!" Angel spat out. "Why, that smug, self-
satisfied son of a bitch. He's looking for a punch in the jaw any
time now."
   "I agree that Nambu, while readily accusing others, is not so
critical towards himself," Rayek said. "He may be too convinced of
his own inner goodness to think he could abuse his power. Such
types can be the hardest to deal with. Still, he's not malicious at
heart, and we may be able to bring him round. I'm afraid you upset
the status quo as he knows it, and so he tries to restore it by
removing or eliminating you; if we could get him to understand
this, I've no doubt he would change his behaviour... Have you told
Stanley yet?"
   "No, but I'm due for next week... Or rather, I was..." Her
visits to Stanley were now two-weekly, but she kept his telephone
number in her bag in case of emergencies. "But I can't drag him
into this."
   "You can certainly let him know what's happening. And you may be
sure he'll give Nambu a piece of his mind."
   "Exactly!" Win joined in. "You're not alone any more, Sharkey.
You've got friends now. He can't just treat you like dirt." Angel
gave her shoulder a squeeze.
   "I'm the one who treats people like dirt," Katze said, looking
down at the carpet. "He's got a lot against me, and the problem is,
it's all true. I did steal their uranium, I did destroy their base,
and I did send captives to the vivisection lab. And now it's their
turn. I'd be a hypocrite if I resisted."
   "That sounds dangerously like guilt," Win observed.
   "Well, yes, I am guilty. I've got a huge file to prove it."
   "I think my sister meant feelings of guilt," Rayek said. They
were sitting around her now, Angel at her side with an arm around
her shoulders.
   "It's like having a debt to pay," Katze said. "And knowing part
of it can never be paid, no matter how hard you try... Seriously,
there are some things that I wish had never happened. But I don't
want to grovel." Angel nodded understandingly. Win gave him a sign
and discreetly slipped away.
   "Do you think anyone would be the better for it if you allowed
Nambu to manipulate you like this?"
   "I don't know... It might give people satisfaction."
   "But it won't, because none of your surviving victims will ever
know about it. Although Nambu might be satisfied."
   "Nambu doesn't believe in revenge." Tears were crowding her
lashes. Win reappeared, helpfully offering some tissues. They were
"Beluga" tissues, she noted, made from the pulp of ecologically
grown trees by a manufacturing process not harmful to the
environment. A little green whale logo was stamped on each packet
to prove it. She smiled in spite of herself.
   "Yes, very PC, isn't it?" Win grinned in acknowledgement.
   "If Nambu doesn't believe in revenge, why is he destroying your
life?" Rayek quietly pursued.
   "He thinks I'm some kind of monstrosity. He doesn't want the
team to have anything to do with me. Not at close range, anyway. He
wanted me to get on well with the others at first because he had
all kinds of plans for me, but now he's afraid I'll brainwash them
or something."
   "And do you?"
   "Well, I'm certainly not blindly loyal to ISO." She sniffed, and
blew her nose. "Maybe that's why he's trying to keep me away from
them."
   "For criticizing the system?"
   "Yes."
   "You've given me two reasons now," Rayek said, "and neither of
them has anything to do with your infamous past."
   "My infamous past never stopped him from using me."
   "But it gave him a super excuse," Win said. "And your being a
mutant makes another super excuse, regardless of the life you did
lead... Don't you ever feel as if you were born to be punished?"
   "Yes. And always have."
   "You know," Win said, "if I'd always felt that way, I'd think I
had nothing to lose. I'd think that if I was going to go down
anyway, I'd take as many of them buggers down with me as I could.
And I wouldn't be sorry for it, either." Katze plucked three
tissues from the packet and soaked them in rapid succession, trying
to control her breathing. Win reached out with one foot for the
little bin that stood somewhere against the wall of the apartment,
found that it was out of reach, brought it winging to her hand by
telekinesis and helpfully planted it at Katze's feet, so she could
dispose of the fistful of sodden wads.
   "I'm on your side," Angel said. "You're not a monster or
anything." More tissues were wetted.
   "Although I hate to admit it, you haven't done anything we
wouldn't have done under the same circumstances," Rayek added.
   Katze shook her head emphatically in denial. "Yes, but at least
you're--"
   "Human?" Win suggested. "Is that what you were going to say?"
   Katze laughed, wiping her eyes with a clean tissue. "You and
your stupid word games."
   "Does it matter to you what we are?" Rayek asked.
   "Of course not! You're my friends."
   "Consequently, should it matter to anyone what you are? Is there
anything that should make you intrinsically unacceptable?"
   "I'm not a very nice person," she said between sobs.
   "We think you're sweet," Angel reassured her.
   "I find you can be kind enough, when treated with kindness,"
Rayek said.
   "I hate to kill the mood," Win said, "but your pizza is ready,
oh divine one. I turned off the oven." Angel left for the kitchen
and came back with a pizza on a plate and a knife, only to find Win
had taken his place. She made a triumphant face at him. He shrugged
and started cutting the pizza into slices. It was too big for one
person, so he shared it out with the others, keeping a third of it
to himself. They decided between them that she would sleep in
Angel's bed, and Angel would share the spare mattress in the guest
room with Win. "We'll see about Nambu and his ploys tomorrow.
Tonight, you're safe with us." Win gave her a peck on the
cheekbone.
   "I suppose I don't really deserve this," she said uncertainly.
   "You haven't deserved anything of what happened to you," Rayek
said. "We might as well keep up the trend."

                            *   *   *

Nine hours later, drawing up before Katze's house, Joe wondered
what had happened. Recalling her saying that she didn't know when
she would be back, he had come as late as possible to be on the
safe side, occupying himself with detaching the various connections
to his trailer during the day. A steady neighbour of Ken's for the
past five months, he had decided to pull up his roots and settle
elsewhere. All that remained now was to come to some sort of
agreement with her on when and where they would meet. But no one
seemed to be in, while the gate was open. And leaning against the
front door stood Ken.
   Joe blinked twice before leaping out of his car, slamming and
locking the doors, and striding belligerently towards his teammate.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
   "I could say the same about you."
   "I came to see Hunt. Where is she?"
   "I don't know. I've been waiting here for six hours. I've seen
no sign of him."
   "Do you mean she hasn't been in at all?"
   "Not while I was here."
   Joe hurriedly shut the gate with the remote, and turned on the
fence alarms. "Damn, that means the cat hasn't been fed yet." He
brushed past Ken and pulled a key out of his pocket to unlock the
door.
   "A man called Brace showed up at around five to feed the cat. He
couldn't tell me where the mutant was."
   "That means she's probably at a friend's." He became aggressive
again. "You still haven't told me what you're doing here!"
   "Nambu sent me. He wanted me to talk some sense into you."
   "Oh yeah?" Joe dropped in a fighting stance. Ken made a weary
gesture.
   "I don't want to fight. I just want to have a word with you."
   Joe was surprised. Although Ken didn't show his feelings
readily, he was generally the first to resort to blows.
   "All right," he said, holding the door open to him. "Come in.
I'll go make some coffee."
   While Joe was busy in the kitchen, Ken seated himself at the
dining table, under the portrait of the woman captain in a raincoat
holding a machine gun. The combination of her vacant expression and
the enormous gun under her arm almost made it a caricature. He read
the caption, although he already knew what it said: "BEWARE OF THE
MUTANT (never mind the dog)".
   "You should see some of the other pictures she's done," Joe
said, carrying in a tray. He set out the cups and poured the
coffee.
   "The little girl, you mean? The one called Win?"
   "Yes. She's some artist. Hunt's not bad, either."
   "You like him, don't you?"
   Joe winced at the masculine form, but didn't correct him. "Yes."
   "Okay, I won't say anything against it for now. But I do want to
know why."
   "Because she's brilliant, because she helped to save my life,
because she's been kind to me and because she's a different person
now. End of discussion."
   "And what about everything that happened before?"
   "I said end of discussion."
   "Don't you think he has some kind of obligation to make up for
what he did?"
   "She would if you let her."
   "I haven't noticed it."
   "She doesn't like to crawl before people. She wants to be
respected."
   "Respected?? After everything he did?"
   "She was tortured to make her like that."
   There was a brief silence.
   "Tortured?"
   "Yes."
   "So he was forced to do it?"
   "No, she did most things of her own free will."
   "I don't understand."
   "The alien called it training. She was beaten up and... and..."
He couldn't get the word out of his mouth. "Anyway. She was made to
hate people, and to believe they hated her. She never had any
friends. At least, they never lived very long. They were killed, so
she would always be alone and do whatever it took to feel safe.
She's been frightened for as long as she can remember."
   "Frightened? He never struck me as frightened... A coward,
yes..."
   "She's had a miserable life."
   "That's a lame excuse, considering the body count and the damage
done. There are other people who lead miserable lives, and they
don't necessarily try to destroy the Earth."
   "You know that was never her intention. Anyway, most of the
people who have miserable lives sign on with Galactor. How do you
think they get their recruits?"
   "I assumed they cloned them or something." They both grinned.
Ken put a hand on Joe's shoulder.
   "Are we friends, Joe?" he asked softly.
   "I don't know. Maybe. You don't really know me, do you?"
   "I've known you for more than ten years now."
   "I changed during that time. I'm still your friend. But you
might not be mine, if you knew more about me."
   "How do you mean? Is this about your parents?"
   Joe shook his head. "Remember Lucy?"
   "Lucy?" In his mind, Ken tried to recall all of Joe's previous
girlfriends.
   "The racer."
   "Oh, you mean the android!"
   A pained look crossed Joe's face. "Exactly."
   "Well, what about her?" Ken asked impatiently. "She self-
destructed, didn't she?"
   "Yes, she died."
   "She was only a robot, Joe."
   "Only a robot." Joe stared ahead of him, letting his coffee
become cold. His teammate waited for him to say something.
   "Joe?" he finally inquired, anxiously.
   "She was a good partner." Ken didn't answer, so he continued: "I
was there in the car with her. I spoke to her, those last hours
before she died. She had hopes and dreams, Ken, like any human
being. She wanted to betray Galactor, and she wanted me to help her
because she trusted me - is that how a robot behaves? She was all
wires and circuits, there wasn't a normal bone in her body, but she
had a mind, dammit. She had a life."
   "She wasn't human, Joe," Ken said gently. "She was just a very
good imitation."
   "Maybe not, but does it matter? What makes a human, anyway?
Brains? Emotions? Living in a body that bleeds to death in a matter
of minutes? Making mistakes? Do you have to be weak, to be human?"
   "I don't know," Ken responded. "I don't think anyone could tell
you." He had rarely seen Joe so shaken before, even in his old days
of hatred; his friend and teammate seemed close to tears. It
bothered him. Part of him was embarrassed at what he considered
unmanly behaviour, another part was touched.
   "Look. Suppose I took some sheet metal and a lot of components
and I hammered it all into shape and fitted it up to look like a
car, drive like a car and eat petrol like a car. Would you say it
was a real car, or would you just call it a good imitation?"
   "Humans are not mechanically constructed."
   "And what if someone invented a way to do it?"
   "Then we'd be in trouble."
   Joe didn't quite know how to take this reply. "How do you mean,
we'd be in trouble?"
   "We'd have to completely change our definitions of humanity.
Just imagine, Joe. All those new individuals, wanting their own
rights, their own lives, their own identities. There'd be
pandemonium."
   "Well, don't they have a right?" Joe demanded.
   "The planet would be too small for them."
   "We're overpopulated anyway."
   Silence. They finished the last of the coffee.
   "So, what are you going to do now?"
   "I'm going to wait for another hour and then go home."
   "Why? You found me, didn't you?"
   "Nambu wanted me to find the mutant, too. He threatened to duck
out on us."
   "Now that I don't believe. She's got nowhere to go."
   "He hasn't been back since he left Nambu's office."
   "So? She keeps irregular hours. She's probably staying at a
friend's or something. Why, did she have a fight with Nambu?"
   "They had an argument." Ken hoped Joe would not ask further.
   "What, like you and me had an argument? Nambu told her we should
split up?"
   "We hoped he would take it reasonably. Instead, he said that in
that case, he didn't feel obliged to honour the contract. So Nambu
reminded him of the consequences."
   "Ah." Joe nodded, darkly and knowingly. "So Nambu's basically
told her to do as he says or die. And then sent you to be the
executioner."
   Ken protested. "Of course, it would only be used as a last
resort..."
   "Is that how you think she'll take it? As a former Galactor?"

At the same time, in a small apartment in the heart of Tokyo, Katze
had conquered her worst nerves, and was becoming quite cheerful
again. "Just Galactor reflexes taking over," she explained gaily to
Angel and the twins, the dried tracks on her cheeks tinged brown
with mascara. Her eyes were ringed with black as though charcoal
lines had been drawn around them. "I shouldn't have run away like
that, there was nothing to be afraid of. Tomorrow I'll call Nambu
and have a word with him. Then I'll check things out at the lab and
see about getting some time off. Right now, I've got three jobs
going and two deadlines to meet."
   "I don't think you should see Nambu at this stage," Rayek said.
"Call Stanley and explain the whole matter to him. If he won't
intercede on your behalf, he might know someone who will."
   "That's right," Angel agreed. "You don't have to do this all
alone. Hell, it's incredible what these guys at the top think they
can get away with."
   "You're telling *me*," Katze said wryly. She had rubbed
shoulders with both the UN and the Galactor elite from a young age;
they had not always been on opposite sides. "Still, I can't believe
how hysterical I got over the whole thing. I was actually on the
point of packing my toothbrush and the laptop and driving off into
the sunset, never to return. But I can't face the thought of having
to start all over again somewhere else. I've done that so often
now..."
   "You don't have to run any more," Win said. "This is your last
station. You're safe here. And don't berate yourself for reacting
in a way that is, basically, only human. I think Nambu was being
unduly menacing."
   "Aren't those *my* lines?" said Rayek, frowning.
   "Gollygosh, they are! Do you want to sue me for infringement of
copyright?"
   "No, I think I'll let you off with a warning."
   "Good, now can we eat?" Rayek rolled his eyes again and returned
to the kitchen where two pans were simmering, while a third was
covered with a thick cloth.
   "I'm sorry to be disrupting your evening like this," Katze said
humbly.
   "Stop being so sickeningly good," Win reproached her. "Give me
the old Cougar growl." Drawing up her upper lip at Win, she growled
at the back of her throat. Win likewise bared her teeth, and
responded with a series of furious clicks and chitters. They both
laughed.
   "C'mon Sharkey," she said, pulling Katze off the couch. "Let's
get you cleaned up, and then you can help me out with MindGem. I'm
on the fourth level now, and I'm stuck." Katze knew the game,
although she had not spent much time on it yet. "Did you get as far
as the Lava Caves?"
   "Dinner will be ready in ten minutes!" Rayek called sternly from
the kitchen. "Oh, phooey," Win called back over one shoulder as she
led Katze to the book- and computer-choked space that was her room.

Meanwhile, Joe had unlocked the door to Katze's computer room. They
both entered and glanced around.
   "No note," Ken said.
   "It's getting dark. Want to stay?"
   "No, I might as well go home now. Nambu has his telephone
number, I'll call him tomorrow morning. What about you?"
   "I'm staying here to wait. I'll lock up after you."
   "You may not see him again. I'm becoming more and more convinced
that he ran for it."
   "Back to Galactor. Yeah, right."
   "No, I've already understood he'd do better not to show his face
there again. Well, it was interesting knowing him. He'll turn up
again somewhere, no doubt."
   Joe dropped into her working chair and sank his head on his
arms. "I can't believe it. Going off just like that without leaving
any kind of message, even without shutting the gate. And she didn't
take anything with her. Not even the notebook, nothing." Ken looked
puzzled. Joe indicated a small, flat suitcase standing against the
wall. Ken inspected it, and found that it opened into a laptop with
a trackball and adaptor. A panel of solar cells was affixed to the
casing containing the monitor half, so the batteries could be
reloaded while working with the screen up. Very clever.
   "You mean he has a habit of carrying laptops around?"
   "She's a computer freak."
   Ken contemplated the laptop. Over the last hour they had hung
around in the chairs in Katze's living room and talked. Mostly
about Katze, as Joe knew things about her that Ken had never
suspected. An image was forming of a wary, eccentric, highly
intellectual hermit, secretive but not malevolent, that Ken
couldn't quite marry to his memories of the Galactor leader. There
was no question that Joe was wholly and completely devoted to her,
but he had made surprisingly little mention of her physical
attractions. Maybe not surprising after all, Ken thought, because
as far as he was concerned, she had none. But for Joe to be
attracted by something other than a woman's body was new to him. He
shut the laptop and put it back where he had found it.
   "Maybe she crashed or something," Joe said. "She's a pretty wild
driver when she's upset. Maybe she's in hospital right now."
   "If he was, it'd be in all the newspapers tomorrow."
   "Damn, damn, damn. Nambu should've left her alone."
   "And let the whole affair continue?"
   "What right did he have to mess with us? We were okay the way we
were. And she wasn't causing him any problems."
   "He says you're losing discipline because of him."
   "Yeah, like I was really into discipline before she came. And I
always did what people told me, I never ran off on my own. No one
did! We were perfect! Now he's got a scapegoat to pile all the
blame on."
   "You're actually staying away from training. You never did that
before."
   This was not quite true; he had rarely missed training before,
because there was little else to distract him. Now, it was a chore,
a waste of time. "There's more important things in life. I'm
getting fed up with all this killing, anyway. Especially if it's
only dummies."
   "You can't pull out. Galactor won't stop its activities just
because you've decided to turn pacifist."
   "I know. That's why I came back. And that's why she came back
too, if you want to know. She could've just stayed in hiding, but
she wanted to be with me."
   "With you? Is that the only reason why he asked for amnesty?"
   "Why did you think?" They left the computer room. Joe locked it
behind them.
   "I thought he just wanted to save his skin."
   "If she'd wanted to save her skin, she could have done better
than contact the people who wanted her dead."
   Ken paused at the top of the stairs. "Joe. Is he actually in
love with you?"
   Joe beckoned him to a door that opened on a disorderly room with
a bed in the centre, a tall wardrobe against one wall and clothing
draped over chairs. On the wall facing the bed hung a portrait in
oils. Ken recognized the head of his teammate, with wavy dark hair
and burning eyes, set against the hills and brushwood of Sicily.
   "It was a present from Win. She wanted to put it in the bedroom.
Does that answer your question?"
   "She should paint a picture of me one day," Ken said in
admiration. "Yes, I guess it does... But what a sickening idea. I
mean, why...?"
   "She's lonely. She's got practically no friends. And we
understand each other."
   "And you... You love... her."
   "She's the best thing that ever happened to me."
   Ken shook his head. "I could tell she was loyal to you. I just
couldn't figure out why."
   "You thought it had to be some Galactor plot?"
   "I thought she was biding her time, waiting for a chance to
cause trouble." A question occurred to him. "Joe, what exactly
happened after Rafael found you?"
   "Nothing much," Joe said. Always reticent in the past, he had
lately become as close as Katze.

                            *   *   *

Katze woke in a strange bed to the sound of an alternately growling
and squealing girl's voice singing to a psychedelic beat. Looking
down to see what she was clasping, she found it was the pillow. She
quickly restored it to its proper place and laid her head on it,
hoping no one had seen. Having come totally unprepared, she had
been provided with a comb and toothbrush, and her garment for the
night had been an old T-shirt belonging to Angel. Hardly long
enough to cover her decently, it had rucked up around her waist
during the night. Oh well... Time to unwind the cocoon of the
sheets. She tried to make out the lyrics of the song, if that was
what it could be called: something about human behaviour being
definitely illogical, but ever so emotionally satisfying. `And
there is no map, and a compass wouldn't help at all...' As she
struggled her way out of the bedclothes, the events of the day
before came back to her. They were unreal now, like a bad dream. Of
course Nambu hadn't been serious; he was only worried on account on
her past behaviour. Well, she would show him that there was nothing
to worry about. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed and
groping for her watch, she wondered if her clothes would be dry
yet. Win had thrown the lot in the washer and pegged it out to dry
yesterday evening. With the current heat, they were bound to be...
Except that in the city, the heat was humid. Both Angel and the
twins were agreed that the current temperature just wasn't funny.
"Global warming!!" Win had shrieked like a prophet of doom, and
then politely asked how the Mantle Project was coming along. She
chuckled at the memory, and glanced at the face of her watch:
twenty to ten. That late already? In her own garden, the plants and
shrubs had reacted to the spell of hot weather with a vigorous
growth that brought to mind the mutated Reddar vines; her
description of the lush jungle that the once well-ordered patch of
land had turned into had prompted Win to give a rendering of "I'm
a Mean Green Mama from Outer Space", which had of course led to a
viewing of the relevant film, which had... All in all, it was past
midnight when they finally retired to their beds. She picked up the
comb from beside the bed to untangle her hair, which firmly
resisted. The squealing and growling had become a demure tingling:
`He's Venus - Venus as a boy...' It probably came from the living
room, where she knew the main installation to be located. Each of
the rooms had its own tape recorder or disc player with earphones,
because they were all music lovers, and their visits to Earth often
had the nature of a musical and cultural binge. Nowhere was
copyright more ignored and piracy more frequent than among the few
planetary observers of Waveworld, who had to take not only the
discs and records themselves, but also the electronics and
electricity-generating equipment necessary to play them; on their
homeworld, technical development of the Western type was virtually
nil. It was not a case of inferior intelligence; their own
resources and circumstances being different, they had taken another
path. They quickly adapted to whatever appliances the Earth had to
offer, even if their own weapons were knives and arrows.
   There was a tap at the door. No, actually, there was a series of
taps. Recognizing them as morse signals, she effortlessly decoded
the word BREAKFAST. Bending down, she rapped on the wooden frame of
the bed: OKAY HANG ON and finished the fight with her hair, braiding
it for the sake of convenience. She could smell cheese sandwiches
being toasted.
   Outside the door lay a little pile of clothing and a clean
towel. Picking it all up and pulling the hem of the T-shirt as far
down to her knees as it would go, she crept towards the shower.
Everyone was up. The music penetrated into all the rooms of the
apartment, and probably beyond, too; walls were thin in the Tokyo
flats. She supposed the twins had an understanding with their
neighbours, or were excused for being gajins. After a lukewarm
shower to wash away the night's sweat, she examined the pile of
clothes and deduced that the skirt wasn't dry yet. The stockings
were, but with Angel's socks and jeans, she wouldn't be needing
them. His clothes fitted her fairly well, although the sleeves
tended to be a bit short; she was narrow-hipped even in the female
form, and any trousers which were slightly wide on him fitted her
like a glove. The collar of her blouse was still damp, but maybe
that was just as well; she hoped it would keep her neck cool during
the day. There was a lot to do today: she had to talk to Joe, and
Nambu, and Hakani, and Stanley, and probably to Brace, and the lab
was still waiting for the calculations of the optimum size/weight
ratio for the floaters on those remote-controlled mine probes. It
was a top-priority project, as submarines in the Baltic and the
Dardanelles were having serious problems with sea mines, and an
earlier idea of hers to simply dump several hundreds of weighted
petrol drums into the sea and wait until the explosions died down
had been rejected.
   In the kitchen, Angel and Win had joined in a wistful Irish
ballad with a formal, intricate melody that soared up regularly
into the high notes. Their voices blended into one, controlled and
tuneful. She opened the door to listen.
     `A stor mo chroi, when you're far away
      From the home you will soon be leaving
      'Tis many a time, by night and by day
      Your heart will be sorely grieving...'
   Nodding to her to indicate he had seen her, but without pausing
in his singing, he handed her a plate of molten cheese sandwiches
with a fork and knife laid across it, and an orange. Win, who was
up to her elbows in hot water and dirty dishes, indicated a
steaming mug of chocolate (chocolate?) and a bottle of ketchup
(ketchup??). Taking it all, Katze stepped outside, hearing the song
continue behind her until she shut the door with her elbow. In the
living room, the voice of the psychedelic girl took over again,
quieter than before; someone had turned down the volume.
   "How thoughtful of my sister to provide you with your favourite
beverage," Rayek remarked. He was poring over an atlas. "Hope it
goes well with the ketchup."
   "I can take some pretty nauseous combinations."
   His eyebrows shied away from each other across his forehead to
signify yes. "Did you sleep well?"
   "Went out like a light. Thanks." He waited for her to finish
eating, then shut the atlas. "Have you come to any kind of decision
yet?"
   "Yes. I'll follow your advice and leave it to Stanley. Nothing
I say could ever convince Nambu, anyway. Also, I'm going back
home."
   "So soon?"
   She nodded. "I have work waiting for me. And Grey's probably
wondering where I've got to."
   "Do you want us to accompany you?"
   "Thanks a million, but no. I shouldn't get to the point where
I'm afraid to go out of doors without a bodyguard. Those days are
over."
   "I was thinking more of mental support."
   "Even so... I should grow up. I'm not a baby."
   "As you wish. But don't be too harsh on yourself." 
   "Who's that?" she asked to change the subject, pointing at the
installation.
   "Singer by the name of Bjork. Yes, I know, it sounds like
something rude," he said in response to her incredulous stare.
"Win's making a recording of it, and as it's not bad stuff to start
the day with, she left the volume on. Not my absolute favourite,
but I like her style." Her style being, Katze thought, total
impulsiveness, if the lyrics were anything to go by. Win sauntered
in to take the empty plate and the orange peels, picking up the
song in progress with the practised ease of someone who has heard
it many, many times: `We just might - and I know I'm a bit too
intimate - but something huge is coming up - and we're both
included...' Turning to Katze, she said: "Hi, sweetheart. Was it
enough, or do you want some more?"
   "Well..." she hesitated. If not actually rumbling, her stomach
was still politely tapping at its confines for attention. But the
form of address quizzified her. Win didn't wait for her to express
her sentiments verbally.
   "Okay then. Seconds coming up, sweetheart."
   "Don't take it personally," Rayek said, noticing her confusion.
"She calls everyone sweetheart."
   "Only eligible males. And mutants," Win sang over her shoulder,
sailing back into the kitchen.
   "You're being semantically ambiguous," her brother called after
her. "Do you mean all mutants, or just eligible ones?"
   "Are there all that many?" she returned, hanging round the
kitchen door. "You're suggesting a wide range of choice there, dear
brother."
   "Unfortunately for you, I'm unique," Katze quipped back. Win
winked at them both - a noticeable movement, with eyes her size -
and disappeared with the plate as if sucked in by the door. The
psychedelic girl was going ecstatic again: `I don't know my future
after this weekend - and I don't want to...' Rayek returned to his
atlas. He pulled out photocopied maps of Oceania and what had once
been the Bikini Atoll, and started marking locations with little
skulls.

Win and Angel were both disappointed that she should leave so soon.
"I'll be back," she promised. "And the next time, it won't be just
to ask for help." Win gave her a powerful farewell squeeze and
passed her the tape she had been recording. "This one was intended
for you. Hope you enjoy it. And don't fret about Nambu, okay?"
Angel kissed her on the nose. All three of them descended with her
to the car and waved her off. She threaded her way through Tokyo's
colourful, busy, and enervating traffic towards the bridge-like
road that led out of the centre and quite abruptly into an isolated
expanse, where a hardened track ran to the gate of the heavily
protected house of J. Hunt, testing engineer at Design and
Construction. The gate was closed; good. She knew that she had left
it open when she last departed, and scolded herself for not having
thought of it. Joe had probably visited last night and closed the
gate for her, or else Brace. Damn. Joe. She had given him reason to
believe she would be there last night. Another goof-up. "I'm losing
it," she told herself. As she went through the routine of opening
the gate and backing into the garage, the security of last night
fell away from her, and she felt lonely, small and unprotected. She
wished she hadn't said she would go alone. But it was too late now.
   "If it is human to err," she told herself grimly, "then I am
assuredly human. Also, I am a fool." She shut the front door behind
her with slightly more force than she had intended, clutching Win's
tape in her fist like a talisman. To regain her balance, she listed
mentally what she should do. First, call Hakani. She found it hard
to gather her thoughts. Maybe it was the heat. No, maybe she'd call
Brace first; it might help to hear a friendly voice. The light on
the answering machine was blinking in a pattern that signified two
messages. All right, listen to the messages first. She pushed the
appropriate button.
   Message one was from Hakani himself. What had happened to the
data she was supposed to have transmitted the day before yesterday,
and could she kindly call him back as soon as possible to explain.
Under the polite tone, she detected deep annoyance. She cringed;
she'd got the deadline wrong. Another mistake. But would that mean
that the second deadline... Oh no.
   Finding the tape still in her hand, she tucked it into the bag
that she always carried around with her. A beep sounded to herald
the second message. "This is Nambu. I see you've decided not to
answer my calls. If you think evasive behaviour is going to get you
anywhere, just forget it. I know you are used to committing any
crime with impunity, but you'll find the Supreme High Court less
lenient if you tangle with them a second time." She fell into the
nearest chair, her mentally prepared tasklist blown to bits. There
would be no work done tonight, she knew. She would be lucky to get
any sleep.
   The phone rang. She was tempted to let it ring; after four
rings, the answering machine would take over, allowing her to
listen without giving herself away. *No*, she decided. She wasn't
going to give in to that kind of cowardice. This was still her
house, and no one had the right to threaten her here. With a
shaking hand, she picked up the telephone and said in a level
voice: "Hunt speaking."
   "Ah, it's you! Lucky first time! This is Helvig. I'm home." She
remembered: he had promised to call her as soon as he was back, to
make sure he was safe.
   "Al!" His first name was Oleg, pronounced "Al-jeg"; she had
initially caught his attention by being one of the very few to get
the pronunciation right. "That's great! How were the results? Tell
you what, come over to my place and you can tell me all about it."
   "Home in Throndheim, I mean."
   "Oh."
   "What is it, Hunt? You sound a bit upset."
   "Had a little squabble with a superior. Also, I missed a
deadline. Not something I do normally."
   "Yes, I can see that missing a deadline would seriously upset
you," the old man at the other side of the line chuckled. "Fear
not, great minds have nothing to do with deadlines. If Hakani makes
any trouble, just fix him with a nice hard stare."
   "I'm afraid Hakani isn't the problem. My opponent is somewhat
higher up the social and scientific ladder. Doctor Nambu has taken
it into his head to interfere in my private life."
   "Old `superglued-goggles' Nambu? Well, well, well. Did he make
a pass at you?"
   "Worse. He's not trying to start an affair, he's trying to break
one up. And he's terribly insistent."
   "You're telling me you're married??"
   "No, just living with someone." She fidgeted, winding the long
strap of her handbag around her fingers.
   "Well, I'll be." Helvig sounded mightily amused. "The castrating
bitch actually has a boyfriend! Don't worry, your secret is safe
with me. Does he look like you?"
   "Not at all. He's Italian, he's a racer and he's thirteen years
younger than I am. You may have seen him; he's the young man who
drove me to work a couple of times."
   "Oh, him? Big congrats! Didn't know you had it in you. Thought
he was your chauffeur, by the way."
   "No, he works for Nambu. So you see the hitch."
   "No, I don't."
   "Nambu doesn't think it's part of his job. Or mine. He's
threatened to get me laid off if I don't end it."
   "Laid off?? You can't leave us, woman, we need you! Who does
Nambu think he is?"
   "Head of ISO," she reminded him glumly.
   "I don't care, this is definitely beyond the limits. What'll we
have next, matchmaking? Is old superglue planning little breeding
programmes for his prize scientists?" She laughed. "But seriously,
Hunt, this is very unprofessional of him. Want me to have a word
with him?"
   "I think that wouldn't be a good idea. You see, there's
something you don't know. He has a reason." She swallowed hard.
   "Skeletons in the cupboard? Go on, tell me. I love a juicy
scandal."
   She swallowed again. This might cost her a friend; Helvig had
lost two of his five children to Galactor raids. "Do you think you
can keep another secret, Al?"
   "That sounds serious. Well, you know me. Spit it out."
   "I used to work for Galactor."
   There was a long and pronounced silence.
   "Please tell me you were brainwashed," the voice on the other
end of the line said.
   "Oh, yes, definitely."
   "And you're back to normal now?"
   "I'm normal now. At least the shrink says so. I never was normal
to begin with."
   "But... why? Was it the money, did they abduct you, did they
offer you a scholarship? Why did you join them?"
   She opted for a half-truth, although in fact it had more truth
in it, she reflected, than was immediately obvious. "I never joined
them. My parents were Galactors."
   "Your parents were Galactors."
   "Yes."
   There was another long silence. When she started talking again,
it was in a low, hopeless voice. "I wish I could say I was only a
minor executive, trying to get away as soon as I could. But I
wasn't. I was one of their leading scientists, and I caused
considerable carnage. So if you're wondering about Tigg and
Tjorven, the answer is yes. And, to add another secret, the person
you thought was my driver is in fact a member of the Kagaku Ninja
Tai Gatchaman. So you can see why Nambu wants to split us up."
   "That's very trusting, to start a relationship with someone who
would have killed you without thinking before you changed sides."
   "He almost did kill me. And I almost killed him. So you see,
we've hit bedrock. Things could only get better from here."
   "I see. Hunt, you are incredible. You never fail to amaze me.
And does he hold any grudges?"
   "No, not really."
   "In that case I suppose I shouldn't, either."
   "Just wait till you see my file. And, now that you know, I'd
like to say..."
   "Say what?"
   "I'm sorry about your children. And the dog. And the house in
Dunnartheim. Lord knows that if someone blitzed my house, I'd kill
myself. But at that time I never stopped to consider."
   "Yes. Well, I accept your apology. But I'm... stunned. Excuse
me, I have to think about this. You were actually a Galactor?"
   "There's more of us. Remember when I told you about Rafe? He's
a former Galactor. So's Fernham, although he was rescued pretty
soon, so his record's relatively clean. Artemis 666 - I'm sure you
heard of her - was sucked in by Galactor at one time. I knew her
personally. She was - killed for insubordination. Even Joe's
parents were Galactors. It's all around us."
   "Who's this Joe?"
   "Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you. He's the member of the Science
Ninja Team."
   "Heavens. We have a Galactor in the Science Ninja Team?" Helvig
asked humorously.
   "No, not really... He was only eight when his parents were
killed. He probably never knew what it was all about. Anyway, Nambu
wrote out a false death certificate for him and adopted him."
   "So you're both former Galactors. Well, well."
   "Mm-mm. It's not the main thing that keeps us together, though."
   "So what's old superglue's problem? I'd say you were made for
each other."
   "Just wait till you see my file. I wasn't always as sweet and
loving as this, you know."
   "Does that mean you could actually get bitchier?"
   "You have *no* idea." They both laughed. "No, I was - mentally
unstable. Also, I was the result of a genetical experiment."
   "A guinea pig."
   "Yes, but not in the usual sense. Ask Nambu. He'll tell you all
about it." Something caught in her throat.
   "Hunt, are you all right?"
   "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that."
   "Good. Now I want you to know one thing. No matter what you may
have been in the past, I know you as you are now, and I trust you.
And I'm going to have a word with Nambu about this. I don't like
this kind of behaviour."
   "I hope you'll still be saying that once you've seen my file."
They chatted on a bit about family business - Helvig was married,
and quite happily - before exchanging goodbyes and hanging up.
Katze fumbled for the packet of tissues that Win had slipped her
just before leaving. Another gamble to risk her new-found safety.
One day, the whole world would know. At least Joe would be on her
side, and Stanley. With trembling fingers, she keyed Stanley's
number and left a short, concise message on his answering machine.
She knew that, regardless of what other rights she might be
stripped, she would still be expected in his practice at the
appointed day and hour. Her nerves were still jarred, but now might
be a good time to get some work done. No matter what unexpected
turn events might take, life, with all the demands it made, went
on. She was caught up in the wheels of ISO's machinery, just as Joe
was; they wouldn't be leaving any time soon. She trudged up to the
computer room.
   Affixed to the desk, she found a note.

Near a deserted factory in what used to be an industrial area, a
motorcycle roared into the hall where formerly lorries had driven
in to unload raw materials and load the finished products, and
stopped near the trailer, switching off the engine. Metal drums
stood or lay against the walls, pipes ran over the ceiling, and at
the end of the white lines indicating the lorry lanes stood empty
booths with cracked windows that had once contained administration
officials with their lists. In the trailer's doorway sat Joe,
looking dejected. He smiled when he saw the woman in the black
leather jacket dismount; his jacket, that he had given to her
because it was too narrow across the shoulders for him. She lifted
the helmet off her head, spilling long blond hair in all
directions, hung it on the handlebars and headed towards him.
Dressed in frayed jeans and a tight T-shirt with a print on it, she
could easily have been mistaken for any of the bikers that roamed
Tokyo and its outskirts.
   "Found your note," she said, bending down to kiss him. Rising,
he led her inside and to the bunk where he slept, and they spent
the next hour renewing their physical acquaintance. It ended, as it
always did, with Joe being ensnared in a tangle of arms and legs,
another head resting on his.
   "I can't believe how I've missed you. And yet you've only been
absent for, what is it? A week."
   "I couldn't miss you for a day," he answered, snuggling against
her chest.
   "So now you've left for good?"
   He nodded, his nose prodding her breastbone. "I couldn't stand
it any longer."
   "I know how you feel. They won't be pleased, though."
   "They'll find someone else. And how about you?"
   "I don't know. I don't seem to be unemployed yet, Hakani's
complaining because I'm late with an assignment. But Nambu's still
trying to pressure me."
   "He won't, now that I've left the team. He won't have a reason
to."
   "He might just do it out of spite. As far as he's concerned,
this is all my fault."
   "Mm. Didn't know you had a motorbike, by the way."
   "I don't. Borrowed it from Lenny. I thought I'd better come in
disguise, and since my car's rather conspicuous... So, this is your
new home?"
   "Like it?"
   "Rather desolate. Oh well, at least it's cool in here." Outside,
the summer heat was oppressive, wilting and shrivelling what plants
there grew. Inside, the light coming in through the broken windows
cast brilliant white rectangles on the concrete floor.
   "I still have to figure out how to get a couple of things. Like
electricity, and running water. I've got some battery packs and the
water tank, but I'm through with hauling jerrycans for a refill
after every shower I take."
   "Living at the airstrip has spoilt you, eh?" She ran her fingers
through his hair. "You might consider using solar power - it
wouldn't take me much time to fix a sheet of solar cells on the
roof, although it wouldn't power much beyond a lightbulb and the
radio. And it wouldn't be any good at all in winter, but in the
present heatwave, it might be worth it. You've got no telephone
connection here, right?"
   "I won't need it. I'll see about getting a regular job, and then
maybe I can buy my own piece of ground with everything pre-
installed."
   "Or you could just hire a space on a camping. They've got lines
for electricity, gas, everything you need. And it's cheaper than
renting a house."
   "That's another idea. I could rent a house and put the trailer
in the garage. That way, they won't find me so easily."
   "They'll recognize your car."
   "I'll get rid of it."
   "Oh, Joe," she said in dismay. "You can't do that."
   "I'll paint it over or something. And if that doesn't work, I'll
move to another country." He bent his head back, so he could see
her face. "If I do, will you come with me?"
   "I don't know... I've got a house and a cat to look after now,
I'm practically married. But I'll come to visit you wherever you
are."
   "Would you marry me?"
   "Don't be stupid, Joe. I couldn't. You can't marry me."
   "If we did, Nambu couldn't do anything against us."
   "If we did, Nambu would broadcast all over the world that a
member of the Science Ninja Team married a hermaphrodite mutant
with a criminal record, convict me of terrorism and issue search
warrants for both of us."
   "He wouldn't do that."
   "And the safest option for us would be to turn ourselves in
before we get lynched by a raging mob. Believe me, Nambu would stop
at nothing to get me out of the way."
   "Oh come on. He's only human."
   "Exactly my point."
   He rose into a half-sitting position, supporting himself on his
elbows. "You don't trust anyone, do you?"
   "I certainly don't trust Nambu. But maybe I can get him to leave
me alone. Helvig's going to pitch into him, and so's Stanley. He
may decide to stop bugging me just to prevent being bugged
himself."
   "Aren't you making him a little nastier than he is?"
   "He left a message on my answering machine that basically said:
don't think you can get away. He hates me, Joe. He likes to see me
suffer. And if he can convince himself that it's all for the common
good, that makes it so much more satisfying."
   "I don't agree!" he protested. "He saved my life and took me in,
even though my parents were Galactors."
   "Who were on the point of blabbing to ISO."
   "Yeah, but I didn't know anything. So he had no real reason to
save me."
   "He got his money's worth out of you."
   "I guess you're right." Disheartened, Joe let himself collapse
onto his back. The trailer rocked gently.
   "`If this trailer's a-rocking, don't come a-knocking!'" Katze
quoted happily. Joe grinned. "Did you just make that up?"
   "Got it from Win. It's an old bumper sticker slogan."
   "She's funny. She looks just like a real human being."
   "True. That's why she's sent here often."
   "Angel's human, isn't he?"
   "Uh-huh."
   "But he spends his life on another planet."
   "Mmm."
   "Doesn't he ever miss his home?"
   "Guess not. It's supposed to be a lovely place, all wild and
natural and with animal species that are just different enough to
make you notice, but not very. What they call a cow is not what we
call a cow, for instance. But they can still use the word. One
thing, though," she added. "He has to come back to Earth every so
often because their gravity is lower, so he's losing bone mass.
He's got a special diet to make sure he gets enough calcium and
other minerals - he can't eat most of the vegetables there because
they contain a substance he's allergic to. So they have to take a
lot of trouble over his meals."
   "Must be a drag."
   "They like him enough to put up with it. Although Rayek didn't
like him at first, or maybe he didn't like the way Win abducted
him. And he's bonkers about Win. So he'll do anything to stay with
her."
   "She abducted him?"
   "Well, she more or less zapped him out of a sticky situation,
the way she did with me. If she hadn't, he would have died. Still,
she needn't have taken him right home. Rayek said it was too much
of a risk. Seems they'd already met, and she'd dropped a hint or
two, but he didn't know about her homeworld yet, and he shouldn't
have. She may have tried to force some sort of decision. Anyhow, it
all turned out for the best."
   "It must have been odd, for him."
   "Very odd. But there was nothing to keep him in Vegas. His
employer was dead, his mother had been killed six years before, and
he had no friends. For someone who isn't a real freak, he was
certainly treated like one. Rayek said he was a typical hoodlum
when he first came, and the strangeness of his surroundings helped
him to snap out of it."
   "Have you ever been there?"
   "Once."
   "Would you like to live there?"
   "I want to live where you live. Although not under the same
roof, of course." He put his arms around her neck like a child, and
kissed her.
   "You don't want to share a trailer with me?"
   "Don't be silly. We'd be at each other's throats in less than a
day." He laughed, and kissed her again. Despite what he had said
about showers and battery packs, they showered - together, to save
water - and she played the tape that Win had given her while he
buttered some rolls for a late lunch. He hadn't had time to stock
much food before he left, and had also been broke, as usual. "If
you can hold out for tonight, I'll bring you some supplies
tomorrow. I've got enough cash to last me out for some time, even
if I do get fired. And besides, you'd better keep a low profile.
Nambu's sure to send out a search party for you."
   "So? I'm free. He can't force me to do anything, I'm not his
prisoner."
   "Yes, but... You know a lot about ISO..."
   "So you think he wants to kill me? That's Galactor practice,
babe."
   "You're right. I'm getting my organizations mixed up." They
finished their rolls, washing away the dry crumbs in their throats
with cans of coke, and returned to the bed, where they somehow
became entangled with each other again.
   "How come this always happens when I've just had a shower?"
Katze whispered in his ear.
   "Must be 'coz you're the most beautiful woman in the world," Joe
whispered back. The second encounter had left him drained. He had
slept less well than she had, plagued with worry about all the
things that could have happened to her. "Mutant," she corrected
him.
   "All right, you're the most beautiful mutant in the world."
   "Not that I have an awful lot of competition. I mean, who is
there? A seven-foot woman who probably starches her hair, and who
manages to lead the Galactor syndicate with even less decorum than
I did." Joe laughed. In the background, the tape was still playing:
     `Violently happy - 'cause I love you
      Violently happy - I'm aiming too high
      Violently happy - it'll get me into trouble...'
   "Do you love me?" he wanted to know.
   "Of course I do. Why else would I have come here?"
   "Despite the fact that I'm half machine?"
   "So? I'm not squeamish about enhanced organics. I've met a lot
of cyborgs. Even made some, as a matter of fact."
   "Like Lucy?"
   "The android who went AWOL? Hoo boy." She chuckled. "That
experiment was just a little too succesful. No, she wasn't one of
mine; this little gem was cunningly constructed by the great X
himself, who wanted to make a robot with all the intelligence, the
mental versatility and the learning ability of a human being, but
none of the disadvantages. An improved version of me, if you like.
Unfortunately, when she had all these things, the next step was
that she developed a mind of her own. She became just a tad more
human than she should have been. And, naturally, being the product
of Galactor technology, the first thing she wanted was to conquer.
Preferably by foul means. Fortunately, she had a little switch in
her hardware that she didn't know about."
   "You mean she was programmed to be like that?"
   "We're all programmed by our surroundings," she told him. "Every
living organism is programmed from birth. We wouldn't know how to
survive otherwise."
   "You mean we're all just doing what other people tell us?"
   "Mm-mm. Most of the time."
   Joe sighed sadly, and pulled her closer. "She wanted us to do it
together."
   "Oh, I've no doubt she had a crush on you."
   "Do you think she could really have loved me? Or anyone else?"
   "Yes, why not?"
   "Well, she was a... a robot."
   "Did you think emotions are restricted to organic life-forms?"
   It was one of the axioms of his life. "Aren't they?"
   "I can think of a number of organic life-forms who are totally
devoid of emotions as we know them. Emotions are just survival
mechanisms, you know. They're easy to implant, once you recognize
the logic behind them."
   "She was a great racer," Joe mused. "She partnered me a couple
of times - even won some prizes. No one could handle a car like she
did. Good mechanic, too."
   "She was obsessed with cars, I remember. With any kind of small
mecha, in fact. She wondered what it would take to break down the
barrier between her and the machinery around her, and, if it
happened, how it would feel; whether she would become part of a
larger whole and lose her identity, or infuse the machine with her
own conscious mind and animate it as she animated her own body. A
relevant issue, considering all the android-combination mecha we
designed. On the whole, she raised some very interesting questions
on the existential level, although I paid no attention at the time.
It's a pity she died."
   "How could a machine have emotions?" Joe pursued. "How could it
ask questions? It's just so much nuts and bolts."
   "And so, my heart's delight, is the average human. Machines are
not necessarily made of metal. A human being is simply a self-
regenerating biological robot. That's the advantage of an organic
body over a non-organic one, it repairs itself. Within limits."
   "That's depressing."
   "Listen," she said, motioning at the tape recorder. The tempo
had changed; the beat had disappeared, leaving only the voice, slow
and poignantly childlike. `And this... is where I'm staying... This
is my home...'
   "Hear that? That's a machine, singing through another machine.
Does that depress you?"
   "That's a human being singing. I can tell."
   "Really? How?"
   He found he had no real reason. It all came down to his old
belief, which she had just discredited, that no machine could
experience or convey human emotions.
   "Emotions are manifestations of awareness. A machine is nothing
more than the tool needed to translate awareness into action. So
why shouldn't a machine possess awareness, and, consequently,
emotions?"
   Joe furrowed his brow, trying to comprehend; usually, he laughed
off her philosophical argumentations or accepted them without
comment because he loved her, but this was something that concerned
him, too. He motioned her to continue.
   "Awareness is what isolates one individual within the collective
and allows it to look after its own interests, which considerably
increases its lifespan. Awareness is the factor that reverses
entropy. At least, when provided with the appropriate tools. We are
all machines, Joe. What sets us apart from our cars and toaster
ovens is that we can actually think for ourselves. We have
awareness. That's what makes a sentient, intelligent being. A human
being, if you like..." She closed her eyes. He could see that the
subject affected her, too. "Cybernetics is no more and no less than
an attempt to recreate this awareness. It's not just about
artificial intelligence. It's about the homeostatic principle, the
creation of a self-perpetuating identity, the mechanical
reproduction of the instinct to survive. Think about it, Joe. When
a human being is conceived, the genetic blueprint spontaneously
constructs a body. But how does it construct what animates the
body? What makes a baby live? Not just the possession of a body,
else there would be no such thing as a stillborn child."
   "The soul?" Joe ventured.
   "And what affixes the soul to a shapeless mass of bone and
muscle? What is it that allows the interaction between the two, and
what is there to make sure it continues? How do you know you won't
drop down lifeless in a minute? And why didn't you die when you
were so badly wounded that your body almost stopped functioning?"
   He had no answers; even the questions were new to him. All his
fixed beliefs on what constituted a human being were sliding; had
been sliding, from that fateful day when he woke up in Doctor
Rafael's lab to the news that he was now a cyborg. "I don't really
know."
   "I'm hopelessly confusing you. I can tell."
   "I love you."
   "That might be the single most consistent factor in your
existence."
   "I feel as if I'm... losing myself." The tape had stopped. She
slid from under the sticky sheet, the air like a cold breath on her
sweaty skin. "I know the feeling. Believe me, you are not the only
one. Would you forgive me if I took another shower?"
   They showered together, again to save water, embracing each
other in the small cubicle. She dried him down and gently pushed
him to the bunk bed, where he sat passive and despondent on the
mattress while she dried and dressed herself. She tipped his face
back for a consoling kiss, but he lowered his eyelids and sadly
averted his face.
   "No?" she inquired.
   "No. I have to think."
   She sat down beside him and put an arm around his neck for
comfort, his glistening wet hair soaking a patch on her sleeve. "I
know how you feel. I've seen this so many times. Most of our
subjects were either captives or Galactors who had been so badly
wounded that they had nothing left to lose, but some of them had
been lured by the promise of a better, stronger body... They all
came out suicidal. They had a bond with their body, and when it was
altered, the bond was broken. They didn't know who they were. They
didn't recognize themselves; not even if their appearance was
unaltered, which, I assure you, was not always the case. They hated
their body, it wasn't theirs any more. They felt - dispossessed."
Joe shuddered; her last words had sunk in deeper than all the
theorizing that had gone before. She did know, he admitted to
himself. She was the only one who understood. She raked at the
wound inside him, a wound that had nothing to do with the physical
reality of bullet holes and surgery. Moisture was gathering on the
rims of his eyelids, forming beads that swelled until their own
weight tipped them over the edge and sent them hurtling down his
cheeks. He brought up his hands to his face, covering it entirely;
the pale band where the bracelet usually covered his skin stood out
clearly on his left wrist, contrasting with the unbroken tan on his
right. Slowly and jerkily he buckled forwards, until his elbows
were resting on his knees. His hair was falling about his face like
a hood, and convulsions were running through his shoulderblades;
the sobs were coming. Very lightly, she rested a hand on his curved
back, just enough to let him know she was there. The raw sound of
a man crying broke from his throat. He turned his back to her and
straightened out on the mattress, pressing his face into the
pillow.
   "You always told me I didn't have to hide," she said gently.
   "I love you," he responded, in a thick, strangled voice that was
muffled by the pillow.
   "I love you too."
   "I'm a monster!"
   "That's funny, that's what I always used to say about myself."
She kept her hand on his back while he quivered and shook, fighting
against his tears. After a few minutes, she straightened out beside
him and prised his head away from the pillow, resting it on her
chest. The sobbing quietened, and he drew in a deep breath.
   "I can't believe I did that," he said at last.
   "Why not? What was wrong with it? You were upset."
   "A man shouldn't be blubbing like that."
   "Little rules that don't apply in my presence."
   "I love you."
   "Feeling better now?"
   "Yes."
   "C'mon then. Let's get you dressed." She gave him a peck on the
cheekbone, and quickly gathered up his clothes. While he was
struggling into his jeans, she filled the kettle to make some
coffee. The pressure on the jet of water issuing from the tap had
decreased considerably.
   "You are due for an imminent refill, my friend."
   "I know. I can take her down to the gas station and get the tank
filled up."
   "It'll be a long drive."
   "I'm used to long drives." He dropped on the bed again in his
former state of dejection. "If I go back to Italy, will you come
with me?"
   "I told you, I have a house here."
   "You can give it to Brace, and he can look after your cat."
   It suddenly occurred to her that if she went AWOL, Brace and
Lenny might suffer for it.
   "What is it?" Joe asked. He was becoming preternaturally
sensitive to her changes of mood.
   "I've been thinking... What if Nambu decides to hunt down my
former associates?"
   "Oh for Christ's sake - that's mafia practice. He'd be lowering
himself to the level of a Galactor if he did that."
   "No, he'd be doing what's necessary to save the Earth. Len's got
children, dammit."
   "Does that mean you're ditching me??"
   "Don't be silly. I intend to do no such thing. I'll just have to
go about this very carefully."
   He looked unconvinced, and turned away when she tried to embrace
him. She soon found out why: when she pulled him round to face her,
she saw fresh tears coursing down his cheeks. She hugged him
tightly, laying his head against her shoulder and stroking his
back.
   "At least there's nothing wrong with *your* emotions," she
whispered in his ear.

Being the less obviously recognizable of the two, it was she who
went out for some takeaway in the early evening. "My treat," she
said, in the doorway." He nodded. "I'll be back soon." He nodded
again.
   He wasn't very hungry. "Go on, eat," she encouraged him. "You
need it."
   "I need electricity,' he said dully. She put down her chopsticks
to ruffle his hair.
   "We all do. But rarely enough to require being connected to a
generator." That drew a very weak smile. "Joe, you're not just a
machine. You're a human being."
   "I feel like a machine. I feel... what you said... like I got
pushed out of my own body."
   "There's other ways to do that than by an expensive operation.
More fun, too. Except if you happen to be the victim."
   A little grimace of distaste flew across Joe's face. He knew
what she meant. "That's *worse*."
   "Same principle."
   "In that case..." Their eyes met, and locked. "You hate your
body, don't you?"
   "Both of 'em. And I never knew who I was, either." They both
grinned.
   "I love you."
   "Some day, you're going to wear out your speech organs saying
that. Now eat."
   His appetite recovered, Joe tucked in heartily. Just as he was
lifting another mouthful to his lips, his communicator beeped.
Katze looked up sharply. He ignored it, stuffing the wad of rice in
his mouth.
   "Where'd you leave your bracelet?" she asked, anxiously.
   "Who cares? I left," Joe said with his mouth full. "I told them
I would. They've got no call to bother me now."
   "It might be an emergency."
   "So? That's their problem."
   "For the love of Jehova and my own peace of mind, please answer
it." The bracelet, wherever it might be, was beeping quite
insistently.
   "Oh, all right..." He opened a drawer in one of the kitchen
cupboards and fished it out from between the forks and knives. It
was still beeping like a bracelet possessed. He pressed a button to
activate it. "Yeah, Joe here."
   "G-2, where were you?? This is an emergency!!"
   "Nambu?"
   "There's no time to explain now! Go to Ken's hangar, you'll find
the God Phoenix ready for boarding."
   "Didn't you get my message about lea--"
   "Just GO!!"
   Joe looked questioningly at Katze. She nodded.
   "Go. Be a hero. Save the day. We'll talk later."
   He shrugged, fastened the bracelet around his wrist, went for
the door. In the opening, he turned to detach a key from his
keyring.
   "You finish it," he said, motioning at the plates. "I'll wash up
when I get back. Don't forget to lock up when you leave." She
nodded again. They exchanged a last glance; then he tossed her the
key and left, the door closing behind him. She heard his car
revving up and tearing away, the sound dying away in the distance.
Saddened, she continued to eat until the last grain of rice had
been cleaned from the plates, then washed them in what was probably
the last of the water; there was hardly any pressure on it now.
After arranging them neatly on their shelves, she sighed, went out,
locked the door behind her and refitted her helmet for the ride
home. The sun was less glaringly hot now, but the earth was giving
out all the heat that it had absorbed during the day; a gentler,
more pleasant heat than when it had hailed down from the sky.
Taking her time to admire the scenery, she rode around the city's
periphery to where Lenore's house stood between trees, inclines and
pavements, traded the motorbike for her car, and rode in another
arc to her own home, leaving the car outside the gate in a spell of
melancholia-induced laziness. She put out a dish of cat food for
Grey Hunter, who was waiting for her and miaowing plaintively, and
walked back to the living room to slump in a chair.
   It was then that she noticed the light on her answering machine
was blinking.
   She pressed the "play" button. Slightly distorted as always, a
recording of Nambu's voice grated: "Please come to my office at
once. Joe is in danger."

   "Where's Joe?" she demanded immediately on bursting into Nambu's
office. There hadn't been much traffic, with all the offices closed
and everyone at dinner, but all the same it had been a half-hour
ride. Nambu frowned. She had exchanged the leather jacket for
something more elegant, but under it she still wore the tight jeans
and ditto T-shirt.
   "Joe is at present in the vicinity of sub-C Vesuvius, which is
where we are going. Come with me, please." Escorted by four armed
and uniformed officials, she accompanied him to the roof of the
building where the helicopters stood, noting in passing that the
window still hadn't been repaired yet. Possibly, with the current
weather, the ventilation it provided was welcomed. Nambu took her
by the arm and directed her into one of the helicopters, climbing
in after her and taking a seat that was far too close to hers for
comfort; things that would normally have set off alarm bells in her
head, but for the moment the only thing on her mind was Joe. She
hardly noticed the take-off.
   "Has he been wounded? What happened to him?"
   "Joe, you mean? He is at present alive and well and on standby
with his teammates, waiting for orders to defend the city against
the latest Galactor onslaught."
   "WHAT???" The helicopter rocked as she rose from the seat beside
Nambu's to turn on him, hitting her head and almost falling into
him. A uniformed man behind her grabbed her arms to steady her;
taking it as an attempt to subdue her, she jerked her arms loose
and stumbled forward. She was saved from another fall by being
grabbed again, this time by the collar. Nambu half rose to pull her
down by the shoulder. "Would you sit *down*, please? This is no
time for throwing tantrums."
   "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, NAMBU??"
   "If you could lower your voice, I might be able to explain." She
sat, angrily. "This had better be good."
   "The information you gave Helvig has proven correct. There *is*
a Galactor base near the underground city, and they've now attacked
the city to avoid discovery. They've drilled holes in the rock
mantle to access the volcano's magma, and have opened the attack by
flooding one of the city's subways with lava. The inhabitants are
virtually trapped."
   "Oh no. So this is what they were planning. Was there anyone
inside the subway when it happened?"
   "Of course there was," Nambu said scathingly. "They would hardly
have warned us in advance."
   "Oh no," she repeated. She sank her chin on her hands, staring
blankly. "And what about Joe?"
   "As I said, he's on standby."
   "So he's not in any actual danger?"
   "He may be, once he gets his orders. For the time being, he's
safe. But how would you have reacted if I had told you that several
thousands of other people were in danger?"
   "I would have said up yours, Nambu. Anyway, I thought you wanted
to fire me."
   "For now, we need your help. However well-trained they are,
there is nothing my team can do against a flow of boiling lava. It
must be deflected, and it must be deflected by mechanical means.
Preferably within the hour. I am calling on your engineering skills
to find a solution."
   "You can't deflect it anywhere. It's in a hole in the ground.
Besides, you don't want me. I'm no expert in geophysics."
   "I understood that after the Black Hole Project." She glared at
him. "Very well, what do you suggest?"
   "This is a job for Helvig. He knows a way to solidify lava flows
by cooling them down through atomic reactions. I'll give you his
number, you can call him. He's in Throndheim right now, but--"
   "No, he's waiting for us at the ISO department in the capital.
I had the good fortune of running into him when the news of the
disaster reached us. He told me he needed you to construct the
heavy duty kind of solidifying device required for this particular
situation. It seems you have a fast mind, and every minute is
crucial."
   "Helvig is here??"
   "Yes. Does that bother you?"
   "No, no..."
   "You will, of course, receive normal wages, plus a bonus for
overtime and risk compensation. That should be enough to satisfy
you, I think?"
   "No, that's all right. This'll be a freebie."
   Nambu stared at her. "Are you saying you want to do this for
nothing?"
   "Well, there is one thing I want from you..."
   Nambu paused a while before replying. "All right. Name it."
   "I want you to get me off the hook with Hakani. I'm late for two
deadlines, and I may not be able to meet a third. Tell him you've
been giving me extra assignments, or something. Ask him to give me
more time. It'll sound more convincing, coming from you. Is it a
deal?"
   "Is that all?" Nambu asked disbelievingly. She fixed him with a
look of searing anger.
   "I happen to take my work very seriously. Just because I've had
some problems lately doesn't mean I'm slacking. I don't want him to
think I'm just fooling around."
   "And... Joe?"
   "I won't come between the two of you, and I suggest you don't
come between the two of us. He was AWOL when I found him, and still
would be if I hadn't. Don't push your luck with him, Nambu. One
day, he's going to fly away and stay away."
   "We'll discuss that later," Nambu said authoritatively. "Right
now, there are lives to save." For the rest of the journey, neither
spoke. The helicopters landed on the roof of an ISO centre that
looked like hundreds of other ISO centres spread throughout the
world, the only difference being the number of floors. The sun was
still high; they had moved back a few hours into another time zone.
She was practically lifted out of the craft, ushered into an
elevator and tugged along by Nambu, who was running down the
corridors like a schoolboy late for class, followed by his armed
escort of four and two officials belonging to the centre itself.
Helvig was there to meet her in the lab, standing over a
disassembled standard-size solidifying component. Without further
preamble, they set to work.

                            *   *   *

   "That's it," she said, falling onto the couch in the foyer and
closing her eyes. Nambu sat in one of the velvet-upholstered chairs
not far away, but she was too fatigued to be sensible to his
presence. He had taken off his glasses, and was wiping them with a
handkerchief. The device had taken well over one hour to assemble,
even with the help of three assistants, the necessity to keep it
small, light and portable adding to the complexity of construction.
Now it was in the possession of G-1, whose task was to find the
source of the flow and pitch in the solidifying device deep enough
to freeze and crystallize the whole surging mass from within.
Katze's idea to simply drop it in the volcano itself had been
rejected; Helvig had told her it wouldn't be powerful enough to
solidify a whole volcano, anyway.
   "Where's Helvig?" she asked, veering up as suddenly as she had
dropped down. Nambu found himself irritated by her impulsiveness;
no wonder s/he had made such an ineffective leader, he told
himself.
   "Probably asleep in the hotel," he replied curtly. "He's already
had a twenty-hour day. Add to that his age and jet lag, and you'll
understand why he's not still bouncing around like yourself." She
gave him an especially foul look and turned her back on him.
However, her professional interest soon got the better of her.
   "I still say we should have constructed a launcher."
   "There was no time. The situation is becoming more critical by
the minute."
   "I hope you told Ken to attach some sort of weight to it. Just
hurling it in won't do the trick. Maybe he should fire it, like a
Bird Missile."
   "I hardly think they'd allow the God Phoenix to enter the base."
   "Oh, so the source is inside the base after all?"
   "Ken radio'd in a few minutes ago to tell me he would have to
infiltrate. Anyway, I'm surprised you didn't know that, considering
how much else you know."
   She sighed in exasperation. "Oh no, not that again. I told you,
I built it myself. But I can't remember every detail, and heaven
only knows what Gel Sadra altered after she moved in."
   Nambu glanced around him. Apart from the woman at the desk and
the uniformed men of his personal escort, they were alone; there
were no other visitors, and, at this hour, anyone not working was
at home. Still, the room was not as private as the interview he was
rehearsing in his mind required. He rose, requested a keycard at
the desk, and showed his ID card to validate his request. Then he
gave a few orders to his men in a lowered voice, and motioned
Katze. "Follow me, please."
   She had pricked up her ears at the hushed conversation, and now
her eyes flitted from Nambu to his guards and back, her body
slightly angled as if poised for flight. One of the uniformed men
stood at his side, gun drawn; following her gaze, Nambu told him to
put the gun away. She approached him warily, one hand closing the
jacket over the luridly printed T-shirt, the other clutching the
strap of her inseparable handbag. He led them both to the elevator,
Katze tense and edgy at being herded into the small space with him.
"Let me guess," she said to him under her breath. "Round the corner
there's a bunch of yobs with knives and hatchets to finish me off.
Right?"
   "Don't be infantile," Nambu snapped. He hadn't meant to, but he
found it hard to keep his composure in the presence of this
freakish not-a-woman with her flaring temper and unnaturally
intense eyes. The longer he saw her, the more reasons he could
think of why she should have had to wear a mask. The idea of this
volatile creature commanding even so much as a small squadron
frightened him. "And, by the way, you're being very careless about
what you say where."
   "So? This is your private escort, right? They get to hear
everything you do."
   "Wrong. And now kindly shut up." He led her into a small,
windowless office of the briefing-room type with a wide, empty desk
and five chairs, told the uniformed man to mount guard outside,
closed the door and activated what she recognized as a
soundproofing mechanism. She had darted away from his side as soon
as they had crossed the threshold, but the hum of the sliding walls
made her stiffen. Rapidly interposing the desk between them, she
lowered her head like a snake about to strike, the rims of her
nostrils quivering. "You try anything, and you're *dead*."
   Nambu sighed, went to the desk and seated himself behind it,
causing her to bound to the opposite wall, glowering furiously.
"And what exactly do you expect me to try?"
   "I don't even want to know," she bit back at him. "Just remember
what I said." He swivelled towards her - it was a swivel chair -
and she flattened herself against the wall, snarling. Leaning back
in the high leather chair, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket
and proceeded to polish his glasses. When he had finished, he
resettled them on his nose and put his elbows on the desk, resting
his fingertips together. No longer snarling, she was watchful now,
following his every move. He indicated the nearest chair on the
other side of the desk.
   "I'm sure you would be much more comfortable sitting."
   "I'll stand, thank you."
   Nambu wondered what Galactor reflex he had activated. "If it
makes you feel better, I'm unarmed. And I'm sure someone with your
condition and training has nothing to fear from an old man." A
violent blush washed over her cheekbones and retreated, leaving the
usual pallor. "Not that we have the habit of maltreating or
assassinating our employees."
   "*You* don't, you mean - you prefer simple blackmail. You don't
know half of what's going on under your own nose."
   "Would you care to enlarge on that?"
   "No, I wouldn't. So what's the meaning of all this?"
   "I thought it wiser to isolate you before you make your former
association known to all and sundry."
   "Meaning, you can't trust your own men?" she asked triumphantly.
   "They are not mine, they are ISO's. We tend to be a bit less
autocratic here." She snorted.
   "I noticed. Why don't you outfit your little darlings with
constrictor collars?"
   "We strive for obedience through loyalty, not through fear."
   "And what if the first option doesn't work?"
   He stared at her, hard. She stared back unflinchingly. Coming
straight to the point, he said: "I thought I had forbidden you to
hold any further communication with the team."
   "So? I didn't."
   "You contacted the Condor after our last interview."
   "After he left me a note to say he was no longer in the team."
   "After which he joined the team for the current mission."
   "Only because I told him to answer your call."
   "You told him?"
   "Yes."
   "Why?"
   She glared at him, silently. He decided to take another angle.
"How did you know the base was still operational?"
   "I didn't," she answered truthfully. "I was warned that Gel
Sadra was going to try something."
   "And where did you get that information?"
   "Same's where you get yours. Aliens."
   Nambu fixed her with a penetrating gaze. She might be lying, she
might not. Had she found out about his visits to other dimensions?
If so, she might pose a problem. "Would you mind being a bit more
specific?"
   "Yes, I would."
   For lack of a pencil, he tapped on the desk with his fingers,
making nervous little drumrolls. "I find it very hard to trust
you."
   "That, Doctor Nambu, is entirely mutual."
   She was as hostile and withdrawn now as she had been in his
office in Tokyo; he sensed he would not get anything more from her
on that subject. "Nevertheless, I have told you once and I tell you
again: I will not tolerate any kind of relationship between you and
G-2."
   "That might not be for you to decide, Doctor Nambu."
   Her tone startled him. Outwardly unmoved, he asked: "And what,
pray, do you mean by that?"
   "You can threaten me if you want to, but there's nothing you can
do against Joe. Just how much longer do you think he'll put up with
the way you've been treating him? One day, he's going to disappear.
And when he does, so will I."
   "If he did, I'd issue an arrest warrant and send the team after
both of you. Is that what you want?"
   "They'd never find us. And even if they did, they might find me
less easy to kill than they imagine. Your darlings might get
seriously damaged."
   "Who said anything about killing? My only concern is to keep you
away from Joe. A sentence for life should suffice to separate the
two of you, without impairing your health or abilities."
   "Oh, you think a few barred windows are going to keep him out?
Funny, that never worked when I was with Galactor."
   "Of course, I would also try to reverse whatever techniques of
suggestion you practised on him to get him under control. In the
end, he would barely recognize you, let alone make any attempt to
see you."
   "Nambu, you bastard. You sick bastard. You're going to brainwash
him, you mean. You're going to make a zombie out of him. After all
he did for you. Damn you, Nambu!!!" She was fuming now, her eyes
darting flame. He wondered if he had been wise to lock himself in
alone with her. After all, she was a criminal, and dangerously
insane.
   "Would you prefer him to hate you, as he did before?"
   "He hasn't hated me since we met last year. You know nothing
about him. When he was dying at Cross Karakoram, you were in your
snug, comfortable office, deciding he wasn't important enough to
save. What gives you the right to interfere?"
   "I seem to remember you were the one who wanted him dead, along
with me. And you stopped at no atrocity to accomplish your goals.
So you'll understand if my measures are a little harsh; they are in
keeping with your character, and serve only to protect ISO. Your
record is hardly clean, Katze. You may conveniently have forgotten
what crimes you committed, but I haven't. You were lucky to be let
off so lightly. Anyone else in your place would have suffered
severe punishment."
   "Oh, right. So now you want your revenge."
   "I don't believe in revenge. I believe in doing what is best for
everyone."
   "What you think is best for everyone." She turned to the wall,
hiding her face.
   "I think I can trust my judgement."
   "Yeah, right." She had her back to him, her head dropped in her
hands; he hoped she wasn't crying. Not that he would let it
influence his judgement, but it unsettled him.
   "Would you deny what you have done?"
   "I don't deny anything." She turned on him suddenly, marching
stiff-legged up to the desk with clenched fists, and yes, her eyes
were red. It shocked him. "It's so easy for you, isn't it, rich boy
Nambu? When did you ever have to work for a living? When did you
ever have to get your hands dirty? You were born on the right side
of the track, weren't you? You had parents. You went to a normal
school, where the main subjects were *not* torture and chemical
warfare. You never had the crap beaten out of you for
insubordination, or, for that matter, for anything else. You didn't
have to watch your friends being killed, one by one, for no good
reason. And whatever you've done, you won't have to pay for it for
the rest of your life. You don't know how lucky you are. And now
you're going to destroy the one single thing that made my life
worth living, and you think I'll just bear it and grin. But let me
tell you one thing, Doctor Nambu." She was leaning across the desk
now, almost breathing into his face, her eyes burning and her hair
crackling with electricity. He shrank back involuntarily, hoping he
wouldn't have to call in the guard. "You don't own me, and you
never will. I don't have to obey you. Track me down, kill me, I
don't care. But don't think you can keep me locked up somewhere as
your guinea pig, because I'd rather die!! Do you hear me, I'd
rather die!!!"
   Resisting the impulse to close his eyes and throw up an arm for
protection, he merely stared. It worked. She drew back, still
breathing audibly, and retreated until she felt a wall behind her
back, against which she flattened herself, glaring balefully at
him. He was surprised that the reflex of fear should still be so
strong in her.
   "Finished?" he asked coldly. She made no reply. "Very well, if
you wish to persist in your stupidity, you may. I will not attempt
to dissuade you. You know the consequences."
   "Quite. You're going to get rid of me and give Joe a bit of
reprogramming. All for the greater good, of course. You're a
bloodless creep, Nambu. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were
a machine."
   Anger stirred in him. "Unlike you, I am capable of making
personal sacrifices in order to save the many. While you have been
wallowing in selfishness, G-1 has probably undergone the same fate
as his father, and we are now a team of four."
   Her eyes widened abruptly, then narrowed in fury and
comprehension. "So that was why you didn't want to bother with a
launcher. You thought Ken himself would be heavy enough to do the
trick. What an admirable father figure you are, Nambu. Did you
bring me here just to spring this little bit of information on me?"
   "No, I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss your
behaviour with regard to Joe. As I have stated before, I find it
very hard to trust you. Consequently, I don't want you to interfere
with the team in any way."
   "Soon enough there won't be a team left, if you continue to send
them on kamikaze missions like this."
   "This was no order of mine. I initially ordered him to pull out
and help with the evacuation." He was angry, now; he hadn't meant
to be, but she had drawn him out. She saw. The tension flooded out
of her visibly, and she sagged down against the wall to a sitting
position, her head bent. Strangely enough, she didn't look
uncomfortable or out of place, sitting cross-legged on the ground
in the formal, empty office; he recalled that part of her childhood
had been spent in the streets, and he surmised she must often have
sat like that, propped against the wall on some pavement, her face
obscured by a curtain of hair. She raised it to him, smiling
ruefully.
   "Like father, like son, eh?"
   "Won't you take a chair?" he asked, his calm recovered. This
time, she accepted, although she still sat farther away from him
than he'd intended, in the same huddling posture of defiance that
he had observed earlier in Joe. She was half turned away, her eyes
hidden behind the hair. He noticed her lips were bluish.
   "Are you all right?" he inquired.
   "I'm fine."
   "If you want to lie down, I could take you to the hotel."
   "You're being very kind all of a sudden."
   "I'm amazed you should wonder at that. We're quite civilized
here at ISO, you know." The words were pronounced with more
sollicitude than sarcasm. S/he was an odd creature, he thought.
There was something inherently childish about hir that caught at
people's sympathy, however undeserved. He scrutinized her as she
sat immobile in the chair with her face averted, the odd tear
threading its way down her cheek. It had been a long day for her
too, he reminded himself. And hers was not the most stable of
personalities.
   "I'm sorry," she said unexpectedly.
   He glanced at her, but she hadn't changed her position, and her
eyes were still invisible. "Sorry for what?"
   "This whole mess. I was probably the cause of it. If I hadn't
warned Helvig, there would have been no reconnoitering mission,
and, in all probability, no attack. Little-girl Sadra would still
be plotting to conquer the Earth, Ken would still be doing his
loopings in the sky, and we'd all be happy."
   "This whole mess, as you call it, is probably the only thing in
your entire life for which you are in no way to blame. They would
have attacked us in any case. The question is only when."
   "They would have left sub-C alone. It wasn't of any importance
to them. Now they have a witness to get rid of, and you're throwing
in your team leader as a bonus. Brilliant move, Nambu."
   "The recent, unmotivated attacks on the stellar observation
stations have proved that Galactor is quite capable of gratuitous
cruelty. As for Ken's sacrifice, if it saves lives, it's worth it."
   "It wasn't unmotivated, it was the same thing - getting rid of
witnesses. Anyway, think of all the lives you'll be losing in
future battles, now that the white shadow of justice has snuffed
it. Nothing stimulates Galactor activity more than the death of a
feared enemy."
   "There will be others to fight in his place."
   "Yeah, right. Like Getz. Or maybe you can find some other
deprived orphan to risk his life for you." She brought up a hand to
her face; it disappeared behind the hair. "You and the captain of
Red Impulse. What a pair."
   "We fought together in the Third World War," Nambu said. He
judged her to be calm now, although rather from fatigue than from
being in a reasonable state of mind. He decided not to bring up the
subject of Joe again until she was more rational; he was convinced
her instincts of survival would bring her round in the end, and he
was feeling exhausted himself. The blow of Ken's demise had not
fully got through to him yet, but he knew it would come, and when
it did, he would have to be rested to endure it without visible
stress.
   "I guess you'll miss him. He always was your favourite."
   "Yes, I will," he admitted. "He was like my own child to me.
When I--" He stopped himself, realizing he was about to confide all
sorts of private things to her. She saw, and grinned bleakly.
"Right. State secrets."
   "Hardly. But this is getting rather too personal."
   "I know. I used to have the same problem." She rubbed her eyes
with the sleeve of her jacket in an irritated gesture and corrected
her posture, transforming from an over-aged waif into a
professional, hard-faced adult. "Well, that's concluded the
discussion - now we leave, I suppose?"
   He pushed back his chair and prepared to rise, only to stop
halfway at the sound of his transmitter beeping. Straightening up,
he lifted it from his pocket and activated it. "Nambu here."
   "Eagle in. There's a problem, hakase. Joe took the device and
hoofed it. He's inside the base now, but we can't locate him. We're
trying to attack it on the outside to draw enemy attention away
from him. Just thought I'd tell you."
   "Joe took the ...!! Do you think there's any chance of him
succeeding?"
   "He's as likely to pull it off as I would have been. I can't
understand what got into him... Still, the end result will be the
same. Eagle out." Nambu dropped back into his chair, stunned, and
found himself gazing into a pair of eyes so dilated that they
showed more white than iris. Katze had an annoying habit of
listening in on other people's transmissions that nothing could
break.
   "Well," she said, with a smile so completely divested of all the
usual connotations of smiling that it was ghastly to see, "I should
think that effectively solves the problem, doesn't it?" Then she
slowly keeled over, still wide-eyed, and fell out of the chair,
collapsing on the floor in a senseless heap.

She came round in the building's sick bay, a set of rooms reserved
for emergencies and outfitted with beds and the most basic medical
equipment. A soaked and folded towel lay across her forehead.
Picking it off with one hand and pulling herself into an upright
position, she glanced round to see where she was, and, more
important, who else was in there with her. Seeing only Nambu and a
medical attendant in a white lab coat, she relaxed. Nambu gestured
the attendant to leave. As soon as he had closed the door, she
dipped the towel in the bowl of cold water standing by the side of
her bed and dabbed her eyes and cheeks with it, washing away the
tracks of salt. The impact of Joe's impending death had left her in
a strange state of elevation, the pause on the pinnacle before the
headlong fall into the ravine. Still dizzy, she lay back again and
closed her eyes.
   "How are you now?"
   "I'm fine."
   "I can see that," Nambu commented. She was as pale as the
sheets, and her lips were as colourless as before; her voice was
dry and toneless. "What happened?"
   "I fainted. So?"
   "Why?"
   "Someone I care about a great deal is going to be toasted alive.
I thought it was an appropriate reaction."
   "Your concern surprises me."
   "Why? Did you think I have no feelings?"
   "Your past behaviour certainly suggested it. I assumed it was
part of your psychological construction to be impervious to human
emotions."
   "Fat lot you know, Nambu."
   She had opened her eyes, and was gazing at the ceiling with a
little smile playing around the corners of her mouth that he didn't
like the look of. Maybe she was drifting off into shock; hardly in
keeping with the situation, but he knew that mental and hormonal
imbalance frequently caused her to overreact. Taking a little round
box from his pocket, he tapped out two aspirins into the palm of
his hand - his own brand, not the weak surrogates commonly sold
over the counter - filled a glass of water at the sink, and
presented them to her. She took them, swallowing with difficulty,
and handed back the empty glass, which he rinsed and replaced
before returning to her side.
   "Neurofan Plus," she remarked, her gaze returning to the
ceiling. "Prescription stuff. Didn't know you used that."
   "Why, are you familiar with the brand?"
   "Muscle relaxant. Women use it to relieve period pains." She
grinned emptily at his expression. "You didn't know that, of
course."
   It occurred to him to wonder. "And you...?"
   "You don't want to know what my periods are like."
   He was sure he didn't. "I take it you are used to heavy
medication?"
   "I'm a regular drug addict. I could be doing time now, for all
the stuff I took."
   "Are you currently on drugs?"
   "Disregarding nicotine, alcohol and the odd sleeping pill, no.
Why, did you want to lecture me on the dangers of drug abuse?"
   "I am concerned for your health."
   "That's sweet of you, Nambu."
   He had been afraid that she might be in a state of shock, but
apparently her mind was still functioning. He was relieved.
   "Are your reactions always this... extreme?"
   "Well, you know me." It was true: Berg Katze in his Galactor
days had always verged on the hysterical. But at heart, Nambu
thought, he had been cold and unfeeling; his shows of emotion had
been unreal, mere manifestations of insanity.
   "I don't believe you could have got away with this sort of
behaviour as the leader of Galactor."
   "I had my drugs to keep me in working order, and friends to keep
me going. Besides, I wasn't the real leader, I was just obeying
orders. The organization didn't depend on me."
   "For which it had reason to be grateful, I suppose. You say you
had friends?"
   "Mutants can't have friends, you mean?"
   "Friendship calls for a measure of humanity and compassion which
I have always found lacking in you. I chiefly remember you as an
obsessive killer."
   "By all means cherish your memories."
   There was something innately subversive and disrespectful about
hir, he reflected, as he contemplated the pale and staring form
stretched out on the bed before him; no wonder s/he had never
commanded respect as a leader. Or maybe it only belonged to hir
female side, which was very far removed from his idea of
femininity. "I'd rather not. They are most unpleasant."
   "I know you hate me."
   The blandness of the statement was painful to him. "`Hate' is
the wrong word. `Dislike' would be a more fitting term."
   "You are too kind."
   "Just doing my duty." She smiled, mockingly.
   "You'd like to see me dead. If it wasn't for my so-called
scientific interest..."
   He remained silent.
   "It's true, isn't it? You can say it now, it doesn't matter any
more. You want something from me, that's why you agreed to keep me
alive, regardless of what I did or might do. That's your justice,
your integrity. And you think you're better than I am." A little
tremor had crept into her voice.
   "I have no wish to see you dead," he said gently.
   "Well, you will. Soon enough." She sighed and shivered. "You
must be glad it's Joe who died. You always liked Ken better."
   "I value them equally. What gave you that idea?"
   "Joe told me."
   "He told you?"
   "Yes."
   "When?"
   "Millions of times. We often talk about it."
   "You talk to him?"
   "Yes. Used to, anyway."
   "Why?"
   "Because we were friends - everything."
   "Did you love him?"
   The pale head nodded faintly. Nambu observed her closely, trying
to gauge the sincerity of her reactions.
   "I didn't think you had the capacity to form attachments."
   "I'm not really that much different from anyone else, you know."
   "If that is the case, can you explain to me why you have been
indulging in senseless slaughter all these years?"
   "No, I can't."
   She closed her eyes, shutting out the world. He decided to
leave; there was nothing more he could do for her now. After
instructing the medical attendant to have her brought to the hotel
as soon as she was well enough to get up, he crossed the maze of
corridors to the elevator that would take him down to the lobby.
   Just as he had assembled his escort and checked out, his
transmitter beeped again. This time, the voice was hoarse and curt,
and the message brief.
   "Condor in. Mission accomplished. Out."

                            *   *   *

   "I guess I should be sympathetic," Katze said, drawing up her
knees and resting her chin on them as she sat on the couch, facing
the sombre youth in the chair opposite her. "But the fact is, I'm
very, very jealous. Should I kill myself, too? I've already had my
lava bath."
   Joe, who had not spoken a word since the drive home, grinned
briefly at her before resuming his stare at the carpet.
   "Here's the key to your trailer," she said, digging it from her
trouser pocket and holding it up like a lure. She flicked it across
the low sitting room table. He caught it in one fist, without
shifting his position, and tucked it in his pocket. She clapped and
whistled, eliciting another brief grin.
   "When are you going to pick up the car?" He had come in hers,
leaving his in a garage in Tokyo's city centre.
   "There's no rush."
   Serious now, she asked: "Maybe you'd rather be alone?"
   "No. I want you near me."
   She walked across to his chair and wedged herself in beside him,
putting an arm around him. "I'm sorry."
   "Wasn't your fault."
   "Who was it, anyway?"
   "Kathy. Don't know her last name." It was the only thing he had
told Ken and Nambu in response to their demand for an explanation;
that he had made his way through the base with the help of a young
woman called Kathy, who was fighting Galactor to avenge the death
of her parents, and that she had sacrificed her life for him by
diving into the lava stream with the solidification device. The
flow had congealed from within, sealing off Galactor's access to
sub-C, the base had been smoked out, and the day had been saved.
Ken had remonstrated with him angrily, but his reproaches hardly
penetrated Joe's depression. Katze leant her chin on his shoulder
and sighed.
   "Poor thing."
   "She was a cyborg."
   "I know. She was one of Rafael's. He probably sent her in to
prevent you being killed prematurely."
   "You knew her?"
   "I knew them all. Most of them were escaped test subjects. She
was one of the few who actually volunteered to be operated on."
   "She said she wanted revenge for her parents."
   "Getting fried to destroy a base they probably didn't want
anyway. Some revenge."
   "They wanted it enough to try and defend it."
   "True. Still, it's not going to hurt them much."
   Savagely biting his lip, he embraced her tightly and pressed his
face against her neck. Automatically, she brought up a hand to
stroke his head. After a while, she could feel moisture trickling
down her skin.
   "I wanted to kill myself," Joe whispered.
   "Can't blame you."
   "Thought that'd show them."
   "Show them what? she asked, although she knew the answer.
   "What I'm made of."
   "Metal?" she volunteered with a smile, although she knew that
was not the answer. He didn't bite.
   "I told Ken about Kathy. And I said she was a cyborg. So then he
didn't mind."
   "I'm not surprised." She hugged him for comfort. "People are
like that."
   "She wanted to die, too."
   "That doesn't surprise me, either."
   He shook his head, pressing his hands to his eyes. "She was so
young... practically younger than I was... She could have had a
life. She shouldn't have died."
   "I think she already thought of herself as dead. She just had a
job to finish before she left, that's all."
   He raised his hands, disclosing a tear-stained face. "But
*why*??"
   "I don't know." She enveloped him in her arms again, resting her
head on his. "Maybe she couldn't stand the thought of having nuts
and bolts inside. Maybe she missed her parents too much. Or maybe
she didn't want to live in a world where people can just shoot
whoever it is you love and get away with it. Sometimes life is so
unfair, it's not worth the trouble of surviving."
   The notion of unfairness reminded him of something else. "What
did Nambu have to say?"
   "He *almost* apologized. Each time he tries to come down on me,
he ends up apologizing to me. It must drive him ballistic."
   She had been summoned to Nambu's office the moment she had
stepped out of the helicopter and onto the roof of the Tokyo ISO
centre in the early afternoon. She had nodded absently to the two
armed security men who had been sent to pick her up; two days of
violent mood swings had left her too emotionally drained to respond
with anything more than a vacant smile. Following them to the
appropriate floor and door, she soon found herself in the familiar
chair with the mangled armrests.
   "I see you've decided to keep it. As a memento?"
   "No, I just haven't had the time to have it replaced yet. Did
you sleep well?"
   "Like a log. Almost missed my wake-up call."
   "I'm glad to hear it."
   "You don't look as if you've slept much, though."
   "Indeed, I didn't. I returned late last night, only to find I
had visitors."
   "Poor you. Better make this short, then. Just tell me what you
want, and I'll be on my way."
   "Joe has survived the mission. He's downstairs, waiting for
you."
   Her reaction was not quite what he expected. "That's the worst
April Fool I've ever heard, and it's three months late, too. Or did
I miss my wake-up call after all, and am I still asleep?"
   "I don't think so; in that case, you wouldn't be here. No, I'm
serious. It seems he received assistance from an unexpected ally,
who, regrettably, died. He is at present in very low spirits, and
demands to see you."
   "Which you, of course, will rigorously forbid."
   "No, I told him I wanted to speak to you first. And for a start,
I would ask you *not* to pass on classified information to anyone
who takes an interest, if only for your own well-being."
   "I trust Joe."
   "I wasn't talking about Joe. You have been culpably careless in
discussing your private life with your colleagues. I had thought
your instincts of self-preservation would assure your discretion.
I am, of course, talking about professor Helvig, who made a call to
me yesterday and launched into a very impetuous speech about the
unfairness of discriminating against former Galactors."
   She barely perceived the chill that crept up her neck. "I assume
you told him everything."
   "As much as I thought proper. *Why* did you disclose secret
information to a third party?" Nambu almost shouted, slamming his
fist down on the desk's surface.
   "He was my friend. I didn't want to lie to him."
   "You couldn't have picked a worse way to reform your life. Your
honesty will be your undoing."
   "Was he mad at me?"
   "No, he took it all in good spirit, fortunately. I gave him my
word to contact him as soon as you returned. Do you want to see
him?"
   Her mind was still too blank to be upset. "Yeah, why not." Nambu
switched on the wall monitor behind him and keyed in a code.
Moments after, Helvig's Einstein-like face appeared on the screen,
the carved rims of his desk and the wooden planks of the wall
behind him indicating that he was in his home in Throndheim. He
beamed at her in his usual way. She smiled back weakly, expecting
the worst.
   "So, what do I hear? You fainted?"
   "Oh, just a sugar low. I didn't really eat properly before I
left. So, did you have a good trip?"
   "The food was murder, they were playing a gangster film in the
aeroplane, there was this kid beside me who obviously didn't know
what the volume adjustment button on his walkman was for and guess
what? I never slept so well in my life. Did it work?"
   "Yes."
   "Good. You can tell me the details as soon as my biological
clock is back to normal. Right now, I feel as if I've been pounded
all over with trolls' hammers. Did Nambu make his apologies yet?"
   "I'm here," Nambu said, moving his chair round so that Helvig
could see him. "And apologies are, of course, out of the question.
I only agreed to retract my statement."
   "And which statement is that?" Katze asked in what sounded like
a casual voice, feeling too estranged to take it all in. Nambu
cleared his throat.
   "Let's hear you say it, Nambu," Helvig challenged.
   "All right, you have my permission as from now to freely
associate with all members of the Science Ninja Team, provided you
make no attempt to cause them voluntary harm, as stipulated in the
contract. Moreover, not only is your workplace safe, but I have
also agreed with Hakani to move the deadlines on your current
assignments two weeks ahead, and arrange for a holiday after their
conclusion." As the significance of his words gradually percolated
through to her brain, a heady happiness took possession of her, and
a wide grin spread over her face. Helvig grinned back at her. "See,
I told you I'd have a word with him."
   "You're not mad at me, then?"
   "Hardly. After all, you didn't really do that much, did you?
Nothing I wouldn't have done, under the circumstances."
   Apparently Nambu hadn't told him everything. "Now don't say that
until you've heard the whole story. Although, on second thoughts,
what you don't know won't hurt you."
   "Exactly. So, are we friends?" he asked, holding out a hand as
if to shake hers. The impossibility of his gesture made her laugh.
She raised her own hand in answer.
   "I'll be your friend for as long as you like."
   He took a quick peek at his watch. "Well, I'd better go now.
I've a lot of sleep to catch up on before I go to work tomorrow.
And, by the way," he added mischievously, "does this mean that as
of next year, you'll be wearing the pants in the literal sense?"
   Her mouth fell open. She turned to stare at Nambu, whose
expression was, as always, totally and inscrutably rational. Helvig
was chuckling wickedly. "I always wondered what you looked like
behind the mask. Tell me something, Hunt. Why is someone with your
capacities frittering his life away in some insignificant little
testing lab?"
   "I just wanted a normal life," she said softly. "I love you, Al.
And don't go taking that too literally."
   "My Hetta would never forgive me. Well, goodbye, and good luck.
I'll call you in a week or two." With a final wink, he cut the
connection, and the screen blanked out. The office suddenly seemed
dark. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against the
eyelids while her retinas adjusted.
   "As you see, you've been very, very lucky," Nambu resumed. "You
are fortunate to have such a friend. The situation might have
become very ugly if he had wanted to persecute you. Instead, he
defended you with a fervour which was, all things considered,
surprising. Not only that, but he also contacted my next visitor,
who stormed into my office at an indecent hour to demand why I was
departing from the terms of the contract, after almost having
knocked down the gate of my house first to find me. It seems you
left a message for him as well."
   "Stanley," she guessed.
   "Oh, is that what you call him? Exactly. Not to mention a rather
curious young man by the name of... Rayek? who also claimed to be
a friend of yours, and who, I must say, was very persuasive. You
have an impressive battery of friends, these days." She smiled
happily. "Whether you deserve them is another matter; but I
understand from both of them that most of what befell you in your
life was undeserved. Moreover, it has been pointed out to me that
your influence on the Condor is not entirely negative. Associating
with you has increased his awareness and his sense of
responsibility, and stimulated his hitherto virtually nonexistent
powers of reflection. Qualities that won't benefit him as a Science
Ninja, but which might serve to make him a better human being. All
in all, I can think of no good reason to forbid your liaison, and
so I won't."
   She was laughing quietly. "That's sweet of you, Nambu."
   "Just doing my duty."
   "But you're not happy about it, are you? I can tell."
   "I'll never be happy about your presence here. You are a
potential danger to the team."
   "Oh, come on. That's not the real reason."
   Nambu adjusted his glasses, then bowed his head. His lack of
sleep, as well as last night's dialogue with his two visitors, had
made him unsure, vulnerable. "Kentaro Washio and I were good
friends," he confessed. "I couldn't bear the thought of any child
of mine living with the person responsible for his death."
   "So it was personal after all."
   "I trust I may be allowed some human fallibility. Also..."
   "Yes?"
   His voice became unsteady for a moment. "I wanted Joe to have a
normal life."
   "That, Doctor Nambu, went out of the window when you enlisted
him in your Science Ninja Team."
   There was a profound silence. Nambu hemmed, and raised his head.
"You are right, as always. And now I must ask you to leave. Joe is
waiting for you."

   "I told him I was going to marry you."
   "You never!! Why, you little..." She nipped the side of his
neck. "No wonder he wanted to lock me away."
   "When I came back from the mission, I mean."
   "Ah. Mmm."
   "He wasn't overjoyed. But he didn't hit the ceiling, either."
   "I'd say he was glad to see you alive. Glad enough to ignore any
gibberish you uttered on returning home."
   "I'd say it made him less opposed to the whole affair. He acted
relieved. Told me I shouldn't expect I'd be married to a *real*
woman, though."
   "Hunh. So Nambu thinks the unholy union between a man and a
mutant can be sanctified by the sacrament of marriage. And when did
you lead him to believe this wholly fictitious event should take
place?"
   "I said when you're ready for it. So he said okay."
   "And I say you shouldn't expect to be married at all. Especially
not after that little stunt you pulled with Ken."
   "Awww..."
   "Running off to kill yourself while leaving me in Nambu's
clutches, and then coming back with the announcement that you've
fallen in love with a fellow-cyborg. Just how seriously am I
supposed to take you, anyway?"
   "I said that because it was the only way to make him
understand."
   "And, of course, because any sympathies you manifest towards the
female sex tend to be expressed on the hormonal level. Speaking of
hormone problems."
   He grinned, manoeuvering her onto his lap. "I guess I have a
little hormone problem too."
   "I'd say you have a very big hormone problem. Well, that makes
two of us."

   "Doctor Nambu?"
   One look at his mentor's face was enough to make Ken withdraw
and start to shut the door again, but Nambu signalled him to stop
and enter.
   "I thought you might be too tired, hakase."
   "Whatever it is you have to say might as well be said now, while
I'm still awake. So, speak."
   Ken looked about him uncomfortably before stepping into the
office and lowering himself into the visitor's chair. Placing his
hands on the armrests, he glanced down in surprise.
   "That's Joe's work," Nambu said wearily, following his glance.
"That boy never ceases to amaze me." The armrests, Ken saw, were
metal rods topped with flat bands of plastic. It might just be
possible. Ryu, at any rate, would have had no difficulty in bending
them. But crushing them? Turning his mind back to the words he was
about to speak, he gathered his courage.
   "Doctor Nambu, you won't believe what I'm going to say now and
I don't like to say it, but I think they should stay together," he
blurted out.
   "Joe and Hunt, you mean?" Unless they were absolutely sure of
not being overheard, they used her official name. Ken was grateful
for it; although he was beginning to accommodate himself to the
person, the name still made him shudder. He nodded. Feeling a need
to justify himself, he continued:
   "Joe may have been pretty wild before, but he was never as bad
as this. He was acting as though he wanted to commit suicide. If he
stays like this, I'm afraid he'll become more reckless with every
mission until he dies. And he cares about her. I know it sounds
incredible, but he does. He told me. And what's even more
incredible, she cares about him. He's the only one who can assure
her loyalty, she won't do anything to betray us as long as she's
stuck on him. And he won't try to kill himself as long as he knows
she'll be waiting for him. We lost Joe once, hakase. I don't want
to lose him again. And if that means sharing him with..." He left
a pause to signify the hated name, "Then I can live with that."
   He breathed in deeply, trying to assess the effect of his words
on his guardian. To his relief, Nambu nodded.
   "I have come to much the same conclusion. Something has happened
between them in the interim between his supposed death and his
reappearance. I don't know what it was - it may have been the fact
that they were both former Galactors which brought them together -
but whatever their previous sentiments towards each other, it has
created a bond between them which was strong enough to survive
Joe's return to the Ninja Team. It would be cruel, as well as
futile, to attempt to break it at this stage."

They had exchanged the chair for the couch, which offered more
space, and lay tightly intertwined like two corkscrew blades,
exulting in each other's presence.
   "You won't ever do that again, will you?"
   "Do what?"
   "Run off to get yourself killed."
   "I'll try not to."
   "Feeble, Asakura, very feeble. You gave me a nasty shock, you
know."
   "I did?"
   "I fainted."
   Joe knew that she didn't faint readily. No amount of hitting
over the head would knock her out; she remained tenaciously
conscious throughout the most gruelling ordeals.
   "Sorry. Hadn't thought."
   "You never did stop to think what would happen to me after you
died, did you?"
   "I thought you'd just go back into hiding. If Nambu didn't leave
you alone, that is."
   "What would have been the point?"
   He kissed her on the nose. "I'm sorry. It's just that I didn't
want to go on living like this."
   "I know the feeling."
   It occurred to him that she had been living like this for well
over thirty years.
   "I guess being a mutant isn't easy, either."
   "Fucks up your love life, for one thing..."
   "Well, that's one problem I don't have."
   "Ha! That's what you think."
   "It'll work out," he assured her. "I love you."
   "If you love me, why did you desert me to run off on some
suicide mission?"
   "I knew I'd have to die one day. I just didn't feel like putting
it off any longer."
   "And it never occurred to you I might miss you?"
   "Well, you didn't act as though you would," he said defensively.
   "I'm like that. You ought to know that by now."
   He lodged his head on her shoulder, and sighed. "I thought you'd
be happier without me."
   "Don't give me that crap. I need you and you know it."
   "Even though I'm not a real human?"
   "I know what you are." She kissed him on the nose. He returned
the kiss, and snuggled against her chest.
   "Got something for you," he suddenly remembered.
   "Oh? What is it?"
   His face fell. "Only I left it in the car."
   "Which is at present in an underground parking garage."
   "No, wait. I left it here. I was going to move the trailer, so
I kept it in the car, then I came here to see you, only you didn't
turn up, so I thought if I left it in the car I might forget about
it, so I put it here. That was when I stuck that note to your desk.
So it's got to be somewhere around the house." His brow furrowed in
thought.
   "Kitchen?" she suggested. His brow cleared.
   "Right. Hang on a sec." They disentangled, and he went into the
kitchen, to return after some rummaging with two flat paper bags,
one large, one small. She had risen to a sitting position, one leg
drawn in under her.
   "Oh, is that it? I thought it was some shopping Brace had left.
You're lucky I didn't open them."
   "So open them now," he encouraged her, sitting beside her and
depositing both bags in her lap. She opened the smaller bag first,
and laughed in delight at the glossy little golden dolphin. She
rested it in her palm like a living thing and stroked its curved
back with a fingertip, then suspended it by its chain - it had a
tiny eye at the apex of the curve - and watched with a smile as it
hung frozen in mid-jump, mirroring the light from the window in
shifting patches of white.
   "This must have cost you a small fortune."
   "It was one of the reasons why I didn't have much food stocked
in the trailer when you came to see me," he admitted. She opened
the second one, and grinned in even greater delight as she drew out
the artbook.
   "Hey, wow. I was saving up for this one. Or, rather," she
amended, as she had an income which was considerably higher than
his, and he knew it, "I was psyching myself up to buy it. I'm not
used to spending money on luxury items - not this kind, anyway."
She flipped through it with a face that glowed with pleasure, then
put it aside to hug him.
   "Bought those after Nambu's little lecture. Thought that'd show
him." They kissed, lengthily and passionately.
   "Poor old Nambu. Trying so hard to understand what's going on."
   "Maybe I should tell him."
   "Better not. You know how he reacted to me. And, bearing in mind
what your own initial reaction was..."
   "Mm." He rested his head in the hollow between her neck and
shoulder. "I guess we both hate our bodies, huh?"
   She put a hand inside the collar of his T-shirt and slid it down
his back. "I like your body."
   "I like your brain," he returned, kissing her earlobe.
   "Well, that's an unusual role reversal. Or..." Withdrawing her
hand from his T-shirt, she encircled his neck with her fingers,
lightly posing her thumbs over his windpipe. "Are you hedging?"
   "I like your body too," he assured her.
   She increased the pressure on her thumbs, narrowing the diameter
of his windpipe. "Both of them?"
   "Both of them," he said with some difficulty. The pressure was
lifted, and she surveyed him with a contented little smile.
   "We'll see," she said, rising off the couch. Hoisting him up in
her arms, she commenced the long and unsteady journey up to the
bedroom.