No Man Is an Island

  After just laying with my head on Erika's lap as she ran her hand through my hair and soothed me, I finally croaked out, in a very hoarse and pain-filled voice, "E...e...e.. (coughs hoarsely)...enough laying around, feeling sorry for myself. I at least need to go to the Bridge and find some daking thing to do!"

  Then after a coughing fit from talking with a hoarse and sore throat, I turned and with Erika's help managed to sit up with my feet off the bed. However as I tried to stand my legs wouldn't work and the pain in my body was so bad that new tears formed in my eyes and the look of anguish on my face got even worse as I let out an agonizing growl, then fell back onto my ass on Erika's bed. I tried standing again with the same results. I even put an arm on her nightstand to try to use my arm and her nightstand to help me stand and stay up but again, I felt the excruciating pain and fell back to the bed.

  As I gave up and laid my head back in Erika's lap I punched her bed mattress and even though I brought my fist down with all my strength, or at least thought I did, Erika could see that my punch made very little impact with her mattress. Then I muttered quietly, "Dak what kind of warrior or leader am I? I don't even have the ability to stand up or hurt a mattress at the daking moment and my daking EGO says there is NOTHING that she can do about all my pain! Why would anybody want to take care of such a useless lump as me! If I was just an animal, I would be put down now that I am useless! Perhaps that's what you should do!..."

  I coughed again, then continued with, ".....Although I know that you probably won't, even if it is something that I think SHOULD be done!....Yet another reason that I shouldn't lead a team of heroes. However if you want me out of your room so that I am no longer a burden to you, then just get me a wheelchair and I will get out of your way....and I promise I will do my best not to wheel myself out of an open hangar bay door no matter how tempting it is......I do know that the twins will still need me as their only surviving parent after all....even if I am now a worthless invalid!.....Just don't make me go back to my quarters! I can't go in there at the moment! I just can't!!!...If you want me out of here....I guess that I will just stay in the Officer's conference room, or the Infirmary, if there are no available temporary quarters for me to use until we get back home."

"You may wonder what I am doing...," begun Marcel Lestrange while checking his weaponry. He did not spoke directly to anyone visible, because the glance of his steely eyes was not pointed towards any member of their small group. Instead he stared into a distance as he was looking into a camera. "Then I will explain. I am checking my weapon before entering into this cave to find out where these wires lead us. Few moments ago Mademoiselle Belle Starr run away and I was expecting her lover, Monsieur K'Shaa, to follow her. I did iat least once, when Lena did the left us, when she thought that it was best thing to do to spare me.

Surprisingly for all of us Monsieur K'Shaa did not such a thing. Him, doing nothing, was most unexpected thing to do. I know that I probably should have done something unexpected too, like volunteering to bring Mademoiselle Belle back to us, because I do not seem to have any logical reason to do it, but that would have added yet another surprise and too unexpected surprises might ruin the moment of surprise, if you know what I mean..."

Marcel finished the check up his first firearm and took out another piece. Still staring into nowhere, while his fingers felt the gun metal, he continued talking: "That is why I am controlling readiness of my instruments right now. We have a cave to explore and even if I decide to go and look for Mademoiselle Belle then I prefer to leave thoroughly searched cave behind our backs instead of unexplored one. I do not like being attacked from behind, you see. Safety comes first! Even when we deal with such a simple matter as firearms."

Marcel's finger touched the trigger unexpectedly and caused an accidental shot. If there was an actual cameraman with his camera filming him, he would have been killed by that accidental bullet.



Since there was not any cameras, Marcel could calmly conclude: "See, what I mean! I am actually willing to search for Mademoiselle Belle when I can be sure about the safety first. At least about the safety of Lena. Now I have done enough explaining to my imaginative audience, because when I have to speak instead of acting, then I prefer an audience even if it is imaginary, because I do not like to spill my talent by speaking only to myself. Although...when I speak to myself, I can be sure that audience appreciates me. Enough of talking anyway. Time for an action!"

  In the huge airship named Vigilant by the Protectors, Erika Widowmaker tried to calm me, her emotionally upset brother, and keep me resting in her bed saying firmly after hearing me cough then state I would leave, "You will do no such thing Atticus! You will stay in bed and let me take care of you. Taffer is more than capable to finish leading this mission. What you need to do is rest and recover your strength," Erika had a sudden thought that might get Atticus to heed her advice, asking, "Brother dear, did you ever think that maybe your sudden weakness may be because Lady is siphoning much of your Grid energy as she makes her way back home to you? Any moment, she may appear at the door, substantial once again and running to embrace you! We must pray that it is so."

  Erika hoped she was right, but opened her hailer to order, "Dr. Quinn, please come to my quarters for a house call - and please bring several bottles of Atticus' medicinal liquor with you."

  When Erika had ended the hailer call I glared at her, trying to make it look angry like usual, but only managing a very sad and defeated glare for the time being. Then I coughed again and rubbed my throat before I said quietly, coughing sporadically as I talked, "You saw the same thing I did in the Infirmary! Lady didn't just disappear like before! Her body combusted! However I know that somehow we will one day be reunited, either in this life or the next. So perhaps you are right and it is because Lady feels the same way and is trying to come back to me as we speak and needs my energy more than me at the moment, so that she can do so!.....Or perhaps...perhaps the paralysis and pain are an unexpected side affect of the two different versions of "Votan Killer Virus" or their cures that couldn't be foreseen due to my Grid-half being one hell of a wildcard as usual! Or it could be something else altogether. What's it matter?!

  What matters is that Lady is gone and it is my fault for not saving her sooner! Now she is gone....for now; I am daking wheelchair bound unless the daking doctor you called somehow spots something that Dinara couldn't, which I highly doubt as you and Dinara probably had Amber help Dinara examine me thoroughly by now and I trust those two EGO girls over a daking doctor any day! Especially when the daking doctor is NOT Orion! Although...honestly, I would trust Dinara and Amber over him as well. So now I must go home and figure out how to raise two babies, a lizard and a daking monkey by myself and from a daking wheelchair, to boot.

  Not to mention that we have no clue yet if the rest of our team are alright and coming back to us and there is the evil act I did to Sandy and Volodja as well!...I had finally decided that perhaps Volodja really was, what all you social types would consider, my best friend....but I guess I lost that relationship as well, since there is no way he could ever forgive me for what I did to Sandy or their child and I can't blame him as if our positions were reversed I would have killed him on the spot!...I really am a chaotic beast you know, and all I have done here just helps prove it. The only silver linings seem to be that I will now have plenty of time to spend with the twins as there isn't much else I can do in a daking wheelchair, and that it appears that at least for the time being that you are planning on taking care of me in Lady's absence which means we will finally have time to get better acquainted as brother and sister.

  Although I still am not sure what that entails, I am more than ready to learn. After all meeting and ultimately joining and leading the Protectors and falling in love with Lady...and now possibly losing Lady for good, and most likely losing Volodja's friendship, and then waking up in your bed to see that you have chosen to stay by my side and help me, even though I am sure you would prefer to be elsewhere and perhaps even with somebody else, have all made me realize that I had grown tired of being alone, and am happy to have finally found my home with all of you despite my past. I just...I just hope that my actions haven't completely screwed all of that up this time."

  Before Erika had a chance to respond there was a knock on the door. So I made sure my mask was still completely covering my face as usual, as Erika let in Doctor Quinn and a nurse. As usual I refused to really tell the Doctor what the problem seemed to be, so Erika filled Doctor Quinn in, as did my EGO psyche, Dinara, while Doctor Quinn's nurse hooked an Electrolyte IV to my arm. Then Doctor Quinn examined me with the medical scanners and tools that she brought and said to Erika and myself, "Commanders first the good news. Your EGO has already discovered the cause of the cough and is working on it. It appears that it was just irritation and minor infection in your throat from when you fell into the sea earlier with the cracked helmet on. As I said your EGO is working on it, however I will also give you this antibiotic spray to spray onto the back of your throat 3 to 5 times a day until the infection is cleared up, which should only take a day or two thanks to your EGO.

  Now the bad news, Commander Batman, I have examined your EGO's medical scans and after comparing with my own scans, I am afraid that I can not find an obvious cause for your pain or paralysis. Because of that, my 'working' diagnosis would be that it is either a psychological issue, which I know you will most likely ignore, as your file states that you absolutely refuse to ever see a shrink, a psychiatrist, or a psychologist; or a Grid issue, that I am not currently able to diagnose as I am just not that familiar with your unique physiology. So my recommendation since your condition isn't deteriorating any further, is plenty of bed rest and liquids until we can get you back to Fortress K'shaa and Doctor Orion can examine you personally. I will also send him a copy of my medical scans so he can review them in the meantime. Also I just used my medical pad to notify my staff that I need a nurse or orderly to bring you a wheelchair, so that you have a means of getting around for the time being, in case you need to go to the bathroom or something. So it should be here soon. I can also have Doctor Von Eschen pay you a visit if you want..."

  I glared at Doctor Micha Quinn and said sternly, "Thank you Doctor, the wheelchair and medicine are ENOUGH. I would rather he spend his time trying to help Sandy and Volodja as they are the ones who need his services the most..... and IF I decide that I need to talk about my troubles, I will do so when I am ready and only to those I am ready to talk to!"

  Doctor Quinn reluctantly nodded her understanding as she said, "if that's what you want Commander. Just let my nurse spray the back of your throat and change your IV and we will also leave two more for you to use, then we will leave you to rest."

  Then she had the nurse open the crate of "medical" liquors that they brought in. Next the nurse replaced my Electrolyte IV bag with a new one before spraying the back of my throat with the antibiotic spray, and once he was done, he put the spray on the nightstand, then opened one of the bottles of rum for me and placed it on the nightstand with the spray. After that he retrieved a couple more IVs from the medical bags and placed them on the nightstand as well. As Doctor Quinn and her nurse packed up their equipment to leave, an orderly arrived with a wheelchair and put it where Erika specified, Then followed Doctor Quinn and the nurse back to the Infirmary.

---

  Meanwhile, on the Riot, Poe pointed out that the Mine facility was in sight. Then Atika communicated with Major Inala Nangala of the ADF and after her conversation, she said to Taffer and Poe, "Alright Commander, the ADF has a spot cleared for us. Poe here are the co-ordinates."


  After giving Poe the co-ords, he flew the Riot over to them and hovered over the designated LZ as he awaited Commander Taffer's OK to land. While that was happening, Atika looked out the windows and said, "Commander, there's Major Nangala and her squad by those two Jeeps near the landing zone they specified for us. Shall we land so we can talk with her in person and then go find our friends?"

After giving Poe the co-ords, he flew the Riot over to them and hovered over the designated LZ as he awaited Commander Taffer's OK to land. While that was happening, Atika looked out the windows and said, "Commander, there's Major Nangala and her squad by those two Jeeps near the landing zone they specified for us. Shall we land so we can talk with her in person and then go find our friends?"

"I've just got a report from Vo," Taffer replied to Atika, "He transmitted his coordinates and the route his team is following. He said they are going to investigate the entrance and search for the source from where the explosion was initiated, so we better meet Major Nangala and tell her about them so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings if they found Vo's group before we inform them. Do you mind to come with me and meet them in person?"

After Taffer gave Poe Dameron permission to land, he went to the door and waited for it to open.

"Now Dash, what do you think about that 'spherical evidence' Vo provided?" He mentally asked his EGO as he waited.

"Honestly? I have no idea why would it be there. Like Shirra said, it doesn't make sense at all."

"Okay, let's come from the other side. If you were going to be memory-wiped and that accumulator register was the only memory cell that could remain intact, then what would you put into it?"



"That's an interesting way to solve a problem," Dash replied, "I think I'd put some kind of a warning there. Like a binary number 111000111 to represent a good old S.O.S or a hexadecimal number d734 which, if written in a machine font and overturned will read as "help". But this one is definitely more complex. Well, maybe it is indeed a warning, but it also contains the information on the cause of the memory wipe so that the 'new' EGO could avoid it happening again. Although I still have no idea how calculating a volume of a sphere could represent a cause of a memory wipe."

"A module of a volume of a sphere," Taffer corrected, "or an absolute value of it. Or magnitude. If the calculation doesn't make any sense then it only means there's no need to calculate it. Just like your d734 holds no meaning as a number until you see its digits as letters. So don't calculate it but think on it. But please don't overheat yourself to the memory loss too."

Once the door opened, Taffer exited the Riot and came up to Dingorigine woman who was standing with her squad next to their vehicles.

"Greetings, Major Nangala," Taffer said as he removed his helmet, "I'm Taffer, the sub-Commander of the Protectors. Here's Atika Constantine who you've talked too while we were on our way here. As my people reported to me, this place looked mostly abandoned at least on the surface and upper levels of the mines and the only two people they met were sent away from the mine. That was before we lost contact to them until I've just heard from them again. They found a digging machine which they used to get back to the surface and now they are going to investigate the cause of the explosion. So if you don't mind, we're going to meet them and see if they found something interesting yet."

On their way to the entrance of the mine Lu saw the Riot landing in the distance and the commotion on the ground around it.

"It seems we won't have much time before this place gets overcrowded," She said to Lena and Marcel, "So let's move on and check things around before they trample all the evidence down into the ground. And no more accidental shots please as we don't know if those locals are trigger happy or not."

As they came up to the entrance of the mine, Lu launched her Decoy with its Scan Sweep active as they both searched for unusual or redundant wires coming out of the cave. To her dismay she found nothing but a power line which provided lighting of the cave.

"I'm pretty sure the signal to explosives wasn't conducted through power lines, they had their own signal lines for sure," Lu's EGO said as her Decoy became transparent but still retained Lu's shape. "Although I've done a distance-to-fault scan while we were at the main charge. According to my calculations, the farthest reflection point, which should be the closest to the source, was still located inside the mine."



"That seems impractical if one has to come into the cave they are about to explode to activate the charge," Lu replied with doubt in her voice, "But I'm afraid we don't have much choice but to follow that lead and come down into the mine again. Please stay close to me, the walls of the cave could be severely weakened with the explosion."

With that said she activated the protective bubble of her Pulverizer and followed her EGO's lead, albeit she moved slowly and carefully as she took time to examine walls and ceiling for any cracks in them which could signal about their weakness.

"Well, here's the place," Klimi's holographic image said as she stopped, "the measurement might have some uncertainty so we'll have to look around…"

"And here's your 'reflection point'," Lu said as she pointed at a small box hidden behind a lamp post and connected to it. A thin wired line was also coming out of it and going deeper into the tunnel, hidden into the rubble. "Very clever design I must say. It's a receiver which uses a power line as an antenna. It's placed where the radio signal can still be received from the surface but deep enough so that it wouldn't be searched here. Once it receives the signal, it was transmitting it further through the separate signal line to the main charge which, in its turn, was controlling other charges throughout the mine. The problem is, it leaves us at a dead end as the signal could be transmitted from anywhere outside the mine. Although I still think it should be a low power one as someone would detect it otherwise. If that's true, then the source should still be located somewhere at the facility. If we're going to sweep the entire facility for a possible source, I'll suggest we start from the Administrative building as it seemed to be the least abandoned place here."

As they went out of the mine and made their steps towards the building, they saw two jeeps closing in to them.

"Cavalry coming," Lu said as she waved to the rollers, "I hope they are not too much upset with us sniffing around here."

"Blah, blah, blah," Lena Marr remarked to Marcel Lestrange with a wicked grin, loud enough for all to hear, "It went BOOM, villain of the piece is dead, deadly virus destroyed, end story! Bring on the drinks, time to go home and party down!"

Lena let her unblinking sky blue eyes wander as people talked and she only half listened, until she saw some movement in a decorative pond next to the Angel Arc mining Administrative Building. Taking Belle's Dancing Lady SMG off her chalk white shoulder, she stealthily approached the patch of reeds where she had seen the movement, only to have her eyes grow wide and the grin wiped from her pretty alabaster face as she saw the most horrific aberration of nature that she had ever seen swimming in the pond towards her and causing her to uttering an involuntary scream of terror.

What caused Lena to uncharacteristically scream was a relatively small animal of about a foot an a half-foot length that was a hodgepodge of more familiar species. The fantastic creature had the bill and webbed feet of a duck, the tail of a beaver, and the body and fur of an otter. Although Lena had seen Shark Gators and Spider wolves, this creature was the most bizarre, and therefore frightening to her that she had ever encountered. She raised her gun to fire at it when Major Nangala, the Dingorine on-scene commander of the ADF put a firm hand on the gun's barrel forcing it to point at the dusty ground.

"Lassie, before you come a gutser, know that's a bloody Aussie national treasure you're fixing to perforate!" Exclaimed Nangala, a grim look on her black muzzle.

"Cum gusher? Huh?" Lena questioned as she pouted and glared at the Dingorine Major, whether because she was stopped from doing her favorite pastime of killing things or because she didn't understand the Australian's slang, but then looked back at the small beast with eyes of wonder as it angled away from her as it swam, so she exclaimed, "The Votan terraforming did a real job on that poor beastie, didn't it?"

Major Nangala laughed good-naturedly, that sounded vaguely like the yipping of a dog, informing Lena in a maternal tone, "As any good Greenie could you tell you, that is a Platypus, a natural animal to these parts that existed hereabouts way before the Dingorines walked the Outback and even before you Votans arrived. Be careful of those spines on it's feet! It's a male and those spines in the males create a poison that is mighty painful and causes serious swelling!" 

Lena exclaimed with a wicked grin, "I always said this was a crazy ass world even before we Votans arrived," Then with a sigh followed the Protectors' Team into the administration building her SMG still drawn just in case of whatever next they might discover, but recording in the back of her brain the source of a newly discovered poison.



Major Nagala followed Lena's exit appreciatively with warm dark eyes wondering her story but her thoughts were broken by her hailer ringing which she answered curtly, "Nagala speaking! Make it brief, I'm on the Bundy!"

"Hey, you mean the time clock or the rum?" Said a pleasant voice on the other end of the hailer.

Nagala smiled broadly as she heard her old friend's voice and replied, "Pindari! You old rascal, how you doing mate?"

"Oh you know me, doing as little as possible on walkabout" Answered Pindari with a chuckle.

"You do know that a walkabout is meant to be done as an avocation not a vocation?" Nagala said with a hint of irony.

"Yeah you cobber, I know," Pindari remarked with a smile, but then his face and tone turned serious, "However, discussing my life's work wasn't my intention for this call. Do you have any missing person reports for a pretty human Shelia, American I think, slim, about six feet tall, blonde, blue eyes, pale skin fast becoming sunburned, wearing red, white and blue armor and carrying a really nice charge blade and a fancy pistol but no water, food, bed-roll or anything that will help her survive in the wasteland. When I found her on walkabout she was about arse over tit and looked lost in more ways than one. If you hear that someone has lost her, tell them I have her at my location fast asleep in front of me. Says her name is Belle, doesn't look like a berk, but she does look troubled."

"Thanks Pindari, I'm with a bunch of yanks right now, so I'll ask them if they're missing one of their own when I have a chance. Good-on-yer-mate for taking care of the lost sheep, just keep an eye on her. Right now I've got a fair dinkum mining disaster to deal with, so I'll get back to you when I can. We'll have a cuppa and a cut lunch soon! Nagala out!"

"Mate's rates," Answered Pindari to the hailer that had already been hung up on the other end, then went back to watching the sleeping beauty in front of him, blocked from the blazing sun by a rock outcropping, but not from his curious gaze.

Atika smiled and said, "Well he sure was a cute little fella! Glad he didn't have to die. Animals should only die for food and resources,__or our self-protection; but only if they really are a threat!"

Lena Marr looked back at the young Irathient woman with cold sky blue eyes then said vehemently as she walked backwards towards the Angel Arc building, "Jeez, something that ugly has no right to live! Is it a bird? Is it a mammal? How does it eat? Who cares? Something that scary and inexplicable really, REALLY shouldn't exist!

"However, I CAN think of a resource it could provide," Lena asserted thinking of harvesting the painful poison in the male platypus' foot spines, then saw the surrounding Dingorine soldiers glaring at her, so she quickly added over her shoulder as she turned around to enter the building, "Mittens! Nice soft fur mittens! Yeah, that's what I was thinking of!"

Once Lena entered the building, she became all business, and as her companions checked the ground floor, Lena headed up the staircase to check the second. Lena winced ever time the wooden staircase creaked under her weight as she headed upstairs, but at the top landing she still hadn't met a hailstorm of bullets, so let out a sigh of relief. She checked each room with her SMG at the ready, but found only empty spartan offices until the last room at the end of the hallway. The door to that office had a placard with "Overseer" written on it, and as she opened the door she could see this office was bigger than the rest, all though no more elaborate. What made this office more memorable than the others on the second floor was the fact that there was a headless body sitting at the desk in the center of the room with the corpse's bloody head laying upright and facing her on top of the desk, a look of resignation on his clean shaven face.

A wicked smile crossed Lena's pretty chalk white face as she yelled to her companions, "Clear up here on the second floor... except for the headless body and severed head in the Overseer's office at the end of the hall! Guess somebody couldn't get a head! Get it? Never mind, nobody gets my jokes, just get on up here quick before, you know, the crime scene gets contaminated - or things go missing, if you know what I mean!"