Sandoval and Boone were looking down at the table with the butterfly in its glass cage. The only light in the room was coming from the two small desk lamps at each end of the table and the screens of the laptop computer in front of each man. Sandoval shook his head and said, "There are no emissions from it in any part of the spectrum. Heat, light, radio, microwave, ultrawave, cosmic radiation, and all 19 bands introduced to our science by the Taelons. Nothing!" Boone chuckled. "Of course not, Ron.", he said "There are no emissions from it because it's dead." "You are making a presumption, Commander Boone. In order to be dead, a thing must have been, at one time, alive. This ‘thing’ is entirely mechanical. It can't be dead, because it has never been alive."

"Now it's you that's presuming, Ron. There are some organic components in the debris we found, and it is based on Taelon technology. The Taelons ‘grow’ much of their technology. Under certain definitions of ‘life’, this may have been alive. It is not alive now, though." "Agreed", said Sandoval. Boone nodded, "We agree on something else. Even when it was alive, these butterflies did not emit any kind of signal that anyone ever picked up. If it does not emit any signal that we can track, how can we ever find them?’ Sandoval just shook his head again. Boone said, "If only we had a live one to study!"

Sandoval opened his mouth to protest, again, the use of the word "live", when a soft voice came out of the darkness. "You could ‘resurrect’ this one.", the voice said. Da’an and Ne'eg stepped out of the darkness of the surrounding room and joined the two agents at the table. "It might be possible", Da’an continued, "to reactivate the sample before you with sufficient energy of the correct type." "There are dangers", interjected Ne'eg. "Once reactivated, the sample would likely become dangerous to those around. There is also the possibility that there is no data left in the central processor after entering this depleted state. Energizing the power cells may not cause a proper restart."

Boone nodded in agreement, "Kind of like having a living body with no brain. It might just sit there." Ne'eg smiled. "Worse.", said Sandoval. "It might behave randomly. It could emit all kinds of energy with no pattern to track. Like a seizure." Ne'eg smiled even more broadly. Quite an unusual sight from a Taelon. Boone shook his head. "Either no information, or too much."

Ne'eg could contain himself no longer. He looked at Da’an and said, "You were correct! These two have a complete grasp of the problems at hand. Their research, so far, is very well organized. Given sufficient time, and resources, they could resolve this entire matter." Da’an said, "There is very little time, therefore all available resources must be brought to bear. That is why Ne'eg is joining your team." Da’an noted the astonished looks on the faces of Sandoval and Boone. He said, "I have been apprising Ne'eg of your progress and have made your research data available to him." Ne'eg sobered, and gave a downward look. "I stand ready to assist you.", he said.

"A Taelon assisting humans?", Sandoval asked in amazement. "Yes, Agent Sandoval.", replied Da’an. "The situation is serious. It requires rapid action. No ground will be broken at all unless we are willing to break new ground in the process."

It was Boone who smiled. "That is an excellent saying, Da’an. Who said it?" Da’an blinked, questioningly, in surprise. "I did."

Jonathan Doors stood with his arms folded, looking dourer than ever. "All right, Lili. When is Miraldi due to show up?", he asked. "Just a minute.", she replied. She took out her Global Link and punched in a command sequence. Watching the screen, she walked to a certain spot on the floor. When she found the spot she wanted, she took a small coin from her pocket. On each side of the small, golden colored, coin was engraved a large letter X. She placed the coin, very carefully, on the exact spot on the floor. She closed her Link and put it back on her belt.  Checking her watch, Lili said, "One minute and 15 seconds from right now."

"What were you doing?", asked Augur, waving is finger at the floor.  "X marks the spot!", she said with glee.  "Oh, sure.", said Augur shaking his head.  "No, I meant what were you doing with the Global?"  In response, Lili took her Global Link from her belt and tossed it to him.  "Take a look.", she said.  "I reprogrammed it.  If that silly little virus can access positioning signals, then why can't I call up the same data to find my own position very accurately?"  "Oh, so you're a Link programmer now, it that it?", Augur asked.  "Oh, yeah.", Lili replied.  "It's easy. Miraldi showed me how."  Lili was smiling very broadly, with her hands held behind her back, rocking back and forth from heel to toe.  She was very proud of herself.  Augur smiled too. "I'm impressed. Link programming is not that easy.", he said.  "I wonder how this Miraldi knows so much about Global Links?"

"He invented the thing.", said Doors in reply.  Lili moved to where Doors was standing.  Augur was not sure, he had been busy examining the Global Link and only saw Lili from the corner of his eye, but he thought that he saw Lili skip to where Doors was standing.  He thought to himself, "Naw. Couldn't be.", and went back to examining the Link.  Lili was standing behind Doors.  She stood on her toes and spoke very near his right ear.  "Gee, Jonathan, and all this time, I thought that you invented the Global Link." Doors was staring at the coin on the floor.  "I told you, he used to work for me.", he said.  "Miraldi invented the Global Link when he worked for me."  Lili walked around Doors and faced him.  "Aw, Jonathan. I think you're jealous.  He's got a bigger hideout than you do.  Do you think that he has more money too?"

"Could be.", Doors replied.  "We'll ask him."  He was looking, not at Lili, but beyond her, over her shoulder.  He nodded toward the coin on the floor a few yards in front of him.  "You say that he is going to be standing right there in less than one minute?"  "Yup!", said Lili with a satisfied grin.  Doors snapped his fingers, once to his left side, and once to his right.

Ten uniformed Liberation fighters stepped out of the shadows.  Each man was carrying an automatic weapon.  In unison, they armed the weapons.  Five men on one side, and five on the other.  They stood forming a V shape.  At the bottom of the V, were Lili and Doors, facing each other.  In the center of the top of the V, was the coin.

All trace of smile instantly vanished from Lili’s face.  She dropped to a classic street fighting stance: feet shoulder width apart, knees ever so slightly bent, weight evenly distributed between the balls of the feet and the heels, hands in a loose fist, held down in front together, right wrist crossed over left.  One instant she was playful Lili, and the next she was fighting machine Marine Captain Marquette.  Semper Fi!

She was still looking into the face of Jonathan Doors.  He never even blinked but continued to stare at the coin.  She bared her teeth as she snarled, "What's this, Jonathan?"  "Insurance.", he said.

Lili’s mind was running at top speed.  She ran the situation over in her mind silently.  "There are only ten of them, with just one weapon each.  Nearly a fair fight.  No, wait. Jonathan has that damned pistol, so that makes eleven.  Even that is not hopeless.  I can knock Doors off his feet, serves him right.  Then I can dive over that table, draw and take out the five on this side before they know what hit them.  If I can stay under cover, I have a good chance to take the other five.  Oh, God! These people are my friends!  I am standing here planning how many, and which ones I am about to kill.  Help me."

All that, and much more, raced thought her mind.  It seemed forever.  In real time, it was only a fraction of a second.  Just long enough for Jonathan Doors to take his next breath.  He was about to say something when he was interrupted by a sound.  The sound that came, came from Lili’s wrist.  It was the beeping of the alarm on her pilots watch, announcing the arrival time of Anton Miraldi.

Lili wheeled around in place to face, the coin.  Each of the ten men, in unison, raised their weapons, clicked off the safeties, and took aim at a spot precisely 4.41 feet directly above - that coin.  That coin was now the aiming point for an assaination, and the focal point of her betrayal.

Jonathan Doors finished his interrupted thought while Lili’s watch was still beeping.  Calmly he said, "Lili, you know that I believe in insurance."

It was Lili’s turn to stare at that coin!  The coin that Miraldi had given her.  The one she had placed, ever faithfully, in the exact spot on the floor.  Her jaw dropped.

Lili’s blood ran cold as she heard, in horror, the pounding sound of her own words in her head. "X marks the spot!"
 



[ Scene 05 | Table Of Contents | Scene 07 ]