The Great Machine on Epsilon 3, Chapter 1
Title: The Great Machine on Epsilon 3
Challenge: AU Big Bang Challenge (au_bigbang)
Author: lil_utterance
Artist: beccastareyes
Fandom: Babylon 5/The Matrix
Pairing: Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Susan Ivanova is already living a double life: EA officer by day, rogue telepath smuggler by night. However, her life doesn't really become complicated until she finds out that everything she's tried so hard to hide is already known. On the run for her life, she is being recruited by an organization made up of people who she recognizes, but doesn't understand. The entire universe is changing around her; but she figures as long as she thinks quickly enough and trusts no one, she might be able to keep up. At least until she realizes that everything she thought she knew had always been a lie, and that her secrets go even deeper than she had ever conceived.
Cover Graphic, Version 1 (with title), Version 2 (in color) by beccastareyes
Artwork for Chapter 1 by beccastareyes
The Great Machine on Epsilon 3
Prologue:
Susan Ivanova ran.
Tired, still-nauseous from the transition, she couldn’t even begin to predict how far she would make it into the stronghold. She knew she made good time, better than ever before, because she could feel the resistance the wind created as it passed through her newly-cropped hair. Closing her eyes, concentrating, would make the sensation go away, but there was no time. There had never been any time.
With each step forward, the magnitude of her objective seemed to lessen, while the details of her progress became magnified. She supposed it was a result of her mind resting, strengthening itself, getting ready to cope with what she’d encounter at the destination point. But right now, her clearest sensation was the chafing of the black, leather pants she had resisted wearing for so long. Her concession to the ridiculous, form-fitting attire today had been a sign of solidarity, albeit a mostly useless one.
What did the dead care, how she dressed?
Still. Aside from saving the universe, she didn’t know what else she could have done in their honor, considering she would probably soon be joining them in whatever space they now occupied. Given recent events, she didn’t want to make any type of prediction about where that might be. If her God even existed, which universe had he chosen to reside in? And would she even notice if he appeared? Constructs abounded these days.
She increased her speed, and the world became a blur. Not long ago the placement and pattern of her footfalls would have mattered, but it still seemed a Vorlon’s age since she’d had to worry about anything so mundane. Though these pants…
Enough. If she was going to die, she would die supporting those who had mentored her. Those who had taught her both the truth and its acceptance-taught her who she was. Besides, she couldn’t very well die in her uniform. The moment she’d left the station without permission in the middle of a crises, she’d forfeited her right to wear it.
She pitied the Oracle. Pitied anyone who had believed in the prophecy. She supposed it was like the Centauri seers always said: you make our own future, the world is ever-changing. Except that this wasn’t even her world, and it was prophecy that had brought her to it; though she shouldn’t be here, neither of them should be here.
And yet, here they were.
Here on this dead-looking world she now ran across. She probably would never even know what it had been modeled after, although maybe it was nothing at all. She wished she didn’t believe that it could be the stuff of dreams, but she had walked the Path and she had seen some of the places it led. As long as they existed, as long as people existed, escape was not an option. She could only hope to open their eyes.
Return, reboot, reload. These words had no meaning for her anymore.
She was going to delete herself from the system.
She didn’t even pause when she hit the edge of the cliff. One moment she felt the ground, the next she didn’t, and then she was falling and crying out and bitterly triumphant.
She closed her eyes to block out her surroundings, to ignore everything but the universe contained within her mind.
She didn’t even feel it when she hit the ground.
***
Chapter 1: Wake Up
“She’s not ready yet.”
“You’ve been saying that for months,” she said. “How long do you think we have?”
“I’ll tell you when the time is right,” he replied. “After all this time, all these skills, how can you still lack patience?”
“I was already supposed to be there. What if I’m too late?”
“I won’t let that happen.”
Her sigh echoed across their connection. “I haven’t doubted you so far, and I’m not about to start now. But, sir, why her? This is a lot of trouble for a P1.”
“We’ve taken non-telepaths before. Don’t be so exclusive.”
“But this is different. He was a candidate for…”
“Exactly.”
“Wait. Are you saying-”
“Enough, Winter. Best not to speak of it. I’ll contact you when-”
“Hold on,” she interrupted. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Our comms’ traffic. I think the signal’s-” her voice warbled, melted, and then all was silence.
***
Susan couldn’t believe she was having a conversation with a Vorlon.
Or at least she felt surprised that Kosh had chosen to talk to her; she supposed that in order to call it a conversation she would have to be able to understand at least a single word of what he said.
“You are here,” he informed her. The panel on his encounter suit lit up in time with his words, letting her know that she had at least heard the cadence of his utterance correctly.
“I don’t understand,” she said, past caring if the admission made her look stupid.
“Yes.”
She ran a hand through her hair in frustration and stared at him. If she could just see inside his suit, maybe that would help. Maybe if she knew what he looked like, she could comprehend what he might want-
As she thought it, his encounter suit started to open, and she came to a sudden realization. This must be a dream.
“I’m going to wake up now,” she told him.
“Good,” he said, as the light began to blind her. “And so it begins.”
Susan Ivanova sat up in bed. For a moment her walls appeared to shimmer and bend outwards, but blinking a few times to clear her vision seemed to fix the problem. If only she could fix the problem of it still being dark outside; sometimes she really didn’t know why she had thought working on a space station was a good idea. These last few months, especially, had been difficult.
She’d liked Sinclair, liked serving under him. The period after he left had been a stressful time for her, not only because his departure meant she had to take on the responsibility for all of Babylon 5, but also because there was an act of leaving-in-the-night involved. She really hated it when the people she liked disappeared from her life without even saying good-bye. It didn’t help as much as she had thought it would that she liked his replacement. With the luck she had, John Sheridan would be around just long enough for her to get used to him before he also disappeared.
And then there were her ongoing issues with the Psi-Corps, issues which had only worsened of late. One of her contacts had to be leaking information to someone, because the last batch of smuggled telepaths had yet to reach their destination. She still had some hope that it might not have been the Corps that intercepted them, but the more time that passed without her hearing anything, the more she worried.
There was something very bad about the Corps, and it wasn’t something she had ever managed to put into words. It wasn’t just that the organization had been responsible for her mother’s death, wasn’t just that if they knew about her, she would be forced to resign from Earthforce, wasn’t just about how they treated their members-there was a darkness, a wrongness, about them she couldn’t describe.
She got out of bed, pulling on a purple robe as she moved over to her terminal. She’d been monitoring the actions of the Corps for over ten years now. Unfortunately the search she’d set up last night to flag unusual activities had yielded nothing; sure, a lot of the restricted information she’d managed to pull up didn’t paint the Corps in a flattering light, but that was hardly a revelation.
Sighing, she hacked into one of the restricted communications channels.
Sure enough, Alex was already waiting.
“How do you always get here before me?” Susan asked.
“I’ve always been faster than you at this type of thing. Maybe I can just hear different frequencies-see my way into networks.”
“Right,” Susan said. “Now you read minds and machines.”
“Hey, just show me a signal, Nova, and I’ll get you your information.”
“Alright, Alex, how about telling me where my telepaths went then?”
“Bad news there, I’m afraid. It’s a Corps issue.”
“Damn it. How are they figuring out the drop points?”
“The Corps is made up of telepaths, remember? Occasionally they’re bound to hear something.”
Susan started to respond, but stopped as a darkness fell over the screen in front of her. She turned to see the source, but nothing had changed behind her, though she would have sworn she sensed movement just a moment earlier. Then again, her senses might simply be off this morning-she had just seen her empty, black screen darken. And to what? Darker black? All the lights were off.
“Nova?” Alex’s voice issued from the blank screen. “Talk to me, Nova.”
“I’m here. It’s just…”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Susan shook her head. “I’m jumping at shadows. You ever do that?”
“Oh, once or twice. Mostly I run from them.”
“You must have quite the past.”
“Past, future, doesn’t matter. They’re all the same. I’ve got to go now. I’ll contact you when we’ve got the next group ready for transport.”
“Fine. I’m going to-” Susan began, but was interrupted.
“Nova?”
“Who are you?” Susan asked, furious at hearing a new voice. How dare Alex violate the security of their channel? “Alex, you’d better have a-”
“Alex isn’t here anymore.”
“Did you hurt her? Because if you did, I will find you, and you will not enjoy meeting me.”
“I hurt no one. I used this channel because it’s the easiest method of communicating with you for the moment.”
“Look, I really do not enjoy having my conversations forcibly interrupted by someone I don’t know, especially when they are using an unauthorized method of communication to do so.”
((Would you prefer I used this?))
“Get the hell out of my head!” Susan jumped out of her chair and turned in a circle, scanning the entire room in a single glance. The culprit must have line of sight.
((If you’re going to look for me in your quarters, wouldn’t light help?))
As the thought went through Susan’s mind, she watched in numb fascination as the door to her quarters activated, apparently of its own volition, flooding light into the room and making it obvious that no visible intruder existed in the room.
Susan took a couple deep breaths to calm herself. “What do you want?” she asked through gritted teeth. As she spoke, the door closed itself, leaving her in darkness once again.
((To tell you what you already know. All is not right with your world.))
“You’re right. I did know that. Now go fuck around in your own mind and leave mine the hell alone. And put Alex back on the line.”
((You want to talk about Alex? Fine. Alex had a little Vorlon. Her skin was pale as snow. And everywhere that Alex went-))
“Wait!” Susan clasped her hands to her head, trying to block the voice out and make sense of it all at the same time. “What do you know about Alex? And what do you mean by-”
((You really should answer the door.))
Against her own better judgment, Susan found herself taking the advice. She moved in the direction of the door, suddenly terrified of what she might find outside…
…and then she woke up again.
***
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have ten things to do, all of them annoying.”
Susan didn’t watch as Ms. Winters left C&C. She had expected her today, had seen her arrival on the schedule and simply avoided her.
This new telepath’s presence was one more example of how the Corps continued to extend their reach and encroach even further onto the station. Adding yet another commercial telepath to the station’s pool seemed an act of menace, especially when the telepath in question was so determined. Whatever the regs. said about checking in with the second in command, most of the new telepaths usually just sent her a message through Babcom, which she could quickly access and then summarily delete. They didn’t expect personal attention.
“Commander?” Lieutenant Corwin asked. “What should we do about the group of Centauri vessels waiting to dock?”
“Tell them to wait their turn,” Susan snapped. She studied the console in front of her and tried to calm her thoughts. She needed to pull herself together and accept that this day just wasn’t going to get any better. It had started with Garibaldi coming to her quarters this morning because she had overslept. Thankfully for her, Sheridan had been amused, not angry, at the lapse. It wasn’t that she couldn’t have handled his anger, but she was just as glad she didn’t have to right now.
She had never felt so restless before. And Ms. Winter’s intrusion had not helped her mental state. Something about that woman - about her tone - bothered her, and she could not place what was causing her this fixation on their encounter.
If she could just make it through another couple of hours, maybe a drink after work would make it all go away.
She turned back to Lieutenant Corwin. “If Londo tries to give you any more trouble about those ships, tell the ambassador that he can take it up with me.”
“Yes, sir.” Lieutenant Corwin moved to obey her orders with alacrity, and Susan knew she had regained control of the situation around her for a little while longer-or at least until the next crisis. Which, knowing Babylon 5, couldn’t be very far away.
***
It seemed like the man was talking to himself.
“I told you my information was good. I don’t know why you had to risk sending someone into the room today.” A pause. “Yes, I know you are all-powerful, but she still almost saw you. At least give me a chance to make a willing recruit out of her.” Another pause. “Now, now. You’d miss me if I was gone. Shall I continue as planned?” A burst of static followed his words, and he briefly gained a flickering shadow. He patiently waited until the phenomenon was over.
“Good,” he finally said. “I grow tired of waiting for the enemy to act first. It will be done tonight.” He exited amidst a second burst of static, leaving an empty room behind him.
***
After a cocktail and twenty minutes of doing nothing but observing the traffic in the bar, Susan almost felt relaxed. She had just ordered her second drink when Talia Winters entered the establishment, her appearance a reminder that Susan should never consider a public place a possible sanctuary. The woman in question didn’t seem to notice anyone or anything else in the bar; she headed straight in Susan’s direction, a not-unexpected, but still unappreciated course of action. Of course the person to whom Susan least wanted to speak would only be interested in interacting with her. It fit her day so well.
As Ms. Winters sat on the bar stool next to her, Susan felt the jaded part of herself soften just a little. This close, she could sense a certain amount of uncertainty hidden beneath all the confidence the telepath projected. Being here meant being far away from the Corps, and Susan supposed that it was difficult to be without your family, no matter how evil they might be. She also supposed that giving the woman next to her a bit of a break might net her a few extra points in the karma department.
Besides, maybe if she explained her reasons for hating the Corps, Ms. Winters might prove herself to be a reasonable and humane individual. Susan had been searching for quite some time for someone here on B5 who would be a good candidate for helping her smuggle rogue telepaths through the station. The woman beside her might prove herself to be exactly what Susan had been searching for.
So she explained her situation. Her history. The facts about her mother.
And was rewarded by responses that would be spoken only by a true Corps supporter. All that promise, wasted. It hardly encouraged her to engage in any further acts of altruism.
“Perhaps we can start again tomorrow,” Ms. Winters said quickly as Susan stood.
“I very much doubt it,” Susan said, barely turning to acknowledge the words. “Good night, Ms. Winters.” Faster then she would have thought possible, the other woman was standing at her side.
“I know who you are, Nova,” she whispered into Susan’s ear. “I know the secrets that you keep.”
“How do you know that name?” Susan asked her, just as quietly.
“Perhaps we should talk about it over there,” Talia said, nodding at a table in the far corner of the bar.
“Fine,” Susan said, and walked over to the table. She tried to keep a hold on her mind, tried to keep it from racing. Not only because she need to think, to plan, but also because she knew the woman beside her would be able to sense any, or perhaps all, of her disquiet. Listening to explanations would buy her time to figure out her best way out of this mess; she’d prefer to make this problem go away without a body count, but at the moment it seemed a difficult goal to achieve.
“Who are you? Really?” Susan asked as soon as they sat down.
“I didn’t lie to you.” Talia sat back and rested the side of her face against one gloved hand. “My name is Talia Winters. You just might know me better as a shorter version of my surname.” She smiled. “When it comes to choosing aliases, some of us prefer to hide in plain sight.”
For a moment Susan couldn’t do much more than gape at the woman sitting so coolly across from her. She knew her. “Winter?” she asked.
“I knew you’d heard of me.”
“Who hasn’t? You completely fooled the Corps, back when the integrated underground network for telepaths still existed.”
“That was years ago,” Winter said. “I’ve been very busy since then.”
“I’m sure you have, but…” Susan paused to study her and shook her head. “You saved so many people. And you deceived a couple of P12s.”
Winter shrugged. “They weren’t very smart ones.”
“I…I don’t know what to say,” Susan said, unable to suppress a smile. “It’s just…” She couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off Winter, now that she had seen her. “Well, aren’t you only a P5?”
Winter leaned forward. “I’m a lot of things. A P5 is only the beginning of what I am.” She reached out and brushed a finger against Susan’s EA badge. “Just as your identity as an Earthforce officer is hardly the sum of who you are.”
“Yes.” Susan’s smile faded. “What do you mean, you know my secrets?”
“I know you’ve been smuggling telepaths.”
“Is that it?” Susan asked. She felt relieved. She felt disappointed. All that build up, and the least of her secrets was revealed.
“I haven’t even started. I know you recognize that something is wrong about the way telepaths interface with the rest of the world. I know you stay up late at night researching. You are right to ask the question.”
“What question?” As she asked, Susan realized she already knew. At least about the question. The answer, that was another story.
“What is wrong with the Corps?” Winter sat back again in her chair, letting her words speak for themselves. She didn’t need any more grand gestures as far as Susan was concerned; she had gotten her attention. Sadly, the demonstration wasn’t over.
“It’s always the telepaths who sense it through the Organization.”
Susan wondered if she’d ever be able to draw breath again. “I’m sorry? I must-”
“You’re not going to try and deny it,” Winter interrupted, holding her gaze. “Not to me.”
“What do you want?” Susan whispered. Whatever it was, it would probably ruin her life. “Why are you here?”
“To lead you to your answers.” Winter reached out a hand across the table. “But first I have to show you the door.”
As Winter uttered the last word, Susan realized what had been bothering her about the woman all day. Her notoriety was not all Susan had encountered of her before.
It was that voice.
“You.” Susan said. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this cold. “You were the one in my head this morning.” She didn’t even know she’d been hoping for a particular type of response until she saw that, by her nod, Winter wasn’t going to deny the accusation.
“Yes. An unfortunate, but unavoidable, course of action. You’ll see-”
“I’ll see nothing. You were in my mind. You think I’m ever going to trust you? Go anywhere with you? I’ll skate across hell first.”
“You just might, before this is through,” Winter murmured. “Look, Nova-”
“Stop calling me that.”
“You are in danger, Nova,” she said, emphasizing the alias while holding Susan’s glare. “The Corps-”
“Has ignored me for almost thirty years. It can ignore me for a few more.” Susan stood and walked around the table until she could look down at Winter. “The only reason I’m going to let you walk away from this is because of all those telepaths you saved so long ago. But you’d better be gone by tomorrow-and do not let me catch you on this station again.”
Susan forced herself to hold the other telepath’s gaze and wait for a response. She knew what would really keep her awake for the next unending string of nights would be that this woman, this invader of her mind, had briefly garnered a certain amount of her trust; though she hadn’t realized it until right now. Why else would she have shared about her mother? Why else would she have even talked to her?
She was a rotten judge of character. All there was to it.
Winter didn’t back down from her glare. “Leave me aside for a moment. Don’t you care that you were right? About the Corps? About all of it?”
“I’ve been right before,” Susan said. “And I haven’t needed anyone to hold my hand afterwards.” She had no desire to glance over her shoulder as she walked away.
***
When Susan stepped outside the bar, they were waiting.
“Gentleman,” she said. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
All the black-clad, badged telepaths turned to their leader as one.
“Commander Ivanova,” Bester said. “Please don’t feign ignorance as to our purpose here. Pretense doesn’t suit you.”
“Mr. Bester, I never feign ignorance about your purpose.” She clasped her hands behind her back just in case they trembled. “How many more did you enslave today?”
“I save enslavement to the end of the week, Commander. Today I’m simply looking for information. Care to provide it willingly?”
“You’re not getting it from me any other way.” She took a couple steps forward, stopping just short of pushing her way through the group. “And I find myself disinclined to talk today. Now,” she said, ignoring everyone but Bester, “do I call Security, or are you going to get out of my way?”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but station security is unlikely to be available for some time. Earthgov sent a few ships to ensure that they secured your allegiance in their new war.” He shook his head. “The politics of normals never cease to amaze me. You have everything and you fight over absolutely nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m telling you the truth. At what point have you ever seen peace between-”
“Not about that. About what’s happening outside the station. If there was fighting, I’d be informed.” She held up her hand. “You’ll notice that my link has not activated throughout this entire conversation.”
“Then I would suggest you try activating it yourself.”
Susan didn’t take her eyes off Bester as she attempted the action he had just suggested. “Ivanova to Security-Garibaldi, are you there?”
Crackling silence was the only response she received to her inquiry.
“You could keep trying,” Bester said, “but I guarantee the result will be the same. Now, are you coming with us, or shall I scan you right here?”
“As opposed to my coming with you and you scanning me where no one can find me later? If you’re going to perform an illegal action, I’d prefer to be able to report it.”
“Commander, I’m a reasonable individual. I promise that if you come with me, quietly, no scan will be performed. Despite the fact that one has been authorized.”
“You can’t expect me to believe-”
“Don’t insult both of us by protesting too much,” he interrupted. “We both know that I’m authorized to scan all telepaths who aren’t part of the Corps. You qualify; therefore, I am allowed to scan you. Now, if you wouldn’t mind…?”
Numbly, Susan followed the other telepaths down the corridor.
***
“She’s not with you yet, is she?”
“No,” Winter said. “It didn’t go as well as planned.”
“I’d say you’re right on schedule-we’d expected some resistance. Wouldn’t waste any time in trying again, though.”
“Thanks. I’m so glad I have you keep me on track.”
“Always glad to help. You like her, don’t you? That’s part of the reason you contacted her this morning. To provide her with an extra safeguard.”
“Some safeguard. You realize we have a leak?”
“That’s been obvious for some time. The boss has Monk looking into it. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“I find her…difficult,” Winter said reluctantly.
“Uh-huh. You realize we all know how much you enjoy difficulty?” A pause. “Do you think she’s the One?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
“Say it anyways.”
“I think she’s the one I need to rescue,” Winter said. “So find me an exit point. I’ll be in contact soon.”
“Good luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck. And I’m playing against the odds.”
“It’s a grand world, isn’t it?”
“There’s a truth.” Winter terminated the connection. “Now if only I can convince her about a few more of them,” she muttered, “we might be able to do something about it.”
***
Bester set a data crystal down on the table in front of Susan.
“This,” he said, “is only a portion of the records we have on you and your involvement in the illegal transportation and relocation of rogue telepaths. You’re very good,” he continued, “I’m amazed none of your colleagues here on the station have caught on, considering that you used restricted channels for much of your communication. What types of firewalls did you employ?”
Susan said nothing.
“No matter,” he said. “Let’s not waste time on trivial matters. What we’re really here about are your two lives.” He tapped the data crystal against the tabletop. “By day, you’re an officer in Earthforce. Rigid, disciplined, you uphold order-uphold the law. But by night…” he smiled grimly. “By night, you go by the alias Nova, and you do no end of damage to the telepathic community.”
“I harm the Corps, not the community. Though I wouldn’t expect you to be able to tell the difference.”
Bester looked genuinely pained. “So much hatred directed towards us. And for what? You do a disservice to your fellow telepaths. You make them criminals, make them live on the run, when all they have to do to live fulfilling lives is rejoin their family.”
“Who are you to decide who their families are?”
“I’m the man who’s going to give you a second chance. Join us. Join the Corps, and we’ll overlook your recent errors in judgment. We’ll even keep your talent a secret, let you remain a member of Earthforce.”
Susan blinked. This was hardly the offer she’d expected. “Why are you willing to offer me this deal?” she finally asked.
“We need you to help us with something,” he said. “Someone is going to contact you, probably in the very near future. When he does, we need you to contact us.”
“And who might this very important person be?”
“He goes by the name of Valen. And if he doesn’t contact you, you’ll need to seek him out. I very much doubt he’ll refuse to speak to you.”
Susan couldn’t help laughing. “You want me to find you a centuries old Minbari leader? I’m telepathic, not a miracle worker. Although, again, not sure that you’d be able to tell the difference.”
“You refuse to help us then?”
“Do I refuse to do the impossible? Yes. It’s an added bonus that it means I can’t help you. You do realize I’d put you out an airlock before I’d ever tell you anything you wanted to know?”
“I take it this means you also won’t join the Corps?”
“I know that speaking isn’t your primary method of communication, but I thought your ears worked better than this. You have been listening to our conversation, right? The answer, in case you missed it, is no. Nyet.” She pushed her chair back from the table. “Now, since you promised you wouldn’t scan me, I believe our discussion has come to an end. Can I go now?” She started to stand, but Bester reached out and gripped her hands in his gloved ones.
“I’m disappointed in you, Commander. I had hoped for better things. I do hate it when these conversations get messy.”
“Hey, I’m getting tired of all these vague threats. If you’re going to-”
“Enough,” Bester said. “I-”
“What do you mean enough?” Susan asked. “I haven’t even gotten started. If you really think-”
Bester looked to the telepath on his right. “Byron, silence her.”
As Byron turned and concentrated on her, Susan felt her vocal folds stop vibrating. A moment later, sound stopped issuing from her mouth altogether.
“Better,” Bester said. “I can hear my own thoughts again.” He released her hands, but she couldn’t quite seem to grasp exactly what that might allow her to do. Somehow taking away her ability to speak had also inhibited her ability to think clearly.
Without a verbal or visual cue, the telepath to Bester’s left stepped forward and handed him a jar. It was darker than black, and Susan realized she had only seen that shade once before.
This morning, in her room.
Bester opened the jar and held it over her. “I’m sorry it had to be this way,” he said. “But you’re going to help us, whether you want to or not.”
Something, something with very, very long legs started to crawl out of the jar. As if in a nightmare, Susan felt the tentacles hesitantly extend out to touch her skin. The second they made contact, they apparently felt their purpose; she barely drew one more breath before the entire creature - whatever it was- had crawled across her face and onto her neck. As it twined itself around her, she would have sworn she saw it looking at her, one huge eye in the middle of one small body mass, and then she did nothing but swear, yell, scream-but silently, for she still could not speak. But the pain, it was unspeakable anyways, drilling inwards, upwards, she could feel it all through both her body and her mind. She felt some other presence, something that produced thoughts in her brain that existed alongside her own, and then she passed out over the table.
Only to wake up, alone, in her own bed.
***
Chapter 2
Challenge: AU Big Bang Challenge (au_bigbang)
Author: lil_utterance
Artist: beccastareyes
Fandom: Babylon 5/The Matrix
Pairing: Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Susan Ivanova is already living a double life: EA officer by day, rogue telepath smuggler by night. However, her life doesn't really become complicated until she finds out that everything she's tried so hard to hide is already known. On the run for her life, she is being recruited by an organization made up of people who she recognizes, but doesn't understand. The entire universe is changing around her; but she figures as long as she thinks quickly enough and trusts no one, she might be able to keep up. At least until she realizes that everything she thought she knew had always been a lie, and that her secrets go even deeper than she had ever conceived.
Cover Graphic, Version 1 (with title), Version 2 (in color) by beccastareyes
Artwork for Chapter 1 by beccastareyes
The Great Machine on Epsilon 3
Prologue:
Susan Ivanova ran.
Tired, still-nauseous from the transition, she couldn’t even begin to predict how far she would make it into the stronghold. She knew she made good time, better than ever before, because she could feel the resistance the wind created as it passed through her newly-cropped hair. Closing her eyes, concentrating, would make the sensation go away, but there was no time. There had never been any time.
With each step forward, the magnitude of her objective seemed to lessen, while the details of her progress became magnified. She supposed it was a result of her mind resting, strengthening itself, getting ready to cope with what she’d encounter at the destination point. But right now, her clearest sensation was the chafing of the black, leather pants she had resisted wearing for so long. Her concession to the ridiculous, form-fitting attire today had been a sign of solidarity, albeit a mostly useless one.
What did the dead care, how she dressed?
Still. Aside from saving the universe, she didn’t know what else she could have done in their honor, considering she would probably soon be joining them in whatever space they now occupied. Given recent events, she didn’t want to make any type of prediction about where that might be. If her God even existed, which universe had he chosen to reside in? And would she even notice if he appeared? Constructs abounded these days.
She increased her speed, and the world became a blur. Not long ago the placement and pattern of her footfalls would have mattered, but it still seemed a Vorlon’s age since she’d had to worry about anything so mundane. Though these pants…
Enough. If she was going to die, she would die supporting those who had mentored her. Those who had taught her both the truth and its acceptance-taught her who she was. Besides, she couldn’t very well die in her uniform. The moment she’d left the station without permission in the middle of a crises, she’d forfeited her right to wear it.
She pitied the Oracle. Pitied anyone who had believed in the prophecy. She supposed it was like the Centauri seers always said: you make our own future, the world is ever-changing. Except that this wasn’t even her world, and it was prophecy that had brought her to it; though she shouldn’t be here, neither of them should be here.
And yet, here they were.
Here on this dead-looking world she now ran across. She probably would never even know what it had been modeled after, although maybe it was nothing at all. She wished she didn’t believe that it could be the stuff of dreams, but she had walked the Path and she had seen some of the places it led. As long as they existed, as long as people existed, escape was not an option. She could only hope to open their eyes.
Return, reboot, reload. These words had no meaning for her anymore.
She was going to delete herself from the system.
She didn’t even pause when she hit the edge of the cliff. One moment she felt the ground, the next she didn’t, and then she was falling and crying out and bitterly triumphant.
She closed her eyes to block out her surroundings, to ignore everything but the universe contained within her mind.
She didn’t even feel it when she hit the ground.
***
Chapter 1: Wake Up
“She’s not ready yet.”
“You’ve been saying that for months,” she said. “How long do you think we have?”
“I’ll tell you when the time is right,” he replied. “After all this time, all these skills, how can you still lack patience?”
“I was already supposed to be there. What if I’m too late?”
“I won’t let that happen.”
Her sigh echoed across their connection. “I haven’t doubted you so far, and I’m not about to start now. But, sir, why her? This is a lot of trouble for a P1.”
“We’ve taken non-telepaths before. Don’t be so exclusive.”
“But this is different. He was a candidate for…”
“Exactly.”
“Wait. Are you saying-”
“Enough, Winter. Best not to speak of it. I’ll contact you when-”
“Hold on,” she interrupted. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Our comms’ traffic. I think the signal’s-” her voice warbled, melted, and then all was silence.
***
Susan couldn’t believe she was having a conversation with a Vorlon.
Or at least she felt surprised that Kosh had chosen to talk to her; she supposed that in order to call it a conversation she would have to be able to understand at least a single word of what he said.
“You are here,” he informed her. The panel on his encounter suit lit up in time with his words, letting her know that she had at least heard the cadence of his utterance correctly.
“I don’t understand,” she said, past caring if the admission made her look stupid.
“Yes.”
She ran a hand through her hair in frustration and stared at him. If she could just see inside his suit, maybe that would help. Maybe if she knew what he looked like, she could comprehend what he might want-
As she thought it, his encounter suit started to open, and she came to a sudden realization. This must be a dream.
“I’m going to wake up now,” she told him.
“Good,” he said, as the light began to blind her. “And so it begins.”
Susan Ivanova sat up in bed. For a moment her walls appeared to shimmer and bend outwards, but blinking a few times to clear her vision seemed to fix the problem. If only she could fix the problem of it still being dark outside; sometimes she really didn’t know why she had thought working on a space station was a good idea. These last few months, especially, had been difficult.
She’d liked Sinclair, liked serving under him. The period after he left had been a stressful time for her, not only because his departure meant she had to take on the responsibility for all of Babylon 5, but also because there was an act of leaving-in-the-night involved. She really hated it when the people she liked disappeared from her life without even saying good-bye. It didn’t help as much as she had thought it would that she liked his replacement. With the luck she had, John Sheridan would be around just long enough for her to get used to him before he also disappeared.
And then there were her ongoing issues with the Psi-Corps, issues which had only worsened of late. One of her contacts had to be leaking information to someone, because the last batch of smuggled telepaths had yet to reach their destination. She still had some hope that it might not have been the Corps that intercepted them, but the more time that passed without her hearing anything, the more she worried.
There was something very bad about the Corps, and it wasn’t something she had ever managed to put into words. It wasn’t just that the organization had been responsible for her mother’s death, wasn’t just that if they knew about her, she would be forced to resign from Earthforce, wasn’t just about how they treated their members-there was a darkness, a wrongness, about them she couldn’t describe.
She got out of bed, pulling on a purple robe as she moved over to her terminal. She’d been monitoring the actions of the Corps for over ten years now. Unfortunately the search she’d set up last night to flag unusual activities had yielded nothing; sure, a lot of the restricted information she’d managed to pull up didn’t paint the Corps in a flattering light, but that was hardly a revelation.
Sighing, she hacked into one of the restricted communications channels.
Sure enough, Alex was already waiting.
“How do you always get here before me?” Susan asked.
“I’ve always been faster than you at this type of thing. Maybe I can just hear different frequencies-see my way into networks.”
“Right,” Susan said. “Now you read minds and machines.”
“Hey, just show me a signal, Nova, and I’ll get you your information.”
“Alright, Alex, how about telling me where my telepaths went then?”
“Bad news there, I’m afraid. It’s a Corps issue.”
“Damn it. How are they figuring out the drop points?”
“The Corps is made up of telepaths, remember? Occasionally they’re bound to hear something.”
Susan started to respond, but stopped as a darkness fell over the screen in front of her. She turned to see the source, but nothing had changed behind her, though she would have sworn she sensed movement just a moment earlier. Then again, her senses might simply be off this morning-she had just seen her empty, black screen darken. And to what? Darker black? All the lights were off.
“Nova?” Alex’s voice issued from the blank screen. “Talk to me, Nova.”
“I’m here. It’s just…”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Susan shook her head. “I’m jumping at shadows. You ever do that?”
“Oh, once or twice. Mostly I run from them.”
“You must have quite the past.”
“Past, future, doesn’t matter. They’re all the same. I’ve got to go now. I’ll contact you when we’ve got the next group ready for transport.”
“Fine. I’m going to-” Susan began, but was interrupted.
“Nova?”
“Who are you?” Susan asked, furious at hearing a new voice. How dare Alex violate the security of their channel? “Alex, you’d better have a-”
“Alex isn’t here anymore.”
“Did you hurt her? Because if you did, I will find you, and you will not enjoy meeting me.”
“I hurt no one. I used this channel because it’s the easiest method of communicating with you for the moment.”
“Look, I really do not enjoy having my conversations forcibly interrupted by someone I don’t know, especially when they are using an unauthorized method of communication to do so.”
((Would you prefer I used this?))
“Get the hell out of my head!” Susan jumped out of her chair and turned in a circle, scanning the entire room in a single glance. The culprit must have line of sight.
((If you’re going to look for me in your quarters, wouldn’t light help?))
As the thought went through Susan’s mind, she watched in numb fascination as the door to her quarters activated, apparently of its own volition, flooding light into the room and making it obvious that no visible intruder existed in the room.
Susan took a couple deep breaths to calm herself. “What do you want?” she asked through gritted teeth. As she spoke, the door closed itself, leaving her in darkness once again.
((To tell you what you already know. All is not right with your world.))
“You’re right. I did know that. Now go fuck around in your own mind and leave mine the hell alone. And put Alex back on the line.”
((You want to talk about Alex? Fine. Alex had a little Vorlon. Her skin was pale as snow. And everywhere that Alex went-))
“Wait!” Susan clasped her hands to her head, trying to block the voice out and make sense of it all at the same time. “What do you know about Alex? And what do you mean by-”
((You really should answer the door.))
Against her own better judgment, Susan found herself taking the advice. She moved in the direction of the door, suddenly terrified of what she might find outside…
…and then she woke up again.
***
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have ten things to do, all of them annoying.”
Susan didn’t watch as Ms. Winters left C&C. She had expected her today, had seen her arrival on the schedule and simply avoided her.
This new telepath’s presence was one more example of how the Corps continued to extend their reach and encroach even further onto the station. Adding yet another commercial telepath to the station’s pool seemed an act of menace, especially when the telepath in question was so determined. Whatever the regs. said about checking in with the second in command, most of the new telepaths usually just sent her a message through Babcom, which she could quickly access and then summarily delete. They didn’t expect personal attention.
“Commander?” Lieutenant Corwin asked. “What should we do about the group of Centauri vessels waiting to dock?”
“Tell them to wait their turn,” Susan snapped. She studied the console in front of her and tried to calm her thoughts. She needed to pull herself together and accept that this day just wasn’t going to get any better. It had started with Garibaldi coming to her quarters this morning because she had overslept. Thankfully for her, Sheridan had been amused, not angry, at the lapse. It wasn’t that she couldn’t have handled his anger, but she was just as glad she didn’t have to right now.
She had never felt so restless before. And Ms. Winter’s intrusion had not helped her mental state. Something about that woman - about her tone - bothered her, and she could not place what was causing her this fixation on their encounter.
If she could just make it through another couple of hours, maybe a drink after work would make it all go away.
She turned back to Lieutenant Corwin. “If Londo tries to give you any more trouble about those ships, tell the ambassador that he can take it up with me.”
“Yes, sir.” Lieutenant Corwin moved to obey her orders with alacrity, and Susan knew she had regained control of the situation around her for a little while longer-or at least until the next crisis. Which, knowing Babylon 5, couldn’t be very far away.
***
It seemed like the man was talking to himself.
“I told you my information was good. I don’t know why you had to risk sending someone into the room today.” A pause. “Yes, I know you are all-powerful, but she still almost saw you. At least give me a chance to make a willing recruit out of her.” Another pause. “Now, now. You’d miss me if I was gone. Shall I continue as planned?” A burst of static followed his words, and he briefly gained a flickering shadow. He patiently waited until the phenomenon was over.
“Good,” he finally said. “I grow tired of waiting for the enemy to act first. It will be done tonight.” He exited amidst a second burst of static, leaving an empty room behind him.
***
After a cocktail and twenty minutes of doing nothing but observing the traffic in the bar, Susan almost felt relaxed. She had just ordered her second drink when Talia Winters entered the establishment, her appearance a reminder that Susan should never consider a public place a possible sanctuary. The woman in question didn’t seem to notice anyone or anything else in the bar; she headed straight in Susan’s direction, a not-unexpected, but still unappreciated course of action. Of course the person to whom Susan least wanted to speak would only be interested in interacting with her. It fit her day so well.
As Ms. Winters sat on the bar stool next to her, Susan felt the jaded part of herself soften just a little. This close, she could sense a certain amount of uncertainty hidden beneath all the confidence the telepath projected. Being here meant being far away from the Corps, and Susan supposed that it was difficult to be without your family, no matter how evil they might be. She also supposed that giving the woman next to her a bit of a break might net her a few extra points in the karma department.
Besides, maybe if she explained her reasons for hating the Corps, Ms. Winters might prove herself to be a reasonable and humane individual. Susan had been searching for quite some time for someone here on B5 who would be a good candidate for helping her smuggle rogue telepaths through the station. The woman beside her might prove herself to be exactly what Susan had been searching for.
So she explained her situation. Her history. The facts about her mother.
And was rewarded by responses that would be spoken only by a true Corps supporter. All that promise, wasted. It hardly encouraged her to engage in any further acts of altruism.
“Perhaps we can start again tomorrow,” Ms. Winters said quickly as Susan stood.
“I very much doubt it,” Susan said, barely turning to acknowledge the words. “Good night, Ms. Winters.” Faster then she would have thought possible, the other woman was standing at her side.
“I know who you are, Nova,” she whispered into Susan’s ear. “I know the secrets that you keep.”
“How do you know that name?” Susan asked her, just as quietly.
“Perhaps we should talk about it over there,” Talia said, nodding at a table in the far corner of the bar.
“Fine,” Susan said, and walked over to the table. She tried to keep a hold on her mind, tried to keep it from racing. Not only because she need to think, to plan, but also because she knew the woman beside her would be able to sense any, or perhaps all, of her disquiet. Listening to explanations would buy her time to figure out her best way out of this mess; she’d prefer to make this problem go away without a body count, but at the moment it seemed a difficult goal to achieve.
“Who are you? Really?” Susan asked as soon as they sat down.
“I didn’t lie to you.” Talia sat back and rested the side of her face against one gloved hand. “My name is Talia Winters. You just might know me better as a shorter version of my surname.” She smiled. “When it comes to choosing aliases, some of us prefer to hide in plain sight.”
For a moment Susan couldn’t do much more than gape at the woman sitting so coolly across from her. She knew her. “Winter?” she asked.
“I knew you’d heard of me.”
“Who hasn’t? You completely fooled the Corps, back when the integrated underground network for telepaths still existed.”
“That was years ago,” Winter said. “I’ve been very busy since then.”
“I’m sure you have, but…” Susan paused to study her and shook her head. “You saved so many people. And you deceived a couple of P12s.”
Winter shrugged. “They weren’t very smart ones.”
“I…I don’t know what to say,” Susan said, unable to suppress a smile. “It’s just…” She couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off Winter, now that she had seen her. “Well, aren’t you only a P5?”
Winter leaned forward. “I’m a lot of things. A P5 is only the beginning of what I am.” She reached out and brushed a finger against Susan’s EA badge. “Just as your identity as an Earthforce officer is hardly the sum of who you are.”
“Yes.” Susan’s smile faded. “What do you mean, you know my secrets?”
“I know you’ve been smuggling telepaths.”
“Is that it?” Susan asked. She felt relieved. She felt disappointed. All that build up, and the least of her secrets was revealed.
“I haven’t even started. I know you recognize that something is wrong about the way telepaths interface with the rest of the world. I know you stay up late at night researching. You are right to ask the question.”
“What question?” As she asked, Susan realized she already knew. At least about the question. The answer, that was another story.
“What is wrong with the Corps?” Winter sat back again in her chair, letting her words speak for themselves. She didn’t need any more grand gestures as far as Susan was concerned; she had gotten her attention. Sadly, the demonstration wasn’t over.
“It’s always the telepaths who sense it through the Organization.”
Susan wondered if she’d ever be able to draw breath again. “I’m sorry? I must-”
“You’re not going to try and deny it,” Winter interrupted, holding her gaze. “Not to me.”
“What do you want?” Susan whispered. Whatever it was, it would probably ruin her life. “Why are you here?”
“To lead you to your answers.” Winter reached out a hand across the table. “But first I have to show you the door.”
As Winter uttered the last word, Susan realized what had been bothering her about the woman all day. Her notoriety was not all Susan had encountered of her before.
It was that voice.
“You.” Susan said. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this cold. “You were the one in my head this morning.” She didn’t even know she’d been hoping for a particular type of response until she saw that, by her nod, Winter wasn’t going to deny the accusation.
“Yes. An unfortunate, but unavoidable, course of action. You’ll see-”
“I’ll see nothing. You were in my mind. You think I’m ever going to trust you? Go anywhere with you? I’ll skate across hell first.”
“You just might, before this is through,” Winter murmured. “Look, Nova-”
“Stop calling me that.”
“You are in danger, Nova,” she said, emphasizing the alias while holding Susan’s glare. “The Corps-”
“Has ignored me for almost thirty years. It can ignore me for a few more.” Susan stood and walked around the table until she could look down at Winter. “The only reason I’m going to let you walk away from this is because of all those telepaths you saved so long ago. But you’d better be gone by tomorrow-and do not let me catch you on this station again.”
Susan forced herself to hold the other telepath’s gaze and wait for a response. She knew what would really keep her awake for the next unending string of nights would be that this woman, this invader of her mind, had briefly garnered a certain amount of her trust; though she hadn’t realized it until right now. Why else would she have shared about her mother? Why else would she have even talked to her?
She was a rotten judge of character. All there was to it.
Winter didn’t back down from her glare. “Leave me aside for a moment. Don’t you care that you were right? About the Corps? About all of it?”
“I’ve been right before,” Susan said. “And I haven’t needed anyone to hold my hand afterwards.” She had no desire to glance over her shoulder as she walked away.
***
When Susan stepped outside the bar, they were waiting.
“Gentleman,” she said. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
All the black-clad, badged telepaths turned to their leader as one.
“Commander Ivanova,” Bester said. “Please don’t feign ignorance as to our purpose here. Pretense doesn’t suit you.”
“Mr. Bester, I never feign ignorance about your purpose.” She clasped her hands behind her back just in case they trembled. “How many more did you enslave today?”
“I save enslavement to the end of the week, Commander. Today I’m simply looking for information. Care to provide it willingly?”
“You’re not getting it from me any other way.” She took a couple steps forward, stopping just short of pushing her way through the group. “And I find myself disinclined to talk today. Now,” she said, ignoring everyone but Bester, “do I call Security, or are you going to get out of my way?”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but station security is unlikely to be available for some time. Earthgov sent a few ships to ensure that they secured your allegiance in their new war.” He shook his head. “The politics of normals never cease to amaze me. You have everything and you fight over absolutely nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m telling you the truth. At what point have you ever seen peace between-”
“Not about that. About what’s happening outside the station. If there was fighting, I’d be informed.” She held up her hand. “You’ll notice that my link has not activated throughout this entire conversation.”
“Then I would suggest you try activating it yourself.”
Susan didn’t take her eyes off Bester as she attempted the action he had just suggested. “Ivanova to Security-Garibaldi, are you there?”
Crackling silence was the only response she received to her inquiry.
“You could keep trying,” Bester said, “but I guarantee the result will be the same. Now, are you coming with us, or shall I scan you right here?”
“As opposed to my coming with you and you scanning me where no one can find me later? If you’re going to perform an illegal action, I’d prefer to be able to report it.”
“Commander, I’m a reasonable individual. I promise that if you come with me, quietly, no scan will be performed. Despite the fact that one has been authorized.”
“You can’t expect me to believe-”
“Don’t insult both of us by protesting too much,” he interrupted. “We both know that I’m authorized to scan all telepaths who aren’t part of the Corps. You qualify; therefore, I am allowed to scan you. Now, if you wouldn’t mind…?”
Numbly, Susan followed the other telepaths down the corridor.
***
“She’s not with you yet, is she?”
“No,” Winter said. “It didn’t go as well as planned.”
“I’d say you’re right on schedule-we’d expected some resistance. Wouldn’t waste any time in trying again, though.”
“Thanks. I’m so glad I have you keep me on track.”
“Always glad to help. You like her, don’t you? That’s part of the reason you contacted her this morning. To provide her with an extra safeguard.”
“Some safeguard. You realize we have a leak?”
“That’s been obvious for some time. The boss has Monk looking into it. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“I find her…difficult,” Winter said reluctantly.
“Uh-huh. You realize we all know how much you enjoy difficulty?” A pause. “Do you think she’s the One?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
“Say it anyways.”
“I think she’s the one I need to rescue,” Winter said. “So find me an exit point. I’ll be in contact soon.”
“Good luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck. And I’m playing against the odds.”
“It’s a grand world, isn’t it?”
“There’s a truth.” Winter terminated the connection. “Now if only I can convince her about a few more of them,” she muttered, “we might be able to do something about it.”
***
Bester set a data crystal down on the table in front of Susan.
“This,” he said, “is only a portion of the records we have on you and your involvement in the illegal transportation and relocation of rogue telepaths. You’re very good,” he continued, “I’m amazed none of your colleagues here on the station have caught on, considering that you used restricted channels for much of your communication. What types of firewalls did you employ?”
Susan said nothing.
“No matter,” he said. “Let’s not waste time on trivial matters. What we’re really here about are your two lives.” He tapped the data crystal against the tabletop. “By day, you’re an officer in Earthforce. Rigid, disciplined, you uphold order-uphold the law. But by night…” he smiled grimly. “By night, you go by the alias Nova, and you do no end of damage to the telepathic community.”
“I harm the Corps, not the community. Though I wouldn’t expect you to be able to tell the difference.”
Bester looked genuinely pained. “So much hatred directed towards us. And for what? You do a disservice to your fellow telepaths. You make them criminals, make them live on the run, when all they have to do to live fulfilling lives is rejoin their family.”
“Who are you to decide who their families are?”
“I’m the man who’s going to give you a second chance. Join us. Join the Corps, and we’ll overlook your recent errors in judgment. We’ll even keep your talent a secret, let you remain a member of Earthforce.”
Susan blinked. This was hardly the offer she’d expected. “Why are you willing to offer me this deal?” she finally asked.
“We need you to help us with something,” he said. “Someone is going to contact you, probably in the very near future. When he does, we need you to contact us.”
“And who might this very important person be?”
“He goes by the name of Valen. And if he doesn’t contact you, you’ll need to seek him out. I very much doubt he’ll refuse to speak to you.”
Susan couldn’t help laughing. “You want me to find you a centuries old Minbari leader? I’m telepathic, not a miracle worker. Although, again, not sure that you’d be able to tell the difference.”
“You refuse to help us then?”
“Do I refuse to do the impossible? Yes. It’s an added bonus that it means I can’t help you. You do realize I’d put you out an airlock before I’d ever tell you anything you wanted to know?”
“I take it this means you also won’t join the Corps?”
“I know that speaking isn’t your primary method of communication, but I thought your ears worked better than this. You have been listening to our conversation, right? The answer, in case you missed it, is no. Nyet.” She pushed her chair back from the table. “Now, since you promised you wouldn’t scan me, I believe our discussion has come to an end. Can I go now?” She started to stand, but Bester reached out and gripped her hands in his gloved ones.
“I’m disappointed in you, Commander. I had hoped for better things. I do hate it when these conversations get messy.”
“Hey, I’m getting tired of all these vague threats. If you’re going to-”
“Enough,” Bester said. “I-”
“What do you mean enough?” Susan asked. “I haven’t even gotten started. If you really think-”
Bester looked to the telepath on his right. “Byron, silence her.”
As Byron turned and concentrated on her, Susan felt her vocal folds stop vibrating. A moment later, sound stopped issuing from her mouth altogether.
“Better,” Bester said. “I can hear my own thoughts again.” He released her hands, but she couldn’t quite seem to grasp exactly what that might allow her to do. Somehow taking away her ability to speak had also inhibited her ability to think clearly.
Without a verbal or visual cue, the telepath to Bester’s left stepped forward and handed him a jar. It was darker than black, and Susan realized she had only seen that shade once before.
This morning, in her room.
Bester opened the jar and held it over her. “I’m sorry it had to be this way,” he said. “But you’re going to help us, whether you want to or not.”
Something, something with very, very long legs started to crawl out of the jar. As if in a nightmare, Susan felt the tentacles hesitantly extend out to touch her skin. The second they made contact, they apparently felt their purpose; she barely drew one more breath before the entire creature - whatever it was- had crawled across her face and onto her neck. As it twined itself around her, she would have sworn she saw it looking at her, one huge eye in the middle of one small body mass, and then she did nothing but swear, yell, scream-but silently, for she still could not speak. But the pain, it was unspeakable anyways, drilling inwards, upwards, she could feel it all through both her body and her mind. She felt some other presence, something that produced thoughts in her brain that existed alongside her own, and then she passed out over the table.
Only to wake up, alone, in her own bed.
***
Chapter 2