Chapter 16

[Reality Check - Monday Feb. 9 2010, 1427 hours, Macross Hospital] 

Thallin went over the facts in his mind, again and again, trying to find a single piece of knowledge he may have missed that would suddenly make the events around him less of a puzzle and more of a complete picture. Thus far he had no luck. 

First of all; Christina Leeds had been a plant. Admittedly, by the UEG's undercover agency, the UOF - but this did not change the fact that of all the bodies Thallin could have stolen on that day, Christina's had been the worst choice. 

Second; somehow, Izabelle had found out about Christina's occupation and was busy capitalising on it. But to what end? What could Izabelle possibly do with Secret Service clearance? And why did she choose to do it so abruptly, thereby forcing the hand of the other Surveillance operatives? 

Third; David Marshall's fixation with Christina Leeds. This one was easiest to understand - apparently, Marshall had some sort of crush on the youngest of the three Leeds sisters. Maybe he was trying to score brownie points, or something. 

Fourth; Tamara Sam'di. Now she was a walking question mark. She had turned up out of nowhere with a blackmail attempt in order to get herself out of hot water. Where did she fit in? 

Last, but definitely not least; Kay Landers. Someone who had also walked into his life with a bang. <Be fair, you're the one who asked that she contact you.> nagged the little voice in his mind. 

Thallin continued to fiddle with the pocket tape-player for a moment before deciding on a course of action. Taking a moment to jot down some notes on a pad, Thallin called the service bay closest to his ex-laboratory and waited for the automated response. 

The screen stayed black for a second as the bay's computer tested the line to see if another computer was calling it. Satisfied that it was a call from an organic, the screen turned purple and emitted a deep bass sound to indicate readiness. "Confirm Braywater, Thallin J., Lieutenant." 

A deep bass voice replied. "confirm" 

"Request priority level; Alpha. Request type; relocation. Point Alpha; Bay Five Bravo. Point Alpha Prime; room Five Zero Seven. Point Omega; one seven six Redwood Boulevard, entry code Alpha Five Niner X-ray Two Tango Zebra Niner. Request parameter; bulk, total. Acknowledge." 

"acknowledge" The screen held its purple colour for a couple of second, in case there were more to the request, then disconnected. Thallin felt much better having ordered his possessions moved. There was now one more thing to do. 

"Recall, Tamara Sam'di". The comm screen reacted to his voice and searched his telephone index, then dialled the appropriate number. The phone was picked up almost instantly, but the screen did not rezz to life. 

"Hi, Tamara here. If it's me you wanted to talk to, then you've obviously got the wrong number since I'm not here at the moment. But, if you leave the usual after the beep, it'll probably be relayed to me next time I'm in the neighbourhood. Bye now." The phone beeped. 

"Sergeant Sam'di? Lieutenant Braywater. About the locale you wished me to ascertain, I agree that it would suit my purposes. Please arrange for any formalities to be dealt with and send me anything I need to complete. Also, would you be so kind as to have all my previous requisitions redirected to this new address. I will also need a working party for redecoration as per plans you will find in your e-mailbox. Thank you." 

<Well, hopefully this should give me a little bit of time to think on my lonesome. Since I never actually got to visit the place, gorilla-man can't know where it is. With a bit of luck, it won't be bugged until after I get there.> Sighing deeply, Thallin laid back on the bed, gazing at the ceiling. <I still can't understand Izabelle's personality change. Why is she doing all of this? What for?>Footsteps echoed in the corridor, approaching his door. Thallin raised the head of the bed to a seated position and glanced at the tape-player in his hand, ruminating. There was a slight tap on the door. 

"Come in." Thallin answered. 

The door swung open to admit Doctor Raven. The Doctor walked over to the bed, bent slightly at the waist and inspected Thallin's face. "Mmmm... You look a little pale. Probably due to shock and to your diet. Your eyes are clear. How many fingers am I holding up?" 

Thallin glanced at Raven's hand. "None." 

"Are you quite sure of that?" 

"Certain. No fingers, one thumb." 

Raven harumphed in approval and straightened himself. "You've got a visitor outside. Lieutenant Landers. Told her you might not be up to seeing her." 

Thallin raised an eyebrow. "Well, you've been my doctor for over ten years now - am I up to it?" 

"Hmph. Blood chemistry all messed up. Electrolytes low. Heartbeat almost non-existent. Temperature in the upper twenties Centigrade. Breathing shallow. Heartburn?" 

"Still there." 

"All normal I see. Yes, I think you can handle Miss Landers. Shall I show her in?" 

Thallin simply nodded, deep in thought. Raven left him, closing the door behind him. Left once again alone, Thallin tapped a sequence on the comm pad then spoke. "Izabelle? Thallin. When you get this message, please contact me. We have to talk." He terminated the connection and closed his eyes. The door to his room started to sing open, revealing Kay behind it. Thallin simply hit the 'play' switch for a few seconds, grinning at her, then stopped the playback. 

Kay had the decency of looking a little ashamed. "I guess I'm in trouble, huh?" 

"Understatement." Thallin replied still grinning a grin that would have made Alice's Chestershire Cat green with envy. He could only hope it looked as bad as he remembered it. 

"Well, you see... I..." Kay struggled for words, then finally exploded. "Shit, Thallin, you've been giving me the run-around since word go! You've never given me a straight answer, you've always hidden behind rule and regulations - even made up some when it suited you! I am short one pilot all the bloody time, but command will not replace her because technically she's still on the roster! I find you covered in blood and the alley you came out of looked like WWIV had started in there, but when I get back there a few hours later, the place is crawling with MIBs! You owe me, Thallin Braywater! You owe me an explanation at least!" 

Thallin almost changes his smile to a smirk. He could actually hear all the exclamation marks at the end of Kay's sentences. "I owe you nothing." he replied in a stern, cold voice, his smile disappearing. "Did you know your file was tampered with? What would it show if I called up the backups from a year ago, Lieutenant? If that's who you are. You're damn curious about my work. You have been ever since we met. What are you? AUF?" 

He could tell by Kay's expression that this last remark had hit home. Her face had become white as a sheet and her mouth had become a hard line. She swung to slap him, but the hand never reached him as Thallin simply grabbed it out of the air. "Is that it?" he continued. "What have you done with the real Lieutenant Landers? Did you bump her off and take her place? Or is she drugged up on yet some new Sodium Pentothal-derivative so that you sadistic morons can suck out more info out of her brain?" 

Kay was visibly fighting to remain calm, trying not to explode. She gave up and swung at Thallin, who deftly grabbed her wrist. "How... How dare you?..." She virtually spat the words at him. Thallin began to suspect that he might have overstepped an invisible bound. Fighting back anger and tears, Kay continued. "Lieutenant Karl Landers - my brother - was killed in the initial assault by the aliens. His entire squadron was decimated. Everyone else simply assume I was him." 

<Oh great. Wonderful deductions, Sherlock. And so tactful as well.> There were times when Thallin could have done without the voice in his head. This was one of them. 

"And what about you?" Kay accused angrily. "Skulking around the ship all the time, always looking like you've stolen a corpse from the graveyard..." Her voice stopped abruptly. Thallin could almost see the scene of their first encounter replay itself in front of her eyes. "Oh my God." she said in a soft voice. "You did steal a corpse. You're the one who... Then that means that Izi's..." She stopped, the impact of the realisation still hitting her. 

"It's not as bad as you think." Thallin started. 

"Not as bad...?! You steal a corpse from the morgue and you have the gall to tell me that it's not as bad as I think? What the hell did you do to that corpse? And how exactly does Izabelle fit into this mess?" 

"Someone called my name?" Izabelle soft, calculated voice wafted in from the doorway where she was standing. 

"Izabelle?" asked Thallin. 

The figure walked in and proceeded to the centre of the small room. "Please, you can drop the pretence now and call me by my real name. The Izabelle persona was useful while it lasted, but it serves no purpose now." 

Thallin glanced at Christina and tried to get his thoughts into focus. "Hold on. I stole Christina's body from the morgue. I took it down to the lab and put it in the regen chamber. I know you're Izabelle Fate." 

Christina laughed. "Come, Thallin. You didn't really believe that you had managed to create life, did you? I'll admit that my encounter with the aliens left me the worst for wear. But I wasn't dead. The Surveillance people assigned to me tried to retrieve my body from the morgue, but by the time they got there, you had been through first. They caught up with you at the lift in time to see your little conversation with Lieutenant Landers here. They waited until you got into the lift, alone, then gassed you." 

"But... What about the time I spent at the regen chamber? What about your birth?" 

"Drugs, Thallin. We drugged you and kept you drugged while I healed up. My colleagues implanted false memories into your mind. Some drugs make people very receptive to suggestions. It was barely the work of an evening to make you believe you'd spent more than a week nurturing my body back to health. My 'birth' was real. We brought you out of stupor a few moments before, you drained the tub and, hey presto, instant Izabelle. The rest is simply bad acting on my part." 

Thallin looked at Christina, his mind reeling. "But... But..." Out of desperation, he cried out. "Izabelle, override sequence Three Alpha Five Niner Shutdown." 

Christina laughed. "You still cling to false hopes. I tell you there is no Izabelle Fate. She is simply a character we made up for convenience's sake." 

His head buried in his hand, Thallin tried to think, to force reality into some sort of coherent pattern. It was all too easy to believe the facts he had just been told. They made more sense than what he believed had really happened. Slowly he looked up and spoke in a small voice. "Izi, oboete imasuka?" 

"Remember?" snapped Christina. "Remember wha-" Her voice stopped short. "Wh-" Her legs gave way and she stumbled into the seat behind her, head and eyes staring vacantly in front of her, her body limp. 

"A little extra I added to the software design." answered Thallin gently. "Just in case something went wrong." 

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" a voice exploded from the corner. 

<Oh heck. Kay.> Thallin looked at her, a sheepish grin on his face, his right hand behind his hand, elbow out. "Ah... Er... You're still here?" He dropped his hand, sighed and closed his eyes in defeat. "Oh boy." 

Forward to Chapter 17.
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