GESB: Operation Time-Cops

[Terenia]

((aww, feel better Patty!))

Tamora's shaking subsides, but her tears do not. Her eyes roll up to focus on Myitt who is discussing what to do with the small, insignificant gray lump in her hand. Seeing him there, helpless and blind, brings on a whole new wave of terror, which threatens to overwhelm her entirely.

"Give him back!" She screeches suddenly, pushing desperately against her restraints, "You said you'd let him go!"

[Myitt]

Myitt looks quickly over at Tamora, startled by the sudden outburst. 

"Don't be a fool, Tamora," she says loudly.  "You know quite well that returning Zorish to the Empire would be a death sentence."  Myitt sighs, exasperated and at a loss.  "We'll do what's best for him."

With that, she walks out of the med bay, not even looking back at Hadrin or her Andalite friends.

Hadrin follows Myitt out into the cabin. 

"What can I do?" he asks quietly.

Myitt runs a hand across her unkempt brown hair, exhaling as she paces.  "Set up another pool, please.  The materials are in my backpack.  Perhaps we can find a way to talk to Zorish before putting him into stasis."

Hadrin lays a hand on her arm.  "Myitt...don't you think this is just delaying the inevitable?"

"I don't know, alright?" Myitt snaps.  "Just get the pool ready."

[Terenia]

Tamora allows that to sink in for a moment, knowing that what a rebel Yeerk thinks is 'best' for him is likely to be quite different from her own opinion. She chokes back a sob, trying to heed Zorish's last comment to her.

"You're going to kill him, aren't you?" she asks in a voice edged with panic.

[Chad32]

"I think that's pretty well established." Derrel said. "If you're so bothered by the thought of doing it, then just don't do it. You don't have to kill Zorish for no other reason that he just happened to be in the host you decided to kidnap."

<We did not kidnap Tamora. We are rescuing her.> Claxter said.

"No, this is kidnapping. Kidnapping is taking someone away against their will."

<She may be brainwashed into being voluntary or something.>

"You're doing this because it's possible she's brainwashed? So now what? You're going to brainwash her into being on your side? Seems to me that's where this is going."

<You don't know the full story.>

"Of course not. You guys haven't explained the full story to anyone."

[Myitt]

Hadrin places the last of their Kandrona wave-particle generators into the little tupperware pool, looking over at Myitt.

"Okay," he says, exasperated, gesturing at the pool.  "It's all yours."

Myitt walks over to the little overhang table and places Zorish into the makeshift pool. 

"There," she says with a sigh.  "At least none of us has to deal with destroying another life for the next few minutes."  She walks over to the med bay doors and opens them, stepping through.

"Ossanlin, isn't there any way we can allow him to communicate with us in the pool?"  Her gaze shifts briefly toward Tamora, who is naturally in hysterics.  It can't be helped, she thinks bitterly. Not my fault the girl is so attached to him.

[Alic]

Alic had kept quiet the entire time. She knew that removing the yeerk from the girl's head would be the right thing to do. But seeing her like this... Alic was not prepared for it. She turned away and left the room that the human was contained in. Myitt was heading back into the medbay as she was making her way out.

It was as if she was in pain. How can it be so horrible to be free? She couldn't watch any more, it made her feel sick that someone could love something so evil.

To keep herself occupied, Alic morphed human and grabbed the warm bottle of Jager. She shook the bottle slightly to check how much she had. Enough. Alic sat on the floor out of the way and opened the bottle. She glanced at the container that held the yeerk and took a few drinks of the warm liquor, welcoming the burning feeling down her throat.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin looks back at Myitt.  <I'm afraid I don't have any solutions to that particular problem.  I'm not in the habit of interrogating natural Yeerks.  The computer can put out audible language, but the only way to interface with it, aside from the physical console, is thought-speech.  If there was any way to communicate with him, I suppose we'd have to find something amongst your supplies that would somehow allow Zorish to interface with the audio output systems on the Mirage...otherwise we'll have to give him another host to speak.  I'm not particularly thrilled about that option.>

[Myitt]

<I'll do it,> says Tara.

"What?" Myitt exclaims aloud, eyes tracking on some spot on the floor like someone listening to an important phone call.

Tara looks up.  "I'll do it," she repeats calmly.  "Figure we should give the guy his last words.  Whatever he sees in here won't matter.  He's dead either way, right?"

"You're out of your mind!" Myitt hisses schizophrenically, letting Tara walk over to the little pool. 

"Hey, somebody had to make a ****in' decision," says Tara, fishing Zorish out and impatiently waiting for Myitt to leave her head.  "Not like this is a bucket of fun, here," she adds with a wince.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

<Tara...this is...risky.  You would have to be bound, and there's no telling what Zorish might do to you personally, especially if he knows there's very little hope for him.  Stasis provides a possibility of continued life, but the chance is so remote as to be infinitessimal.  I don't know that this is a good idea.>  Ossanlin watches Tara without moving from his current position.

[Myitt]

Tara doesn't respond, halfway in between control of her own body while Myitt slowly slithers out of her head and onto her hand.

[Chad32]

Claxter decided to follow Myitt and Ossanlin into the other room to see what was going on. <May I ask what you are doing now?>

[Terenia]

Tamora, in the other room, is oblivious to this new development. Nevertheless, she continues to alternate between quiet sniffling and loud cries over the loss of Zorish.

Zorish, also oblivious, only knows that he is no longer in the Pool that he had been placed in. He can sort of feel Tara's fingers around him as a slight amount of pressure, and he can definitely feel his skin slowly drying out. Instinctively he curls in on himself, as small as he can, to protect the moisture in his body as he waits for his imminent death.

[Chad32]

Cody was becoming more and more annoyed at Tamora's whining, but he couldn't do anything about it. Sukohn had control of his body, and his body was bound and gagged.

<Can someone at least block my ears so I don't have to hear that ***** whine anymore!?>

[Myitt]

Tara finally places Myitt into the little makeshift pool.  She takes the modified Dracon and hands it to Ossanlin.

"Yeah, it's insane," she says lowly, "but I'd rather let him choose how he wants to die.  I'm sick enough of this charade without having to kill a defenseless prisoner of war for it."

She walks into the med bay and grabs a couple spare pairs of energy restraints, one for her hands and one for her legs.

Walking back out, she looks from Hadrin to the three Andalites, tossing the restraints on the ground.

Tara smiles wryly.  "Someone had better tie me up quickly," she says nonchalantly, sitting down on the metal floor and holding Zorish up to her ear.

[Alic]

Alic shook her head and twisted the top back on her bottle and slowly stood up. "Tara... You don't need to do this. Do you think that if that yeerk had the chance to kill us he would be so kind to ask how we wanted to die? No." She frowned. "Do what you feel you need to do, but I disagree." She had always felt sick watching a yeerk enter or exit someone's head, and turned her head away to wait until it was done.