GESB: Operation Time-Cops

[Terenia]

Tamora's shaking stops abruptly, as though her fear has been shocked directly from her body. She inhales sharply, her first widening as the pieces begin to click into place, and then narrowing sharply.

"My...sister?" she croaks. Her voice is still hoarse with tears, but for the first time it seems as though she is not in danger of crying.

[Myitt]

Myitt turns back to the med bay again in a huff.  She storms through the doors and glares at Sukohn, but her shoulders sink and her expression softens as she looks over at Derrel, and finally at Claxter and Tamora.  She seems to remember just what she came in here for.

The words stick in the back of her throat, and she tries to meet Tamora's gaze, but says nothing, looking down at the med bay floor.

[Terenia]

Tamora's narrowed gaze raises as the medbay doors open once more. She recognizes the owner of the yelling voice from earlier, the voice that may or may not have been controlled by Zorish. The body that belongs to one of the Yeerk rebels.

"Where's Zorish?" she asks Myitt. If this entire debacle points back to Terenia, she needs him to know. He will know what to do, Tamora reassures herself, he always knows what to do.

[Alic]

Alic nodded at her friend and couldn't look at Ossanlin. Sometimes he could be too accusing. Didn't he understand what some people had to do to survive? You can't find a peaceful way to fix everything. She followed Myitt into the med bay room where the human girl was being held.

[Myitt]

Myitt looks sharply back at Alic, then she meets Tamora's gaze. 

"He's..." She sucks in a delayed breath.  "Zorish is gone, Tamora.  I'm sorry."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin doesn't answer Myitt as she walks back to the med-bay.  He turns his attention back to the ship's main console.  They're nearing the Bar.  This would all come to a head there.  Now that Zorish was dead, Tamora would blame Terenia for his death, she would hate her even more.  He still found it hard to believe that Myitt had acted so rashly.

[Terenia]

"Gone?" She repeats blankly. Slowly comprehension spreads across her face. Her narrowed eyes slacken and she stares up at the two Andalites and Yeerk who are now crowding the medbay. When she speaks again her voice is far from the hysterics she had thrown during Zorish's last hours of life. It is flat and empty, devoid of emotion.

"You killed him then," she says. Her eyes survey the occupants of the room, "Who? Which one of you? How?"

[Myitt]

<Go ahead, why don't you tell her,> Tara sneers.  <Tell her how you killed him, and in cold blood.>

Myitt just stares at Tamora, blinking.  She's shaking again, from sheer overwhelming emotion--her host's anger, her own conflicted pain.

"I'm so sorry, Tamora," she says finally. 

<Tell her you had to, it was the only choice to make him die screaming,> Tara says conversationally. 

Myitt balls her hands into fists.  "I..."

Tara suddenly, ruthlessly seizes control.  "She starved him, isn't that--"  Myitt turns away from Tamora, gripping the edge of one of the hydraulic cabinets, clamping down on everything inside her confused body. 

<I didn't need your assistance!> Myitt says angrily.

<Oh, well, glad that I'm only here when you need me, which is, what, all of the rest of the time?> Tara mocks.

[Terenia]

"You..." Tamora's voice trails off, her gaze becoming unfocused as she tries to wrap her brain around this new information. After almost a full minute of silence she seems to sigh slightly, caving in upon herself. She blinks slowly, once, twice, forcing herself to focus upon Myitt's backside. When she speaks again her voice contains none of the hysteria or pain that it perhaps should; it is flat and emotionless.

"How tightly does my sister have you wrapped around her fingers then? You are a Yeerk, clearly you did not enter into this mission simply on the basis of possibly freeing an Andalite."

[Myitt]

Myitt looks back at Tamora, surprised that she's not wailing or calling for her, Myitt's, blood. 

"No, of course not," says Myitt, still puzzled.  "I am here because of this creature's former threat to the stability of our universe, if you can believe that."  She nods at Sukohn.  "As for your sister, I could care less what she did with her Andalite host, especially since the host is voluntary.  Zorish was...an unfortunate casualty."

<And one less sub-visser out of the way,> Tara remarks.

Myitt stalls for a second before continuing, "He knew things that were vital to the survival of my friends, and probably to the survival of your planet."

<So you killed him, in the worst way,> Tara adds.

<Shut up, will you please?> Myitt yells, and her eye twitches.  She looks away from Tamora. 

[Terenia]

"Ah," Tamora says with that same eerie flatness. She closes her eyes, staring at the inside of her eyelids while willing her muscles to relax. Her skin is chalky white, and the goose bumps have returned, but she is not convulsing and does not appear to be on the verge of a breakdown.

"I would like to be alone now," she says after a moment, not bothering to open her eyes.

[Myitt]

Myitt looks back up at Tamora, troubled.  She motions for Claxter and Alic to follow her, and she leaves the room.

<Wow, you've caused her to have a mental breakdown,> Tara says.  <Good job.>

<Please, will you understand that I did this for you and our friends?> Myitt says, exhausted.  <Don't you turn against me, too.>

Myitt watches Ossanlin manipulate the ship, though out the transparent wall there is still nothing but z-space.  She thinks again about Corliss and wonders how he's doing, whether he'll misjudge her, too. 

Tired and feeling very much alone, Myitt sits down on the floor against the wall across from the tupperware pool, and rests her head in her palms.

[Chad32]

Tamora wanted to be alone. Claxter went over and nudged Derrel to wake him up. As his eyes focused on Claxter, he visibly flinched at their closeness.

<Hey. Would you mind coming with me?>

"Okay...?"

They left the room. Sukohn was still in there, but he had been quiet for some time and wasn't likely to do much.

Derrel rubbed his eyes and stretched after he entered the other room. Something wrong seemed to have happened, but he didn't know what.

[Terenia]

Tamora's eyes remain closed as she listens to the shuffling and clopping sounds that indicate several humans and at least one Andalite removing themselves from the room. She does not bother to check if they have all left. It does not matter. She has already forgotten them.

"Zorish," she whispers aloud, as though he could hear her. Silent tears begin falling down her face, but her voice does not quaver, "Tell me what to do. Help me, I need your brains now. I need you to get me through this. I need you to get me through seeing her again."

[Myitt]

<Now you refuse to acknowledge me?> Myitt asks Tara haughtily.

<Try some of your own medicine, Yeerk,> Tara shoots back.

<You know I didn't mean that,> insists Myitt.  But Tara doesn't answer, she only thinks dark and angry thoughts, and Myitt hides her face in her hands.