The Game 29

Edited by Karen Leigh

The lights changed amid their incomprehensible nest of signs, bringing the crawling line of vehicles to a stop once again. Philip hit the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, an inarticulate sound of frustration rising in his throat. The trip in from the airport had been bad enough, but here in the middle of Washington itself the traffic was a nightmare, even without the strange sensation that had been gnawing at him since the previous evening.

He'd been in the departure lounge in Rome when it had first come over him. For a moment he'd thought it was merely a spike of the apprehension and excitement he'd been feeling at the thought of returning to Greece for the first time since...everything. But then he'd suddenly been listening to himself charm a confused (honey, you have no idea...) but helpful ticket agent into switching his ticket to one for Washington DC, and instead of the Aegean, he had crossed the Atlantic.

The feeling hadn't left him -- uneasiness, urgency, and the conviction from out of nowhere that it was imperative he come to this city. That lives, including his own, were in the balance. It was in his mind, crawling over his skin... When the god commanded him, it was never like this -- yet his silent plea for guidance had gone unanswered. In the end he'd acquiesced; still, it had brought no peace. Now he was here, his unclaimed luggage was probably being torn apart by Athens anti-terrorist security, but the agitation was only increasing. What the fuck was happening to him?

Traffic began moving, easing up enough to allow him to make the turnoff indicated by the rental's navigation system, onto a somewhat emptier street. The hotel should be only a few blocks ahead, on his right...

Philip pulled into a space just being vacated by a taxi. He ran a hand through his hair, realized he was shaking, and looked around.

The slam of sliding doors and the sound of an engine turning over drew his attention to a van two spaces ahead of him. He focused on it as it drove off, the impact of certainty leaving him all but breathless.

Heedlessly waving away the approaching valet, Philip pulled back out into the stream of traffic to follow. Whatever was disrupting his already far too disrupted life, the answer was in that van, and he had to find out what it was...He'd kept pace with them, following their lane changes and hanging back a few car lengths as they left the city streets behind and emerged into suburbs and then apparent countryside. As the traffic thinned out, Philip had slowed and let the van get farther ahead of him to avoid being readily noticed. The terrifying exhilaration he'd felt was still with him, and he knew there was no chance he'd lose them.

Now, he watched the van turn off; giving them a few seconds to draw ahead, he eased over to see where they'd gone. The "private" signs posted at the entry to the side road gave him pause, wondering again what the hell he was being drawn into. Frowning, he followed, and as his own vehicle rounded a curve, Philip spotted the van slowing to a stop a short distance ahead.

The guns registered first, efficiently preempting the impulse to slue the car into a 180 and floor it. Even if he could overcome the compulsion coiling low and tight in his stomach, he knew he'd never make it. Instead, he let the car roll to a stop behind the van and remained motionless, taking in the gates and what he could see beyond and over them. There was a certain familiarity to the setup that made him smile grimly to himself, but this...it looked like it the Devil's Island Club Med! Noting that some of the defenses looked very new, he returned his full attention to the scene directly in front of him.

No...this wasn't possible. At least half a dozen men in the group getting out of the van were...him. There were some slight differences, but in no way was this a coincidental resemblance. How...? As the guards stood down at the sound of some commotion approaching from inside the gate, Philip got a clear look at their faces as well. Oh, jesus... What the fuck, some kind of elaborate genetics lab...?!

An android? Guys that looked like him -- okay --genetic fluke maybe but possible. But androids? Who could make such things and why on earth would anyone have made an android that looked like him? And if they'd made one ... no, eighty-seven, then ... ?

Skip spread his arms wide, revealing his tattooed forearms and said, "Welcome to the temple of Bokonon. All major credit card accepted."

Philip blinked And let me guess...this must be Dr Moreau-Skip damn it... Heart pounding, he took a deep breath; making sure his hands were visible, he got out of the car.

Not quite surprisingly after what he had just seen, Philip found that his face seemed to be his passport through this particular Looking Glass --whether he liked it or not. The heavily-armed guards had wordlessly searched and scanned both the car and his one remaining bag, then had escorted him as far as the briefly opened gate.

For all the frenzied activity that had been going on not long before, there were very few people to be seen out on the broad expanse of lawn; all of them, as far as he could tell, were more permutations of him. As he passed, some looked his way with expressions of curiosity and extremely friendly smiles, which, while certainly interesting, did little to dispel his uneasiness.

The noise level rose considerably as he entered what seemed to be the compound's main building. There were dozens more duplicates here, either striding purposefully about on errands of some sort or lingering in amorous twos and threes. He was pretty sure none of them had been among the group in the van, and the men who weren't duplicates were nowhere in sight; but as he started down what seemed to be the busiest corridor off the entry, he thought he saw someone he recognized. The duplicate in the immaculate suit was up ahead, along with another who was cradling a lively puppy. Philip observed them for a moment, weighing the wisdom of interrupting their conversation with his own questions. It might be worth it, just to meet that attractive little redhead -- the first woman he'd seen so far, he realized --that they were talking to...

Then he caught a whiff of food in the air, and the last twenty-four hours came crashing down on him. First things first. Jet-lagged and ravenously hungry, he followed the smell to a large dining room. Were it not already mortgaged elsewhere, at that moment Philip would have gladly sold his soul for strong black coffee... Filling a plate, he took it and a brimming carafe to one of the several vacant tables scattered through the hall, letting his carryall slide from his shoulder to the floor with a soft thump as he sat.

Inhaling the rich-scented steam rising from the cup, he sighed in sheer pleasure as the warmth of the brew sped through his body. Weary but at least somewhat restored, Philip finally took the time to try to get his bearings, studying his fellow diners...

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Feeling herself slowly placed onto the floor, Spike's loving sire ended the kiss with a lioness purr. Satisfaction given that would keep her content for the moment. "My poor Spike... All the tin soldiers makin' it so that you can't kill. Can't hurt. Not a living soul." Yearning pity was all that she bestowed on him, rather than any measure of foreseeable revulsion. One hand running through short blonde hair, that in its natural state had once been of a decidedly browner hue. Drusilla had already known by intuition about the obstacle that remained in front of his killing destiny. Had dropped the hint earlier but only wished to fix it for him. "Mummy'll make it better. You'll see. I'll run and catch so you can eat the lamb in the blackberry patch, hmm? Then," she decided with sly grin and curvaceous form pressing itself with a seductive slide against him, "I'll make it so's you can be what I made you again." Fingertip trailing from his nose to mouth, thoughts danced creatively in mind as she teased with the foreplay of suggestion and kill.

What the hell was Drusilla on about? Spike mused, looking at her with lips compressed in an almost smile. She always talked like one of Edward Lear's inventions... or was it his namesake Spike Milligan? Okay once you cracked the code, learnt her own private terms of reference, but when she'd got her teeth into a new idea, for a while it was like trying to un-knot a nest of eels. It sounded like she knew about the implant. Spike shivered. Bloody hell, it also sounded like she was offering to do something about it.

Dru... Brain surgery. Did those words sound good together, he asked himself? No they bloody didn't. No. Vampire or not, he didn't fancy his chances after Drusilla had picked through his head. He could see it now. Meat cleaver followed by a rummage around in the gray matter with a dinner-fork. Lovely jubbly. Add a sprig of parsley, and serve still pulsating.

"But not before I bathe."

Thank you God, or Lucifer or whoever, thought Spike with relief. A few minutes to invent a good excuse to refuse the sweet rosebud's offer.

She and little Samantha danced hand-in-hand into the bathroom. Spike frowned, and then shrugged. It would sort itself somehow. He pulled his favorite black coat on again, and strolled after them.

Raising one arm out in Princess-like self-admiration covered by bubbles, Drusilla felt once again at ease. The puzzle was slowly fitting back together and the vampiress looked far more alive than her undead body would have suggested. "Mmm, I feel free again now...! You'll see pet. Spike'll make everything better again now. Better again 'cause that's what mummy's gonna' make it for him."

Spike finished preening in the steamed mirror and went over to kneel by his floating princess.

"We're gonna make it good for each other, alright, my buttercup." He formed the bubbles on her chest into the shape of a heart, then grinned, and bent to kiss each of her dusky nipples in turn. Trailing his fingers up her damp thigh towards her groin, he stopped at the water's surface and looked round at the little girl standing nearby. Shame she was as old as she looked. Adult minds in kid's bodies made for interesting, if perverse amusements. Bugger it, maybe he'd forget staking her and let her put on ten years or so, and then they could have some fun. Still, better not to think too hard about that. Drusilla wasn't inclined to see it in the same way. He flicked the drops from his wet fingers at the kid's face, and got up.

"I'm going down to the reception to find out which room Cory's in. I'll be back in two ticks, luv."

But when he got there he couldn't believe his eyes. There was that bugger Methos, which was a shame, but half expected, but there was also Cory, and Cory, and Cory and... Spike lost count. They all got into a van and drove off.

Spike darted after them, jumped in his car, and set off in pursuit. He hauled his mobile out of his pocket and got through to their suite, and to Samantha.

"Kid... tell Dru I've found Cory, will you? And tell her there's a surprise in store. See if you can get her some clothes; help yourself from a shop, or one of the other people in the hotel, okay darlin'? You're a princess now, so you're allowed to do that. I'm following him in the car, and when I find out where he's going I'll send a taxi for the two of you to come and join us."

How Cory had multiplied, he couldn't imagine. Maybe it was a spell? Anyhow, if it meant more Cory, Spike was only too happy to give it the thumbs up. Sod it, he told himself, Cory ain't human, perhaps he's a dish that's still on Spike's menu.

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Anson stayed close to Methos, watching carefully as they passed several armed men. He didn't like this - didn't like it at all. Too many copies of him wandering around. And this Skip guy ... Nope, he didn't like this place.

The group walked in pairs, each apparently wanting to make their affiliations with each other obvious to Skip and his people.

Dave found that Tom had suddenly become very friendly indeed - not that he minded. Absently he noted the way Tom's arm brushed against him as they followed along. He was almost too overwhelmed by the compound - filled with even more clones - to appreciate it. Almost - but not quite. Unobtrusively, he put one hand at Tom's lower back - staking his claim - even as he wondered what the hell Methos had gotten them into.

With a wide smile, Cory wandered along, eyes scanning the area. Damn, this whole thing just kept getting stranger and stranger. He made sure that he stayed close to Dustin - wanting all to know that they were together. They were together - weren't they?

Smirking, Skip wished that he had time to hire a circus to add a bit to the craziness rampant in his enclave. He said, "This is my Shangri La and also temporary haven for the oppressed of the world. Please feel free to wander about, get to know a few people, and loosen up after your journey."

Paired up, it seemed although he sensed uncertainty from some of the couples. Well, he didn't begrudge that. He had never expected to fall hard for anyone...not with all his ex this and that's, not to mention twelve children he was supporting. However, Mac Smith was perfect. He was intelligent, beautiful, sexy, easy going, and a good cook.

Hell, if he looked like these guys, he wouldn't mind cuddling up with a mirror image either.

Some of the androids fell into step behind the new guests. Skip approved. Baines had the beginnings of a decent security system going. It helped that most of the Mac 27s could be taught damn near anything in a blink of the eye. He noted Philip trailing the pack but he did not make eye contact with Skip so Skip left him to find his own way.

Matthew could feel Beau withdraw even before he picked up Tallulah's crate and exited the van. Cradling the puppy in his arms, Matthew got out after Tom and Dave, and immediately stepped to Beau's side. He was taken aback by the ebullient greeting of the large man and his ears perked up at his reference to something that sounded like a religion, wondering if he could sell that as D.C. counterculture.

With a sigh, Matthew realized that he had more pressing issues. As they followed the large man -- Skip, he'd said his name was -- Matthew cleared his throat and murmured, "Beau?"

Grudgingly, the android turned his head to acknowledge his name. The look on his face -- a facade of resigned acceptance over pain -- nearly broke Matthew's heart. And that, he supposed, was that.

Tallulah yipped at Beau, her tone sounding interrogative as well. Somehow that freed Matthew's usually too loose tongue from its hopelessly tied state. "Animals are pretty good judges of people, you know. I'm betting that includes androids, because you have to have some sort of scent, too."

Holding up Tallulah, Matthew continued, "She seems to be a pretty smart pup and she loves you. That's pretty obvious. And the man who left his estate to you had to care a whole helluva lot for you to do that, even if there were no family-type heirs. I barely know you, yet I don't want to cause you pain. What I'm trying to say is -- we are what we are, but we're also what others think of us. How they react to us forms our identity as much or more as my genes or your circuits or whatever."

Shrugging, Matthew made an effort to note his surroundings. When that failed as a distraction, he stopped Beau, looked him in the eye and said, "I've already admitted that I'm out of my element with respect to you. What you are doesn't change that. I'm not sure, because I know even less about androids than I do puppies or the deep South, but I'd be surprised if you being an android made matters much worse." Blushing, Matthew amended, "Much different, I mean." "So ... I guess that means the answers to your questions are "No, no and yes."

Beau smiled and Matthew felt his spirits brighten.

Grinning tentatively, he said, "I can speak more succinctly, too. Really. I just ..."

Matthew trailed off, looking down the corridor. "It's her," he muttered, as the small red haired woman approached. "She is here."

A chuckle from Beau brought Matthew's eyes back to him. Blushing more furiously now, Matthew murmured, "I sort of ran into her in the hotel. Doubt she remembers. How could she, really? I'm one out of how many? Besides, we ... ah ... we ought to catch up with the others."

As they quickened their pace, Beau was chuckling again. Tallulah was squirming in Matthew's arms. And Matthew felt his eyes being drawn back to the woman. Their eyes met briefly and he nodded to her before looking away.

As Scully walked down the corridor past the men with the little dog, she couldn't help but notice the way that one of them looked at her. Surprised, she found herself turning her head after she passed them to get a second look... he looked familiar. She placed him a second later; the lobby of the hotel, of course. Hmm. And the little dog was just darling. And the other guy holding her wasn't bad either -Scully abruptly caught herself. What was she thinking?! They were obviously paired off together like every other clone in this place. She had to find Mulder

Well now, 'peared that his Matthew wuz quite interested in the purty little redhead. And, judging by the look in her eyes the interest wuz a mutual thing.

After Matthew's acceptance of the reality of jest what Beau wuz - well, he felt that the least he could do wuz gain them an introduction. 'Sides - she wuz an attractive woman.

"'Scuse me, ma'am?" he stepped forward, smiling his most charming smile. "We're new here, an' ah jest wanted to say hello to y'all. Ah'm Ashley Beauregard, Beau to mah friends. This," he pulled Matthew forward with one hand, "is Matthew Seagull and the pup is Tallulah."

"Well, hello there," Scully replied with a flustered smile. My oh my, Mulder could keep Krycek - this one was far more charming! And Southern at that! "Uh, I'm Dana. Dana Scully. Special Agent with the FBI." She stopped, cursing inwardly. Well, she was. But somehow she didn't want them to get the impression that was ALL she was. There was something about Beauregard, er, Beau, that started a core meltdown inside her. Grateful for the little dog's presence, she turned her attention to the darling creature and stroked her head and ears. "Hi, there, Tallulah. You're a real beauty, aren't you?"

Matthew's first instinct was to run. Far. Fast. And absolutely, positively without looking back. This impulse was foreign to him -- he could (and did) talk to anyone and everyone about just about anything and everything. Tentatively, he decided that it must be that he just wasn't ready to remake this woman's acquaintance or to have Beau, his new android friend who'd like to be more than that, be the one to be making the introduction.

But when she turned bright blue eyes on him, smiling slightly, Matthew found his feet moving as Beau urged. There was something about this woman and he knew what it was. She reminded him of someone important to him and it wasn't just their similar physical size. Her bearing, the way she moved, so many things.

Shifting Tallulah to his left hand, Matthew extended his right. "Hi. I'm Matthew Seagull."

Tallulah barked once, as if for emphasis, and Beau was shifting between being charming vis a vis the woman and darting the occasional amused glance Matthew's way.

Matthew promised himself that he would find out just what the android thought he was up to doing this when they had a moment to themselves.

Scully chuckled slightly at Tallulah's bark and shook his hand, unable to wipe the smile from her face - it seemed stuck there. "Hello, Matthew. It's nice to see you again. The hotel lobby, right?"

She remembered! Matthew managed to nod, hoping all the while that he didn't have too stupid of a smile on his face.

She didn't really want to let go of his hand. Damn it, he was just too cute! There was something endearing about him that just made her want to hug him and tell him everything was going to be alright... And yet his eyes were so sharp - he didn't seem to miss a thing.

She wondered if these two were actually paired off or what; she was getting undeniable signals from both of them. Of course, that could just be a result of her not having had much of a social or even personal life these days. It had been months since she'd even had a date. She felt herself falling into that gaze...like drowning.

Suddenly, Matthew became aware that he was staring and still holding her hand. Dana's hand, he corrected himself mentally. A glance at Beau gave him an idea. "Pleased to meet you officially, Dana," he murmured, smiling, before lifting her hand to his lips in his very best effort to emulate a Southern gentleman.

Other ideas came fast, furious and urgent. It was harder to quash the urge to turn her hand over and apply his lips to the inside of her wrist -- the tamest of all of the possible next moves that flitted through his mind -- than Matthew expected.

"Were you headed somewhere in particular or would you care to join us?" he asked instead. "I think we're going to get some sort of explanation of what's going on eventually." When she didn't speak immediately, he gave her some more maneuvering room. "If you're busy, I'm sure we'll find another time to get acquainted."

Turning guileless eyes to the android that had gotten him into this, Matthew asked, "Isn't that right, Beau?"

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>Dustin walked beside Cory. The looks and talk in the van had been fun, the kisses... sweet. But he was a tad nervous. He felt Cory was ... developing feelings for him, and he didn't quite know how to feel about that. He was uneasy, but not only for himself.

He looked at Cory as they walked past rooms filled with other clones, and the androids he'd seen and heard of. Apparently Matthew's friend Beau was one of them.

"So, Cory, I, um, I guess we find a room or something?"

He did love the sparkle in the other man's eyes. He thought maybe, if they could sit down and talk... they would understand each other better.

The smell of home cooking drew him toward the kitchen, and dining room beyond that, where what looked like a buffet dinner was set up. He walked that way ... it smelled delicious.

"So, Cory... we really haven't had a chance to... talk, have we?" He smiled. "No time like over a meal. You know a lot of my most important conversations have been over lunch..." Thoughts of Hollywood made him smile just a little.

Cory walked willingly along with Dustin towards the appetizing smell coming from the kitchen. He was starved. And, it was far past time for he and Dustin to have a chat. "Sounds like a plan to me, Dustin. Let's get something to eat, sit down together and talk. So much has been going on, we really haven't had a chance to get to know each other very well - this seems as good a time as any to figure out what's going on between us - before we end up in a room together."

Stopping, Cory met Dustin's eyes defensively. "I need to know what you want, Dustin - before I get too fond of you, I mean. If you don't want us to be together, you need to tell me now - before things go any further

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Looking about fiercely, Luke answered, "Show me who bit you and I will...I will smite them!"

Ryan couldn't help himself. The image of the android doing whatever his version of smiting might be to some of Ryan's former lovers was too much. He started laughing, knowing full well the risk of doing such a thing in bed, but Luke didn't seem to take much in the way of notice.

Seeing no enemy with whom to joust, Luke settled down. He said, "Have you seen wonderful things, Ryan? I would very much like to see more of the world. So far all I have seen is a few places in the city before we came here. I would like to climb mountains, Ryan, and see dark rainy depths of jungles. I would like to dive beneath the oceans and perhaps someday even step on ground that is not of this Earth."

Trustfully looking to Ryan, Luke felt sure that his beloved had already done all of these things. Ryan had universes in him, myriad places to explore and adore...

"I've been places," Ryan began, smiling slightly as his mind drifted to briefly focus on some of his adventures. "I've climbed Mt. Everest."

Luke's mouth opened in an "oh" of awe, and Ryan tapped his chin to encourage him to shut it. "That's not as big a deal as it sounds, Luke," he added quickly, a little uncomfortable with the adulation. "A lot of people have done it, but I did have to train quite a bit and I am proud that I did it."

When the android settled back into the pillows and continued to look at him expectantly, Ryan considered what to tell him. "I've spent some time in Africa, too. That, in a lot of ways, was more intense than the mountain climbing. And ... uh ... I really like scuba diving. The last time was off the Costa Rican coast. I think you'd like that best. It's so quiet and peaceful underwater and it's a whole different world at decent depths."

Smiling in what he hoped was a convincing manner, he added, "That's as close as I've gotten to setting foot on another planet." Warming a bit to the topic of sights he'd seen, Ryan continued, "But, you're right, there's a whole lot to see. To experience. Each city has its own rhythm. A pulse of a sort. New Orleans almost personifies jazz music. Paris does the same thing for romance. Tokyo is a whole lot more than you see in Godzilla movies. And once you get out of the cities - you can see what nature can do. And that, in my opinion, is far superior to what man has to show for himself. Nothing we've built can match the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon or the Greek Islands, just to pick two at random." With a sigh, Ryan muttered, "But you probably didn't want a lecture."

What a lecture meant in this context was beyond Luke. His subtle audio analyzers caught the brief hesitation when Ryan denied every walking on another Earth. It was difficult to lie to a Mac 27 as they had built in voice stress modulation programs, but Luke accepted that Ryan had reason to keep secrets from him. After all, David had fooled him into drugging him, hardly a way to gain the man's respect.

However, he understood that Ryan might tell him more if he asked. Sensing no urgency from the outside world, Luke was content to travel in his imagination via Ryan's words.

"I want to hear more," Luke said, "Please tell me about the places you've visited and the people you have known."

However, he understood that Ryan might tell him more if he asked.

Ryan smiled at the rapt curiosity emanating from Luke's naked form. He wasn't used to lounging around in bed and talking about much of anything, particularly his past. Being there with Luke just seemed to maximize the distance he'd traveled and to magnify the enormity of his decision to follow Wade and the rest to this reality. Sure, he'd have been dead if he'd stayed, but in a way he was anyway. It felt like a lot of what Ryan remembered had happened to another person. Did that Ryan Simms still exist? And were his experiences relevant to anyone in this realm, Luke included.

"I ..." Ryan's voice trailed off as uncertainty overtook him. His eyes quickly scanning the blue room they were in, Ryan found himself trying to convince himself that this was real. Not a dream or some other reality that he'd have to leave behind someday. Knowing his sudden fear was irrational didn't help. In an odd way, it seemed to make matters worse.

Trying to calm down, Ryan heard himself asking metaphysical questions with an edge of panic in his voice, "Are we really here? Does this place exist? Do we?" Breathing hard, Ryan risked a look at Luke, hating how vulnerable he felt but unable to deny it. Trying to calm down, Ryan heard himself asking metaphysical questions with an edge of panic in his voice, "Are we really here? Does this place exist? Do we?"

Running the information through his processors, Luke decided that he could not understand it no matter how hard he tried. There were literary and philosophical references, but Luke really didn't see why Ryan would be so confused.

Reaching over, Luke stroked a long, lazy pattern down Ryan's still naked skin. The feel of his lover's sweat triggered desire again, but Luke thought it wasn't the time. He moved closer and timidly wrapped himself securely around Ryan.

"I'm here and you are with me. This is a very good world to be in, Ryan. I can desire no other..."

Eyes closed tight, Ryan fought hard to steady his breathing and unconsciously leaned back into Luke for support. He can see you Simms, so you're here. You exist. So calm the fuck down. What's wrong with you anyway? You have some of the best sex you've ever had, fall asleep next to the one responsible and wake up with some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy thing working to drive him away. Jesus, you're fucked up.

Turning in Luke's embrace so he could see the android more easily, Ryan muttered, "There are others, you know? Other worlds. Different ..different from here. Some more than others -- more ... more different, I mean. Shit, Luke, I'm sorry. I don't know why all of this is coming crashing down around me all the sudden. You ... you must think ...well, hell, I have no idea what you think. What do you think?"

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Nodding, Beau smiled in agreement. "Absolutely. Ah think we'll be here for a while - this whole thing has mah head a'spinnin' - an' Ah don't much like that feelin'." He frowned and looked to Dana. "Ah don't suppose you have any idea as to jest what's goin' on - what with all these clones and androids all bein' in the same place? Matthew and ah are new to this - we jest arrived in town an' kind of got swept along with the tide. If y'all kin shed a little light on the whole thing, we'd be much obliged." His eyes slide over to Matthew for a second and one lid drooped in a sly wink. "An', Ah must admit, we'd surely enjoy sittin' down to talk with sech a charmin' woman as yourself."

Tallulah rested her head on Matthew's arm and watched the nice-smelling lady expectantly.

Scully had to chuckle at this, and reached out again to scritch Tallulah behind her ears, acutely aware of the nearness of her fingers to Matthew's person. "I'm sure. I would like that, too. Well, I'm new here as well and I have to find my partner; I think he's a bit out of it. As far as I can make out, we've ALL converged here for a meeting of some kind. I have to go check on my patient in a few minutes though. He's in the infirmary back down that way," and she pointed back down the corridor she'd just come from.

She took a breath. "All I know so far is that there are a lot of you; how many yet, I haven't been able to discover. But I'm sure that we could find someone who can give us some answers. When we arrived, we were met by this particular, uh, android," she felt uncomfortable saying it now, but how else to describe the poor creature? Doll-face? Beach-bunny? "He's the one responsible for distracting my partner who isn't in his right mind. I have to find Mulder." Although, the thought of sitting down with these two and... talking, was quickly becoming the highest priority.

"All this cloning... Some of you seem to be androids, too. But the one who brought us here, Alex Krycek," she said, "is probably the original; he seems to have a better idea of what's happening. And I'm hoping that once I find Mulder, we'll be able to find out just exactly what is going on." Seeing the disappointment in Matthew's eyes, she quickly added, "I'll get back to you; I will. After all, we've only just met," she smiled. "I'd love to get to know you better, all three of you." And she stroked Tallulah.

God, if only she were stroking these two instead. She shook herself slightly. And wondered if the impression she'd had that these two were getting closer, themselves, was accurate. What an incredibly ...um, interesting idea.

Scully, still in the dark but not minding anymore, for obvious reasons Beau sighed, watching her walk away. Lord, she was interestin'. And purty. And, obviously had no idea that he was, himself, an android. There had been the slightest change in her voice when she'd referred to the presence of the androids ...

He frowned and turned to Matthew, dropping his eyes to watch his own hand absently scratch Tallulah's head. "Matthew, ya don't think she'll have a ... a problem with the fact that Ah'm an android, do you?"

"Hmm?" Matthew muttered, but his ears quickly caught up with his mind." A problem vis a vis you? Her? Nah, she was checking you out," he asserted. Seeing that Beau had no intention of looking up from Tallulah, he amiably continued, "Even when she was holding my hand, I'm still trying to decide whether to be jealous or not." Startled by the realization, these words followed before Matthew could edit them. "Or of whom."

Disconcerted, Matthew gestured in the direction that the others from the van had gone. "Should we try and catch up?"

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Pinocchio had no idea where he was, where he was going, or even why. All he knew was he hurt, and hurt badly. His back was burning, his head hurt, his vision faded in and out and he was feverish. Ever since he left that stinking compound of the CSM he had felt this way.

He pushed the elevator button, not caring where it landed. He just needed a place to hide, get away from this for a while till he felt better. Then he could go find Hobbes and his so called partner Wreath or whatever the hell his name was. Then when he saw that blonde and her two look-a-like bitches he was going to slap her stupid and fucking kill the other two.

He winced in pain and slammed his head into the wall trying to breath as he felt his blood drain. When the elevator stopped he pushed out and went to the nearest door. He tried it, locked. He crouched down and pulled a pin from his belt. Bending, he picked the lock with ease and stumbled in, weapon drawn ready to rezz out whoever was inside. Rezz, where the hell did that come from?

He turned his head when he heard movement but that was all he wrote. He didn't see who it was or anything else. His vision blurred then faded to black as he fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--

Another injury. Wraith had no idea what had possessed him to inflict that kind of hurt on himself... on his hand, no less. It was foolish. Blocking out the distraction of the wound he tried to concentrate outward instead of allowing the things flying around inside his head to overwhelm him again.

Not so strangely it was the two women in the room that were making Wraith concentrate the hardest. One was offering proof of things almost beyond his mental grasp; and the other urging him to bend under the will of this strangely assorted group. Automatically gravitating to the voice with more command in it Wraith turned his attention on the new woman.

Something about her hit him hard enough to block every other consideration out. The doctor was shaken off; even Marita was shaken off. Wraith barely held back from seizing this newcomer and dragging her near for examination. "What are you?" With the exception of when he'd been fighting or laying with Marita, Wraith hadn't been this focused on one thing for the first time in too long. Even the voices were screaming that he pay attention to this woman.

Well, she'd gotten Wraith's attention at least. Now she didn't have the faintest idea what the hell to do with it. Krycek definitely wasn't too happy with her at the moment for speaking up, but until he decided to tell her exactly what the hell was going on (and she was going to cause him grievous bodily harm if he didn't tell the truth for once), he could kiss her ass. Lying little weasel wanted her in, well she was fucking in all right and he deserved everything he got for the way he went about it, too.

She had to hand it to Marita, though. The glitch she'd thrown into the Mac project was pure genius. Bringing them to self-awareness faster than the timetable had laid out was the kind of move worthy of Sypher herself. You go, girl.

Not daring to look away from Wraith or his dangerously flexing hands, Sypher shuddered slightly under the intense scrutiny. He wanted to rip her apart and find out what made her tick; she could see it on his face. Trusting that somebody had her back if he decided to give in to the deadly impulse, she decided to introduce herself. "My name is Sypher, and I think you already know the answer to that. I'm like you in a lot of ways. I might be able to help you reconcile your biological and mechanical systems so that the pain goes away, but you have to be willing to accept my help and the truth, as well as the truth of what you are. If you don't, it's going to tear you apart the way it has been already. You have to make the choice for yourself. Live or die. Marita looked at Sypher, nodding encouragement. She could tell that Wraith was paying attention to her, and she was glad. The programming and reprogramming over the old had definitely taken its toll on what could be called Wraith's psyche, and she had been worried, though she had tried not to show it.

If anyone could get through to him, explain things to him, Marita reasoned, it would be this woman, who was, as she had said, much like Wraith.

She knew of Sypher vaguely through Krycek, but not well at all. She admired the woman's strength of character and integrity, and had a deepening respect for her.

She smiled to show that she knew things were going smoothly and that there was no threat, and turned to One.

She wanted to ask him about the realization of sentience, and what it had felt like - what it had meant to him at the time. In a way she had, she thought, had her own awakening, and was eager to talk to someone about it.

She might have talked to Sypher if she weren't busy...She smiled again at the woman. Keep up the good work.

--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--

Hobbes stood at the door seemingly unnoticed by anyone in the room since they were all concentrating on Wraith and Sypher. He tilted his head wondering what the hell was going on.

Confusion raked his body and his mind. The last thing he remembered was running from Santiago with Pinocchio at his side. Now Pinocchio was gone, he was here in this strange place with a bunch of men who all looked the same... well to a point and everyone snipping at each other.

He finally stepped in the room feeling maybe his calm rational voice would bring some order to all this mess and he could find out he was in Santiago's compound or even where the hell he was.

"You know, sniping and yelling at each other is not going to bring order to any decision. If everyone just calms down and listen to each other maybe you will all find the answers you seek."

At this Baines stepped forward, "Okay, it looks like it is conference time for this group anyway. Why don't we get some chairs in here and get comfortable. I will run down what I have learned, as an outsider. Then we can go round robin and everyone else can explain what part they have played and what they have learned. Maybe we can come up with something useful."

One agreed and in moments androids arrived with chairs for the entire group. As everyone was being seated, Jess came in unobtrusively and took a chair next to Johnny. Marita sat close to Wraith with Hobbes on his other side. Sypher sat beside Eugene. Alexei, Sasha sat on either side of Baines and Michael pulled up a chair slightly behind Leigh. Eugene and Alex sat on either side of One and David stood behind him.

Alex spoke up, "I think Mulder and Scully should be in on this."

Baines nodded and asked one of the androids to find Mulder and Scully and ask if they would join them.

Once everyone was seated Baines began, "I was an orphan, raised in Ireland by my grandmother. Very young I discovered I had an aptitude for weaponry and other skills useful in the military and I ended up in a black ops group specializing in what Mulder would consider X-Files clean up operations. So even before I arrived in Washington this week I had seen and done things that make this situation not unfamiliar. I was on disability leave when Mulder and Skinner picked me up last week. Through them I met Ricky, Ryan, One, Michael and a host of other clones and androids. I also met Marita and got my first good look at Spender. I heard a lot about Alex, the original from which we all were, apparently, created. Things have been moving very fast and have tended to be caught on the fly, so to speak."

"My understanding is that the androids were created for a specific purpose but were put on a back burner and allowed to be disseminated into the population. A unilateral decision was made to recall and destroy them after it was discovered that they had become self-aware. Reminded of the original purpose, the group that started the project stepped in to stop the slaughter and bring them together. Another group, probably with a different agenda, went in another direction and Wraith, Hobbes and his friend Pinocchio were part of that experiment. Sypher, I am not sure about but my impression is that she comes from an entirely different group working alone similar lines. The clone project I know belongs to Spender's group. The purpose of all of this is unclear to me. Either it is to aid in alien conquest or prevent it. Conflicting purposes seem to be the order of the day. What I do know is that we gathered here at Eugene's friend Skip's home to safe guard as many of the hunted clones and androids as could be found. We need answers and felt that Alex and Mulder might have some of those answers. Between those gathered here I am sure we have as much knowledge as we need to proceed. Alex would not be here if Spender had not directed him to come."

He paused and looked around the room and said, "Now I believe that many of us have more than one agenda here. Reconciling them is necessary. We are all suffering in one way or another from training, tampering, controls and outright surgical intervention. Jess was turned into a werewolf in a laboratory. I myself during yesterday's confrontation with Wraith on the front lawn was bitten. As a result I spent last night running the woods as a werewolf during time Jess and I found that the compound is under surveillance by Innobotics agents. Jess told me the werewolf project was abandoned and she thinks but is not sure that all of the other creations were destroyed. At least one of the look-a-likes is not a clone. I am not sure what he is but I am sure he is not a clone. There are clones of Mulder and, it is not unlikely that there are clones of others. One thing I have noticed, in particular, is that the clones and androids are irresistibly drawn to one another. Sexual pairing is endemic. It does not seem to matter what your life long sexual preferences might have been. A heightened sexual response has been evident in almost every context. Since we are largely a group of males it has followed that many formerly heterosexual males are finding themselves with male lovers. I am beginning to believe that this is the direct result of some pheromonal tampering. Perhaps, because sex is a distraction, a controlling mechanism, whereby we are less effective as a group than when alone."

"My conclusion is that we are at war. Our leaders are at cross-purposes; we have human and alien enemies. That humanity is at stake in the power struggles going on. Through Alexei and Sasha I have discovered that, since coming here, many of the controls on some of us are breaking down resulting in confusion, paranoia, illness and fear. We are trying to make this as safe a place as possible for all refugees from all the projects. We need to gather as much information as possible from all present and come to some kind of united decision on where we are going from here. Every one of the clones has some of Alex Krycek in his make up no matter what their training or life style. They will not all sit still for long without direction, no matter how much sexual distraction is available. Some people important to some of us have still not arrived and concern is being expressed. The building will not hold many more occupants without becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Many of us are tired and confused and want answers. One can only do so much and every android death is painful to him. That is all I have to contribute at present, except to say that Jess and I need food very soon. The Change has burned up our reserves." Baines sat back and waited to see who would respond first. Michael rubbed his back and neck gently in a comforting gesture.

All the while Baines was talking Hobbes sat stunned at his words. He was working with this Wraith and Pinocchio. So where was Pinocchio? He furrowed his brow as he listened. This did not sound like he was still in The Game but in another game all together.

"Can I say something..." he said sitting forward. "I don't remember any of this. I was told I had this chip removed." He produced it from his pocket. "It is from Santiago City. I don't know what it did to me but... it did something. Now from what I gather, none of you work for Santiago correct?" He saw confused looks at the man.

He sighed, "Let me start fresh. My name is Thomas Hobbes. I was a soldier in the Army. I returned from battle and taken from my fiance to be thrown into a virtual reality game called Harsh Realm. My mission was to seek out a man called Omar Santiago who was top scorer of The Game. I soon found out from my friend Pinocchio who was in The Game with me that the man had taken over The Game and was planning on destroying the Real World. We were fighting to defeat him, win The Game and go home. The last thing I even remember is running from his troops. And now I am here."

"I don't remember working with this man; I don't remember Pinocchio being with me except inside The Game. Now if this is not part of The Game... then this is the real world. The thing I can't figure is how I got here or why. Did Santiago bring me out of The Game? And if he did, I still need to find him cause not only are your lives are in trouble... but the whole world."

"If he gets his way, only Harsh Realm will be left, and he controls that world. I need to find Pinocchio for if this was inside me...he more than likely has one too. Now I will be willing to help you if you can help me. Everyone has a right to live... no matter what they are... and live free."

Jess sat quietly as Baines and Hobbes spoke. She took a deep breath and began her side of the story.

"Leigh is right in saying that I was created in a laboratory. I don't know if the DNA alterations were custom designed, or if there was a source."

"I don't know how I was chosen. All I know is that my boyfriend... beat me. I guess when I passed out; I was taken, because the next thing I remember was waking up strapped to an examination table. I thought I was in a hospital at first, but learned quickly how wrong I was."

"There were a lot of tests, and someone was always observing me. And once I started Changing, things became worse. I've been shot, burned, poisoned, mutilated, and generally fucked with to see how fast any body damage would heal. Every full moon I'd be placed in a 20 by 20 foot room with some sort of large predator or remote controlled machine to see if I could destroy it."

"When it was discovered a few of us could Change without waiting for the full moon, the scientists brought in some androids to handle us. Johnny was the only Mac 27 in the group, and the only self-aware one. Orders came down that the Loup Garou Project was considered a failure and I was scheduled to be terminated. Johnny got me out before that happened."

"But Leigh mentioning aliens got me to thinking. There was one time I was put into the fighting pit, as we called it, with a... well, I don't know what it was. It looked human, but smelled wrong! There's not a way to put it into terms most of you will understand. And whatever it was, it was as strong as me. It bled green, and its 'blood' was caustic. The scientists spent a lot of time afterwards studying the bad chemical burns on my mouth and claws. I managed to kill it, I think. I assumed it was an experiment gone wrong they wanted to dispose of, but now I wonder..."

"Anyway, before this goes any further, I have something to say. I owe you an apology, Wraith. I attacked you without provocation, and I cannot tell you how ashamed of that I am. Same goes for you, Sypher. I can't say what caused my hostile reaction, but it won't be happening again."

Wraith frowned, eyes narrowing. One twist after another battered at him. Marita had committed sabotage. Hobbes claimed he didn't know Wraith or anything about this mission. The wolf woman was actually apologizing to him. No one ever did that.

The three of them and Lt. Baines were tossing out what had to be classified information as if this were one of Mr. Hargreaves' cocktail parties. No one in this entire place seemed to have any regard for security protocols.

Then there was Sypher. He wasn't the only one. He wasn't even the better of the two of them. Her integration seemed far superior to his.

Madness. The voices inside him struggled for control, attempting to push Wraith into accepting this situation... or to at least step back and let them have their say. His absent headache had roared back redoubled. They'd already very nearly escaped, causing him to damage himself and pushing words out his mouth, that thankfully no one had realized weren't his own.

And in the middle of it the Mac27's communication's core 'One' was absorbing it all and quite likely distributing the information even as the words were spoken aloud.

Complete madness. If Dr. Sawyer found out he had all this unrelated top-level classified material on top of all the sensitive information she had recently uploaded she would drain him dry, wipe him clean and reboot his implants... if she didn't just destroy him as a security risk.

The hateful Alex Krycek was suddenly, impossibly, becoming the most trustworthy person here just because he knew enough to keep his mouth shut.

How dare they look at him, as if expecting he would participate in this fiasco? If Marita's hand wasn't on his arm Wraith would have torn out of here already.

Hobbes glanced sideways at Wraith and frowned feeling his discomfort. What had he gotten into? What had happened to him? He sighed heavily. He had a mission to complete, kill Santiago, stop his invasion of the real world and none of these... people seemed to be listening to him.

He shifted in his chair. He had to find Mike... but where, his mind was so full of holes right now it was hard to work through. And listening to all these people was just confusing him.

He sighed heavily. He glanced again at Wraith, his innocent blues going up to the man, "Are you alright?" He asked quietly. He looked away when he got a glare, "I'm sorry," He said softly then stood and started to head out not waiting for the others to finish.

Krycek saw Hobbes turn to leave, and suddenly he knew - without quite knowing why - that he couldn't let the blond soldier go. He rose to his feet and followed him, catching up with him just outside the door.

"Hobbes, wait up." He caught the other man's shoulder. "Don't go. I was kind of hoping that we could get together and exchange notes. There are things that you know that are important to me, and I have information for you as well." He raised his hand to trace the other man's cheek. "Stay?"

Hobbes wanted to step back but his body wouldn't let him. Just that simple touch scared him... for he liked it, his body longed for it. Sophie had been the only one to really touch him in that manner and it had been so long since he had been with her.

Plus this man said he had information, information that could help him. Would it be information to stop Santiago? His innocent blue traveled up to the man's incredible green eyes. Though he had been seeing them everywhere, these seem more full of life, real life with hidden secrets. He felt like he was looking at Pinocchio in a way. That man was always full of secrets.

"If you have information to help stop Santiago... I'll stay other wise I have no real reason. I don't know how I can help you. I've been stuck in a game for a year or so... and I don't know how long I have been out. My memory is so..." He sighed again, "... I only remember bits and pieces."

He looked up at Alex again then just nodded, "I'll stay, but all that talk is making my head hurt and I don't understand what is going on. Don't they have cliff notes or something?" He rubbed the back of his neck and found his stitches were bleeding.

Sypher had wanted to ask Hobbes to wait, but he'd torn out of the room so quickly, she didn't have the chance. Silently fuming as she watched Krycek taking off after him, she didn't realize she'd started to get up and go after them until they came back into the room and resumed their places. Whatever Krycek had told the other man, it only made the poor guy look more confused. Good luck getting a straight answer out of him, Bud. I think he'd have a brain explosion if he even thought about giving one, she thought uncharitably.

"I believe I'll go next," she said quickly, before anyone else could decide they were needed elsewhere. "I can't remember any of my childhood before the age of nine. That's about the time Morpheus found me, living on the streets and doing what I had to survive. As far as I've been able to deduce, I've had my implants all of my life and I'd die if they were taken out," this was directed to Wraith, who was glaring hostilely at everything and everyone again.

"For as long as I can remember, Morpheus has been preparing me-as well as the others in my group--for the coming of the Matrix. The Matrix is a fully self-aware AI super-computer that uses human energy as its power source; as such, there is an almost 98% probability that it will try and enslave humanity to ensure it's power supply at some point. We're committed to preventing that from happening if we can; so we naturally became information thieves to help facilitate our intelligence gathering.

"I first made Krycek's acquaintance over five years ago, when he came to our group with an encrypted DAT tape that he needed cracked after his employer tried to kill him--or so he claimed. We were able to retrieve about one-third of the total data on it, enough to convince Morpheus we'd missed a critical point in our original analysis of the situation and that the foundation of the Matrix was farther along than we'd realized. This panned out when we learned of Santiago and the Harsh Realm project. We believe that Harsh Realm is the nexus point on which our success or failure rests, because of the nature of it's purpose and design.

"Morpheus and I have always disagreed on how to handle the mission we've committed ourselves to, a rift that deepened after the job we did for Krycek. Morpheus...Morpheus believes that the best way, the only way, to remove the threat humanity faces from the Matrix is to completely destroy any self-aware machine or variation thereof in whatever form we happen to find it. My view is that this is a very impractical and impossible solution. Because of sheer volume alone, it can't be done; and the whole self-awareness aspect puts a rather ironic genocidal spin on the situation. Humanity is therefore better served by learning to live in harmony with it's creations and giving them the respect they themselves ask for as intelligent, sentient beings, because that's exactly what they're dealing with.

"Krycek contacted me again about two and a half years ago, asking me to find everything I could about the cloning project under his employer's control, as well as the Mac 27 project. He told me that he'd stumbled across them and had no prior knowledge of either of them. He said it was very important because his employer had stolen genetic material from him to use in these projects and he wanted to know why. If, however, what One says is true, he has no need for this information because he is intimately involved with both projects and has been since before we first met.

"My original objective was to deliver the information Krycek had asked me for, as well as some other critical data I thought he might need on the Harsh Realm project, but it now looks like a huge portion of that information is useless. Worse, if what One has said is true, it was never needed in the first place. I've walked away from the only family I've ever known with what I did at Krycek's behest. I came pretty close to dying a short while ago because Morpheus, my foster father, decided that if I wanted to be so stubborn, then my only use to him was as a Trojan horse to carry one of his electronic plagues. And my head's about to explode even without that complication, because my current data load is about twice the size it should be and I can't trust the data to standard media."

At this, Sypher's nose started to bleed slightly again. Savagely wiping the trickle away with the hem of her already ruined t-shirt, she pinned Krycek with a determined look that told him she wasn't taking any more bullshit. "I need to know what happens now, Alex, because it seems like you've involved me in this circus here for nothing --knowing full well that I'd have to commit completely to your agenda once I was in because there was nothing else for me once I did this for you. For that alone, the least you owe me is a truthful explanation as to why."

Krycek jumped. He was totally unaware of what she was driving at.

"When you get the explanation, better send me a copy. I have no idea what you're talking about. My first inkling that there were a whole bunch of clones walking around came when they started piling into Mulder's apartment, so what you're saying is completely baffling me. I've known about the Innobotics research for a year now. The Macs were created a while back as an army to fight the alien threat. They are impervious to the purity virus. It came as a shock to me to find that they all look like me, though. Now, I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole, and I don't like it. I haven't seen you in five years."

Krycek stood up to leave yet again.

"If you're all going to take this... person's word that I'm some kind of plant, then we have no middle ground in which to communicate."

If Alex was mad before, he was livid now.

Hobbes stood and quickly followed the man, "Alex, wait," he called out and reached out to snag the man's arm. "I have no idea what she is talking about either. Santiago did not start Harsh Realm, our own government did. He only took it over. Now you said before you wanted to exchange notes and that you may have some information for me. Can we talk about this now? Some place away from this..." He gestured around, "Mix up. It's giving me a headache." He smiled slightly.

As the two men headed to the door, Baines lurched to his feet and called out, "I think it is time you started behaving like trained agents instead of petulant children. Contrary to what you might think, this is not about you. It is about all of us and we need your input. Sypher gave her views and understanding of what is going on and if it doesn't jive with your memories then it is important that we know that. Alex, Spender has been running you for years and is as duplicitous as they come. He could have sent for Sypher using your name. How the hell is she supposed to know? She has already stated that her controller deceived her in one way; perhaps he did so in where you are concerned. As for you Hobbes, I know you are confused and not well but you too should hear us all out. That is the purpose of this gathering to hear everyone out and then try to find the lies and misdirection. We are still waiting for Mulder and Scully. Come on, you can spare the time and the energy to get all points of view here. Petulance and temper tantrums are not what we need from either of you. Now sit down and behave like the professionals you are. If this is an example of the warriors we have to fight this war then we have lost already.

Baines slumped back into his chair and looked across at Jess who was looking even draggier than he felt.

There was a disturbance at the door as several Macs came in with trays filled with pots of coffee, plates piled high with donuts and others filled with roast beef sandwiches. They moved around the room offering the food. In the confusion, Alex Krycek slipped out of the room and Hobbes followed.

Baines looked at One approvingly. He knew who had assessed the situation and acted appropriately. Many in the room where tired and testy for lack of food and sleep not just Jess and himself. It seemed that everyone had been running on empty for far too long and it was showing in their behaviour.

Under cover of the distraction of food, David bent down, looked One in the eye and asked in the manner in which Mac 27s speak directly and privately to their communications hub, "Should we continue this with Wraith here? Much information has already been disclosed and, with all due respect to your ability to persuade, I am unconvinced that he is with us. Does your impression differ?"

One had come to the same conclusion. He and David both seemed to have more than a dash of the original in their make up. Of all the Consortium and Harsh Realm manipulated people, the only one he felt confident had been swayed to their side was Sypher. Removing the chip from Hobbes had freed the man, but now he simply didn't understand what was going on.

The original didn't surprise One. Somehow One thought that Alex Krycek had more of the answers than he acknowledged knowing. However, if that was true, he did not seem to be in a mood to reveal anything.

It was not One's way to offer information readily unless it was to draw others out. This was something he assumed came about as a result of the influence of the Original on his nature. He noticed that Alex Krycek never showed his emotions unless it was to spark some reaction. Even when he shot out his angry words, One saw those clever human eyes observing.

Of course, he had revealed the secret that each Mac-27 was human at the core with the possible exception of a few odd models that had survived from early experiments. He was chary of admitting that as using human fetal material was banned in most countries. Certainly there was a horror in the thought of thousands of clones gestated for the sole purpose of casing their immature brains in an android casing. However, he had thought Wraith might be swayed to see that Mac 27s were not mindless machines by the revelation.

It was probably a miscalculation. One over valued life even though he had taken a few in the struggle to survive. He took no joy from killing, not even in killing human sharks such as most of the cold things passing as fully human at Innobotics.

Well, he would listen, analyze each statement for stress factors that would indicate lies, and form theories...

One said aloud, "Baines, your efforts are greatly appreciated, but we are keeping these men against their will. Let them go and rest, but under guard. If they are not allies, then they are enemies for the time being at least. This saddens me, but I am not, we are not the type of people who have manipulated and ruined them. Let them decide when if ever it is time to speak with us again."

Silently, to David, One said, "It is my conclusion that we should not let any of the clones or Mac 27s leave. Hobbes may go. He is only a pawn, but the others must stay. Some force draws all of us who share Alex Krycek's genes to this one place and time. What that reason is I cannot guess, but we now know of at least five deadly forces that oppose us, Innobotics, the Consortium, the people who created the realm from which Hobbes has fallen, this Matrix of which Sypher speaks, and lastly, the aliens. Whether any of these are one and the same, that is not clear."

A smile icon accompanied the next thought sent to the Mac 27s alone, Wraith clearly locked from the communication, "The sexual excesses of which some spoke, I do not agree that these are only a distraction. They may bind us one to another or even represent a weapon. Tantric Yoga and many other forms of human magic speak of human sexual energy as a possible source of power...could this be part of our purpose here? We shall see..."

As people began to move out of the room, David tapped Alexei on the arm.

"Please collect Alex Krycek for me. Tell him I've got information he needs and to send Hobbes back to the infirmary where a doctor can see to him for the moment."

He then moved to the woman called Sypher. "I think I might be able to explain the confusion as to the interactions between you and Alex Krycek, if you would agree to spend a few more moments here."

Sypher shrugged. It wasn't like she had anything else to do really. A shower could wait a few more minutes, although she had no idea what the Mac could possibly want with her.

Krycek glared unhappily at her as he came back into the room. Nursing anger of her own at his seemingly blatant abuse of their acquaintance, Sypher raked him with a disdainful gaze, then turned to the Mac expectantly.

Ignoring One's curious look and silent questions, David took the time to order his thoughts, aware that the three of them would soon be alone. David smiled as Alexei returned with. Not one of the clones or Mac 27s could scowl like the original.

Taking a deep breath, David began, "Thank you, Alexei. Alex. Sypher. I'll be brief." David stuck with the basic facts. "The second time that you encountered Alex Krycek, he wasn't ..." Voice trailing off, David gestured toward Alex and finished, "Him. It was I. I'd recently discovered the clone arm of the project and was trying to ascertain how it was supposed to interface with the Mac 27 effort, if at all. It seemed ... simpler ...to have you believe that I was Alex at that time."

Sypher felt the blood drain from her face; and if her stomach was roiling before, she was deathly ill now. The urge to pass out almost overcame her, and for a moment she swayed dizzily; only rallying back when she heard One's silent query about her well-being. Resolute, she gently brushed aside his concern and closed herself off to further communication; numbly waiting to hear what was revealed next.

With a sigh, David continued, "As yourself, Alex, you discovered the clones and Mac 27s on a completely unauthorized foray into Innobotics, where presumably you met One. The old men demanded that something be done. Your encounter in a Hong Kong airport and subsequent possession wasn't an accident or ironic coincidence. The entity could and did alter your memory."

Sypher startled. Alex had been a carrier? How the hell had he survived? Everyone else unfortunate enough to have that privilege had died from radiation poisoning. Sypher's anger at Krycek suddenly evaporated, leaving concern and a certain amount of shame in it's place. She'd doubted him, conveniently forgetting everything he'd told her about Spender and his methods. She would have to find a way to apologize for that, even if the apology wouldn't mean anything to him now. It was the least she could do.

David frowned as he tried to formulate a suitable concluding statement. Stymied, he muttered, "That is all."

Turning quickly to One, he added, "We have a further matter to discuss and I require fuel and a rest cycle."

That's all? That's all? The android obviously had no idea how he'd destroyed her life with his deception--or maybe such things were beneath his consideration in the pursuit of his objective. Whatever the case, the result was the same. She absolutely couldn't go back home; and moreover, she was sure that Neo and Trin were going to be harshly punished when Morpheus discovered what they'd done to protect her one last time. Beware the dark angel indeed...

Feeling incredibly old and jaded, and suddenly exhausted beyond belief, Sypher turned to Alex first. "I'm sorry," she croaked, that your memories were taken from you. I considered you to be a friend. Please accept my apology for my earlier behavior."

Addressing the Mac was harder; especially with the memory of the time they'd spent together playing out inside her head. To know that every look, touch and word had been a lie--that the breathless wonder she'd seen in him had been nothing but a ploy--hurt beyond belief. She couldn't imagine anyone having the ability to be so cold and manipulative-to be so uncaring of the havoc they could wreak by doing what this...construct had done to her. Unaware of the shimmer in her eyes or the single bright red drop of blood threatening to roll down and add to the older stains on her t-shirt, she swallowed hard and tried to find something to say. "I...commend you for your candor," she began hesitantly, aware that the stiff, formal language and her refusal to look anywhere but straight ahead was the only way she could deal with the situation right now, "and I thank you for your pains in trying to reconcile this situation. When you are ready to...conclude our business, you'll find me in the computer lab. Now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I need to clean up."

David had vivid recollection images of reaching out and wiping tears from this woman's face, but those had been tears of laughter. She'd thought something that he'd said was amusing enough to cry; he had found the experience disturbing.

With that, she turned and walked out; feeling dead cold and dead inside as she heard something muttered about food, rest and other matters to be discussed. If she were lucky, one of those matters would be the quickest and kindest way to dispose of her after her usefulness to them was through.

When Sypher got back to the lab, she went through the motions of gathering clothes and toiletries; brushing aside both concern and hurt puzzlement with equal gentleness. Being a caring and giving person by nature, she normally would have tried to soothe the wounded feelings her withdrawal had caused; but she was too numb, exhausted and hurt to make the effort right now.

Needing to get clean even more desperately than she had before, a shower was of paramount importance right now. The tank t-shirt and underwear were immediately given up as unsalvageable and she tossed them with the intention of burning them later and stepped under the spray. A loud yelp was followed by the frantic turning of the knob as she adjusted the temperature down to the hottest she could stand it and began to lather up. As she did, she started trying to sort through all of the information and memories currently in her head.

The cafe was crowded that warm summer day and she'd been forced to take a seat at the counter instead of in the last window booth like she usually would have. The client had been very specific about meeting her here and had warned her to be on time or he wouldn't be there, so she'd gotten there 45 minutes ahead of schedule and eaten lunch to pass the time while she waited. But now it had been an hour already and whoever had asked for this meeting was still a no-show, so she decided to cut her losses and go home. It was the nature of the business, after all; any- and everything could make a client twitch and bail, and very little of it was under her control. Oh, well...

As she was paying the bill, a warm dark presence stepped up beside her and she automatically turned, feeling her eyes widen as she recognized the man standing next to her. "Alex!" she exclaimed, automatically reaching out to hug him tightly before kissing him gently on the mouth.

"Am I late?" he asked carefully as he returned the hug; looking slightly taken aback, but she attributed that to the enthusiasm of her greeting rather than anything else.

Then it hit her; Alex was the client she'd been waiting for. "Yeah," she drawled sardonically, "but I might be able to overlook it this time," and snuggled possessively into him, pulling him down for another gentle kiss, a deliberate reinforcement of the impression of two lovers meeting each other for a lunch date. "Are you hungry?"

"No, thanks. I'm good. I was running late, so I grabbed something on the way to pick you up."

"Figures," she muttered with a wry twist of her lips. "You ask me out to lunch and eat on the way. Men," but the complaint was made with a touch of humor in her voice and a sparkle in her eye as she walked out to her car.

Once they were alone, however, she pounced on him. "So talk to me, Alex. What brings you to London, Ontario at the height of summer?"

"Not here."

"Okay. Where?"

"I'm staying not too far from here. We can talk there."

"Fine by me. I have to check in though; I wouldn't want the others to worry."

He shrugged noncommittally, and she flipped open the cell phone. Tank answered on the first ring. "Operator..."

"Tank, it's Sypher. I've just made contact and we're going someplace a little more private to discuss particulars. Could you let Morpheus know for me?"

"Why don't you just bring him in?"

"The client's a little...twitchy, so bringing him in probably isn't the best thing right now."

"I don't know, Sypher...Morpheus isn't going to like you doing the negotiations. You know how he is."

"Yeah, but what can I do? It's probably just a show of good faith, anyway. Morpheus knows I can handle it."

"Sypher..."

"Look, Tank, just tell him, okay? There really isn't any help for it right now. I gotta go. I'll check in again in about 12 hours." She flipped the phone closed again, cutting off Tank's reply mid stream with a sigh. "Lead on."

He gave directions then fell silent again. As she pulled into the hotel's parking lot, she noticed him watching her with a closed look on his face. "What?"

"Nothing," he responded with a little shake of his head.

They went up to his room, a rather well appointed apartment style suite, and they called back down for coffee before finally getting down to business. "I need your help again," he began hesitantly. "I need information about a pet project of Spender's."

She frowned at the mention of the man who had tried to kill him over two years ago. "Okay. Tell me what you need, and then we'll negotiate a fee."

"There's a factory called Innobotics; they're the leading manufacturer of robotic technology in the country right now. But they're actually a Consortium front; the bulk of their work is done to serve Consortium interests. The information I need is on something called the Mac27 Project."

"Do you have any files to start us off?"

"Unfortunately, no. I don't have that kind of clearance back yet."

She said nothing, but her look spoke volumes. "Right. Well, Consortium secrets are always some of the hardest to discover...and the most dangerous. Since you aren't bringing anything to the table this time, it's gonna cost you extra for the risk involved in getting what you're asking for."

He nodded. "There's more." That earned him a raised eyebrow. "There's also a project called Nature/Nurture. It involves human cloning. I need everything you can possibly get me on that; I'm even willing to forgo the Mac27 information, if I have to, to get it. I'll pay double the standard fee for it."

That got her attention. "Why?"

"I just...need it."

When it was apparent that he wasn't going to elaborate, she narrowed her eyes at him and said angrily, "no sale, Krycek. You know better than to drop a request like this in my lap and just expect me to go on that alone. I need to know why this is so important to you."

"It just...is. I need it."

"No. Not good enough," she looked away from him and blew a harsh breath before turning back. "Look, if you don't want me to disclose the reason to Morpheus, I won't; that can stay between us. But you came to me, not the other way around. At least have enough respect for me to trust me that far, if nothing else."

He looked torn. After a few minutes of silence--during which he was staring out the window as she stared at him--she picked up one of his hands and clasped it between her own. When his startled gaze met hers again, she laced his fingers with hers and refused to let go.

"Alex, we're friends. You know that, don't you?" At his nod, she continued, "fine then. I don't know what's going on with you, or how or why you went back to him," her mouth twisted again, this time in disgust, "but I do know that whatever mess you've gotten yourself into this time must be pretty bad for you to risk coming to me now. I want to help you, Alex--I do--but I can't unless you're straight with me. Why is this so important to you?"

He looked at the table, out the window, around the room--anywhere but at her and she jiggled their clasped hands to get his attention again. "Alex, talk to me."

It was more than a request, less than a command, but it seemed to do the trick. "I think Spender used me for some kind of testing," he whispered miserably, staring at their clasped hands. "I think he...stole...genetic material...without my knowledge..."

"Why?"

"Because they all look like...me," he was staring out the window again, chewing on his thumbnail and not even her repeated attempts to get his attention could make him look back again.

Finally, she sighed and relented. "Done. I'll see what I can do on my laptop within a twenty-four hour period. Is this acceptable to you?"

"Fine," he nodded, "and the fee?"

"This is on me," at the startled look he gave her, she chuckled. "What?"

"That's a lot of money..."

"So? You know I'm good for it. What else am I gonna do with it?"

"I don't...I mean, I couldn't ask you to do that...,"

He looked flustered, and it made her chuckle again. "You didn't. I offered. And you won't say no."

He seemed to bristle at that. "Yeah? What makes you so sure?"

"Because I have a feeling that after I do this, you're going to need every penny you can lay your hands on, whether I find anything or not. This is the kind of thing that's most likely going to put you on the run again. Am I right?"

"Dunno. Maybe." He shrugged noncommittally.

She got up and moved over to stand in front of him. "So keep your money, Alex," she said gently, placing a finger under his chin to tip his head back and make eye contact, "I think you're going to need it." With that she pulled him in close for a hug, stroking his hair as he cautiously wrapped his arms around her waist. "You need to learn how to let your friends help you, sweetie."

"Don't have any friends," he muttered into her torso before turning his head to the side to breathe better.

"Yeah you do," she smiled sadly as she laid her cheek on the top of his head. "You just refuse to believe you need or deserve any."

He pulled away to look up at her again. "Are you my friend, Sypher?" He asked seriously, his eyes wide and guileless as he waited for her answer.

"Yes, Alex. I am your friend," she answered just as seriously.

"Why?"

"Because I know you need one."

"How do you know that?"

"I know what it's like to be alone."

That seemed to satisfy him somewhat, and he reached up to pull her down for a gentle kiss. But before she'd quite realized it, she found herself straddled over Alex's lap and the chair, gloriously and unabashedly nude; while he was naked from the waist down, slumped as far he could go to allow for a better pumping motion as he lifted and plunged her body down onto his over and over again.

It was hard, fast, and completely animal. The act was completely outside of her realm of experience with him and she gloried in it. A wave of pure sensation hit her and she cried out as her body climaxed for him and she suddenly found herself sprawled out on the table, at the mercy of his hands and mouth as he tasted and teased her while his fingers performed a scorchingly obscene and wholly unsatisfying double penetration of her body as she writhed with abandon.

Being turned once again, she was on her knees for the next round as he slicked her puckered rear entrance, then breached her in one smooth motion. This time was slower and sweeter, but no less intense. But it wasn't until he'd slowly turned her back over while she was still impaled on him and carried her to the bed to lay her out and beg her to touch herself that she realized he was still hard--achingly so--and she whispered to him to let go, just let all of it go and she'd catch him when he fell. The look on his face had been a wonder to behold, and she'd gotten the feeling that he hadn't had a release like that in quite a long time. Smiling, she finally gave him what he asked for, a few gentle strokes of her fingers and his smoldering gaze all she needed to bring herself off in record time and fashion.

A few hours later, she'd awakened to find him nuzzling her hair and inhaling deeply; and asked what he thought he was doing.

"You smell...sweet," he murmured, "like...chocolate covered cherries."

Something about that statement set her off, and she laughed until tears were streaming down her face. When she'd recovered enough to speak again, she gasped, "Alex, I think that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," kissed him playfully on the nose, and went off to take a shower.

When she came back to herself, the water was tepid; forcing her to quickly wash her hair before it got completely cold. Damn. No wonder I fell for him so hard. Now that she knew the truth, it was easier to admit it to herself; but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Still, she could hardly blame him for what he'd done; she was as much a participant in it as he'd been, no matter what the circumstances had been to bring them there. Alex was right: a gift is never truly free. But she wasn't willing to ask herself exactly what she'd paid for her last gift to 'Alex' just yet. She might never be. Right now, she had to figure out what to do next, and knew that it would eventually involve facing...him...again.

Damn. I don't even know his name, she realized, and ruthlessly pushed aside examining the reasons why that made her feel so sad again. It was past and she needed to put it behind her if she was going to get on with her life; because she'd finally realized that no matter what the circumstances, she'd chosen the path herself and probably would have anyway without the Mac's help. She and Morpheus had fought too long and hard over the issue for it to have gone any other way.

There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.. It was one of Morpheus' favorite sayings, but Sypher had never realized what it meant until now.

--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--[o]--

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