S.E.P.
[Someone Else's Problem]

Disclaimer: The characters, concepts and places of Deepwater Black used in this story are the property of the Sci-Fi Channel, YTV and Empire Entertainment; with the exception of Gabby, Morton and Hunter. It is a non-profit piece of fun and no copyright infringement is intended.

Standard manifold pressures must be maintained at all times to prevent build up of liquid Nurofedic in fluidic links causing contamination to the Cloning Banks. These chemicals should be frozen at all times at a temperature of....

What temperature? Reb stopped writing, blinking at the electronic pad as the miniature screen blurred in front of his eyes. He could remember writing reams and reams of information for technical journals from his Prexes, could remember actually publishing them. So why was it so hard to make a few simple notes now? It should be so easy. Yet his mind kept going fuzzy. He couldn't even remember the correct temperature...

"Hot chocolate?" Lise's voice made him jump and looked up, startled to find the pale coffee skinned young woman standing in the doorway of his quarters.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to notice you not noticing me," Lise replied dryly as he she came in and handed him a thermos and a cup. "Tried to keep it warm on my way here."

"Thanks. But it should be coffee..." Reb took it gratefully, suddenly realising how thirsty he was.

"You don't need anything else keeping you awake," the medical officer informed him as she took the pad out of his hand.

"Hey! I hadn't finished with that."

"You have now." Lise punched the Save key and smiled at him. "Bed time, Reb."

Reb snorted. "I have too much to do."

"Such as what? Reprogram the food synth? Fix Zak's air conditioning?!"

"Damn, I forgot about Zak. I'll do it now..."

"No, you won't--he can find himself another cabin if it bothers him that much." Lise interrupted sternly, shoving him back in his bunk when he started to get up. "Reb, you've been on the go for twenty four hours straight. You haven't eaten or slept properly in three times that long. Do you remember the last time you slept?"

"Um..."

"And I don't mean ten minutes falling asleep over breakfast instead of eating it."

"Did Yuna send you down here to nag me?" Reb asked plaintively.

"Only because she wasn't getting anywhere doing it herself. I can order you to rest, you know. And I will if I have to."

Reb wrinkled his nose at her and folded his arms behind the back of his head as he sprawled on the bunk. "I am relaxing."

"You call sitting here writing technical journals relaxing? I call sleeping relaxing."

Reb started to make a sarcastic reply, then thought better of it when he saw the look on Lise's face. "I've got a head stuffed full of someone' else's memories," he reminded her. "I don't like the feeling. It gets too crowded."

Lise sat down on the couch under the viewport and gazed at him sympathetically. "Then go into Cryo and let Gen remove them."

"No," Reb shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"We need this information. I'm doing my best to write it all down before Gen deprograms me and I forget it all."

"Why?" Lise asked simply. "It'll be there in the memory banks any time you need it."

Reb sighed and sat up, swinging his legs off the bunk. "But I need it in here," he said massaging his fingers in small circles against his aching temples. "It'll be twenty four hours before we know whether or not the Nurofedic converter is running properly. You want to explain to Gret if something goes wrong in the Cloning banks because I got rid of Ephraim too soon?"

"Ephraim?" Lise questioned sharply.

"The engineer who designed the converter for the Cloning Banks. The person inside my head who isn't me."

Reaching across the small distance between them, Lise took Reb's hands between her own. She didn't like the sound of this. "Listen to me, Reb, you are getting too involved with this implant. You're exhausted. If you feel it's that important to keep the memory implant for a few more hours, I have to accept that. But you're the only engineer we've got. We need you at peak efficiency. Look at it this way, if you had an engine running on overdrive for three days straight and then the emergency was over, what would you do?"

"Close it down for overhaul," Reb answered promptly, then realised with a wince that he had trapped himself as Lise grinned at him. "Oh, cunning. Very cunning."

"But you get the point."

"Yeah, shut down or wreck a bearing."

"Good. You need anything to help you sleep?"

Reb hesitated. "I don't..." he began, then smiled ruefully as Lise fished a small hypospray. "Oh, you do think ahead, don't you?"

"I had a chat with Gen. She says the implant is making your Lambda Waves overactive and recommended a mild sedative to help. Trust me, Reb, you'll find it much easier to cope with Ephraim once you get some proper sleep." Slipping to her feet, Lise pressed the Hypospray to the inside of his wrist and pressured in the light sedative.

Reb yawned and then laughed softly. "I guess a couple of hours wouldn't hurt."

The medical officer gave him a knowing smile. "I'll call you for breakfast," she promised as she headed for the door.

Finishing his hot chocolate, Reb reluctantly slid to his feet after she had gone, peeled out of his grubby overalls and dropped them into the recycler for cleaning before padding into his small personal shower to get clean.

By the time he emerged a few minutes later and pulled on black silky pyjamas, he couldn't stop yawning. He poured himself another mug of hot chocolate and picked up the electronic pad from where Lise had left. To his rueful amusement, she had password locked it on him so he couldn't re-open the programme. Chuckling, he dimmed the lights, slid into bed and settled down to sip his Hot Chocolate and fall asleep to the light of the stars gliding past the port.

Ephraim turned to look at the young woman. She was still wearing her spacesuit from the aborted rescue mission that had turned into a body recovery exercise when the shuttle returning to Themis Moon Colony had turned out to be adrift. "An entire shuttle crew of asteroid miners doesn't go mad all at once, Gabby. You're sure there's no one alive?"

"No one. They simply blew the airlock doors and vented the atmosphere. There's not enough unfrozen material left to even get a cloning sample. Maybe they went Space Crazy."

"They were experienced miners, used to space. They weren't a bunch of civilians who didn't know what to expect."

The petite brunette shrugged. "You explain why they by passed all the air locks and killed themselves then."

"You were there. You tell me."

"I can't. I'm a doctor not a psychiatrist." She sighed, her exhaustion showing. "It'll be another week before the relief shuttle reaches us. Themis Colony wasn't designed to be self-sufficient. We're all running on short rations and not enough sleep. This is going to be the last straw for a lot of the crew."

"So I make another soothing speech. A week isn't long."

"It isn't funny, Ephraim."

Sighing heavily Hunter ran a hand through his greying hair and smiled wearily at her. "No, I know. But we're all in the same boat. We volunteered to do the research and we can't complain if we get exactly what we asked for. When we're finished our names will go down in history as the people who made Project Deepwater possible."

"As modest as ever, I see." She moved closer, kissing his cheek. He put his arms around her. "When we finish here I'm taking you back to Earth."

"Promises, promises." She dimpled prettily and pulled away. "You'd better get back to your nuts and bolts."

"What about you?"

Her grey eyes showed pain for a moment. "I have what's left of the bodies to deal with. And Morton wants me to take a look at the mineral samples the miner's found. He thinks they have organic components."

Ephraim frowned. "Organic?"

"It's possible. Theoretically an asteroid can contain organic material; the building blocks of life. You build your Cloning Banks and become famous. Maybe I'll discover a new life form..."

Time; a merest flicker on the eye, a splash of light and soundless colour....

The nodule the miners had retrieved was large, nearly three feet in diameter. The landing bay crew had manhandled it off the shuttle and down to the BioLab for examination by the base's metallurgist. Within five hours, something had sprouted on its cratered black surface, growing rapidly in the rich oxygen atmosphere of the moon base. From thick ugly leaves, tendrils had sprouted followed by a star shaped purple flower from the centre of which sprang fine, almost silken tendrils that writhing invitingly as the doctor leaned over it and gingerly touched a fleshy petal with a fingertip.

"What is it?" Morton was not so much slender as skinny, a red haired beanpole of a man.

"Hard to say. Why didn't you call me earlier?"

"I was distracted. By the time I noticed it, it was starting to flower. I wanted to see what it looked like. I could see it was a plant, but how it could survive the cold of space..."

"Some forms of plant life can survive lying dormant for years." Gabby mused.

"It'd have to be more than few years, more like centuries," Ephraim observed dryly from where he lounged against the door of the BioLab. "If they found it in the asteroid belt, who knows how long it's been there. Or where it came from."

Gabby glanced at him, smiling faintly. "Jealous?" she teased.

"Of what? A mouldy plant spore?"

"It could prove that there was originally life on Jupiter." she pointed out. Morton snorted. "You don't agree?"

"That rock didn't come from Jupiter. Or if it did, the life down there was a lot more advanced than simple plants."

"You found something?" Ephraim questioned his friend, moving closer.

Morton beamed at him. "According to the miner's logs, they carved that chunk of rock off a large spaceberg because of the high mineral trace elements they were reading in it. They didn't scan for organic components because that wasn't what they were looking for. So, that wasn't why they brought it aboard."

"So? They found more than they were looking for," Gabby said impatiently.

"They certainly did, doctor. There are mineral traces in it certainly, there are also compound metallic fragments, polymer alloys, resins..."

"That isn't possible."

"Oh yes, it is," Morton responded smugly. "I went back and analysed the sensor logs with Themis' mainframe computer. They found a lot more than a spaceberg. They found an alien spaceship."

"And didn't know?"

"It was a wreck. Even the computer had difficulty extrapolating from the data. But there's nothing else it could be. The data indicates that at some point the ship suffered a disastrous meltdown in its engine core and exploded."

"Is it a danger to us?" Ephraim asked sharply, his immediate concern the safety of the moonbase.

Morton shook his head. "It must have been there for centuries. Certainly long before we took to the stars. Think of it, Ephraim. It's an incredible find."

"Yeah, I am thinking. I'm wondering what a flower is doing frozen into a spaceship."

"It could have been part of their Hydroponics unit." The doctor mused, still fingering the plant's petals. A fine dust of pollen coated her fingers and drifted in the air, being sucked slowly out of the room by the air conditioning. She bent her head, sniffing curiously for a scent. As her breath touched the petals, the tendrils lashed upwards ensnaring her face and smothering her instinctive scream of panic.

"Gabby!!!" An anguished scream of pain tore from Ephraim's lips as he lunged to catch his lover, cradling her slim frame against him as she convulsed. Morton tore at the tendrils as the petals enfolded her face. They could see her swallowing furiously as she clawed at the plant, but as suddenly as it had seized her, the plant let go and she tumbled back into Ephraim's arms.

"Oh, it burns...." She hissed in pain, her eyes rolling wildly.

"Gabby, are you..." He began anxiously. The doctor convulsed, flinging her arms around his neck and planting her lips solidly on his, her tongue probing slimily into his mouth.

Ephraim choked, tasting a wet jelly like substance sliding down his throat as he swallowed convulsively. It burned like fire and he gasped for air, staggering away from the woman.

"What's going on?" Bewildered, Morton reached to help Gabby.

"Don't touch..." Ephraim struggled to speak, the words burning on his tongue as the acid pain hit his stomach...

Reb woke with his own scream of pain still sounding in his ears. Trembling convulsively, he was curled into a tight ball in the middle of his bed, the pain and the anguish still coursing through him in unbearable waves. He felt hot and cold in turns, his perspiration chilling on his skin before the sauna like heat hit him again...

A prex....and a bad one...

Groggily he was able to understand that and he clawed his way out of bed, stumbling to the door and colliding with it painfully. In his state of shock it took him two goes to hit the key panel and unlatch it. "Gen?" He had to lean on the wall for support, using it to prop himself up as he half fell through the hatch.

"Yes, Reb?" The hologram materialised beside him, her pixels arranging her face into a frown. "You are sick."

"I know I'm sick," Reb hissed impatiently. "Have Lise meet me in Sickbay." The pain stabbed through his stomach again and a surge of dizziness threatened to wreck his equilibrium.

"I will call for assistance for you."

"No! Only Lise. No need to disturb the others." The last thing Reb wanted or needed was people fussing around him the first time he had a rough Prex. Gen continued to hover anxiously, watching him grope along the corridor wall.

"You are being illogical. You require assistance."

"No, I don't!" Panting for breath, Reb flapped one hand at her. "Only Lise."

Sitting back in his seat, Bren stretched and sighed heavily.

"Getting restless?" Yuna asked mildly without looking up from the pilot's seat.

"Bored." Bren retorted. He understood the need for them to take turn about watches in this region of space, and about monitoring the repairs to the cloning banks. And he had agreed with taking his turn. If only it wasn't so out and out boring... "I can see why Reb ducked this one."

"Reb was exhausted," Yuna said sharply and this time she shot a glare at him.

"Ooh, protective, aren't we?" he teased.

"Bren..." she began irritably.

The soldier chuckled. About the only ones who weren't sure Yuna and Reb were an item, were Reb and Yuna themselves. "I think I'll get a coffee. You want one?"

Yuna sighed. "More coffee?"

"We soldiers thrive on it. I thought pilots did too."

"This is one pilot who won't care if she never sees another cup of coffee..." Yuna smiled, knowing of that was untrue. "At least until I've had some sleep." She glanced at her dark haired fellow crewmember. "I don't see any point in both of us staying up. Why don't you turn in? I can call you if I need you." Bren hesitated; part of him was delighted but the rest felt honour bound to stay. "At least one of us pilots should be rested and from what Lise said, Reb probably won't be up and around for hours," Yuna added.

With a chuckle, Bren gave in and pushed to his feet. "He did say it probably wasn't necessary for two of us to be on watch," he admitted.

"But military habits stick."

Bren wrinkled his nose ruefully. She had him there. No matter what he did he couldn't quite break the habit of military training instilled him by his memory implant. Sometimes he wished he had total amnesia after all. "All right. But call me if you need me."

Yuna nodded, her attention already drifting back to the controls. A couple of hours alone on the Control Deck watching the stars go by would suit her fine.

Feeling somewhat unwanted; Bren trotted off the Control Deck and headed for his quarters. Despite his taste for coffee, he was in the mood for something sweeter now with the prospect of sleep ahead. It had made his day when Reb had figured out how to programme the food synth for hot chocolate, even if the engineer had had ulterior motives. Now, if he could only persuade Reb that they had a desperate need for marshmallows to supplement the vitamins...

Bren rounded the corner without really watching where he was going and slammed straight into Reb coming the other way. They both bounced back, Bren wheezing theatrically from an elbow in the ribs. "Hey, watch where you're going..." he began indignantly, then broke off as he saw the stricken expression on the engineer's face as he clung to a wall stanchion for support. Reb was as pale as cream as he clutched at his stomach, unable to resist half doubling up. "Reb?" Uncertainly, Bren eased towards him. The engineer didn't quite manage to focus on him when he looked up and his lips were tight with pain.

"I'm...fine..." Reb choked out and took a couple of steps before his knees gave way under him. With a swift lunge, Bren caught him and pulled his arm across his shoulders.

"No, you're not! You're freezing! What's wrong?"

"Don't know...my cabin...."

"No, Sickbay."

"Cabin closer...warmer..."

"Tough," Bren snorted, tightening his arm around his waist. "You should be in Sickbay. Come on, lean on me..."

"No..."

"Reb, don't be so damn stiff necked. Argue with me and I'll carry you. Did you at least have the sense to call Lise?"

The blond gave him a hurt look and a small nod. "Called her to meet me...s'a prex..."

"Weird prex," Bren retorted, fending off a stab of genuine worry at how terrible Reb looked.

"Hurts..."

"Yeah, I can see that," Bren admitted grimly. "Come on. Let's get you to Sickbay before you pass out."

Lise raced into Sickbay as Bren was helping Reb stretch out on the Medbed.

"Finally!" the dark haired soldier exclaimed on seeing her. "What took you so long?"

"I went to Reb's cabin first. Gen was worried." Lise answered as she snatched up her scanner and ran it over the shivering engineer.

"She's not the only one. I thought he was going to pass out before I could get him down here. Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes, you'll find a blanket in that cupboard. Get it for me, please." With the soldier occupied Lise was able to turn her full attention to her patient. "What happened, Reb?"

"I'm not...sure...I had a bad prex I think," Reb answered through chattering teeth, breaking off with whimper of pain to double up again. Hurrying back with the blanket he had found Bren unfolded it and spread it over him. He shot a worried look at the medical officer at the way Reb huddled into the blanket and continued to shiver.

"He said he was heading for Sickbay when I found him, but either he got lost or he was headed for the control deck," he told Lise. "Can you help him?"

"I don't even know what's wrong. These readings are all over the place." Lise scowled impatiently at her medical scanner. "Reb, how do...Reb?" There was no answer from the engineer who had curled into an even tighter ball and closed his eyes. "Gen?"

"Yes, Lise." Gen materialised obediently at her call.

"Did Reb tell you anything when he called you?"

"Only that he wished to see you immediately. I have the initial readings I took if you would find them helpful."

"Yes, display them for me, please."

As Lise turned to the monitors, Bren watched Reb anxiously. For all that they seemed to be constantly at odds, he considered the engineer a friend and couldn't help worrying about him. Reb seemed to be still conscious, simply too deep in his own misery to take any notice of his surroundings.

"It still doesn't make any sense," Lise complained impatiently, rubbing the vestiges of sleep from her eyes as she looked up. "He can't have this kind of reaction to a prex."

"Maybe it isn't a normal prex then," Bren suggested.

"You don't understand, he isn't prexing. And a prex doesn't cause a physical reaction once you come out of it."

"Then maybe he hasn't come out of it properly! Look at him, Lise, he's in pain! Can't you do something?"

Lise bit her lip. "There's no physical cause that I can find to treat..."

"Then treat him for the pain!" Bren demanded.

"I can't until I know what's wrong."

Reb whimpered and curled up a bit tighter, then opened his eyes and looked around him wildly. Instinctively, Bren put a hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy...." He began, then let out a startled yelp as Reb grabbed his wrist and yanked, throwing him to the floor. The engineer jerked in response to his yell, his eyes focusing. "Bren?"

Snarling under his breath, Bren struggled to his knees and glared furiously at the engineer. "I suppose you think that was funny? This is all some kind of set up, right?"

"Set up?" Recoiling, Reb stared at him blankly then looked somewhat wildly at Lise. "What's going on? How'd I get here?"

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know!"

Reb shrank back from the soldier's anger, flinching away from his volume. It was the total confusion in his blue eyes that silenced Bren before Lise's hand on his arm could.

"It's all right, Reb," Lise soothed, as she elbowed Bren to one side. "You had a prex."

"I did?" Reb stared at her, absently burrowing into the blanket for warmth. "S'that why I feel so weird?"

"Maybe. How do you feel?"

"Spaced out. Like nothing is real." Reb paused, frowning to himself. "Like the philosopher dreaming he was a butterfly."

"What?" Bren blurted.

"You know, he dreamed he was a butterfly and after that he was never sure whether he was the philosopher dreaming he was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he was a philosopher. Gabby says, or said..." Reb stopped and swallowed uneasily, eyeing their confused expressions uncertainly. "Well, she did..."

"Who's Gabby?" Lise asked gently.

"My....the Medical officer."

"Lise is the Medical officer," Bren pointed out.

"I know that."

Bren snorted. "Well, that proves it. He's lost it. Either that or this is a joke. And it's not a very funny joke either!"

The engineer gave him a hurt look. "You're the one not making any sense," he growled.

"Stop it you two," Lise interrupted impatiently. "Reb, do you remember anything from your Prex?"

"What Prex?"

"Here we go again," Bren snapped, folding his arms and glaring with hostility at Reb. It seemed as if every time he showed a little bit of concern, the engineer would slap him down. Reb gave him a wounded look.

"I can't help it if I don't remember," he argued plaintively. "I was asleep..."

"You had a prex while you were asleep?" Lise interrupted. "Gen? Is that possible?"

"A Prex can occur during the REM cycle. They are rarely remembered or recognised. It can be preferable to experience a prex during REM. The human mind can adapt better to memories processed in this way as it is a natural part of processing information." The hologram paused, showing a human pretence of thought. "A dream can also appear to be a Prex."

"So, you're saying I had a bad dream?" Reb asked cautiously.

"It would seem logical."

Bren snorted irritably. "So how come he was in pain?" he demanded.

"Psychosomatic reactions to a dream are not uncommon," Gen answered complacently. "It is possible Reb was not truly awake at the time."

Bren huffed in disgust and turned away. "All that for a bad dream?" he muttered, shaking his head.

"Do you think it was a dream?" Lise prompted the engineer.

"I don't know. I can't remember." With an uncomfortable look at her, Reb swung his legs off the table and sat up, rolling his stiff shoulders before rubbing his temples.

"Do you remember anything about it at all?" Lise pressed. "You mentioned a name; Gabby?"

Reb gazed at her blankly, gingerly massaging his stomach. "I don't know her."

"You did a minute ago," Bren said sharply, turning back to study Reb with a frown.

Reb glared back at him. "Well, I don't now. I was half asleep..."

"Does the name mean anything to Ephraim?" Lise interrupted.

"Yes..." Reb blurted instinctively, then bit his lip. "I mean no..."

"You're a terrible liar," Lise scolded gently. "Gen, could Reb be Prexing Ephraim Hunter's life? Would that explain his reaction?"

"Yes, it is possible," Gen agreed calmly. "Under normal circumstances, Reb's personality would suppress the memory implant, but during deep sleep the subconscious would accept the implant as information requiring integration. This could cause a psychosomatic reaction that manifests as pain on awakening."

Reb shivered and hugged himself as his stomach twinged again. "Maybe I simply ate the wrong thing?" he suggested hopefully.

Lise ignored him. "He's exhausted, Gen. Would that make things worse?"

"He would be more vulnerable to memory integration, yes. This would appear as references to the implant's personality or friends as if they were alive and present."

"And the answer?"

"Immediate removal of the memory implant would be advisable. Should I start the Cryo sequence?"

"Yes, please, Gen," Lise agreed in relief. "And please scan your databanks for further information. Use your EQ to search for alternative answers as well."

Gen inclined her head gracefully and vanished in a shower of glittering pixels.

"I want to keep the implant," Reb argued. "I haven't completed my notes yet."

"Then you'll have to work with what you've got," Lise retorted sternly. Tucking one hand under his elbow, she urged him to his feet. "Be reasonable," she went on kindly. "It's for your own good. Nothing will happen to you, only to the intruding memories. You'll feel better without the implant."

"This is mutiny, you know," Reb growled, shaking her off indignantly.

Lise raised an eyebrow at him and glanced over at Bren.

"Do you really want us to have to use force?" he asked sharply.

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you, Morton? You always did want command of Themis. You always thought you were better than me!"

Confused, Bren stopped in mid advance and glanced at Lise. She shrugged in bewilderment. "Take it easy..." she began.

Reb took a step away from her. "Oh no, you can't fool me again, Gabby. You're like all the rest. You're under their control. Am I the only one on this damn base fighting them?! You may want the aliens to take over, but I don't!"

The engineer's angry yell startled them both and when Reb dived past them Bren was a second too late to stop him. "Reb! Come back here!" he yelled after him indignantly as he raced out into the corridor after the blond. The engineer however had vanished. "What is he talking about?" Bren complained in confusion.

Lise was right on his heels. "He isn't making any sense."

"Does he ever?"

"Bren..." Lise gave him an annoyed look in reproach. "He isn't himself."

"Okay, okay, I know. Where'd he go?"

"Where would you go if you thought everyone was against you?"

"Not the same place as Reb, that's for sure," Bren answered with a growl. "He's an engineer, I'm a soldier. We don't think the same." Lise gave him a hurt look. "Look, I'm doing my best, okay? This isn't my fault. Gen?"

"Yes, Bren?" The hologram materialised beside him.

"Where's Reb?"

"I am unable to locate him," Gen frowned. "Lise, I have scanned my databanks for further information on this phenomena as requested. It is important that the memory implant is removed as soon as possible."

"Why?" Lise asked suspiciously, keeping one eye on Bren as he prowled along the bulkhead.

"The type of implant used for memory transfer is of a different nature from the memory implants you and the others have, Lise. They are meant as short term implants only. I believe that Reb is suffering from Prex Traumatic Withdrawal as the implant spontaneously aborts. This sometimes results in the subject becoming dangerously disorientated and associating more with the world of the implant than their own reality."

Lifting out an inspection hatch from the bulkhead, Bren glanced back at them. "So, Reb's losing his marbles."

Gen frowned at him. "I do not understand your reference. Marbles is an ancient earth game."

"It's also a euphemism for going insane," Lise explained helpfully. "Which I think Bren might be doing too. What are you up to?"

"The hatch was loose," Bren explained simply as he ducked into the tunnel beyond and peered both ways. "You wanted me to think like Reb, so that's what I'm doing. You coming?"

"In a second." As Bren vanished into the tunnel, Lise turned anxiously back to Gen.

"Reb is not insane," Gen said soothingly in response to her worried look.

"But the implant could send him that way?"

The hologram hesitated, her cursor flicking as she considered. "It has happened on rare occasions. But Reb has a strong personality of his own and is unlikely to be overridden. I am more concerned with what will happen when the implant aborts as this has been know to have a physical serious effect on the subject."

"Such as?"

Gen gave her a solemn look. "Prex Traumatic Withdrawal has been known to kill if the donor's memories are strong enough."

"Themis Colony is fertile ground, Ephraim. The good seed has been sown, now we must await its fruition..."

Reb woke with a start, instinctively suppressing the urge to groan. He had never felt more confused in his life. The part of that was Reb Andersen wanted to scream for help, the part that was Ephraim Hunter told him to keep his mouth shut; suppressing the younger personality by sheer emotional dominance.

Shifting on the hard plating of the maintenance tube, Reb dragged his arms under him and started to crawl forward again.

It was hard to watch the entire colony coming apart around him. It was the serenity in their eyes as they started to change that he found the hardest to cope with. It was almost as if they wanted the change, wanted to be slaves to the alien spoors growing within them.

"What are you doing, Ephraim?"

Gabby's voice surprised him. He was so tired he could hardly think straight and he hadn't heard the doctor's approach. It was difficult to look at her, to see the green gold shimmer in her eyes as her human DNA started to mutate, adapting to the symbiosis with the alien within. And once entwined, there would be no way to separate it without killing her. And all the others. Even himself...

"Ephraim?" she repeated, moving closer. "You look exhausted..."

"I've been looking for something to help...us adapt to what's happening to us." To poison the evil, to destroy the seed before it claimed Themis. And after Themis? What then? They had taken the evil within them from the miners' samples. The spores had spread through the base before anyone could think to decontaminate and by the time they did, it was too late. Gabby had confirmed that everyone had been infected before she succumbed to the alien's control, but no one cared. The aliens would take care of everything. No more fear. No more struggling...

"I can do that. The discomfort is minimal if you don't fight it. You're the only one having a problem, Ephraim. Why don't you relax? Enjoy it. It's a wonderful sensation." She smiled lazily. "Come to bed."

Hunter gritted his teeth. He would have willingly accepted that offer not so long ago, but now all he saw in Gabby's eyes was the alien leering at him. They were only breeding stock to them. A host to carry them and a way to breed more slaves to use. "What do they want, Gabby?" he blurted aloud. "Why are they doing this to us?"

"To make life better for us."

"In return for what?"

"Must you always be so cynical?"

"Answer me! What do they want?"

She blinked slowly, her gaze turning inwards as she communed silently with the mind within. "A new life," she said at last. "A new existence. They have always been symbiotic lifeforms. By combining with us, they can survive, propagate themselves. They do not live in space, only travel within it."

"Where did they come from?"

"The question is meaningless."

Ephraim glared at her, breathing hard and fighting the constant nausea that threatened him. The alien symbiant within him was unhappy. He could feel it constantly gnawing at his mind, seeking to wear down his defences and take control. His battle against it had probably taught him more than Gabby and the others would ever learn before they were completely suppressed by the entities within. He sensed nothing peaceful about them, nothing friendly only the imperative urge towards survival. "The spaceship wasn't yours."

"It was the Hosts."

"And they fought back?"

Gabby was silent, her face hard with resentment. "Why do you question it, Ephraim? This is how it was meant to be. Accept it."

"I won't be a slave to an overgrown salad!"

"You will join us. You have no choice."

"Don't I?" Hunter turned away from her bitterly, reluctantly facing the truth that this was no longer the woman he had been in love with. In some ways, it made the knowledge of what he must do both harder and easier.

"We are not fools. You have been seeking a poison that will kill us and not the hosts. It is impossible."

Startled Ephraim looked at the doctor, hearing in the emotionless voice only a stranger.

"Even if you were a chemist, which you are not, there is nothing you could do to harm us without harming the host. You will not do that. We have learned much of you humans in the short time we have been harvesting your species. You are much like our original hosts."

"Then why don't you go back to them? You're not welcome here."

Gabby folded her arms across her chest, her eyes jungle green bright now. "We outgrew them. There was a cataclysm on our planet. To survive the host species altered their DNA to form a hybrid with the species most likely to survive the ecological disaster. By linking themselves with our ancestors they believed they would be able to survive. They were successful, but over time we evolved and started to dominate them. They fought us. They sought ways to eliminate us from their DNA. That could not be allowed. We were meant to survive and dominate, without us they were nothing. We ceased to spore and mate with the hosts. As they grew weaker, we cultivated a select few hosts and left the planet in search of a new one."

Ephraim stared at her, knowing it was only partly the truth as his own symbiant quivered with the zeal of a convert. "You mean, they rejected you. They learned that slavery is no life at all. And the people on that spaceship? They destroyed their ship to stop you."

"Only temporarily."

"But they were your select few: the survivors of your original hosts. That's the real truth. They cast you out."

"They were unimportant. We have new hosts now. Humans are a strong new species that can be easily controlled. Your DNA is suitable. We shall do well."

"We'll fight you!"

"Fight who, Ephraim?" It was suddenly Gabby's voice again and the mocker of her affectionate amusement made him feel sick all over again. "Who will know?"

Ephraim bit back his answer and turned away, stalking out of the BioLab before he hit her. There had to be something he could do. Some way to stop them. If not poison, then something else. Abruptly, Ephraim stopped, staring blankly at the bulkhead in font of him as he realised numbly that it was already too late. It had been from the moment the spoors spread into the air conditioning and infected the crew.

How long until the relief shuttle arrived? He had lost track of time. When it came, the aliens would have fresh victims and a way of getting to new worlds that Themis' own short-range shuttles couldn't supply. Somehow they had to be stopped and he was the only left to do it. First he had to take care of the crew, and then he had to ensure that no one else could be infected. Themis Colony would have to be destroyed...

Reb could feel his mind slipping away from him: grain by grain, like sand on a seashore washed by waves. He could voices echoing down the tunnel behind him, bouncing off as they moved away...

Morton was going the wrong way. He and Gabby wouldn't catch him now.

Hardly aware of what he was doing, Reb pushed out the inspection hatch and crawled wearily onto the corridor floor. He pushed the hatch tidily back into place, then hauled himself to his feet. With a pretence of briskness, he trotted around the corner and headed for the Control Deck.

Main Mission should be empty now. The shuttle wasn't due yet. The aliens weren't technically minded and wouldn't question the presence of an engineer doing routine maintenance even if he was seen....

Reb stumbled onto the Control deck, surprised to find himself barefooted.

"Reb? What are you doing up? I thought Lise sent you to bed."

Gabby...? No, Yuna. Something stronger than Hunter surged for a second, crushing the doctor's image with another sweeter, fresher one. "I couldn't sleep..." Reb lied as he orientated himself to the unfamiliar room and headed for his console. "There's something I need to do." Don't make me lie to her. Please, not to her too...Not like I lied to Gabby...

The plasma welder in his hand, the cold plastic shell seeming like a toy that dealt the lethal plasma stream that killed his precious love...Better than the Solon Gas though. Quicker...But he had to be sure...Her face melting in the superheated plasma...

He lifted her, easing her lifeless body into the seat at the Life Support console.

"Ephraim!" Morton sounded shocked as he skidded to a halt in the doorway. "Have you gone crazy! You killed her!"

Hope. Ah, for a second sweet hope as he looked at his shocked friend and thought he fought the monster within as he did. "I had to. The aliens were controlling her. You understand."

"I understand you've gone crazy!"

" But it's the only way to..."

"You damn fool! You want to kill us all!?" Morton moved closer. "What are you doing?"

"You know what I'm doing. I'm flooding the base with Solon Gas."

"Stand away from that console. I can't let you do it."

Hunter looked down at the console and sighed sadly, watching the blaze of red lights flickering across Life Support, blending with Gabby's blood. "Too late..." The image flickered, clearing until the controls looked strange. More like a pilot's console... He shook of the treacherous uncertainty that swamped him. It was the alien. It was starting to play with his mind as his exhaustion grew.

Morton lunged, his movements faster than Ephraim could react too. Knocking the engineer away from the console, he hurled the plasma welder across the room, stared at the displays and then turned on Hunter with a snarl. "Shut it down!"

"I can't. The whole base is being decontaminated before the atmosphere is vented. Computer can't halt the purge. You would know that...if you were still Morton." Ephraim blinked slowly, watching his friend's face twist in inhuman rage. "You too?" he murmured wistfully.

"You fool! The aliens could have helped us! Don't you see? They could have done for us what they did for their original hosts!"

"Turn us into slaves?" Despite his unspeakable weariness, Hunter could still be sarcastic.

"Saved us! Their DNA could have helped us survive. We would have no need for cloning! Instead, your petty fears have destroyed us!"

Ephraim shook his head. "I thought you were past all that League of Naturals stuff. I'm sorry I was wrong." He turned away, thinking of the lives choking out their last around him as the base filled with the lethal gas.

The hiss of the laser stunned him, the pain exploding through his back in a spear of molten lava....

"Reb?" Yuna's voice was sharp with concern. "Are you sure you're all right? You look terrible."

"I'm fine," he replied woodenly as he examined his engineering console. So different and yet so familiar. He clamped one hand to his stomach, fighting down the burning agony within...

"You looked like you were prexing."

Reb forced a smile. "I'm tired, that's all. I want to run one last check on the converters. Then maybe I can get some sleep."

"Well, okay, if you're sure that's all it is..." she said doubtfully.

"I'm sure." He ignored her as he worked.

Yuna stirred restlessly, glancing up at the star filled screen. "Would you mind watching things while I get a coffee then? I've been fantasising about it ever since Bren turned in."

"Go ahead. No problem." Reb smiled easily and didn't bother looking up.

With a final puzzled look at the engineer, Yuna eased out of her seat and headed for the Ready Room behind the Control Deck. When she had gone, Reb relaxed a little and shivered, unable to fight the urge to tremble any more. His fingers seemed to move of their own accord, keying in sequences that only he knew, overriding safeguards and command codes with swift precision.

Thus and thus and Themis Colony will be an expanding cloud of fusion plasma particles expanding in space...

"It's at times like this I'm glad I never became an engineer," Lise muttered as she wriggled after the soldier down the maintenance tunnel. "How can Reb do this without turning into a pretzel?"

Bren skidded to a halt, his dark eyes widening as he stared down the tunnel ahead of them in horror.

"What'd you stop for?" Lise complained indignantly as she cramped herself into the awkward turn behind him.

"Because I'm an idiot," Bren snarled and scrambled forward to the next hatch.

"Why?" Lise crawled after him slowly, fighting to ignore the aches of bruised knees and elbows.

Bren slithered past the hatch and kicked it open with a savage blow of his heel. "Because I've been doing my best to think like Reb and that's wrong." He slid out of the hatch, sprang to his feet and turned to help Lise up. "Reb won't be thinking like an engineer. He'll be thinking like me."

"What?" Lise stared at him as she thought he was the one going crazy.

"He thinks he's this Ephraim Hunter guy, right?"

"I suppose..."

"Well, then, he thinks he's in the middle of a mutiny. There's no point in going to engineering. He'll go to the Control Deck where he can get control of Deepwater." Bren shook his head and started up the corridor. "Sheesh, Themis Colony of all places. No wonder he's freaking out whenever he prexes."

"You've heard of it?" Lise fell into step with him.

"Oh yeah. I've heard of it. Damn League of Naturals wiped the entire crew out with Solon Gas then set the auto destruct..." Bren paused and sucked in a deep breath in alarm as a worrying thought hit him. a. "Nah, he wouldn't, would he?" He shot a worried look at Lise, realising that she had no idea what he meant.

"What League?" she asked.

"They were against cloning. Said it was unnatural. Hunter didn't sympathise with them. Morton was the one with League connections. He was the killer..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but does it really matter? We have to find Reb."

Bren nodded tersely. "Right. Control Deck."

His head hurt. Really hurt. So much so that he could hardly concentrate on the instruments in front of him. They looked fine until he touched them, but as soon as his fingers made contact they felt wrong. Too smooth, too organic...

They felt like the latest technology that he had played with back on Jupiter, but Themis Colony couldn't afford such luxuries...

There seemed to be something wrong with his eyes: one moment the panel was the sleek familiar black pilot's console Reb knew, the next an unfamiliar conformation of engineering sensors. If only he could think straight...

He shifted, pressing one hand to the wound in his left-hand side. Morton had failed in his aim to kill him, but succeeded in a way he never knew. The laser beam had seared through his body, slicing through his stomach and killing the alien nesting inside him with one swift cauterisation. Ephraim could no longer sense its slimy presence twisting its mental tendrils into his thoughts.

He squeezed his eyes shut, shutting out the memory of Morton's rage twisted expression as he went down under the stun beam from Hunter's own weapon. The metallurgist had never expected the engineer to be armed. Part of him wished he hadn't emptied the plasma welder's power pack to kill Gabby...

"Reb?" Gen's coolly polite voice cut through the fuzzy muddle in his head.

"Yes, Gen." He answered without looking up from his work.

"You have disconnected the failsafes on the fusion dampers."

"I know that."

"This will cause a meltdown of the fusion core. If you intend to perform a plasma purge, we should drop out of Hyperspace. Please reactivate the failsafes and initiate shutdown procedures."

"No can do," Reb told her calmly, as he entered his command codes to lock down the system.

Gen gazed at him silently, her cursor whirling wildly as she scanned her diagnostics. "I am unable to re-route the failsafes, Reb. You are acting illogically. Please explain."

"It's simple enough, computer. I'm activating the auto destruct. I can't allow these aliens to get to another world. Themis has to be destroyed and all of us with it."

"You are not on Themis, Reb," Gen told him patiently. "Themis was destroyed over five centuries ago. You are on Deepwater."

"Five centuries huh?" Reb giggled with a touch of hysteria, ignoring the blood coloured lights of the Red Alert swirling around him. Oh, he so wanted to believe her... "More mind games? I won't believe any more of your lies."

"I am incapable of lying."

Satisfied that the auto destruct could no longer be deactivated without his co-operation, Reb twisted in his seat to look up at her. "No one is incapable of lying."

"I am a computer simulated hologram. I have not been programmed to lie."

Reb folded his arms and studied her. "You're very pretty for a hologram. Did you know that?"

"Please deactivate the auto destruct, Reb," Gen urged. "There are no aliens on board Deepwater or I would be aware of them. You are suffering from hallucinations caused by the termination of your memory implant. You are not Ephraim Hunter. You are Reb Andersen, Deepwater's mission commander."

"Who programmed you to tell me that?"

On a human Gen's expression would have been one of intense exasperation. "It is the truth..."

"What's going on?!" Yuna yelped as she raced onto the bridge and dived for her seat. "What's the red alert for? Are we....? She broke off breathlessly, staring at the information on her screen. "Reb! The fusion dampers have been pulled!"

"I know," Reb said gently. "Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry?! We're halfway to a meltdown." She stabbed furiously at her controls, belatedly realising that she was locked out. "Reb?! You did this! Have you gone crazy? You're going to kill us all. Shut it down! Now!"

"Don't tell me what to do," Reb snapped at her.

"Gen! Insert the fusion dampers!"

"I am unable to comply without a command override," the hologram replied steadily.

"I'm giving you a command override."

"I am sorry, Yuna. Reb is in command. You are not. You do not have the security clearance to override him."

"We'll see about that!" Lunging out of her seat, Yuna started for Reb's console and froze as she found herself looking down the wrong end of a hand laser.

"I thought you might do something silly, Gabby, and as you can see, I took precautions. Please sit down."

Yuna stared frantically into Reb's implacable blue eyes and felt her stomach turn over as his lack of recognition. "I'm not Gabby," she blurted.

The engineer inclined his head and sighed wistfully. "I know you're not. Not any more. You're like all the others. A hybrid...Now, please sit down..." Reb twitched at the clatter of footsteps on the decking as Bren and Lise sprinted onto the Control Deck, but he didn't turn to look. "Jump me and I kill her," he warned grimly. "Move forward to where I can see you."

"You don't mean that..." Lise protested.

"Reb doesn't, but Hunter does," Bren said darkly as he eased forward until Reb could see him.

Yuna subsided shakily into her seat. "He's pulled the fusion dampers," she told them. "I don't know why."

"Reb has activated an auto destruct sequence," Gen offered helpfully. "Please reactivate the failsafes and initiate restart protocols."

"How?" Yuna demanded desperately. "And who's Hunter?"

"Reb's memory implant. He's not responsible for this, Yuna. Please don't blame him,. He's stuck in a kind of Prex," Lisa explained.

Bren was staring at Reb, estimating his chances of jumping the engineer. Reb gazed back almost lazily as the lights started to flicker and dim to emergency.

"Go on, Morton," he urged mildly. "You never know, you might make it. You might be able to take the gun away from me before I kill you."

"I think you want me to take the gun," Bren retorted.

"Oh, stop being macho," Yuna snapped irritably. "Reb, put the gun down." She stood up and reached for the gun, startling the engineer to his own feet.

"Gabby, don't make me..." he blurted.

"Look at me, Reb!" Yuna barked. "I am not Gabby!"

"I..." Reb jerked the gun up between them, aiming at her face. "Don't keep looking at me like that! I had to kill you!"

Yuna flinched slightly as he yelled at her, but held her ground. "Give me the gun," she repeated. "You don't want to destroy Deepwater. You're certainly not going to kill me or anyone else. You're not like that, Reb."

"Twenty...nineteen...eighteen...seventeen..." Gen started to count, making Reb glance at her in confusion.

"No!" Reb doubled up with a grunt of pain, clutching his stomach as he half turned away from her. He caught the flicker of Bren 's movement and started to turn back, lifting the gun.

His vision blurred. Red hair became black. Skinny frame becoming fit and muscular....Bren....!

Reb's hand locked on the weapon, his finger refusing to press down the firing stud. "I won't..." he choked in a whisper of agony.

Leaping at the engineer, Bren looked into Reb's shocked blue eyes for a second and saw a silent plea for release in their depths. Bren hit him, slapping the gun to the floor as he punched the engineer in the jaw. His head snapping back, Reb sagged silently and folded into the soldier's arms. Bren lowered him gently to the deck beside Lise and Yuna knelt anxiously beside them. She looked up in alarm as Gen remorselessly continued the countdown.

"Eleven..."

"Gen! Abort destruct!"

"Command override required. Nine...eight..."

"Reb is incapacitated! As medical officer, I say he's unfit for command. " Lise yelped. "Yuna has command. Use your EQ, Gen!"

"Five..."

"Gen, abort destruct. Insert fusion dampers and initialise failsafes!" Yuna rattled out, doing her best not to trip over her own tongue in her panic. "Begin restart protocols."

"Complying..." Gen said calmly. "Thank you, Lise and Yuna. The fusion core is coming back on line. Meltdown has been averted. Please, check our course, Yuna."

"Go on," Lise urged her to her feet and, with a worried glance at Reb, Yuna headed reluctantly for her console

Picking up the gun and slumping into the engineer's seat, Bren stared shakily at the weapon and shook his head. It was set to kill.... "That was too close for comfort," he murmured, running one hand through his shock of dark hair. Hitting Reb in cold blood had felt very odd. Sure he had been tempted to do it when he was in a temper, but this was different. Reb wasn't responsible...and he hadn't pulled the trigger when he could have...

"What's going on up here?!" Zak complained sleepily as he stumbled onto the Control Deck behind Gret and suddenly saw Reb. "Oh, wow....Did we miss a major crisis?"

"You nearly got plasma fried in your beds," Bren retorted, glad to have someone to vent his feelings on. "What took you so long to get here?"

"We thought it was another one of your stupid drills," Gret snapped back at him, never at her best when roused unexpectedly. Her face softened as she knelt next to Lise. "What happened to Reb?"

"Bren hit him." Lise replied curtly, her attention on her medical scanner.

"Hey, it was in a good cause!" Bren argued.

"Hitting him was in a good cause? That's a new one," Zak snorted sarcastically as he folded his lanky frame into the computer station.

"Someone had to stop him before he killed us all," Bren snarled.

"Stop it, you two," Yuna interrupted. "Bren, I need you to monitor our power levels until the core's back to normal. Zak, see if you can remove Reb's command overrides. I don't want to have to rely on verbal commands to Gen."

"Those readings don't look good," Gret murmured in quiet concern to Lise as Bren and Zak obeyed their pilot. "His Lambda waves are all over the place. Is it some kind of prex?" Lise nodded and explained as best she could about the memory implant. Gret frowned worriedly as she listened. "Do we know anything about this Hunter?" she wanted to know.

"Bren thinks he's heard of him. You think it's important?"

"It could be. It sounds as if Reb's fighting a battle for control of his own mind. If I know what's going on, maybe I can enter his prex and help. Maybe Zak can find some records on him."

"It'd be a start," Lise said gratefully. "Right now though, I'd better get Reb down to Sickbay. Bren didn't hit him that hard and he should be awake by now."

He felt terrible. His back screamed with pain, his stomach was on fire with burning nausea and his head felt like it was coming off. He felt hot and cold in turns and couldn't seem to stop shivering. What on earth was happening to him? He couldn't remember...

Waking up in his quarters feeling like this. What? Hours ago? Days? Doing his best to get to Sickbay and meeting Bren in the corridor...

Lise had said something about a prex while he was dreaming. Then there had been the voices swirling around him, churning in a hubbub of sound where he couldn't distinguish one from the other.

There had been fear. A horrible paranoid fear that something was terribly wrong, that Bren wanted to kill him...

No, not Bren....Morton....

"Ah, what'd I do?!"

The anguished choked off sob from the bed brought Lise quickly back to her patient's side. He was lying curled up on his side in a tight huddle of pain and distress and he opened his eyes dazedly when she brushed her fingers against his cheek. Lise touched Reb's forehead in an old fashioned check that no doctor ever completely forgot as she gave him a comforting smile. "Shush, Reb. It's all right. You haven't done anything. You're going to be fine. You're in Sickbay."

"Lise?" Reb focused on her slowly, his voice hoarse with pain and exhaustion. He fingered the sensors she had put on him and looked up at her in bewilderment. "What's wrong with me?"

"You suffering from Prex traumatic Withdrawal. You're rejecting the memory implant."

"S'that why I feel so terrible?"

Lise did her best not to frown in worry at his slurred speech. "Your body is reacting the way it would react to any intruder, by raising your temperature as it fights it off. You have a fever."

Reb gingerly touched his jaw, his eyes widening a little. "That raving maniac hit me..." he muttered.

"He was going to blow up Deepwater and he calls me a raving maniac?" Bren's indignant voice came from the direction of the hatch and Reb peered around Lise to see him. The soldier was ostentatiously holding a gun across his chest.

"I hope that's set on stun," Reb teased him.

"For now, yeah..."

"What? Suddenly I'm dangerous...?" Reb mocked and was surprised when Bren uncomfortably glanced away. Uncertainly Reb looked at Lise for an explanation.

"You've been a little delirious. Bren's being his usual paranoid self, that's all," Lise told him gently as she pressed a hypospray against his bare upper arm and then glanced at her instruments to see how his system reacted to the shot.

"You mean, I am dangerous?" Reb said in alarm.

"I didn't say that," Lise soothed patiently. "Why don't you get some sleep?"

"I don't want to sleep! I want to know what's going on! What does he mean about me blowing up Deepwater?!"

Lise shot an irritated glare at Bren. "Nothing. He's teasing you."

"But I remember...the fusion dampers...the Solon Gas..."

"Reb!" Lise interrupted sharply. "Listen to me, don't think about it....Reb!"

Bren took an anxious step towards the bed as Reb's whole body whiplashed, convulsing into a taut curve of agony as he gasped for air. Lise grabbed for a hypospray, pressuring the contents into Reb's neck,.

"What's happening?" Bren demanded more loudly than he intended.

"He's fighting a prex," Lise answered curtly before stabbing at her Wristcom. "Gret! I need you in Sickbay!"

"On my way. What's happening?" Gret answered from the Control Deck.

"Reb's prexing again. He's going into shock."

"Can I do anything?" Bren asked anxiously.

"Yes. You can keep out of my way," Lise snapped and turned her back on him. She leaned over Reb as he collapsed limply onto the bed again, his eyes rapidly losing focus as he went into the Prex.

Gen shimmered into existence as Bren backed reluctantly towards the door. "I suggest you administer 10cc of Neuruthenzine immediately," she told Lise.

"But that's a neural blocker."

"The withdrawal reaction is causing hyperactivity in his synaptic net. That must be halted immediately or he will lose his synaptic net in a traumatic burn out that I will unable to repair. 10cc of Neuruthenzine will neutralise the extraneous electrical activity and enable him to maintain neural stability."

Lise cursed under her breath and grabbed another hypospray. She was administering the drug as Gret ran in, shoving past a still hovering Bren. At her appearance, he reluctantly stepped outside. "How's he doing?" Gret demanded anxiously as the medical officer once again checked the monitors.

"Badly. His blood pressure is dropping as if he's suffering a massive blood loss, his respiration is falling off, his temperature is rising rapidly, he's so hypertensive he could snap a bone and his Lambda waves have gone crazy. He's in shock."

Gret shook her head and glanced worriedly at Reb's ashen face. His whole body was taut with agony. "I've never seen a prex as bad as this," she said grimly, unconsciously smoothing Reb's spiky hair back. "If I could get into it, convince him it's a dream..."

"No, I can't let you take the risk. If this kills him then you'll go with him."

"What else can we do?" Gret protested.

"You can help me get him stabilised. Then if the worst comes to the worst, we can at least get him into Cryo fast."

"I would advise against that Lise," Gen said quietly. "Abnormal temperatures affect the Cryogenic process and would cause massive tissue degeneration."

"What do you suggest then? Termination?" Gret snapped sarcastically back at her.

Gen gazed at the geneticist steadily. "No. I am required to advise the medical officer when Cryogenic procedure will not be of assistance."

Gret slumped slightly and looked across at Lise. Reb twisted on the bed and subsided again, flailing against something only he could see before going totally limp. A monitor started to ping urgently and Lise hushed it with a stab of a finger.

"He's comatose, but still prexing. His blood pressure and respiration are still falling..." Lise glanced at Gret. "I think we might lose him."

"We can't let that happen," Gret protested. "We need him, Lise. Let me enter his prex."

Lise took a deep breath. "It's too dangerous."

"It's better than losing him!"

"Is it? We could lose both of you and then where would we be?"

"You could cope without me for a while easily enough, but not without Reb. I might be able to help him."

"And if not?"

"Gen grows new versions of us."

Lise bit her lip and glanced at the monitor again. The patterns of light flickering across it representing Reb's agitated mental and physical condition.

"It's a chance, Lise."

"Gret is correct," Gen said quietly. "Her presence in Reb's prex may assist him in differentiating between prex and reality."

"There isn't much time, Lise..."

"All right, all right. But at the first sign of trouble I'm pulling you out."

"It's a deal." Leaving Reb's side Gret hurried to get the neural link headset Zak had created while Lise prepared Reb.

"Gen, I'm going to need you to link with her."

"Affirmative."

"Gret, I suggest you lie down," Lise warned as the geneticist started for a chair. "This is likely to be a rough one..."

Gret blinked as she materialised in the middle of an unfamiliar room filled with strange console. There was a body of a woman carefully positioned in one of the seats, her hands were folded neatly across her but her decorous posture was ruined by the fact that most of her ruined face was missing. Beside him a lean man in his late thirties was collapsed across the console, he was cradling a plasma weapon across his lap and his coveralls were soaked with blood. A skinny red haired man was sprawled on the floor by the door as she turned to scan the room. She took a step towards him, noticing that he at least seemed to be breathing.

The chilled atmosphere was enough to make her shiver and call out for company. "Reb?" There was no answer.

The man at the console stirred, sitting back in his seat with a moan. His movement made Gret jump in fright and clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out..

"Gen?" she quavered hopefully.

"I can hear you, Gret."

"I can't see Reb. Where is he?"

"This is Ephraim Hunter's prex. You will only see Reb as Hunter."

"Yes, but which one is Hunter?"

"Unknown. What do you see?" Gret took a deep breath and told the computer what she was seeing to relay back to Lise in Sickbay. "Lise suggests that the man at the console is Reb,." Gen said when she had finished.

"But he's hurt!"

"That may be part of Reb's problem. He is in pain."

Gret bit her lip and started towards him. She put her hand tentatively on his shoulder. "Reb?" she said gently. He didn't so much as look at her, his gaze fixed intently on the screens in front of him. He kept blinking hard, as if fighting to stay in focus. "He doesn't answer, Gen. And he's so cold." She paused, glancing towards the woman's body. "Gen, I think Hunter killed a woman here. According to what Zak found in the records, it was Morton who killed everyone. But that isn't how it looks. It looks as if Hunter stunned Morton after he killed the woman. I assume she's the Gabby Yuna mentioned."

"That would seem logical."

"I don't know how Hunter got hurt unless Morton or Gabby did it. And there's no sign of the aliens Lise said he talked about. Could it all have been in Hunter's mind?"

"Unknown. What is Hunter's current condition?"

Gret frowned, unsure how to ascertain that. Blood covered most of his back, side and stomach and his face was as ashen as Reb's back in Sickbay. "He's lost a lot of blood. I think he'd be hard to save." She tightened her grip on his shoulder and shook him a little. "Reb, it's Gret. You have to listen to me. None of this is real. It's time to wake up." She took a deep breath, calming the anxiety she could hear creeping into her voice. "Ephraim Hunter?" she said softly.

"Yes..." The voice sounded slow and rusty with pain. He looked up at her with Reb's eyes and there was blood on his lips.

"This is a prex," she told him calmly. "You are not Ephraim Hunter. Your name is Reb Andersen and you're the mission commander for Deepwater. None of this is real."

"Who are you?" he asked slowly, wiping a shaky blood stained hand across his mouth.

"I'm Gret. You have to come home, Reb. We need you."

He blinked slowly and brushed perspiration off his eyelashes. "Gret? I remember...." He paused, swallowing hard. "Listen, Themis Colony is doomed. I've pulled the fusion dampers and set the auto destruct to destroy it." He choked, clutching at his stomach then made a grab for her hand. Cold fingers closed tightly on hers for a second before he let go and looked at Gabby. "I killed her, you know. And the others."

"What about Morton?" Gret asked sharply. "Wasn't he responsible?"

"The aliens got him too. Got all of us. I don't know you. You're a hallucination. I guess I need someone to tell...."

"Reb, this isn't real. You're not on Themis. You're on Deepwater."

"I can't let them take cloning samples from anyone here. They bonded into out DNA like symbiants, hybrids..."

"Reb, please listen to me..." Gret begged but Ephraim was talking to himself, turning away from her, half crying in his pain and anguish.

"Gret, Lise is withdrawing you from the prex,." Gen's cool voice startled her.

"No! Not yet! I can get through to him! I know I can..."

"We're losing Reb," Gen told her.

"Give me another minute or two..."

"No. We will lose you too."

Gret swung back to Hunter as she felt herself fading out of the prex, the images around her becoming flat and one dimensional. She clung on as long as she could, calling to Hunter. "Reb, listen to me, come home. We need you! Reb!"

A flicker of images crossed her eyes as Morton pushed to his feet, his face a contorted snarl and his eyes ablaze with a feral green light as he lifted the laser concealed beneath his body and fired at Hunter's head.

"No! Reb!!!!"

Gret woke with a gasp of horror, jolting upright with the shock of the moment. "Reb...?" she looked round wildly, finding Lise bending over the engineer with an oxygen mask.

"I'm losing him!" For one of the few times Gret had known her Lise sounded almost hysterical. "He's not breathing."

Snatching off the neural link headset, Gret slid off her own couch and stumbled across to help.

"I advise 10cc of adrenaline and 10cc of Cordrazine," Gen urged.

Lise snatched up the hypospray, inserting the doses with a calm skill that belied her expression and punching them into his throat for immediate circulation through his system. She eyed the ECG worriedly. "Gret, get ready. We may need to kick-start him."

Gen could feel herself trembling as she obeyed, setting the sensors on Reb's chest that would propel an electrical impulse through his heart. Lise brushed aside her hands, pressuring a second dose of mixed adrenaline and Cordrazine directly into his heart.

"Come on, Reb, don't do this. Fight damn it. We need you. Come back to us..."

Yuna wished she had never told Zak to tap into the Sickbay intercom. She didn't want to listen to them losing Reb. Her Reb. It wasn't fair! She hadn't had a chance to tell him how she felt yet. Don't leave me, Reb, you make it worthwhile...

"No, damn it...No, Reb, you don't leave us that easily..." Lise's voice broke in anguish then turned grim with determination. "We'll kick-start him, Gret..."

Without thinking Yuna covered her face with her hands, unable to fight her tears any longer. There was a faint crackle as the intercom cut out, then arms crept around her, holding her awkwardly.

"S'okay, Yuna,"

Zak whispered. "I told you not to listen."

"Ah, Zak what are we going to do without him? What am I going to do?!"

"Be strong. That's what Reb would want."

Yuna laughed through her tears and leaned her head against Zak's seeing that the computer expert's eyes held tears of his own. Another hand touched her shoulder and she looked up, startled to find a grim faced Bren hovering over them.

"We'll find him a star of his own..." he whispered.

The console kept wavering in and out of focus in front of him as the woman's voice whispered around him. Ghosts haunting him? Her words made no sense.

Reb wasn't his name. Or was it?

His mind seemed to splinter, the world around him losing coherence, folding in on itself like an origami box...

Can you unfold what you have created? A paper rose, an Illusion of reality....

Paper crackled in his mind and he looked down baffled at his own hands. He had made a flower once to give to Yuna: a red paper rose that he had never had the courage to give her...He kept it in the drawer in his quarters...

The pain hit him suddenly, turning blood red then white hot as his vision failed and the world went black....with only one star bright point of existence in it...A name...

Yuna?

"Come on Reb! Fight!" Lise begged as she watched the monitors, her fingers cured tightly around yet another hypospray.

"Lise, he's gone," Gret whispered.

"No, I won't let him, I won't give up...I can't fail him..."

"Gen, scan Reb, please..." Stepping around the table, Gret caught Lise by the shoulders and pulled her back.

"I detect minimal mental activity, pulse rate non existent..." Gen stopped speaking and materialised. "I recommend, 20cc of adrenaline," she said sharply.

"What? Gen, it's too late, " Lise whispered. Both young women looked at her in surprise.

"Administer 20cc of adrenaline now!" Gen barked.

Lise lunged for the bed, obediently pressuring the dose directly into Reb's chest.

"I have a pulse, rate climbing...Mental activity responding..." Gen said after a second.

"But..."

"Clones tend to be slightly tougher under some circumstances than average human," Gen said simply. "This is due to adaptations that occur naturally in Cryo."

Reb sucked down a great chest heaving breath of air and sat up, flailing wildly.

"Yuna?"

Lise caught his shoulders and pushed him flat, holding him still. "Don't move.." she urged, flashing a worried look at the monitors. Reb was breathing, but his condition was far from stabilised. His ECG was oscillating wildly.

"Yuna...!" Reb repeated insistently.

Gritting her teeth, Lise beckoned Gret to get a sedative for him. She had to get him calmed down before he killed himself...again. Lise hiccuped back a giggle at the thought, startling Gret into giving her a worried look. She punched the shot into his upper arm as Reb struggled into a sitting position again and did his best to get off the table.

"Yuna..."

"Reb, no," Gret scolded, blocking him.

"Yuna?" Reb queried, gazing at her blankly.

"Don't you know me?" Gret pressed anxiously.

"No..." Reb glanced away from her, looking around him at Sickbay in confusion.

"Lise? What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Lise admitted. "He certainly seems fixated on Yuna though. There could be mental damage. Gen?"

"I detect no mental damage. It is possible that his memory implants have suffered a cascade failure."

"Amnesia?" Gret suggested.

"Yuna..." Reb repeated groggily and attempted to get off the table again.

Lise hastily put her arms around him and pulled him back against her, coaxing him into relaxing as she crooned to him. "We'll get Yuna for you." She inclined her head to Gret and she moved away to speak into her Wristcom. There was a short argument and what sounded like a faint sob from the communicator.

"Yuna?" Reb gazed at Gret curiously.

"No, Reb. She'll come to you. Stay here," Lise soothed, holding onto him.

Reb nodded obediently and held out one hand, studying his fingers in satisfaction. "Mine...not his..." he whispered.

"Yes, that's right. Do you know who you are?"

Reb sighed his name and rested his head wearily against Lise's soft shoulder as he closed his eyes in utter exhaustion. "I'm so tired, Lise..." he whispered, startling her by knowing her name too.

"I know you are," she said kindly however. "You have a high fever. Relax now...."

"Alive?" Yuna choked on a sob. "You're sure?"

"Yes. He's still pretty shaky and very confused. Lise wants to get him calmed down. Can you come to Sickbay at once?" Gret urged.

"I'm on my way." Yuna slipped out of the pilot's seat and ran for the hatch, forgetting to switch on the autopilot. Bren leaned over and did it for her and then exchanged a glance with Zak. Wordlessly, the two of them followed the dark haired pilot to Sickbay.

Yuna ran all the way to Sickbay and skidded through the door, uncertain of what she was going to find. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Reb cuddled up to Lise, a spurt of jealousy curdling her pure relief at seeing him conscious. All thoughts of jealousy faded however as Reb pulled away from Lise and stumbled towards her before the medical officer could stop him. Yuna lunged to meet him, catching him as he went down.

"Yuna..." Reb purred in satisfaction, snuggling blissfully up to her. "Mine..."

"Er..." Yuna blushed, for a second not knowing what to say. Aware that she was grinning like an idiot and not caring, she shrugged and kissed him affectionately on the temple instead. "Yes, Reb, yours..." she agreed and wrapped her arms around him as he settled his head on her shoulder with a grateful sigh. His hair was darkening with perspiration and his cheek felt hot when she brushed her fingers down his skin to reassure herself.

"How sweet," Bren said dryly as he and Zak caught up.

Yuna ignored him as she looked up Lise. "He's really hot. Is he okay?"

"He was running a high fever, but it seems to have broken. I think he'll be okay." Lise crouched beside them and smiled faintly, realising that Reb had fallen asleep in utter exhaustion. He looked quite content in Yuna's arms and Yuna looked happy to let him stay there.

Gret glanced at Bren and Zak, amused by Bren's scowl hidden concern and Zak's open delight. "Since you two are here, you can make use of some of those muscles and help us get Reb back to bed...."

"You can't stay in here forever, Reb," Gen pointed out patiently three days later.

"Why not? It's my room. I'm supposed to rest." Reb stayed stubbornly seated on his bed, fingering the vidviewer he had been playing with.

"You are also supposed to eat," Gen reminded him.

"That's what the food synth is for."

"If you do not socialise, I will lower the room temperature until you do so."

"That's cheating."

"The others are worried about you," Gen urged.

Reb bit his lip. He didn't want to worry them. He figured he had done enough of that already recently. But he had pieced together much of what he had done and was too embarrassed to face them. Coping with one of them at a time was hard enough, but all of them at once?

The door chimed and before he could move, Gen had released the lock and allowed Yuna into his cabin.

"Gen says you're being stubborn," she scolded mildly.

"She would," Reb growled. Yuna bothered him. He was used to her scolding and teasing him, but she had been extraordinarily gentle with him while he was in Sickbay and it was starting to make him nervous.

"Look, you can't spend the rest of your life as a recluse," Yuna told him with a touch of the exasperation he was far more familiar with. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm tired."

"Not so tired you can't come and say hello. Come on. On your feet..." Yuna caught his hand and tugged, pulling him upright until he stood toe to toe with her. Then she astounded him with a quick kiss on the end of the nose. "You had us all worried, Reb. So, make nice with the minions and show you're still alive."

Reb sighed and gave up, letting her tow him out of his cabin. He was still revelling in the fact that she hadn't let go of his hand when they reached the Rest Room. Panic made him slam on the brakes in the doorway and attempt to back up. Before he could do so, Yuna swung to face him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh no, you don't!"

"Hey, group hug!" Zak yipped in delight and lunged to wrap them both in a hug. Lise joined him, then Bren laughed and draped his arms around them before Gret joined in a little uncertainly but with quiet pleasure. Squashed in the middle, Reb started to giggle as he was surrounded and finally had to breathlessly wriggle out of the crush.

Before he could get any ideas about escaping Yuna grabbed his hand again and pulled him over to the table. She pushed him into a chair as Zak darted over to the food synth and returned with a large cake, which he proudly set down before Reb.

"Welcome back," he said warmly as he cut a large slice.

"I nearly kill you all and you make me a cake?" Reb blurted before he could stop himself.

"It wasn't us you wanted to kill. You thought you were dealing with an alien invasion," Lise pointed out. "That makes you a hero."

"Some hero," Reb snorted, eyeing the slice of cake Zak shoved towards him. "You expect me to eat all of that?"

"Yeah. Go on. You'll like it. I cooked it myself."

"He means he programmed the food synth," Gret corrected.

Reb raised an eyebrow at them, but rather than disappoint Zak he took a cautious bite. His eyes widened in pleased surprise and he nodded approvingly. "It's good."

"Did you expect it wouldn't be? I am, after all, a genius." Zak grinned, polishing his nails on his jerkin.

"How'd you know pineapple and chocolate is my favourite?"

"I asked Gen," Zak said cheerfully as he started to cut slices for the others.

"Here," Bren slid a mug of hot chocolate in front of Reb.

"Is this an apology for hitting me?"

"Nope." Bren said flatly.

"Good." Reb took a sip and grinned shyly at the soldier.

"You know, while Lise has you resting up, you could figure out how to programme the food synth to produce to marshmallows."

"That's really going to be restful," Lise complained.

Reb grinned wickedly. "I already know how to programme marshmallows," he said smugly. "I was only waiting to be asked..."

Bren considered this for a moment then stretched his hands beseechingly across the table to the engineer. "Pretty please with sugar on top?" he asked with a huge grin.

"You've talked me into it. Besides, I owe you one..." Reb looked round at them all uncertainly. "I don't deserve this..."

"Yes, you do. You had a terrible time," Yuna said firmly. "You put yourself at risk to repair the cloning bank."

"It's all a matter of perspective, of learning to distance yourself from it," Bren told him firmly. "It wasn't you."

"But if I'd listened to Lise..."

"Gen says it would have happened while you were in Cryo and we would have lost you for sure," Lise told him sternly.

"But I wouldn't have endangered anyone. Next time..."

"Next time I will screen the memory implants," Gret interrupted. "Gen's started already. I don't know what they were thinking of to allow Hunter's entire memory to be encoded. To experience being murdered like that..."

Reb shuddered and was glad of Yuna's hand slipping into his under the table.

"I checked the military records. They took Hunter's engrams after he was killed," Bren announced into the silence that followed her comment. "Everyone believed that Morton was acting for the League of Naturals and killed everyone on the base. He was killed taking off in a shuttle."

"Which I..." Reb stopped and sorted his memories as Gen had told him to do. Hunter's memories were paling rapidly into non existence but every now and then...." Hunter rigged the shuttles engines to explode shortly after take off."

"Well, it worked. There wasn't enough left to get any engrams from him."

"So it was assumed he did it?" Gret asked.

Bren nodded. "There was a public outcry over the tragedy and cloning samples were taken from all the crew....Reb? You okay?"

Reb had paled alarmingly and was shivering. Yuna shot a worried look at Lise but the engineer shakily waved her back as the medical officer started to get up. "No, I'm alright. You mean there are cloning samples from that base?" he asked Bren.

"So it said in the records. I have only a vague memory of it personally."

"The auto destruct didn't go off?"

"The relief shuttle arrived first and deactivated it. Is it important?"

Reb swallowed hard. "Gen? Do we have cloning samples from Themis Colony on board?"

Gen shimmered into view beside the screen. "Affirmative,. There are thirty two DNA samples aboard from that colony."

Reb shuddered. "Purge them, Gen."

"I am unable to comply."

"You can if I tell you to!"

"You are not in command, Reb. Yuna is."

Reb blanched and looked desperately at Yuna. "Please?"

"Why, Reb?" she asked softly.

"Because the aliens were symbiants. They combined with the DNA of their hosts to create a hybrid," Gret answered for him, quietly studying the back of her hands as she remembered what Hunter had said to her in Reb's prex. "If we have Themis DNA on board, then we probably have alien cloning samples too." She took a deep breath, her principles warring with emotional agreement. "Reb's right. If those samples are contaminated, then they have to be purged."

"Surely they would have been checked?" Lise argued.

"Maybe, maybe not," Reb said bitterly. "It wasn't long before Deepwater launched. Someone could have taken a gamble on the hybrids surviving if pure humans didn't."

The silence was suddenly awkward. Bren was the first to stir. "Then these samples are a threat to our mission, I say destroy them."

"I concur," Reb said in relief.

"So do I." Yuna nodded and squeezed his hand.

"I have to check them first," Gret argued. "But if they are contaminated...yes."

"If they're a risk to us then I agree too," Lise agreed. "And I agree to they should be checked as long as it's done by Gen. We can't risk contamination."

"But an alien life form...?" Zak argued then stopped as they all looked at him. "No, you're right. Forget I said anything. I agree."

Reb sat back and took a deep breath. Giving Yuna's hand a grateful squeeze, he let go and stood up. "Thank you," he said quietly as he rubbed a tired hand across his face. "I'm going to go and lie down now. I'm too tired to be good company."

"Take some cake with you," Zak urged, shoving a slice onto a plate and handing it up to him. Reb gave him a weary grin, but took both cake and hot chocolate with him as he padded out.

"He does look tired," Zak murmured to make sure the engineer wouldn't hear him. "You sure he's okay, Lise?"

"I don't think he's sleeping very well," Lise admitted.

"Can't you give him anything? A sedative maybe?" Bren suggested.

"He won't take it. The last time I gave him a sedative he didn't want, he started prexing. At least if he goes to bed, he might fall asleep by accident"

"Reb has not returned to his quarters, he is going to the observation deck." Gen reported quietly.

"Idiot," Bren growled and started to his feet.

Yuna however got up too and gave him an embarrassed smile. "No, I'll go. I can get away with checking up on him. You can't do it without annoying him."

Reb stretched lazily on the soft black material of the observation room couch and peacefully licked the last crumbs of cake off his fingers. He had finished off the hot chocolate on his way up and now felt comfortably full. Above him the viewport arched across the ceiling and down to the floor until the entire room seemed open to the blaze of jewel bright stars. He was glad they were in open space rather than the brilliant swirling colours of hyperspace. Beautiful though it was, he had more of an affinity with the stars. Lying here he could think of earth and listen to the surf recordings Gen was playing for him.

"White noise?" Yuna's soft voice made him lift his head enough to look at her. She was standing in the doorway, her head tilted to listen to the sound of the waves rippling from the speakers.

"No, it's surf. The sound of the ocean." Reb settled back, glad it wasn't Lise come to scold him or Bren to herd him. The soldier seemed to have turned part sheepdog recently.

"We didn't have oceans on Mars," Yuna observed as she came in. She stood in front of him, outlined by stars for a moment before she sat down next to his head.

"No free water on Mars," Reb observed as Yuna made herself comfortable. She settled her hand on his head, lightly brushing his spiky hair.

"It's very soothing."

"That's the idea of it. I haven't been sleeping very well. Too many bad dreams." Reb paused, half closing his eyes and shifting restlessly. Before he quite knew how she had done it, Yuna had shifted too and he was lying with his head resting comfortably on her lap.

"Lie here and listen to home then," she said softly. "Count the stars."

Reb yawned and sheepishly covered his mouth with one hand. "Sorry." He felt safe with Yuna there, as if she was a charm to keep away the nightmares of the prex she had recalled him from. Maybe one day he would even dare to give her the rose he had made her after all.

"Don't be," Yuna murmured, feeling more content than she had in days. "Think about something nice. You remember listening to the surf on earth?"

Reb nodded as he snuggled down and closed his eyes, turning his face into her petting fingers as she touched his cheekbone. "I wish I could show you earth," he murmured. "It was so green, so fresh....and there were roses almost as beautiful as you are..."

Yuna caught her breath and held still as Reb snuggled closer and sighed his way to sleep. Smiling shyly to herself, she rested her arm around him and settled back comfortably, happy to watch the stars go by while she waited for him to wake up again. "And who knows, Reb, maybe I'll name a star for you after all..."

The End