Zack was running alongside the mobile med unit, trying to hang on to Jessie's hand, and dodge the ministrations of the techs as they worked on her on their way to Med Lab. He'd called them immediately after Jessie collapsed and had cradled her in his arms until they got there.
      Rolling into Med Lab they were met by Dr. Stephen Franklin. Zack was never so happy to see him before. "Doc, please, you've gotta help her."
      Franklin took charge. He approached his new patient and said, "Okay, people, what's the story with this one?"
      One of the tech's spoke up. "Female. Twenty years old. She collapsed for unknown reasons and hasn't regained consciousness." He preceded to give her vital signs to the doctor.
      "How long has she been out?"
      Everyone looked at Zack. "About ten minutes now. I called you immediately after she went down."
      Stephen continued talking while he looked her over. "Do you know her?"
      "Yeah, well, sort of. I just met her this afternoon. I took her to dinner at the Fresh Air and then this......" He gestured at Jessie's unconscious form.
      "Did anything unusual happen before she collapsed? Did she act ill or seem tired? Fatigued?"

      Zack went over the previous events. "She complained of being tired this afternoon. I thought it was just jet lag. We were eating and she seemed fine until about halfway through when I noticed she didn't look so hot. I asked if she was okay and she said the champagne had gone to her head and excused herself to the rest room. She was gone about 5 minutes or so, came back out, and was coming towards me when she started to pass out. I caught her and then I called you."
      "Alright, her pressure's a little erratic and her breathing's on the shallow side but she doesn't seem to be in any other distress." Franklin pointed to another tech. "I want a complete work up on her. Let me know if you find anything. And get a monitor on her and some oxygen. Try and stabilize her blood pressure and I'll be with you in a minute." He led Zack over to the side while they wheeled Jessie to another room.
      Zack turned to him. "Is she gonna be okay? I mean, she was fine a few minutes before."
      Stephen patted him on the shoulder. "I could tell you not to worry but I can see you're going to anyway so I won't. I haven't run any tests yet but at the moment I can't find anything wrong with her other than her blood pressure. This kinda thing happens to travelers all the time. They don't eat right, they don't sleep right.
      Changes in cabin pressure from one transport to another. It could just be simple exhaustion. Don't get upset until there's a reason to. Her background info's in the computer?"
      "Yeah." Zack said glumly.
      "I'll access her medical history, make sure there isn't something there we need to worry about. As for you, why don't you take a walk or whatever til we check her out. I'll call you if anything happens or if she comes to."
      Zack shook his head no. "Nah, I'd rather hang around if you don't mind."
      Franlin sighed. "Somehow I knew you were going to say that. Okay, you can stay, but keep out from underfoot.
      Someone'll come get you when we know something."
      "Thanks Stephen."
      "No problem, Zack." Franklin trotted thru the door where they'd taken Jessie. Zack found himself a chair at an empty workstation and sat down. What a day this was shaping up to be. He was off tonight, but he called the station house anyhow and let them know what'd happened and where he'd be. Then he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.
      "Zack?"
      He opened his eyes slowly. For a split second, he saw a shapely female with reddish hair dressed in black standing over him and thought it was Jessie. Then his head cleared. "Lyta? Hi." He wondered what the somewhat reserved telepath was doing down in Med Lab. "Did you want something?"
      She rested her eyes on him and shifted position. "I'm not sure, exactly," she said hesitantly. Zack wasn't feeling up to playing games at the moment. "And just what ARE you sure of then?" Instantly he regretted his irritable tone. "Sorry. I'm in the middle of an extremely bad day. Can I do something for you?"
      She pointed to the door. "Maybe I should come back later."
      "No, no, it's fine, what is it?"
      "Well, are there any other telepaths on board? Human?"
      "There's a couple of our's that are coming back from being assigned to Alien governments during the Shadow War, why?"
      "Did any of them just get hurt?"
      "Not that I'm aware of ."
      She seemed to be thinking something over.
      "You want to let me know what all this is about?" He'd always kind of liked Lyta even though others tended to shy away from her, especially since she'd been closely associated with the Vorlons recently. Being a telepath was bad enough but you throw Vorlons into the mix and people get nervous.
      "A little while ago I felt.......something." She looked perplexed."I was walking thru the Zocalo and I just sensed something. Like someone in pain. It was so brief I just dismissed it but then, a couple minutes later, I felt this tremendous sense of jumbled emotions and extreme pain. And a mind's echo of a person crying out. It was like slamming into a wall. Very strong. I can't explain it to you but it left a kind of trail so I followed it."
      "Where'd it go?" he asked.
      "The Fresh Air Restaurant."
      Zack was stunned. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him with a shovel to the stomach. "Did you say the Fresh Air?"
      "Yes, I got there and someone told me they'd just taken a woman to Med Lab."
      She had to be mistaken. Had to be. "What makes you think she was a telepath?"
      "Only a telepath could broadcast that loudly. I'd guess a pretty strong one too."
      Oh God. This was getting worse and worse. He couldn't believe it. If she was a telepath, why hadn't she told him? Babylon 5 was known for giving telepaths refuge from the Corp. They'd even employed a number of them to fight the War against the Shadows.
      Hell, he had a rogue telepath standing right in front of him! Then again, most of the rogues hadn't come to them flying their colors either. If you're running from the Corp, you don't go around announcing to every Tom, Dick, and Zack that you're a Teep. He also surmised this would explain why she'd acted so weird this afternoon about her travel plans and again at dinner when he'd asked about her background.
      Lyta rested against the console and crossed her arms over her chest. Something was up. she obviously came to the right person. "What happened? Do you know this girl?"
      Zack looked miserable."Yeah, I met her this afternoon, fresh off the transport from Proxima 3. I took her to dinner at the Fresh Air and she collapsed. The Doc's working on her now."
      She studied his face. "You didn't know she was telepathic?"
      "No, she didn't happen to mention it. Maybe she was waiting til dessert."
      Lyta sighed and uncrossed her arms, tracing a pattern on the console with the tip of her finger."I didn't exactly announce myself to the whole galaxy when I was running either. Unless....."
      "Unless what?"
      "Well, maybe she doesn't know. Or she just found out. She may not necessarily be on the run. Yet."
      "You think they don't know about her yet?"
      Lyta shrugged. "You didn't."
      "Yeah, well, I'm not the Corp."
      "Thank God for small favors." she cracked.
      Zack didn't think that was funny. Now wasn't the time for levity.
      "We'd better tell Franklin," she said. "I'm pretty certain she experienced a mind burst. A very severe one.
      Maybe I can help her." Zack had enough experience with telepaths to know what a mind burst was. He cringed.
      "Think you can?"
      "I can try. Most Teeps come out of it on their own though a really bad burst might take longer to recover from, which I suspect she had. I could help ease her back. Give her a cushion. And someone to lean on. If she's brand new, she won't have the slightest idea what's going on."
      "Let's go then." Zack got up and straightened his uniform. "They took her thru here."
      He led Lyta thru the door where Franklin had dissappeared and down the corridor. They found the Doctor and his staff working on Jessie in Exam Room #4.
      Franklin was looking over test results on an overhead screen. "Well, that's the fifth one that's come up negative. How's her vitals Mirren?"
      "She's stabilizing."
      "Maybe we should try a........," Franklin glanced up and noticed his new guests. "I thought I told you to stay outside." He directed his gaze at Lyta. "And what you are doing here?"
      Stephen always got grumpy when people didn't obey his orders.
      Zack was distracted for a moment, looking at Jessie lying on the examination table. They'd removed her clothing and jewelry and replaced them with a hospital reg gown. Her hair streamed out and fanned about her face. She was whiter than a sheet.
      Like a specter of the woman he had just been having dinner with not long ago. His stomach cramped again.
      Then he looked to Franklin.
      "I know you did, but Lyta came and told me something and we think you should hear it." Lyta recounted what had happened to her for the doctor and then they waited for his reaction.
      "A telepath, huh?"
      Lyta nodded. "I'm certain she is."
      "You think she experienced a mind burst?" Stephen had treated a mind burst patient once before. But she'd been younger, and had regained her faculties rather quickly.
      "Definitely. An extremely forceful one at that. I only caught the echo of it and it almost knocked me off my feet."
      "Alright." Stephen switched gears. "We just started a full workup. We'll map out a neural landscape on her, see if anything was damaged. Mirren & the rest of you, get cracking."
      "Yes, doctor."
      "Lyta, can you can stay? I could probably use your help. Especially if she comes to."
      "Yes, I'll stay." Lyta viewed the girl in front of her and felt sympathy and kinship. Welcome to the wonderful world of telepaths, she thought.
      "Zack, I need you to go back outside. There's nothing you can do right now. We've got something to go on now, so at least we know how to treat her. I'll let you know how she's doing."
      Lyta put her hand on Zack's arm. "He's right. It might be hours before she wakes up." Or days, she thought but didn't say out loud. She'd seen a few cases in Psi-Corp who'd had terrible mind bursts and didn't come out of it for days, even weeks. And they weren't always the same as they were before it had happened. She almost shuddered.
      Zack walked over to the table, reached out, and gently stroked Jessie's hair for a split second. Then he looked over at Stephen. "I want to know the minute she does. I don't care what time it is." He turned on his heel and left.
      He went straight thru Med Lab and directed himself towards the Security stationhouse. He needed something to do, might as well go and work on reports. Things had been a tad disorganized since Garibaldi jumped ship. He walked in and saw Donna D'Amico sitting in his chair, going over the next day's assignments. She raised her head, surprised. "Hey, Chief ,what are you doing here?"
      "Knock off the Chief stuff, Donna. You've known me as long as anybody here. It sounds weird coming from you."
      Donna knew he had a problem with his new position, but she also knew that wasn't what was bothering him at the moment. She got up and offered him his chair back and waited til he sat down. He looked like somebody had just run over his puppy.
      "I thought you'd be in Med Lab. Carlo called me awhile ago and told me what happened. How is she?"
      Zack rubbed his hand over his face. "Still unconscious. Doc thinks she had a mind burst."
      "A mind burst? She's a telepath?"
      "Looks like it."
      "Oh, Zack. Hell of alway to find out."
      "My thoughts exactly. Franklin said he'd notify me if something happens. I thought I'd come here and kill some time." He riffled thru the papers on his desk. "Anything I should know about?"
      "No, it's been pretty quiet tonight." She took a chair across from him."A couple of drunk Centauri were hassling patrons in the Dark Star. We brought em back and threw them in the tank til they sobered up. Oh, and one complaint of shoplifting from one of the merchants. The perp was gone when we got there but we got a description." She grinned. "Big and hairy, possibly male."
      "Big and hairy? That's helpful. You sure he wasn't drunk too?"
      "It's possible." She shrugged.
      "Oh well, sounds like you had a stimulating evening. I wish mine had been that boring."
      Donna opened her mouth to say something but just then the com on Zack's desk beeped.
      "Stationhouse, this is Reilly."
      "Allen here, go ahead."
      "Chief? Chief, we got a break-in in the Visitor Complex. One of the rooms has been ransacked. Some guy noticed the door half open and notified us. It's been forced."
      "Forced?Anything missing?"
      "Well, we don't know Chief. We can't seem to locate the occupant."
      "Alright, I'll be right there. What room is it?"
      "Number 774."
      774??? He did NOT just hear that. He sat up straight."Reilly, say again?"
      "Number 774, Chief."
      Zack was getting extremely tired of surprises. He began to wish he hadn't got up this morning. He spoke tiredly. "Okay, secure the room. I'm on my way." Getting up, Donna followed him to the door. "Something wrong?"
      "Oh no, not at all," Zack said. "774 just happens to be the room of a certain telepath. The one that's presently lying in Med Lab, comatose."

       
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