The Sector of Disappearance, Part Two

a roundrobin!

Catalina screamed as hard as she could, but she was still too young to do any real damage. She did, however, alert her parents. In a moment of sheer panic, her father came running out a door, followed closely by her mother. Her father let out a powerful cry, knocking the Neptunians off their feet.

“Daddy!” Catalina cried, running to him.

Her father scooped her up in a tight embrace. “Shh. It’s all right, Little One. They’re not going to hurt you.”

Catalina’s mother kissed her on the head. “Don’t be afraid any more, sweetie.” Catalina nodded slowly and held tight to her father’s neck as he stood and rang for security.

“I love you Daddy.” she said softly.

“I love you too, Caterpillar.”

Catalina’s parents laughed along, sharing the relief and the joy of their moment together. Even though there had been a near-disaster only moments before, the family had spent all too little time together since their arrival on Neptune, and it felt good to laugh. And then the moment was shattered. Five more Neptunese terrorists burst through the open door and brought their wicked-looking weapons to bear. Before the last echo of laughter had faded, Catalina’s parents threw themselves around their small daughter and fell under the blow of the lethal energy weapons.

“Mommy! Daddy! Get up! Please, get up! I’m scared! Daddy, wake up!” The Neptunese terrorists turned abruptly and left, a bit shaken at the child’s cries but, in their minds, fully justified in what they had done.

“Wake up! Please! Get up! Mommy!”

The terrified cries of the child echoed through the halls until the real security team came and dragged her away.

Somewhere, deep within the child’s mind, a ragged voice cried out over and over, “It’s not real! It’s not real! Wake up!”

But the little girl’s mind couldn’t grasp the idea. That is, until Elfinyana’s mind brushed hers. At that moment, the grisly scene faded from Catalina’s eyes and she woke, sobbing. Suddenly she felt strong arms around her, holding her as her father had. She leaned into those arms and buried her face gratefully into his shoulder.

“Shh. Cat, it’s all right. You’re safe now.”

It was her father’s words, but not his voice. “That’s what Daddy said.” she gasped, her body wracked by sobs. “And they’re dead! They won’t wake up! Don’t take me away from them!”

Harlan held the girl tightly, comforting her as well as he could. He must have gotten lucky. The strange girl, Elfinyana, had saved him from his nightmare. Heaven only knew what Catalina had been put through.

“Come on, Cat. I need your help.”

Catalina tried to stop crying, but wasn’t very successful. “My parents. I want my father!”

Harlan tightened his hold on her, as though trying to protect her. Now he knew what the Inquisitor had put her through.

“Oh Cat, I’m sorry.”

Catalina clung to Harlan a few moments more, until she had her breathing under control. Then she pulled back a little and tried to dry her face. “I’m sorry Harlan. I didn’t mean to. . .”

Harlan shook his head. “Hey, don’t apologize. I’ll get the Inquisitor for doing that to you. I don’t know how, but we will.”

Catalina gave him a watery smile as she suddenly ‘remembered’ all the information that Elfinyana had given him.

“Harlan, I think I just might.”

"It's quite simple, really," Catalina laughed nervously. "It's what Elfinyana told me. The Inquisitor can't get to us if we accept that we aren't really going through any pain. All we have to do is convince the others that their pain is only a figment of their imagination and we should be home free."

Harlan wrinkled his brow. "Do you really think it'll work? I mean, look at them..." his voice waned away as he pointed faintly to his crewmates, each trapped by the horror of their own dillusions.

Cat dismissed Harlan's thought with a firm head shake. "You were able to get to me," she persisted. "You care about the others as much as you care about me, right? Then you'll be fine."

Harlan regarded her with a grin. Cat and her firm mind. It reminded him of the first year of their journey, before Suzee had proven her existence.

Harlan escaped from his reverie, feeling lighter. "You know, it might just work...." he said slowly. "Come on, we have no time to lose!"

"Ok, then you take Radu, Bova and the Commander and I'll take Rosie, Suzee and Ms. Davenport." Cat instructed. "Quickly, now let's get to it!"

"Not so fast!" A voice growled from behind them. Quickly, the pair spun around and gasped in fright at what they saw. There was the Inquisitor, of course, but he held in his hand an alien device that looked like a Spungs scepter! It was pointed right at them! Harlan and Cat closed their eyes tightly, ready to embrace the inevitable death.

But suddenly-

...The world seemed to spin for a second and then came back into veiw. Harlan nearly choaked on the noxious fumes in the air."Oh man, where are we?"

"Earth" replied Catilina.

"Don't be ridiculous Cat, earth doesn't smell like this!"

"Harlan, look behind you".

Harlan turned around and stoped short. He and cat were standing in front of what looked like Stardog headquarters in Quebec city earth except it was now a large heap of burning rubble. Everywhere he looked there were Spung leading hordes of chained humans, andromedans and rigelians into mines to work or over to run the large fusionpit he saw in the distance that seemed to be powering the hundred plus killcruisers that filled the sky. One of the worker procesions walked through Catilina and Harlan as if they didn't exist.

"More holograms?" asked Harlan

Catilina took a moment to think it over."No"she finnaly said "we're in one of the others' nightmares,I think. It's 'what if the Spung won the war' or something like that but the question is whose nightmare are we in and how'd we get her-"

A bone shattering scream interupted Catilina's explanation. A scream the two space cases recognized instantly "Radu!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Grozit! I Can't belive I didn't figure it out!"muttered Catilina as they ran in the direction that the scream had come from.

"Figure what out?" asked Harlan.

"Whose dream this was! It's so obvious!" Harlan gave her a confused look. Catilina sighed and began to explain. "Remember back when I was on board and Radu could sense that Gerkle's thoughts, or when he picked up that message from Elmira warning you guys that the Spung had found out where you crashed after we escaped from the Christa's sistership?" Harlan noded,"Well Suzee told me that Radu might be what they call a 'latent Psi' on her world,a mind reader who's powers never completely surfaced so when he was thrown into his nightmare he called out for help and with his brain hyper-stimulated by the Inquisitor's experiment he accidently pulled us into his mind.It's so obvious I should have realized what was going on the minute I got here!"

"Getting rusty spending all your time in Yensid?" he teased.

"In your dreams Harlan Band, now that I,m back I'm going to be captin of the ship."

They laughed at that remark, it felt good to release a some of the tension that had been building since earlier that day.

Then a thought occured to Harlan"If our minds are in here what's happening to our bodies out there?"

"Well we've either started staring into space like people do when Suzee pitches into them or collapsed on the floor."

Harlan shivered "let's hope the Inquisitor doesn't feel like doing any disections."

Another scream caused them to pick up the pace, after they climed over the remains of the Frontanac hotel the two got a good look at their friend. He'd seen better days.

Radu lied on the ground still stinging from the blast his spung overseer had given him. He looked up but between his tears and the bright light of the fusionpit reflecting of his tormenter's armour he was practicaly blind. "M-mercy" he pleaded but this only provoked another of those hideous spung hisses.

"Foolish andromedan, you should know better than to ask for mercy from Warsurrola Elmira!" and with that Elmira recalibrated her electric sceptor to it's highest setting and prepared to bring it down upon him.

"NO!" yelled Harlan as he threw himself between Radu and the deadly energy blast.

The scepter hit Harlan full in the chest, knocking him painfully to the ground. It didn’t knock him out, but it left a long black streak of vaporized material and charred skin. Harlan gasped and cried out in pain. Falling back just short of Radu, he hit the ground with a bone-racking thud.

“Harlan!” Catalina cried, running past the red-eyed image of the evil Elmira. The false-surrola hissed angrily at the girl, but stepped back without saying a word. Radu blinked a few times in disbelief. “Harlan?” he asked weakly. “Harlan, are you all right?”

Slowly the Andromedan got to his knees and touched Harlan’s arm. Harlan smiled. “Hey, buddy. Are you?”

Radu shook his head. “No. You’re dead! I saw you. . .Catalina! But, you never. . .”

Harlan sat up himself and grabbed both of Radu’s shoulders. “Radu, snap out of it. You’re all right. You’re safe.”

“You would like to think that, human, wouldn’t you?” Elmira hissed. “I’ve endured this. . .touching reunion long enough. Prepare to die!”

Harlan stood, and he and Catalina created a human sheild around their friend. “Radu, none of this is real.” Catalina said firmly.

“You’re kidding.” Radu laughed shortly.

Harlan turned his back to the surrola-illusion and knelt down to face his friend. “Radu, listen to me. We aren’t really here. This is all an illusion of your mind. Do you remember the Christa? All the others?”

Radu nodded shakily. “Yes. They all died years ago. I saw all of them. . .all of you. . .”

Harlan gripped Radu’s shoulders. “Listen, man. Do you remember that void that we were in? The Inquisitor? The dungeon you and everyone except me and Cat got pulled into?”

“That was a dream, Harlan.” Radu replied hoarsely. “And then I woke up. That was two years ago.”

Harlan shuddered involuntarily at the thought of spending two years locked in this nightmare, imagined or no.

“Radu, please. Listen to me. That wasn’t a dream. There is a being called the Inquisitor. He’s got us trapped in our worst fears. Cat and I would still be in our own, but another being named Elfinyana visited me and pulled me back to reality. She started to visit Cat in her nightmare, but the Inquisitor found out and pulled her back. She said that physically she’s in a cryo-tube somewhere in the void.”

Radu shook his head. “Welcome to reality, Harlan. I don’t know where you’ve been hiding for the last two years, or how you faked your death,” he shuddered here, as though reliving some terrible tragedy, “but the truth is we’re back home, the spung have taken over, and a very-brainwashed Elmira is about to kill us with a scepter.

“Then why hasn’t she struck yet?”

Radu looked up blankly. “What?”

And then the Elmira-illusion struck. Catalina didn’t even flinch as the scepter’s blast hit her full in the chest. Radu’s eyes widened as he saw that nothing had happened. Catalina was still standing, and she was untouched by the blast. Making a mock bow to the evil-Elmira, she pulled back her arm and swung with all the force she could muster. The Spung girl rocked back on her feet, hardened expression never fading.

“Radu, you’re the only one that can pull us out of this.” Catalina said. “You’ve got to believe us.”

Radu stared at Catalina as though she had sprouted wings, and then he nodded. “I. . .I believe you. So how do we get out?”

Suddenly the world grew hazy, and the nightmarish place faded from view. Catalina and Harlan laid still for a moment on the deck, but then opened their eyes and jumped to their feet. “Harlan, where’s Radu?” Catalina asked, looking around frantically.

“Still in that dungeon that you described.” Harlan replied, pointing to the set of holograms. Radu was the only one standing.

“Do you think you can reach him again?”

Catalina reluctantly shook her head. “No. The Inquisitor said he sealed the rift that let us talk before. He’s on his own. The only thing we can do right now is try to wake Suzee, and maybe find this Elfinyana. I’m still remembering a lot of what she dumped into my mind. I think. . .”

Catalina looked around. “I think we’re being watched. And nothing we say is safe, really.”

Harlan reached out and hesitantly touched her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m fine, Harlan. Now, how do we get into Suzee’s head? Neither of us are even remotely telepathic.”

"I'm back!" exclaimed Radu. A wave of relief swept over him as his nightmare disolved. Then the real world came into focus and he realized he was still in the dungeon and the others were trapped in nightmares of their own. "So now what do I do?" he asked no one in particular. He had no idea how Harlan and Catilina had gotten inside his mind so he had no clue as to how he could help his fellow prisoners.

"Hmmmm" he wondered "I might not be able to get through to them but maybe Suzee could help, I've already talked to her from this place". He took a quick breath and called out "Suzee, are you there?". Nothing. He tried a few more times before giving up.

"All right, so she can't hear me speak, but maybe she could my thoughts, after all if I can receive telpathic messages and pick up Gerkel emotions I might be able to reach a telepathic girl." So again he tried, basicly repeating the words 'Suzee can you hear me over and over again in his head.

He cut this refrain short when the dungeon dissolved the way his nightmare did. Radu looked around he was in a small room that was about two meteres in length and a metere long.It was all black and there was no light except for a dim lamp that hung from the ceiling. The only way out seemed to be the very heavy locked door that he was standing directly in front of. Radu shivered, the room reminded him of the dungeon and the slave pens that had been his home for two years.

"Stop that! It wasn't real!" he told himself.

"What wasn't real?" asked a quiet voice from behind him.

Radu turned around, in the dim light he could barely make out the figure of some one huddled in the corner. He came a little closer and saw that it was Suzee. She was wearing what looked like an all black version of the jumpsuit she had when she first showed up in the compost a year ago. Around her neck was a colar with alien writing on it. Her hair was ragged and dishevelled. The skin around one of her eyes was swelling as if someone had recently hit her very hard, in fact her whole face was covered with small cuts and brusies On either side of Suzee's head, between her eyes and ears were small black boxes about an inch big with small flashing lights on them.

"Suzee? Is that you?"he asked

She stared at him for a few minutes before repling "Y-yes, w-who are you?"

"You don't know me?" She shook her head."My name's Radu,what happened to you?"

"I-I'm a reacher, when I was little men in black came and locked me up so I couldn't reach into anybody's minds" she tapped one of the boxes on her head "the guards put these on me so I couldn't reach them either."

Radu knelt down beside her "Suzee, I'm a friend, I'm here to-" Radu fell silent as he heard one of the guards unlock the cell door and step in.

Radu felt panic. Oh no, what am I gonna do, how can I get out of this, what about Suzee, Before he even noticed it the black room disolved and he found himself back on the Christa.

"Radu!" Cat cried, running over to him and hugging him, "you're back!"

"What? what?" Radu cried, looking dazed.

"Calm down man," Harlan cautioned. As if he were a teacher he took deep breaths.

Sure enough, Radu relaxed and after a few minutes was back to his normal self. "I- I was in Suzee's nightmare," he said hoarsely. "She was beaten and... and kept prisoner... and... and she didn't know me."

Harlan and Cat were silent. Radu continued, "We were in this little black room with an olfanshioned lamplight on top- Suzee was in a black version of the suit she wore when you and her changed dimensions Cat. She said that... that little black men took away her powers. Then.. then a guard came in and I was transported here."

Radu fell silent along with his crewmates. Finally Cat spoke- knowing that the best way to work through problems was logically. "Yeah but how did you end up back here? And not in the dungeon like you did after your nightmare?"

"I... I don't know."

"I transported you here," an all too familliar voice sounded from the walls. The team shivered and drew closer. Elfinyana suddenly materilized.

"Elfinyana!" Harlan cried, "what are you doing here? Didn't the Inquisitor have you locked up?"

"That's a suitable way to describe it, yes," Elfinyana replied. "But as more and more of you have escaped the nightmares the Inquisitor has grown weaker. I was able to escape his grasp to pull Radu back to the Christa instead of the dungeon. That way you three can formulate a plan."

Catalina stared at Elfinyana til the faint memories that the slave of the Inquisitor put in Cat's head surfaced. "Oh, you're you're..."

"That's right," Elfinyana smiled, "I'm sorry, Radu, I have not time to explain myself- the Inquisitor will resume power over me in just a short while. I came to say that I know how to save Suzee from her nightmare..."

"First we must figure out what Suzee's nightmare was about before we can help her" explained Elfinyana.

"What Radu described sounds a lot like Yensid" supplied Catalina.

"THAT'S what Suzee's home dimension's like?!" Exclaimed Harlan "No wonder she spent all her time talking to a girl from another dimension!"

Catalina rolled her eyes "Only one in ten Yensidians have telepathy, the other Yensidians are afraid of the telepaths, or reachers as their also known,so the police-those 'men in black' as Radu called them-hunt down reachers and lock them up. Under conditions like that most reachers like Suzee keep their powers secret and just try yo act like 'normal' Ynsidians, Suzee used to tell me that her worst fear was that the police would find out about her powers and come for her."

Harlan turned to Elfinyana "So now that we know what the nightmare's about what do we do?"

"I'll transport you into her mind so you can do the same thing you did with Radu, get her to realize that it's not real" she replied.

"Then let's go!" Said Radu.

Elfinyana had just sent Harlan, Catalina and Radu's minds into Suzee's when there was a bright flash of light and she found herself back in the energy sphere that served as her prison.

Inquisitor stood infront of the sphere staring at her (an amazing feat considering he had no eyes). "You should have told them to call you balbbermouth" he said "now I'll have to keep your new friends from succeeding, I hope you know what an inconveinience this is" he turned and whistled "Phobos! C'mere boy!"

Elfinyana's stomach turned, she'd always been uncomfortable around Inquisitor's other assistant. He stepped out of the shadows, looking as fearsome as ever. Most people would laugh at Phobos when they first saw him, who wouldnt? He was looked like a skeleton that wore a tuxedo, bowler hat and spat shoes, but she knew first hand that he was capable of performing terrible and painful acts.

"See these 3 little lab rats?" asked Inquisitor as he showed Phobos holigrams of Radu, Catilina and Harlan. Inquisitor pointed to portal that would allow Phobos to enter Suzee's mind "Fetch!"

Phobos sighed, he never understood his master's odd sense of humour. Still a job was job and these children might provide an interesting diversion. He stepped into the portal and got to work.

Phobos looked around the strange room that he found himself in and frowned--an eerie expression for a skeletonoid. The three children he was supposed to take care of were on the floor in a deep trance. The boy with the dark skin and the girl were sitting back-to-back, and the other boy was laying on his back, close to the two others. It was strange, he thought. These children were so young, and yet they had such a strong bond. True friendship was very hard to find, Phobos knew. He could sense that they weren’t always so close--yet here they were, willing to risk their minds, their very lives for each other. Only once in his life had he felt that way about anyone. Though most other species considered his people repulsive, the Ivorians, as they called themselves, couldn't care less. Once he had loved someone, as these children loved each other. More so, even. But then the Inquisitor had destroyed her as he had destroyed so many. He had taken Phobos under his wing, s! o to speak, and now Phobos was the Inquisitor’s servant. And he did not resist. Still, seeing the peaceful expressions on the faces of the three children stirred something deep within him, and he hesitated. For the first time in decades, he wondered--was this right?

“Phobos! Quit wasting time! I’m getting bored.” Phobos jerked slightly at the Inquisitor’s voice, and sat down on the floor beside the boy with the long hair. Concentrating, he sent his awareness after the three children’s. He would intensify their friend’s nightmare, and trap them all within it.

“For you, Deimara.” he whispered as he set to work.

"Wait a second..." Radu suddenly said to his crewmates. "Something is not right here..."

Cat and Harlan looked at him warilly. "What do you mean?" Cat whispered.

"Well first of all, where's Suzee?" Radu gestured to the spot where she had been sitting before, a now very vacant spot.

Harlan shrugged. "Maybe she moved? Maybe the guards took her out to have some nurishment?"

"Somehow I don't get the impression that the guards weren't very willing to take Suzee out of her cell," Radu replied. "And I can't hear any one... besides us."

The crew members stood in a deadly silence. finally Catalina whispered, "Then what happened?"

"I don't know.." Radu replied eerilly. "I heard something though. 'For you Deimara'. You two didn't say it... right?"

"No," Cat and Harlan whispered in unison.

"Then... who did?"

But no body had an answer. In shock they just stood there, and without Radu picking up the noises of other life forms, they knew that they were alone.

“I guess we’d better start walking,” Harlan said, trying to ignore his screaming imagination. “Stay on the alert, guys. We don’t know how bad this might be. The hardest part will be convincing Suzee--if she’s as deep into this nightmare as you guys were in yours, we’re going to have a really hard time of it. She might not even recognize us.”

Radu and Catalina nodded mutely.

“Okay, let’s get going.” Harlan took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

The three friends took their time, making sure that no one spotted them. They were too unnerved by Radu’s revelation to want to deal with anything--dream or not. As they pressed themselves into yet another hidden corner to catch their breaths, Catalina rested her head on Radu’s shoulder. “We shouldn’t be so tired,” she complained wearily. “We aren’t really here. Just that knowledge should be enough to keep us from getting tired.”

“There’s something different about this one,” Radu replied quietly. “Have you noticed that there are men everywhere? It’s Suzee’s dream. There shouldn’t be any, except within her range of sight and hearing.”

“Yet here they are,” Harlan mused. “Creepy.”

“We should get moving again,” Catalina sighed. The boys nodded in agreement, but before they could move, a dark shadow came tearing down the corridors, screeching. Cat’s head snapped off of Radu’s shoulder as Harlan gripped her arm hard enough to make her wince.

“That sound. . .” he whispered in a cracking voice. “I know that sound.”

Radu looked at him worriedly. “Harlan?” His friend was shaking violently, and Catalina was gently prying his fingers from her arm.

“Harlan, what is it? What is that sound?” Cat asked.

“Don’t you know?” he asked her, eyes shut tightly. “It was a long, long time ago. Cat, you should know it, you must have heard it too. You should know it.”

“Know what?” she asked him again. “Harlan, please. You’ve got to tell us.”

He opened his eyes. “One night, years ago,” he began in a hoarse voice, “I just left my house, without even asking my mom. I was walking through some woods that were behind our house. I don’t remember why I was upset, but I was. I was just about to go home anyway, when I felt something flying by me, screaming. It was just like that, Cat. I wasn’t afraid, but there was a horrible feeling in my stomach. . .I started running home as fast as I could. I felt like something horrible was happening, that if I could only get home fast enough I could stop it. That sound. . .”

Radu moved in closer. “It’s okay, Harlan,” he said. “Tell us.”

“When I got home, my mother didn’t even yell at me for being gone so long. She just grabbed me, held me. . .she was crying. I’d never seen her cry before. Not even when dad. . .when dad went to the war. She told me she’d gotten a call. . . .”

Harlan’s voice broke, and the long-hidden tears began streaming down his face. Cat and Radu exchanged glances, then awkwardly hugged him until he stopped shaking.

“It’s okay, Harlan,” Catalina told him. “No one is going to die here.”

“How do you know?” he asked in a small voice.

“The Inquisitor is feeding Suzee’s dream with our own nightmares now. It’s a memory, Harlan. It’s not real.”

Harlan stopped shaking, and he took a deep breath. “I know,” he said finally. “It’s just. . .”

“It’s just a childhood fear. If it was a herald of death or something, I would have heard it before too,” Catalina said firmly. Harlan nodded, all too happy to exchange his fear for the logical, far-less threatening explanation that Cat was offering him. He smiled weakly, and wiped his eyes.

“Thanks, guys. Now, let’s find Suzee. She’s going to need us.”

Radu and Catalina nodded, finding new strength from helping Harlan pass his trial. Together, they knew, they would beat the Inquisitor. Together, they would win.

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