[b]Interlude[/]

[b]human[/b]

      "Captain," Nimil said, "I'm getting some sort of distress signal"

      "Some sort?" Gral asked, moving behind the communication officer.

      "It's very faint," he said. "It's the standard federation distress code. No voice, no details."

      "Where are they?" 

      "Unknown. They're outside scanner range."

      "Huar, if we pulse, what are the odds we'll be seen by anyone?"

      "The only ones who'd notice anything would be ours. This far in our territory, there wouldn't even be human military in the unclaimed territories."

      "Okay, give us a pulse then."

      "Scans on main," Huar said. "Pulse in two, one, now."

      Gral watched the pulse expand from them, and nothing showed for almost a minute, and then there was a blip. "Where is that?"

      "Twelve or so light years from us, two deep within unclaimed territories. Checking the resonance signature. Nothing on file."

      "Nimil, what exploration ship do we have out here?"

      "None," he replied after a moment, "must be a private prospector."

      "They're still suppose to register their planed exploration." Gral grumbled. "Set a course. Let see what the problem is."

      * * * * *

      Jeremy entered the cargo bay, "What do you need me for?" he asked Gral, who simply pointed to the small ship in the middle of the bay. Jeremy whistled. "That isn't one of ours, is it?"

      "No, it's human."

      Jeremy walked around it. "Small, solidly built, I'm guessing it's a one person ship, cockpit, living area and little else. It's an exploration ship, but a model I've never seen before. What happened to it?"

      "Micro meteorite made it through the plating and damaged the engine," Erhik said, as she stepped out from the ship. "Do humans really live in such tight quarters?"

      "All the time," Jeremy answered.

      "Come on in, I need you to verify something for me." Once inside, the cockpit was immediately to his right, the pilot's chair and controls tightly packed. He'd have to climb over the chair to sit in it. Before him was a bed. To the left of the bed a minuscule kitchen and eating area. Beyond the kitchen the corridor opened up into a room. On his left were controls and readouts, in front the engine, and on the right, the generator.

      Jeremy looked at it, four feet wide, and probably the same depth, and floor to ceiling. He could still feel the heat coming off it, even though it was turned off. "Well, we now have undeniable proof that humans have built an antimatter generator against federation rules. If we bring this up, we can make sure they are never allowed in. Gods, what was he doing to need this much power?"

      "He was flying fast." Erhik said. "I've gone over these engines and they are somethings I've never seen before, if I can find a way to adapt them for our fighters, they'll be even more deadly."

      "Lets wait for the pilot to wake up and find out what he's doing this close to our territory," Gral said. "Before you start taking this apart. What's the generator like?"

      "It's years ahead of what I was working with back on the station," Jeremy stated. "Which isn't surprising, it's been over fifteen years since I've looked at a human generator. Considering what we had back then, this is actually quite impressive, but nothing close to ours."

      Gral nodded. "You're free to inspect it, but don't damage it."

      * * * * *

      Jeremy entered the brig. The human had managed to escape from the medical bay, and almost made it back to his ship before being caught. He fought hard against the guards who had brought him here. Gral figured that seeing another human might make him more cooperative.

      The man was pacing, mumbling to himself. He stopped on seeing Jeremy and moved closed to the glass. He was wearing some jeans and a shirt, but he was barefoot. Someone had found clothing on the ship. His hair was black, long and wild, he hadn't shaved in a few days.

      "What's your name?" Jeremy asked.

      The man took a step back. "No, no, no. You can't fool me. You look right, but you sound wrong. I'm never going to tell you."

      "Tell me what?"

      "You can't trick me!" the man laughed. "You can't trick me. I've spent too many years on this. I'll die before I tell you." He looked to the side. "No, I can't die. I have to report it. The plan won't work if they don't know about it"

      "What plan?"

      "I'm not telling you," the man sang.

      "Fine, at least tell me your name."

      The man pressed his face against the glass. "Whats *your* name?"

      "Jeremy."

      "Ah! Jeremy, right, Jeremy." The man froze. "Jeremy?" He squinted in Jeremy's direction. "No, no. That's can't be. You don't sound right, but there are cats. Jeremy Krommer?" he asked tentatively.

      "Yes"

      "No, no, no. You don't sound right. You can't fool me. You're lying."

      Jeremy opened his jacket, moved closer to the glass and showed him the thin scar on this throat.

      The man looked at it. "Why?" he asked, horror on his face.

      "So I can pronounce Kelsirian."

      "Why would you want that? You're human!"

      "No." Jeremy's tone was glacial.

      "No?" the denial seemed to surprise the man.

      "No. I'm kelsirian," Jeremy stated.

      "Kelsirian?" The man started pacing. "He can't be kelsirian. No, he was dating a cat, he wasn't one." He looked askance at Jeremy. "He doesn't look like a cat. Can he be one, if he doesn't look like one?"

      "What happened to you?"

      "To me? Nothing. Why? Do you think something happened to me?"

      "You don't sound like nothing happened to you."

      "Ah! You try spending eight years alone in a small ship and see what happens to you mind!"

      "Didn't you have anyone to talk with? Your ship has a working communication system."

      "No! I can't talk. You can't make me talk. No one can know what I was doing. It's a secret." He started giggling. Then stopped. "You're Jeremy," he stated. "You have to help me. I can't stay here."

      "Why?"

      "Because I'm . . ." He started searching his pockets. "My things, my uniform. There's something in the pockets you have to see."

      Jeremy looked up at the camera, and then back at the man. "Someone will bring it, in the mean time, why don't you tell me your name? I told you mine."

      "My name is . . ." His mouth hung opened for a moment, than closed. He looked around, searching. "No, no, that isn't right. Right! My name's Adam, Adam . . . . Douglas? Yeah, that's right, Adam Douglas." He chuckled, "why didn't I remember it?"

      "Alright Adam, why do you have to leave?"

      "Do you have it?"

      "Have what?"

      "Arrg. If you don't have it I can't tell you."

      "Why not?"

      "Because you have to know."

      "Know what?"

      "That I'm . . . .I'm . . ." He looked up and screamed. "That I'm like you!"

      Jeremy was taken aback. What did he mean? He couldn't mean he was part of a kelsirian crew . . . Was it that he didn't consider himself human either?"

      The door opened and Gral entered.

      "Is that him?" Adam asked. "Is that your boyfriend?"

      Jeremy glared at Adam, as a warning to watch what he was going to say next.

      Gral put something in his hand, and Jeremy looked at it. It was silver, in the shape of a leaf, with a clip at the back so it could be attached to clothing. Why did it look familiar. Gral put another, identical, in his hand. Adam had two?

      No. Jeremy remember now, one of them had been given to him the last time he'd been on Earth. He looked at Adam, eyes wide.

      "Yes! Yes!" Adam did a little dance. "You have one too, I'm like you."

      "You have sex with other males"

      Adam sat, and his body relaxed as he let out a sigh. "Yes. I'm a Leafer, just like you."

      "Leafer? That's the term you use for a male who has sex with males?"

      "Or women who have sex with women, or family that support them, and people who help them. It's all part of the plan." Adam stood. "That plan! There has to be pressure. You have to apply pressure. The plan won't work if there isn't any pressure."

      "Adam," Gral said. "We will help you."

      "You will? Why?"

      Gral held up the two pins. "Because we are like you."

      "Right."

      "But for now, I need you to rest. Jeremy will come back tomorrow, and you can tell him how we can help."

      "You need to apply pressure!"

      "We will, but for now, rest." The two of them left the cell area. "Lower the lights so he can sleep." He told the guard. Then looked at Toom. "Did any of that make any kind of sense to you?"

      "No, but are you surprised? Eight years without any contact, in that box they call a ship. It's amazing he's even that coherent. That human must have had a very strong mind when he set out on what ever this is."

      "Come on, lets go rest ourselves." They left the brig. "Tomorrow I'd like you to reach out to your backroom contacts, see if any of them know what a human explorer is doing here."

      "I will, but don't expect much. Politicians aren't really known for knowing who goes where."

      Gral's paces slowed, until he stopped.

      "Gral?" Jeremy asked.

      "You two go ahead, the cubs will be missing us, you keep them entertained. I'll be there shortly, I have an idea who might have answers."

[b]Revelations[/b]

      "Captain," the older kelsirian said, a moment after his image appeared on the screen

      "Admiral Oturslgirnal, thank you for taking my call so quickly."

      "I wasn't going to keep the Hunter at the Line waiting," he replied, smiling warmly. "What is the reason for you call?"

      Gral kept the grimace from showing, he hated that title. He'd acquired it after the general had fabricated a vision that let Gral continue to patrol the kelsirian-human border. He was grateful to the Admiral, but he didn't like the reminder of the fabrication.

      "I think we need to meet," Gral said.

      "A meeting? Are you close to Kelser? You could have arranged that through my secretary."

      "I'm not. And I'm not sure you want this to go through channel. We've come across . . . something."

      "Isn't that a little presumptuous of you? Requesting a meeting, just because you found something?"

      "I'm confident you don't want me to file a report on this, considering you're the one who assigned me this patrol route."

      "I didn't assign you anything, you have Freedom of Hunt."

      "When I'm pursuing a quarry, yes. The rest of the time I follow my assigned patrol route, and you are the one in charge of assigning those."

      The admiral leaned back in his chair and eyes him. "You're certain this is that important?"

      "Yes, sir."

      "Be in your sensor lab in ten minutes, you'll get a message there."

      The communication cut, leaving Gral perplexed. "Huar,"

      "Yes captain?"

      "Meet me in your lab in five minutes." Gral left his office.

      * * * * *

      The sensor lab wasn't much to look at for Gral. A reasonably sized room, with more readouts screen lining the walls that he could count. He knew Huar could find out the state of any individual sensor from here, he also knew he didn't spend much time in this room, preferring to do visual inspections.

      They had been waiting for a few minutes, when a message arrived. A string of number that was meaningless to Gral.

      "That's a frequency setting," Huar said, "but that isn't within sensor range."

      "Can you get the sensor to reach it?"

      "Sure, I can adjust the sensor to 'see' anything, it's just surprising. There's nothing in that range." He typed commands, and then entered the frequency he had received. "I'm brining up on screen, but we're not going to see anything."

      The admiral's face appeared.

      "Gods," Huar exclaimed, "how is that possible?" he started typing.

      "Leave it, Engineer," the admiral ordered, and Huar stopped. "We're using the frequency as a sub-carrier wave. It's outside standard scan ranges, and even then, it's almost undetectable. I'd appreciate it if you didn't look into it any deeper."

      "Yes, sir," Huar replied.

      "Please leave us," Gral said, and Huar left the lab. The Admiral made a sign, and Gral saw shadows move, heard a door open and then close.

      "Now, captain. What's so important."

      "I have a human exploration ship, and its pilot. Which isn't a surprise to you, I take it," Gral added, at the lack of  reaction from the admiral.

      "It isn't, humans have been been exploring unclaimed territories since before we met them."

      "So have we. But I'm guessing you know more about this ship than any of the others, am I right?"

      "You are," that admiral said, after a moment. "What state is the ship in? And it's pilot?"

      "The ship's engine is offline, damage cause by a micro meteorite. The pilot is physically fine, but his state of mind is dubious, at best. He spent eight years in total isolation, from what I saw, even humans can't take that much."

      "I need you to repair his ship, but in a way that doesn't reveal you did it. Then you need to send him back to the humans."

      "Why?"

      "He's part of a group that's working to free a subset of their citizen from their government's oppression."

      "The silver leaf pin."

      "You know about it?"

      "Yes, I ran across it when I escorted Jeremy to see his mother."

      "I don't recall this being mentioned in a report."

      "I didn't think it was relevant, just two males, accosting us in a bar, giving us the pin, and mentioning something about a plan. I thought they were just part of a small group wishing their situation was better."

      "Their group isn't small. We don't have any numbers, but there are a lot of them. The human government calls them 'Homos'

      "They call themselves, 'Leafers'." The surprise on the admiral's face told Gral he hadn't known that. "The human pilot, Adam, told us."

      "They have placed some of their people in positions of power, and they are working toward something they call 'exodus'." 

      The word was human, and unknown to Gral. He'd ask Jeremy about it. "How are they infiltrating their own government?"

      "By being careful not to be noticed. If no one knows about their preferences, they are invisible within their society."

      "What does an explorer who's been away from human space for eight years have to do with their plans? The only thing in his databanks are scans of planets."

      "I don't know. Maybe you can get him to tell you that. All I know is that he and a few other explorers are very important to them."

      Gral nodded. "Adam mentioned something about applying pressure. Do you have any idea what he means?"

      The admiral though it over and shook his head. "No, but I'll pass the information to the ambassadors working close with the humans, they may know. Is there anything else?" Gral shook his head. "Then, good hunting, oh and thank your mate for the upgrade he came up for the sensors. What's how we have this sub carrier wave." The admiral cut the transmission without explaining further.

      * * * * *

      "Hello Adam," Gral said, as they stood before his cell. "I'm Gral, I'm the ship's captain. You remember Jeremy, my mate, and this is Leiha, the ship's mentalist."

      Adam was sitting on his bed, nervously looking at them. "What's a mentalist? Do I want to know? Am I suppose to know?"

      "I help people who have problems with their minds," she answered.

      "You're a mind doctor," Adam stated, regarding her suspiciously.

      "That would be an appropriate description."

      "I don't like mind doctors. They do things, they try to change you. To make you 'normal'."

      Gral and Jeremy exchanged a look.

      "I do nothing of the sort," Leiha said. "I help people quiet their mind, so they can know who they are. If there is something in their mind that hurts them, I help them find out what it is, and come to terms with it."

      "Where are your machines? Mind doctors always have machines. Big machines, small machines, painful machines."

      Leiha looked at Jeremy, who wasn't showing any of the discomfort he was feeling. She could tell that he was now wondering if Adam's problems had been caused by those doctors, instead of the isolation.

      "I don't use machines, it's only me, and you."

      "And them."

      Leiha nodded. "The captain and his mate have questions for you. And if you'll let me, I'd like to help you answer them."

      "No, I'm not suppose to tell anyone. The plan won't work if they know."

      "Who's 'they'? Jeremy asked.

      "No, no, no, no! You won't get me to tell you!" He put his hands over his mouth.

      Gral crouched before the glass. "Adam, we want to help you. My ship's structural engineer is repairing your ship. When that's done, we'll send you back toward human space, even if you don't tell us anything. But we want to help you, and it's going to be easier to do that if we know what's going on."

      "Why? Why would you want to do that? No, no. No one wants to help. They just want you to be normal. Being different is wrong." He had pulled his knees to his chest an he was rocking back and forth.

      "Adam," Leiha said, "tell me about Robert."

      "Robert?" Adam stopped rocking, and his features softened. "Robert's an accountant, he lives across the hall from me. He helped me forget the nightmares, he's waiting for me to come home."

      "What happens once you get home?"

      "Nothing," Adam sighed. "He going to have to ignore me. I'm going to be too visible, I'm going to be on tv a lot. We're going to have to be apart until we leave."

      "Why do you have to remain apart?" Gral asked, before Jeremy could stop him.

      "Because if they find out about us, the doctors are going to come back. I don't want the doctors anymore. I don't want them to know about Robert."

      "Adam," Jeremy said softly. "What can we do to help you and Robert?"

      "You have to send me back. I have to go home, and be ignored by him, even if that's going to hurt."

      "Why?"

      "Because I found it. I found the place where we can go to." He got off the bed and leaned against the glass. "And you know the best part?" he whispered. "They are going to send us there willingly."

      "Why will they do that?" 

      "Because they're going to think they are sending us to hell, when in reality they are sending up to heaven." 
      
      
[b]End Interlude[/b]