PZA: XY-N 8b-10

"Since when did I bother?" he asked himself, powering up the craft's computer interface. "Time to City?" he inquired.

"Disengage autopilot," the Hunter ordered, sending the craft into a descent for a landing in what looked like an open meadow that was well shielded by trees. "I hate the woods," he muttered. Jayk stirred, but didn't wake up.

Once he had set down in the clearing, the Hunter popped the hatch. The break in the rain was a welcome one, but he knew that it wouldn't last. Painfully, he fired up his Psi. It took several minutes to fully come up to power, and his head began to ache. His Suit hissed and released an analgesic. He scratched at his ear, then turned back to his captive. Jayk was still asleep and dreaming, and the Hunter almost regretted having to wake him.

The young Mutant took a deep breath and attempted to stretch, but his restraints stopped him. He was awake and alert immediately, and the Hunter could feel the shock and apprehension rolling off of him in waves.

"Your worst one, no doubt," the Hunter replied, but his Psi told him that Jayk wasn't THAT afraid of him. In fact, he could tell that Jayk was about to start baiting him.

The Hunter thought for a moment, amazingly, taken off guard. Jayk had thrown him a proverbial curve ball. "Maybe because I wanted to talk to you."

"Sometimes," the Hunter replied, stretching again and climbing down. "You want to get out and move around a bit? The sun's out."

Jayk smiled, his fangs flashing in the sun. He was warm and dry, and although he was a bit stiff and sore, he wasn't actually in pain. At least, not physically. He held up his bound wrists. "I sorta can't move," he said.

The Hunter drew his weapon and checked it. "I'll let you loose. You climb down and stretch, do your business if you have to, but don't try anything, got that?"

Jayk nodded. The Hunter's Psi told him that Jayk wasn't going to do anything, but then again, the Mutant had already fooled him once already. He aimed the weapon and said, "Computer, release prisoner restraints."

The computer complied, and Jayk's wrist and ankle restraints released, as did the seat belts. Slowly, he untangled himself from the warm blanket and climbed down. His knees were a bit shaky, but the green grass felt good under his bare feet. The fact that he was naked didn't seem to bother him, but the Hunter did sense SOME bit of shame. He also felt a bit of sympathy; Jayk was a full eunuch, just as he was. An involuntary one as well.

"Thanks," Jayk muttered, stretching and trying to work out the kinks. "How long we been flying?"

"Just stay where I can still see your feet. Besides, you've got a tracking device locked around your neck, so don't think about running off," the Hunter ordered.

Jayk scratched at his neck and the Hunter heard Like this piece of shit matters to me, Psion. Been caught before, got away before.

Jayk paused at that, relieving himself on the other side of the craft. "Nice ship," he mused aloud. "Is it yours?"

The Hunter sighed. Jayk's tones, both verbal and mental, were condescending. "Let's just cut the small talk, alright? I know you know about N, the Runaway Bio brat from #32 – so start talking!"

Jayk was walking back around the craft when the Hunter said it, and the wave of sadness and regret that came from him was nauseating. Combined with his own physical weakness, the Mutant stopped and sat down heavily in the green grass. He bowed his head, suddenly worn out. "I won't tell YOU shit about Xyn!" he snapped.

All of these emotions assailed the Hunter violently, and he was amazed at the depth of Jayk's pain. He pulled his Psi back in just a bit, his head beginning to ache again despite the efforts of his Suit. He swallowed, resisting the urge to somehow become lost in Jayk's personality. For there was something else there, something even more powerful, and a part of the Hunter yearned towards it. Beneath the pain and loss was love, and it was even more powerful than the nauseating wave of despair had been. He touched at the edges of it, and felt almost giddy. He hadn't felt such in almost a Deca-Cycle.

The Hunter reached into his belt pack and withdrew a small container. He tossed it to Jayk, and it landed in the grass at his feet. Jayk picked it up and laughed. The Hunter watched him, but didn't feel him.

Jayk opened the package and took a bite of the strange looking paste. "All this!" he suddenly gesticulated, and the Hunter aimed his weapon at him, taking a step back. Jayk laughed harder.

Jayk took another bite and looked around, his eyes becoming unfocused and distant. "I'm sure you know by now that I'm a Slow Mutant," he offered, and the Hunter nodded, "and here I am, after so many Centi-Cycles of running and hiding, or being a slave, sitting naked in this sunny meadow with a Hunter – no, wait, THE HUNTER – eating field rations and chatting! I've seen my friends, some of whom I loved more than my own life, starve to death or get sick and die, or get caught by the likes of YOU and never see them again. Never known what became of them! Then I finally find a home, find someone who loves me – someone who got through to me after SO long – and then I change. I'm a Beast, did you now that, Hunter?"

The Hunter nodded. "The Computer mentioned it after it scanned you, and well, uh, the way I found you, I have to admit that I was sort of wondering."

"Kel," the Mutant said flatly, his mind betraying his disgust. "He wanted to leave Xyn behind to die. He got what he deserved."

Yet there was a note of something else in Jayk's voice, and the Hunter let slip his Psi just a bit more. Self-loathing. He might talk big, but the Hunter knew then that the killing was almost more than Jayk could bear.

"Everyone calls him that, N, that is," the Hunter said, a chill going down his spine at Jayk's callous dismissal of the atrocity, despite what his Psi told him.

Jayk nodded. "That's what he called himself. Poor little Bio didn't even have a name. Didn't have any sense, either. When I found him, he was totally innocent. He didn't have a clue. He was just a confused and hurting little one who'd lost the only home he'd ever known. Then he met me. I didn't like him at first, but I couldn't just leave him. Figured YOU'D find him, or one of your crew. I can't believe I did it again with him."

The Hunter was intrigued, and he wanted Jayk to keep talking. Carefully, very carefully, he reached into Jayk's mind and suggested it as he had with little Edward IV. Jayk's mind was a fresh one, however, to him; it was also very old. The Computer had been right, and Jayk wasn't lying. He WAS a Slow Mutant, and possibly the oldest one the Hunter had ever encountered. It didn't work.

Jayk finished off the ration package and tossed it aside, grinning. "Oh alright, I'll talk. IF I can have another one of those, that is," he bargained.

The Hunter laughed at the audacity of his prisoner, but he tossed him another package all the same. After all, Jayk was worth a mint, and he wanted him in good shape for delivery.

As he was opening the next package, the Hunter marveled at how a non-Psion had known what he was thinking. Then he thought of HER. Or maybe Xyn. Now they've got ME doing it, too he thought, thinking of his next prize, N, as 'Xyn'. Jayk was eating and still grinning when he looked up. The Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"It comes from hanging around too many Psions, you know," Jayk offered, carefully licking off his fangs.

"You didn't hang around N for too long," the Hunter countered, and immediately wished that he hadn't said that. Jayk slowly nodded, his grin faded away, and he sat the food down. The depression was overwhelming, and the Hunter felt his own eyes sting. Without trying to probe, he picked up the image of Xyn in Jayk's mind; it was THAT strong. It was also filled with longing and love, this image of his quarry. The emotions were intense, and not unlike the sudden and terrible longing which he himself remembered feeling when he had been literally torn from his parents' arms.

There was then a feeling of lust, and sexual arousal. The Hunter violently jerked his Psi back in to himself, severing the spontaneous connection with Jayk. The Mutant looked up at him, tears streaming from his dark eyes. He nodded again. "He was so innocent when I found him. Did you know he took off his Suit and put it on a little one there in the Ruins who was dying of a Remnant?" Jayk whispered, his voice thick.

Jayk's reply was instant and heated. "Of course we do! We're not totally immune, you idiot! Damn, don't you know what's floating around in THERE? That's why WE go there to begin with, to hide from YOU! Or rather, from Hunters in general until YOU came along! But yes, every now and then one of us gets a Remnant or something and we can't shake it off. And there's no one there to help US. No doctors, no Facilities, no Parts replacements. We just die, unlike the Approveds who just get repaired!"

"You said that N WAS innocent," the Hunter offered, trying to change the subject.

Jayk nodded again, his eyes distant. "He had no clue. You should have heard him talk about that prick who runs the place he got out of. Lucky for him it burnt down when it did, or they'd have probably started cutting on him for his organs and stuff by now, too. Maybe he'd be better off though."

"I doubt it, the parting out, that is. The Director there's in love with him. You might take some comfort in the fact that he's absolutely miserable both day and night pining away over N."

Jayk looked up sharply. "You really believe he loves him? I mean, WHAT does he love? Does he love Xyn, or does he love Xyn's Psi? Or is it lust?"

The Hunter carefully thought out his reply. He hadn't actually probed Abrams' too hard on that, simply because he didn't want to know. However, he had his suspicions. "I think he loved N for what he could do for him, with his Psi. He told me all about it, but I didn't look too hard. I didn't want to know. Maybe he's a pervert, I don't know. Maybe he's been molesting all the little Bios all this time. Who knows? Who cares? In the end, most of them die anyway when they finally need a vital part that the little one can't live without. I DO think HE was the only reason that N was totally unblemished, however. He was protecting him."

But the Mutant was shaking his head, his long braided hair going this way and that. "It wasn't like THAT, the sex I mean. Xyn didn't know anything about that until I took him home with me. Hell, he didn't even know what a Mutant was, and he was a damn Psion! No one was molesting him, trust me. He knew he was special, and that a lot of Adults didn't like him, but that was because he's so damn full of love and… and… I guess… he so wants to be loved in return, but only by certain people. You know what I mean? He mentioned adoptions once, and how much it hurt that no one ever wanted him – but I don't think HE wanted anyone to want him. It was like he bonded to this Abrams guy or something, and when he was gone, it left a huge hole in him somewhere." Jayk paused, and drew a deep breath. "Then he met me."

"And what about YOU?" the Hunter asked, his interest piqued. "He saw into me. He didn't even try. He didn't know HOW to be a Psion, he just DID it. After a couple of days, he saw how bad I was hurting inside, I mean, face it – I'm old. I look like a little one, but I've been around. I was a mess when I met Xyn. I didn't trust him, I was scared of him, and THIS is exactly why!" Jayk wailed, his sudden burst of emotion very literally knocking the Hunter over. "I… I've l-lost…" but Jayk couldn't say it. He gazed up into the Hunter's eyes, and thought I've lost everyone I ever loved, the last one to you, or someone like you, and now Xyn to my own Mutation! They left me because I changed, and killed Kel! And I did it out of love for Xyn! Why didn't you just let me die, damn you?!

The Hunter decided right then and there to switch it off. The raw emotion and pain in the Mutant was too much for him! Never had he encountered a Mind so filled with so many conflicting feelings. As his Psi went down, much to his own relief, the Hunter saw a flash of another face – a small freckled face with white eyes and flaming red hair. There was another confused welter of emotions, longing and frustration – and another horrible sense of unfathomable loss and utter helplessness. He simply couldn't stand it.

It was almost like a computer that had been left online for far too long, the Hunter thought – too much data, the file tables too involuted to follow. Eventually, it went crazy and one had to reformat and start over. His mind raced over how it must feel to, in essence, BE a little one for uncounted Cycle upon Cycle, always young – always healthy. Jayk might not be a Psion, but the Hunter knew that he was getting too close to this one. He realized that Jayk had information that he really needed, but using his Psi was only going to get himself too involved, perhaps hurt as well. Again, he felt the temptation to become lost in Jayk's Mind via his Psi. But he would just have to rely on his wits and skills, as the other Hunters did.

Very slowly, he walked towards Jayk. Jayk, however, didn't move much. He only rolled over onto his side, curled up into a fetal position, and sobbed. The Hunter looked down at him, feeling his own hot tears on his face. Staring down at the asexual form of the not-quite-so-little one in the grass before him, he was reminded of a story that his mother had told him when he himself had been very little.

'Long ago,' she had read to him in a soft voice as he fought off the urge to sleep, 'after God had created the Heavens and the Earth, there was a war in Heaven. Lucifer, one of God's most beautiful Angels, had come up with the idea that he was better than his Creator and that he should be in charge. The battle that had ensued shortly thereafter, when Lucifer would not listen to God's reasoning and rejected his love, had caused him to be cast out. Long and great was his fall, and a third of the Heavenly Host fell with him to inhabit the low places of the Earth and the Lake of Fire – in the end – when God finally finished off his Grand Plan for the Universe. For all eternity would Lucifer and his host, along with all men who fell short of forgiveness of God, burn in that Lake of Fire, in endless torment.'

The Hunter shivered as he took in the sight on the green grass before him, almost exactly as he had envisioned those Angels, one by one, falling to Earth.

"What the hell is WRONG with me?" he asked aloud, looking up at the sky, which was turning dark and threatening again.

"Because I can't!" Xyn cried out, bolting awake and sitting up in bed, "I can't let you die, Jayk!

Back in her control room after so long, Shar's Network connection broke as the Psionic scream assailed her. She shook her long, flowing black hair back and winced. Dan, Chriss, she called out Psionically, Xyn's awake!

It had been a long and laboring trip back home, Shar knew. Their numbers now in the thousands, and her Psi still not used to it all, were staggering. Even as they had journeyed back, more and more gangs had joined them. She turned back to her control panel, where there danced several images of the Com-Tell satellite, an image of the Hunter, and an image of the most stable buildings in the area that Shar could find. Within that image, powered by an immense program that Kel had written for them long ago, were signs of life on all of the lower floors. Most of the old buildings reached up into the very sky, but they were structurally sound. After all, the diseases that had made this place the Ruins had not harmed the stones and bricks.

Still, HE was out there somewhere. She had felt him, so close, the previous night. Felt him hiding, however, shielding! She smiled. He was afraid of her, and she couldn't help but wonder if it were because he knew that she was an XX not prone to the fading of the Psi as most XY's were.

She couldn't dwell upon it, though. Xyn was awake, and Tym – the sickly little strange Mutant that he had befriended, was no better. Tym, like so many of the weaker newcomers, was sick. True, they now had food and drugs, replacement electronic parts for the Runaway Approveds who had joined them, but would it be enough? How long before they had bring down another ship and do it all over again before they were strong enough to carry out THE PLAN, as she and Kel had called it? How long before the strange and yet compelling little Tym succumbed to his mysterious illness that defied treatment?

It was devious, but she was sure that it would work. She felt ashamed of herself for thinking it up, but then again, she was desperate. She had lost Jayk due to her own hasty misjudgement; she could not afford to lose Xyn as well. Carefully, she locked down tightly on Dan, her son by Kel, and sent to him : Dan, my son. Listen to me. Xyn is going to kill himself if we do not give him something else to think about. Tell him about Tym. Tell him to come to me, despite his hatred which I can feel even now. Tell him that the drugs are not working, that we do not know what is wrong. Tell him that only HE can save his little friend.

She felt him agree, and rose from her Network center. Her step was hard and determined as she made her way down to the levels where the sick ones were being cared for. Already, they had taken losses. Too many losses. Mutants didn't sick very often, but when they did, it was usually fatal. She swept her Psi ahead of her, desperately trying to function on what little sleep she had been able to get. Somehow she had to become accustomed to all of the new ones so that she could better guard them in concert with the other Psions. She thought of the Hunter again, and wondered if he were listening in to Xyn's desperate ravings.

Dan and Chriss quickly made their way towards Xyn's room, which Dan recognized as Jayk's old room. He hadn't thought it a good idea at all, but he wasn't about to question his mother. They entered the hallway leading to the room, and Chriss suddenly gasped. "What is it?" Dan asked, his voice squeaking in excitement.

Chriss' mouth was open, and his eyes distant. "Xyn's calm!" He exclaimed, "he's calm and quiet all of a sudden!"

Dan blinked. Not being a Psion, he had no idea what Chriss meant. He hadn't heard a thing. "You think he's gone zombie again?"

Chriss shook his head, his white hair falling into his face again. He blew at it. "I need to get this mop cut," he stated.

They ran down the remainder of the hallway to Jayk's old room, and not bothering to knock, burst in.

Xyn was sitting upright in the middle of Jayk's large and worn bed. His blue/gray eyes were sweeping over the room, but his Psi was off. His gaze wandered from the night stand to the ratty old stuffed chair with it's fillings hanging out to the huge bookcase and back up to the brass lamps hanging from the ceiling. He then gazed down at the threadbare rug, back up at the lamp, and finally at the two in the doorway. He said nothing, but his face betrayed his emotion.

Sedated during the trip back from his unsuccessful attempt to run away in search of Jayk, he had lost his bearings. Of course, he knew WHERE he was – he just had no clue on how to get from there to where he needed to be. His mouth was hanging open, and he was trembling slightly. The room was cool, and Chriss began to warm up.

"Don't," Xyn implored in a small voice that sounded dead, "Leave it cold. It's a cold and empty place I am come to now, perhaps forever." He pulled the battered blankets up over his head and didn't move.

Dan and Chriss stared at each other, and Dan could hear his mother's Mind in his own. Xyn has gone silent! What have you done?

I think he's lost it, mom. He's in bed with the covers over his head. That and he's talking like you do.

"Xyn, you helped me when you came here. Your Suit saved me, remember? Listen to me, Xyn. Tym is sick. Remember him?"

"Tym's sick and they don't know with what. He's going to die, Xyn. Tym's going to die unless you do something!"

The head under the blankets turned, and were the situation not so grave, it would have been comical. "But I can't find him now," Xyn whispered, "I don't know where he is. I'm so tired, and my head hurts so bad. I tried, but I lost him. He was there, I almost had him, but now he's gone!"

"We'll take you to him," Chriss offered, carefully pulling his Psi in and hoping that Xyn wouldn't notice the lie, "We know where he is. Can you walk?"

Xyn nodded again and pulled off the blankets. His hood was down. With something of an effort, he slowly stood up. His knees buckled, but he pulled himself up and stared at them. His eyes shifted from blue to gray to a mix, but there was no sparkle to them. Chriss gasped. For the first time since he had met him, the Pyro saw that Xyn's Psi was TOTALLY shut off. He brushed his own hair out of his eyes again, and wondered how Xyn was adapting to the ¼" [6 mm] or more of fuzz on his head. He took a few steps towards him, but the little Psion didn't move. He just stared. The Pyro met his even gaze, his eyes wandering from Xyn's small round ears and down his somewhat round face to his slightly open lips. Somehow he looked different, and then Chriss noticed the beginnings of musculature, faint, under the skin tight and soiled Suit. He looked back, closely, into Xyn's drawn face and noticed the slight dusting of fuzz over the upper lip. Then he remembered what Xyn had said – 'I'm so tired and my head hurts so bad.' Chriss felt his stomach churn.

Yet he smiled and held out a long-fingered hand, and Xyn stepped forward and took it. His grip was surprisingly tight.

They led him down the long corridors of the underground hideout, each of them holding one of Xyn's gloved hands. His Suit had since changed from blue and back to its soiled white appearance, having restored its wearer as it was programmed to do. The little Psion looked this way and that, but his face showed no signs that he had any idea of where they were going. When they finally entered a large room filled with bright lights and beds containing the sick and injured, Xyn seemed unmoved. He glanced at Dan, then Chriss, but said nothing. His expression was blank.

Chriss, however, heard the thought and felt the emotion plainly. Driven by curiosity, he had let his Psi hover over Xyn for a moment. They weren't left behind!

"That big man wanted to leave me behind," Xyn countered, "Jayk was left behind."

Chriss braced himself, but the onslaught didn't come. He blinked. "Why are we here?" Xyn asked in a puzzled whisper, "Jayk isn't here."

Dan put an arm around Xyn's shoulders and gently nudged him forwards. "No, he's not, Xyn, but Tym is. You want to see him, don't you?"

Xyn nodded, letting them lead him down the aisle between the beds. Xyn had never seen a hospital before, but it reminded him of that one room at the Facility where little Bios were taken to recover after a Parts extraction. He recalled that he hadn't liked it, but Mr. Rick had insisted, saying that his being there made the other little ones feel better and get well faster.

There were small machines here and there, and tubes and wires of all kinds connected each person in a bed to many of them. Many of them were coughing and moaning, but most of them were very still. Xyn looked at each one of them, but with his Psi powered down, he really had no idea what was happening.

Then he saw HER stand up from a chair near a bed on the far side of the room. Her hands went to her shoulders, sweeping back the flowing midnight of her hair from her front. She stretched and flexed her arms, holding them out to him. In his Mind, he heard her say, Come here, to me – to us, Xyn Psion. Set aside your own suffering for the moment and hear me.

He went to her, but instead of letting her embrace him, he only stood in front of her – just out of reach – with the same puzzled expression on his face. He glanced from her to his escorts and back, and then down at the small, still form in the bed by which she had been sitting. "Tym," he whispered, the Suit's glove extension pulling back from his right hand as he reached out to touch the little one's forehead. There was a support line of some kind connected to one of his arms, and several wires disappearing under the heavy blankets. A small mask covered his colorless lips and nose, hissing now and then as it delivered oxygen. His head was resting on a large pillow, and he looked so tiny in the bed. Xyn's arm bumped a wire, and a computer chirped at him. He flinched back.

Tym didn't respond. Xyn looked back at Shar, his face suddenly grave. His brows were creased and his jaw was clenched. The light of recognition was shining from his blue eyes, and both Shar and Chriss could feel something stirring within him. Xyn then looked down at the reddish-brown stains on the front of his Suit and back at Chriss. "What's wrong with him? You were supposed to take care of him!" he demanded, reaching down to take the small and cold hand in his own.

Chriss took a step back, his hands going up in front of his face as if to ward off an attack. Although he could sense nothing from Xyn and was fast, Shar was faster. The feeling of a 'wall' going up between them knocked him off balance and he sat down heavily on a bed in shock. Fortunately, the bed was unoccupied.

But Xyn did nothing other than run his hand over Tym's mop of pale hair. It felt dry and brittle, and his ears – round and so small – were turning grayish-blue at the tips. Xyn examined the small hand, lifting the limp and thin arm that was free of a support line up to his own face. Tym's hand was cold, and his nails were blue. His eyes didn't move under his eyelids, and his breathing was shallow and ragged. Gently, the little Psion moved closer on the edge of the bed, and despite his own headache – which had begun to throb badly – brought his own Psionic abilities back to full assault mode in an instant.

"Xyn, listen to me, buddy," Chriss was saying, "I'm no medic. I had to turn him over to them. He wouldn't wake up and he kept coughing blood!" Then he suddenly collapsed backwards on the bed with a low cry, his hands going to his ears again. Shar took a step back as well, but she did not yield. The force of Xyn's Mind slammed into her 'shields,' but she immediately realized that it was NOT an attack upon Chriss nor herself. It was simply raw force – overspill. She gasped and made ready to withstand even more, but suddenly Dan was there.

"I dunno what you're doing, Xyn, but STOP IT!" he shouted, making a lunge towards him.

Shar, however, caught her son and pulled him back. She smacked him across the buttocks, hard, with her open palm. "He's not attacking!" She snapped at him, firmly holding him by the upper arm.

Dan looked confused. "B-but he's hurting Chriss!" The little malfunctioning Approved argued.

Shar was about to reply, but then Xyn let out an agonized cry as his Suit hissed loudly. Painkillers were pumped liberally into his little Bio body as the Suit detected abnormal pain, but he didn't stop. Slowly, he sank down to sit upon the edge of Tym's bed, placing his other hand on the little one's forehead. It was cold as well.

The force of his Mind was like a Storm outside this time of Season, which they all knew would begin all too soon. Shar felt that were it real, her long black hair would be billowing out behind her and her ears filled with its roar. She shifted her thought, however, and instead of a 'wall' between them all and Xyn she changed her mental image to a 'bubble' around Xyn and Tym.

The 'sound' of the raging wind ceased, and feel of 'force' subsided. Chriss sat back up, his eyes wide and his mouth open. "Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed, his face suddenly red as Shar shot him a condescending look. Dan giggled, and she relaxed her grip.

"Your temper," she said to Dan, "and your mouth," she said to Chriss, but left it hanging as Xyn spoke up.

He tried harder, sweat standing out on his face and his shoulders trembling. TYM! he screamed with his Psi.

When he had first met Tym, looked into his Mind, he had been so taken by what he had seen – so shocked, so horrified, that he had literally tried to run. But he couldn't run, his Mind having merged with Tym's as everything that the little Outcast had experienced, everything that he had lived through, had become a part of Xyn as well. Instead, he had 'run' to a place where he thought that no one would find him. Tym's strange ability had indeed driven him there, and try as he might, he could not break free of it.

It was then, during his desperate attempt to save himself, that he had thought of the sexual experience he had had, his first, when he had inadvertently become Xyn/Jayk. It had worked the same way then, but the difference had been that Jayk had had barriers in his Mind. Tym had none. He had tried to pull away from Tym as he had Jayk, suddenly – for fear of hurting him – but it didn't work. Tym's Mind had wrapped itself around too much of Xyn's own personality, and the only way out seemed to be to just 'leave.'

Xyn realized it as he 'shouted' at Tym, but he hadn't know it then, when he had found himself in that strange and wild place near the blue waters. He hadn't know Jayk then when he had arrived there either, because certain parts of his own Mind were still in Tym's grasp. It had made his decision to leave Tym with Chriss all the more difficult, but upon his awakening – his return to the real world – Xyn had realized that Tym was clinging to something within him that only two other persons in the whole world had ever touched.

One of them had been Mr. Rick, the Adult who ran the Facility and liked Xyn. Tym was clinging to those feelings. The day that Mr. Rick had shown him the unbelievable holo-images on his big screens and held him in his lap for so long, his arms wrapped around Xyn's waist and his chin gently touching the little Bio's shoulder…

And the other person had been Jayk, who had taught him so much in those brief moments as Xyn/Jayk when the two had become one.

But in holding tight to these parts of Xyn, all that Tym had had to offer in return had been pain, rejection, fear – and a terrible empty longing to just BE.

It had been all that Xyn could do to turn his back upon the unfortunate and sickly little one and to leave him in the care of Chriss, but he had done it. Once he had reclaimed that which Tym had taken from him – no, merely held too tightly to – he had known what he had to do.

Now, as he sat holding Tym's frail and cold hand, his Mind assailed the little Mutant once more. This time, however, it was not to demand his own life back and to return to the Giver the Gifts unwanted. It was to undo the damage that he had inadvertently done by so violently stripping the first bit of Love that Tym had ever felt in his short life away from him.

Inwardly, Xyn wept bitterly. His face, however, did not move. Only Shar sensed the change and saw his eyes go flat and colorless. Once again, Xyn was pushing his already badly battered Psi and body to their limits, searching… searching… and not finding the one he sought. She brought more of her own Will to bear, then did something that she had not done since the days of University when she had had the breakdown that had driven her to Runaway.

Shar aimed a goodly part of her own Psi at her Approved Processors, the circuitry that had cost an infant Bio Unapproved his/her life to save hers, and aimed the results all at Xyn.

Suddenly, Xyn felt himself falling. His legs went numb at the feeling as the cold air tore at his naked skin. He screamed aloud, but still he fell…

Chapter Nine
Don't Talk to Strangers

The Hunter & Jayk have a talk about… stuff… en route after Jayk's capture. Xyn tries to help Tym recover from exhaustion and depression, and Xyn makes a big decision after learning that Jayk is still alive.

"Don't talk to Strangers,
don't make any sudden Moves.
I sense the Danger,
in running out on You."
– Roger Daltrey, Under a Raging Moon

Jayk didn't resist as the Hunter reached down and picked him up. Even with his Psi totally shut off, the Hunter felt as if he could almost tangibly feel Jayk's pain. The Slow Mutant was limp in his arms as he turned towards the craft, wondering about what it must be like to live such a long and involuted life. He himself, young by Approved standards, had seen enough pain to last him a lifetime – Maintenance or not. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around how old Jayk could be, however. Some said that Slow Mutants aged 1 Cycle for every 50 years of real time. Some said more, some said less. The computer had placed Jayk's physiological age at approximately 15 Cycles, and the Hunter realized that at even 50:1, Jayk was pushing a Kilo-Cycle in age.

He paused about halfway back to the craft. A hard gust of chill wind suddenly blew through the meadow, and the sky grew even darker. He swore. Jayk was mumbling and shaking, and the Hunter bent his head down to hear him. "Please… I'm falling! Hold onto me, don't let me fall!"

It made no sense. He had a firm grasp on Jayk. The Mutant had to realize this. Or did he? Or was it something else? Knowing that it would take him too long to power his Psi back up, he let it pass and tightened his grip. Even if one of Jayk's friends were watching them, so to speak, there wasn't anything he could really DO about it at that moment. As he began walking again, Jayk's long, thin arms suddenly embraced him around the neck and he found Jayk's head buried in his shoulder. The Mutant's grip on him was tighter than his was upon HIM, and the Hunter – for the first time in his career – wasn't sure what to do. He pulled him closer and kept walking.

It was beginning to sprinkle again as he carefully got them both back into the craft. He gently pried Jayk off of him, and placed him in the passenger seat. For a moment, he considered sedation and a transport holding tube, but immediately dismissed it. He wanted to hear more, and Jayk was still a bit weak for heavy sedation.

Besides, the somewhat creepy remains of the dead Adult with which he had found Jayk would be in one of those tubes, placed there by the scavenger drone.

He pulled off his jacket and carefully put it on Jayk, who was beginning to shiver. The wind continued to blow, and by the time he had Jayk settled into the too-large jacket and the hatch closed, they were both damp. He fired up the engines and turned on the heat, awaiting the launch cycle confirmation. The jacket came down past Jayk's knees, but the arms seemed about right – only slightly too long. Hesitantly, he pushed the sleeves back and put the wrist restraints back on him. He then secured the seat belt and replaced the ankle restraints. A familiar surge of frustration arose within him as he ran a hand up the hairless and muscular calf, noting how cold the smooth skin felt. Jayk continued to whimper and mumble now and then, but said nothing intelligible. The seat belt clasp then attached itself to the wrist restraints, and the ankle restraints locked down to a hook under the edge of the seat. Once again, Jayk was totally helpless.

"Manual control," the Hunter ordered, placing his hands on the stick. The craft began to rise, then once clear of the tree line, began to accelerate. Both of them were pressed back against their seats as it climbed into the evil looking sky, and Jayk leaned over to stare out of the window. There was an unexpected clap of thunder accompanied by a flash of lightning, the Storm intensifying without warning. The Hunter jumped a bit and Jayk cried out, "NO! I'll fall! Don't let me fall! No one'll catch me if I fall!"

He began to struggle frantically with his restraints, but the best that he could do was turn his head and wiggle his butt on the seat. His almond-shaped eyes were wide and he was crying again. The Hunter sent the craft into a steep and hard climb, desperately trying to rise above the Storm. He wasn't sure how the new craft would handle a lightning strike, but he certainly didn't want to find out. The strange glow that man-made objects seemed to take on was already evident on the craft's hull, and it was unnerving. It seemed to take forever, then finally there came a hiss and the windows darkened as they broke through the swirling blue-gray cloud tops. "High altitude cruise engaged," the computer replied, "input course?"

"Refueling required before destination attained," the computer replied, "Suggest New City East, point of origin, or New City Seaside, midway."

"Seaside, normal auto-cruise for this altitude. Engage," he replied, releasing the controls to the computer and then turning his attention towards Jayk who was now staring in terror at the raging clouds below them. The Hunter reached out and touched his shoulder, and Jayk screamed.

The light of understanding seemed to come over the Mutant then, and he shook himself. He glanced down at his bound wrists, the padded steel cuffs holding his hands together in his lap and clasped to the seat belt's buckle. "I'm sorry," he said in a low voice, "I don't know what came over me. Where are we going?"

The Hunter thought for a moment. In all of his career, he'd never felt a thing for his captures. He'd never worried about taking them to a Facility or a Dealer or in to the Authorities if he were running late. But this was different; this capture had information he needed – needed badly – and he was also worth a small fortune. For a brief moment, he considered Acer and hiding him, but then realized that Acer would probably ID Jayk and sell him right off. After all, the Mutant WAS a prize to be had, monetary reward or not. That or Acer would try and find a Buyer who could outbid Jayk's old Master. Just having him would be reward in itself, and the Hunter cursed himself for his feelings. Slowly, laboriously, he struggled to bring up his Psi as his head began to ache. "Well I sure can't keep you, I mean, it's not like you're a stray puppy," he said, not sure of how he felt. His Suit hissed and released a painkiller.

Jayk grinned, his fangs flashing. Then the grin faded as fast as it had come. "There's a theory to that headache thing, you know," he offered.

"Xyn told me how his Suit worked, and yours just hissed," Jayk replied, "Some think it's caused by male hormone buildup as you get older. Weakens the Mutant abilities and then kills it altogether. I know one Mutant who was castrated when he was beginning to have problems with it, 13 or 14 Cycles I think, and it cleared him right up. No balls, no hormones, no headaches for Mutants. XX's don't get it, though." Jayk explained.

Jayk caught it right off, his fit of hysteria seemingly over. Still, his eyes seemed distant. It was almost as if he were watching something else, or listening to someone else. He stared at his captor, snuggling himself down into the lined jacket. "YOU? You're an e-XY? But you're so… well… big and uhh…"

Jayk nodded. "It doesn't show." He squirmed a bit. "But I guess I was giving YOU a good show, huh?"

The Hunter rubbed at his temples and closed his eyes. "Don't toy with me, Jayk. My head hurts, and you scared me with that fit. What was all that about falling?"

"I really don't know," he replied, looking back out the window. "I wasn't myself for a bit there. I thought I was talking to someone else, and it felt like falling… falling so very far and it was so cold and dark. Thanks for the jacket. I expected a transport tube."

Jayk jerked his head around, his braided hair rustling on the seat cover. His face was determined, and his jaw clenched. "Xyn? How? I don't even know where I am!"

"But HE might know," the Hunter replied, "I'm a Psion, just like him. I know how far I can reach, but I only touched his Mind once, briefly, before that bitch tried to kill me. I was watching a group in the Ruins coming over the bridge, and I almost didn't make it back out. That's why I got this new craft, so I can make it in and out and have resources to spare when I do. I don't know how far Xyn – as you call him – can reach. If he's all you say he is, then he's probably looking for you. If I'd had my Psi up and going when it happened, I'd have known. I NEVER forget a Mind."

Jayk seemed to relax, the tenseness going out of him. "I hope he gives up soon, then."

"Because he can't reach me. Even back in the Ruins, before you found me, he'd have never made it back to me. I was almost dead then. I wish I had died. You should have let me."

"I couldn't," the Hunter replied, a strange and alien emotion arising within him. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Jayk, and he wasn't sure what to do next.

"I think I have to take you back to your old Master, Jayk. You're a wanted… uh… man, you know."

Jayk sighed. "I guess it's him or the Exterminators," Jayk mused, but his eyes had gone flat.

The Hunter gasped then as his Psi reached its full operating levels, and he felt the agony coming off of Jayk in waves. There was loathing, self-hatred, and fear. But most of all, there was loss. As he heard Jayk let out an explosive sigh, he felt something deep inside of the young-looking Mutant simply roll over and give up. The Hunter pulled back from that loss, searching out into the Storm below them for signs of other Psions instead. He took in the swirling clouds, the flashes of lightning, and realized that he'd rather fall from this very craft to the ground far below than fall into what Jayk was feeling.

Jayk stared at him, then raised an eyebrow. "You know, I think you really are. The worst part of it all is that I'll never see Xyn again though."

"I'd take you back if I could, Jayk, but I can't. We could get to the Ruins, I think, despite the Storm, but we'd be stuck there then. And I don't think your people would care for MY company. The Network knows that I've captured you, and I'm required to either turn you in to the Authorities, or return you to your old Master. Legally, you ARE his missing property. Besides, with my record, I don't think anyone would really believe that you escaped," the Hunter explained.

"Then why did you come to begin with?" Jayk asked, his voice flat and unemotional.

"Because there's a reward, and a big one, on N's head. Abrams wants him back bad, and I seem to have developed this love of wealth and possessions."

"At least money never dies," Jayk whispered, "But someone might steal it. I've never had so much as two tokens to hold in my hand, but I've lost fortunes that you'd never understand."

The Hunter flinched, Jayk's remarks stinging him in a very tender spot. He thought about his acquisitions of wealth over the Cycles, wondering for the first time why he bothered. He had no one to leave it to. His own parents would be dead, if they were not already, and he had been an Only. No brothers, no sisters… not even a cousin. And no son.

"I'd trade my fortunes for a few Cycles of your's any day," the Hunter replied, letting the computer guide the craft along its course to the New City Seaside where they would refuel the craft. "How old were you?" Jayk suddenly asked, implying the castration.

"I think I was 13 or 12 in physiological time," Jayk stated, "I tend to forget Cycles. Hell, I tend to forget Deca-Cycles! Pretty soon, you don't want to keep track of 'em anymore."

The Hunter thought about it for a moment, and then he nodded. "It was part of my new career that the Authorities chose for me," he explained, his voice quavering just a bit. "I was taken from my parents when someone turned them in for harboring a Mutant. They took me to a Facility and castrated me, completely. Everything down there – gone. I woke up the next day to find myself a prisoner to this damn Suit too, Upgraded to Approved status and all! I found out I had data in my head that I had no clue as to how it got there and had to get used to Network connecting. They trained me for Cycles and Cycles, weapons, hand to hand, endurance, survivalism, then sent me out with other older Hunters. I bet you didn't know that most Hunters are not e-XY's, did you?"

"Most of them are just Approved XY's, and they were a special belt at the waist that makes access to the XY-parts impossible. When they're off duty, they go home and the belt responds to a signal from the Network to release, then comes right off. When it's time to go back on duty, they can't get into their crafts until they 'belt up' again. I didn't have that option," the Hunter stated flatly, the anger in his voice evident.

"Neither did I," Jayk replied. "I got caught and the Hunter, which obviously wasn't you – sold me to a Dealer. I think it was 20 or 21 Cycles ago, I forget. You'd have been just getting started on your career then, I think."

Jayk nearly choked, taken totally by surprise at the question. He nodded. "Once," he said in a wistful tone, "Then they got me and I never had another chance. I was just starting the XY-change too."

"I thought your voice was pretty clear and clean," the Hunter noted, "And you do have longer arms and legs than most. I miss it, you know."

"Under the Ruins," Jayk answered, "It sure as hell isn't with my old Master. THAT was never home for me. Out in the Forest, or in the Old City, or hiding in the Ruins – those were homes. At least there was love there. Now they're all lost to me."

Jayk nodded. "No problem. But, no, he didn't love me. He was in lust with me, not love. The site of me naked used to make him get so aroused. I hated him and IT at first, you know. I don't want to go back."

The Hunter nodded this time. "I'm not what I expected, either. Here I am, flying a new long range Craft over the Forest, talking to a prisoner who's a Slow / Beast Mutant e-XY, and still wanting to go and chase after a Facility brat who wandered off that might or might not be a Mutant! IN the damn RUINS no less! Go figure. So, was your Master ever able to make you climax? I mean, being cut and all…"

Jayk sighed, his face flaming. "Yes," he admitted, and the Hunter could feel the shame. "Over time, it didn't hurt anymore and I started to like it. It wasn't the same sensation as masturbation, but it felt so good when it finally happened. My Master used to tell me how happy he was for me, since I was an e-XY and couldn't just pleasure myself when I liked to – like a real Adult XY could. He used to tell me it was a shame that I'd never know the feeling of sexual release as a dominant partner. But the fact the fact that I was so young and Slow Mutant usually drove him wild whenever someone mentioned it. It's not that I had a lack of sex problem." Jayk then proceeded to describe the tamer aspects of his past sex life until the Hunter's face was red and his hands were trembling .

"Ok, that's enough, I get it!" He finally said, "Stop! Sometimes I get out of control," the Hunter stated, after calming himself a bit, "I get so worked up with no way to satisfy it that I hurt myself and pass out so the Suit can fix what damage I do. I usually punch out walls and such. Works for me, at least. Break a few bones, let out some painkillers and sedatives…"

Jayk was confused. He didn't understand his captor's line of questioning, and the sexual issue didn't really make sense to him. Of course, he himself had no sexual drive since he had no XY-parts left to provide him with such drive and desires. He had found that he could enjoy it when the opportunity presented itself, but it was not a 'need' for him as it seemed to be with XY's. And why was he being asked these things, and what would he be asked next? What was the point of it all? Perhaps the Hunter, emasculated and hormonally driven by his Suit, was trying to find out how an e-XY like Jayk got off sexually?

"I think I can use that data, thanks. And you were intimate with N, weren't you, Jayk?"

The Mutant's mouth fell open, and dumbly he nodded. Then he remembered that this Hunter – THE HUNTER – was a Mutant too. He was a Psion, in a Suit, and Upgraded. He was every Mutant or Runaway's worst nightmare come to life. He was the Authority connection that could bring Runaways out of the Ruins and come back for more! Jayk shuddered, knowing that he couldn't lie to him and get away with it.

"I couldn't hide it from him, from Xyn. He saw into my very soul, without even trying. He didn't even know he was doing it. He was so pure and trusting, and I corrupted him!" Jayk explained. "YOU know that the more and more deeply you get into someone's Mind, the more they rub off on you?"

Jayk nodded slowly. "Xyn knew what I wanted. What I had had. He saw what my life had been like and how sad I was. He saw how bad I just wanted to die. He knew NOTHING, yet there he was, willing to let me do what I wanted with him! Then it went too far, and in one night Xyn grew up. He came to my bed a lost little XY, and by morning, he was a fully educated young one. I know he probed DEEP into my Mind, he had too. He even found a way to make me feel HIS orgasm. It almost killed me, too, it was so good. I hadn't even thought about it in a long time until it just came to me. I don't know though, maybe he was wondering about it and that made ME think of it?"

The Hunter stared, his own mouth now agape. "THAT can be done? I mean, the orgasm part?"

They flew on for quite some time before either of them spoke again. Finally, it was Jayk who broke the silence. "And now since I loved him, still love him, you'll drop me off with my old Master and go back for Xyn, won't you? You'll catch him and then what?"

The Hunter nodded. "I have to. It's why I got this craft. I have to go back to the Ruins. What I'll do is most likely turn him back over to Abrams at the Facility for the reward."

"Like I said, too bad I'll never see him again. I guess our lives together are over," Jayk mourned, his dark eyes filling.

"You're so full of love, did you know that?" the Hunter asked, "I can feel it. You want so badly to give it to someone who can return it. You're not the only one who's lost the one they loved, though. I never saw my parents again after I was taken, and my life is a lonely one. If Abrams isn't lying, I can understand his desire to have Xyn back. If Xyn was using his Psi on him, without knowing it, then the loss of Xyn is probably just literally killing him."

Jayk said nothing. Only his thought was to be heard. But you're not so old, like me, either, and I could care less if a Facility butcher lives or dies.

Jayk turned towards the window, staring down at the clouds. It was breaking up as they went further South, and soon they'd be able to cruise normally again. "There's no way to find out," he stated in a voice filled with pain, "He was taken away over a Cycle ago in the Old City. I never should have gone. I never should have taken him with me."

"Computer," the Hunter ordered, "Access voice command protocols for the prisoner. Allow records search for all captures, regardless of status, in the last 3 Cycles."

"Authorization confirmed," the computer answered, lighting up a screen in front of Jayk's wide eyes.

"Ask it what happened to him. Find out who took your little one and where he went. You might not want to know, though," the Hunter advised.

Jayk stared at the screen. He cleared his throat. "Computer, search capture records for last 2 Cycles. Search for XY's Unapproved."

Suddenly there appeared on the screen before him the image of Scot, just as Jayk remembered him. Then slowly, the face changed in an age progression. The hair shortened into a well kept crew cut, but it was still flaming red. The freckles were the same, although the skin had better color tones. The face was fuller, and Scot looked so much better than he had while living in the Ruins with them. The full body shot showed him a bit taller, more muscular and fleshy. There was something wrong with the image, however, as it changed back and forth to show the changes in Scot's health records.

He sucked in a sudden breath, and let out a low, amazed sound. He ordered a zoom-up on the face only.

Scot's eyes were no longer solid white. Instead, they were like spherical mirrors floating behind the lids. There was no iris or pupil, however, only the simulated reflection of Jayk staring into them. He sat and stared, unsure what to make of it. Kel had had a cybernetic eye, but Scot's looked totally different. His did not protrude or look monstrous as Kel's had, and when the image blinked those eyes, he looked like any other little XY. They looked almost natural, except for the mirror effect, which caught the light this way and that and was actually quite pretty.

The computer replied, "Missing Bio Defective, Scot R. Jennings, aged 9.1 Cycles, Old City Main, 1.2 Cycles gone. Retrieved by Hunter #17, returned to parents. Unapproved XY, was Upgraded to Approved .8 Cycles ago. Defective parts replacements – eyes, Processor installation, Nanobots installed. Secondary Processor installed .2 Cycles ago. Extended memory chips pending. Citations include extreme intelligence even before Upgrades, form and function of body, and personality. Health, perfect. End record."

Jayk, however, only sat in silence and continued to stare at the image of the little one that he had cared for for just over a Cycle. He thought of how much he had enjoyed it, how guilty he had felt in some of the thoughts he had entertained; thoughts that he couldn't act upon. He thought of the pain of the loss, watching the Hunter take the Defective little one away as he cried out for help that never came. He wondered if Adults who lost their little one to malfunctions felt as he did.

Part of Jayk felt the weight of the world fall off of his shoulders, while part of him still cried over the loss of Scot.

"But he never said a thing to any of us! If he was just lost and not really Runaway, why didn't he want to go back to them? Why didn't he have a marker Beacon when I found him? Why didn't he tell us? Why did he so want to stay with me?"

"Why, why, why?" the Hunter mused, then said wistfully, "Why ask? Maybe he was just happier with YOU."

"…rages through the Pain,
blackenin' the Promises,
the Tears in the Rain
– the Fire still burns…"

– Roger Daltrey

"Long did I fall, and HE fell with me!"
– Gandalf the White, The Hobbit, – JRR Tolkien

Tentatively, with the cold still tearing at his exposed skin and his ears filled with the roar of wind, he took a step forward. His bare foot touched solid ground, and the darkness began to dissipate. He reached out with his Psi, unafraid and knowing that he was really in the Infirmary and under the care of – at least – Shar, if not others. He knew that his body was safe and secure on Tym's bed, his hands touching the cold skin of the dying little one.

He had come, following his Psi, in search of Tym and arrived in this place. He thought of how time had slipped away from him and Jayk when they had been in his own Mind. He picked up his pace, sweeping ahead of him with his Psi over a rough and desolate landscape. Somewhere up ahead was Tym, and Xyn had no desire to waste any time in getting him out. One thing that the little Mutant didn't have was time to waste, judging from the state of his body.

"Tym?" he called out, both Psionically and verbally, "Tym, it's me, Xyn. Where are you?"

"Go away," came a faint voice on the wind as the gray sky began to brighten just a bit.

Xyn sighed. It was true. He had gone away in search of Jayk, leaving Tym with Chriss.

"Why? I said I was sorry, Xyn. I said it over and over. I got so tired trying to bring you back when you ran from me. I didn't mean to scare you! I didn't mean to make you go all loopy and stuff. I only wanted… I… I just… please! Go away and let me alone!" Tym cried, his tearless sobs tearing at Xyn's very Soul.

"I didn't understand you then. I do now," Xyn explained calmly, running to where his Psi and the voice led him. He jumped over huge gaping wounds in the very ground, dodged rocks and snags of dead trees. The smell of the air itself was stale and sterile, and even though he knew he was not running in his body, that it was all mental illusion, he still panted. Then he crested a hill and saw it. Saw Tym.

The little one was sitting naked in a field of dead weeds near an empty basin that Xyn thought might once have been a lake. There were small skeletons here and there of what Tym must have imagined living in that lake. A huge dead tree reached its bone-white limbs up towards the gray and threatening sky in mute supplication, as if calling out to some long-forgotten god that neither cared nor listened any longer. Tym was staring at the tree, but no tears fell from his contorted face. He merely sat and stared, his emaciated body shaking now and again as if some great pain wanted to force its way out, but could not.

Tym had recreated his own version of Xyn's mental hiding place, into which he had drawn Jayk to help him.

This place, however, was not the beautiful green and blue that Xyn remembered. His retreat had been a comforting place, warm and secure and filled with life. Until the storm of blood had come. Somehow, Tym had seen that place and tried to flee there as Xyn had fled, hoping… but for what?

Xyn probed with his Psi, even though he was WITHIN Tym's Mind already. What he found wrenched at his heart, and tears came to his eyes.

Xyn had created this place, originally, based upon a fond memory of Mr. Rick showing him holo-images. This one had been his favorite, and Mr. Rick had promised to someday take him outside – OUTSIDE! – to walk on the green grass and see the blue sky without glass in front of it. He even promised that they'd try and catch the animals he called 'fish' living in the water, and Xyn had been amazed. Mr. Rick had held in in his lap and he had been, he suddenly realized, much much smaller then. He remembered the touch of his big hands and his arms wrapped around him, and the feel of his lips when he kissed him on the cheek and told him to follow a Carebot back to his dorm for the night. It was a comforting memory, reminding him of a much safer and happier time.

Tym had recreated this place, originally, based upon that fond memory which he had found in Xyn's Mind and so desperately longed to experience for himself. Only for Tym, there was no one like Mr. Rick. There was some man, but he hated Tym and drove him away. Tym was outside – lived OUTSIDE! – for most of his short life and he longed only for a warm bed in a safe house and something to eat. He had seen all that he had ever wanted in Xyn's memory when the young Psion had carried him off of the transport ship and fed him. It was part of his Mutant abilities, Xyn gathered, to lose himself in another – or vice versa, which Xyn had discovered the hard way.

But Tym had failed in his recreation, having had only his own experiences to build with.

And now he was hiding in it, wrapping the gray desolation about his dying self as if it were a warm security blanket.

Xyn gasped as he realized what he had done in breaking himself and Jayk out of his own hiding place of the Mind, even though Tym had been trying to use his own strange Mutant ability to help him do just that. Tym had been lost in Xyn's own happy memories as he had clung to the him during those terrible days of catatonic state. Then, in breaking them out of it, Xyn had evicted Tym as well.

"Everywhere I go, I bring ruin," he cried, "maybe dying in the Ruins is right then."

"No, Tym," Xyn replied in a voice filled with regret, "You didn't know. I didn't know. You didn't understand what you could do when I befriended you. You were just like a starving little one confronted by a feast – you dived in and ate your fill. But it made you sick. Too much too fast, and the host – me – wasn't prepared for the mess you'd make," Xyn mused.

"You ran from me," Tym said softly, "I hurt you and you ran. I tried to take what was yours and make it mine. I didn't mean to! I only wanted… wanted… a little bit… I didn't…" but the little Mutant couldn't get it out. His body shook again as he choked, yet he didn't cry.

"No. It's not like that," Xyn countered, desperately trying to wrap his Psi around Tym's entire 'universe' as it were, and pull them both out of it before Tym's body died in reality. "You can love as many friends as you can make. It isn't one on one, like you're thinking."

"If I hadn't cared, I'd have never taken care of you that night," Xyn retorted, his Psi expanding and expanding and his head beginning to ache terribly.

"Then why did you take it all way from me?" Tym cried, sounding as if the world were coming to and end, "Why did you tear it out of me like you did and leave me with Chriss? I'm scared of him, and you left me with HIM!"

Slowly, Xyn approached Tym and sat down beside him. He reached out a hand, but the little one pulled away. Stealthily, Xyn expanded his Psi even further, and pulled Tym into a tight embrace. Still, he resisted.

"I can't do that," the young Psion answered, tightening his grips both physical and otherwise, "You don't understand what happened, neither of us did. And if you stay HERE much longer, you'll die. Your body, and THIS place too, here in your Mind, will both die!"

"I didn't call you in like you did Jayk in your Mind," Tym said, "and if I won't go, who's goin' to get us out?"

"I am," Xyn replied, "because I drove you to this place, but not on purpose. I let you see love, caring, tenderness – then I accidentally tore it all out of you when I left, or woke up, whatever. I didn't mean to, and I certainly didn't want to hurt you in doing so."

More than his throbbing head was causing him, Xyn felt more pain from Tym's words. He felt hot tears of shame on his face, and he reached up to wipe one away. When he drew his hand back, however, he held within it a small crystalline jewel. He held it out to Tym, but the little one looked away.

"I don't want ANYTHING from you, no more. Not from anyone! Go away!" Tym cried out, trying with all he had to pull out of Xyn's grasp.

Then, on impulse – or perhaps frustration at not being able to get through to him – Xyn hurled the small jewel towards the empty basin of the lake. It struck the dead and dry ground with a resounding splash sound, and the Earth before them split open even as Xyn cried out in the most exquisite pain that he had ever felt as his Mind and Will suddenly exploded.

Back at his bedside, Shar watched Tym's vitals degrade. She also watched Xyn, lying beside him, writhing in pain. Still, she poured her Psi out at them, calling… calling… come back to me!

The waters that burst from the crack in the Earth were dirty and gray at first, but as Xyn cried out in pain and lost his grip on Tym, the waters turned blue and foamy and began to fill the basin. The sky suddenly began to swirl, and the wind blew again, warm this time. There came with it a fresh scent, and the dead weeds began to sprout up new green shoots as the basin filled with blue and the clouds coalesced into puffy, white clumps overhead. The dead snag of a tree suddenly swelled with buds, and Tym gasped.

He looked all around, lost in the wonder of it all in a state of change, for how long he did not know.

He breathed in the fresh and clean air, stared at the fluffy clouds, and as the blue waters came up to the edge of the basin to meet them, he felt the caress of those waters on his dry skin. The basin filled in fully as the tree burst into green leaves and the weeds and grass flowered in multiple colors all around them. A fish jumped in the water with a resounding splash. The air was suddenly alive with the songs of a thousand birds. Then a voice seemed to be carried on that warm and vital wind, calling his name, and Xyn's.

But when he looked over at the one who had come to save him, Tym saw that Xyn had fallen back into the enlivened grass on his side.

Tym swallowed hard, and not knowing if he could do it right or not, he brought what he thought were his own Mutant abilities up to power. He reached up into the sky, down under the waters, into the tree and the grass and weeds. He called, and he listened. The voice on the wind seemed to answer him, but he didn't understand it. Still he tried.

He thought of all the things that Xyn had said to him, wondering if any of them were true. So badly he wanted to believe some small part of it! What IF Xyn had been right, and he himself had been wrong? What if Xyn really did love him, when no one else had before? And if he didn't, then WHY did he come here to begin with? Why had Xyn come looking for him after all that he had done to him?

Tym began to shake and cried out, "I didn't mean to! I hurt you. Everything I did was wrong, and it made you get sick! It made you run and hide HERE! Then Jayk killed that bad man, and they left him to die! I killed Jayk, just like I'm killing you now! It's all my fault. Why does everything I touch have to die?!" he screamed, taking the still form of Xyn in his arms and holding him, wishing him to be alright. Wishing that he loved him like he loved Jayk.

'But I didn't mean to,' Xyn had said, and finally, as the leaves of the tree rustled in the warm wind and the waters lapped their bare legs, Tym believed it.

There was a sudden clap of thunder that shook the entire world, or at least the world in which they were trapped, as Tym buried his face in Xyn's shoulder and let go.

Hot tears, the first in so many long and terrible Cycles of running and hiding, streamed down his face and soaked the unconscious Psion's shoulder. Tym clung to him and cried, his thin chest heaving as he sobbed out all of the pain and suffering he had endured because even other Mutants had been afraid of him.

And as his tears fell, his Mind let go with all that he was worth and he screamed.

Suddenly they were falling, their arms wrapped tightly around one another. Someone somewhere was crying out, "Don't let me fall, no one'll catch me if I fall!" The thunder shook them again, rattling their very bones with its force. Tym didn't understand most of it, but he DID understand where he wanted to be, and it wasn't falling in the darkness. With what little he knew of control, as the other Mutants had called it, he looked up and cried out for help.

Shar heard that cry, and sensing the 'hand' that had been offered and refused once before was being offered again, she reached out into the Psionic darkness and took it. Both forms on the bed flinched, and Xyn sat bolt upright with a pained yelp. His Suit was hissing and beeping softly, pumping him full of whatever it sensed that his Bio body needed. It lit up blue for an instant, then returned to soiled white. Next to him, Tym shook and gasped, his monitors lighting up like a Unification Day Display. He sucked at the oxygen that was being delivered though the face mask and his hand began to warm within Xyn's. He squeezed it and sighed, his eyes fluttering open for only a second. Shar increased the flow of all the life support devices to which he was connected, and pulled her Psi back in. She smiled at them both. "Are you quite alright?" she asked Xyn.

The little Psion shook his head and blinked a few times, powering down his Psi as his headache dissipated. "Thanks for the lift. I think I'll be OK now. How long?" he asked.

"Just a bit over a whole afternoon is all," she stated as if nothing unusual had happened, then added, "You know, Xyn Psion, you really must learn not to run yourself so hard like that."

"Yea, I think you're right. Quick trip though," Xyn replied, trying to stand. He failed.

Shar caught his arm and helped him into the bed next to Tym's, whose eyes were now darting this way and that under the lids. His lips, beginning to color up to a faint pink, were turned up ever so slightly in a smile.

"Sleep here for the rest of the night," Shar ordered, "Kefe and the others will guard our refuge through the darkness. Rest, and know that you have done well."

But Xyn was already asleep, and for the first time in so many Cycles, some part of him sensed that the little one in the bed next to him was having pleasant dreams and not nightmares.

As the darkness began to fall and the Carebots had put all of the little Bios to bed, Rick Abrams was pacing the halls of his Facility. The day had not gone well for him. There had still been no word from the Hunter. There had been no more strange happenings such as the feeling that he had had the previous day that Xyn was alright. One of the Carebots had broken down in the middle of learning time. There had been one adoption of a little XX, which he had been ordered to oversee since Ms. Jones was on vacation from the XX dorms. There had been three Parts extractions – one kidney, one lung, and one XY emasculation. And two Suits had malfunctioned on VERY little ones, leaving Abrams in quite a state. He had handled it all professionally, however, and returned to his office only to find that he had run out of coffee.

He was just getting ready to go back to the office and log on to the Network when he heard a soft chime from the comm system. "Incoming message, Director Abrams, Priority One," the soft voice spoke from everywhere at once.

"In my office," Abrams replied to the ceiling, wondering why he still looked up to address the system that was literally everywhere.

Once back the office, he logged on and called up his messages. This one was a live feed!

The screen cut to side view of Jayk. Abrams gasped. "What in hell is THAT?" he demanded, staring at the sleeping Mutant.

"THAT," the Hunter replied, "Is a Slow/Beast Mutant, e-XY, 15 Cycles of physiological age, close to a Kilo-Cycle of real age, AND your little N's boyfriend. He's also a runaway slave, and the Law is clear that I have to return him to his Master."

"AND claim the reward, right?" Abrams asked sarcastically. Then he paused. "He's Xyn's WHAT?!"

The Hunter laughed. "Oh, don't be such a prude, Abrams! You knew Xyn was on the verge of growing up, didn't you?"

Abrams flushed. "Yes, I had a hell of a time keeping the bidders off of him here. You wouldn't believe how many of them wanted his… uh… well… his Parts, shall we say."

"I WANT this one," the Director retorted with some heat, "And you DO realize you'll be paying the bill for the craft's fuel out of the reward money, don't you? And what does this freak have to do with calling me?"

"I was just getting to that. I found him in the Ruins, you see. Wonderful craft you got here, Abrams. Flew in, found him, and captured him. Wasn't hard to do. Seems he was the one who found your Runaway N and took him in. He knows a shortcut from the Forest to the Ruins too. Only took them a day to get back there. I'll bet you had no idea you were so damn close out there. I got a lot of good information out of him, and it turns out that he knows right where our little N is, AND what he's become. You know you're sending me out after a very powerful Psion Mutant, don't you?"

Abrams flushed. "I suspected it," he countered, knowing that he could lie over the comm channel and not be caught.

But the Hunter laughed. "I touched his Mind, once. He's got some kick-ass bitch backing him up though, and he's learning. He's assimilating knowledge and life experiences with every Mind that he touches, and he's touching a LOT of them in the last few weeks. I think that you're in for a big surprise when you finally get N back, buddy. He's NOT the little innocent Bio you knew any more. He's grown up – or working on it, at least."

Abrams felt his flesh creep. He imagined Xyn alone, then with Jayk. The very sight of Jayk frightened him, and he couldn't imagine what Xyn could have learned from Psionic contact with the likes of such. He pulled up a holo-image of the Ruins and stared at it. It was, of course, an old image, back from before the Comm-Tell satellite had gone bad. "Xyn's in there," he breathed. The Hunter nodded. "Jayk here confirmed it. And I now know where to find him. I was less than a day from him when I picked this one up."

"Then why in hell didn't you go AFTER Xyn then?" Abrams roared, hearing a mumbled reply on the other end of his communication. "What was that?"

"Seems you woke up Jayk with that last outburst," the Hunter answered. "Anyway, we're off to New City Far South. I'll call you when I hit the Ruins again. Have a good night."

The connection closed, and without a reply option. Abrams slammed his fist on the desk and swore, the pain in his heart much greater than the pain in his hand.

Speeding along high over the coastline in their craft, the Hunter and Jayk laughed.

"Do I look like a freak to you?" Jayk asked, his fangs gleaming in the cockpit light. Then he jerked his head. "Can you scratch my ear please?" he asked, looking down at his cuffed hands.

The Hunter, for some reason, found that extremely funny and laughed harder as he scratched Jayk's pointed ear.

"Thanks," Jayk replied, settling back down into the seat. Then he sighed. "Are we there yet?"

"We will be by dawn," the Hunter answered, his laughter fading. "I suppose I should contact your Master and let him know we're coming."

Slowly, Jayk nodded. "I guess it's not so bad," he said in a soft voice. "I just hope he's not mad at me. Shar kind of wrecked his place bad when she rescued me."

"I've been wondering about that," the Hunter inquired, "How in the hell did SHE get from the Ruins to Far South?"

Jayk shrugged. "Dunno. She never told me where she got the flyer, or how it got so far without running out of fuel. My Master probably thinks I died in the crash she staged, though. All I know is that it was a LONG hike back to her place!"

"That it would be," the Hunter agreed, placing the call. They waited for a reply. Eventually, a sleepy looking older Adult's face appeared on the screen. He was bald, and his beard was trimmed into a neat goatee. His eyes were piercing as he stared into the screen.

"Yes?" he answered, then he saw the indicator on his own screen that signaled an official communique. His eyes widened. "How may I help you, Hunter?" he asked, seeming to come awake very quickly.

"I'm sorry to disturb you so late in the evening, good sir, but I believe I have something here in my craft that belongs to you."

The Master looked puzzled. "I don't believe I follow," he stated, turning to speak to someone else in the room.

The Master stared into the screen, his eyes wide and his mouth open. He then leaned back a bit, his expression a mystery. "I never thought to see you again," he said to Jayk, "You've been well I trust?" His voice, however, betrayed his emotions.

It wasn't exactly the greeting he had expected, but it was enough to let them both know that Jayk's old Master was indeed pleased to see him. Jayk nodded at the screen, averting his eyes. "He looks good trussed up like that," the Master commented, "It will be good to have him back. When may I expect your arrival, Hunter?"

"Early in the morning, sir," the Hunter replied, "I'll make sure our Jayk here is well rested and ready to greet you."

"I shall look forward to that!" The Master said, a leering grin spreading across his face. He then closed the comm channel and the screen went dark.

Jayk's heart sank, but he made no sound. He merely sat and watched the familiar face on the screen fade away, remembering how life had been there. Warm bed, plenty of food, entertainment, manual Network access, and of course – constant attention. He closed his eyes, thinking of Xyn. They had long since outflown the Storm, and the skies over Far South were clear. Jayk stared out at the stars, realizing that he was closer to them than he had ever been before. Closer even, than when he had climbed to the roof of the tallest old building in the Ruins. Goodbye, Xyn. If you're ever in Far South, look me up, he thought, wishing so badly that he were a Psion and not a Beast. The Hunter turned to look at him, and Jayk felt his Mind invaded, softly…

…as if someone were tapping on his shoulder, and Xyn rolled over in his sleep. He felt it again and sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes. To his right, Tym slept peacefully, his sunken and drawn face turned away and lost in the huge pillow. Support devices chirped and pumped, and some others in the Infirmary snored or moaned in pain. There were a few coughs, and soft footsteps of those attending them. He felt it again, and looked around.

At the foot of his bed, he saw a pair of shining cyan eyes. "Hello, Kefe," he whispered, "Did you hear something?"

"Not a thing. Just passing through. Have you been asleep long?" the young Nightstalker asked.

"Well, you ARE a Psion, you know," Kefe replied, softly stepping away, "Gotta go. Rounds to make. See ya."

Then Xyn stood up warily and looked around. His head ached just a bit as he brought up his Psi, as Kefe had suggested. Suddenly he was disoriented, his eyes filled with stars! There was someone there, and he knew that someone. No, two someone-s. All he could see were stars, and all he could feel was regret. There was also shame, then came a flash of desire and he felt himself getting an erection. He felt his head looking down, and he gasped as he stared at his hands. One of his fingers was missing, and his lip sent a stab of pain through him as he clenched his teeth and a fang bit into his lower lip. He reached down to feel at his XY-parts, aroused and amazed, yet his hand pressed against nothing under his Suit as he felt at his groin. Yet he was suddenly so full of life, and the darkness of the Infirmary didn't seem so dark anymore. A few quick steps carried him to the door, and his legs seemed springy and coiled as if ready to pounce!

Again, he felt the longing and the loss – then the desire. Then came the frustration, which he didn't totally understand. But everything else, he DID understand! The feeling came back explosively, and deep under the Ruins, Xyn ceased to exist as somewhere high above the coastline and far to the South, Jayk ceased to exist as well. Across seemingly impossible distance, the two became one again as they had done that night in Jayk's room – Xyn's room… the room… the room that was all that mattered!

JAYK! He screamed soundlessly, his head throbbing and his Mind and Psi expanding to their limits. He stared into the starfield, trying to figure out where he was. Then he looked down. Pinpoints of light, much like stars themselves, flickered underneath him far below. There were streaks of light, and patterns that rose above the ground. On particular cluster of multi-colored lights caught his attention, and he saw a large wheel spinning on the ground like an animated rainbow. He felt movement, and although he had never left the Earth before, Xyn knew that he was flying.

JAYK! He called again, his eyes filling with tears as he ran past a startled orderly and down the hallway towards his room – Jayk's room… my room… our room… the room… the room where I need to be!

He felt the many others Psions of the gangs 'look up,' startled, as he ran down the hallways. Then Shar's thought came to him. He lives!

The only way would be for another of our Kind to do it for him. Someone very powerful, indeed, or someone so pained and despondent that they cannot feel the danger of overexertion. Feel the Presence, Xyn Psion, feel WHO is the carrier of Jayk's thoughts! We KNOW this Mind!

I do not know, Shar replied, But I DO know where he is taking him. And then her Mind was gone, leaving Xyn to himself – to Jayk…

He puffed as he ran, but his lungs seemed so much larger and so full of air! He ran and ran, and when he reached the room, warmed by the constant glow of the brass ceiling lamps, he dived over the bed to land in the old chair. He stood in it stared at the bookcase, his Mind and Psi racing. It WAS Jayk, but it was also someone else. Xyn had thought that he had known that Mind, and although he instinctively wanted to recoil in terror of it, he did not. Instead he embraced it, clung to it, amplified it as best he could without hurting himself again.

Goodbye, Xyn, he heard Jayk's voice calling to him, coming from everywhere and from nowhere all at once. The books spoke to him, as did the bed. The voice came from the closet, from the ancient rug! Everywhere around him, the very room spoke to his Psi! He held onto it for as long as he could, staring at his hands where a finger was/wasn't missing and scratching at his pointed/round ears until that feeling of being Xyn/Jayk – which he thought never to feel again – began to slowly fade. His shining blue eyes filled with tears, and he fought down the urge to overextend himself again. His throat tightened up, and he swallowed hard. He could not have spoken aloud if he had to.

DON'T GO! He cried to that strange Being which was/wasn't himself, realizing that he was losing the impossible connection over the unimaginable distances.

Goodbye, Xyn, it called again, weaker this time, If you're ever Far South, look me up. I'll be alright. I love you!

"I love you!" The Hunter gasped, his head pounding and his heart racing, "Someday…" and then he slumped forward, the veins in his temples throbbing. Jayk stared at him, his mouth hanging open in shock. He felt the Psion slip from his Mind, and Xyn's cry of "JAYK!" echoed in his pointed ears one last time.

In sheer amazement, he stared at the unconscious Hunter as the Suit beeped and hissed and lit up blue here and there to shine through the Hunter's regular clothing. A small trickle of blood ran from his left nostril, and his color was not good. His breath came in shallow and ragged gasps, and suddenly Jayk realized that he had no idea what to do about it.

The Hunter had exhausted, perhaps even damaged himself, in granting Jayk's only remaining desire to say goodbye to Xyn.

"Computer," Jayk said to the craft, hoping it had emergency protocols, "The pilot is disabled. You should engage full automatic controls and the secure the craft."

There was a flash of light and some chirping and then a pause. "Confirmed," the computer replied, the control panel turning yellow and dimming, "Previous destination confirmed, fuel sufficient. Authorities contacted. Distress call sent."

"Thank the gods for auto-cruise," he said to himself, staring longingly out into the night at the stars and thinking of his favorite old chair and bookcase…

… where he would sit and read for hours on end. He spent his evenings in the ragged old chair with the little one curled up in his lap as he made the stories come to life for him, since the little one could not read the books himself. At night, he slept in the big bed with that same little one spooned up against him, warm and secure. By day, he ran the Ruins and soon knew every inch of the place. He ran up and down stairs in long abandoned buildings which rose into the very sky, his young body becoming hard and lithe with each passing day. He let himself fall down old sewer openings to run for hours on end until he emerged into the Brushline. Some days, he would be gone well into the evening, returning from the Forest only when he had filled his pack with the things that he found there.

By nightfall, he would be back in the big room with the little one once again in his lap, listening to tales of forgotten times and heroes too strange to believe. And in the morning, it would all begin again as the days became weeks and the Savage Season and Storms passed. Yet even the Storms with their Rains, which often damaged some of the oldest buildings of the Ruins, did not stop him. And when the Summertime came and the Flats were too hot to cross, he would take his little one with him out into the Ruins to where they could just barely see the spires of the farthest edge of the Old City where some of their friends lived in secret.

One by one, the Summertime days came and went and he grew imperceptibly older and stronger – and bigger. He was never sick, and by the end of Summertime and into Colorfall, the little one was walking again and following his every step wherever he went. Amazingly, before the leaves had all blown off of the trees, he made the trip to the Forest with him to be greeted by what seemed to be an ocean of fire which burned over the tops of them and touched at the deep blue sky.

Finally, on one especially cold and windy Whitetime night, after the little one had fallen asleep in his lap to the tale of how Perseus had crossed the river Styx and descended into Hades, Xyn arose from their favorite old chair with Tym in his well-muscled arms. He put the little one to bed, covering him gently with the heavy blankets, and went to the closet. He pulled the heavy oaken door open and stared in at the too-small and ragged tunics and funny camouflage clothing for hiding in the Brushline. He stared at the clean, white Suit hanging next to them, and scratched up under his shoulder length brown hair at his round ear. He pulled off his hooded sweatshirt, suppressing a laugh, and then slid out of his multi-pocket pants. The rug was soft and warm under his bare feet as he padded over to stand in front of the antique mirror.

He shook the hair out of his blue-gray eyes and gazed at the reflection of the no-longer little one for a long time, lost in the curves and contours of the well-forming body that shone back at him. He flexed his arms, watching the biceps rise. He tightened his stomach, and satisfied with the ridges that appeared from just below the nipples to his waist, relaxed. He was, he realized with a start, becoming an Adult. True, he had only begun to seriously change and had far yet to go. His face was still smooth and his arms and legs virtually hairless. His voice still cracked and warbled on occasion, but he was growing well and fast for a pure Bio. He then became erect, and reaching down to stroke the several inches and enlarged orbs of his XY-parts, he felt a flash of regret – then shame. He gazed at the hair that grew around them in distaste. His body shivered, and he pulled his hand back. It felt good, but it was also painful. The memory was simply too much, and he just couldn't put Tym through another episode of it. The little Mutant had suffered enough on his own without adding Xyn's suffering and loss to it.

"I cannot go on like this," he whispered to the young XY in the mirror, "I miss him so bad."

Then, for the first time in almost a full Cycle, he risked the terrible headache that he knew was coming and fully powered up his Psi.

Chriss, he called out quietly, as Tym whimpered in his sleep. He went quickly to the bed and sat down softly, placing a hand on the little Mutant's brow. Tym smiled in his sleep, a small hand coming up from under the blankets to hold his. Chriss, come to my room before you go to bed. Bring Adam, too.

Chapter Ten
Redemptions & Condemnations

Jayk is returned to his Master, and the Hunter finds that all is not as it seems to be as strange insights and 'voices' begin to intrude upon his Mind.

"…every single day seems as if I'll break down and cry.
Can't find the strength to make it through the day,
I'm tryin' to find the strength to say «come back and stay,»
and, all my Emotions lyin' in the snow,
we're walkin' down that street
where the two of us used to go…"
– Roger Daltrey, Under a Raging Moon.

I
Rebel

Long before Xyn began trying to physically exhaust himself every day, the Hunter had already done so himself, in risking his own life to connect Jayk with Xyn one last time in order to say goodbye. In order to be Xyn/Jayk for one last time.

Long before Xyn ran out of things to talk about with almost everyone but Tym, Jayk didn't know what to say as the Hunter sat rubbing at his eyes and temples as the craft flew on autopilot. Every now and then he would exhale violently and groan, and it was very clear that he was suffering. Surprisingly, Jayk wished that there was something that he could do for him. Having had headaches and having been just plain miserable at various times in his long and unnatural life, Jayk finally decided that being quiet was the best thing that he could do for his strange captor.

And he did just that, his thoughts upon the feeling of being Xyn/Jayk once again and wishing that it could have lasted longer. He also pondered why the one who had captured him and was taking back to a life of slavery would have done this for them. Jayk simply didn't understand it, but he kept quiet. He continued to stare out of the window, watching the lights of the last City that they had passed fading into the blackness below them. Somewhere up ahead was New City Mid-something; Jayk couldn't recall what it was, and frankly, he didn't care. After that was New City Far South, and the end of their ride.

For in that city, obviously having moved since Shar had wrecked his previous home in rescuing Jayk, waited his old Master, Everett T. Wilson. Then Jayk realized, as he stared out into space, that he had never even know his Master's full name. He had heard guests refer to him as Ev, but that had been all. Jayk had only been allowed to address him as 'Master,' and then only if he risked speaking at all. He wasn't looking forward to their arrival in Far South, yet something else was nagging at him and he couldn't quite place it. Something in some far corner of his mind was pecking away slowly at a problem, but Jayk just couldn't isolate it. So he ignored it, sitting and missing Xyn in silence for a long time.

Jayk flinched, his dark eyes moving from the window to his stomach and then to the Hunter.

The Hunter was smiling despite his obvious pain, and the Suit was still glowing blue and shining its light from the collar and cuffs of his body armor. "Computer," the Hunter said softly, "Security override 2a, release prisoner for limited supply access."

The computer complied, and Jayk stared in amazement as his wrist restraints popped loose from the seat belt buckle and expanded his hands apart via a six inch [15 cm] rod that kept his wrists connected in front of him. His ankle restraints did the same, giving him just enough of a spreader bar between his ankles to hobble slowly on his feet. He didn't move.

"Oh go get something to eat from the food dispenser, for gods' sake," the Hunter stated, "and bring me one too while you're at it!"

"Yes, sir," Jayk replied, slowly getting to his feet and ducking his head a bit. He hobbled back to the food dispenser and stared at it. Of course he knew what it was, his Master had had one in his home. Perhaps this one was voice actuated, since there appeared to be no controls. "Two standard field rations, please," Jayk told it.

Jayk turned his head in surprise, his long braids swinging a bit. "Cancel order," he said. He then thought for a moment. "Two full meals… uhhh… and two cold waters."

The computer thought about that for a moment, obviously upset with its orders. Still, it had 'intelligent' circuitry and complied. Then the door slid open and two small travel plates full of steaming food appeared. There appeared to be a meat dish, some kind of green vegetable, and a roll. Another small door slid open, revealing two large glasses of ice water. Jayk's stomach growled again as he carefully picked up the first plate and took it to the Hunter. He then fetched the glass of water and handed it to him. Two trips later, he was seated back in the passenger seat. He didn't touch his food, however.

"Thank you," the Hunter said, taking a long but slow drink of the water. "You're handy to have around."

Jayk smiled and turned his attention to his food, his weakened body reminding him of just how hungry he really was. He ate quickly, unaware that he was being watched and despite the fact that the 'intelligent' computer had given him spinach. Still, he ate it, making faces as he did, and wondering if the 'intelligent' circuitry program didn't include some twisted sense of humor. When he finished, he started to get up to dispose of the empty plate and stopped. His gaze met the Hunter's and his eyes dropped to the floor. He lowered his head, his beardless chin touching his breastbone. He tensed up just a bit, but the Hunter saw it.

Jayk looked up slowly. "I… I thought I'd done s-something wrong," he almost whispered.

The Hunter picked at his food as Jayk returned with another glass of water. He sat back down and waited. Nothing happened except for a small burp from the Hunter, who looked up slowly and deliberately. "'scuse me," he offered.

Jayk wasn't sure what he meant, so he just sat there and snuggled back down in the ill-fitting jacket. He was full and warm… and soon he'd be somewhere where he had always been full and warm… and unhappy. He imaged that his Master would be older, different, yet not too different. He himself, being a Slow Mutant, would hardly appear to have aged at all. Jayk thought that he might be a few centimeters taller and perhaps a tiny bit more muscular, but other than that, he'd still be the same cute little sexual plaything that his Master would remember. He shivered.

"No sir," Jayk replied, his voice almost breaking, "just thinking is all. Actually I'm warm. Too warm." He downed the glass of water in one drink.

The Hunter considered this for a moment, then stood up to take his plate back to the disposal. Jayk's eyes widened a bit, and he started to get up.

"Oh, sit down!" The Hunter ordered, "I'm not your Master, and I don't expect you to wait on me as if I were. It's unseemly! Besides, I'm stiff and sore and moving might help. How long was I out?"

"What's with the 'sir' business all of a sudden?" the Hunter asked, "This afternoon, you were trying to lie and bargain and be snotty as best you could. Just because my Psi isn't active doesn't mean I can't read you like a book, you know. You're acting totally different. What's with the sudden submissive 'I'm a good little one now' act? A few days ago, you killed an Adult Approved, which I might add, is in a transport tube back there. Fine job you did on him, too. And now you're a waiter or busboy or something?!"

Jayk lowered his head again. He shut his eyes and shook his head. He coughed. "Let's not talk about Kel, please. I'm sorry I did it. I thought you'd be angry at me. I figured that's why you left me loose, sort of. Besides, after what you did for me and all… and I might as well get used to it. This time I'll probably be spending the rest of my Master's life doing stuff like this… and worse. Then after he's gone, who knows who'll get me or what they'll do to me?"

"What's that? I say, was he your first?" The Hunter asked, rattling around in the back.

"Yes, sir. My only one. I swear it was an accident!" Jayk replied, his voice full of regret.

He checked the readouts. "We'll be there very soon, Jayk. It will be dawn before long and we'll have to stop to refuel. It's a clear shot from there, and we can really cruise. It won't be long now, and he'll be waiting. Tell me, is it uncommon for a Master to sell his slave?" he added, wanting to change the subject. After all, Kel wasn't going anywhere.

Jayk's head snapped around to stare at him, his fangs much in evidence as his mouth hung open. His dark almond-shaped eyes were wide, and he wasn't sure what his captor meant. Was he going to try and buy him? Jayk thought for a moment, and realized that he'd heard his Master and his friends talking about buying and selling quite a few times. He nodded. "Sometimes we get traded, rented, loaned, or sold. Not often though. I only met three or four other slaves the whole 13 Cycles that he had me, though, and one of them was Muted so he wasn't much conversation. I liked him though. I got loaned a lot too, and well, we weren't allowed to talk much. Most of the time we were busy with other stuff, you know."

The Hunter flushed and sighed. "Jayk," he began, "Spare me the details! The law is clear on what I have to do here. You're a Runaway slave. I have to take you back. BUT you are also a murderer. The only thing saving your cute little butt on that issue is the fact that you tried to eat a Runaway Approved, which is just as bad as being an Unapproved without a Permit or ID Beacon. I HAVE to hand you back over to this Wilson fellow, reward or not. However, I also am bound by law to tell him that you're a Mutant, which he knows – obviously," as the Hunter reached over and stroked Jayk's pointed left ear.

The Hunter went on, unperturbed. "But I'm sure he doesn't know that you've evolved, or devolved, as it were, into a Beast Mutant. He might not WANT you back, you know. Having a bedmate that might change and rip his heart out in the middle of the night as a light snack isn't really a comforting thought. In that case, there are very few options. One, he'll have you Exterminated."

Jayk nodded as the Hunter spoke, making it clear that this thought had already occurred to him. He coughed again. "Two, he'll tell me to hand you over to the Authorities. Three, he'll take you back and just be very careful of you."

They stared at each other for a moment, and the Hunter lowered his hand to rest it on Jayk's slumped shoulder. Even without his Psi running, he knew that Jayk was very low on faith. It also explained his submissive behavior. Jayk was just acting the part, getting back into practice. He'd felt it earlier in the Meadow, and he knew that something important inside of Jayk had surrendered. The Psionic contact with Xyn hadn't seemed to have helped; in fact, it seemed to have made things worse.

"I don't want to die now!" He cried, tears rolling down his face. He coughed and stuttered, but he finally got it out. "I-I mean, I w-wanted to f-for so long, b-but that was before z-z-z…" but he couldn't finish the word.

Jayk nodded, clumsily reaching his bound hands up to wipe at his face with the too-long sleeves of the borrowed jacket. When he had regained some semblance of composure, he went on. "I wanted to die for so long. I hated my life. It's been so damn long, and… and I've lost so many. You can't know what it's like, watching everyone you ever loved die when you don't even age a full Cycle while they grow up, grow old, then… then… they're gone! Or watch your friends get caught by Hunters and dragged off like they were just a piece of trash! Then when something good finally happens, you finally think you're going to be OK and be happy for a little bit, it all goes to Hell! I don't know if I can take it again. I wish Xyn had never come along to begin with!"

He paused for a moment, swallowed hard, and coughed again. This time, it sounded wet. It was obvious that he still wasn't fully recovered from nearly dying of exposure back in the Ruins. His face was suddenly drawn, and there were darker circles under his eyes. Those black eyes, so mysterious and sensuous looking, had taken on a haunted look again. It was a look that the Hunter knew all too well.

"You don't really mean that, Jayk. Remember, I WAS right smack in the middle of your goodbye chat," the Hunter reminded him, suddenly recalling it all in stark clarity and finding himself amazed at the depth of emotions that these two shared with each other. He recalled it all fully, once he thought about it, and was awed. If only I could really KNOW it, he thought, If only there were some way, or someone who loved me so much… and now they're both losing all that matters…

"But at least I had that one short little time. Thanks to you. I owe you one. No, two. Thanks for letting me find out what became of Scot." Then Jayk fell silent, his head bumping hard against the window as he leaned over and away from the Hunter's touch. He coughed again and sneezed.

"You're getting sick, Jayk," the Hunter stated, reaching over to feel Jayk's brow. It was hot.

Of course, the Hunter knew what that meant. Mutants didn't get sick. Anyone or anything that could survive for more than a few days in the Ruins just didn't catch cold from being out in the rain. If Jayk was coming down with something and didn't receive proper care – and fast – he'd die. That much, the Hunter was certain of.

"And damned if you're taking ME down with you," the Hunter said to himself as he ordered up a full Medpack and had the computer scan his captive.

"Respiratory inflammation," the computer responded after scanning Jayk again, "Bronchial obstructions – mucous, swollen airways. Microbial count rising. High fever imminent, delerium, chills, sweats, coughing, sneezing, congestion, increased mucous production resulting in oxygen deprivation followed by death. Diagnosis – Remnant Respir-5. Bio Treatment – 2 grains Tryclocillin-x-D, oxygen use for two days. Manual cleansing of lungs. Rest and warmth. Recovery in 36 hours or death in 48."

"Well that pretty well sums it all up," the Hunter stated, pressing a hypospray from the Medpack into Jayk's neck and attaching the oxygen mask to his face. "I thought I had you out of the woods back in the meadow yesterday."

Jayk smiled as the Hunter reclined the seat. "We'll refuel shortly. It looks like I'll have to call your Master and tell him you'll be late."

It was going to be a long three days, and the Hunter decided to place some calls. The first call he made was to the Dealer, Acer, whom he knew kept odd hours and would still be up as the sun began to rise. He smiled as the fat man's plump face filled the screen – literally. "Did you get him?!" the Dealer demanded, licking his lips.

"He's a Runaway slave. You can't have him, though. Here, look." The Hunter changed views to let Acer see Jayk.

"He's sick!" The Dealer exclaimed, pulling back from his screen, "But my, my, is he cute! A nice pretty Mutant. I love the ears! Nice teeth. Fatten him up and sell him off!"

"Nice to meet you, pretty!" the Dealer replied. Jayk waved at the monitor and laid back. Acer snorted.

"He's old," the Hunter resumed, "a very old Slow Mutant. He's probably too miserable to be amused by you. He'll be fine in three days or so. Picked up a Remnant from laying out in the Rains for too long. I think he was trying to die, but I interfered."

"You always interfere!" Acer grinned, "So what am I to expect now? Hide the pretty little old fellow when he gets well and hold him for you? Someone sure as hell needs to FEED him, it looks like to me!"

The Hunter sighed and shook his head. "Sit on the funds chip, well, not literally, I mean. I'll be in need of you later on. I have some others to contact then I'll get back to you."

The second call that he made was to Master Wilson, and he was surprised by his reaction. It seemed that Wilson had just gotten up and was hitting the coffee rather hard.

"Take all the time you need with him, sir," Wilson told the Hunter, "I won't rush you. Can I see him?"

The Hunter nodded and turned the screen's view, but Jayk had fallen back asleep despite the loud wheezes which tore at his lungs. He coughed softly now and then, but he didn't move. Onscreen, Wilson just watched him. He could easily afford the comm time. Finally, after a week's salary worth of time, he spoke. His voice was tender, even concerned.

"I never realized how much I missed him until now, Hunter. Do everything you can. If it's money you need for help, call me back. Gods, he looks so weak and fragile like that. Are you sure he'll recover?" he asked, and the Hunter could see tears standing in his eyes.

"He'll be fine. He's already too old and mean to die. I also have to inform you, and I don't want to, but our little Jayk here is uh, well… a murderer. I have the remains of an Adult XY Runaway he killed in the Ruins not long ago."

Master Wilson gaped. "THE RUINS? He made it that far?! And he KILLED him? How? Why? Jayk was never like that!"

"Yes sir, happily living with a gang of Outcasts there in the Ruins. East, that is. I think the killing's because he's evolved, sir. Jayk may be a Slow one, and now he's also a Beast Mutant. He literally jumped on him and made use of those fangs – on the fellow's throat. Ghastly. I found him right after he'd done it. He also claims to know how the change happened, but he won't share THAT with me," the Hunter lied.

"It seems there were others in Jayk's gang. Jayk had fallen in love with a stray of some sort, some Runaway, I think. The little XY got sick, and this Adult wanted to leave him to die. Jayk protested – somewhat violently too, from what I saw," the Hunter sketched in, feeling no need to give him all the details.

Wilson laughed wickedly. "As any good Master would do for his Love! I'm so proud of him!"

"You don't want him exterminated then, sir?" the Hunter asked, a bit stunned by Wilson's outburst.

"Hell no! I want him BACK when he's all better! I can't wait to have him at my place again. I've been lonely without him, and well, you probably know that I have a LOT invested in him."

The Hunter nodded, and looked over at Jayk. The wheezing was getting worse, and soon would come the coughing and messy part. He finally decided to come right out and say it as Wilson's words struck him the wrong way.

"Sir, this may be over bold of me, but frankly I don't care. I answer to no one, and I've a tendency to speak what's on my mind. Jayk's very upset about being returned to you. He's scared that you're going to exterminate him, and if you don't, that you'll so severely limit his freedom over the fact that he's a Beast that he'll be miserable. Now don't get me wrong, he admitted that he had learned to enjoy the life that was thrust upon him. HOWEVER, he's very much in love with this other young one, not so little really, and he's changed a great deal. He may not look it, but he's older. I know for a fact that he isn't looking forward to being returned to you, and that he's afraid of being hurt. When I found him, helpless and left for dead in the Rains, he begged me to let him die. I didn't. He's very fragile just now, even if he weren't sick. He's extremely depressed, and there's only one thing in life that he wants. Unfortunately, he can't have it, by law that is. And I mean this when I say, despite the reward on his pretty little head, which I intend to claim, I really don't want to have to come back for him."

Master Wilson looked confused. "THIS, from a Hunter?! Now you listen to me, Jayk IS my property," he stated, seemingly at a loss, "And just what do you mean you'll come back? How would you know to come back? Jayk isn't allowed Network access without ME with him. And then it's usually Online gaming or studying. He loves to read."

"Then buy him a antique book. Words printed on paper. And I have my ways," the Hunter replied, "And I don't need the Network to do it. Let's just say I'll be keeping an eye on Jayk for a long, long time."

Wilson's face paled as the realization hit him. "You… you… I mean… Gods, you're THE HUNTER they talk about on the Broadcasts?! Why should YOU, of all people, care? You're reported to be the best in the business! Unapproveds and Mutants all over the World live in fear of you!"

"Jayk needs more than a warm bed and food, Wilson. He needs love, which he obviously wasn't getting from you. The love of his life, possibly the last one he'll ever know, was just torn away from him. You know who I am now, and you know what I am. You should also know that I now know EVERYTHING there is to know about our Jayk here. I'm not going to deliver him back to you and nurse him back to health AGAIN beforehand just so you can fuck him night and day and keep him locked in his room when you don't need him. That's not what it's all about.

"Jayk knows you don't love him, Wilson. He KNOWS that you only use him out of lust and for show and status. Mutant or not, Jayk has feelings to consider, and right now they're in BAD shape. But then again, do what you will, I guess. The law IS on your side, after all, and he IS your property. But I don't suspect a wild thing like Jayk will survive long in that kind of captivity anyway. I'll be there in three days. Have the funds ready."

Wilson didn't reply, but his face was strange. He then simply closed the connection.

"You sir," the Hunter said to empty air, "Are a dead man. But it won't be me who kills you."

The third call he made was to Rick Abrams at the new Facility #32, after he had landed and refueled the craft. As he was preparing for takeoff once again, Abrams face came on the screen. He looked tired and worn down. The Hunter could hear what sounded like willful and happy destruction in the background. "Rec room?" he asked.

"How could you tell?" Abrams replied, dodging a small ball that sailed in front of the monitor.

Abrams looked distressed. "Why not?!" he demanded over the din of the frolicking little ones behind him, "Did you even SEE him?"

"I did better than that, actually. I Psi'd with him. I'm sure you know the feeling." Abrams face visibly paled.

"Why?" he asked in a hushed tone, only to be drowned out by a sudden screech and a loud crash. "THAT did it!" he bellowed, pressing a few buttons and calling in every available Carebot in the place. "Bots, take the little ones OUTSIDE now! The fence should be done, and they could use some fresh air. Make sure their Suits are all fully charged and working, and get out NOW!"

A hushed silence fell over the channel as the Hunter laughed. "Outside?!" he mused aloud.

"I took your advice and made arrangements. I even ordered playground equipment. Besides, they're driving me nuts and we need to talk!"

Abrams turned and nodded. "Yes, R. Outside. I know it's different and scarey, but you'll like it, I think. Listen to the Carebots and don't touch the fence. Run around and throw some balls out there and roll in the grass and have fun! I have to talk to this nice man on the Network."

About then, a small round face with no hair and a wearing a black eyepatch popped up on the monitor. He had yellowish-brown skin and was pressing his nose into the glass. The Hunter laughed. "Ewww, what's wrong with HIM?!" he asked, as Abrams pulled him back.

R did that, mumbling something as he went. A moment later, all was quiet and Abrams sighed in relief. He shook his head. "I can just see the broken bones coming in now."

"You can fix it, I'm sure. Up the calcium intake. Now, where were we?" the Hunter asked.

"Oh yes! Well, when I found Jayk here, he wasn't in very good shape. I thought he was over most of it, but he got sick. He'll be fine in three days or so, but I can't resume my Hunt for Xyn until I deliver him. Runaway Laws, you understand. Now you see, as I said, he and Xyn were rather intimate. I was VERY close in proximity to Xyn when I found Jayk in the Ruins, you know. Once we got underway, I could 'feel' Xyn's Mind sweeping the area, screaming in pain for Jayk. YOU heard it the first time, but I was right on top of him, almost. I can tell you this much, for sure – I've never felt such pain and longing in my career as a Psion. I also don't like what I have to do, Abrams. I don't think I want to go after this one after what Jayk told me and what I 'felt'. YOU knew Xyn was a Psion Mutant. What you didn't know is just how MUCH of Psion he IS! And he's got some high powered bitch backing him up that's already taken me out once!

"Jayk misses Xyn, and Xyn misses Jayk even more. I don't know that either of them will survive long without the other, and that's going to be a huge problem. I think I should also inform you that I myself need to be checked. I'm having difficulties, my Suit's had a hard time of it, and I think I've got something seriously wrong with me that's going to need professional Maintenance," he concluded, not mentioning what 'something' was.

Abrams thought for a long while. Finally, he asked, "But Xyn is alive and well? IN the Ruins? His Suit's working and he's healthy?"

The Hunter nodded and Jayk began to hack. He immediately scooped him up in his arms and took him to the back of the ship. "I'll chat while I work on Jayk, Abrams. I think we're just about to hit the beginning of it here!"

"It is," the Hunter shouted, bending Jayk over a small dispensary area in the cargo hold and pounding on his back as he hacked. He sneezed several times, moaned, and began to spit up disgusting amounts of sickly colored phlegm.

"What do you mean about Xyn not surviving long without that… that thing you're working on there? Gods only know what HE did to him. Poor Xyn."

The Hunter continued to pound on Jayk's back and squeeze his ribs. Jayk cried out and coughed some more, then the fit seemed to pass. He went limp in the Hunter's arms, and he carried the ailing Mutant to a small bunk across from the transport tubes. He covered him and put the oxygen back on him and gave him another shot.

The Hunter considered it for a moment, then just said it. "Xyn's desperately in love with Jayk here, Abrams, and Jayk didn't do anything to him that he didn't want to do. He misses you too, from what I learned in our Psionic contact, but he's not so sure about YOU anymore. Jayk and the Others told him some things that set some doubts up in his mind, and in mine as well. I'll tell you this much, after being in intimate contact with both Xyn's and Jayk's Minds, I can relate. The bond between them is like NOTHING I've ever 'seen' before, and I don't fully understand it. Yes, Xyn misses you, he'd like to see you and still loves you, but he won't risk Jayk for it. He also won't set foot inside your Facility again, because he now knows what it was all about! Hell, now that I've Psi'd with both of them, I miss Xyn too and I think you know how I usually feel about those sorts of things. And I've never even MET him yet! But I also have a lot more insight into why you want him back now. And he's also got a LOT of questions."

"I told you, he's not a little innocent anymore, man! He's a rapidly maturing young one who's had a LOT of Psionic contact with older, more wiser Minds. He's NOT the little Xyn that you loved and miss so badly anymore. Are you SURE you want him back?!" The Hunter demanded.

"I miss him so much," Abrams replied in a voice full of loss and longing. "I don't know what YOU think of ME, and I could give a fuck less! All I want is to have my boy back in my arms again, even if it's only for a little while. YOU touched his Mind, and I hate you for that! And as for that Jayk character you're trying to cash in on, I hope he dies!

"All of Xyn's life, I was the only one who ever knew and who ever did that with him! I was the only on who knew what he was, dammit! I was the one who kept him safe in here, changed records, even sacrificed a few of his dormies to keep HIM intact! All of my efforts were to get THEM to let me have him for my own Upgraded, and they won't. That's all I want out of life, Hunter – my own boy. A real live Approved Upgraded BOY to call my own! If I can't have him back, if he won't have ME back, then I'll let it go. All I ask is that you honor our agreement, which I won't repeat HERE, and I'm sure you will. I just want to tell Xyn that I love him one more time, and we'll go from there. Is that too much to ask?"

The Hunter returned to his pilot's seat. His face was like a thundercloud. "I'll go after him when I get myself Serviced, not before. I'm in bad shape, Abrams. That trip into the Ruins and the trip back out tore me up bad. It's a foul place in there," he lied, "and the Suit was all that saved me. I don't know how those Mutants survive in there, but I can bet you this – Suit or not, Xyn WILL survive. Jayk or not, Xyn will survive… I think. I can't be too sure, as I said, after all of that contact with his Mind. But that's what makes me so uncertain of YOU, Mister. I know what Xyn felt like, I know! I know what it's like to have him in MY Mind, to be in HIS Mind! And Jayk's! I'm sure you understand, it's a Psionic thing. It's not easy to hide things when you're doing that.

"I don't know if you had parents or not, like I did, but I know that mine loved me. I know we all hurt when the Agency took me away. But one doesn't FEEL what one FEELS from just anyone like one can FEEL from Xyn! Do you get my point? Do you see why I have even less reason to trust you now?!"

"Do you truly love Xyn for Xyn, and his best chance at a good life? Or do you love his Psionic powers and what he can do for you? Is it the way you feel when you're with him that you love, or do you love Xyn?! Is it the boy or the Psi?" the Hunter demanded, stressing the archaic term 'boy' in reference to Xyn instead of 'little XY' as Abrams had just done.

"P-please," Abrams sobbed, "Just g-get him out of th-that awful place! Let me see him again!"

"When and IF I can catch him, Abrams, I'll call you. I'll meet you at a neutral location where Xyn and I will both be safe, and with witnesses and security. Make one wrong move or piss me off again, Abrams, and you won't live to regret it!" the Hunter promised.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Abrams demanded. "The Hunter I sent out after a Runaway was THE HUNTER, not some bleeding heart Unapproved-lover!"

The Hunter snorted at the blank screen, scanning the terrain at the same time. It would be much easier to care for Jayk if they sat down, preferably at a Facility or an Approved Maintenance Depot.

"I told you I needed Servicing for a Malfunction, hell, we're both on the verge of a Breakdown here!" he replied, closing the connection as Jayk began to cough again.

Ev Wilson, Approved Adult XY and Master to the Runaway Jayk paced the floor for hours. He wandered aimlessly about his large house, which spoke of his wealth and status. When he grew bored with the interior of the house, he wandered outside to roam the well-manicured grounds of his property. Multi-colored flower gardens bloomed in the late Savage Season sunlight, the house being so far to the South that the Storms that ravaged the NorthEast at that time of year were not really a threat. Beyond the gardens were vast stands of Forest, and the prime real estate had cost him more than most Approveds saw in salary in a lifetime. The leaves were still all green, the ColorFall still several weeks away. The day was warm and near perfect. He looked around and swore once.

But deep down, he realized that the Hunter had been at least partially right. He had purchased Jayk for one reason – sex. He had had him cut for that reason as well. As a Slow Mutant, and one so 'young,' Jayk had cost him small fortune. However, the pleasures that he had taken with him and the money that he made from hiring him out had more than repaid the initial investment. And Jayk had come to be very good at what he did, pleasing his Master at every turn.

Wilson sighed. "If I'd wanted a little one of my own to love, I'd go fuck an XX," he muttered, still pondering the Hunter's statement that Jayk had feelings too. He was also pondering his own feelings as well. Feelings that he wasn't sure about, unsure as to what they were and why he was having them. The face he'd seen on the monitor when he'd been called by the Hunter had been so different. HIS Jayk, the Jayk from so many Cycles ago, had been vibrant and full of life. His almond-shaped eyes had almost glowed, and his gleaming fangs had only enhanced his smile when he had pleased his Master. He had been almost tireless in bed, and in daily life as well. He had been energetic, mannerly, always so anxious to please and grateful for his rewards.

"But he didn't feel anything for me, did he?" Wilson realized with a sharp pang of regret. And Wilson realized then just how much he missed his company.

"Perhaps I felt something for him after all. Ah, stupid of me," he muttered, stalking back towards the huge house. "But what should I expect him to feel for me? I bought him, I had him fully gelded. I knew what I was doing, yet I did it. But I gave him a good, safe life with me here. Food, shelter, warmth, entertainment, sex! He could have ended up with a much worse Master than me! And he loves another young one now, another Mutant! Damn him anyway. He'll be sorry."

He didn't even believe himself, however. His words fell upon his own ears, and he suddenly gasped. The Jayk that he had seen on the screen after so many Cycles indeed was not HIS Jayk. This new Jayk was older, wiser, and sick. He looked so weak and helpless, hardly the shadow of the Jayk that he had spent so many wonderful nights with. What had he been through since that bitch had totaled his old house and escaped with Jayk? How bad did he miss that life, and his new love? And how would it effect his performance as a slave?

Things were not going to be the same, he knew. Jayk might be well in three days, convalesced fully in a few more, but he would not be HIS Jayk. True, he would still be about the same size and just as handsome when he was well again. He would still be the irresistible e-XY that he had always dreamed of having, and he would still be able to give and receive the same old pleasures.

Wilson sighed and headed back to the house, turning over the Hunter's strange words and threats in his mind again and again.

As soon as they made New City Far South, the Hunter contacted the nearest Facility that could see to their needs. He used his status to pull a few strings, and shortly after landing, he and Jayk were both taken to a high security room in the isolation ward. While Carebots looked after Jayk, helping him to hack out the vile fluids that clogged his lungs and listening to his fever-induced rants in delirium with no interest in WHAT he said, the Hunter was poked and prodded and scanned in every possible way. After the first day, both of them had literally collapsed into exhausted sleep. The bad news came the next morning, however.

While Jayk coughed and spit and clung to life as best he could, the Hunter began to feel even more run down. Despite his Suit's help – which the Medics had taken away to recharge and diagnose – he was getting worse. He found it harder to concentrate, and his head would NOT stop hurting. His vision was becoming spotty, and he could hardly walk. Following Jayk's advice, he hadn't even tried to power up his Psi. It hadn't helped. He also mentioned to the Medics to reprogram the Suit to cut back on the hormonal balances, stating that he felt it was far too high and that such might be part of the problems. In fact, he had asked them to eliminate that part of its Maintenance regimen altogether, citing anxiety and distraction. One of them, a rather burly orderly with a goatee and dark hair, had smiled knowingly.

"Cerebral Necrotization," the Doctor was saying, looking over his data padd on the Hunter. "Abnormal levels of damn nigh every chemical we know of in the brain! VERY unusual wave patterns as well. I don't know what you've been doing, but your Processor can't take it and is degrading as the brain tissues surrounding it begin to fail. There's only one other case like this on the books, and she was written off to madness, having gone Runaway and disappeared some Cycles ago. No wonder you're reporting all of these strange symptoms. It's a wonder you're not schizophrenic by now! We're 99% sure that the treatment will work, however. You'll be fine in about a week. We should begin Repairs at once."

The Hunter snorted. "We don't have a week," he snapped. "Get on with it. I have work to do."

The Doctor smiled. "I knew you'd say that. We've almost got everything ready for you, but tell me, what is it with this catch? Why go to such lengths to save his life? And where in hell did he pick up Respir-5?"

The Hunter looked over at Jayk, who was catching a nap despite the horrible noises coming from his lungs. The array of wires and tubes made it look even worse as they attempted to pump life back into Jayk. "Sorry, classified info. Let's just say he's special."

"Well," the Doctor replied, "Let's leave your young charge here to the Carebots and get you to surgery. What we plan to do is inject some fresh neural tissue into the areas around your Processor to regenerate things in there. Probably have to add a CoProcessor as well. 36 hours of deep sleep, and a few hours of confusion upon waking, then you should be as good as new. We'll try and keep you on schedule. As for the Mutant," he gestured, waving the padd at Jayk, "We'll do all we can for him as well. Legally, we HAVE to with your orders. Lucky you caught it so early. He'll make a full recovery, I'm sure, I just can't see WHY anyone would want him to."

"You don't know him," the Hunter replied, not understanding the emotion that was welling up with him as it tightened his throat and made his eyes sting.

"Sounds more like the concerns of an Adopter or a Parent with a sick or Malfunctioning little one," the Doctor retorted ungracefully, "And not at all what I expected from THE Hunter. Probably due to the tissue damage, though. Like I said, probably beginning to experience schizophrenia."

The Hunter sighed as they wheeled him down the Facility hallway to surgery. He didn't argue. He decided, as the sedatives began to put him under, that he really didn't want to know where this 'fresh tissue' was coming from.

There were faces coming out of the blackness. It was so warm and easy, floating… alone… all alone. Then there was pain, a fire in his head! The warmth turned cold, and the faces came at him from all directions. Things were closing in on him. He screamed.

Again, the fiery pain. Something was in his head. Someone was IN his head. He was missing something. Something important. What was it? He didn't know. He asked the white, round face with no hair, but it pulled its hood up and gazed with blue/gray eyes at the other face. He asked it too, but the sloped brows over almond-shaped eyes set in dark skin only stared at the first face.

A little XY ran by them all, screaming. "NO! Don't take me! I don't wanna go! Daddddy! Mommmmy!" he cried, and he screamed again as his head blazed. He was there, but there was something not right about him. Then she came, but she wasn't right either. The flowing mass of curled black hair wasn't Mommy's, and the sparkling gold/black eyes knew too much. And the Adult XY wasn't Daddy. He was a stranger. "GO AWAY!" she snapped, and her Mind lashed at him like a whip. "You'll never do it again," the other Adult was saying, waving the knife in his face.

He turned back to the two little ones, not so little anymore, but they only smiled at him and wept. Happy tears. He thought he knew them.

And his Mind was beset by alien emotions. He was still floating, but colder now. He was sinking, and colder still. "Is this death?" he asked, but a strange and pale little XY shook his head at him. His hair was light and his face drawn. He looked so old for one so young. Too young, too hurt – too old. "Don't talk to strangers," he said softly, turning to go.

He screamed once more, and he was falling. He didn't want to leave, feeling some part of himself left behind. Something lost, something that could never be reclaimed.

There was a bright light, a cold bright light, and then the pain blazed anew in his head and he snapped his eyes closed. So cold… so much pain… so much taken away… and then he heard a sound as the new blackness closed in on him…

… "Man, you look…" followed by rasping cough, "… like shit!" and then another hard cough.

He knew that voice. He fought to open his eyes, but the lids would not obey him. He tried to call out, but his voice was silent. He wanted to sit up, to move, but his body wouldn't have it. Then he realized something else, vaguely, something else that he could do. He knew HOW to do it, but could he? He tried.

"Your Psi," it said, then coughed again for a while and spit, gasping. "It's working again. You hurt yourself using it, for me. For us. They repaired you. Do you know where we are?"

Jayk! "That's me," the voice said, and he felt the smile crossing the unseen face.

With a great effort, he opened his eyes and the darkness fled. A rush of memory came back at him, and he felt something stirring inside of his head. He thought about it for a moment as the Approved and Repaired Processor sprang to life. His hand suddenly reached down to his side, looking for something; he wasn't sure what.

"They best have fixed the fucking thing right the first damn time!" he grumbled.

"You're too kind. How long?" he asked, as his thoughts began to clear. He knew that his Psi was running, and it was telling him that Jayk was relieved. It also told him that Jayk was feeling much better, and that meant at least two and half days if Jayk was talking and moving.

"We ran a day or so over," the Mutant began, "You didn't wake up on time, and when you started to, well, you were babbling on and on – Mentally, too, I might add – about this and that and some things that I had to lie about until I thought my fangs were gonna fall out! What the hell was wrong with you, anyway? You came up with some pretty wild stuff, you know."

"My Processor was failing. Tissue necrotization in the surrounding areas, they said." The Hunter stretched and yawned. "I actually feel halfway good," he mused aloud, his head aching only just a little as he scanned the entire floor. No one. Bots maybe, but they didn't 'show up'. He and Jayk were alone in the isolation ward.

But Jayk was awed. "Shit!" he exclaimed, "That's what happened to Shar, a long time ago! You don't wanna know how they fixed it, trust me. Just forget about it. You sure you're OK? Is it running alright? You know, your…"

"Yes it's fine, Jayk," the Hunter interrupted. "It started up fairly easily too. Hasn't been so easy in a great deal of Cycles. So she's the one they were talking about that was 'on the books'. Interesting! Anyway, how are you doing?"

Jayk coughed, but didn't have to spit. His voice was a bit nasal, but he did look better. "I'm going to live, so they tell me. You wouldn't believe what those creepy robots did to me."

Jayk thought for a moment, sitting up in bed. He still had an assortment of tubes and wires running in and out of him, and an oxygen mask as well. His collar was also chained to the head of the bed. "They stuffed this thing up my nose and down my throat and shot my lungs full of something. Then they plugged my mouth. When I tried to cough, it filled up my head and they pumped in more! It hurt like hell and I couldn't breath! Then I started hacking and puking it out the minute they pulled the mouth plug. You wouldn't believe the mess. Even the Bots commented on it. Then they did it again! Once it was over, they put the mask back on me and I had to breath in some kind of cool gassy stuff that made me cough harder. Then they did the liquid thing again and again, all day long! I thought I was gonna die."

Jayk nodded. "Having had several of THOSE in the past, I think so, yes. But I can tell you this much, I don't mind having my ass pumped full of liquid now and then, but that lung thing sucked! Literally!" He coughed, but he was smiling.

"So we're a day or two late and we're both going to live then?" the Hunter asked.

II
Victims of Our Youth

"Did you see the look on that jerk's face when I told him to let you up without restraints?" the Hunter laughed.

Jayk smiled, pressed back hard against his seat as the craft climbed. He was not restrained. "I thought he was going to blow a chip or something!" Jayk replied, clearing his throat and coughing softly. His voice had suffered from the illness, but thanks to the Facility, he was fairly well back to normal. Then he yelped as the Hunter let off of the thrusters, leveling the craft out to cruise at high speed. His stomach rolled. The Hunter then set the autopilot and logged onto the Network. He had mail waiting.

"Yes, my thoughts exactly. But what's a Nightstalker doing poking around at a remote Facility?"

"I dunno," Jayk replied, "but from what your little friend says, Xyn knew he was out there."

"Jayk, if you know something, tell me. I don't wanna have to dig it out of your head, and this is really important."

Jayk looked his captor in the eye and told him the truth. "I don't know why he would have been there. I know it had to be a 'he' because there are no XX Nightstalkers. Never are. But it bothers me. Something's been rattling around in my head ever since you linked me and Xyn up before we both went down sick, and this news just made it worse. I know our Nightstalker, Kefe, wouldn't have been able to make it across the Flats and through the Forest in one night. I saw him the night before I found Xyn in the Forest and saw him the night I brought him home. I saw him the night before that, too. Thing is, why?"

The Hunter seemed to take Jayk at his word, and didn't probe him. He wondered at that, smiling as he punched up some data on the computer. The image of the burning wreckage of Facility 32's old location came up, taken by the Recyclers and Rescuers. He and Jayk watched it for a bit, then he 'rewound' it. The video started as the building was already engulfed in flames, and all that it basically showed was the fire and the collapse of the framing. The wreckage then burned, the fire was put out, and the clip ended with a shot of a Carebot holding a badly burned little one. "Newscast bit, obviously," the Hunter commented.

Jayk nodded. "I remember the News from when I was with my Master. We used to watch it every night. He was into the world news, you know. I bet he saw this one and just ate it up. They always cater with sensationalism to get the ratings. The worse the story, the more they play it."

The Hunter snorted. "Damn talking heads is all they are. I wonder if they're even real people? How can the same announcer be on the Broadcast for so long? Doesn't he ever go pee? Or are they Clones?"

They laughed at that for a bit, then suddenly the Hunter let out a vile epithet.

"Abrams," he mused aloud, "He said something a while back about the fire. It started fast, with no warning and burned too fast and too hot, he thought. Now, if you were going to build a Facility to house something as valuable as little Bios and spare Parts, wouldn't you put in a really good security and fire control system?"

Jayk nodded, remembering with a chill his distaste for the place that they had just vacated. "I can't imagine living in there full time," he commented. "Creepy."

"But that's what gets me. You don't get IN without authorization, and those Carebots can do more than just chase little ones around. Used to be, the Inmates didn't even go outside to PLAY! Xyn never went outside, right? That's why he wandered so far, he was so taken in by the Forest and all?!"

"With security that tight, and computers running most of the utilities, how did the fire get started, and how did it spread so fast? It's almost like someone had to have set it, made sure it was going, then got their ass the hell out of there, and fast. That building was almost indestructible, Jayk. I know the people who helped design it. I helped them test it for break-ins and -outs. Healthy little Bios are a rare commodity, and the Parts trade is very lucrative. It's almost more secure than a World Bank in there. Abrams didn't understand it, and neither do I, but it nags at me. HOW did it happen? Buildings like that just don't catch fire spontaneously. Hell, you could give a little one in there a plasma torch and let him play with it and the fire suppression system would just keep putting out whatever he lit."

Then it was the Hunter's turn to flinch as Jayk recalled something. His Psi informed him, despite the mild headache, that Jayk had just had an idea and that it was a big one.

Jayk's eyes were wide and his fangs shining as his mouth dropped open. He was trembling. "No, no! It couldn't be! He could never have made it that far and that fast! He wouldn't do it, would he? I mean, I didn't like him and all, but why would HE do THAT?!"

In the Hunter's Mind there suddenly danced an image of a young XY with faintly green skin and long white hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing only a ragged pair of pants tattered off above the knees, and his eyes were almost colorless in their faint shade of gray. Even his eyebrows and lashes were white. He was sweating, and distortions like heat ripples on pavement rose from his body. He was almost muscular, the usual softness of a little one gone but not yet replaced by the form of an Adult. His arms and legs were a bit long, and as the Hunter gently probed at this phantom of Jayk's mind, it reached out a long-fingered hand to greet him. 'Hi, I'm Chriss…' it was saying.

Jayk recoiled from that image, cringing down in his seat and sinking back into the too-large jacket that he was once again wearing. He was trembling worse, and the image of Chriss disappeared as the Hunter pulled back his Psi. He had seen and felt enough.

"A young Pyro Mutant, I see. Rare. Never caught one of them before, but they can certainly do plenty of damage! It's all beginning to fit together now," the Hunter stated.

But Jayk was shaking his head, his braids rustling and his mouth still agape. "Chriss showed up later though. I mean, Xyn and I were, well…" he fumbled, not wanting to tell too much of what he knew, but still wanting to understand it all himself. The Hunter made it easier for him.

"Jayk, I know the Mutants in the Ruins captured a Transport ship and blew it up. I flew in and saw the damage to the Brushline and the tumbled buildings. You were there, you were in on it, and they left you behind after you killed Kel. Now you had to have met this Chriss on the way back home before you got left behind, but after you all had raided the ship, right?"

"Want to tell me more about it?" the Hunter asked, surprised that he just didn't fire up his Psi and take the information that he needed. In the past, he would have done just that, but in the past his head wouldn't have hurt so bad either. And he found that he also didn't want to do that to Jayk. He smiled, realizing with a start that his odd behavior of late didn't seem to be a Malfunction after all.

Jayk seemed to realize this, having been in the company of Psions for a long while. He drew a deep breath and went back for a glass of water, coughing a bit and still shaking. When he returned to his seat, the Hunter leaned over and touched his pointed ear as the Mutant downed the glass of water without stopping for air. "I won't force it, Jayk, but it's too strange. Just tell me what you know."

"We met him on the way back. Xyn had found this little scrap of an XY, Tym. He was tiny and looked kinda sick, so Xyn went to watching out for him while we raided the ship. See, Xyn wasn't used to hard work, and he wasn't holding up too well. This little one was just in the way, really. He was too small and weak to be of much help, so Xyn took him outside and fed him and was getting to know him. The rest of us worked. Anyway, the next morning, Xyn and Tym were nowhere to be found. When I did find them, Xyn was catatonic and Tym wouldn't leave him – not even to eat! I was talking to Tym when Chriss sneaked up on me and scared me. I was going to tear him limb from limb, but that's what you just 'saw,' him introducing himself. Chriss came from Kel's gang, the one I killed back there," Jayk gestured towards the back of the craft where the transport tubes were located, and went on.

"He gave me the creeps. But I could tell," Jayk admitted, flushing a bit, "that something was different about him. Well, when he reached out that hand, I knew it. I knew he was an e-XY. Castrated, like me… well, not like ME, I mean, Chriss still has a penis, for all the good it does him. He's really uptight about sex and things, but I could tell by his build and he admitted it." Then Jayk shuddered. "He actually asked for it to be done to him, and he likes being an e-XY! Weird, if you ask me. I've been cut for like 20 or 30 Cycles now, I forget, and I'm still pissed off about it!"

"I know the feeling," the Hunter stated flatly, rising to get them both another drink. "He actually WANTED it done?! WHY?!"

Jayk squirmed in his seat and took a long drink when the Hunter returned. He choked a bit and sneezed, staring at the glass. It was full of a dark brown liquid that bubbled. "Root beer," the Hunter stated, "Like it? The formula was in an old database I found in the Old City some time ago. Some old computing machine, and I took it home and got it running. Something to do in my off time. Now, back to this Chriss nut of yours…"

Jayk took another drink. "Pretty good, thanks. Well, Chriss told me, while we were looking Xyn over and trying to figure out what was wrong with him, that he'd had himself castrated just after he started the Change. Said he didn't like it, couldn't deal with it. I don't know why, he didn't say exactly – just that he couldn't deal with it was all. But like I was saying before, about your headaches?"

"See, Chriss wanted his balls cut off. He knew it would stop the Change and keep him from growing up into a real XY Adult. He knew he wouldn't have little ones of his own, didn't want any, but also he didn't want the sex drive. He's happy now, believe it or not! But he also told me about something else that he found out. He mentioned another little one, a slave, who got cut when he was really little. Full castration, like me. No XY-parts at all left. Chriss said this little fellow hit the time for the Change, and that he was a Mutant too. He thought he might have been, but he wasn't very good at it or something. Anyway, when the Change couldn't happen because he was cut, his Mutant abilities went wild, so Chriss told me. I guess whatever he had went off like a bomb, and his Master called the Exterminators on him. He escaped, and made it to Chriss' and Kel's gang. He told them the story, and Chriss came up with an idea about it. See, he figured his powers were weakening and he was getting headaches because of the Change! They said they'd seen it before in XY's, and Chriss was so unwound over his balls making him horny and such that he came up with this great idea – if he got castrated, his headaches would stop, he'd still be a Pyro Mutant, and he wouldn't have to worry about the sex thing. Now, I KNOW that some Mutant XY's lose their abilities when they grow up, especially really gifted little XY's. I've seen it before. But you know, come to think of it, I never have seen an XX lose her abilities in the Change. It's different, you know, but Chriss swore he was right! His headaches were gone in about three weeks or so, and then he said… he said…"

But Jayk's voice trailed off as the Hunter saw him go deep into thought. He didn't pry. He waited instead. The emotion rising up off Jayk was almost palpable.

Then Jayk raised an already sloped eyebrow and looked at him. "Chriss said something to me like, 'and you know what? It worked! Pretty soon I was setting fire to stuff that won't normally burn. You know you can torch a rock if you get it hot enough?' And that was when we were looking over Xyn, and he noted that Xyn was still intact, down there. His XY-parts, I mean. I'm worried, sir, very worried. I think that if he knows what Xyn is, he might try and talk him into getting castrated too! I know he was thinking it, I just know it!"

The Hunter could feel the near-panic in Jayk's voice, and squeezed his shoulder. "Jayk, you know what I think? When you were going TO the downed ship to raid it, where was Chriss then? When you were working and unloading, where was he? When you found Xyn catatonic with Tym hovering over him, where was Chriss right before that? Hell, before you even started out, when you found Xyn in the Forest or when you were getting to know and love him all that time, where was Chriss then and what was he doing?!"

Jayk's eyes were wide and he drank the rest of his root beer and burped – loudly. A long and drawn out burp that made his nose burn. He sneezed again. "Good stuff," he managed, his mind still unable to accept it.

Chriss was a Mutant. Kel had been a genius in mechanics and programming. Even a basic flyer could make it from the old Facility 32 to the Ruins, if not back again, as his own rescue by Shar had proven. And Chriss' gang had lost their Nightstalker, hadn't they? Or was he just not there WITH them when the Transport ship went down and they had joined with Shar's gang in raiding it? And Chriss had made his first appearance just when Xyn had gone catatonic and was totally helpless. He had been so open about his own castration, and there had been something about him as he had examined Xyn for injuries.

Jayk reached back in his Mind, pulling at fragments from the last interval as Xyn/Jayk to look for clues. He saw Tym in there, and something rattled at his Mind again. Something he couldn't place.

Slowly, it came together. Piece by piece, it came together in Jayk's Mind and he opened it freely to his captor. Together, they went over it again and again.

What if Kel's Nightstalker had been secretly observing Facility 32 and reporting back somehow? What if he'd been seen by little Edward IV, and knew it, then having decided to act that night? He could have relayed his information to Kel, or perhaps via a Psion, and Chriss. Hadn't Jayk told Tym to run and get his gang's Psion, only hadn't he returned with Kel and Shar instead?

Chriss had said it himself: 'I'm also a weak Psion.' Jayk's flesh began to crawl, the very faint hairs on his arm standing up.

What IF Chriss had been in the vicinity of Facility 32, and then set fire to it upon the Nightstalker's orders? 'You can torch a rock if you can get it hot enough!' he had said.

"Those type of buildings just don't burn down by themselves," the Hunter reminded him aloud.

Jayk nodded, craning his neck to look back towards the cargo bay and the transport tubes. "He wanted to leave Xyn behind to die, though," Jayk mused.

The Hunter sniffed, still inside of Jayk's Mind. What if he wanted to leave him behind so that someone else could come back and pick him up? Or what if someone else was waiting there in the Ruins to pick him up when you all left him behind?

Jayk gasped excitedly, his face betraying his fears. "They wanted him. They knew about him. They burnt the Facility down so Xyn would get out and wander off. What if one of them 'planted' that idea in his head, to make sure he got out? I don't think Chriss could do it, but what if he had help? Once the place burnt, and Xyn was out, Chriss and the Nightstalker could have flown back to their gang, or just to the Ruins and ditched the craft! He could have used his Pyro to mask his craft's heat trail too, or build false ones! And Comm-Tell was offline long before the ship came in! The Rescuers had to use hand-held units after the fire! They couldn't track or scan the area very fast! What if Kel somehow took over the satellite and… and… all they had to do was wait for Xyn to come to them… but then… then…" but Jayk's voice trailed off and his Mind raced.

The Hunter played scenario after scenario through his improved Processors, and the more he ran it, the more it seemed to fit. Jayk nodded and tried to keep up with his Mind, but couldn't. He didn't want to. He didn't like where it was leading. His Mind veered away from the thought, but the Hunter supplied it for him.

Jayk gasped, and he shook his head. "But Kel was dead already! HE wanted to leave Xyn behind, but it was my own gang that left me! Why?!"

"Why indeed? Too bad you tried to eat him," the Hunter said flatly. "I'd like to talk to him. Actually, I'd like to drag it all out of him, wanting to leave Xyn behind like that. Drag it out of his Mind very, very slowly. I can do that, you know!"

Jayk snorted. "I did NOT try to eat him," he retorted, glancing back at the transport tubes. Then he sighed and reclined his seat. The Hunter laid a large hand on his stomach, but Jayk didn't move. "But why Xyn?" he whispered. "How did they find him to begin with and why do all that?"

"They want him. Why, I don't know, but they obviously do. Jayk, our young Xyn is a Psion. And a damn good one, I can tell you. I've been in his Mind, and yours too, so I know. I know it all. But he's in the Change isn't he? His abilities might be slowing down, yes?"

Jayk nodded, listening with his eyes tightly closed. He didn't want to cry again.

"Kill his sex drive," Jayk muttered glumly, images of their nights together flashing through his Mind.

"Spare me, please," the Hunter said regretfully, "and NO, not the sex drive! If Chriss and his gang get Xyn castrated, like himself and his other Mutant friend, what then? Didn't their powers go wild on them afterwards? When the XY hormones faded or weren't there?"

"Xyn is a powerful Psion, now that he knows how to do it. So is this Shar lady of yours. She pretty well kicked my ass right when you were all going in for the downed ship, and she's been letting Xyn learn from her, coaching him as it were. I know, I was there, watching. When that big gang crossed the old bridge, Xyn was 'there,' his Mind that is, and she was helping him. Anyway, I can tell you, Jayk, that that last contact with Xyn's Mind – the one that sent me in for Maintenance just now – told me something."

The Hunter's face went hard, and he gritted his teeth. His voice was cold and flat when he spoke.

"Xyn is now every bit as powerful as Shar ever was, and she's the best yet that I've ever encountered."

There was a long silence as they stared at one another. Jayk began to shake his head 'no', but the Hunter nodded. He knew it, and Jayk refused to believe it.

Jayk looked as if he were about to toss his root beer back up. The Hunter reached over and took him in his arms, pulling him close. Jayk was shaking again, badly, and the Hunter's head ached as he tried hard to calm him.

The Hunter nodded and pressed Jayk's braid covered head into his shoulder. He sighed, furious at the feelings that he was having as held Jayk. He felt as if he were about to explode inside as he rubbed his hand over Jayk's back, up under the jacket and just held him. His skin was soft and warm, and the Hunter remembered being held like that a long time ago.

"Once castrated, Xyn will become a monster," the Hunter said flatly, "And I don't think either of us wants that to happen to him."

They flew on in silence for the rest of the trip to New City Far South. Both of them wrestled with their emotions, but neither of them spoke. Finally, a comm signal came in. It was Ev Wilson.

"I had a bit of a Breakdown," the Hunter replied, "Had to have some Maintenance work done. So did Jayk, for that matter."

Wilson looked into the screen and smiled. "All better are we? I hate it when I have Breakdown."

"Yes, sir," Jayk said, his eyes downcast, "I'm sorry we're late. I didn't mean to get sick."

"No harm done there. I'm glad you're recovered. Was there any permanent damage?" Wilson asked, his voice betraying nothing.

"The Doctors didn't think so," the Hunter replied, "It seems that our Jayk here's too old and tough for a simple Remnant to hurt him much."

Wilson nodded. If he caught the insinuation of the word "our", he didn't show it. In fact, he was showing nothing. Nothing useful.

"If you'll check your World Bank status, Hunter, you'll see that the transaction of the reward money is fully set up and ready to go. I'll just need your ID when you arrive. I'd be honored if you'd stay for dinner with us," he added.

Jayk didn't look up, but the Hunter felt the wave roll off of him. Fear. Dread. Near-panic.

Believe me when I say, Jayk, I WILL be watching him. Acer owes me a favor, and I told him to 'sit on it.' Remember? I wasn't being cordial or funny with him. That's a coded message. Acer has some very powerful friends and some moles in the Authority. It's how he stays in business. I'd suggest you spend some time on the Network when he'll allow it. A LOT of time.

"I would love to stay for dinner, sir. I'm honored," the Hunter replied aloud without missing a beat as his Psi continued to 'speak' to Jayk, who did not look up.

I had this Master of yours, as he calls himself, looked up, Jayk. I have some friends too, and they owe me a LOT of favors. Wilson's Network terminal will be watched constantly. When he logs on and connects, and even if he's there with you – which I'm sure he will be – I'll be only one sentence away from you. All you have to do is tell the computer to open a file called 'Hunter picture.' Of course, it won't be able to find it, but that's beside the point. What it WILL do is send me a coded mail transmission every hour on the hour from the moment that you say it out loud. As long as Wilson hears you say it, so will I. It might take me while to get here, unless they let me keep this craft, but I WILL come.

"I anxiously await your arrival. I can see you're very close already! Must be a fast ship!" Wilson commented.

"Oh it is, sir," the Hunter bantered, "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get it, and it's still not paid for! We'll be there very shortly! And thank you!"

Just don't change on him, Jayk. Whatever you do, control it! No matter how upset or angry you get, don't CHANGE! I can get the murder charges on Kel back there erased, no problem, but if you kill an innocent – well, bad term, but close enough – and regular Approved, there won't be much I can do. The house is bound to be monitored, since Shar so dramatically broke you out once already. I'd imagine security there is a real bitch, so just sit tight. Got it?

In reply, Jayk coughed and reached up to scratch his pointed ear. The Hunter smiled. He could also sense that Jayk had no idea as to why he was doing all of this for him. The Hunter didn't fully understand it either, and he found that amusing.

Some moments later, they landed on Wilson's designated landing strip in the back yard. It seemed that he had a flyer as well, which wasn't really uncommon for the absurdly wealthy. The Hunter waited for the computer to tell him that the craft was secure and he popped the hatch. He got out first and helped Jayk down. As they walked towards the back patio doors, the Hunter commented, "This landscaping must have cost a fortune. I hate flowers."

Jayk looked around and nodded. "He likes plants. The old house wasn't this big though," the Mutant commented, looking up at the three story red brick monstrosity that was easily 7,000 sq. ft. [650 m²] in area. The arched windows were real glass, and the deep blue sky reflected off of them in stark contrast to the white framings. The roof was tiled slate, and decorated here and there at the edges with carved finishings that were made to resemble wood. Jayk shivered. "I don't like this house," he whispered, reaching up to hold onto the Hunter's sleeve. "There's something about it that scares me, and I don't think it's Master, either."

The Hunter nodded. "It's the feeling of being watched. I feel it too. Ah, our host! Hello, Mr. Wilson!"

Wilson was emerging from the patio doors as they had been looking up at the roofline. As before, if he had overheard them, he said nothing. His face was jovial, and his shaven scalp reflected the late afternoon sun. He was dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and khaki pants with loafers. His neatly trimmed black goatee was set off in contrast to the rest of him, and his teeth were perfect as he smiled. He offered a hand to the Hunter, who shook it and returned the smile. His grip was crushing, and he was as large as the Hunter in size. "You'll excuse my attire, I hope. I was feeling a bit casual this evening."

The Hunter nodded, scanning Wilson for all he was worth and ignoring the now-softer pain in his head. So far, nothing unusual. Just relief and lot of lust, he 'sent' to Jayk. "Beats body armor," the Hunter joked.

Jayk, however, had fallen a step back behind the Hunter was looking down at the smoothed stone patio tiles. Even to the casual observer, he looked like he was about to come undone.

"Oh, come now, Jayk!" Wilson said to him, taking a step closer, "You're not going to be exterminated, I promise. And what's this fashion statement you seem to be making?"

Jayk still didn't look up. Instead, he took a step closer and went down on one knee. "Thank you, Master. It's the Hunter's jacket. I was cold, and well, my own clothing wasn't in very good shape when he found me." His tone was apologetic, submissive, and the Hunter had to stifle a laugh. Wilson had no clue.

"Oh that's just a capture collar, sir," the Hunter explained, "Standard operating procedure, you understand. Nothing permanent. Mild stun device, tracking Beacon, etc."

"I see!" Wilson exclaimed. "The Authority thinks of everything! Well, can we take it off, if you don't mind? I have one of my own, you understand. House security collar, and well, a bit extravagant, but sort of a welcome home gift for our young friend here! Probably the same manufacturer, you know."

Wilson reached into his pocket, still smiling. "Of course! I'd have it no other way. We mustn't have our Jayk here running about unsecured!" Wilson replied. Jayk was still looking up, but not at, his Master and the Hunter as Wilson produced a small silver device. He handed it to the Hunter, who whistled.

"Model 8 auto-sizing restraint, WITH velvet inlay?" he breathed sarcastically. Only Jayk caught it. Wilson nodded.

"Auto-sizing for the wearer, and fully attuned with 'smart' circuitry as well. Sterling silver coating, and turn it over!"

The Hunter did that, and whistled again. Inlaid in the polished silver was a shining blue cabochon cut sapphire the size of an egg. "Jayk, look at this!" he said. Jayk took a step closer and his dark eyes went wide. He reached out a long finger to touch it, trembling, as he smoothed it over the velvet lining.

"Thank you, Master. I'm unworthy of such a gift." he said softly, bowing his head.

Wilson nodded and watched as the Hunter removed the capture collar from Jayk's neck and pocketed it. He then pressed his fingers on the new collar in a certain position and it expanded and opened with an audible CLICK. The Hunter bent down, placing himself between Wilson and Jayk and gently probing at Jayk's Mind with his Psi, easing away the tension. Jayk relaxed a bit. He then put the collar around Jayk's neck and closed it. Again it clicked loudly, then began to contract. The Hunter stood up as Jayk felt at the collar, tightening about his throat then relaxing some. Again it tightened, and he swallowed hard. The collar relaxed a bit more, then beeped. Wilson laughed.

"All set up and secure now!" he stated. "Now, if you don't mind, Jayk, can we give the Hunter his jacket back? Nice as it is, I don't think you'll be needing it anymore."

Jayk nodded and pulled the large jacket off over his head, sending his braids in every which direction and taking a moment to disentangle himself. He handed the jacket back to the Hunter, and stood at attention, naked before them, with his hands clasped behind his back. Wilson laughed again, and the Hunter felt the shame and fear rolling off of the Mutant again. He tried to ease it a bit. Model 8's are a cinch to crack, he 'sent' to Jayk, Don't worry about it. Just don't try and leave the grounds.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Wilson asked, bending down. "Come here and show your Master how much you love him!"

Jayk then suddenly surprised the Hunter by running into Wilson's outstretched arms and allowing the large Adult to pick him up and embrace him. He buried his face in Wilson's shoulder and clung to him, whimpering apologies in his ear and dampening his shoulder with tears. The Hunter turned away, his grin broad. You just won the Broadcast Award for best Actor in a drama, he 'sent.'

Wilson patted Jayk's back, and held him close. The Hunter probed at him, discretely, since he had not detected any others Psions in the general vicinity but aired on the side of caution. He was still not feeling up to combat of any kind, and he was hungry as well. He sensed relief and joy from Wilson, as well as a great deal of other things. He could tell that Wilson was hard and very sexually aroused; in fact, he was horny as all hell.

What he felt was affection, yes – as one might have for a long time pet or a rare and collectible vehicle. He then compared what he felt in Wilson to what he himself had felt in that instant of playing as a go-between for Xyn/Jayk and found Wilson sadly lacking. He turned back to face them and noted Wilson sniffing at Jayk's neck, the silver slave collar shining in the sunlight and casting yellow highlights as the shadows lengthened all about them.

"He's even clean and not in need of a bath! But he smells sort of well, so sterile, don't you think?" Wilson observed, patting Jayk's head. The Hunter seethed within, his own frustrated anxieties building. He caught the inflection on the word 'sterile.' With a great effort, he got himself under control.

"That would be from the Facility where we both got Overhauled," the Hunter joked. "I'm sure I smell much like that too, mixed with musty body armor that is!"

"Oh, where ARE my manners?" Wilson chided himself, "Must be my excitement over having Jayk back. Do come in! You can go and freshen up in the guest room. Alfred?" he called as they went into the foyer, which was large enough to encompass the Hunter's own entire living room.

At that very instant, the Hunter felt something, but it rapidly vanished. He scanned for it, but it was gone. He became wary.

A very old Adult XY in a neatly cut servants' suit then appeared from seemingly nowhere. "Yes, Master Wilson? Ah, guests for dinner?" he observed professionally with a touch of an accent.

"Yes, Alfred. Do be a good fellow and show our armor plated friend here up to the guest room. And I'm sure you remember Jayk?" Wilson asked.

Alfred nodded, uninterested, it seemed. "Welcome home, little one," he greeted Jayk, who looked up from his Master's shoulder and nodded. Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Not so little now, I see. You've grown some. I'll inform the kitchen staff and have Jayk groomed and made ready for dinner now, sir," Alfred offered.

"Thank you, Alfred," Wilson replied, setting Jayk down on his feet. Jayk kissed his hand and walked over to Alfred, who took the slave's long-fingered hand in his own.

"Come along now, dinner will surely be ready before I get you cleaned up and prepared for dining. My, you smell like a can of disinfectant. Are you sure you're fully over whatever it was that you had? My, my, you must be at least five if not six centimeters [5-5 1/3"] taller than when…"

Both Wilson and the Hunter listened as Alfred's voice faded off down the hallway as he led Jayk to a long staircase and they started up it. Alfred continued to interrogate, almost in a monotone, as Jayk nodded or shook his head. The fact that he was naked in front of them all didn't seem to phase him a bit as he walked along beside Alfred, unable to get a word in edgewise. The Hunter noticed something, however.

While Jayk never looked his Master in the eye, he DID look Alfred in the face when the butler was speaking.

"He's costing me a fortune, but good help's hard to find," Wilson stated. "He's been with the family since I was a little one and as long as I can remember. I don't know what I'd do without him!"

Wilson made an indelicate sound. "Alfred's been after me to find a nice wife and settle down to raise some little XY's for almost four Deci-Cycles now!" Wilson laughed. "You should have seen his face when I brought Jayk home for the first time! I thought he was going to pop a chip! Of course, he's known that I don't really care for XX's since I was about fifteen, I think. My father didn't have much time for me as a little one, and Alfred sort of filled in. His own little one died of a cascade Malfunction long before I ever came along, and he's been sort of sentimental ever since. He spoils Jayk outrageously, for a slave, I think, but then I just can't bring myself to reprimand him. It would be too much like talking back to the old man, wouldn't it? And one should never talk back to his superior, be it father, Master or whatever?"

Wilson then laughed again, and the Hunter raised an eyebrow. Something wasn't quite right.

"Jayk never mentioned him before, to anyone that I know of," he said, racing through his memories with his new Processors. In an instant, he turned more inward and ran through everything that his Psi had gathered from Jayk's Mind. He was relieved when he finally found it, and confirmed it with Jayk. His Psi also informed him that Jayk was being given a perfumed bath, in an effort to hide the Facility smell. He wasn't happy, either. The Hunter breathed a sigh of relief. The memories of Alfred were all neatly shuttled off into a far corner of Jayk's Mind, and the Hunter wondered at how he had missed that.

But why in hell am I so damn worried about him then?! I know Alfred isn't feeling like harming him, but how can those memories of the old one be so neatly organized and stored so far back and obscured?! He thought to himself, still not missing a beat of the conversation with Wilson.

"Jayk doesn't talk much. One would almost think he's muted. Of course, when Alfred starts rambling, about all one can do is nod in agreement. Let's have you get refreshed now, sir, and we can meet at dinner. Alfred will be along to collect you, I'm sure," Wilson offered, gesturing towards the staircase. He led the Hunter to a room that shamed even the best hotel suits and made a sweeping gesture. "There are clothes in the closet that should fit you nicely, I think. We're about the same size and I took the liberty. Feel free to freshen up, use the Network if need be, and relax. I'll see you at dinner then?"

"You're too kind, sir," the Hunter nodded, pulling off his vizored helmet and tossing it onto the large bed. Wilson left, and the Hunter stripped down to his recently serviced and reprogrammed Suit. In deference to his host's observations, he peeled it off and headed for the shower. His Psi told him that Jayk, somewhere on the other end of the second floor, was tolerating some sort of hygienic ministrations with forced patience. The young slave was, however, genuinely glad to see Alfred again. "At least there's that, even if I don't care for this Wilson," the Hunter muttered, soaping up and once again agonizing over the frustrations as he felt at his barren groin. He tried to concentrate on what it was that had tripped his instincts, but he had lost it.

Again, the thoughts of being younger and intact assailed him and he began to tremble. His Mind ran over and over the memories of masturbation and he felt the familiar clenching sensations within himself. Carefully, with regard to his recent Maintenance, he calmed himself. There was no time to punch the wall or hurt himself in some other way to alleviate his frustrations, and that would be hard to explain as well. He needed a distraction. He probed at Jayk, who was being toweled off by Alfred, who in turn was paying very close attention to Jayk's lack of XY-parts.

Instead he ordered up, once again, the scenarios of Xyn's flight from the old Facility. He thought it over thousands of times per second, rinsing off and reaching for a towel as his Mind paused on something strange. He himself so wanted to flee this place with Jayk in hand, but he pushed those ideas aside. Something was rattling around in a far corner of his Mind, and it seemed to quiet his frustrations as he focused on it.

Before his Mind's eye came the vision of Xyn, stripped of his Suit and running. Running… but to where? From whom? And then Xyn was sitting in a large and very old chair, and the strange little one that Jayk had called 'Tym' was in his lap reading a book with him. No, Xyn was reading to him and Tym was only listening. His frustrations and anxieties seemed to fade as he focused on that image, heading distractedly for the closet. As he reached in, however, the image disappeared to replaced with… something.

"What the hell is wrong with me tonight?" he demanded aloud, his head beginning to ache a bit more. He pulled a set of civilian clothes from the closet, and on impulse, hung up his own Suit in their place. A strange sense of repetition came over him, and he paused. He left his armor on the bed, but pocketed his weapons. He felt very strange, and for the life of him, he could not think of why. Carefully, he turned his Psi down to casual observance levels and sat on the bed to rehash the ideas of the Facility fire over and over.

Alfred came to fetch him some time later, without Jayk in tow. The Hunter didn't question this as he followed the butler down the stairs, around several corners, and finally into the huge dining room. His mind was almost numbed by Alfred's ramblings, and by the time they finally arrived, he felt on the verge of catatonia. He gaped and blinked.

In the center of the parquet floored room was a long ebony table with burgundy velvet trimmed high back chairs. The table was set in fine china, and potted plants lined the light toned wood paneled walls of the room. High overhead hung crystal chandeliers, their pure white light playing off the surface of the polished table and reflecting tiny rainbows in the crystal centerpieces. The kitchen staff, all dressed in food splattered uniforms of gray, brought in several covered dishes and fled. Alfred pulled a chair for the Hunter, and he thanked him and sat. "Marvelous," he breathed.

"Oh this old disaster area? Looks like the Ruins to me," Alfred replied, nodding and fleeing.

The Hunter waited a moment, taking it all in. "I could do something like this, come to think of it," he mused. "But why?" The minutes ticked by, and Wilson entered, alone. He was dressed casually as well, in clothes much like the Hunter had picked out.

Wilson waved. "Thanks, but don't bother. I'm not up to formality tonight," he explained, pulling out the chair at the head of the table and sitting down heavily. The Hunter studied him a bit more, taking in the lines of his well built XY body and his shaven scalp. His clothes, no matter how casual and loose, didn't hang on him. They fit, and fit well. Wilson, despite his airs, was obviously toned up for action. He wondered if he could take him in a fight. The Hunter turned his Psi away from him, still wary. "Now where is that slave?" Wilson asked, not actually to the Hunter.

Wilson sighed. "Yes, you're right. It's been so long, and we've missed him so badly. I can't wait to see him dressed for dinner!"

The Hunter cocked an eyebrow again. "Does Alfred know how old Jayk really is?" he asked, attempting to start a chat.

Wilson took a drink of water from his crystal goblet. "Oh yes. He had a hard time believing it at first, but he finally accepted it. Hard to believe Alfred himself's still going! He's older than dirt, I think, but so well Maintained! He's beginning to have a lot more Breakdowns, though, and I'm worried. I don't know what I'll do without him."

Wilson smiled, and suddenly the Hunter sensed irritation from behind him. He turned, then gestured and Wilson looked up, grinning from ear to ear. They stood.

Alfred was leading Jayk by the hand, and Jayk had a mock grin pasted on his face. That face, the Hunter noted, was a shade redder and lighter than usual. He looked closer as Jayk approached, the slave's eyes looking just off to the side, and focused on Alfred holding his hand. Jayk's nails had been neatly clipped and filed back to almost nothing and painted black.

His eyebrows were even more sloped and darker with makeup. His lashes seemed longer, accenting his dark, almond-shaped eyes which looked out from between blue-tinged eyelids whose color faded up and into the rouge of the rest of his face. From his mouth protruded his fangs, but they had been capped in shining silver with blunted points. The rest of his teeth gleamed white, shining in the light. His lips were also very much redder and accentuated with coloring. His black hair had been unbraided and washed, then styled into tight, neat rows that pulled all of it back to hang in narrow braids off of the back of his head and down his nape. Each braid was capped with either a blue or silver crystal bead. His collar still shone in the clear light of the dining room, and the huge blue jewel sparkled.

About his wrists were matching silver-toned cloth cufflinks, and on the middle finger of his hand that was one finger short, he wore a thick silver ring. On his feet were soft silver lamedh slippers which made no sound on the floor as he walked in step with Alfred. About his slim waist was a velvet lined thick belt in matching silver, much like his collar, with thin straps that went down either side of his smooth crotch to meet and attach in the back of the belt. There was no backing to the belt, either. He wore nothing else, and the fact that he was a eunuch was very much in evidence and accentuated by his attire or lack thereof.

Alfred nodded to them. "Young Jayk is returned home," he announced, releasing Jayk's hand and pushing him forward a bit.

Jayk, very briefly and quickly, looked both of them in the face and then turned his gaze back down towards the floor. He stood with his slippered feet spread apart, and his hands clasped behind his back. "Thank you, all, sirs," he said in soft and submissive tone.

Wilson breathed heavily and although it went against his better judgement, the Hunter turned his Psi completely off.

He did that, and Wilson took him onto his lap. Alfred nodded and retreated as the Master kissed the slave's neck. The Hunter flushed, and tried to calm himself. Jayk, however old he was, looked so small and helpless as his Master held him. He then carefully touched one of the silver capped fangs and smiled. "Nice touch," he said softly.

"Thank you, Master. It was Alfred's idea," Jayk replied, leaning his head in as the Master fondled his ear.

Jayk hesitated a bit, then reached up and took his Master's hands down to his lap. "If you think I would look good, sir, then yes, I'd like that."

The Hunter took another long drink, praying devoutly to every Deity he could think of to intervene and DO something. Nothing happened, however. He was completely amazed at Jayk's performance, considering some of the things that the Mutant had said and considering everything that he had discovered about Jayk Psionically. He shook his head and cleared his throat, the feelings rising up within him doing more than just distracting him.

Wilson moved Jayk off of his lap. "You're not the only one! Jayk, Why don't you pull a chair around and sit in between our guest and myself?" he suggested. Jayk nodded and did that, but before he sat down he refilled both water glasses and uncovered the dishes on the table. The Hunter stared at the meal laid out before him of a large ham swimming in pineapple with cherries and some strange green vegetable covered in melted cheese. There was soft and fine white bread, yellow tinged potatoes with melted butter and sour cream and a ham-based gravy as well. The smell was intoxicating as the steam from the food filled his nose.

Jayk glanced at Wilson, who nodded. "This is nothing compared to the spread he lays out when he throws a party. You should see that!" Jayk replied with false exuberance. The Hunter smiled.

"Perhaps you can invite me to one sometime when I have some vacation coming," the Hunter suggested.

"Marvelous idea!" Wilson agreed, slicing into the ham and looking up sharply. "Imagine that! THE Hunter at my party! What would my friends think? Why, I'd be the talk of this little burg of civilization!" he mused, considering the fact that Far South was the second largest New City on the Eastern Seaboard. "You know how to contact him, Jayk? It's your duty to call him up or give him our address proper so that he can come visit if he wishes."

The Hunter caught the emphasis on the word 'wishes' and smiled. If Wilson wanted to play, he could play as well.

"It's not hard to contact the Authority, sir," he stated, "All one has to do is call up the local Authority and ask for Old City Main Authority. They'll route you straight to our Database, and my email is, well, obvious. THEHunter@Authority%Old%City.gov".

"Splendid! And I'm sure you know how to reach Jayk when you wish?" Wilson asked, baiting him.

The Hunter only nodded and dipped himself a serving of the cheese-smothered vegetable. He said nothing, only nodded.

Jayk nodded as well and took a drink from his crystal goblet, then dropped his napkin in his lap. He stared at his plate as Wilson dropped a large slab of the ham onto it.

"You've been sick," Jayk's Master stated, filling his plate with more than he knew that the young one could consume. "You need to eat and get your strength back up. I've never been one to believe in just laying about and waiting to feel better. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll get you a physical trainer and call for your records from the Facility so we can start getting you back into shape. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer to… umm… well, for gods' sake, lad, I can count your ribs!" He exclaimed, changing his line of thought rapidly.

"I'm sorry, sir!" Jayk countered quickly, not looking up. "I didn't mean to get sick."

Wilson sighed, sitting back down once he had served them both and filled his own plate. It struck the Hunter as strange as to why Wilson, as Master of this house, was playing the serving man. Still, he wasn't about to begrudge him the play. He ate and kept his peace, praising the household staff for a fine meal. He watched as Jayk ate all that he could, then struggled to clean his plate.

"No dessert?" Wilson asked him as Jayk leaned back and sighed. His stomach was tight, and his eyes were drooping.

The Hunter tensed up, not knowing what to expect, but Wilson only smiled and continued to eat.

After all of them had eaten more than was probably good for any of them, and Jayk in particular, the Hunter cited pressing business and excused himself to the guest room. Once there, he brought his Psi back up and probed the entire house. His head twinged a bit, but it was nothing compared to the pain of a few days before. It also came to power in about half the time. Wilson was still sitting at the table, cuddling Jayk on his lap and sipping coffee. He was extremely aroused, but extremely irritated at the same time. Jayk was in no shape for wild sexual escapades, and Wilson knew it. The kitchen staff was cleaning up, and Alfred was – to his shock – outside arguing with his craft's computer as to whether everything was in good working order!

He pondered Alfred for a moment, realizing that if anyone could outtalk a 'smart' computer, the old one probably could! He stripped off Wilson's borrowed clothing, and went to the closet.

A small voice seemed to be saying, as an echo over a canyon might fade away, Don't talk to strangers… don't talk to… don't…

He changed back into his Suit and body armor and pulled his vizor down. He checked his weapons, then pulled out his wallet. Sure enough, the funds for Jayk's reward were sitting in a holding tank at World Bank East awaiting Wilson's and his final signatures. He smiled and headed out of the room, taking care not to slam the door.

When he descended the stairs, he found Master Wilson waiting for him outside on the patio with his own wallet ready. The back yard was well lit, and some night-blooming lilies had opened to fill the air with a sweet fragrance. They signed the funds transfer documents, and shook hands. Whatever had bothered the Psion since his arrival wasn't Wilson. He was sure of that.

Jayk stood beside his Master the whole time, his made up face questioning. "Thank our guest for bringing you back home, Jayk, and let's escort him to his craft," Wilson told him.

"Thank you, sir," Jayk said in a mocking tone, going down on one knee before the Hunter.

The Hunter then scooped Jayk up into his massive arms and pulled him close. He held him for a long moment, and finally 'sent' to him, Don't worry. He knows you're not able to do much of anything for him yet and that you're still weak. I've got to go and report in and file the Runaway documents on you. And be careful. Something isn't right here.

Please don't leave me here! Jayk begged, and Hunter reached into his Mind to stifle the pain.

I have no choice, Jayk. The Law is the Law. Just take care of yourself, and whatever you do, DO NOT try to go Runaway! That collar will kill you if your Master orders it! I don't think he'll do that, but you never know. I'd say the edge of the mowed lawn is as far as you can go.

Jayk pulled back and nodded, his painted face a study in control. They knew that Wilson was watching the exchange, and the Hunter felt the pride coming off of him. It was as if Jayk were the grand prize, the one status symbol that must be retained at all cost. Anyone rich could build a house like this, but not everyone could get a slave like Jayk. And anyone who had him would be ruthless in trying to keep him.

And THAT was it! Again the Hunter felt it, and right before it vanished, Jayk flinched.

The Hunter then very deliberately kissed Jayk on the cheek and sat him down. The mental noise was near deafening as Wilson fumed, and the Hunter genuinely hoped that he hadn't gotten the young slave into trouble with his Master. Again, that fleeting feeling, gone in an instant as the stars shone down upon them.

"Thank you for your kindness, Master Wilson," the Hunter said, turning to the craft, "You're a gracious host and I shall speak highly of you. Please forgive my oversight in my fond display of goodbye to your young Jayk there. I was out of line."

Wilson gaped and pulled Jayk close to him. Alfred bid them goodnight and went inside, and the Hunter felt it pass by him just one more time. However, the wave of superiority and pride coming off of Wilson showed that he had swallowed it whole!

"Not at all, sir!" he replied. "It's only natural to want to embrace such beauty."

As if taking his cue, Jayk piped up, "Thank you sirs. Both of you. Goodbye!" He waved.

"Goodbye, and forget what I said earlier, Jayk! CHANGE at the first sign of trouble and smash the Network terminal and run like hell! Kill him if you have to, but get out and run. You never mentioned Alfred before, and now I know why! I Psi'd with YOU Jayk, I KNOW YOU! I know you like him, but don't trust Alfred anymore. He's not a Psion, but he's a spy of some sort – or worse! It's no wonder I didn't see it sooner, he's been specially trained to evade Psions and he's more Machine in his head than anyone I've seen before. Your memories of him are too orderly, and probably false! He's just playing a part here, up to no good, and I'm not even sure that Wilson knows about it. No wonder he's so damn old and still going! Watch him, close! And don't worry about me! You know how to find me. Remember this, Jayk, at all costs when and if you run – find a Hunter, any Hunter and tell him 'his armor has a chink in it.' and take care. I look forward to your next party!"

Jayk reached up and scratched his pointed ear, smiling. His silver-capped fangs gleamed.

He climbed into the craft and manually punched up a security scan. It read clean, but that didn't comfort him as he fired up the engines. As the craft did an auto takeoff, he focused his Psi upon Wilson and headed back to the cargo hold. As he cleared the trees and the craft began to climb, he opened the tube containing Kel's grisly remains and pulled an old fashioned billy-club from the top of one of his high leather boots. He then methodically smashed the dead Adult's skull open and rooted around in his dead organic brain until he found the Processor. He pulled it out and shoved it into a pocket, gore and all. Almost as an afterthought, he ripped out the auxiliary chips as well, noticing that there far too many of them.

His Psi told him what he expected it to. As the craft climbed higher, Wilson was exuberant. Jayk was frightened, but so tired and so sleepy from his recent illness and heavy meal. Alfred was despondent, and an image of a dying little XY flashed in the Hunter's Mind. As he sat back down in the pilot's seat, he wondered at the poor little thing. He had undergone so much Maintenance and Replacements that it was impossible to tell where Human ended and Machine took over. Alfred's Mind was filled with grief as Wilson's gloated and rejoiced, and at the same time the Hunter could see it all as he went back into the house with Jayk stumbling along beside him. Again, the grief and pain – almost beyond his ability to comprehend!

And yet there was more, something else. He saw it soon enough as he made his preparations, cursing himself for cutting it so damnably close as the craft leveled and prepared to accelerate. "Computer, soft downward eject of pilot only then emergency climb at maximum power!" he demanded, clapping his vizor down hard and for the first time in his career setting his body armor to full Life support mode.

Then the floor literally fell out from under him and he watched as Abrams' precious craft, the long range cruiser, veered at a sharp upward angle and sped away.

His Psi found Jayk asleep in his Master's arms, and Wilson almost on the verge of dancing in glee! His Mind dwelt upon Jayk, however, who suddenly seemed sick again but with pale hair and no fangs. He became disoriented, tumbling, his Processors heating up as his Psi sorted the details and threw them at his CoProcessors. He was falling UP! A voice was speaking, and his armor hugged him as it struggled to protect him. Underneath of it was his Suit, but it wasn't the Suit he felt. He was sliding out of the Suit, and the image of the closet came again. He was only moments from a reboot, he knew, yet there was nothing that he could do about it as he felt the Suit, impossibly, slide off of his body to be put on this tiny surrogate Jayk. He was looking in the closet again… looking for a change of clothing.

"HE needs you now, not me," someone said, someone young. It was all around him, audible, and yet in his Mind as well. I don't know what to do. Will I die without my Suit on? Am I Mutant enough to survive in here?

For so long he pondered it, finally realizing from whence it came. He tried to right himself, but growing dizzy, failed. He 'saw' insanely tall buildings, empty streets, long tunnels underground, then at last a warm and well lighted room with a large bed that was so inviting. Jayk was in that bed, but it wasn't Jayk because the hair was pale and too short. He was so tired, and he wanted so badly to sleep. Suddenly he WAS asleep, but he was awake again and holding Jayk in his arms. But Jayk was sick, and he was pale.

No, this wasn't right. His Processor heated up to critical levels, and his CoProcessors tried to compensate. And then, as had happened with Shar in her days of University, his Psi moved in and took over. The new tissues in his brain held as the Processor stabilized, and he realized that he wasn't going to reboot. Time seemed to loose meaning for him as he fell… down… then up… then ran along the empty streets and up and down stairs in old buildings until he was ready to faint. Then he was underground again, in the warm room with the large bed.

Three seconds later, at near two times the speed of sound, the craft exploded over the coastline.

Goodnight, Tym, he heard Xyn saying, Pull the hood up and the Suit will work better. Just close your eyes and go to sleep!

The Hunter fell, and after a few more seconds of free falling, his parachute opened and he drifted softly to the Earth.

^Paolox3_

XY-N

Chapters 8b-10

Chapter Eight
Fallen Angels – cont'd

Chapter Nine
Don't Talk to Strangers

Chapter Ten
Redemptions & Condemnations

I
Rebel

II
Victims of Our Youth

^Paolox3_

XY-N

Chapters 8b-10

Chapter EightFallen Angels – cont'd

Chapter NineDon't Talk to Strangers

Chapter TenRedemptions & Condemnations

IRebel

IIVictims of Our Youth

Chapter Eight
Fallen Angels – cont'd

Chapter Nine
Don't Talk to Strangers

Chapter Ten
Redemptions & Condemnations

I
Rebel

II
Victims of Our Youth