^Paolox3_

XY-N

Chapter Eleven
Sacrifices & Sacraments

Not long after the Hunter had returned Jayk to his Master in Far South and taken his leave of them, Xyn had been officially discharged from the Infirmary following his sudden bolt from his bed and his mad race back to the room which he had shared with Jayk. The Doctors had gone over him thoroughly, in his bed next to Tym's, and declared him to be in fine physical health. Then Shar had come in and declared him to be in fine emotional health as well. There had been some initial concern over the young one running through the corridors screaming for Jayk and talking to the walls of the empty room, but the Psions of the various Gangs soon laid these fears to rest when they found that Jayk, the Slow Beast Mutant, had somehow managed to send a Psionic farewell message to Xyn.

And not so long after the Hunter ejected from Abram's long-range Craft just before it exploded over the Eastern Sea and made his way safely back to the ground, Xyn spent that time wandering the catacombs beneath the Ruins, all alone, lost in his thoughts and still marveling at what Jayk and the Hunter had managed to do for them both from so far away. Somehow he just knew that everything was going to be fine, although he had no clue as to why he felt this. Something just told him so, and he decided to believe it. He had to believe it.

Tym's prognosis, however, was not quite so rosy.

Despite the life support and signs that he was improving somewhat, Tym still remained dangerously weak. The Doctors all feared, even though both Xyn and Shar could attest to his Will to live, that if disconnected from the Support Machines, the tiny little one would soon die. It was not an easy decision to make, but given her past mistakes, Shar had determined that she would not make it alone. She was too Psionically in touch with both Tym and Xyn, and she was utterly perplexed by what she found in their Minds during that long trip back from Tym's copycat refuge of the Mind. Resources or not, she just couldn't bring herself to unplug Tym and let him take his chances. The consequences of her previous decision about Jayk weighed heavily upon her Mind, among other serious decisions that she had been forced to make, and she just couldn't bring herself to risk hurting Xyn again. He was simply too important.

Besides, she also wanted to learn more about the strange little one, and she couldn't do that if he were to die. Xyn was important to her cause, but Tym was almost equally intriguing.

So it was that she called them all together – Xyn, Chriss, Adam, Kefe, Dan, and everyone that her Psi told her who cared anything at all about Tym's welfare. Then she called in the leaders of all the Gangs, both old and new, and established Psionic connections with the other Gangs from far away who were still slowly making their way towards the Ruins. It was a crowded room, to say the least, when they all finally met.

She watched them all, her Psi furiously scanning over them. Those who were Psionically gifted as well felt it, but they also realized the importance of some of the things that she had informed them that they had to discuss; Tym being the least of them.

"Thank you all for coming," she began, standing at the head of a long table in one of the chambers that served as a meeting hall. The ceilings were high and the walls made of brick, with several different sizes of various conduits running along them. Long and slender lights hung from the ceiling, powered by the stolen generators of the downed Transport ship. Her voice filled the room, echoing back from the bare walls and closed doors in the many arched entrances and exits that lined both sides of the vast room. The assembled crowd of various Gang leaders, some Mutants, some simply Runaways, nodded and thanked her.

"And thank you all for agreeing to meet in this fashion. For those of you who are not Psions, I must needs ask that you be not alarmed. We have many important matters to discuss, and it is imperative that everyone here, Psion or not, understand them. In the course of our meeting, those of us who are conferring in this fashion will invade your Minds gently, allowing you to know what we know. To some degree, you will also be as we are for a brief time so that you may fully understand the discourse. Are we agreed?"

There were murmurs of consent, and not just a few feelings of worry floating about the room.

Xyn sat between Chriss and Adam, flanked by Kefe and Dan. He extended his Psi into Adam, and Chriss used his own limited abilities to help him cover Kefe and Dan as well. Dan, however, didn't need too much assistance. The startling revelation that Shar, the leader of the Mutants of the Ruins, was really his mother had struck them all like a blow. Although not a Mutant with any special or outward signs, Dan was very much in tune with his mother's powerful Mind and Xyn found – much to his relief – that the little one that he had risked his own life to save upon his arrival there with Jayk didn't need all that much help in 'listening.'

As Shar collected her thoughts and passed them around to the Others, Xyn mused for a moment. Maybe Dan IS a Mutant somehow, he thought to himself, shielding those thoughts from being transmitted along his Psionic connections. Maybe the night he spent in my Suit when I first got here just wiped out most of the outward Defect Mutations and he's got something else. I've never known anyone who could run like him, or just plain keep on going and not get tired. Maybe once my Suit repaired his body, since his Approved Nanobots aren't doing it like they should, whatever Mutation he really had was finally strong enough to take over!

He felt Shar brush his Mind. You're right, Xyn Psion, she confirmed, But please keep it to yourself.

Xyn grinned at her and nodded. He hadn't exactly tried to shield THAT thought from her, in fact, he had counted on her overhearing it. It was devious, and he smiled inwardly in the fact that it had worked and that she had confirmed his theory.

Ever since his strange encounter with the Mind of the Hunter a few nights before, Shar had held the young Bio in a different regard. Of course, Xyn had allowed her, more out of fear and confusion than anything else, to 'listen in' to his conversations of the Mind as he replayed them over and over. Shar had helped him analyze them, helped him try to understand them. The experience had brought them closer, and had even begun to smooth over the horrible rift that had grown between them when Jayk had been left behind on her orders. Still, there were parts of it that Xyn would not – could not – share, and Shar respected this. She knew of the strange fashion in which the two young XY's became Xyn/Jayk, one Entity in two bodies, but she did not understand it fully and would not pressure Xyn to explain it or allow her to access it. She also remained very wary of the young Psion as she attempted to help him sort out his experiences; there were things knocking about in her own Mind which she knew that Xyn simply MUST NOT touch.

She also knew, however, as did Xyn, that he simply did not have the emotional equipment to deal with the things that his brief moment as Xyn/Jayk – filtered through the Mind of Hunter – had shown him. The Hunter's Mind, she had found, was a vast and chilling place. Then to her surprise, Xyn had fully opened up to her when she had found him alone in Jayk's room. He had been sitting in the old chair, staring into the ancient mirror, all alone and talking to himself; or rather, to the room in general.

And she had felt it.

The very Presence of the Mind of the Hunter still lingering in Xyn's Mind, and it frightened him once he had isolated it. She felt at it, tested it, then gently reached in and began to push it away before it could damage Xyn further.

As she knelt before Xyn's chair and placed her hands on his knees, his own hands had come down, gloves retracted, to hold hers as well. He had said one thing : "Help me."

And then his Psi had fully taken over.

Shar remembered it vividly as she collected herself to address the others who sat around the long table, anxiously awaiting her. In a fraction of second, yet seeming like Cycle upon Cycle as her Approved Processors grappled with it again, she recalled Xyn's wild and scattered thoughts and emotions from that night She cleared her throat.

Help me! Xyn had pleaded, I don't know how he did it! Jayk's alive, and he called to me! I heard him, I swear I did. I'm not mad, it was HIM! He's not dead, Shar!

"I know," she had said aloud, "Tell me, Xyn Psion. What has happened? Why is your Mind so disturbed?" Even though she already knew.

She remembered Xyn's eyes as she glanced around the room, their color so blue that they almost glowed like those of Nightstalker. They had been so wide, and his mouth hung open just a bit as his Mind raced with thoughts that his voice could never have hoped to keep up with.

He called to me, Shar. He was… me… and I… I was… him. My finger was gone, my XY-parts were gone too, but I was me, but I wasn't… I was him… and… and there was someone else there. An Adult. I know him! I felt him before, when were going for the Transport ship! I think I know who he is!

"He is the Hunter," she replied bluntly.

"He's got Jayk!" Xyn finally managed to utter aloud.

Shar nodded. "Yet he is the Hunter, he is the stuff of the rumor. He IS real, and he is one of US!"

But how can he reach so far? Why did he do it, Shar? I thought he'd lock Jayk up and we'd never see him again! Why would he do that? Why would he let us use his Mind like that to do what we did?

Shar, of course, in reading Xyn's tormented thoughts, already knew the answer. However, she wanted him to reason it out. She simply held his trembling hands and looked deep into him with her sparkling black eyes as well as with her Psi. "Why indeed?" she mused, prompting.

Xyn thought for a moment, then his eyes closed and his face contorted. Hot tears streamed down his flushing cheeks as he fell forward into her embrace. She held him then, and he had let her hold him as she had held her own sickly and hurting little one so many times in the past. When the storm of weeping was finally past, she felt the emotion rise up within him; it was not, however, the one that she had expected. She recoiled a bit in shock, but didn't release Xyn from her embrace.

He WANTED Jayk to be able to say goodbye to me?!

Shar nodded. "It makes no sense to me, but the law binds him, Xyn Psion. He must return Jayk to his Master or have him exterminated, IF he does not decide to resell him privately. The Approveds see Jayk as nothing more than a criminal, even though his only crime is existing. We have lived in fear of Hunters, especially this one, for a long, long time. But I think that something has happened to this legendary figure, this Hunter who can pursue us into the heart of our very refuge here in the Ruins. I believe that the time he has spent with Jayk, no doubt probing him with his own Psi, has given him more than he anticipated. In capturing Jayk, it is also very possible that Jayk captured him as well!"

"And that's why he did it," Xyn whispered, looking deep into her eyes, "Somehow, his Psi picked up what I… what Jayk… I mean…" but Xyn was at a loss for words, so he sent what he felt through his Psi to her. He focused on all of the times past of being Xyn/Jayk, then of being Xyn/Jayk/Hunter, and she nodded as his head began to throb.

She assimilated as much of the strange sensations as she could before holding a finger up to Xyn's lips. "Enough," she told him, "You're hurting yourself again. You should understand by now what is happening to you at this stage of your life, and how it is affecting you. You should also know by now that the more time that one of us who is a Psion spends in contact with another Mind, the more our Mind becomes like theirs. Rest now, and shut it off."

Then, much to her surprise as well as Xyn's, she helped him to the bed and tucked him in as if he were her own suffering little one. She pulled the worn blankets up to his chin and ran her slender and graceful hand over his lengthening brown hair and smiled regretfully.

"It's my fault that you must sleep alone this night."

Xyn winced as her Psi pulled back, hiding something.

"Shut it off, Xyn." She repeated, then Sleep…

And Xyn had done just that, doing as Mr. Rick had taught him to long ago, when he was very, very little. He simply turned his Mind off and fell asleep.

He didn't even try to power his Psi back up again until the day of the meeting when he felt Shar brushing his Mind, hinting that he do so. It was the first time that he was to take part in one of their Group Mind chats, and he was a bit scared. Yet even as he did, he knew that Chriss, the young Pyro Mutant who sat beside him, was concerned even as Shar began to speak about population and supplies and plans for the future. The talk and 'talk' seemed to go on and on, and Xyn soon began to feel the stress of the Group Mind technique to which he was unaccustomed. His head began to ache again, and he could tell that it was going to get worse. It frightened him, and he began trying to push the pain away.

"Headache?" Chriss whispered, getting Xyn's attention the old-fashioned way by kicking his foot with his own under the table.

Xyn glanced at him, his focus mainly on Shar as she spoke, and nodded to Chriss.

"Need any help?"

"Yes, please," Xyn whispered back, squinting his cobalt blue eyes in pain.

"You've never done this before, have you?"

Xyn shook his head and scratched at it. His brown hair was now grown out to a lengthy forward brush style, yet it still bothered him. "I'm not sure I can do it, Chriss," he whispered back, "I'm too worried. I keep thinking about Jayk, Tym, and my head hurts worse than ever doing this. I just can't concentrate. I don't think I can keep it up much longer!"

Shar, however, much like a tutor, paused her verbal dissertation on the need to bring down another Transport ship for supplies. As they were all weighing the risks and beginning to plan out how long they could last on the plunder that they had already gotten, she fixed both young ones with a steady gaze.

"Is there something you two need to share with us aloud?" she inquired in a motherly tone.

Dan winced.

Xyn's having a rough time of it, Shar, Chriss said in both ways.

The young Psion felt the Group Mind back off a bit.

Shar raised an eyebrow and shook her lustrous black hair back, a nervous habit. She then toned down all Psionic connections to everyone but Xyn and asked, Can you continue? You mustn't hurt yourself. Shut it off, if need be, Xyn. You can listen through Chriss.

"I'm OK," Xyn said aloud, but rest of them knew better. Adam leaned over around Chriss and looked at him.

"You don't look too hot to me," Adam stated.

"You look like you're gonna blow chunks," Kefe added.

"I'll be fine," Xyn replied with uncharacteristic sharpness.

Turn it off, now, Xyn, Shar then told him, and to his surprise, he could hear Dan as well, through her.

Better do what Mom says.

It was a strange thing that Xyn felt then, just before he let his Psi collapse. He had never known what it was like to have a mother before, someone of the XX gender who cared so deeply for one like him. It was a warm feeling, yet it was also something that demanded full attention and could not be ignored. Xyn nodded at the Group in general, and shut his Psi off. He sighed audibly in relief, his face red and beads of sweat forming up on his forehead.

Yet as he felt the Group Mind retreat from his own, he thought he heard a door closing and felt like he had missed something. Something big.

Kefe shot him a sidelong glance, and Adam and Chriss watched him closely. Dan looked up at his mother and then nodded, saying nothing.

The rest of the meeting was lost to Xyn. After about half an hour, he folded his arms on the table and laid his head down. He simply couldn't focus on so many things that he didn't understand. He didn't know about things like how much food they needed for so many people, or how long the generators were good for. He had no comprehension, despite his Psi, of the sheer numbers they were talking about. He didn't know anything about Wars or plots and planning, and the whole idea of that scared him. He tried to 'listen' to Chriss as best he could, tried to figure it all out and come up with something that might help, but he just couldn't. The talk about War and fighting had stuck in his brain, and he just couldn't shake it off. From the other Psions, through Chriss, he picked up images of Approveds dying, New Cities burning, and the stress was immense. Finally, after an exhausting two hours, Xyn fell asleep at the table.

He awoke when everyone had left, somehow sleeping through the rest of the meeting. He even recalled a dream, in which he and Tym had been walking together, holding hands, in a lush and green meadow as a strange Flyer had circled overhead. They followed it, hand in hand, until they crested a hill and watched it land at a very large and ornate house. The house, Xyn recalled, frightened him. Someone he knew was in that Flyer, or someone that he thought that he SHOULD know, but he just couldn't place it. They had watched the Flyer and the house for quite some time, enjoying the feel of the soft grass under their bare feet and the feel of the wind on their bare skin. And Tym had been up and walking, looking so healthy and feeling so happy! Everything had seemed so right, but just at the edge of his consciousness, Xyn had thought that something was badly wrong. He remembered asking the strange little one who it was that was in the Flyer, knowing somehow that Tym knew, but Tym had replied cryptically, "Don't talk to strangers."

It was with great regret that Xyn shook his head and left that place to awaken and look up into the concerned and pale eyes of Chriss the Pyro and the mysterious face of Adam the Bomber.

"Where is everyone?" Xyn asked in a confused voice.

"The meeting's over, buddy, ya missed it," Adam replied.

Xyn looked perplexed. He didn't remember much of it, only that he hadn't understood too much of it and that his head had hurt so badly.

"C'mon," Chriss offered, helping Xyn to his feet, "I think you outta get checked out. Besides, someone in the Infirmary wants to see you anyway."

And then it happened as Xyn replied to him. "Who?" he squeaked.

Adam and Chriss both blinked.

"What?!" he squeaked again.

Xyn's voice had broken.

"Uh, Tym. Who else?" Chriss answered, trying to suppress a grin. His pale eyes, however, were filled with mirth.

"How do you know?" Xyn demanded, feeling a bit frightened. His voice squeaked on the word 'you,' and he blushed. Unsteadily, he got to his feet.

Adam and Chriss reached under his arms to support him, and Chriss probed at him gently. As Xyn stood up and stretched, he heard Adam snicker.

"What?!" he demanded, not knowing what was happening since his Psi was shut off.

"Uh, Xyn, you might wanna think about finding something to wear besides that Suit of yours. It's uhh, well, let's say, tight. And it shows off that erection you've got pretty well too." Adam stated.

Xyn's face flamed, and he felt hotter than usual, even taking Chriss' proximity into account. "I've had that problem a LOT lately," he explained. "And I don't think I like it." His voice also squeaked several times as he spoke, and he looked down at his feet in shame.

Adam then sighed, but Chriss looked away. "I wouldn't know," the young Bomber replied in the piping voice of a little one, "I don't have any of that stuff anymore, ya know."

"Can we talk about something else on the way to the Infirmary?" Chriss asked.

"I'm sorry, Adam. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that I don't think about it, I forget and what I mean is… well… it's just that, you being still pretty little and all…" but Xyn wasn't really sure what else to say, so he tapped his left temple and slowly brought his Psi up to power to explain it to the little Bomber that way.

The explosion of fresh pain brought him to his knees.

Even Chriss whimpered in sympathetic pain. "That's not right!" he gasped. "Let's get him down there and fast."

The two young Mutants half dragged, half carried Xyn to the Infirmary. When they arrived, Chriss' already-racing Mind was assailed by a wave of near panic. He glanced up, following the wave, and his eyes locked onto Tym's across the room. "That way," he said to Adam, pointing towards Tym's bed, and Xyn moaned.

"Puh-p-please m-make it s-s-stop!" the young Psion choked, fighting back tears.

"What's wrong with him?" Tym begged in a weak voice, then as if suddenly seeing a light come on, he knew. His pale face grew even paler, and he shrank back down into his pillow. It very nearly swallowed him up, and his monitors beeped and chirped and alerted the Attending that something wasn't right with him.

They got Xyn to the bed that he had previously occupied, next to Tym's, and the little Mutant reached out a frail hand. Knowing that it was there, despite the pain, Xyn reached over and took it as his Suit hissed and beeped madly in concert with Tym's support machines. Both systems struggled to keep their respective charges alive, and the Attending immediately called for help.

Turn it off! Tym cried out to Xyn, both mentally and verbally, Turn it off before you hurt yourself! It's the Psi, Xyn, please turn it off!

Xyn shut down his Psi again, and the pain stopped as quickly as it had hit him. Several Doctors and others then came rushing to their beds, and Adam and Chriss melted back to let them do their work. They scanned both Xyn and Tym, checked over Tym's support devices, scanned them again, and one of them ran off with the results to make comparisons. Their expressions were puzzled as they worked.

"I'm fine now!" Xyn protested loudly as one of them waved a scanning device in front of his eyes, "Just take care of Tym."

"You are NOT fine, young man," the Doctor snapped back, "If you were fine, then why did your friends drag you in here in tears?"

"I don't know!" Xyn snapped back, "I just had a bad headache is all."

"WHAT were you doing when it hit you?" The Doctor demanded, pushing Xyn back down into a horizontal position on his bed.

Xyn thought for a moment, then Adam piped up. "He was bringing up his Psi to try and explain something to me," he explained.

The Doctor nodded, and looked over the data that had been returned to him. He raised an eyebrow and nodded. "THIS is interesting," he noted.

"WHAT?" Xyn squeaked.

They all looked at him.

"Is Xyn gonna be ok?" Tym asked through the group of white jackets clustered around him.

The Doctor nodded and looked over Xyn critically. "There's nothing wrong with him," he stated in a perplexed voice.

"I told you that ALREADY," Xyn squeaked again.

Adam and Chriss both laughed."WILL you two stop that?" Xyn demanded, his face turning red in embarrassment.

"What's going on?" Tym asked.

"Well, judging from this scan data," the Doctor offered, "I would say that our little friend here is being ravaged by puberty pretty hard lately. That's why his voice is squeaking."

"Oh," Tym replied, sinking back into this pillow, "That's it?"

"Hardly it," the Doctor mused. "Adam said that Xyn was powering up his Psi to explain something to him when he doubled over. Now, compared to Xyn's last scan, when he was in here trying to revive YOU, Tym, the results are very interesting. His neurotransmitter levels are even higher than when he was running his Mind wide open trying to get through to you, and he's not even DOING anything with it right now. He's also several grams heavier, and his hormone count is, well… I don't think I need to mention that. It sounds fairly obvious when he talks."

"Shit," Chriss muttered, turning his back on them, "I KNEW this would happen. I just knew it."

"Young man," the Doctor said to him, "If you know something I'm missing, please share it with me. Your friend might suffer for it if you don't."

"He'll suffer for it if he DOES," Tym mumbled, turning away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Doctor demanded.

"Xyn's an XY Mutant," Chriss stated, as if that explained it all.

The Doctor spread his hands and shrugged. "Lots of XY's are Mutants."

"Lots of LITTLE XY's," Adam corrected.

Chriss sighed. "How many powerful Adult Mutant XY's do you know of, Doc?"

The Doctor's face paled a bit, and his hands shook a bit. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm a Bomber," Adam replied, "I can knock down buildings if I have to. Chriss is a Pyro and a weak Psion. He can burn down the stuff if I don't knock it down."

"And we have something else in common that Xyn doesn't," Chriss added, his face flushing and turning away again.

Then he felt it. Somewhere in the back of his Mind, he felt Tym.

Don't, he cautioned.

Don't say it, the strange little ailing Mutant warned him, Don't tell Doc what you know! What you wanna do! I KNOW what you wanna do to Xyn, remember? We talked about it once before.

I don't wanna hurt you, Tym, Chriss warned, So back off!

Tym snorted and rolled over, trying not to disturb his lines and wires. He reached out a hand to Xyn again, and Xyn took it. He held on tightly, his eyes closed and his veins very evident under his almost translucent skin.

YOU are NO match for ME! Tym replied in challenge.

"I don't understand," the Doctor was saying. "What do you and Adam, and other little Mutants have in common? You two aren't that little anymore." But it was clear that he was very very interested, and onto something.

"It's pretty obvious," Adam replied, "Once you have it explained. The leader of Chriss' Gang and us figured it out a while back. Actually, it was MY arrival to their Gang that helped them figure it out. You see, Doc, I'm a eunuch."

The Doctor gasped and pulled his padd out of his pocket. He scanned Adam and his eyes went wide. "You're… you're… well, hmm. Interesting." he faltered. Then he obviously thought of something else and scanned Chriss. His eyes went even wider. Chriss' normally pale green skintone turned bright red in embarrassment.

"You too?" he asked in shock. "I think I'd better runs some more scans and exams on the Mutant XY's down here! I've never seen such a thing!"

Don't do it, Chriss, please! Tym almost begged, still clutching Xyn's hand, Don't tell him! Don't explain it all! I don't know what I'll do, I don't know if I can control it and I don't wanna hurt YOU!

Chriss cleared his throat, shot Tym a withering glance, and raised his own defenses. "It's like this Doc. When I was a bit littler, I was a pretty good Pyro. Then I hit the Change – puberty. My abilities started to weaken, and well, I guess you saw the next part. Whenever I tried to burn anything, I got really bad headaches. I didn't know how to deal with it, then Adam showed up."

"What's Adam got to do with it?" the Doctor asked, turning to see why Tym's monitors were beeping and chirping faster.

"And what's it got to do with me?" Xyn asked.

Adam sighed and sat down on the edge of Xyn's bed. "When I was very little," he stated, "I got Orphaned. I was an Unapproved pure Bio, and I was all alone in the Old City. A Hunter caught me and sold me to a Dealer who emasculated me. Fully – took everything off. I was sold as a slave. When I got older, well, since I didn't have my XY-parts anymore, I couldn't hit the Change of puberty like a normal XY would. But what did happen was the thing I could do as Mutant, blow things up, got out of hand. One day, my Master upset me bad and I almost knocked his whole house down. That was when he decided to exterminate me, and I ran away."

Xyn's eyes were wide, and Tym's were clenched shut. His grip, surprisingly, was tight on Xyn's hand and he covered it with his other one, patting it. Chriss was biting at a fingernail, unsure of whether to let their discovery be revealed to the Doctor.

Make him shut up, Chriss, Tym begged, Don't let Xyn know. Don't let him even think it!

I can't, Tym. He has to know. And Xyn has to know, or he'll hurt himself.

No! Tym argued, Xyn can wait. He can rest. He'll adapt. He won't lose it, I know he won't! He's a very powerful Psion. When he's used to the Change, when he's an Adult, he'll be ok. I just know it!

But Chriss shook his head and looked directly at Xyn. Tym felt something there, something that he couldn't touch no matter how hard he tried. He could see the image of a large building on fire, a pair of glowing cyan eyes in the Forest, and hear the screams of little ones. He powered up his strange abilities that were not quite Psionic and threw his very being at Chriss' Mind, attempting – with not a little trepidation – to merge himself into Chriss' Mind as he had done with Xyn. Whatever secret Chriss was hiding, Tym was bound and determined to have it, since the strongest image in Chriss' Mind was one of Xyn.

Stop it, Tym, Chriss ordered him, You have NO clue what you're dealing with here, and you're weak. If you wind up killing yourself, how is Xyn gonna feel? In case you didn't notice, he likes you. He's lost Jayk. He can't lose you too. THINK about what you're doing before you do it!

Tym pulled his own Mind up short and whimpered. The assault that he had prepared to hit Chriss with scattered and he sighed. He did not, however, release his grip on Xyn's hand. I hate you! he threw the thought at Chriss.

But the Doctor and Adam were still talking aloud as Chriss and Tym argued in their Minds. "Let me get this straight," the Doctor noted, punching at his padd and making notes. "Adam, you're a eunuch, or e-XY as the medical d-base calls it. You have NO XY-parts at all?"

Adam nodded. "Nothing but smooth skin," he said.

"And Chriss, you're just castrated, testicles only?"

Chriss nodded. "I had to be. I wanted to be. I didn't want to lose my powers, and well, I hated what the Change was doing to me."

"But what does this have to do with little Mutants? I think Jayk might have mentioned it before, but I'm not real sure," Xyn asked.

"Who's Jayk?" the Doctor asked, not having been a member of Shar's Gang before the Transport ship incident.

"Jayk used to live here," Xyn said wistfully, "But a Hunter got him. He was a full e-XY too, like Adam. He took me in when I ran away from the Facility."

The Doctor nodded. "I noticed the Suit," he stated clinically. "Good thing you got out when you did."

"I liked it there," Xyn replied in a low voice filled with loss. "The Director took good care of me. He raised me. He wanted me for his own."

"He loved your Psi," Chriss said coldly, then glanced away at the error he had just made.

Xyn stared at him, shaking his head. "How do you know that?" he asked, his eyes filling with tears.

"I don't. I was just talking. I mean, for gods' sake, Xyn, he was the Director of a slaughterhouse for Bios. It's a miracle YOU still have all your Parts, inside and out. I'm sorry."

Xyn nodded, looking back at the Doctor.

"From what I can tell," he stated, "Little Mutant XY's have abilities. I'm not a Mutant myself, so I don't know firsthand how it is. I just know that Mutants exist. Sometimes Mutations are physical, like Chriss' green skin or Kefe's eyes and pointed ears or fangs. Those are pretty common. Most times, in cases like Adam, Mutations are mental in nature – Psions, Bombers, Pyros, and all sorts of others. I'm still not sure what our little Tym here is, but I know he's got something, the way he's been arguing with Chriss."

Tym gasped. Something in the Doctor's tone wasn't right, and the little one was suddenly very afraid of his caregiver.

"Oh, relax," the Doctor ordered. "It was obvious. What are you, a Psion? An Empath? Who cares? That's why we're all here, isn't it? I mean, the Ruins aren't exactly the choice vacation spot of the World now."

Tym clenched his teeth. "I'm not a real Psion," he muttered in shame, "I'm something worse," and they could all feel the wave of shame and disgust that came from him.

"Well get over it," the Doctor ordered, "There's rough times coming, and if you think you've had it bad before, you haven't seen the half of it yet. Now, where was I?"

Tym blinked and Xyn sat up. He got shakily to his feet and sat back down on the edge of Tym's bed. He held the small hand in his own, and laid the other on Tym's warm forehead. "You were saying some Mutations in XY's are mental and some not," Xyn supplied helpfully, his attention locked onto the Doctor.

Adam glanced at Chriss uneasily, and Chriss chewed at his lower lip in thought.

"Yes, well," the Doctor went on, "From what I'm seeing here, and granted, this is only one case to study, but it seems like the Change from little one into Adult usually tears up a Mutant XY's abilities, according to Chriss. Then Adam says that his being an e-XY made HIS abilities stronger. Chriss gets castrated, and his headaches go away and HIS abilities get stronger too. Little XY's who haven't hit the Change yet don't have these problems, since they only have minuscule amounts of XY hormones in their bodies. Older e-XY's have about the same amount. So what does this tell us?" he asked, a strange look crossing his face.

Xyn, however, was beginning to tremble. Tym flicked a control switch on his bed and brought himself up into a sitting position. He coughed a few times, and Xyn smacked his back gently. He put an arm around him and pulled him close, trying to be careful of the wires and lines that maintained his weakened body. Tym could feel him shaking, and he closed his eyes and laid his head on Xyn's shoulder. You know, don't you? Please don't do it, Xyn. It isn't right. Don't let them do it to you. It's not worth it. What if they hurt you? What if you die?

Xyn's voice was shaky as he looked up to see Adam and Chriss staring at him. The Doctor was holding his data padd, and scanning Xyn again. He nodded and gestured, as if wanting the young Mutant to say it himself. His look was one of doubt, however, as if he couldn't believe what he was finding out.

Xyn's voice cracked and squeaked as he tried to sum it up, and his two Mutant friends nodded as if to say, "You're right."

"Adam was cut when he was very little," Xyn began, "And Chriss got cut later. Both of them don't have XY hormones. They don't have headaches when they use their abilities. They're getting stronger, not weaker. Little ones don't even realize when they ARE using their abilities," he added, pulling Tym a bit tighter.

"I'm sorry I did that," he whimpered, trying hard to hide his tears.

Xyn didn't miss a word of his musing, however, as he leaned down and kissed Tym's feverish forehead, pulling him even closer. He winced a bit as he brought his Psi up to minimal levels. That's all past and done with, Tym. I forgave you. I came in for you, I got YOU to get us out of that place, and here we are. I'm not going to leave you… ever.

"But I think what Chriss is getting at," Xyn went on, "Is that the Change messes up something in Mutants. For XY's, it's worse. The hormones and stuff mess up their abilities, weaken them, sometimes destroy them." He paused for a moment, watching Adam and Chriss nodding at him.

"Go on," the Doctor prompted.

Xyn took a deep breath. "And in MY case, it all still works but it's wearing me out and making me have bad headaches. The more I used my Psionic abilities, the more it's going to hurt me as I Change more."

Silence filled the room. The only sounds were the Doctor's padd beeping and Tym's support machines humming. Every now and then, Tym would cry softly into Xyn's shoulder. Finally, the silence became oppressive.

Finally, the Doctor spoke up. "You're right. You're physically healthy, Xyn. The only things wrong with you, other than the obvious pain, are the elevated levels of neurotransmitters and the hormone levels. Of course, given your age, the hormones are a bit high, compared to what they were when you first came in here, but that's to be expected. You're growing up, is all. Happens to everyone eventually. And I'm really not sure, with a Psion Mutant, about the other levels. I've never treated one so young and powerful before."

"What?!" Adam asked.

"Whadda ya mean?" Chriss added as well.

It was Tym that answered them all, however. "Xyn's stronger than anyone here," he stated.

Xyn, however, looked as if this were all new news to him. "What am I missing here?" he asked, "How do you know?"

"I just do," Tym replied. "That's part of ME, I guess. I know things."

The Doctor looked at him and got up to go. "I compared your scans to scans of the other known Psions here, Xyn. YOU have the highest counts of anyone as far as brain chemistry. I'd say that makes you the strongest one yet. There's also no reason for you to stay here, Xyn," he said, "You can go back to your room anytime. Just keep your Psi shut off and you won't have the headaches. I know it's quite the conundrum, but given what we've discussed here, I don't think you have much choice in the matter."

Xyn felt a chill pass over him. The Doctor didn't sound so sure of himself as he turned to go.

Chriss was staring down at the floor, and Adam looked away when Xyn met his gaze. He hadn't known either of them long enough to really call them friends. He and Jayk hadn't socialized with others much, and everyone had been too busy with the trip to get the Transport ship to make many friends; it had all been pretty much business. And then Xyn had fallen ill, thanks to Tym, and spent most of the return trip in a catatonic state. He had awakened to discover Jayk gone, Tym very sick, and himself pretty much in the care of Chriss the Pyro. He didn't have any reason to distrust them, but ever since recently recovering Tym from that strange place of the Mind where he had gone to die, he had noticed something else as well.

It seemed as if people were keeping things from him.

There were differences in what he could feel from other Psions, differences in the Minds of the others, Chriss included. The Group Mind chat had only confirmed this, and more and more, as he stared into the eyes of his two new friends, Xyn became more and more convinced that something just was not right. Even those whom he knew best, such as Kefe the Nightstalker or Dan, Shar's son, seemed different of late. It was as if they all knew something, but didn't want him to find it out. He realized that even the new Gangs, all of the Others who had arrived, seemed to be avoiding him. He wasn't really sure how he knew all of this, but he had a good idea as he held Tym tightly and just thought.

And what about Shar?

During the Group Mind session, and even before, she seemed to have changed. What was it she had said when she'd put him to bed after helping him sort out his experience with the Mind of the Hunter in saying goodbye to Jayk? Hadn't she said it was all her fault that he had to sleep alone? And what had he felt when she'd told him to go to sleep, besides that brief flash of Dan being put to bed as she was putting him to bed? It was almost like encountering a wall when coming around a corner too fast and not knowing that it was there. What was that?

What was SHE hiding?

WAS she hiding something?

But Xyn didn't want to think about it. He had been presented with too much information, too many confessions. He suddenly realized that they hadn't even gotten around to talking about Tym before he'd fallen asleep during the meeting, and that had been one of the main reasons that Shar had wanted him and his so-called friends there to discuss it.

Or was that even a reason at all? How could the welfare of ONE of the little ones in the Infirmary carry any weight at all in a Group Mind session about things like food supply, procuring weapons, talk of War, and stealing another ship? Xyn felt himself becoming paranoid, and the silence as the two other Mutants watched him began to annoy him. It was if they were expecting HIM to say something, but he had no clue what to say to them!

A few more minutes passed in silence, and finally Adam spoke up.

"He's avoiding something," the Bomber stated, watching the Doctor go.

"What do you mean?" Chriss asked.

"The conversation just died and he left!"

"I noticed that," Xyn added, looking down to see that Tym had fallen asleep in his arms. Very gently, so as not to wake him, Xyn smoothed his pale hair back out of his eyes and laid him back on the bed. He lowered the bed just a bit and got up to cover him. He passed a hand over Tym's cheek, which was warm; too warm. He was beginning to worry. Ever since pulling them both out of that poor duplicate of Xyn's mental retreat, Tym's condition hadn't improved as it should have. He knew that their Resources were limited, and he was worried that someone was just going to come in and pull the plug on the little one.

"I can't stand it," he whispered, as he got up.

"What?" Chriss asked.

"Him suffering like that. He WANTS to get well, I know he does, but he just isn't. What do I do? I feel like it's all my fault for putting him there. I didn't know what he was doing to me, and I just pulled my Mind away from him so fast! All he wanted was… I don't really know… just someone to care about him."

"We DO care about him, Xyn. We just can't make him believe that we do. When it comes down to it, we're gonna need all the Mutant powers and help we can get," Chriss replied cryptically. "Everyone matters now."

"Which leads us back to the Doc," Adam stated, stretching his arms and laying back on Xyn's bed.

Xyn noticed how long his arms were, and wondered if that was part of the Mutation of being a Bomber until he remembered that Jayk had had the same type of body, as did Chriss. Suddenly he knew where the lengthening of the arms came from, and he shivered again.

"I don't think I'm gonna be of much use to anyone, the shape I'm in now," Xyn replied, "I couldn't even handle a small Group Mind session."

"I think that's what Doc was avoiding, Xyn," Chriss added. "He didn't like what we told him, and what he figured out. He came to the same conclusion that WE already know now, but he can't stand it. I may not be you or Shar, but I could feel the disgust coming off of him. He isn't too fond of me and Adam right now. The whole idea makes him sorta sick, and he just can't understand it. HE isn't a Mutant himself. HE has no clue what it feels like to be one of us. He doesn't have any abilities to lose, and he's not the one who's in pain every time he tries to use what's always just come naturally."

Xyn thought for a moment, then decided to just come right out and say it.

"He doesn't like you two because you're castrated."

Both of the e-XY's nodded.

"I think that's why he got up and left after he told you that you were PHYSICALLY ok. I know that he knew what you were thinking, and it just appalled him. What does that asshole know about US anyway?" Chriss sneered, "Who is HE to judge US?"

"Well it's not like I had any say in the matter," Adam replied, his long-fingered hand moving to his crotch. "I sorta had it done FOR me."

"That's not what I meant, Adam," Chriss explained. "I asked to be castrated. I knew it had to be done, and I WANTED it done. I'm happy with myself. I don't know how YOU feel, since you were so little and a slave and all, but I know how I feel. I wouldn't push it off on anyone, though. Forcing it on someone is just wrong, I think."

But Xyn caught the tone of Chriss' voice and the statement he had just made. He looked up sharply. "And what was I thinking when Doc left?" Xyn asked.

Chriss' face flushed again, and he looked over at Adam. Once again, Psi or not, Xyn got the feeling that someone was hiding something from him and Tym whimpered in his sleep.

"Let's go talk about this somewhere else," Xyn offered.

They walked down the corridors with Xyn between them. When they arrived at Xyn's room, the room that he'd taken over in Jayk's absence, Xyn invited them in and closed the door. Adam and Chriss sat down on the edge of the large bed, but Xyn began pacing the room.

"Slow down, Xyn," Chriss offered, "You're gettin' worked up."

Xyn spun around to face him, his eyes sparkling blue and his brows creased. "And why wouldn't I be worked up, Chriss? Do you know what it's like to be told you're the most powerful Psion in the place, that you're important? That everyone is going to be important in the long run? Yet here I am, the most powerful one of the Gang, maybe even more powerful than Shar herself, and I'm worried about YOU poking around in my head because I can't even turn my Psi ON! What the hell is wrong with me? I've been like I am all of my life. I never even KNEW what I was, I just did it! Now all of a sudden, I can't even share my thoughts with the one sitting next to me at a table without having a screaming headache? Just what DO you think I was thinking when Doc left?"

"Ouch," Adam added.

Chriss glanced at him. "That didn't help."

"Sorry."

"Well?" Xyn demanded.

Chriss leaned back a bit, almost as if he were afraid that Xyn was going to strike him. He'd never seen this kind of look on the young Psion's face before, and it bothered him. His own limited Psi was telling him all kinds of things that were going on in Xyn's Mind, and the foremost of them, aside from the confusion, was anger.

Xyn was pissed.

"Xyn, I know what it feels like," Chriss offered. "I know what it's like to not be able to BE what you ARE when you start the Change. I know what kind of feelings you're having, I know how bad you miss Jayk, and I know how much you care about Tym. I'm sorry, Xyn, but I AM a Psion too and I can feel it just dripping off of you."

It was Xyn's turn to blush this time.

"Please don't look into that," he asked.

"I think I have to, Xyn. You and Jayk had something. You were close, really close. Your Psi, his Mind, both of your bodies. That's something I can't bring myself to know, Xyn, and you're lucky in that. You two shared something that most Psions can't even figure out how to do, and YOU just did it! But he's gone now, and we need you. Tym needs you. You said it yourself, that you're not much use to anyone right now in the shape you're in. Believe me, I've been there. I know," Chriss went on, "And you know that I know that that's what led to MY choice. You ask me what do I think you were thinking when Doc left? You want to know, Xyn? I'll tell you. You won't like it, but I'll tell you.

"I think you were thinking about being castrated so that you won't lose your Psi."

Adam gasped and stared at Chriss, hardly able to believe that he had just heard such an outburst. "Don't mix words, Chriss, tell us what you really think."

But Xyn had turned to stare at himself in the mirror.

His hair had grown out, and he was taller. He had more muscles and more energy. His Suit had adapted to the changes taking place in his pure Bio body, but it wasn't programmed to know that the Change was, or could be, a mistake. From a medical standpoint, everything WAS normal for him, and the Suit had no bearing on puberty. He really was physically fine.

He just didn't feel that way. His moods and emotions were out of control, and he didn't like it. He knew he's been snapping at everyone lately, and not being easy to get along with. He wondered it THAT wasn't why everyone seemed to be avoiding him.

Xyn bowed his head. "You're right," he whispered.

Adam whistled in amazement. Chriss only watched Xyn, sorting the racing thoughts that filled his head. He looked deep into Xyn, who was unable to defend himself. Normally, he would not have done it, but this was an extreme thing.

Xyn was about to make a life-altering decision based solely upon one idea.

Chriss then found himself lost in the depths of Xyn's Mind. He saw compassion, love, and a huge sense of wonder and the desire to know. There were other feelings, of course, that he immediately pulled away from; after all, Xyn's desires towards Jayk were REALLY none of his business anyway and he didn't want to see that.

But what amazed him most was Xyn's sense of selflessness. He saw Xyn comforting other little Bio Inmates in the Facility from before the fire. He saw Xyn curled up in the lap of this Abrams-person, being held, with nothing but love for him. He saw Xyn trying to help Jayk with his own pains, and saw the love that had grown between them and the memories of the Being with two bodies and one Mind that was Xyn/Jayk.

His Psi danced carefully around the feelings of the many shared and intense sexual episodes, but it lingered upon the memory of the night that Xyn had arrived. Chriss saw Xyn taking off his Suit, unashamed of his nakedness, to offer the gift of life to Dan who lay dying before him.

He saw Xyn's acceptance of what the young Psion had perceived to be the last night of his life, convinced that Jayk was going to kill him in his sleep to get the Suit. He saw past that, dwelt a little longer on the pain and loss when Jayk had been left behind. Once again he heard the agonized wails of JAYK?! Where's Jayk?! He paid special attention to Xyn's compassion for Tym when he'd first found him, and marveled at the extremes of the Mind to which Xyn had gone to rescue him from his own private hell. His eyes teared up then, as something else that he couldn't isolate rose up within his own Mind. It was just on the edges of his awareness, but he couldn't quite grasp it.

Instead, he let it go to review the sheer capacity for love that Xyn seemed to posses. He came back to himself just long enough to realize that Xyn was staring at him, with Adam at his side supporting him. He then realized, with stunned amazement that hit him like a physical blow, that Xyn would do the same for anyone. Jayk had been lonely and disgusted with life, and Xyn had befriended him. Tym had been starving, and Xyn had fed him his own limited rations. Jayk and Tym had both been dying, as had Dan, and Xyn hadn't thought twice about offering his life for theirs. And if the World came calling, or in their case, the Ruins and those who lived therein, Xyn would stop at nothing to defend them. Even if it cost him his...

Chriss broke the connection, tears spilling down his greenish cheeks.

"I-I'm s-sorry," he offered, "I shouldn't have done that. I just had to know, is all."

Xyn shook his head. "You're getting really good," he said, realizing that Chriss had meant no him no harm.

"Are you really sure about this?" Adam asked, his eyes wide.

Xyn looked at them both. Slowly, he nodded.

Both e-XY Mutants let out an explosive sigh of disbelief.

Adam led Xyn to the old chair and sat him down. He stepped back to go sit beside Chriss.

"Don't jump into this, Xyn," he offered. "I'm pretty well adjusted, I think, but then again I was really little and I didn't have much choice. The only thing I lost, I think, was the ability to pee standing up. I never had any kind of sexual thoughts other than what my Master wanted me to do for him, and that wouldn't have involved MY XY-parts."

Chriss nodded. "Take some time to think about it, Xyn. I don't wanna be rude, but I saw some of the stuff in your head that you did with Jayk. I know you love him. I know it's more than just raw sex and physical pleasure. I don't understand that, I don't want that for myself, but you better know this! If you get cut, you'll lose that, Xyn. You might lose it all, or just some of it, but it won't ever be the same. Whether or not Jayk comes back, or you find someone else, you won't be able to do some of that stuff, or not as often if you get castrated. I mean, yea, I used to masturbate. I loved it, but I couldn't control it. It controlled ME, and I hated that. I couldn't stop, and it was all I thought about. For me, it was the best thing, but I don't masturbate anymore. I don't even think about it. I don't even get hard anymore, and well, I don't want to, either."

"Is it THAT important, considering what I'm going to lose anyway?" Xyn asked. "What's a bit of sex compared to losing the better part of my soul?"

Adam and Chriss stared at him for a long while, neither of them sure of what to say. Both of them had been castrated, one against his will and one not, but that didn't change anything. Both of them knew that it would be different for Xyn, who was heavily into the Change into Adulthood.

What would happen to him when the raging hormones and various other chemicals secreted by his XY-parts were suddenly gone from his system? And what of his Suit? Adam thought of it first, and asked.

"Xyn," he said softly, "I don't mean to be nosy, but what about your Suit? I mean, it pretty much worked a miracle on Dan, from what I can see and what they tell me. It even wiped out some of his physical Defects and all. What I mean is, if you DO get castrated, won't it read that as a bad change in your Bio systems and correct it?"

Xyn jerked his head up sharply and his mouth dropped open. "I never thought of that!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure it would. It's built to replace any missing nutrients or Bio chemicals in the wearer's body. It WOULD supply me with hormones if suddenly they were gone! Dammit, anyway!"

Xyn placed his hands in his lap to hide his obvious erection. Chriss shot a glance in his direction and blushed, looking away fast.

"I'd say it would REALLY do something about that, yes," he offered.

"Thanks," Xyn replied dryly.

Adam cleared his throat again. "Just out of curiosity, and you can tell me it's none of my damn business if you want to, but what do you plan on losing? From what you said, it sounds like you don't like having all these erections and desires."

"I don't," Xyn replied quickly, then he stopped and thought for a moment. "What Jayk showed me how to do was all right. I mean, I liked it, yes. We did it more than once. Hell, we did it a LOT, and I liked it. But he's gone now, and what we had was special. I don't think I could ever offer it to anyone else. He's still alive, and I'd feel like I was cheating him out of something important, something special."

He then looked at Chriss. "I know you said you had problems with masturbating. Actually, Jayk had to explain that to me to, because he said once that he missed doing it really bad after he was cut up. I didn't know what it was, and to be honest, up until recently, I couldn't understand why anyone would wanna do that. But what we did, the sex I mean, we did together. HIM and ME. Chriss, you said you couldn't understand it, and most Psions never figure out how to do what we did with the Xyn/Jayk persona. But we did it, and every time we had sex, we did THAT. We became one. We never had sex where we weren't the same person in two bodies, and I can't even begin to understand two people just doing it and NOT being able to FEEL THAT! What's it for then, if not to have little ones with an XX, or not have that feeling of total oneness and love?"

Chriss shook his head. "I wish I knew," he offered lamely, "But I don't. I wish I could understand the depth of love you have, Xyn, but I can't. Even Psionically, I can't even begin to grasp it. It's just too huge. I envy you."

Xyn looked away, suddenly unable to face his friends.

And he realized, finally, that they WERE his friends.

"So what does that leave us, then?" Adam asked.

"It leaves me all alone," Xyn whispered, going back to face the young XY in the mirror. "Who ARE you, really?" he asked.

Then a tiny voice whispered in his hear, a voice that was weak and afraid. Xyn listened, and it came again, louder this time. I can't hear you, he tried to send, and his head very nearly split open with the effort. He felt his pounding erection stirring within his Suit, and he touched himself. There was pleasure, true, but there was also shame.

It felt good, but it didn't feel RIGHT.

Again, the voice, screaming this time : You're not alone, Xyn. I'm here, you're here, and I don't wanna be all alone anymore. You said I didn't have to be all alone anymore! I came back with you, Xyn! Please don't leave me again!

"Tym!" the young Psion answered aloud as his head throbbed.

Chriss picked up on it, and Adam's eyes widened. The two Mutants e-XY's looked at each other and nodded.

"He needs you too, Xyn," Adam said softly, "IF he lives that long."

Xyn whirled around, his eyes flashing and his perfect white fangs bared. A snarl escaped his lips, and his back hunched down, giving him the appearance of a Beast ready to pounce. Spittle dripped from his mouth, and he was breathing hard. But the most disturbing thing was his eyes, which had turned blood red.

"Shit!" Chriss cried, jumping back and instinctively bringing a flaming hand up in front of he and Adam.

No! Tym's voice cried out in Xyn's head, and some small part of him heard it.

Very slowly, as Chriss and Adam stared in horror at him, Xyn resumed his natural form. He shook his head, began to tremble violently, and then sank to his knees in front of the mirror.

"What the hell was THAT?!" Adam asked in stunned amazement.

"Th-that w-was J-j-jay-k-k," Xyn sobbed, hands upon his temples and sobbing uncontrollably. "I… I… c-can't stand th-this. I can't be ME anymore, and I can't be HIM either. I can't be US! I never knew how much of ME was HIM all this time!

Very slowly and carefully, Adam and Chriss approached their friend. Both of them knelt beside him and embraced him, trying to lend to him some kind of support and comfort. Xyn cried, his head throbbing and his body screaming at him as his Suit hissed and glowed blue as it tried to keep up with the damage that he was doing to himself.

Turn it off! Chriss sent to him.

Turn it off, NOW! the voice of Tym cried out, filling the room so that even Adam heard it.

All three of them looked up and around the room in amazement.

"Just what the hell IS that kid, anyway?!" Chriss asked, astounded.

But Xyn stood up, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. He shook himself, throwing off the pain and self-suffering. He drew himself upright, squared his shoulders, and confronted the mirror again. He switched his Psi off, and the pain stopped.

Then, very slowly and deliberately, he stepped forward and out of his Suit to stand naked in front of Jayk's antique mirror to confront the young XY before him in the polished glass.

The Suit fell to the floor in a heap.

In the glass stood the form of a young XY, his skin flawless and white. His light brown hair was disheveled, and it stopped just short of his round ears. His vibrant blue eyes, bloodshot from crying, faded to gray and back to blue speckled gray and then blue again as he stared back at his Beholder. His smooth, red lips surrounded a mouth full of perfect white teeth, all normally formed and well centered above a beardless and smooth chin. He stretched out his arms, and his shoulders raised up as the biceps tightened and flexed, rippling his developing pectorals. There were a few wisps of soft hair under those arms. His hands clenched into fists, his perfect nails digging into his uncalloused palms. His flat stomach moved in and out a bit as he breathed, and his ribs, while evident, indicated a good health and weight. His legs looked strong with a bit of thin hair on the shins, and he dug his bare toes into the thick old rug, enjoying the soft feel on his bare soles.

Then one of those fists unclenched, reaching for the well-developing XY-parts. His penis was erect again, pressing up against his flat stomach somewhere under his navel. A patch of soft, brown hair – much like the hair on his head, and not black and wiry yet – covered the pubic area above it. There were wisps of hair here and there on his scrotum, and it hung loosely between his thighs with the soft and pink skin giving mute testimony to the two orbs hanging within it.

"What are you?" Xyn asked the one in the glass, "Are you Mutant enough to survive here? Are you more than the sum of your Parts?"

The one in the mirror asked the exact same question, and Adam gasped, his own hand touching his own crotch through his clothing. "Oh, gods," he breathed.

Xyn turned to face him and Chriss.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

But Chriss was sweating, and not just because he was a Pyro, either. His normally greenish face was flaming bright pink, and his pale eyes were wide.

"X-xyn, you're… you're v-very hand-d-some," Adam stammered, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Do what?" Xyn asked, grasping his erect and well formed XY-parts, "Cut these off?"

Adam nodded, and Chriss swallowed hard. For the first time since his own castration, Chriss felt his own penis begin to harden. "Poor Jayk," he whispered.

Xyn looked at them, then released his grasp on his twitching member. "It seems that I have a choice, guys. My Psi or my Manhood. I know what that Doctor was thinking now, right before he walked away from us in the Infirmary. He's nearabouts Tym right now, and he was then, too. He was just now trying to explain something to Tym, and thanks to that little guy, I heard him. What he was thinking just drives the whole point home. He's been going over my data and in his eyes, there's no choice. Obviously, he gives credence to your theory, Chriss. So I either lose the Parts or lose the Psi. Tym's very upset over it."

"Aren't YOU?!" Chriss asked in shocked disbelief, "I mean, gods, Xyn, this guy just handed down a death sentence to your Manhood through Tym's Mind, and you aren't upset about THAT?"

"I'm more upset about Tym," he replied. "Besides, Doc's almost ill with disgust over it, and he's already written me off to loss of Mutant status due to the Change. He thinks castration is disgusting."

"Why?" Adam asked, confused. "I mean, it was nice of him to let you in on what the Doc said about you behind your back, but what's up with that answer? I don't get it."

"That's because you've never loved anyone, Adam," Xyn replied in an even, sympathetic tone, "and that's sad. You miss your family, what little you can remember of them, but you spent most of your short life already as a slave. You didn't love your Master, and he didn't let you see much of anyone else. Me and Jayk talked a lot about when he was a slave, and I know – I KNOW – what it was like for him; it had to have been much the same for you. You're a good person, Adam, but it won't hurt you, at least not here in the Ruins with your own kind, to open up a bit. Just because the Doctor doesn't like eunuchs doesn't mean that everyone hates you."

The Bomber bit his lower lip as Xyn's words bit into him.

Still, Xyn went on, seemingly unaware that he was still naked and very erect.

"No one that I've seen is very open here, and that's sad. Jayk hated me at first, but he learned to love again, in time. Shar's open enough and nice, and I'm sure that she loves Dan, her son, more than her own life. But she's got walls I can't see through, as does everyone here. I don't know what's going on, but ever since I woke up from pulling Tym out of his self-induced coma, everyone's been very closed up and secretive. The few times I HAVE been able to get my Psi up and running without keeling over in pain, I've felt it. Something's going on, and I don't know what it is. I don't think I WANT to know what it is, if it's going to make me act like everyone else here. I've been told that I'm safe here, safe in the Ruins with my own kind, but if being a Mutant means acting like everyone has been, except for Tym, then I don't want to stay here. You two act like you're my friends, and for all I know, you are; but I also know that you're both hiding something. I don't think it's as bad with you, Adam, but Chriss knows something. I could feel it before, and Tym can feel it now.

"He's afraid of you Chriss, and he's very frightened of castration and the XY Mutant theory. He's scared to death that someone is going to find him out for what he is, and he isn't even sure of it himself. He's so scared of himself, in fact, that he tried to kill himself over it. Did you two know that?"

Both Adam and Chriss shook their heads, amazed at Xyn's rant.

"Well, he did. He knows that people here don't like him and are afraid of him. Even his own Gang didn't want him. He'd be dead by now if I hadn't found him when we raided the Transport ship, I'm sure of it. All his life he's had to deal with fear and rejection because of whatever he is, and now he has to face it – much like me, it seems – among his own kind. Just like the Doctor feels about eunuchs, it seems, even some Mutants here feel that way about other more powerful Mutants. It's a double standard. 'Our own kind.' Sounds like a sick joke, doesn't it?"

"Xyn," Chriss said, "Get a grip. You're scaring me. What could WE be hiding from you all this time? You only started having problems lately, you know. I'd think as a Psion you'd have discovered it by now, IF it existed."

Adam, however, wasn't so sure. "He's right about me, you know, Chriss," the Bomber said softly, "You didn't see me for a while when we came to meet your Gang at the Transport ship because I was avoiding you. I thought having a friend was too good to be true, and well, I didn't trust you. I guess I just didn't realize it until Xyn pointed it out."

Chriss stared at him in shock. "You don't trust me?" he asked in a low voice.

Adam didn't answer, however. Instead, he got up and walked towards the door. Then, for the first time, Chriss powered up his own limited Psi and probed Adam. Obviously, the Bomber knew what the Pyro was doing to him, and he just stood there with his hand on the doorknob, waiting. I wish you could do this back to me, Chriss sent sadly, because I'm not like that. Maybe someone hurt you in the past, but gods, Adam, YOU castrated me with Kel's help when I asked! Didn't that mean anything to you? I really thought we WERE friends.

Adam opened the door, his eyes filled with unshed tears. "I thought I was too, Chriss, but Xyn just made me realize otherwise. I guess I like you well enough, you're pretty cool and all, but deep down I guess I just don't trust anyone. If there IS something going on here about Xyn and Tym, then I don't want to be a part of it. I'm sorry if it hurt you, Chriss, but I guess I just don't really trust anyone all that much," he said aloud.

He closed the door behind him, being careful not to slam it.

Xyn and Chriss watched him go.

"I hurt him," Xyn said flatly, "But he had to know, and so did you. Now you know how I feel, how Tym feels, Chriss. Do you honestly believe that anyone here gives a damn about anyone else now?"

Again, the young Pyro felt something at the edges of his Mind, but when he focused on it, it fled. He nodded, wiping his pale eyes on his sleeve as Xyn had just done earlier. He thought for a moment, then confessed, "Something IS going on Xyn. There's something rattling around in my head that I can't isolate. I don't KNOW who or what it is, but I can tell that it doesn't belong there. Maybe I better tell Shar about it."

Xyn snorted.

"What?" Chriss asked.

"I wouldn't tell anyone if I were you. I think it's me or Tym that they want, not you or Adam. Go to him, Chriss. You DO mean a bit to him, you know, and he's really torn up right now. He wants you to come to him."

Chriss looked shocked again. "How can you know that with your Psi off?"

Xyn shrugged. "Tym told me," he stated.

Chriss' pale eyes widened again. "Xyn, do what you have to do. Just make sure you save that little shit! I'll poke around as much as I can and try to figure this thing out, but please know this – if there IS someone out to get you or him, they'll probably succeed."

Then his eyes almost literally lit up. Xyn jerked his head around to stare at the door as the idea hit them both at the same time. "Maybe that's why Tym isn't getting any better, Xyn! Think about it! Suddenly puberty cuts loose on you, and you can't handle having your Psi on, yet the Doc tells you that the scans confirm that you're the most powerful one here? And what about Tym, too? We're not sure WHAT he is, but he seems to be able to do just about everything, doesn't he? You bring him back from Death's doorstep, and now suddenly we had to debate whether or not to shut off his life support because he just isn't getting well? You said he WANTS to get well, but he can't? What's that all about? It makes no sense!"

Xyn's mouth dropped open. "We never got TO that, though! I passed out because I couldn't take the Group Mind thing and it hurt me so bad!"

"Bullshit!" Chriss exclaimed, running to the closet and rooting around in it.

"What are you doing?" Xyn asked.

He got his answer when Chriss tossed a short, green tunic at him. It was old and it didn't smell fresh, but it was almost clean. Xyn's jaw clenched, and his throat tightened. "This was Jayk's," he whimpered, trying hard to keep his emotions under control.

"Not now, Xyn. Get a grip. You're naked, so put it on! We need to get out of here and head to the Infirmary, now! Someone might be listening, and if they are, I might not be good enough to know it!"

Xyn realized what Chriss was getting at and slipped the tunic on. It fit well enough, and Xyn saw, with some pain and regret, that he had grown enough to be about the same size as Jayk had been when he had arrived in the Ruins. He then thought about Jayk being a Slow Mutant, and wondered if Jayk had grown any at all, or if he would soon pass him up.

"C'mon, Xyn! Think about it! You and Jayk did that merge-thing all the time when you had sex. You spent all that time in a mental wonderland with him and Tym, too, and you even merged with Jayk and this Hunter fellow all the way from wherever he took him? No way! Your Mind shouldn't have shut down in a Group Mind chat with the leaders of the Gangs here, Xyn. If that data of Doc's is right, then you could have smashed all of them out of existence without breaking a sweat. It just doesn't add up! There's got to be a connection, Xyn! You can't use your Psi now, and Tym's about to be cut off of life support all in one day?" Chriss stated, his voice heated.

Xyn was suddenly very angry. He reached for his Psi out of habit.

"Shit, don't DO that now!" Chriss cried, feeling it coming up.

Xyn nodded. "But what's going and who's behind it? And WHAT are they doing to us?" he wondered as the both of them took off down the hall running. Then the latter of Chriss' words struck him.

"When did they decide that?" he squeaked.

"Oh hell, Xyn, you didn't know? That's gotta mean that Tym doesn't know! They were supposed to tell you! I really thought you knew!"

Xyn decided to take Chriss at his word, although he didn't like the thought of that. Chriss had admitted that something in his own Mind was wrong, and that didn't make sense. He was the closest one to Tym, and to himself. It was Chriss who cared for them when they were down and far from home, and it was Chriss who had helped him through the Group Mind chat and to the Infirmary when he'd collapsed. "WHEN?!" Xyn demanded, turning to run back to his room.

Chriss skidded to a halt. Xyn was not Dan, but he could still run. In seconds, he was back with his white Suit rolled up under his arm. They pounded on towards the Infirmary, dark thoughts racing through their minds as they tried to come up with an explanation. "They decided to unplug him and let him take his chances tomorrow morning," Chriss said, panting. Still, they ran, until a voice filled their Minds.

I don't talk to strangers, it was saying to someone else. Then it fell silent.

Xyn's look was determined, and Chriss felt him beginning to touch the fringes of his own Psi. Xyn then slowed a bit and whimpered, and Chriss caught him under the arms. Still they ran. Adam, Xyn called out, I need you! Come to the Infirmary!

"What are you doing, idiot?" Chriss asked.

"Calling for backup," Xyn explained, sweeping out ahead of them. He gritted his teeth and tears ran from his eyes. Chriss could feel his gait slowing, but Xyn's Mind was coming up to power. Chriss' own Psi pulled back from it, but Xyn did not falter. Something deep inside of the young Psion drove him on despite the pain and lack of a Suit, and he would not yield. Chriss felt the intense love again, and knew from where Xyn was drawing power.

They met Adam at the next corner. "What's wrong?" he asked sullenly.

"There's no time for that! Get ready to blast things, Bomber, because we're probably gonna need your help!" Xyn stated.

Chriss smiled at him, and they flanked Xyn, supporting him, as the three of them continued down the hallway. They found the doors to the Infirmary shut and locked.

"I KNEW this was gonna happen!" Chriss cursed.

"Would someone tell me what's going on here," Adam asked.

Xyn drew a deep breath, steeled himself, and sent what he and Chriss had theorized to Adam. The young Bomber's eyes lit up then, and he understood.

"Oh, gods," he breathed, focusing his gaze on the door.

"BURST!" he ordered, and both of his friends felt the force of his Will shatter the door into fragments.

An alarm began to sound, and a burly Orderly with an artificial arm jumped from behind a cabinet to confront them. The Infirmary was nearly deserted, everyone who had fallen ill from the raid recovered or dead. Only a few remained, and most of them, except for Tym, had physical and critical injuries and not diseases. "What are you doing here?" the Orderly demanded.

"Get out of my way!" Xyn ordered.

The orderly blinked, then turned. "Doctor!" he called out, "We have unauthorized visitors!" He then placed himself between the main aisle and the trio, crossing his arms in front of him. He was very large.

The Orderly, however, was no match for Adam and his destructive powers. The young Bomber simply drew in his Will, stared him down, and watched calmly as the orderly shattered into a bloody, twitching mess of flying body parts and scrap metals from his Approved Implants. Eerily, his scream of pain echoed across the room as various parts of his anatomies landed here and there, making little splattering noises.

"Way kewl!" Chriss yelled, slapping Adam on the back.

"Thanks," Adam replied shyly, his face flushing as Chriss quickly and unintentionally sent to him how he really felt about him. They looked deeply into each others' eyes, and an understanding seemed to pass between them.

"I'm sorry!" both of them said in unison, and then laughed.

Suddenly, everything was all right between them again.

Everything except for Xyn, who slumped a bit and was obviously suffering.

"What's going on here?" the Doctor demanded in stunned amazement, jumping out from behind Tym's bed. They all looked in that direction, and Xyn screamed when he saw that the monitors and support machines were all off-line, and the sound of his cry awoke every Psion in the Ruins and many who were not even Mutants.

At the main control room far below the living quarters, Shar broke her Network connection and looked up. Hundreds of leagues away, Rick Abrams very nearly dropped an infant Bio Inmate and looked up towards the ceiling with a cry of surprise. Thousands of leagues to the Far South, Jayk dropped his fork at his evening meal with his Master and looked up at the crystal chandelier. His silver-capped fangs sparkled as his mouth fell open. A few more leagues to the Far South, hiding in the bushes near the beach of the Eastern Sea, the Hunter hung up his emergency call to Acer the Dealer and slammed his visor up. He then tore off his helmet and let his battered Psi cut loose. His Suit hissed and beeped again, but he was none the worse for wear, all things considered.

And just upstairs from Jayk and his confused Master, Alfred the butler collapsed onto his bed in shock as he experienced his final Breakdown.

"Xyn!" they all spoke in unison, as the terrible scream that Abrams and Jayk had heard once before tore across the very World.Noooooooooo!

"Answer me!" the Doctor demanded, coming towards them, "What do you little freaks want here?"

"Excuse me?!" a new voice asked from the ceiling.

The Doctor had just enough time to look up as Xyn's blazing Psi tore into his Mind. The last thing that his eyes saw were two glowing cyan fires coming down towards him as Kefe the Nightstalker descended like an angel falling from Heaven to punish the sinners.

Kefe's legs spread as he fell, and he grunted as his legs locked around the stunned Doctor's neck. He then flipped himself backward, reaching out with his long arms to dig his nails into the frozen man's face as Xyn tore at his mind.

Spy! Xyn shouted to their minds.

"Not for long," Kefe said calmly, as he jerked his entire lean and sinuous body and tore the Doctor's head off. He fell backwards onto the floor, sending the detached head rolling, as blood fountained up out of the toppling decapitated body. It twitched for a few seconds and then lay still.

"Fuck me!" Kefe murmured, looking around at the destruction as a strange silence fell upon the room.

"You're about out of luck on that idea, buddy," Chriss replied as Xyn slipped from his grasp.

Suddenly the room was filled with the Presence of another Mind, and Xyn stumbled forward towards Tym's bed where the machines were all silent. Tears streamed down his perfect pace, and the veins in his neck and head were pulsating.

"Nice of you to show up," Adam stated as Kefe joined them, wiping the blood from his tunic with a bed sheet.

"Not a problem. A little voice told me to come here. Said a stranger was after it. I think it was Tym."

Then all three of the Mutants turned to look towards Tym's bed. The sickly little Mutant's lines and tubes had all been pulled, and he lay atop his blankets, naked. His skin was pale and almost gray, and his nails were blue. His breathing was very shallow, and it came in ragged gasps. There was also a strange metal device with a few flashing lights on it attached to his forehead and temples.

Xyn collapsed onto the bed, scooping the dying little one up in his arms. "What is this thing?" he called out, and the three others ran to his side.

"Shit," Adam nearly screamed, "That's a neural inhibitor! They put them on Mutants so they can't use their abilities. It literally turns your brain off! You don't see 'em too much 'cause they're so damn expensive. Only the richest Masters and Dealers can afford to have them!" He then reached down and touched a red button on the side of it. The lights went off and it fell to the floor with a clatter. Chriss picked it up and handed it to Xyn, who pocketed it.

"There's another Mind here," Chriss warned them.

"I know," Xyn replied, "and he's with ME. Find me some of the best painkiller and the hardest stimulant there is," he ordered them, pulling Tym's cold and unresponsive body close to his own.

"Let me," Chriss offered, taking the limp little form in his arms. Sweat began to pour off of him, running in rivulets down his naked torso as he heated up. Adam and Kefe, rooting in the drug cabinets, turned and saw the heat ripples surrounding them. Within seconds, Xyn was sweating as well. Tym's skin color began to pink up a bit, but he still didn't move.

Xyn… his Mind called weakly, barely conscious.

Kefe and Adam then returned with the drugs. Some other Attendings arrived and shut off the alarms and saw to the few other patients, but it was obvious that none of them were in on whatever had taken place. None of them approached the quartet of Mutants at Tym's bed, whether out of respect or fear when they saw the carnage – it was impossible to tell.

"We got Morphinol-12 and EpiN-9, Xyn, but how's that gonna help Tym?" Kefe asked.

"It's for me, not him," Xyn explained, "I'm about to die here, and I'm running on the help of another Mind that can't last much longer. Inject me with an Adult dose of both, now!"

As Adam did that, Xyn took a deep breath as the overdose of drugs hit his Bio body. The pain disappeared, and the other Mind took its leave of him as his Psi burst to new levels of power, fueled by rage and fear. "Adam," he barked, "Take the door. Don't let anyone in here. Chriss, if any one of those Attendings come close to us, burn them to the ground! Kefe, cover us!"

They all nodded, and Adam ran to what remained of the doorway, his grin broad. He hadn't blown anything to bits in a long time, and it had felt very, very good.

About then, Shar's Mind filled the room.

What are you about, Xyn Psion?! she demanded.

Shut up! I'm busy!

There was a stunned interval, and Xyn felt her, saw her, running down a corridor and headed towards them. I will have the truth! she called.

Someone pulled the plug on Tym and tried to make sure that I wasn't able to find out about it, he replied, And if you try and stop me, so help me gods, I'll tear out your Mind in a heartbeat, so stay outta my way!

Shar's voice then fell silent, and Xyn spread his Suit out on the bed as Chriss lifted Tym up. He then laid him down on the Suit, and it enfolded Tym instantly. It took a few seconds for it to figure out what was wrong, then it lit up blue and hissed and beeped endlessly. The hood deployed, as did the gloves and facemask as well. Only Tym's nostrils and mouth and chin were visible as the Suit went to work on him.

They waited, and Adam called out, "Shar's coming!"

"Let her come!" Xyn replied, and Kefe and Chriss took his sides. Kefe's eyes were shining, and two fireballs danced upon Chriss' outstretched palms. The Attendings wheeled the remaining patients out a side door, and Adam ran back to join his friends.

"You!" he called to the last one, "Over here! Hook Tym back up to full support, now!"

The Attending did that, shaking violently and then shrinking back under Xyn's cold gaze. He was obviously very disturbed as the Suit, programmed to recognize medical supplements, opened small holes in itself here and there to allow their attachments.

When the last patient was out, Adam frowned and smashed the doorframes with his Mind, leaving only one way in or out. In seconds, Shar came running through the wreckage of the main door with Dan in tow. Shar stopped, and Dan's hand tore out of her grasp as he ran towards the others.

"What's wrong?" he cried, "Xyn, what happened? We heard you scream all the way down in the control room!"

Instantly, Xyn probed the little one and knew that he was honest. His Psi smashed through the barriers that his mother had erected around him, and for a moment Xyn was lost in the simple wonder of childhood. There was nothing in Dan's Mind to indicate conspiracy, only fear and concern. All he wanted was his friends, and he was not a threat. Then Dan saw Tym. "Is he gonna die?" he asked, running to his bedside.

Xyn, however, fixed his gaze upon Dan's mother. She met that gaze, and then lowered her defenses. "What has happened here?" she asked, surveying the bloody wreckage that had once been the Infirmary.

"Someone unplugged Tym," Xyn said in voice filled with hardly contained rage and the driving need for revenge, "Or didn't you know that?"

Shar's face paled, and Xyn struck.

Hard.

In a second, he knew everything that she knew.

A second later, a terrible wave of guilt overtook him as he realized that Shar had had absolutely nothing to do with any of what had happened.

But Xyn would not be settled by that. The guilt passed as Tym began to cough, and Xyn turned back to him. "I'm sorry," he snapped at her, "I was wrong, and I don't really care, though. Someone's trying to kill me and Tym, and I don't know why. Your chief Medic was a spy, by the way. That's why he's dead. Him and the Orderly that was on duty, the one with the mechanical arm."

Shar gasped, shaking her head and recovering herself.

That was very rude, Xyn Psion, what you just did to me. However, I AM impressed with your strength. And just why are you OUT of bed, to say nothing of running your Psi, as we discussed? she asked in a motherly tone.

"Better listen to her," Dan offered, having taken up a position on the other side of Tym's bed and holding his small hand in his own.

Daniel! she corrected him.

"Sorry, mother," he said aloud, averting his eyes.

"I'm drugged up, bad, Shar, and the Hunter helped me along," Xyn explained.

Again, Shar gasped. Psionically, Chriss informed her of everything that had taken place: Xyn's sudden Psionic failure, his pain, Tym's not getting well, and the plot they had formulated. Shar's eyes widened, and then she gasped again. Her evening, it seemed, was destined to be filled with nasty surprises.

"Stand firm, Chriss," she ordered, as the full force of her Psi invaded his Mind.

The young Pyro felt her lay her Mind upon the thing that had been rattling around in his Mind, and he heard a small voice again. Don't talk to strangers, it said. Chriss whipped his head around, his long white ponytail flying, and looked at Tym.

Shar continued her probing, as if climbing over a wall of some kind, and Chriss let her. His attention was focused on Tym, who lay on his bed in Xyn's Suit with full life support hooked up to him again. The readouts, however, were improving as the Suit did its work. He watched as Xyn held Tym's free hand in his, Dan holding the other, while Xyn smoothed the ailing little one's hair back. He watched the tenderness with which Xyn touched the cheek, warm and pink now, and passed a finger over the red lips up the jawline to caress Tym's small, round ear.

The young Psion was crying openly, his Bio body beginning to feel the effects of the drugs as the rush of the overdose began to wear down.

Then Chriss felt Shar slip out of his Mind as they all watched Xyn.

"What about you, Xyn?" Dan asked suddenly, "You're wearin' Jayk's clothes, not your Suit. What if you get sick?"

"I'm a Mutant," Xyn replied, "I'll survive here without it."

Dan smiled, reaching over Tym's still form to lay a hand on Xyn's hand which held Tym's other. His smile was like the sun rising, and Xyn felt some degree of hope. Then Tym's eyes fluttered a few times.

"No, Xyn," he said, his voice rough and hardly audible, "You can't take your Suit off!"

"You wear it for a while, Tym," Xyn said through happy tears, "You need it a lot worse than I do. You need to get out of here and get better so we can do more than just lay around in bed being sick together!"

Tym smiled wanly, then began to fall back asleep. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I told them all, I tried. I said not to talk to strangers. He was here, I know he heard me! He got out alive! He didn't get blowed up!"

And then Tym's mouth and Mind fell silent as he slept. His heart rate and respirations leveled out, and his blood pressure came up to good levels. The scanners indicated that he was totally stable, which he hadn't been in weeks. It was mute testimony to the fact that he hadn't been receiving proper care the entire time that he'd been under the Doctor's care. The little Mutant should have been, could have been, in perfect health days before.

Then Xyn looked over at Dan and back up at Shar. His eyes were sad, and his whole body looked to be on the verge of collapse. He opened his Mind to her again, unsure of what to do. In an instant, she knew everything that Xyn knew as well.

"Apology accepted," she said softly, touching his cheek, "I can see where you could have thought these things, Xyn Psion. Something is badly wrong here, and I WILL have the truth of it. Are you well enough to join with me?"

Xyn nodded, and joined his Psi with hers. It was a strange feeling, somewhat unlike the Group Mind incident, but not at all like being Xyn/Jayk. Together, they swept through all of the Minds of all the inhabitants of the Ruins in minutes. Thousands of Minds drifted beneath them, and to Shar's shock, more than a few of them bore the strange signature that she had seen in Chriss' Mind. She tightened her Psi, masked her mental signature, and concentrated on stealth. On and on they went, slipping through the Minds of the Gangs who inhabited the Ruins undetected by even the better Psions.

Finally, with a sick feeling in her heart, she returned Xyn and herself to their individualities.

"Something IS wrong here," Xyn stated.

Shar nodded and turned to Adam and Chriss. "I must tell you of this," she said in voice filled with regret, "That there are blocks of some kind in both of your Minds, and in the Minds of a few Others here as well. I know what they are, I know how to destroy them, but I do not know where they originated. All I know is that we have been infiltrated by the Authorities somehow. There are other spies among us yet."

"Someone's been in my head?" Chriss asked, shaking it in disbelief.

"And mine?" Adam asked.

Shar nodded again. "But I cannot remove the blocks as of yet," she stated.

"Why not?!" Adam cried, "I mean, if someone messed with my Mind, can't you fix it?"

"We can," Xyn stated, panting a bit as the drugs began to wear off. Even at Adult doses, the punishment he had done to his Bio body with his Mind had burned them off and he was only moments away from total collapse. "We won't, though, because, well, like I said to Chriss, there's a plan here. Someone wanted Tym dead, and me out of his way. This someone, or someones, used a lot of our people to set his plan moving. Unfortunately, you two were part of it. So was our Doctor and at least one Orderly. Whoever it was got to you two and altered your Minds. I don't think you can handle what's behind that block, Chriss, nor you, Adam. It's pretty bad."

They could hear the pain in Xyn's voice however, and everyone knew that he had discovered, in his Mind trip with Shar, something so very horrible that it had taken most of his control to deal with it.

Tears filled Chriss' eyes, however, as Xyn's Mind leaked an image of a burning building to him. There were screams of pain and the fire was so swift and hot. There were trees, the Forest no doubt, and the shining cyan eyes of a Nightstalker.

"I… I… I did that?" he asked, and Xyn knew that he had seen.

"Yes," Xyn answered.

"But our Nightstalker, he got lost on the trip! We were late, and we think a Hunter got him! I don't remember burning any buildings down."

"Yes," Xyn said again, "I'm very close to that Hunter just now."

Shar smiled mysteriously. "He helped you tonight?"

"Yes," Xyn said again, his full of pain, "And someone tried to kill HIM too."

Kefe whistled in surprise. "Well this is just one twisted mess, ain't it? Someone puts spies in the Ruins, Mutants even! Hell, they had to be, how could they survive here if they weren't? Someone wants Tym and Xyn dead, and whoever it is also wants the legendary Hunter dead too?"

"What I don't get," Adam asked, "Is how this person, whoever it was, had all this contact with a bunch of Mutants? I mean, we knew that our Doctor, and his main Orderly, was a spy, and that he didn't like us. Me and Chriss thought he hated us because were castrated, but I guess that was only part of it. But how could someone get a hold of so many of us like that? And what about this Hunter? Why kill the best thing the Authority has for catching us?"

"We will go over the details later, Adam. For now, we all need rest. It has been an eventful day. Kefe is going on duty, after his rude awakening, but the rest of us need sleep. Xyn, can you walk?" Shar asked, then smiled.

Xyn had already fallen asleep beside Tym, his arm across the little one's waist and still holding his hand. Dan smiled and placed Tym's other hand, which he held, across him so that it was resting on Xyn's chest.

About then, the frightened Attending came out of hiding. He glanced at Adam, his eyes wide. The young Bomber laughed. "I'm sorry!" he piped up.

The Attending nodded to Shar, handing her a padd. "I thought you should know this, ma'am," he offered, "I got this out of the Doctor's computer files. It seems he left them all open while he was disconnecting little Tym here. I think you'll find it all very interesting," he pointed out.

Shar took the padd. "Thank you," she said simply, "We'll send someone to help with the mess." She then shot Adam and Kefe a withering look, and the young ones grinned at her.

"Ma'am," the Attending asked as they were all turning to go, "There's also really no reason to keep these two here," he offered, waving a scanner over them. "They're both fine. The little one's still pretty weak, but he's stable. I don't understand it. Those Facility Suits must be really good!"

Shar let that one pass. It was obvious that this Attending knew nothing of the subtle attempt having been made upon Tym's life.

"And you would be very happy to be rid of them, correct?" Shar asked, smiling.

The Attending nodded vigorously.

So it was that Adam and Chriss, bearing their own burdens of guilt and wondering what was wrong with them, helped Dan and Shar and Kefe move Xyn and Tym back to Xyn's room. They placed them both in the large bed, warmed by the overhead brass lamps, and situated them close together in the center. Then Shar covered them up with the ragged old blankets, Xyn in one of Jayk's old green tunics and Tym still in Xyn's Suit. She pulled the covers up to their chins as the others left the room.

"I don't wanna be alone just now," Adam was saying shyly to Chriss, who nodded as they walked down the hall.

"Me either. I'm scared," Chriss admitted, putting an arm around Adam's shoulder.

"C-can I stay in your room tonight, Chriss?" Adam asked.

"I'd like that," Chriss agreed.

Adam smiled, then frowned.

"What?" Chriss asked.

"I was just thinking about Xyn, is all. All he did for us tonight. He almost killed himself doing it. You think he's still gonna want to be…"

"Castrated?" Chriss interrupted.

Adam nodded.

"He said a lot of things tonight, buddy," Chriss mused, "Let's just give him and Tym some time to recover and think about it. Maybe he'll change his mind."

Back in Xyn's room, Jayk's old room, Shar finished tucking her charges into bed and took Dan by the hand to go. "You do that real good, Mom," he said.

"One more to do this night," she smiled, "Although I shall not sleep. There is much for me to do, yet."

Dan smiled back, then pointed to the bed. Shar turned to see Xyn, still fully asleep, rolling onto his side and pulling Tym close to him. The young Psion sighed contentedly, and Shar touched her pocket to make sure that the medical data padd was still there as Tym snuggled his head into Xyn's shoulder.

Very softly, they closed the door to the old room full of dusty book and antiques, where once again, two happy little ones slept in warmth and comfort.

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