Chapter 3       Cy Sterling moved silently through the corridors of the EFS Normandy. With his personal cloaking unit active, there was practically no chance that anyone would notice him. He followed one of the main passageways to an area just outside the mess hall. He opted not to chance going through it, as it was a rather busy area. Someone running into an unseen person would draw much unneeded attention to himself. Besides, from what he remembered of the ship's layout, the med-center wasn't in that direction or even on the present deck. Reversing direction, Sterling slipped into a cargo lift as it was heading below decks. Since there was no one on the lift, he deactivated his cloaking unit. Due to a design flaw, the power cell couldn't keep the cloaking unit active for more than 90 minutes. The holographic component was another story, lasting more than 24 hours on one charge. In a pinch, it would make a suitable substitute when the unit's power got low. But for now, it was better to go completely unseen. Cy reactivated his cloaking unit as the lift stopped. The area he stepped out into was pitch black, though he could hear people moving around and someone yelling.       "Let's move it ladies!" Lt. Crow Mengele found that the Jumptroops of Sierra Three always seemed less than enthused when Captain Jose ordered him to put them through some maneuvers. Though he would never admit it, Crow found most of them dull too, especially when he was restricted to watching. Not one to enjoy boredom, Crow was forced to come up with more...unique training methods. Case in point, he was ordered to run the platoon through some weapons training and a standard obstacle course consisting of a wall to scale (3 meters high), some hoops to run through, and a crawl under exercise. And so Crow decided to combine the two. Each trooper was to be clad in full armor and carry his rifle through the course. Once they hoofed it through the rings (which were nothing more than beat-up old landing gear tires) the troops had to scale the wall and crawl under laser web set up only two feet from the ground. If they couldn't stay low enough, they would break one of the light beams of the web. This would set off a buzzer. Crow, in response, would shoot the offender with a blast from his rifle at half power. At that level, the shot would do little more than sting badly. At the end of the web, each trooper was to fire one shot at each of the three electronic target dummies set up 20 meters from that position. With that task complete, they got to do it again until Crow decided when to stop. Just to make the exercise really interesting, Crow decided to have them go at it in the dark.       A buzzer went off, Crow positioned his weapon and snapped off a shot. The target yelped in protest. "Stings a little does it? Just imagine if I were a Neo. Remember people, your ability to stay low can save you butt in a light-fight." From under the laser web, Private Dirk Dagger rubbed his side. "Little tyrant, where does he get off..." "Move it, Private!" Dagger mumbled something inappropriate under his breath and continued forward. Ahead of him, Private Leon "Unholy" Dyvim was at the end of the web. He smoothly snapped up to the one knee position and fired off three quick shots. Three separate bells rang 20 meters away, calling attention to the bullseyes he scored. Without a moments hesitation he sprung to his feet and ran to start the course over again. "Looking good, Unholy, keep it up!" encouraged Crow. Crow initially suspected his accuracy had more to do with his enhanced eyes than the quality of his helmet's nightvision. After learning more about the surgical alteration to Unholy's eyes, Crow had determined that his enhancement more or less reduced glare and prevented him from being blinded by bright light. Thus it was pure skill - with a little help from his armor's nightvision mode - that made Unholy the marksman he was. But however good the nightvision on any Jumptroop's armor was, Crow's was better. He had volunteered to have his eyes genetically enhanced. With the helmet of his armor on, there was virtually no spectrum of light he could not see in. But even with his helmet off, his vision was still far better than any normal human being's. Another buzzer went off, and Crow dealt another punishing sting to one of his troops. He turned from the course to adjust his weapon and noticed an odd shimmer out of the corner of his eye. Using his cyberjack, he switched from his nightvision mode to UV vision. The shimmer became more distinct. Crow switched to thermographics and the thermal outline of a man appeared. "You there! What are you doing in here?"       Sterling stopped in his tracks, then continued, remembering that he had his cloaking device active. "Hey, I'm talking to you." Sterling peaked over his shoulder but saw only blackness. He started to walk faster. The voice drew closer. "Someone stop that guy! Hey you! This is a restricted area, you're not allowed in here!" Unholy stopped running through the rings and turned around to watch Crow yell at empty space. Dirk Dagger stopped next to him. "I always said he was wound tight enough to snap." Unholy simply stared at Crow a moment. He motioned to Dagger, "Come on." Crow felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Corporal Robert Preston. "Are you all right, Lieutenant?" he asked. "Corporal, get some men to stop that guy." ordered Crow. "What man? There is no one there." "Someone get the lights." ordered Preston. Crow looked slightly confused. "What are you talking about? He's right there! Heading for the exit!" Unholy, who was now standing next to Preston with Dagger, commented, "I don't see anyone either, Lieutenant." "Sproing!!" Preston and Unholy eyed Dagger, his impression of a broken spring clearly not going over well. The lights came on and they removed their helmets. Crow looked toward the exit and saw no one. "But he was there." he insisted. He put his helmet back on, and still saw nothing. "Is he there now?" asked Preston. "No, he must have left the room." "I think you should have yourself checked out, Lt." Crow looked from Preston to Unholy and then back again. "Yeah, I think you're right. Continue the exercise, Corporal. I'll check in with you later." * * *       The scenic route is not what I had in mind. Sterling stared at the power gauge of his cloaking unit. It was dropping fast. With the close call in the jumptroop hanger, the thought of impersonating someone was looking better and better. Just need to find a promising candidate. Which of course translated into pretty much anyone, preferably male and about equal height. If he remembered right, the corridor he was in would lead him to one of the e-frame hangers next. The distinct sound of footsteps began to fill the corridor and Sterling spotted a young man coming his way. He appeared to be an exotrooper but he carried a small crossbow and dagger on his belt. Sterling considered passing him by, then checked the power gauge again. He'll have to do. He silently moved in front of him and touched a button on the left side of his cloaking unit. It began to scan him, encoding his image into its digital memory. As he neared, Sterling stepped to one side and behind him, then circled around to his other side. This effectively scanned the trooper from all angles. With the scan complete, Sterling put a finger on a button directly above the scanning trigger. He got against one wall and gave it a hard bang, then waited. The trooper turned around at the sound of the noise and stared about him curiously as his hands moved to his weapons. Come on, come on, say something. thought Sterling. To his dismay, the trooper turned around and continued on. Sterling hit the wall again. The trooper spun on his heel, falling to one knee with his crossbow drawn. "Who's there? Identify yourself." Yes! Sterling eased his finger of the button, the unit analyzing the voice sample for duplication. The trooper got to his feet and moved forward. He looked over the entire corridor then continued on his way, his hand still resting on his weapon. Sterling decloaked and removed the device from his belt. On the reverse side, under the clip, he found yet another button and pushed it. With the unit set to holoprojection mode, he replaced it on his belt and activated it. "What an odd uniform, I've never seen one like it." Sterling's new voice sounded slightly higher than his real one. With his disguise complete, he continued toward the hanger. He found an access terminal near the entrance. Better find out whose life I'm borrowing. He had his answer in under a minute: Lt. Elan Morin Tedronai.       "Elan!" Sterling turned from the terminal to see a young woman approaching. The various tools that adorned her uniform screamed exotech specialist. As she neared, Sterling realized he had no idea who she was. Taking his cue from her uniform, he spoke in his new voice. "Something I can help you with, Lieutenant?" She stood in front of him, apparently taken aback by his formality. "Thought you already left - anyway, I need your help with that frame." Seeing as time was something Sterling did not have a lot of, he tried to excuse himself. "I'm sure you can handle it yourself, you are the exotech after all." She tilted her head sideways and arched an eyebrow. "Short memory span you've got there, Elan." "Pardon?" asked Sterling. "Your frame? 'Help me Kristin, it won't work' Does any of this sound familiar?" Sterling nodded his head and pretended to remember. "Oh right! My frame!" "Yeah, you're frame. Now since my psychic powers are on the fritz today, you're going to have to show me what's wrong." She motioned with one hand to the hanger deck. Realizing he had no idea which frame was Elan's, Sterling tried a different track. "Ladies first." "Fine." Kristin lead him out to the middle of the hanger. She pointed to a spy/logistics frame. "So tell me what's wrong." "Better yet, I'll show you." offered Sterling as he got into the frame and jacked in. He pretended to fiddle with a few switches as he used the cyberjack to try and scan the frame's systems. Then he realized it was off. Kristin, in the meantime, stood in front of him. The look on her face called into question his sanity. Sterling gave the command to close canopy and tried to power up the E-frame. It did nothing but shudder and shut down again. "Okay, that's bad." commented Kristin. As Sterling got out of the frame she wandered around back and removed a panel. "The relays look good." She pulled a screwdriver-like device from her belt and touched several wires and junctions. Each time she did, a small display at the top of the handle gave a reading. "Power's transferring from the main leads." "May I see that?" asked Sterling. Kristin handed the device over, "Just be careful, Elan. I don't feel like rushing you to sick bay." Sterling gave her a half smile, "I'll try to be." He touched a few different spots and took note of the readings. "Hmm, this is odd." "There's supposed to be power going through those, Elan." Why do I get the feeling this Elan is not so good with machinery? thought Sterling. "I realize that, but if you look at the flow of current, its in the wrong direction." Kristin took the device back and touched the same spots Sterling had. "You're right. What the heck is causing that? A faulty coupler? Or there's a some kind of short in the system somewhere." mused Kristin. She sighed, "Well looks like we're going to be here for a while." Sterling stared at the inner workings a moment. "Maybe not, its almost as if..." Sterling looked up to the fusion pack port. "...the fusion pack is in backwards." Kristin examined the port. The arrow on the pack stating 'this end up' was pointing down. Her jaw dropped and she stared dumbfounded at Sterling. "Good eye, now who are you and what have you done with Elan?" Sterling's heart froze for the half a second following the comment. In his minds eye, he saw a security team descending upon him and his hopes to get home forever dashed. Then Kristin burst out laughing and Sterling's heart started again. He forced out a little nervous laughter to make it seem as if he appreciated her humor. "I guess there's hope for you yet!" Kristin gave him a playful hit in the arm and walked away. Sterling let out a deep cleansing breath, reinstalled the fusion pack in its proper orientation, and continued on his way. * * *       "Give it to me straight, Doc." Dr. Karen Rhodes tapped her finger on her data pad. "As near as I can tell, Lieutenant, you're clean. No trace of damage to your brain or your eyes." "If that's true then what happened during training today?" asked Crow. Dr. Rhodes shrugged, "Equipment malfunction?" "Not possible." stated Crow flatly. "Are you sure?" asked Dr. Rhodes. "Yes. I checked my armor inside and out three times before coming here. Everything is in tip-top condition." "Then the only other possibility is that it was a temporary phenomenon. If that's the case then that opens up an entirely new can of worms." explained Dr. Rhodes. Crow seemed frustrated as he said, "Just tell me what you think it means, and be honest." Dr. Rhodes gave a nod of the head. "Fine. I think it could be an indication of a larger problem. Something that has a slow onset, possibly degenerative in nature." Crow seemed a little shaken by the news. "Degenerative. How degenerative?" he asked. "Your eyes were genetically altered. If I recall your case file correctly, it gave you enhanced vision which could be enhanced further through your exoarmor. But it also limited your vision on the lower end of the visible spectrum, the red light region." "That's common knowledge." pointed out Crow. "Yes, but I did some digging in the Exofleet data base. Are you aware of the fact that the majority of people which undergo your type of enhancement end up blind? In 90% of these cases the cause was rejection of the gene implants used, resulting in total genetic break down of the cells which make up the eye. It is essentially an auto-immune response. The enzymes which normally maintain your cellular DNA detect the genes inserted via retrovirus as a mutation. As a result, they try to remove them from your main genome. The problem arises when these enzymes somehow lose track of which genes are implanted and which are not. The result is the breakdown of the entire genome."       From his expression, Dr. Rhodes could tell that Crow was for the most part following her, but seemed kind of lost. So she tried putting it into terms he could more easily understand. "The cells of the subject's eyes digest their own DNA, killing themselves and causing the subject to go blind. Hallucinations are a common part of this process." "So...you think this is happening to me?" Crow's voice sounded shaky. If he weren't already sitting on an examination table, he would probably would have fallen over. Dr. Rhodes put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's not jump to conclusions. It could be nothing - a one time occurrence." "But it could be the beginning of the end." stated Crow. "Well..." "Couldn't it?" insisted Crow. Dr. Rhodes conceded the point, "Yes. It could." Silence hung in the air for a few moments. "So what happens now?" asked Crow. "Now, you go back to your quarters, get some rest, and we'll run some more tests tomorrow. I'll have you removed from the duty roster until we can sort this out." Crow nodded and got to his feet. "Thank you, Doctor." * * *       Crow Mengele walked the corridors of the Normandy aimlessly. In a few short hours, the future of his military career and the quality of his life had been called into question. He looked about the corridors as he went and wondered if they would look as clear tomorrow. Shaken by the news that he may lose his eyesight, he had decided to see as much of the ship as he could. The way he stared carefully at everything, noting the most minuscule detail, suggested he was hoarding the images for a time when he'd be unable to get new ones. His pace was slow and steady, boarding on nonchalant. But his face contained an innate sadness that was readily apparent. The sound of footsteps told him someone was coming toward him. Around the corner came a young woman. Crow recognized her as Nikki Montgomery, an exotrooper attached to Gamma Squad. The two had a flirt/hate type of relationship going. While it sometimes provided Crow with amusement to make inappropriate remarks towards her, he just wasn't in the mode for it. Apparently, neither was she, as he noted the rolling of her eyes upon seeing him. She continued to stare straight ahead, her intent to just pass him by. But Crow just stopped and stared at her, not saying anything. Montgomery glanced at him a few times as she grew closer, then stopped beside him and stared back. "What?" she demanded. Crow remained silent. Montgomery placed her hands on her hips while her brow furrowed. "Go ahead, take your shot, I know you're dying to." "Your eyes." said Crow. "What?" replied Montgomery, confused by the non-abrasive comment. "They're pretty. I never noticed that before." Nikki's face went from angry to surprised in a fraction of a second. "I, uh, thanks. I guess." "You're welcome." replied Crow. He continued on his way while Montgomery stared after him a moment. Unable to figure out what devious trick he was setting her up for, she dismissed the incident and continued on her own way. * * *       Having had enough of wandering, Crow decided to grab a bite to eat before heading to his quarters. The mess was all but deserted with only one or two others present. Crow sat by himself and played with his food. "I spent all day making that slop, Mengele. You better eat it." Crow looked up from his tray to see a larger bald man looking down on him. "Hey Cookie." mumbled Crow. Cookie Macchia scratched his chin with one hand. "Hm, so its true then." "What?" asked Crow. "The incident in the hanger, your eyesight problem." Crow looked surprised. "How did you find out about that?" Cookie had a seat across from him. "Sorry kid, that's privileged information. Besides, you should know by now there's nothing on this ship that I don't know about." "So if you know, why bother talking to me about it?" asked Crow. "Talking helps." replied Cookie. "Yeah, sure, it helps confirm the information." stated Crow sarcastically. "It don't help me. Like you said, I already know everything. But you, now that's a different story." "Okay. Fine. I saw something in the hanger. No one else did, they think I'm nuts. Dr. Rhodes thinks I'm seeing things because I'm losing my eyesight. So I'm blind or I'm a nut." "Or a blind nut." added Cookie. "You're not helping." replied Crow. "Sorry, go on." "What do you mean go on, that's it." answered Crow. "You've told me what everyone else thinks. What do you think?" asked Cookie. Crow considered the question carefully. "I saw something, I know it. But..." Cookie cut him off with a wave of his large hand. "Forget the 'but'. We know what they think and what you think, now let me tell you what I think." Cookie paused a moment to emphasize the point he was going to make. "Just because no one else can see something, doesn't mean its not there." Cookie stood up. "Think about that, Mengele, before you go checking yourself into the loony bin or buying yourself a long white cane." "Or both." added Crow. Cookie laughed as he headed back to the kitchen. "Hey Cookie?" Cookie stopped, saying, "Yeah?" "How exactly do you do what it is you do? For the crew, I mean." "I use only the freshest ingredients." he replied. Crow laughed, realizing that it was the only answer he'd ever get out of the chef. On to Chapter 4