From: dmcintoshtx@yahoo.com   
      
   CHAPTER FOUR   
      
      
   They walked through the courtyard after dinner, enjoying the   
   companionship and catching up after nearly a six week separation.    
   Alex had been on assignment in Russia and couldn't afford to be   
   distracted so there had been no contact.   
      
   Aaron came up to them in a rush.  "Alex, I need you.  Barrington's in   
   trouble.  They want  you and me to go in and retrieve him."   
      
   "What happened?  I thought this was just a surveillance job?"  Alex   
   asked as the three of them hurried to the transporter room.   
      
   "It was as far as I know.  I have no idea what happened.  Jeremiah   
   said Barrington tried to transport but his signal was fluctuating; he   
   couldn't get through.   
      
   The three of them arrived and stepped up on the platform.  Jeremiah   
   reached out and pulled Walter back.  "I want to go!" he protested.   
      
   "No!  You can't go; it's too dangerous.  We have no idea what's going   
   on down there."   
      
   "Yet you send Alex and Aaron down?"  He watched in frustration as the   
   two men blinked out.   
      
   "Yes!  They know what they're doing.  If they get separated they can   
   still get back.  They cannot retrieve Barrington and look after you at   
   the same time."   
      
   Walter followed Jeremiah back to Medical feeling totally useless.   
      
   "There must be something that I can do?"  He desperately wanted to help.   
      
   "I appreciate your wanting to help, Walter, but right now we're in a   
   sit and wait phase until we hear something."   
      
   Three other men, Walter knew to be healers, entered the room.  This   
   un-nerved Walter even more.   
      
   "This is just standard procedure when we have a retrieval in action.    
   There's probably    
   nothing …"  He stopped mid sentence and hurried with the other three   
   healers into the next room.  Walter followed them into what apparently   
   was a small transporter room in the back of Medical.  The four men   
   circled the waist-high platform and waited.   
      
   In seconds the room was filled with the stench of smoldering charred   
   bodies.  An anguished moan escaped Walter's lips as he tried, along   
   with the healers, to help separate the bodies.   
      
   "Life here," one of the healers called out.  "Too late for this one,"   
   another called out and the third one called "Life here."   
      
   There was one in a sitting position hunched over the other two; it was   
   Aaron.  He had a death grip on a semi-conscious Alex; arms wound   
   tightly around him and blood running out between the fingers of both   
   hands where he clasped the place where Alex's left shoulder had been.   
      
   The healers tried to separate them but Aaron wouldn't let go.  He was   
   out of his mind in shock.  "No, I have to take him home.  I can't let go."   
      
   One of the healers pressed a finger in the middle of Aaron's forehead   
   and he slumped over unconscious.  The release of his grip on Alex's   
   body caused the blood to spurt and brought a scream of agony before   
   another touch brought blessed unconsciousness, while Jeremiah's hands   
   stemmed the flow of blood.   
      
   Two healers took Aaron of into one room while the other two took Alex   
   into another.  Walter followed them with a steady stream of questions.   
    "Where are you taking him?  You can heal him, can't you?  You can   
   save him?"   
      
   They placed him, burnt ragged clothes and all, into what looked to   
   Walter like a large glass coffin and closed the lid.  The container   
   immediately started filling with a clear amber colored liquid.   
      
   "What are you doing?   Can't you just touch him and make him better?"   
    Walter was frantic.   
      
   Jeremiah turned to Walter and gripped his arm.  "Just try and relax,   
   Walter.  He's in good hands."   
      
   Walter felt a warmth wash over him from the touch and managed a weak,   
   "No, don't," before Jeremiah helped him to a nearby chair.   
      
   "Alex's injuries are severe but his life signs are strong.  There is   
   every reason to believe that he will make a full recovery.  This is a   
   re-generation chamber and his body is already in the process of being   
   repaired."   
      
   Walter struggled to his feet and made his way over to where Alex lay,   
   as though asleep, in the glass box; completely submerged in the amber   
   liquid.   
      
   "His injuries were much too severe for a mere healing.  His body   
   needed re-generation and he's getting that in there."   
      
   Walter walked around the box and for the first time saw the extent of   
   Alex's injuries.  The liquid was swirling around and the tattered   
   clothing seemed to be dissolving and melting away.  The blackness on   
   his face began to fade and the blisters and flaking off of skin became   
   visible.  The hair was gone on the left side of his head along with   
   his ear.  Bone fragments, ligaments, and flaps of tissue where his   
   shoulder had been and large blisters and gashes all the way down the   
   left side of his body completed the picture.   
      
   Walter winced and couldn't hold back a shuddered.  It was hard to   
   believe that a body could sustain such horrific injuries and still be   
   alive.  Anywhere else but up here; he would have already bled to death.   
      
   "He can survive this?"  Walter had to ask for further re-assurance.   
      
   "Barring any unforeseen complications."   
      
   "And Aaron?"  Walter asked, thinking about little Evie.   
      
   "His injuries are far less severe.  I was just going to go check on   
   him.  You'll be alright here for a little while?"  Jeremiah asked.   
      
   "Yeah, sure; go ahead.  Do I need to do anything here?  Any monitors   
   to watch?"  He glanced around the room noticing there was nothing else   
   in the room but a few chairs and this glass box with tubes and cords   
   running from it to connections in the wall.   
      
   "No, nothing like that here.  The chamber does all the work.  We just   
   have to sit and wait now."  With that, he left the room.   
      
   Walter continued to walk silently around the chamber, not taking his   
   eyes off Alex for a minute.  Another thirty minutes passed and Aaron   
   walked into the room.   
      
   "Aaron!  You're OK.  Thank God!"  Walter greeted him with a hug.   
      
   "Yeah, thanks to Alex.  We both saw the explosives at the same time   
   when we lifted Barrington.  Alex threw himself on top of me taking the   
   full brunt of the blast."  Aaron said and walked over to Alex and took   
   a closer look.   
      
   "I heard Barrington didn't make it.  I'm sorry."  Walter said.   
      
   "He was already dead when we found him.  It was a trap."  Aaron said   
   sadly as he gazed down at Alex.   
      
   "Who did this?"  Walter demanded.  "We're not going to let them get   
   away with it are we?"   
      
   "It is not for us to decide what action should be taken.  The Elders   
   will decide and assignments given."   
      
   "I want in on this, Aaron.  This one is personal!"   
      
   "That's exactly why you or I or Barrington's family will *not* be in   
   on whatever action is taken.  When emotions are involved mistakes are   
   made.  Rest assured, actions *will* be taken; just not by us."   
      
   "I want to take somebody apart for this!"  Walter was having trouble   
   controlling his anger.   
      
   "I know the feeling.  Barrington was a good man and a friend.  He was   
   going to be married next month."   
      
   "I'm sorry," Walter looked Aaron over for the first time noticing the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)