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                                   CALFORCE
                                  Episode 117
                          (Brutal Light, part eight)
                         "A Perplexing Moral Dilemma"
                                      by
                                 Gary W. Olson

                                 |||---^---|||

     "No, do not chase me with your questions, media hounds!" Kent Clark
exclaimed, throwing a hand up to shield his face.  "I deny everything, as
surely as Bore-All is my father!  Torment me no longer, cruel vultures!  You
shall have to tie me down and force me to watch 'Crossfire!' just to get my
rank and serial number!"
     Kent paused, lowering his hand.
     "How was that?" he asked.
     "It was...definitely something," Templar told him, as he stepped out from
behind the protective force-screen that he had set up in a corner of CalForce's
in-headquarters rugby field.  "I wouldn't quit my day job if I were you,
though."
     "I am beginning to wonder if I should, my friend," Kent said.  Templar
looked at him, questioningly, as they walked towards the opening double doors
that led to the main hallway of CalForce headquarters.  "I find myself
terribly uncomfortable about the prospect of being involved in an evasion of
the law, even if it is for a noble purpose."
     "We don't always have the luxury of straightforward moral choices in our
business," Templar told him.  "I think Radian deserves her day in court, just
like you do.  But the fact is, if we let the government take her away now,
we could be condemning Rad, and possibly millions of innocent civilians, to
death."
     "I know," Kent answered.  "But that is not the only thing that causes me
Mighty amounts of distress.  Today, Percy Grey phoned me and asked me if I
would have another exclusive interview with Mighty Guy today!"
     "How did he know he was talking to Kent Clark, and not to Mighty Guy?"
Templar asked.
     "I told him!" Kent answered.  "Fortunately, this is sufficient to protect
my secret identity over the phone."
     "Ah," Templar said.
     "I am now faced with another crisis!" Kent exclaimed.  "If I lie in the
interview, I will have compromised my unflagging integrity as a journalist!
The public will never trust me again!  Flores will sneer at me!"
     "Kent, you work for a sleazy tabloid rag that thinks nothing of printing
headlines like, 'Earth will fall into the sun unless Whitney Houston stops
hitting those high notes!'" Templar told him.
     "That's not going to happen?!?" Kent asked, shocked.
     "Nope."
     "Well," Kent said.  "Guess I'd better investigate my sources a little more
thoroughly next time!"
     "If you want my advice," Templar said, "take a nap.  Think it over."
     "Good advice!" Kent replied, slapping Templar on the back.  He watched
Templar skid down the hallway, ricocheting off of walls until he banked off of
the far corner and was lost to sight.  He scratched his chin thoughtfully, and
turned in the direction of the suite that he and Key shared.

                                 |||---^---|||

     *Don't talk physically,* the bone-white child told Chalandra.  *Think.*
     *Sorry about that,* Chalandra thought at her, as the blood thundered into
her, from Radian's soft neck.  *I can...sense you.  You're seperate and
distinct...*
     -What about me?- Kyoko asked.
     *I'm sorry, I don't know you,* Chalandra thought.
     -Be glad you don't, lady,- Kyoko said with a sneer, dissolving in front
of Chalandra's eyes.
     The blood was moving in slow motion, leaving her even is it filled her,
through her wrist, from which Radian was drinking.  They did not have much
more time, before the danger became too great...
     *Do you understand now?* China asked, her eyes deeper than anything
Chalandra had encountered before.  *Do you feel me flowing within you?  Do
you know what it is to be as I am?*
     Radian flexed her neck slightly, a signal that Chalandra took to indicate
as being time to stop.  She released her fangs from Radian's neck, causing the
holes she had created to snap back, closing themselves up almost instantly.
Blood trickled from the wound, and Chalandra kissed her neck, wetting her lips
in the scarlet liquid, barely noticing that Radian had released her wrist.
     She felt fired by the blood, like she always did when she drank from a
fresh body.  But this blood had a different, sharper flavor to it, a bite like
that of well-aged cider, persisting through her dead blood vessels as it
explored her form from the inside before rushing out again into Akane's
mouth.
     But she had to remember where she was, and to remember who she was dealing
with.  The year was 1994, not 1513, after all.  She forced herself to stand,
and blinked several times to clear her eyes.
     The strange young girl in the pink dress and white sun hat had vanished,
but Chalandra could still see China, hovering like a ghost, seated casually on
the edge of the bed.
     "You can still see her, can't you?" Akane asked, as she slowly licked her
lips, to clean away the excess blood.  "Why don't you say something now?"
     *Please, Chalandra,* China spoke.  *I have missed you.*
     Chalandra took a deep breath, and addressed her next words to Radian,
ignoring China's look.
     "Manny wants us all to meet in the team conference room, right after
the Federal agents leave," she said.  "We need to know what we're up against,
and you're going to tell us."
     Akane nodded.  Chalandra opened the door and stepped out, feeling Radian's
eyes on her, even after she shut the door behind her.  She took a few breaths,
not because she needed air, which, being a vampire, she never did, but to calm
her body, to return to the state of complete control she maintained within the
walls of the team headquarters.
     With a quick flick of her tongue, she licked the blood from her lips,
before starting down the hallway.

                                 |||---^---|||

     "That is the nuttiest thing I've heard in quite a while," Manny said,
his voice unusually cold.  "Neither I or my teammates would ever..."
     "Someone has," Selanova interrupted.  "It's all in the file, in black and
white..."
     "And color," Sutherland piped up.
     "Oh, be quiet, photocopy geek," Atkinson groused.
     "Would you mind if I took a few days to look this over?" Manny asked.
     "Not at all," Karina told him.  "That's why I brought it over."
     "But, if one of us is the traitor..." Willwarp started.
     "I can make some eliminations right away," Karina said.  "You, for
instance, since you were on extended leave from CalForce at the time of the
transmissions and had no means by which to route transmissions from Belgium,
where you were, through CalForce headquarters.  I can eliminate the Empress,
here, since she's a visiting foreign dignitary, and hasn't had the necessary
access either."
     "What about me?" Manny asked.  "What if it was me who was making these
transmissions?"
     "If you'll pardon my bluntness, Mr. Seconds," Karina said, "I don't think
so.  If you were covering up something, I'd smell it in an instant."  Manny
looked away for a second, unable to meet her eyes.  He wanted to dash away
from the meeting, to get some air, so that he could convince himself that it
was a hoax.  He fixed his eyes on Karina again, and knew, somehow, that she
knew everything that he was hiding, and that she was only letting him get away
with it because it suited her purposes.  "I've brought these to you in the hope
that you can determine who is making these transmissions internally.  A
government probe might do grave damage to your team's reputation, even if it
turns out there is no traitor."
     Manny looked at the report, and pulled it closer to him, eyeing it
carefully.
     "Thank you," he said, at last.  "Is that all?"
     "Yes," Karina said, as she rose to her feet.  "I'll be in town until
tomorrow afternoon, if you need to contact me."  She turned to regard Glum.
"And good luck in locating Rad.  If there's anything I or the N.I.B. can
do to help, let me know."
     Karina, Atkinson, and Sutherland walked towards the main elevators,
accompanied by Manny.  Upon reaching them, they encountered Chalandra, who
seemed to Manny to be shaken.  Chalandra didn't look back at him, but instead
looked at Karina, who returned her gaze before giving a slight smirk.
     "You've got some blood on your lip," Karina commented, as she stepped into
the elevator.  Chalandra automatically flicked her tongue out to search for
the droplet, finding it at the same time she realized what Karina had done.
Karina's only reaction was to get into the elevator, along with her minions,
not smiling even as the doors of the elevator shut.
     "Whew," Manny sighed.  "That was the longest hour of my life.  How's
Radian doing?"
     "Okay," Chalandra said.  "She's willing to assist."
     "That's good," Manny answered.  "HAL?"
     <<Yes, Dave?>> HAL asked.
     "Let the team know there's going to be a meeting in the conference room
at noon," Manny instructed.  "Tell them to bring a light lunch, since it'll
probably be a long meeting."
     <<Very well, Dave,>> HAL said.  Manny and Chalandra started back down
the corridor, towards the conference room Manny had just vacated.

                                 |||---^---|||

     Kent had just settled down upon his bed (after having made everyone else
leave his suite, and after having spent twenty minutes sweeping cracker
crumbs out from the sheets) when Key Li Pan flew in the window, landing on the
corner of the bed and bouncing upwards.  She flipped twice in the air, landed
on his chest, and proceeded to give him a kiss that made the hair on his Mighty
chest curl.
     "Hey there, lover," she whispered.  "How come you're not out on patrol?
I missed you today."
     "I am sorry," Kent told her.  "But I am faced with a perplexing moral
dilemma, and Templar advised me that a nap might help me sort out the questions
that face me."
     "A perplexing moral dilemma?" Key asked.
     "Yes," Kent said.
     "Odd," Key replied.  "I've heard of perplexing moral dilemmas before, but
I never figured they'd happen to anyone I know."
     "You've never faced a perplexing moral dilemma?" Kent asked, surprised.
     "Well, you kinda have to have morals to have perplexing moral dilemmas,
right?"
     "I suppose," Kent agreed.
     "Hmmm," Key said, as she wiggled a bit.  "Let me think...wait, I know.
You remember last week, when I had to choose between filling our hot tub with
chocolate mousse or sugar-free jello?"
     "That was a moral choice?" Kent asked.
     "Well, it's morally important to me that I keep my figure," Key pointed
out.  "Now, tell me about this choice you're facing."
     "Okay," Kent answered.  "It has to do..."
     <<Excuse me, Dave, Key?>> HAL asked.  <<Dave has requested that everyone
meet in the conference room, to discuss strategies to locate and rescue Dave.>>
     "That's us," Key said.  "Come on.  Last one to the conference room is
Robert Goulet!"
     "Go on ahead," Kent told her.  "I will be along in a few minutes.  There's
something I must do first."
     She nodded and gave him a quick kiss before flying out the door (which HAL,
having anticipated her action, had opened well in advance).  Kent watched her
leave, and watched the door close.  After waiting a few seconds, he got up
and walked over to the mini-fridge in the corner of the bedroom.  While the
bulk of the refridgerator was filled with Key's beer and an assortment of
soda pop, the small freezer that the mini-fridge also possessed only
contained one item: a tray, filled with ice cubes.
     It was not an ordinary tray, by any means.  For one thing, all sides of
the tray possessed the words 'PROPERTY OF CURE-ALL - DO NOT USE THIS ICE!'
It was one of the few things that had been included in the rocket by which he
had been sent to Earth from the doomed planet Helium.
     He had never taken a cube from the tray before.  He had never needed to,
as he did now.  Carefully, he dug a single cube out of the tray, noting with
satisfaction how the metal refused to bend, even under the pressure of his
Mighty Fingers.  He opened a can of Fresca, only partly destroying the can in
the process, and poured it into a tall glass.
     Very tenderly, he dropped the ice cube into the glass, and watched the
entire drink begin to fizz.  And fizz.  And *fizz*.  Fizzy bubbles leapt up
from the drink, creating a small cloud in front of Kent's eyes.  He waited,
patiently.
     Finally, a face formed in the cloud of fizz.  It was a wide face, and a
very flat one, too.  Sort of boring, as well.
     "Hello, Cure-All, my son," Bore-All said.  Kent fought the impuse to yawn.

(continued in part two, following...)
--
Gary W. Olson         swede@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu         swede@drycas.bitnet

       "Mine brain has meditated on the spinning of The Chao
        It is hovering o'er the table where the Chiefs of Staff are now
        Gathered in discussion of the dropping of The Bomb
        Her Apple Corps is strong!"
                     - The Battle Hymn of the Eristocracy (first verse)