🚀 go-pugleaf

[Continued From Part Two]

        "Grey Leopard, I'm afraid you'll have to leave now," said Healer,
with a small smile. "Distractions are the last thing that Synapse needs
right now."  The young feline pressed his lips together as Night Owl laid a
soothing hand on his shoulder.
        "She'll be fine," she assured him.
        "It's OK, I'm not scared," Mary Agnes confirmed, kissing his cheek.
Cory hugged her hard, and with a flick of his tail, was gone.
     "Are we ready?" asked Healer, as she and her team gathered in Amiga's
private medical bay. Night Owl and Synapse nodded while Shard pulsed,
sending out affirmative mental impressions.
     "The moment you give me the word, I'll inject Amiga with the chemical
stage of the treatment," said Night Owl, nervously calibrating her
instruments for at least the half-dozenth time. Amiga's physiology appeared
on numerous screens, monitoring the unconscious officer second-by-second.
Healer nodded and smiled slightly.
     "I'm going to form a gestalt now," she said. "Synapse, there's nothing
to be worried about. We're just going to connect our minds together to help
out Commodore Amiga, all right?"
     "I guess," replied Synapse, uncertainly, regarding the unconscious man
warily, still not ready to forgive him for the jeopardy he had placed her
in earlier. "This isn't gonna hurt, is it?"
     "No," smiled Healer. "In fact, it can be very fun sometimes. This is
going to be just a cursory gestalt, so none of us have anything to worry
about." She turned her attention to Shard. "Are you familiar with the
procedure?" Shard glowed once, pulsing again and sending out a positive
mental impression.
     "Good luck," said Night Owl, not looking away from her screens. Healer
sketched a tiny wave to her colleague then turned to the other telepaths in
the room.
     "Normally we'd all join hands but since one of us doesn't have any,"
she began, eliciting a giggle from Synapse as she'd hoped, "We'll both put
our hands on him, okay?"
     "It," replied Synapse, quietly. Healer was taken aback for a moment.
     "Pardon, Synapse?" she asked, looking from Shard to Synapse and back.
     "It, miss Healer," said Synapse, "Shard doesn't like to be called he."
     "I... see," said Healer. "How do you know?"
     "Shard told me, of course," replied Synapse, rolling her eyes. "How
else 'm I supposed to know?"
     Healer raised an eyebrow at Shard, who pulsed once. The woman could
swear that the lump of crystal was almost amused by something. She warned
herself against the dangers of anthropomorphization and gently placed her
hands on Shard's cool surface. Synapse did likewise.
     "Oooh, it's warm," giggled Synapse, drawing another look from Healer.
"What do I do?"
     "Just close your eyes and open your mind, Synapse," replied Healer.
"Shard and I will do the rest."
     Synapse nodded and closed her eyes, as did Healer. Shard's inner light
dimmed momentarily and then flared once, sweeping the two other telepaths
into its mindscape.
     Connected, thought Healer, as strange images ran through her mind.
Synapse nodded mentally, relaxing slightly. Healer also relaxed, basking in
the warmth and belonging that she felt within Shard's thought processes.
One with the greater whole which pulsed and thought in unison yet each
separate, never alone and always drawing and giving emotion, sharing in the
feast of feeling which was freely traded about the One as each felt a bond
so much stronger than love and friendship and was so binding that it nearly
hurt to think about its intensity suddenly to be ripped from the whole and
cast where there was only the one not the One and the tear ripping a whole
in the centre of everything that identity was based on and the loneliness
the emptiness trying to be the One as one and knowing every second of
existence that there was nothing beyond the crystalline borders of her body
but empty air and...
     Healer's thoughts suddenly disengaged themselves from the
memory-stream. In the physical world, her body experienced an involuntary
sob while within a thought-pulse reached out to her apologetically.
     }{What... happened...?}{ thought Healer, trying to piece together her
sense of the here-and-now. Slowly, the intense experience that she had felt
faded, leaving her singular and once more complete.
     {What'cha mean?} asked Synapse, her thoughts rambling and somewhat
uncontrolled. Healer blocked the random, subconscious thoughts which
drifted from the girl's mind, keeping her secrets her own to share as she
wished.
     }{Nothing, just a case of the wobbles.}{ replied Healer, casting
around for Shard's mind again. To her utter surprise, she realised that
somehow she and Synapse were incorporated within the crystal's
thought-self, yet remained fully distinct and apart from both it and each
other. There was something to be said for experienced group-mind telepaths,
she decided. }{Synapse, let's find the mass-mind.}{
     {Okay!} replied Synapse. In response, Shard exchanged a portion of the
gestalt's control with Synapse, giving her lead. The young girl opened her
mind to Amiga and the group-consciousness, while Healer closed her eyes and
shielded the whole. It would not do to have their gestalt overwhelmed by
the mass-mind, using Synapse as a conduit. The whole slowly opened itself
to Amiga's group consciousness, and like a rock in the middle of a raging
river was buffeted by billions upon billions of thoughts, ideas, concepts,
whims, fancies and desires. In the breathing world, Healer winced and
scowled, her shields being eroded away at a fantastic rate. Struggling, she
fought back, pushing against the oncoming torrent and drawing upon her
years of mental conditioning and training. Reaching into her inner self she
drew on reserves rarely tapped, searching for the power to oppose a
thousand minds.
     }{I'm... losing... the shield...}{ she sent to the other two, shoring
up a wall which crumbled as it was repaired.
     {What can we do t'help?} thought back Synapse, who felt herself slowly
meshing with the group-mind. There was an answering mind-pulse from Shard,
who stopped the gestalt's progress deeper into the unconscious of the
mass-consciousness. An image slowly began to form in the minds of both
Healer and Synapse, vague and indistinct. It was a thought-image, a
description of a mental procedure that Shard felt would help. However,
neither could decode the crystal's complex image. Focusing all the
attention that she could spare on the thought-picture, Healer tried to
follow its subtle nuances, but meaning writhed and twisted, eluding her
grasp. Suddenly, Synapse's mind burst into excitement.
     {It's like a dam!} she giggled, her mind pulling the thought-image
into a photorealistic relief, resolving it into a child's picture of the
Hoover Dam. {See how the water flows through it but it doesn't fall over?}
     }{Of course,}{ thought Healer, her thoughts tinged with irony even as
she struggled against the tide of minds. She realised that Synapse's
child's mind was much more figurative than an adult's, making it easier for
her to grasp the meaning of Shard's thought through relation of like
things. Healer took the lead of the gestalt for a moment and rearranged
their mental configuration, creating a dummy consciousness as a buffer
which could be harmlessly assaulted by the tide while never carrying the
least risk of assimilation due to its mindless state. In essence, she had
formed a mental dam which would sluice the stream of consciousness through
a given channel, affording the gestalt a degree of protection. Shard
shifted with Synapse, returning control to her, while observing and guiding
the child. Together they made their way to the heart of the group-mind, to
the place where a fragment of each captive consciousness existed as a
synergistic whole. It was a mind almost without limits, a consciousness
without end and an impossible opponent.
     {It's so... BIG!} thought Synapse, her astonishment reverberating
through the gestalt. Healer and Shard returned with soothing thoughts,
calming the child.
     }{If things begin to turn against us,}{ began Healer, straining to
bypass the gestalt and send directly to Shard, }{We cut Synapse out of the
link.}{ Shard pulsed after a moment of hesitation, its mind-throb
reservedly in agreement. The two returned themselves fully to the gestalt.
     {What do we do?} thought Synapse. Healer considered for a moment.
     }{We can't simply attack directly,}{ she thought, }{Against something
of this size, we'd lose. It would be like picking on the biggest bully in
the neighbourhood, Synapse.}{
     {Oh,}
     }{We need to look for a weak spot. Some place where it's most vulnerable.}{
     {What?}
      }{Er...}{ thought Healer, searching her mind for some analogy.
Inwardly, she sighed and wondered if she was contributing to the
delinquency of a minor. }{We need to kick it where it hurts.}{
     {Oh, right!} agreed Synapse, in perfect understanding. {Where's that?}
     }{That's the problem. I don't kn--}{ Healer was interrupted by a
sudden thought-sending from Shard. }{Shard? Do you have an idea?}{
     Shard had obviously learned from Synapse's interpretation of the dam,
because the other two telepaths could feel the crystal struggling to weave
a metaphor that the two humans could understand. Alien thought processes,
hidden behind a courteous veneer which could be understood, flashed and
whorled, attempting to resolve into a decodable image.
     One formed. The gestalt was filled with an image filched from either
Synapse or Healer. It was a tall, imposing tower of cards, impregnable when
beheld. A single card was removed, and suddenly the whole collapsed into
separate cards. Healer smiled slightly at the audacity.
     }{You're thinking of locating Amiga's mind-fragment and cutting him
out of the link, aren't you?}{ Healer was rewarded with a pulse in the
affirmative.
     {How d'we find his card?} thought back Synapse, confused. Healer chuckled.
     }{Physically, we're closer to Amiga than any other member of the group
mind,}{ she thought. }{We can use that like a beacon. Remember, you can
never completely separate the mind and the body.}{
     {Um... okay....}
     Shard pulsed, drawing the other two more tightly into the gestalt.
Healer grew silent, putting her entire reserves into protecting the whole.
Once they began their kamikaze run on the collective, the dummy
consciousness would be nowhere near enough protection for them. Shard
traded information with Synapse, asking the child to 'ping' Commodore
Amiga's mind, tracing the physical route from herself to the sailor and
then overlaying that onto the mental realm. Shard took point on the gestalt
and swarmed the three into mental conflict with the mass-mind.
     Immediately, the group-consciousness lashed out with an inelegant and
graceless counter. However, a giant's arm drove the flyswatter, and finesse
was little needed when it could crush the buzzing insect of a gestalt with
a single blow. Healer shifted their defences, masking parts of the
gestaltic mind and projecting false images of it elsewhere in the giant's
own self. Synapse cried out in fear, and her link to Amiga loosened. Healer
tried to divert enough attention to deal with the girl's apprehension, but
the gestalt was invaded suddenly by a single tendril of mind-force, and her
entire concentration was bound up in repelling the invader. Shard,
searching for a path between the superego and id that would lead the whole
into confrontation with Amiga, did the only thing which time would permit.
The crystal's mind, already linked to Synapse's, absorbed the child's fears
utterly. The young girl's confusion emanated about the gestalt for a
moment, then abated as she returned to the task of maintaining her link.
Shard ran a quick check to ensure that Healer had not seen its actions and
continued the gestalt's mental manoeuvres.
     }{Get.... OUT!}{ commanded Healer, driving the tendril from the
gestalt's mind. She quickly patched the psychic damage which had been
caused by the intrusion and returned to her fortress defence, alert for
more intrusions.
     {There he IS!} thought Synapse, excited and afraid. Shard's
satisfaction filled the gestalt and the whole made mental contact, not with
the mass-mind, but with a single fragment of it. The part that was
Commodore Amiga.
     {Do we do something now?} thought Synapse? A positive response flooded
the gestalt from Shard's quarter.
     }{Yes, we do Synapse. You and Shard are going to gather all of your
thoughts and give them to me. Together we're going to send them at
Commodore Amiga.}{
     A warning pulse; Healer lashed out and diverted a stray enemy thought
that had tried to penetrate the gestalt. }{We also have to move quickly,
before we're attacked again. Synapse, just concentrate and leave your mind
open again.}{
     Synapse nodded and relaxed; the gestalt was flooded with the child's
thoughts and whims. Shard responded quickly, gathering the errant mind's
contents together and piping them, as raw mental energy, to Healer. The
crystal followed up with its own, meshing the triad's powers of mind
together. Healer thrilled to the sudden rush that she felt, took aim using
the last vestiges of Synapse's mental lock-on to Amiga's mind, and lashed
out with the gestalt's combined mental force. Amiga's mind-fragment
connection to the mass-consciousness buckled under the strain...
     }*{{Almost... almost... shatter, damn it, shatter...}{*{ thought three
minds acting in concert, pouring their very selves into the effort. Amiga's
connection resisted... a thousand mind-fragments drew closer, ready to
assault the gestalt... and suddenly, something gave. As the mass-mind
collapsed under its own, unsupported weight, the gestalt was hurtled out,
back into the real world.
     "Do it, Night Owl..." gasped Healer, as she snapped back into her
physical body. Without hesitation, Night Owl plunged a syringe into Amiga's
arm, injecting him with a specially prepared solution. Amiga shuddered
once, then relaxed utterly. A tiny smile crept onto the unconscious
sailor's face.
     "It's over, I hope," muttered Night Owl, staring dully at the syringe
in her hands. Healer nodded weakly, struggling to separate herself again
from the last vestiges of the gestalt. She hadn't realised how warm and
welcoming the togetherness had been... slowly the memory faded, and she
blinked herself awake.
     "I... can't hear any voices in my head anymore," said Synapse, also
blinking away the memory of the gestalt. "They're all gone!"
     Healer and Night Owl exchanged glances, then high-fives. Laughing with
release, the two doctors shook hands.
     "A pleasure working with you, Night Owl," said Healer. Night Owl,
relief obvious on her face, nodded.
     "Likewise... we have to work together again some time," she said with
a grin.
     "Agreed," replied Healer. Suddenly she staggered, then grinned
slightly. "Now get Synapse and myself a Gatorade, will you? See if Shard
needs anything. We all exhausted ourselves doing that."
     "The orange kind, not the green!" added the child.
     "Least I can do," replied Night Owl, while Synapse and Healer sat down
on chairs, the strain of their ordeal catching up with them. Before Night
Owl could make her way to Shard, however, the Beanstalk-wide public address
system crackled to life.
     "This is John Ray, with a message for all employees of Task Force
Aurora. As your leader, I regret to inform you that... oh Hell(tm), to
blazes with formality. This is Arthur Doyle, who you probably know as JACK
or John Ray. Just listen, okay? I don't have time to go into why I've been
posing as someone else, but please listen up. TFA has been under attack by
the public and government sectors for the past several months. You all know
that. Well... they won. I've been trying to stave this off, but it just
wasn't going to happen. Now that Hellsday is a little bit behind us, I had
to get the news out in the open. As of last week, by governmental order,
Task Force Aurora's activities are completely suspended for an indefinite
period of time. You will all receive one week's pay before that too is
frozen. What happens next is anyone's guess. But... it's been an honour
working with you all. I only hope that we'll meet again... sometime. Thank
you, and goodbye."
     There was silence in the medlab for a moment, before Night Owl coughed
politely. "I'll... um... see about that Gatorade..." she said, before
walking out of the room, quietly.
***
     "Wells?" Bizarre Guy asked.  "Has you nots learning more about
plankton than yous ever wanting to be know?"
     "No more," Commander Frank whimpered.  "No more PBS specials, please.."
     "Heys!  Next ups on Discovery Channeling: 'Assorted Footages of
Penguin!'"
     "Waaaaarrrggghhhh...."
     "So," Willwarp said, as he sat down on the edge of a spectacularly
fluffy couch in the rec room of CalForce headquarters.  "They still at
it?"
     "Yes," Hal confirmed.  "Occasionally Kent finds a program on the
meat industry that Frank will watch, but the rest of the time he just kind
of writhes like that."
     "So why does he stay?"
     "My analysis is that it's for the free hot dogs."
     "Hmmm."
     "Hey, guys," Criticalman said as he walked in.  "Just called the
Beanstalk -- they say they're close to finishing the cure.  In fact, they
say it could happen--"
     Just then, Commodore Amiga's voice boomed in their minds and a wave
of psionic power washed over Criticalman, Commander Frank and Bizarre Guy.
Criticalman collapsed to the ground and howled.  Bizarre Guy shook as his
green hair reverted to its former midnight blue and his skin turned back to
its usual pinkish hue.  Commander Frank looked around, shrugged, and
switched the channel to Nickolodeon.
     "--any second," Criticalman gasped, as he pulled himself into a
sitting position.
     "Ah, I feel much better now!" Mighty Guy exclaimed, destroying the
television set with his outburst.  "Good morning, world!  Good morning,
bluebird of happiness!  Good morning, sky!"  Criticalman and Willwarp
dodged as parts of the ceiling came raining down.
     "I appear to be unaffected," Frank noted.  "A good turn of events,
for this means I may continue to wage a battle against Don Lasorda's
illicit diet shake empire in this city!"
     "Let us know how it turns out," Willwarp told him.
***
     "It's over, isn't it?" asked Doyle, staring at his intercom. Colleen
sighed and nodded slightly.
     "For now," she said softly. "But who can predict th' future?"
     "Chronosphere, for one. Want me to run down and see if he's picking
anything up?" asked Doyle, somewhat bitterly. Colleen shook her head.
     "Nae, Art, donae do this tae yerself," she said. "We can get the
organisation back on its feet."
     "Why bother?" asked Doyle glumly, shaking his head. "Why bother even
trying? Treis is down, we've taken losses that are going to take millions
to recover, we've taken human losses that money _can't_ fix, the government
is going to have my head when they find out I've been posing as head of
TFA--"
     "Thae's something I hae been meaning tae ask ye about," said Colleen,
"Why hae ye given out your secret? Ye couldhae easily stayed John Ray
forever..."
     "That's exactly it, Colleen," replied Doyle, looking up at the woman
he loved. "I could've. Why didn't I reveal who I was when I found out
Benson's role in my creation? Why didn't I come out of hiding when he was
killed? Because... taking on alternate identities was becoming a matter of
course, Colleen. I honestly _don't_ know who I am anymore. I have to be
Doyle. That was me first. That's what I'll work on developing, come what
may. I hope you can understand, Colleen."
     Colleen paused, then nodded. "Aye... perchance better than ye may imagine."
     "Pardon?"
     "Somethin' from my past, Arthur," sighed Colleen, "Nay, I do
understand. More tae the point... I want tae help ye find yerself. And ye
will. This, I know."
     Doyle smiled a bit. "Thank you, Colleen. Thank you."
     "Of course," replied Colleen, smiling. "There's naught thae I wouldnae
do for ye."
     "I guess... it's time to review the troops, one last time," sighed
Doyle. "Spread word that the Beanstalk's going to be left open all night.
In case anyone's in the mood for a firewatch party or two."
     "Of course. Arthur?"
     "Yes?"
     "Ye arnae losin' a home, Arthur. There will be another."
     "Good god, I hope so, Colleen. I hope so."
***

                   End of 'Winner Take All'

        Decline and Fall Concludes in Task Force Aurora #25

***
As usual, this story is trademarked, all rights reserved 1996 to
Frobozz/Chris Angelini (email:cangelin@uoguelph.ca, homepage:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~cangelin). Everything alluded to is intended as
satire, and no trademark infringement is intended nor implied. When you get
to the last page, you close the book.