"Memory coming back much?"
"Yes."
"That man who was in here earlier, you recognised him, didn't you?"
"I think so."
Taylor tapped a few buttons on the screen and brought up Armand's profile with a picture of him.
"How? How do you know him?"
Tsengal seemed to study the face very carefully until finally something clicked in his mind. His eyes widened in horror.
"What is it?"
Tsengal's memories were flooding back to him, and the subject he so desperately needed to tell Taylor. He didn't know where to begin, but Armand's face was what was stuck in his mind, and he was beginning to remember why.
"What we discovered on Red 1. That is the reason I had to get back you. Colonel Chandra ordered me to do so."
"Okay, well, spit it out."
"Hundreds of thousands of humans in incubation chambers, like you saw before in the war. Maybe even millions of them."
"And Chandra discovered this?"
"Yes, deep below the surface."
"Well, where did they come from? What, clones or what?"
"We did not have time to find out. But what I know for certain is that Councillor; he is one of them. He was one of the faces I saw there."
"Maybe a million humans, and you remember his face? How can you be sure?"
"It was him; I was as close to him as you are to me now."
"So these humans are somehow working for the Krys?"
"Why else would they be there?"
"This is crazy. I can't believe what I'm hearing," Ryan said.
He waited while Taylor tried to make sense of what they had heard.
"You are one hundred percent about this?"
"I spent years trying to get back to you with this news which would have died with the Colonel."
Taylor sighed; the idea was quite simply frightening. Unfortunately, it was starting to make sense.
"You're not believing this? It's crazy."
"Sounds crazy, Ryan, maybe. I wish it was crazy, yes, but it's starting to make sense. Chandra and I came across a number of incubated humans during the war. Something none of us could ever explain, and every time we recovered any of them, the evidence was destroyed instantly. It's the reason Ramstein was flattened, or we think anyway."
"So let me get this straight. What you're telling me is that the human race has been infiltrated by other humans, programmed or created somehow by the enemy, to penetrate deep within our political system and do what?"
"Maybe to do exactly what we are seeing today. Armies who were recently the strongest of allies are now at each other's throats. This fighting is not going to stop anytime soon."
"But why?"
Ryan looked to Tsengal for answers, but he did not have any.
"Divide and conquer," stated Taylor. "The Krys threw everything they had at us, sheer mass of numbers, superior technology, and Planet Killing weapons. But what beat them? The strength of humanity united under one banner."
"Okay, let's say you're right. They do what? Push all sides into war and then sit back while we slug it out, weaken each other to the point where they can come back and triumph over..." He shook his head, "Oh, shit, it really is working."
"What proof do you have of this?"
"None, only what I saw."
"We have to get this information out there. People are killing each other over this," said Ryan.
"And how do you propose we do that?"
He began to open his mouth and then stopped, realising the situation they were in. Tsengal suddenly spasmed and then spat out blood over himself. He began shaking violently.
"Doctor!" yelled Taylor.
The man rushed in to his aid but looked completely clueless as to what was happening. Tsengal flat lined and went still. The doctor was pushing needles into him and pulled down a hinged device from the ceiling, placing it over Tsengal's heart. His body spasmed again as electricity pulsed through his body in an attempt to revive him.
"No, we can't lose him now. Save him!" Taylor begged.
The Doctor was trying everything, but to no avail, and then he stopped.
"What are you giving up for?" screamed Taylor.
"I am sorry, Colonel, but he's gone."
"Gone? He just recovered!"
"I don't understand it, something has shocked his body, but I can't see how."
"Well find out!"
He was looking over everything until finally he checked the nutritional drip that led into his body. He opened up the container the line was drawing from and recoiled at the smell.
"What is it?"
"Not that I know for certain, but I'd say he's been poisoned with something truly nasty. If it is what I'm thinking, he didn't stand a chance."
Taylor turned to Ryan with sheer hatred in his eyes.
"Get guards on Armand now!"
"Sir, he's an UEN Councillor. What if we're wrong?"
Taylor simply glared back at him until he did as ordered.
"All right, but this is on you."
It was obvious Ryan had a hard time believing the facts they had been presented with, but that was no surprise to Taylor. They were as bad as news could expect to be. Taylor heard shouts down the corridor and more over his comms channel. He rushed out of the room. Ryan was at the end of the corridor attending to an unconscious crewmember.
An alarm sounded throughout the ship as he rushed to the Captain.
"Where is Armand?"
"They've gone. We've got two wounded."
Taylor drew his pistol and rushed for the ramp out of the ship. He found Jafar and the other crew with their weapons at the ready but utterly unaware of what the emergency was.
"Where's Armand?"
"Departed by car about thirty seconds ago, Sir!"
"Fuck!" he screamed.
"What are your orders, Sir?"
"You stay put. Be extra vigilant, and report and all suspicious activity. Councillor Armand is to be considered an enemy agent from now on!"
They all looked confused but did as ordered. He paced up to Jafar so he could talk more privately, but he did not attempt to break the news softly.
"Tsengal is dead. Killed by that coward Armand. He's one of the clones, or reprogrammed humans, whatever they are. Like we saw back in the war. Tsengal confirmed it and was killed because of it."
"Then his duty has been done."
Taylor seemed surprised by the comment.
"How so?"
"His last orders were to return to you with news of what he had seen. He accomplished that, did he not?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then his death was not in vain and his mission accomplished."
Mitch got what he meant, but it didn't make him any less angry about the situation. He rushed back aboard the ship. Ryan was awaiting him at the top of the ramp.
"Casualties?"
"Two wounded. They'll be okay."
"Everything that Tsengal told us before he died, you have records of?"
He shook his head.
"Armand had our surveillance and recording drives fried before he left. Onboard cameras are still in operation, but they're not recording anything they see."
"So we've got no evidence of either Tsengal's report, or of Armand's escape and assault on the crew?"
He shook his head once again.
"This is turning from shit to worse, Captain. Tell me you have some good news."
"I wish I did, Sir."
He stopped for a moment, trying to think who he could go to with the news. He knew he had no choice but to go to General White, the commanding officer who wanted to hear nothing more from him for years to come.
"Come with me, Captain. We need to talk to White."
"Why me, Sir?"
"Because besides me, you're the only one who heard Tsengal's story, and you think he'll take my word for it?"