Manelli smiled. "No. Not exactly." He reached out and removed the cigarette butt from between Hunter's lips before he burned himself. "We'll be back soon, Capt.
Hunter," he said, "Regrettably, we're going to have to leave you tied up for the moment. I'll instruct Krista and Vincent to see to your comfort as much as possible under the circumstances. If you've been completely honest with us, you have nothing to be concerned about. In fact, we might even have a proposition for you.
But if you have not been completely honest with us, then it won't be your comfort that Vincent will be seeing to.",
"He was a gentleman. A very large man, built like a bull," said Gulliver, "with black hair and the most disquieting eyes I'd ever seen. A bright, emerald green, they were. At times, they almost seemed to glow. He was quite-a handsome figure of a man, except for the disfiguring scar upon his face, from here to here." Gulliver ran his forefinger along his cheek, from beneath his left eye to the corner of his mouth. "A wound made with a sabre, I should think, or perhaps a knife."
Simon Hawke
Lilliput Legion
"That's a perfect description of Drakov, all right, “ said Lucas.
They sat at the table in the house on Threadneedle Street, sharing a light meal of bread, smoked sausage and cheese along with a bottle of red wine. Finn poured himself another glass and shook his head.
"I can't understand it," he said. "Forrester shot Drakov. I was there. I saw it."
"I saw Lucas get shot, too," said Andre.
"What are you saying?" said Steiger. sarcastically. "That Drakov had a twin in the parallel universe too, and that Dr. Darkness switched the two of them, as well?"
"I wouldn't put it past him," Lucas said, "but maybe what we're facing here is a result of what Darkness did with me. If there was some sort of temporal disruption that came about from his changing my past, maybe it resulted in Drakov's past being changed, as well."
"I can't see how," said Finn. "As you said, Lucas, nothing was changed by Darkness altering your past. Nothing, that is, except that you survived. I don't mean to downplay that, obviously, but the circumstances were unique. Your being alive instead of dead hasn't altered any of the events that took place since your death."
"Excuse me…" said Gulliver. "Uh, Finn, would you mind-".
"Don't ask me to repeat it, Lem," said Delaney, wryly. "I'm not even sure I understand what I just said. The point is, either Darkness was right and the uniqueness of this situation hasn't resulted in any disruption at all or you're the disruption yourself, Lucas. Or all of us are."
"I'm very confused," said Gulliver.
"Brother, you're not alone," said Lucas.
"Either way, we're not going to solve anything by sitting around here," Steiger said.
"Lucas, you sure you don't want to-"
"No, I don't think so," Lucas said. "It would only cause one hell of a commotion if I went back with you now and I'd never get away from them. They'd want to debrief me, put me in for observation.." He shook his head. "No, I could do more good here. "
"Right," said Delaney. They got up from the table. "We'll clock back and pick up a couple of floater paks. And while we're at it, “ he said to Luc as, "we'll report your miraculous survival. Or rather, your non death. Or rebirth or whatever. Hell, we'll just report you as being alive and let them work it out."
"Uh… on second thought, Finn, maybe you shouldn't mention me just yet, "said Lucas.
Delaney frowned. "Why not?"
“Partly because it would cause one hell of a commotion," Lucas said, "and I still don't fully understand what's happened to me. Nor can I predict how Dr. Darkness will react when he finds out that the one working prototype of his greatest invention has walked out on him. And I can think of one more reason. With this Network situation that you've described to me, it couldn't hurt to have an ace up your sleeve that no One knows about. "
"Good point, "said Steiger, nodding. "All right, then, we'll leave you officially dead for the time being. But we should let the old man know."
"I agree," Delaney said.
"All right," said Lucas. "You can tell Forrester, but no one else. Oh, and one more thing. Don't mention anything to him about Nikolai Drakov. At least not until we know for sure."
"I'll go along with that," said Steiger. "We'll leave directly from base to check out Gulliver's co-ordinates. If there's an island out there, we'll come right back here and pick up the rest of you. Meanwhile, sit tight." He checked his disc. "We'll be clocking back here in about two minutes, your time." He glanced at Gulliver. "That means don't move around the room much till we get back, Lem. I'd hate to materialise in the same spot where you were standing."
"Goodness. What would happen if you did?" asked
Gulliver.
"Believe me, you wouldn't want to know," said Steiger.
The two men went over to the far side of the room, locked in the transition co ordinates on their warp discs and clocked out. Gulliver stared at the spot where they had stood a second ago and shook his head with amazement.
"It truly is astonishing what one can become accustomed to," he said. "I've just seen two people vanish into thin air and here I sit, calm as you please, eating bread and cheese and drinking wine."
"You've certainly had your share of interesting experiences," Andre said. "All things considered, you're bearing up extremely well."
"What else is one to do?" Gulliver replied… A man can't go jumping out of his skin every time something-Great merciful Heavens!"
He leaped out of his chair, sending it crashing to the floor and spilling wine all over the table as Dr. Darkness suddenly appeared sitting in the chair next to him, one leg casually crossed over the other.
"The Japanese have an old saying," Darkness said, playing with — his walking stick.
"When one saves another's life, that person becomes responsible for the life he saved." He grunted. "The Japanese can be a very irritating people." He glanced at Gulliver, standing back away from the table and staring at him open mouthed.
"What are you goggling at?"
"I… that is, I… I… ai-yi-yi," said Gulliver, holding his head with both hands.
"Articulate chap, isn't he?" said Darkness.
"Now listen, Doc," Lucas began, but Darkness interrupted him.
"No, you listen," he said. "Did you think that I went to all that trouble simply so that you could comeback here and continue playing soldier, perhaps get yourself killed again? Is that what comes of all my efforts on your behalf?"
"'Doc, I didn't ask you to make any efforts on my behalf! I never asked you to do anything!"
"Indeed? And where would you be right now if I hadn't done anything?"
"Well, dead, presumably, but-"
"Presumably?" said Darkness, arching his eyebrows.
“Nothing presumable about it. You would have been stiff as a carp." He grunted. “I saved your blasted life for you and what do I get in return? You simply walk out on me, without so much as a by your leave. Would it have been too much trouble to leave a note, at least? 'Dear Dr. Darkness, thank you for saving my life. I am off to make an asshole of myself and perhaps get killed again. Yours in perpetual confusion, Lucas Priest.' It would have taken less than a minute to dash that off.
You couldn't be bothered?"
"Doc, you're starting to sound like my mother," Lucas said.
"I am your mother, for God's sake! I am both your mother and your father.
I gave you life! Life and an opportunity such as no man has ever had before-"
"'Doc, I didn't want it!"
"Well, who asked you?"
"'Nobody did, that's just the point!"
"Wait a minute," Andre said. She turned to Lucas. "'What do you mean, you didn't want it? You'd rather be dead?"
"You stay out of this!"
"I'd listen to her if I were you," said Darkness.