...Sadness For Everyone

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 9

08/30/98:

Ren and I sat in isolation, inside of a small cell near the
Senate building in the capital of Elena's country. It was a
very modern cell, with lights, bunks, and a working bathroom
off to one side. Frankly, it was pretty much like any other
jail cell I've seen.

The lights were off, to go with the rest of the lights in
the building. It was early morning, dawn just breaking above
the horizon, the light filling the cell from the small
window in the wall.

We had arrived in the city only a few hours ago, having been
put on the first train. Once we had been put in the cell we
were informed that the Senate would be seeing us first thing
in the morning. About two more hours away.

So we waited in silence. They had taken my last gun from me,
the one I had on my ankle. A cliche, I know, but Oria was
very clear that I would wear it at all times while on this
trip.

Ren had a pair of steal bands around his hands, covering his
palms. His suggested it when they asked him for his weapons.
It took a day or so to get them made up. Shackles aren't
something Theriamorphs have in there culture, so they had to
be made from scratch. For a rush job they did pretty good,
but I think Ren could get out of them in a few seconds if he
wanted too.

"So," Ren asked, finally breaking the silence, "what is
G-137 anyway?"

I chuckled, I had been waiting for him to ask the question
for a while. "I chemically separated binary explosive
compound."

He nodded. "You demonstrated the last part nicely, but what
exactly does 'chemically separated' mean?"

"One of the chemicals is held in sate inside another," I
explained, "separating the two and keeping them from
exploding. The proper electrical charge cause the holding
chemical to break down and, well, boom."

He chuckled. "Nice toy."

I nodded. "It's my key. I've used it to open some large
doors before. It can also be used like a grenade."

Leaning forward he smiled. "Which would be what you did to
the dragon, how exactly is that done?"

"Well, it's held in a syringe, or something close to it, it
really makes no difference. The thing is, there are two
tubes inside of it. In the gap between them is another
chemical. When it's mixed with the others it causes a timed
breakdown of the holding chemical. You apply enough pressure
to the casing and the inside tube will break before the
outside, releasing the chemical in the mix."

He laughed. "Which explains why you where counting to
yourself... that's slick, that's just really impressive all
over. I can see why you use it as a key."

I nodded. "Yep, and for other things, there's actually a
shaping compound to go over it to control the direction of
the blast."

"What amazing toys you have Fox." Ren said, leaning back
against the wall, his hands behind his head.

"Agreed," Elena commented.

I twisting my head around, looking for hir. Sie wasn't even
hiding, standing right out in the open on the other side of
the cell door.

"Aren't you afraid you'll get caught?" I asked, walking over
to hir.

Sie snorted. "In this abomination! I can't even believe that
my people would ever make something like this place!"

I shrugged. "It makes sense, they do at times have to
detainee members of other species. They would need a prison
for that."

Sie nodded. "I understand the logic, I just can _not_
understand how my people could allow this!"

I shrugged again. "To that I can't offer comment."

Sie sighed. "Very well, do you want out?"

I paused, looking to Ren. He shook his head. "Nope," I said,
turning back to Elena. "We're going to be taken before the
Senate as soon as they start there day. It will give me a
chance to address them without trying to request an
audience."

Sie let out a rolling laugh. "Do you always look on the
bright side of your problems?"

I smiled back to hir. "I have to, it's the only thing that
keeps me from going insane and killing everyone around me."

Sie smirked. "I see, well then I think I had better give you
this." Sie said, one of my pistols suddenly in hir paw.

I took it, removing the clip, it had a few rounds in it
still. I paused, thinking it over, finally I shook my head,
handing it back. "No, I don't think being armed will help my
case any."

Sie frowned, taking it from me. "Is there anything I can get
you?"

"Do you happen to have my pack?"

Sie presented it to me on the other side of the cell door. I
grinned, digging inside of it. I came back up with the box
Dwight had given me.

"What's that?" Elena asked, my pack vanishing just as quick
as it had came.

"Something to keep your people from using the folds." I
answered, running my fingers over the smooth sides.

"Seems a bit small to block folds," Ren commented from
behind my shoulder.

I nodded. "I noticed that right off myself. It might run the
feedback to the deep fold in some fashion. Taping into that
might be easier then forcing them to feedback on
themselves."

Elena smiled, "I will not pretend to understand how it
works. Use it if you must though, I have to leave now, a
guard is approaching, I don't wish to be here when sie
arrives."

"Very well," I said, but before I had even finished sie was
gone.

"Sie moves quickly," Ren commented as I walked over to the
window, the rising sun giving me adequate light to look over
the box.

"And silently, that's why sie's so popular as a free-lance
assassin." I commented, running my fingers over the gray
plastic, trying to find some a control of some sort.

He chuckled. "Good for hir. I'm always happy when people
find there niche in life."

I rolled my eyes, finding a catch on one side of the box.
There was a slight hum and one side sprung open. Looking
inside I trying to make out what I was seeing, but most of
it was blocked by packing.

Working my fingers around the edge I slowly lifted it from
the box, looking at it in the growing light. "There's a
note," Ren said, picking a small piece of paper out from the
bottom of the box. "It says, 'it's coded to work only for
you'."

I nodded, there was a control panel on one side with a few
buttons on it. I was starting to get worried, this looked
more like a bomb then any kind of a block for a fold.

Flipping it over I checked the base. Writing on it, in very
tiny print was the words 'level 27'.

"Oh shit," I whispered, setting the device back into the
box, replacing the packing as I did so.

"What is it?" Ren asked.

I shook my head, closing the box, feeling it latch again.
"Elena," I whispered, walking towards the cell door.

"Yes?" Sie asked, suddenly right in front of me.

I shoved hir the box, "Take this and guard it. Do not let it
leave your person."

Sie took it from me, a confused look on hir face. "Are you
all right Fox. You're as pail as the dead."

I shook my head. "No, now go, get away from here, and stay
out of trouble."

Sie frowned, looking down at the box, but was quickly gone.

"What the hell was that?" Ren asked.

I walked over to the bunk, sitting down on it. "A level
twenty-seven bomb."

He looked confused, "I know the level numbers, but nothing
over 25."

"Right," I answered, "that's because the higher one's get
more and more deadlier. Twenty-seven is a genetically
engineered virus specific to one base DNA profile. It's a
genocide bomb, it seeks out a species and kills every
member."

"By the dozen gods," he whispered, "how the hell did you
even get that thing?"

"Dwight gave it to me," I answered him.

He jumped back like he had been slapped in the face.
"Dwight! You have got to be wrong."

I shook my head, "He gave it to me. Made it clear that it
was meant to keep them out of the multi-verse, unless the
Council let them."

He shook his head in disbelief. "No, he couldn't know about
something like this."

I frowned, "Haven't you listened to him lately? Listened to
what he's been talking about. The plague has always been his
focus, he's very cold about, there's anger under the surface
that he's hiding."

"Why you then?" He asked, moving forward. "Why would he ever
ask you to do this if he did know about it."

"My daughter is the soul survivor of one of the the worlds,
also it's future salvation. I think he believed I would be
willing to take revenge like this."

He shook his head again. "No, there is no way he can't know
about this."

I snorted, "Of course he can. First off the Council is the
only place in the multi-verse that uses that level system.
The Mouse was held in the Hall's prison, no one outside of
it would have access. As well as the fact that the
technology to make such a virus is controlled by the
Council, and the creating of such can only be ordered by one
of the three first level members."

He stared at me in disbelief. "I still don't believe it's
Dwight."

I shook my head. "By that as it may, I was once accused of
committing genocide, there's no way in hell I'll do it now.
Right now I need to come up with a better way to deal with
this people, some kind of deal. You have a worse of a
problem then I do though."

He raised his eyebrows, "that would be?"

"Dwight ordered me to do this. I maybe free-lance but the
new Organization isn't. You might find yourself up for trial
if you don't force me to activate that."

He shook his head. "You have to be joking. There's no way I
can do that!"

"They could. The orders were given to me, and there for
apply to you. Your basically declaring it an illegal order,
I don't know what the repercussions of that will be, but it
might not be pretty."

"No no no no no," he said, waving his hands in front of me.
"This is just some bad dream. Dwight did not order you to
kill a species, he's the Council Head, he couldn't get in if
he was already planing on using it."

I nodded, stopping his hands. "Exactly, which means either
he's being played for a fool, and I think he's far to smart
then that, or he some how got around the screenings."

"No Fox," he said, stepping away from me. "This is insane.
The Council Head is not corrupt, nor is the system by which
he was appointed. Someone has to be setting him up, and they
know you'll go along with it!"

"I don't know what it really is," I answered, "but I've
dealt with Dwight before, he has an anger about him
involving the Plague. Maybe this is some kind of setup, I
don't know, but I will find out. For right now though we
have an hour and a half before we make a case to the Senate
for there responsibility for what has happened. What is in
the box will not be a part of it, and I will not never use
it or anything like it. What I need is a better way to
convince them that we are taking there actions very
seriously."

Ren nodded, leaning back against a wall. Slowly a small
smile crept over his lips. "How about a bigger bomb?"

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
Elena and hir world is (c) 1998 by Chris Bradford.