trans_9 | Liability [closed]

Leon entered not too long after receiving the message, curious as to what this meeting was about. He at least gave Jaime the benefit of assuming this was important, something which was confirmed as he looked over the chalkboard.

"Mr. Reyes?"

The Chief arrives shortly after Leon, eyes immediately drawn to the chalkboard. The message was decidedly scant on details.

"What is it?"

"I've finally put all the pieces together," is what Jaime says, looking at the board. "And the message on the puzzle, now that it's all together, basically reads, 'You're screwed.'"

Edited 2010-07-24 04:51 (UTC)

"Slow down," not that the kid was rushing, but he seemed to have gotten ahead of himself on something here.

"I need you to back up a few steps for me here."

There was a glance at the Chief, as Leon wondered if he'd be able to shed any light on the situation.

The Chief, unfortunately, doesn't know what Jaime's talking about either.

"Me too. Start from the beginning, Reyes. What exactly did you figure out?"

The Chief hopes he can get a less pessimistic answer if he runs through it himself.

"Okay, the Daligig told me that the scarab was Ohm tech, back when we broke through to the bridge and made contact with them, remember? I just asked Cargn, because he seems to know more about them, if it's possible, from what he knows, and he basically said probably."

Jaime starts pacing back and forth.

"That wouldn't worry me, except for what happened during the fight with the Ohm. At the end."

This is the part that has him the most freaked.

Okay, now certain pieces were starting to fit together.

"When you and Khaji were messing with their communications, and they bounced you before they withdrew..."

Leon did not like the possibilities where this conversation could be headed.

"What happened?" asks the Chief. "I was on the ground in the thick of it."

He had other problems when that went down.

"Then there were the bugs on the ship, that was before your time, Leon. The bugs on the ship were part-Ohm, they thought I was one of them."

He turns to Chief.

"During the fight on Zokez, I was up here with the hackers. I was blasting back bits of the Ohm 'language,' if you can call it that. Distracting them, messing with their communications. At the end, they counter-hacked. They reached out to me and the scarab. They almost broke through, and they were--there was this feeling. Like they were trying to welcome us home. But then they retreated."

It'd been why he'd been sitting there trying to shake the greasy feelings out of his head while everyone else had celebrated.

"The scarab--I knew the Reach stole it from somewhere--it's Ohm tech and even though neither him or I want it, they might be able to break Khaji's defenses. They might be able to control us. They almost did it during the fight," he admits shamefully.

Looking at each of them steadily, he says, "They have their very own Infiltrator on the ship--and I'm not sure we can do a thing to stop them from using us if they ever decide to."

Yeah, Leon did not like where this particular conversation went. He was quiet for a moment, trying to think how to best approach this.

"Almost," he finally said. "But they didn't get you, which means you do have a way of fighting them off."

Well, this is wonderful.

"So essentially, you and Khaji are a potential Yeerklike situation, only with the Ohm pulling the strings."

Things just get better and better around here, he swears. "How close is 'almost'?"

This is the part where he stands there for a moment, breathing in and out, and admits, "The only reason it stopped, I think, is because they had to retreat."

He pushes his hair out of his face.

Yeah, this was not good.

"Look, you did the right thing by coming to us with this." Though, admittedly, Leon wished Jaime had come to him sooner, but that was beside the point.

"But obviously this makes you a liability whenever we encounter the Ohm, for the moment." And a potential asset as well, but one thing at a time. "But we are going to need to get some answers, and figure out a way for you to protect yourself from all of this. That means we need to take a much closer look at you and Khaji."

"Do you think they could override you while you're on the ship with the rest of us without being in close contact with them already?"

This is, first and foremost and all personal attachment aside, a serious security issue.

He doesn't want to have to lock anyone up, even for their own good, without being sure it's the best option.

He would've told them sooner but GLaDoS got him for a bit.

"I don't know. But their network, the thing I was messing with--that was only there when we were closer."

He chews on his lip.

"But since then, I haven't felt...right. Neither Khaji and I have. It's like...knowing something's missing, I guess? Like there's something out there, calling us..."

Not wanting them to think they're not resisting, he says, "It freaks Khaji out, too. He's scared. I mean, you have to understand what it takes to make someone like him actually scared. He can blow up freakin' moons."

But that was all the more reason to be scared, wasn't it.

"He's afraid to lose his freedom again--freedom of thought. He doesn't want to be an Infiltrator for anyone. He says he doesn't want masters."

"Never again."

He had to protect the scarab just as the scarab always tried to protect him.

"What do you mean by taking a much closer look at Khaji and I?"

"Exactly that, taking a much closer look," he repeated.

"I want you to go to the Science Department and talk to Luis. Tell him you're interested in finding out more about Khaji. You don't have to tell him what prompted that, and odds are he won't push too much anyway. Plus, if he does find something that was of concern, he'd come to me before he would anyone else.

"Let him take some scans and run some tests. So long as you're volunteering, he won't be strapping you down to a table and slicing either you or the scarab open unless you sign off on it. Alright?" It was bad enough Steve was stuck in quarantine, Leon didn't want another teenager turned into a science project. But... "But if you want to find out how closely related to the Ohm Khaji really is, that's the best place to start. And if they did take something from you, or leave you with something, something might pop up while he's examining you both.

"We'll also have to go over the communications logs, see if there's a way to shield you from their network altogether."

"That would be ideal," says the Chief. "There might be a way to block them from actively finding you. One of the psychics might possibly be able to do something with it."

The Chief is neither a scientist nor a biologist, he's not sure how that works but it makes sense to him that they should be able to shut it off, somehow. Or mask it. He's thinking in the terms of a comm channel.

Jaime nods in agreement to finding Luis. All of that sounds reasonable to him.

"Whatever happens, it has to be that--that the both of us are protected."

No solutions that involve removing the scarab and tossing him into the sun.

"He's protected me so many times now--I can't let anything bad happen to him, and I can't let them somehow turn him into--into an Infiltrator again. Being able to think for himself--after being forced to work for the Reach, you have no idea how much it means to him."

Surgically removing Khaji would be a last resort, after they've confirmed he's past the point of no return. But that's more after-the-fact.

"Right now, we're focused on prevention and protection, not preemptive retaliation. There's a difference." One Leon knows very well, given his line of work. "So calm down. We don't want anything to happen to either one of you."

Jaime's very nervous as he stops by the Science lab. He's basically trusting Leon here that Luis is a trustworthy guy. Still, for Jaime, that's enough.

"Hey, uh, Dr. Sera? You in here? I'm Jaime Reyes. Leon wanted me to talk to you."

Luis is hard at work at his usual station when Jaime comes in, but he sits up to see who's calling him in a rare display of not being incredibly distracted.

"Boy, for all the secretary work Leon does for me, I really ought to be paying him more," he mutters, then stands up. "Mucho gusto, Mr. Reyes. What can I do for you?"

"I have this symbiote," he says. "Emphasis on symbiote, it's not parasitic, but there could be problems from my having it. Leon suggested we learn more about it, and how it works. He figured you could help with that--and he figured you wouldn't go spouting off anything private. 'Cause there's some things about it that would be good to keep quiet."

My, there's some hardcore hedging going on here. He's hiding something.

Edited 2010-07-25 03:45 (UTC)

Luis seemed to be watching Jaime's face very carefully as he spoke, then he let out a heavy sigh and brushed his hair out of his face wearily.

There was a brief and awkward pause before he spoke again. "Well, keeping quiet has become a big part of my job description lately, amigo. So you have nothing to worry about there."

But honest to god, were there any teenage boys on this ship who didn't have symbiotes/viruses/parasites/bodily hitchhikers that might kill them all?

"Lucky for you, parasites and symbiotes happen to be my specialty, so you've come to the right place. Go on and grab a seat."

Some teenage boys on the ship are just...aliens or whatever? Yeah.

Seat grabbed. Jaime sits there, looking not so much sullen at having to talk to Luis as sullen about his situation. Clearly, he does want to be here to take care of things, but he doesn't want to have to be there.

"The big thing I just have to say ahead of time, is whatever you have to do, Khaji can't be hurt. He's my friend. Leon said right now we should be focused on prevention and protection, not 'preemptive retaliation.' His words."

Seriously, Luis, you might want to start wondering just what exactly Leon dumped in your lap.

Edited 2010-07-25 04:05 (UTC)

Luis is grabbing some tools from around his workstation, things that look like ordinary medical tools... and some that look like torture devices. He also grabs his glasses and slides them onto his face.

"If Leon wants prevention and protection, you definitely don't need to worry about me coming at you with drills and saws," Luis assures him. "My reputation as a mad scientist is pretty exaggerated, I think you'll find."

There is a sudden flash of SCIENCE in his eyes as he holds up one of the scarier tools. Maybe it's not as exaggerated as he thinks.

"But listen. Whatever impression you've got of me, you don't need to worry about me keeping my mouth shut."

Liability [closed]

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Later...

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