trans_9 | Time for Reflection

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Time for Reflection

After having her injuries--as superficial as they were--treated in the medbay, Lyta had gone immediately to get some much needed sleep. Her encounter with the inquisitor in the sensorium had been grueling, nerve-wracking and painful. She'd suffered a multitude of bruises, several lacerations and one of her ribs had been cracked. However, she had thankfully survived. She had gone through what the Vorlons liked to call "the crucible" and she had come out the other side. She had, like all that had before her, come out changed. She had more doubts, more questions, more uncertainties than she had when she had gone in. But instead of doubts concerning her safety, questions of the superheroes humility, and uncertainty over whether she could trust them, all the new ones were about her.

This was why, when she finally woke back up from her rest, Lyta made her way down to the city and headed directly for one of the few places she had discovered that was peaceful here: the Garibah Tree. The tree under which she had first met Ax, the one that reflected a person's feelings back to them. And that was just what Lyta needed, for her emotions to be shown to her in the hope that, perhaps, she may gain some sort of perspective.

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Ax glanced away for a moment, as the Tree reflected a sudden pang of sadness.

< My brother has been dead for two Earth years from the point at which Stacy abducted me, > he said. < He was murdered. It is very good to see him alive again. >

Ax could only hope that he could keep Elfangor alive, bring him through time somehow...

Perhaps Lyta had been successful in distracting him.

Lyta shook her head, disgusted, and silently cursed Stacy. "You know that's the second time that she's done that? At least the second time that I know of."

< It is very good to see him again, > Ax said. < There are far worse people that she could have pulled out of the time-stream. Which conveniently transitions to a topic I wanted to speak with you about. >

He looked back at Lyta again, finally. < You expressed worry over how much you could trust members of the newly-appointed command staff. I promise you that you can trust my brother. >

Lyta frowned when Ax broached the subject of the 'concerns' she'd so vocally expressed earlier. "It wasn't the command staff I was worried about," she explained. "It was the superheroes."

< Ahh. My mistake, > Ax said. He wasn't sure if he and Tobias and Elfangor counted as super heroes. Marco certainly made the comparisons often enough, generally when complaining about the morphing outfits. < You did express irritation over your concerns being dismissed, however. You can talk to Elfangor about that. >

"Irritation". Let it never be said that "understatement" was beyond Ax's grasp.

Lyta shook her head solemnly and offered him an appreciative smile. "No, that's ok. I've uh... Well, let's just say that someone pointed some things out to me recently and I've started wondering if maybe I was being a little unreasonable."

< I am glad to hear that you've dealt with the issue, then. > Ax seemed to relax a little. < Are you otherwise well? >

"Yeah. I mean, I'm a little tired, I suppose, but with everything that's been going on around here I guess that's to be expected," she said with a nod. "So, I hear we have a Yeerk on board again."

Ax's face darkened.

< We have more than that, > he said. < Stacy has been continually altering our memories. Do you recall Tony Stark or Kurt Wagner? They were both abducted by one of the other artificial intelligences and put into stasis, and we forgot about them until they were released again. >

That was why they had a Yeerk on board again, and frankly, it was much more disturbing. Had one of the other Animorphs been on board before? Had Stacy made Ax forget them too?

"Yes, I remember them," Lyta replied. Well, she remembered them now. She didn't, however, remember them when they were gone, just like the rest of the crew hadn't. "But it doesn't surprise me, to be honest. Ever since we got here Stacy seems to have been mostly concerned with keeping us as 'content' as possible. At least, as much as she can, considering.

"But I don't think she's been 'erasing our memories.' Trust me, I've seen it done and it's not easy. The average brain can only take so much telepathic interference at any given time before it completely burns out. Erasing memories takes time, and you can't just flip a switch and undo it. My guess is, all she did is put blocks around our memories of Kurt and Tony. That way, they're still there but we can't access them. It's much easier, a lot less time consuming, doesn't strain the target brain as much, and, if you're a powerful enough telepath, you could probably do several at a time."

Ax twitched a little, an aborted shudder of revulsion.

< That idea does not make me any happier, > he said. < I don't like the idea of someone altering my memories any more than I like any other forms of mind-control. How can we know that we're doing the correct thing when our perceptions can be that easily manipulated? >

He almost missed the Ellimist.

"We don't," Lyta answered with a frown. "Another question is how much control does whoever else is on this ship with us have on Stacy's telepathic abilities? Especially if they're hostile."

< Is there any way to determine when or how often our memories are being altered? > Ax asked. < Or to resist psychic intrusion? I was only able to determine how to prevent my Leeran morph from reading other minds, not how to prevent others from reading mine. >

He shifted his weight and scanned the area around them with new intensity. The idea of something benign with powers like Stacy's was worrisome enough, much less something hostile.

"I don't know," Lyta said with a shake of her head. "You'd have to submit to a deep scan which, I'm not going to lie, isn't exactly the most pleasant thing in the world. But, even then, I don't I or anyone else would find anything. Even if all she is doing is putting in blocks, if Stacy can do that without causing a headache, then it's likely she knows how to do it without leaving behind a psychic footprint."

She frowned, disappointed in her own ability to help them in that regard. "But, as far as keeping someone from reading your mind? Yes, there is. At least, sort of. You won't be able to block a deep scan. Aside from the other telepaths or someone with telepathic abilities and those with symbionts, I doubt anyone on the ship could block one. But you can jam a casual scan by singing songs or running riddles or playing games in your head."

So, essentially at the moment, there was nothing they could do. Ax hated that.

< Perhaps we ought to start recording and storing our more sensitive information in a less computer-accessible form, > he mused. < In one of Stacy's blind spots, so she cannot destroy it when she blocks our memories. >

He would have to keep the blocking techniques in mind in case they came across other telepaths. He wasn't certain that it would successfully block the Leerans, but he could test it with Tobias or Elfangor.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Lyta replied. "We might want to bring that up during the next meeting with the command staff."

< Hopefully we won't forget it in the mean time, > Ax said. < I'll start looking for appropriate places to store the documents. We are also going to need some sort of paper. >

"Well," Lyta said, pausing to clear her throat. "The I pretty sure the Vatican has a library in it somewhere. I suppose we could take blank page from one of the books, or maybe from a visitor's log or something and use that."

< I believe that would suffice, > Ax agreed. < Some of the crew members are understandably rather protective of the place, so I imagine that we will have to be careful when selecting the books. >

Definitely a subject to bring up at the next meeting. Or possibly sooner, before anyone else disappeared.

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Time for Reflection

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