Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 22:43:08 -0400 Reply-To: JillMari@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Jill Spetoskey Subject: Shades of Red and Black (part 3) comments are always welcomed and encouraged at jillmari@aol.com or jilkey@grfn.org Shades of Red and Black(A Highlander/V story) part 3 c. 1995 by Jill Spetoskey *** Sara dreamed. Standing on the ledge on top of the bridge, she knew there was no way to get away from the dozen Nazis surrounding her. "You will come with us, fraulein, alive or dead is your choice." "Better to die then to be taken by thugs like you." She jumped, feeling the bullets tear through her chest, and hoping that she could find someplace safe to hide while she recovered. As she was about to hit the river, she woke up with a gasp, half-bolting up from the narrow bunk. "Nightmare." She reassured herself. "Everything okay in there?" The guard asked from outside the door. "Yeah, just a bad dream," she answered. She fumbled for the light on her watch to see 5:47. Not likely to be much longer before they came for her. She managed to doze back to sleep for another few hours. She was awakened by a hard knock on the door. As she stretched out of the bed, the door opened and the blond man from the night before entered, carrying a camp lantern. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced. Mike Donovan." He ofered her the hand carrying the lantern, grinned, and transferred the lantern to his left, and then reoffered her his hand. "Sara Ivnik," she replied as she took his hand, her mind making the connection to recent news reports. "I've heard a lot about you recently." "And none of it good, I bet. Actually, I have a proposition for you, but don't say anything yet because I want to show you the full story. Let's go somewhere in this place where they've got the electricity working. Come on." He turned and started to make his way through the door and into the corridor. She followed him, the guard shadowing both of them. She followed, nodding at the guard as she left the cell. She could guess at what Donovan wanted, but felt that she had to say no. There was just too much else going on in her life right now. She'd had more people come for her head in the past six months than she had in the previous two hundred years, and she wasn't sure why. Surely the mortals could fight this one without her. They made their way through the tunnels. After about thirty yards, the tunnels were lighted. Donovan turned off the camp lantern, and ducked into another room shortly after, leaving the guard at the door. The room seemed similar to the room where she'd been interrogated before. However, this room was set up with a t.v. and a video cassette recorder, as well as a scattering of old school desks. "Sara, you said you were in the special effects business. I'd like you to watch this, and I'm betting that you can't figure out how this was done. It's the truth about the Visitors." He grabbed the remote off the top of the television, and hit the play button. She calmly watched as the female visitor swallowed a guinea pig whole. Okay, they've got some unusual dietary habits, she thought, nothing that she really hadn't seen before. It was the next frames that surprised her. As she watched the fight between Donovan and the Visitor, she called out. "Could you stop and rewind that, please?" Donovan passed her the remote control, and she played and rewound the tape several times more. "Mike, I'll grant you that the Visitors lied to people about how they look. What was underneath the fake skin was no makeup job. I guess that it doesn't really surprise me, though. Aliens aren't necessarily going to look like Mr. Spock." "And if they lied to Earth about one thing, they might have lied to us about another thing." "Okay, I could agree with that." "The Visitors are here to get something from Earth, but it goes far beyond some chemicals. First, they want water. There was some sort of cataclysm on their world, and they need more. Second, they need a new food source, and it's not just mice or guinea pigs that they're harvesting. You've probably heard of many people being taken into what they call protective custody. Well, the people are being put into some sort of suspended animation, and shipped back to the Visitor home world to be used as cattle of sorts." He paused, and both became lost in their own thoughts. "And when only a few remain," she said softly, "they will feel a pull to a faraway land where they will to the last." "What was that, Sara?" "Just an old myth I've heard." She shrugged. "It's nothing important." "Anyway, I was hoping that you would consider joining us. You already helped us once, and saved Hector's life. We need people to join the fight, or all of Earth gets turned into a peopleless desert, and we end up being served as some lizard's dessert." "Can I think about it for a little here? Impressions to the contrary, I'm not that impulsive of a person." "Sure. I've got to take care of a few other things. Just give a holler to the guard when you have an answer." He turned and left her to her own thoughts. If anything, she had liked how the Visitors had seemed to discourage medical research these days. It wasn't anything personal, and she hadn't wished anyone harm, but the fewer researchers there were out there, the more likely she figured she was to be left alone. Killing them, and a large number of others, though, was not something she could condone. What she didn't doubt was that Donovan was telling the truth. She liked to think she had over the years learned how to judge people. Mike Donovan's story seemed as honest as she'd ever heard, and the stakes were just too high to ignore. "Sara, when have you ever turned down a good cause to fight for?" she asked herself, the answer being never. There were questions that remained in her mind about immortal roles in the whole picture, starting with the man called Ham, and ending with the nature of the Game. A part of her started to wonder if it was time for the Gathering among the whole invasion by the Visitors. Yes, she had taken a lot of heads lately, but she hadn't felt any urge to set foot on a spaceship. If anything, she'd felt like pulling up stakes in L.A. and becoming a ski bum in Colorado. Speculate only so far, Sara, she cautioned herself. To some point, it helps you figure out the whole picture, but beyond that, it gets too dangerous to live so much of your life in the future you lose track of the present. Whether or not the Gathering is now, you can't change anything, only watch your back a little closer. Ham is another matter. She was good with voices, and she hadn't heard his before. Whatever his game was, she hoped she could figure it out soon, since she knew she was staying with the Resistance now. But then she'd known she was staying ever since she'd seen the video the first time. End part 3 =========================================================================