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X-Calibre Trilogy: Dead Run	By : jwieda Category: X-men Comics > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men comics, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Suzanne
- 2-Peter
- 3-Suzanne
- 4-Peter
- 5-Suzanne
- 6-Peter
- 5
- 6
I was still gasping and blinking away tears when I smelled a
familiar stink; I opened my eyes wider to see a blue cloud dissipating
throughout the room to reveal Nightcrawler and Mathias. It took a moment for
that to sink in . . . Nightcrawler was alive. Both men rushed over to me,
Mathias asking Nightcrawler which arm had broken.

�His left one,� he crouched next to the bed on my right
side. �I already gave him some morphine.�

�How much?� Mathias was probing my
arm now; I really wanted to hit him but knew that would only make things worse.

�Just a half cc. I didn�t want him
to overdose, he�s had so much already.� He�d
immediately begun brushing at my hair again in what was probably meant as a
comforting gesture; I looked over at him and tried to make my eyes focus. He
looked perfectly fine, as though nothing had happened to him. Had they staged
it as another mind game?

�Okay then. I�ll let you know when he�s ready for visitors��

�I�m staying.�
o:p>
I smiled faintly. Even in my pain I was ready to appreciate whatever
bit of conflict was about to occur.

�Kurt.� Mathias set the splints down on the bedding beside
me and looked over me at Nightcrawler. �The boy needs rest.�

�You�re not pushing me out the way you did with my wife!� he
spat. �Calming Pehter while you set his arm will not hurt him and you know it.�

Mathias stared at Nightcrawler for a few stunned heartbeats
and flushed red; then he resumed feeling for the break in my arm.

�You�ll be alright, Pehter. Take a good deep breath . . .
that�s it . . .� Nightcrawler spoke softly to me, his lips near my ear so I
could hear him clearly. �Don�t think about what he�s doing; just focus on my
voice . . .�

It was hard to do, but I tried to keep my attention on him
and not on the sickly sensation of muscle and flesh sliding around jagged edges
of bone. I screamed when the pieces were finally mated back together and only
realized after the blinding pain began to subside again that I�d been crushing
his hand with my good one as I bore through it all.

�Bloody fuck that �urts!!� I bellowed as Mathias tied the
splints into place. �Jesus fookin� Christ . . .�

�There, the worst is over now,� Nightcrawler�s voice made
its way through the haze of fiery pain. �You did good,
Pehter. I�m proud of you.�

�One more half, and a full cc in two hours if he really
needs it,� was all Mathias said before walking out of the room, obviously upset
about something.

�Asshole,� I heard him mutter under his breath as the door
closed. I was too busy riding out the rest of the pain to comment. �Here, are
you ready for it, Pehter?�

�Please,� I moaned, keeping my eyes closed as he injected me
again. I�d never like needles for some reason . . . �I don�t s�pose there�s any
tobacco in the immediate vicinity?�

�Actually, there is. No, lay back.� As I watched he pulled
out a carton of some really expensive fags from the nightstand, liberated a
pack and tamped it down, then opened the pack to start one for me. He watched
me take a few deep pulls and put an ashtray on the bed so that I could ash it with
my good arm.

�So . . .� I watched him pace through the room. �Kurt, huh?�

He stopped and turned to look at me. �Ja, Kurt.�

�Ye want me t�keep callin� ye
Nightcrawler?�

He chuckled and sat down beside me again. �Kurt�s fine. It�s
not like the rest of the world doesn�t know my full name now.�

�What�s the rest?� I asked as I exhaled. Oh, glorious
wonderful tobacco . . .

�Kurt Victor Darkhoelme,� he leaned back and stared at the
ceiling.

As I looked over him, weary though he was, I decided that
his name fit him well. The names were strong and hard-sounding; taken together
with his surname they automatically conveyed the image of a strong man fitting
his character. Loyal and steadfast to those he would allow inside, and a fury
to those who would threaten what he held dear.

�Why are you staring at me?� he asked, unmoving.

�Just seems like a lot of people who should be dead these
days aren�t, that�s all,� I answered softly.

�Ah, they told you about that, then?� He sounded almost
nonchalant.

�Told me? Mate, I watched you die.�

He looked over at me then, blinking slowly. �Suzanne was
telling the truth.�

�Aye.� I took one last drag and
dropped the filter into the ashtray. �They wheeled a telly into th� room an�
made me watch while they o.d.�ed you on sedatives.�

�Magda�s dead,� he said softly, choosing to stare at the
ceiling again. �I haven�t gotten the full story yet,� he continued as though
choosing his words carefully, �but Suz said she offered herself for me.�

�After you died.�

�Ja.� His tail swatted absently at
the rungs of his chair.

We were quiet for a few minutes. I went to light another fag
and had too much trouble with the lighter, so Kurt reached over and started
another one for me. About half-way through my smoke I couldn�t keep from asking
about his earlier comment, when my arm was being set. �I didn� know you�re
married t�er.�

That earned another glance, this one slightly amused. �No
more drugs for you. They�re causing brain damage.�

�Not Magda, ye git,� I smirked. �Miriam.�

The expression on his face was one of pure confusion. �. . .
I�m not married to anyone.�

�So why�d ye call �er yer wife before?�

He stared at me for a minute before looking away, suddenly
uncomfortable. �I said that?�

�Aye,� I answered softly. �So, um, �ow�s Miriam doin�?� I
watched him carefully.

His expression creased into worry, and the rest of his body
language betrayed his fear and concern. �She�s . . . not doing so well.� He
cleared his throat as he studied the ground. �They had to sedate her so that
she wouldn�t fight against being put on the machines. They really did a number
on her . . .�

�She gonna be alright?� I asked quietly.

�She is very hurt, and very ill.� Kurt�s entire body seemed
to go limp in the chair, and I could barely hear him when he finished, �They
don�t know yet if she�ll survive.�

Now, I�d seen him worry over the gel. I�d seen him be
apprehensive, and upset, and angry. His Freudian slip earlier made it plain
that he was clearly in love with her. But I�d never seen him like this, like he
was completely lost and hopeless. I figured it came from not being able to do
anything himself, but having to rely on someone else to take care of her. I was
actually a bit surprised when I realized he was struggling to not dissolve into
exhausted tears in front of me.

�I�m real sorry �bout that, mate,� I reached over and
squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. �I know that�s gotta be hard f�yeh t�take.�

His only response was a shaky sigh and a continued stare at
the flooring. It was hard to see, but I noticed the fur on his cheeks slowly
getting wet.

�Oi, just let it out, mate,� I smiled sadly. �I�ll make a
deal wi� yeh even � yeh don� tell anyone I squealed like a stuck pig when they
set me arm, and I won�t tell anyone yeh cracked a bit, alright?� That got him
to look over at me, and I attempted a bit of levity. �See, that way we both
know we�re still human, an� th� rest o� the Sicarii
can still think we both eat bullets an� shit lightnin�.�

He laughed at that but the laughter quickly dissolved ia
ba
broken sob; I said nothing as he let himself weep, just kept smoking and
keeping him company. I mused silently as I puffed away about how many other
people had ever seen this from him and concluded that, given his temperament,
the number was likely to be small. After a time his crying ceased, fading in
time to shaky breathing and the need to blow his nose. When he was more
composed he looked over and watched me smoke for a moment.

�You mind if I have one of those?� he asked quietly, earning
a very surprised look from me I�m sure. I wordlessly handed him the open pack
and the lighter; he took them from me, selected a fag, and lit it. He didn�t
choke on it either and I blinked at him.

�Used t�smoke, eh?�

�Mm-hmm.� He held the smoke in his
lungs for a minute before exhaling. �Long time ago, when I was younger,� he
supplied before taking another drag.

�Wot�s younger mean? How old are yeh anyway, if yeh don�t
mind me askin�?�

�When I was in my young teens. I
quit when I hit my twenties, and I�m twenty . . . six now? Nein,
twenty-seven.�

�Huh.� I don�t know why it surprised me that he was
entlently a relapsing ex-smoker; he was so up-tight most of the time anyway . .
.

�How old are you, Pehter?� He was staring up at the ceiling,
watching the smoke hover.

�Seventeen.�

�You . . . look younger. I didn�t think you were that old.�
He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.

�Aye, well, I�m th� runt o� th� litter,� I shrugged. �Me mum was sick when she was havin� me, an� I was born early
on top o� that.�

He merely nodded and finished his fag. We lapsed into a
comfortable silence and just sat there for the rest of the night, smoking and
thinking our own private thoughts.

----------------------------------------------------------

We stayed in Heidelmann�s castle for another few days to
regroup and come up with some sort of strategy. Suzanne came to visit with me a
few more times in the next two days before breaking the news that she was going
to fly on ahead to the other Cabals throughout Europe to garner whatever support
she could. It was funny talking to her now; she�d been very introverted the
entire time I�d known her, and now suddenly she was a much greater presence to
behold. She stood up straighter, talked a little louder, and automatically took
more command over what we were up to. One of the last times I saw her before
she left she used her new powers to carry me downstairs to mingle with everyone
else, as I�d complained one too many times in her presence that I was tired of
being bed-ridden because of my leg. An unofficial meeting had begun as people
began to talk and speculate on the future; I listened with great interest,
noting with a slight measure of apprehension that many of the people here were
the people we�d freed from Berlin
not long ago. I�d heard about what happened to the others, and I was
disheartened to see so few of the people I�d known before among us.

�The big problem I see,� someone raised their voice to be
heard above the general clamor, �is that the Sicarii were confined strictly to Europe.
Now, I�ve heard that there�s a pretty strong resistance force in North
America. If the Metatron can get over there and get us all
talking, we might just stand a chance of making a real dent in this.�

�I don�t know how strong it really is,� Kurt stood to address
the group. �I traveled within it for a short time, and all I saw was a network
for smuggling people out. It didn�t look like it was of the scale of the
Sicarii � there weren�t dedicated units of thieves or assassins, for example.
There really wasn�t a lot of organization to it at all.�

�That could be to our advantage though. Without a
centralized hierarchy, the Nazis will have a harder time tracking down each
node, even if one is completely infiltrated,� someone else threw in. �Maybe we
could come up with something where there are symbols or code words that we
leave behind for the next person.�

�Like the Gypsies,� Kurt smiled slowly.

�What do you mean, the Gypsies?�

�Excuse me, may I . . .?� A young man with dusky skin stood
up. Kurt motioned for him to speak and he cleared his throat. �I�m the last of
my tribe right now, but when there were more of us, we held to the old
traditions of coded messages. A normal lay-person wouldn�t know what it meant
to find a scrap of cloth tied to a tree branch or a certain arrangement of
rocks on the ground. But to other Rom, it meant something. We have codes for
many things � with some modification, this could be very useful.�

Kurt said something to the man in a language I�d never heard
before and the man grinned, tossed a few of the strange words at him in return,
and sat back down.

�Any idea what that was?� I
whispered to Suz, who was sitting on the arm of the chair I�d been given.

�Roughly?� she whispered back. �Thank you for speaking,
thank you for hearing me friend.� Her fingers brushed against mine and I almost
started in surprise. �He�s so full of surprises, isn�t he? Who�d have figured
he spoke Romani?�

I snorted in response. �Not much surprises me with �im
anymore, gel.�

She smiled and turned her attention back to the discussion
and I tried to do the same. I was distracted by the feel of her fingers tracing
across mine again, however, and finally I caressed her fingertips in return.

�. . . conspiracy between them.
We�re going to have them all over us like white on rice. Is it really a good
idea to keep fighting them?�

Suzanne�s fingers touched mine again before she linked them
loosely between mine. I shifted my own hand to make the contact stronger and
gave her a little squeeze, which she returned. We kept holding hands as several
people left to fetch everyone else to the room; I couldn�t tell if it was her
hand or mine that had become so sweaty by the time everyone who was able-bodied
was present and filled in sufficiently to contribute their thoughts before
sending the ideas to vote.

�We have to keep fighting the Nazis,� her voice bypassed my
ears somehow and when I looked over I saw that her lips weren�t moving as she
spoke. �This has gone farther than just our planet, and if no one stands united
to resist them we�ll be dead, and the rest of the universe with us.�

I shivered despite myself and wondered how to communicate
back in a similar manner.

�Just think it to me,� I heard her again; she was smiling a
little as she said it.

I felt a little like an ass as I tried to think to her,
whatever that was supposed to mean. �Wot�s goin� on that th�
Nazis�re goin� t� destroy everything?�

�Oh, they�re not that talented,� I could tell she was being
sarcastic when her answer came. �They�re going to have help from a madman named
D�Ken, and they�re never going to see it coming either. He�s using them, the
same as they used the Sicarii.�

�Er . . .� I stared at Kurt as he discussed something with
the Gypsy man � how to modify those symbols, I realized. �Don� ye think ye
might wan� t� let someone else know �bout this?�

�I�m not sure yet how to tell them,� she seemed to sigh.
�The only one who might appreciate the full version right now is Kurt, and
there is so much to explain. I�m not sure where to start.�

�Well, it�s not like we not seen some weird things from yeh
by this point, luv. It�s got t�do wi� th� Metatron,
aye?�

�Yes, it has,� her lips moved this time and she squeezed my
hand before breaking the contact to stand up.

It was interesting to see everyone go quiet as they realized
she was waiting to speak and would not be so uncouth as to interrupt anyone or
shout over them for their attention. She�d gone from being strange for even a
Priestess and someone who earned a nervous consideration to someone who commanded
instant respect and deference. I realized I was actually hurt that I�d not
witnessed this transformation in her . . . When the room was completely quiet
she finally spoke.

�Kurt, I understand you are aware of something known to you
as the M�Kraan Crystal.�

His eyes widened a little and he slowly nodded. �Ja, I am
aware of it,� he answered, apprehension evident in his tone.

�What do you know about it?� she asked gently.

I smiled when I realized what she was doing. Whatever this
was about would sound too far-fetched coming just from her; at least, that was
what I guessed she wagered. But if it came from both of them . . . Smart girl,
very smart girl. There was a reason I always fancied her.

�Probably not enough, if you�re bringing it up,� his tail weaved
behind him as though nervously agitated. He sighed. �My understanding is that
the Crystal is the center-point of
everything that exists. Not just this universe, but every other mirror of it as
well.� His attention was on her so he didn�t notice the confusion on everyone
else�s faces as he explained. �It is outside of time and space somehow, yet it
came from another galaxy that was part of the Shi�ar Empire. If tampered with,
it can cause changes in reality up to the point of exterminating entire universes.�

I gaped at Kurt as he finished speaking. How on earth would
he know about something like that?? Then I remembered what Suz had just told me
and my blood ran cold. The thought of the Nazis having something like that
wasn�t that far-fetched if this em-cron crystal thing really existed; for all
that organized religion had been decimated after Hitler won the War, it was
common knowledge that the Reich had always studied the occult to gain the upper
hand over their enemies. In my view, what Kurt had just described qualified as
the mother of all occult goodies.

�You have seen first-hand what the power contained within
the1:Ci1:City>Crystal is capable of, yes?�
Suzanne�s voice was very soft, her eyes sympathetic.

Kurt closed his eyes and looked like he was suppressing a
wince. �Yes, I�ve seen it,� bitterness entered his voice now. �Why are you
asking me about this?� His eyes snapped open, anger waiting behind them.
�Reality has been repaired. I�ve dealt with the Crystal
as much as I care to.�

Suzanne took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. �Did Jonathan
brief you yet on how Elizabeth Richthoffen escaped?�

�Yes, he told me of invisible men and a spacesh�� His eyes widened with some sort of realization and he
stared at Suz for a moment without finishing his thought. �The ship was from
Shi�ar, wasn�t it?�

�I strongly suspect so,� she answered, her voice still quiet
in the surrounding silence of the group. �Before I awoke earlier this week the
Metatron took me to Chandilar, the Empire�s epicenter. The Emperor has his sights
on the Crystal with the intent to
harness its power to expand the Empire. The man leading the cloaked assault on
us earlier was a Shi�ar, most likely the one man stationed to watch the planet
that I heard of earlier from the youngest princess in the Imperial family. She
does not agree with her brother�s plans and will bring the Crystal
to us when D�Ken makes his move to acquire it.�

Kurt�s anger seemed to dissipate rapidly and he rested his
bowed head on his fist, which was braced against his chest with his other arm.
Alarmed conversations sprang up within the crowd e ase assimilated this new
information and he finally shook his head with what looked like weary
resignation. �The M�Kraan is your Source, isn�t it?� he finally asked.

�Yes.� Suz�s hands were clasped together in front of her,
but other than this she hadn�t moved.

�You�ve been watching me the entire time, haven�t you? You and the other Clergy.�

She nodded.

Kurt nodded slowly, his face grim. �Why does this princess
need to bring the Crystal to us if
you already had access to it?�

Suz tilted her head in curiosity. �We do not have access to
it.�

�Yes, you do. Magdalena knew about my
home. She knew about Apocalypse!� The anger returned and I watched as his hands
balled into fists. �How would she know that when she didn�t even study the damn
thing, unless someone who does study it told her?�

�Those who Watch told us about you,
and that information was passed to the rest of the Clergy, this is true. But we
ourselves do not have access to the Crystal.�

I took a deep breath at this point and looked down at the
floor. It made sense without making sense; I had no idea who or what Apocalypse
was and it was fairly evident that Suzanne was hiding something about these
mysterious Watchers who had deemed our little band of dissidents worthy of this
kind of knowledge. Somewhere along the way a lot of things with Kurt clicked
into place, though. He wasn�t from our planet. He not only knew about the
crystal, he had seen it in action; and I felt a sinking feeling as it dawned on
me why he was so angry. He was here because he couldn�t go back to wherever he
had come from, and he was pissed off that someone knew more about that than he
did. It explained why no one had heard anything about him until about a year
ago; it explained his appearance and superhuman powers.

�Who are these Watchers, then? Are they aliens, too?�

�It is assumed so, yes. No one has ever seen them in their
true forms. They communicate mainly through dreams to specific people of their
choosing but when the circumstances are too dire�� She
raised her arms and fire erupted around her, ��they find other ways to
intervene.�

The muscles in his arms flexed as the fists tightened and
I�d been around him long enough to tell that he was biting back whatever it was
he really wanted to say to her. They stared at each other for a few tense
minutes until finally he forced himself to calm back down and return his focus
to how all of this impacted the rest of us.

�What does the Reich have to do with any of this? Are we to
become part of the Shi�ar Empire?�

�That�s one possibility,� Suzanne conceded. �Another is that
they are stupid enough to try to trick D�Ken out of the Crystal
for their own uses. We do not yet know what their involvement is in this.�

�And we�re the first line of defense for the whole planet, ja?� Kurt laughed humorlessly and sighed more to himself
than to her or any of us, �Once an X-Man, always an X-Man, I suppose . . .�

I had no idea what he meant by that last cryptic comment but
I, for one, had had enough of being out of the loop. �So wot
d�we do about all this, eh?� I felt myself blush as all the attention suddenly
focused on me. �We gonna �ave any other �elp b�sides this alien woman wi� �er Universe In A Tin?� I felt myself grow hotter when I
saw Kurt�s hand cover his mouth as laugh lines crinkled around his eyes � I
couldn�t tell if he was laughing at me or my sarcasm,
and one by one other people started sniggering and laughing softly. Kurt�s
laughter broke loose a moment later, a true laugh that betrayed his amusement
as it infected the others. I was one of the few people not laughing in the face
of this seriousness and I felt myself growing more irritated by the moment.
What was so bloody funny about the possibility of complete annihilation??

�Leave it to you to keep a clear and irreverheadhead in all
this,� Kurt came over and clapped me on the shoulder, smiling broadly before
regaining a measure of seriousness. �And you�re right, Pehter, we have to
consider what we will do about this.� He turned to face the crowd again, his
hand resting now on the back of the armchair I was occupying. �But whatever we
do, we have to do it together. As the saying goes, if we don�t all hang
together we will surely hang separately.�
p>
I didn�t know that saying but I liked the sound of it quite
a bit. The laughter had subsided for the most part as everyone turned their
attention back to my teacher.

�It seems to me that we can do nothing at this point except
prepare ourselves to fight for the Crystal,�
Kurt continued. �We�ll deal with the M�Kraan when it gets here. In the meantime
we need to band together with anyone else who is truly opposed to the Reich.�

�We will fly ahead and find our allies on the continent,�
Suzanne offered. �Then, perhaps, we can find friends in the Americas
as well.�

�Australia has
been with friendly inclinations towards our efforts in the past,� Jonathan
chimed in. �What of them?�

�We shall see about them as well,� Suzanne nodded.

There really wasn�t much else to say at that point and even
if there were, we all needed some time for the magnitude of what we were taking
on to sink in. Suzanne left later that night to begin making her rounds but she
came to see me before she left. I don�t remember now what exactly we said to eaotheother, although it included mutual requests to be careful and take care of
ourselves. What I do remember was the kiss: I drew her down to kiss her cheek
but she returned that with a different kind of kiss that left me with an
overall pleasant mixture of emotions. As I fell asleep that night I replayed it
in my mind, etching the details into my memory � the initial shy hesitancy as
our lips touched followed by growing confidence on both our parts. She stroked
my cheeks as she kissed me and I slid my right hand into her hair . . . it was
over too soon and I couldn�t wait for her return.

----------------------------------------------------------

Suz was gone for almost a week and in that time we all
continued to debate and discuss, coming finally to a tentative conclusion about
how we were going to run this new resistance. We would, of course, have to get
the input of anyone else who would join up in this,
but the loosely-organized effort we decided on sounded like the best option.

I was concerned about Kurt, however. When he wasn�t in front
of everyone else in his unofficial role as group leader he was given to moody
depression and a general sense of withdrawal, and I knew it had to do with
Miriam. Either I was quite a bit of stronger than she had been or Richthoffen
had really had it out for her because she was barely improving from her initial
condition. I discovered that she was kept sedated most of the time because she acted
like a wild thing if Kurt weren�t in her line of sight; sometimes she was so bad
that she had to be in direct contact with him to keep from freaking out. She
needed to be kept calm to keep from hurting herself further because of all the
damage she�d taken. In addition to her mental state she was facing a severe
case of pneumonia, broken ribs that seemed to have done damage to her insides,
severe cuts and burns, sexual trauma that I didn�t want the details on, and the
after-effects of a miscarriage. I didn�t say anything to the effect and I
wasn�t sure if anyone else had commented on it to Kurt, but when I finally saw
her it was obvious that if she lived through her ordeal she would be physically
disfigured for the rest of her life. I felt bad for them both, but didn�t know
what to do for them except to be strong for him when he needed someone to
unload on or to distract him for a while.

Suzanne, it turned out, was able to do something about it.
When she got back she brought the news that we had friends waiting for us
although they were in hiding right now but she also had the flip side of the
coin: we had to move soon or face fighting Richthoffen and a huge contingent of
armed soldiers . . . and possibly the alien bloke they�d dealt with before.
Kurt was torn when he heard that; Miriam was in no condition to be moved even
if she were more healed physically. It would simply be too dangerous to travel
with her given her state of mind right now, and he couldn�t bear the thought of
abandoning her. It was something else I�d missed out on before but she had
apparently linked their minds together when they first found her to keep her
calm; Kurt seized on this and asked if she could create a stronger, more
permanent link in the hopes that he could pull her back to sanity and get her
to heal. Suzanne was trying to warn him away from this when we all focused on
Miriam in dismayed horrShe She had started to cough violently as her lungs
sought to clear themselves of the infection and that, of course, wasn�t good
because of the ribs . . . as they hurt her she began to panic and she gasped
for air between coughs and seemed to be losing. Kurt wasn�t the only one in
tears as they sedated her again, causing her to settle back to breathe with a
wheeze that left me with the impression that she was drowning from the inside
out. Kurt was holding onto her hands and talking to her as her shallow breaths
came at longer and longer intervals; I felt the tears slide down my cheeks as I
watched him beg her to keep fighting, to not leave him now. I couldn�t tell if
she understood him at all; but she finally closed her eyes and turned her head
slightly away as though telling him to just let her die.

Suzanne answered his renewed pleading to link them together
with the what-ifs. What if the link became permanent and she came to resent
him? What if he couldn�t bring her back and she instead drove him mad? He cut
her off by telling her that he knew about her prophecy concerning him; he
couldn�t imagine loving anyone else so strongly and there wastrostrong
likelihood her precognition would be rendered moot if Miriam died. The look in
his eyes was so tragic it was heartbreaking and she finally relented, closed
her eyes, and linked them together. Kurt stayed by Miriam�s side for the rest
of the night, putting himself into a trance that I dared not disturb. He
eventually fell asleep after climbing into the bed next to her and when he
awoke the next morning he put himself back into the trance, explaining to me
befhe whe went under that hs trs trying to knit her mind back together as it
was the only thing he knew to do now.

I slowly made my way out of the room and found Suzanne in
the room she was sharing with several other women. She was alone but welcomed
my company and my offer to sit and hold her for a while. I knew she had seen
something else on the horizon and asked her about it, but she wouldn�t tell me
because it was strictly about Kurt and Miriam. Whatever it was depressed her so
I tried to distract her by asking how she liked the Metatron, what she was
like, what had she seen when she went to the alien planets and flew through
space. She forgot her sorrow as she became more enthused about sharing her
experiences with me; as I smiled and listened to what she had to say she gave
me an impulsive kiss on the lips and thanked me for being the first person to
really ask her what it was like for her as a human being to deal with these
things. She settled into my lap and laid her head on my shoulder then,
describing in as great detail as she could what the people and buildings and
artwork looked like. She had seen on one of the planets that there was more
than one sun and how strange it was to see a sunset in broad daylight like
that. I closed my eyes as I held her, trying to imagine all of these amazing
things as she listed them off. The crystal was the most impressive thing she
described, however. When she�d seen it she had seen something about the
diameter of a dinner plate � and yet it could hold all of infinity somehow.
There was an entire city inside it, and in the middle of that city was an
entire galaxy contained within a sphere that must have been about the size of a
marble.

�That skews my entire concept of reality, luv,� I moved my
head to kiss her lips. �Ye realize that, right?�

She laughed softly. �Well, how big is infinity really?�

�Pretty bloody big, I�d wager,� I smiled and rested my head
against hers.

�But there are infinite infinities nested inside each
other.� She seemed aware of my confusion and went on to explain using
mathematics. �Okay, think of it like this. The number line is infinite, right?
It never ends.�

�Aye.�

�Now, take two arbitrary points on the number line. Use the
distance between one and two.� She sat up a little so I could see her gesture
with her hands. �One is here, two is here,� she held up her pointer fingers
about a foot away from one another. �Divide by half,
and half again.� Her fingers came closer together. �You can keep dividing by
half forever because you will never reach nothing. It
may come close, but you will never arrive at absolutely nothing. Zero is an
artificial concept.�

�You�re right, I suppose . . .� I nodded slowly.

�So that is infinity, is it not? But it is an infinity smaller than the larger infinity of the number
line.�

�Then �ow d� we know this crystal is encompassin� all
infinities? Ye�ve got scientific evidence that th� universe keeps expandin�
outward into nothin� an� it�ll keep expandin� unless somethin� stops it. Maybe
we�re a marble inside o� someone else�s crystal.�

�That is entirely possible. But all infinities are linked
together. If one infinity is compromised, all others
will be affected by the change.�

And that was why we had to deal with these crazy buggers and
the crystal. I sighed; this wasn�t going to be simple, not by a long shot . . .
- 5
- 6
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X-Calibre Trilogy: Dead Run