The Conversation

 

by:  Mary Ann Boring

 

                Martin watched as Mike Donovan quietly ate the breakfast he'd prepared for his friend. Even though he couldn't eat with him, he often sat at the table and kept him company. Martin sipped from the glass of water before him and then took his antidote pill, which enabled him and the other Fifth Columnists to survive on Earth since the release of the red dust toxin into the atmosphere. He knew that he'd have to take one every twelve hours for the rest of his life on Earth or he'd die from a severe allergic reaction to the dust.

                He'd eaten several hours earlier while the Human slept since he had to eat his meals live. He ate alone to spare Mike the bitter reminder that he wasn't Human under the pseudo-skin he wore. They'd spent some of the time talking about the upcoming broadcast he was to make, but other thoughts now crossed Martin's mind and demanded his attention.

                Looking at Mike, he realised that there was something he'd wanted him to know. He remembered the night Diana had tortured and killed Mike's soundman, Tony Leonetti. He had been forced to watch her, knowing that there was nothing he could do to prevent it, and he'd swore that he'd not let her kill Donovan as well. To that end, he'd talked her into converting the stubborn Human, which had given him and Barbara the time they needed to help Mike escape. He looked away from where Mike sat as the Human got up from the table and took the dishes to the kitchen. Martin followed closely behind him.

                "Mike, you got a few minutes?" he asked as the journalist turned and brushed against him in the small kitchen of the apartment the two of them shared. He knew that they should be on their way to the station so that Mike could make his broadcast time, but what he wanted to say couldn't wait, nor did he want to say it in public.

                "What is it, Martin?" He looked over and saw a look that he couldn't describe cross the Sirian's usually calm face. His pale green eye sensors darkened to the greenish-blue of a turbulent ocean storm as his thoughts turned to serious matters. It was very suprising to see how closely the pseudo-skin mask carefully mimicked Human facial expressions.

                "I need to talk to you," he replied, not knowing where to begin or how Mike would take what he was a bout to say. He turned to face the balcony window.

                Mike sensed his friend's hesitancy. He wanted to make it easier for him, but had no idea as to how, since he didn't know what was on Martin's mind.

                "Tell me what's bothering you, Martin," he said simply.

                "It's about the night Tony was killed by Diana," he said. He ignored Mike's shocked stare and continued before his courage faded. "I think you should know what happened to him." He took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke again. "I was there when she had him brought to her lab. She wanted to know what you knew about our true nature, but he refused to tell her anything. That's when she authorised the medical experiments that took his life."

                "What did she do to him, Martin?"

                "You saw only part of what she did to him," he said. "You saw the end result. I saw all of it because I was forced to watch as she did it. I wanted to help him, but I couldn't risk exposing the existence of the Fifth Column at the time." He opened the balcony door and walked out onto it. Mike followed him as Martin collected his thoughts and memories of what happened that night. As they silently stood on the balcony, it began to rain. Martin closed his eyes and turned his face up to the rain that fell from the sky. "She removed the skin from parts of his body, wanting to find out how long a Human could bear the pain of having the nerves exposed to constant external stimulation."

                "Martin, what else did she . . ."

                "He tried to hold on, knowing that if you managed to escape, you'd come back for him. Barbara and I tried to make him as comfortable as we could when we had the chance," he said , cutting off the question he was about to ask. He had anticipated it. "She planned to do the same to you. When Barbara and I found out that she planned to kill you as well, we decided to get you off the Mothership any way we had to." Martin's voice was full of pent up emotions that he'd held in check since their  arrival on Earth.

                There were many things he'd seen in his years of service to his people that he couldn't forget, but his conscience had long ago dictated his actions. He had joined the Alliance and found that their aims were more peaceful than the Leader's, but they lacked a cohesive military force to counter and undermine his goals. Martin had cautiously recruited those who felt the same way he did, and with that, the Fifth Column movement on the Motherships had begun. During this time, he'd never  revealed his plans to his twin brother, Philip. He had to keep what he was doing a secret from him in order to protect him in case his treasonous actions were discovered.

                "The worst of what she did to him was something I wouldn't want to happen to anyone." Mike had come to stand behind him and tried to figure out the look on Martin's face and what his alien friend was trying to tell him. The sandy-haired Sirian refused to meet the journalist's gaze, knowing that there was a chance that Donovan might be upset with him for not trying harder to save Tony.

                "Martin, what are you trying to tell me?"

                The Sirian lowered his gaze and took in the lights of the city. Mike's apartment afforded him a view of the city that no Human could appreciate, because the people of Earth tended to take such sites for granted. He knew that he had to tell  the Human everything that  had been done to his friend, but knowing that he had to didn't make reliving that night any more bearable for him. The rain streaming down his face gave him the appearance of tears that he knew he could never share with the Human. His people had no tear ducts like the Terrans did.

                "Her violation of him was not just what you saw," he began slowly. "It was actually worse. She made him do things that no being should force another to do. She sexually violated him, Mike. She aroused him to the point of madness with her own twisted knowledge of your people and certain drugs that she'd developed and used before in addition to her own personal perversions. Your people call such a violation rape." Martin turned his gaze back to the sky, rain still gently falling. He finally turned and met Mikes gaze, determined to finish what he'd started. "I don't think that I can ever make you understand what she did to him, both physically and emotionally. In one of the few times I was alone with him between her torture sessions, he made me promise to deliver a message to you I don't know why, but he felt that he could trust me to make sure you got it. I was to tell you that he was sorry he couldn't make it and that he loved you more than you ever knew."

                Tears formed in Mike Donovan's eyes as Martin listened to the sound of the Human's ragged breathing in the tense silence that fell between them. Neither of them knew what to say. The two of them stood there, gazing out over the city. As Mike's hand came to rest on Martin's arm, the Sirian turned to face him again.

                "I still want to kill her, Martin," Mike finally said, his voice ragged with a pent up pain that he'd held in check ever since the day Martin had shown him what Diana had done to his friend. Unknown to Mike, Tony's death was the one incident that had bound the Human journalist and the Visitor security lieutenant together in a single common cause. "That hasn't changed."

                "You're not alone," Martin said, repeating what he'd told the Human when he'd first uttered those words so long ago in a holding cell on the Los Angeles Mothership. "On our world, we don't waste time with trials when someone's guilty of crimes such as Diana's. We execute people like her without thinking or dealing with them."

                "Martin, our system of justice isn't like . . ."

                "Hear me out, Mike," Martin said as he interrupted his friend and partner. "We have a legal system, but we don't bargain with a murderer like her. Someone I know in the Judge Advocate General's office tried to explain our legal system to me, but it didn't make any sense to me at the time." He finally smiled. "He always said that I was being stubborn, but he believed in the need for laws that protected individuals as well as races."

                "Is there anyone waiting for you back home?" Mike asked, trying to turn their conversation from dark and serious things back to something less morbid.

                "You mean a mate?" he finally asked. Mike nodded in response to his question. "No. I never had the chance to choose a life mate before I was assigned to the fleet that came here," he replied as he recalled that both he and Philip could have had any female on the Homeworld. Even Diana, who was known by everyone on the Homeworld to be one of the Leader's concubines, had expressed an interest in him, but he'd refused her advances. The religious teachings his mother had given him had taught him that such a relationship was a serious undertaking. "There's some family waiting back home, but I've come to accept the fact that I'll never see him again."

                "Martin, I'm sorry." Mike didn't realise just how much Martin and the other Fifth Columnists had given up by choosing to turn against the plans of their own people. "I'm sorry."

                "Don't be sorry." Martin returned his eyes back to the skyline. "He and I weren't as close as we used to be or should have been. We were of opposing viewpoints and spent most of our time together arguing." A look of indescribable sadness and longing crossed Martin's face. "I never got a chance to tell him that I did love him, and now he'll never know."

                As both of them stood on the balcony, their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a distant ringing of a bell. After a few minutes, Mike realised that it was the ringing of his telephone in the living room. He glanced at his wristwatch and swore to himself, forgetting about Martin's sensitive alien hearing. He walked into the living room and picked up the receiver. Martin followed him.

                "Donovan," Martin heard him say. It was obvious from the look on Mike's face that whoever was on the other end was no doubt upset, but the Human hid it well. "No, Martin and I will cover it. Yeah, we're heading over there right now."

                Mike hung up the phone and turned to face Martin.

                "Grab your gear and let's go," he said, noting Martin's look of suprise. "We're covering Diana's trial at the courthouse, providing we can get there ASAP." Mike ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. No matter what he did to it, it still looked like an unruly mop. He watched as Martin slung the two bags with the sound gear and video equipment over his shoulder and grabbed the minicamcorder.

                Martin nodded as Mike grabbed his jacket and preceded him out the door. He knew that Diana would have an ace up her sleeve that would allow her to escape justice. When the time came, he would do whatever was necessary to avenge Oliver, the other Fifth Columnists who had died by her actions and the Humans who had suffered at her hands. He would kill her himself and deal with the consequences of his actions when the time came.