Delenn could tell from Ivanova's tone of voice that she was so busy battling the alien vessels that she hadn't noticed their latest problem. "Look at the artifact, Susan."

  "Put it on screen," ordered Ivanova.

  Delenn wasn't sure what Ivanova was going to say when she saw it. A profanity, a prayer... what would her comment be in the face of approaching Armageddon.

  "Give me a breakl" came the annoyed reaction. Delenn shook her head, and she was stunned to realize that inwardly, she was smiling. The commander sounded as if the entire cosmos had arranged this business for the single and sole purpose of pissing off and inconveniencing one Susan Ivanova.

  For all anyone knew, she was absolutely right.

  Within the artifact, knowing that the countdown was in progress and his time was limited, Sheridan was moving as quickly as he could. Having seen the mother ship, he now regretted setting any sort of timer at all. Sheridan was not suicidal by nature; he desired to live every single day that might be allotted to him. But considering the soul-shaking thing he had just witnessed, which was in the process of emerging from its realm, he'd have felt better if he'd simply blown it back to hell without any hesitation at all. Every moment he had given himself to reach safety was another moment that the mother ship and its armada had to make it through the portal.

  "You have two minutes to reach safe distance," his onboard computer told him.

  Then he heard a roar.

  There was absolutely no way that he should have been able to hear it. He was in the airlessness of space. An entire pride of lions should have been able to unleash a chorus of roars at full-throated volume and he never should have been able to detect it.

  Nonetheless, he heard a roar.

  And he saw the source. A multi-eyed, tentacled monstrosity appeared directly in front of him. It was four stories tall, like a huge beetle with writhing tentacles, and the last time he had seen the creature clearly, he had been nine years old. He had awakened screaming, and had been unable to fall asleep for the rest of the night, even though his mother had cradled him and rocked him gently and told him in no uncertain terms that monsters simply didn't exist. If his mother had seen this thing, she'd have run shrieking from the bedroom in a fit of self-preservation.

  The creature howled in fury and snatched at him. Zero-g maneuvers had never been Sheridan's strong suit, even in his academy days when he was first learning them. At this point, however, he was transformed into an exemplary student as he gunned the airpack and hurtled just beyond the creature's reach. The creature pushed off from the wall like a swimmer, and flew/floated after its prey.

  Sheridan didn't look back. There was no point to it-he couldn't even stand to look at the monstrosity that was pursuing him. If he did so again, he had the feeling he might vomit inside his EVA suit, and that would sure as hell pose a major problem. Instead he focused his entire attention on the access panel he'd used to gain entrance to the artifact. He saw it ahead of him, and it appeared about twenty times farther away than it had before. He opened up the throtde to maximum as he hurtled forward. "One minute thirty seconds to reach minimum safety distance," said the computer. It didn't bother to take into account that his margin for safety was rapidly collapsing, because the creature was ricocheting off walls, ceiling, and floor in pursuit. Sheridan's mind raced even as his body did. What the hell was that thing which was coming after him? A sentinel of some sort? Something as mundane as a technician, overseeing the final jump? God in heaven, did they all look like that? He was actually on the verge of becoming nostalgic for the Shadows.

  "One minute twenty seconds," the computer told him.

  ***

  The fleet was locked in pitched battle, realizing that the end had come. The end of the fight, the end of Humanity's time in the galaxy, the end of every other sentient race. The fight was here, now. There was no point in looking down the road to possible future battles against the malignant armada. Every single remaining Starfury and White Star and cruiser knew without question that here and now occurred the final stand of the Min-bari, of the nonaligned races, and of Humankind. Because if this battle were lost, then every other battle which would ensue would prove to be an extended mopping up operation mounted by the fleet of invaders.

  And the mother ship, in its assured manner, was already halfway through the hole it had punched in the cosmos. It was, quite simply, the biggest thing that Ivanova or Delenn had ever seen: miles long, bigger than any ship, bigger than some planets. "Halfway through" was purely a subjective guess; it seemed to extend out into eternity. An eternity of darkness that was about to fall.

  Lennier couldn't believe that this one aging Human was giving him such a difficult time. He should have been able to dispatch him with ease. But Leo was being propelled by some sort of inner fury that was beyond anything Lennier had ever encountered in anything, Human or otherwise. It was as if he were battling the darkness of the soul incarnate.

  He coiled his legs under Leo and shoved him off. His opponent stumbled backward, tripping over Sheila, and crashed to the floor. And then something within Sheila snapped and she leaped upon him with a shriek like a demented harridan. Her fingernails extended like claws, she raked at Leo's face. "You bastard!" she howled in a paroxysm of fury. "You kill everything! You kill love! You kill devotion! You kill everyone who ever loved you! I hate you! I hate you!"

  He shoved her back, roaring his own pain and fury, and the knife slashed across her arm, drawing a ribbon of blood.

  Suddenly Lennier gripped him from behind, and the infuriated Minbari lifted the Human clear up into the air. "I have had enough!" shouted Lennier as he twisted and sent Leo hurtling across the room, to slam with full force into the far wall. Leo sagged for a moment, then seemed about to shake it off, but Lennier didn't give him the chance. He swung a hard right that snapped Leo's head around and sent him to the floor, gasping.

  At that second, the door to the room suddenly burst open, and a dozen more followers of the One burst in. They were armed with clubs, knives, a dizzying assortment of blunt and sharpened instruments. Lennier saw them, but instead of panicking, he drew his face into an expression that could only be described as resigned fury.

  He did not wait. Instead, he charged.

  "One minute ..." Sheridan's computer informed him, and the access panel seemed much too far away. Behind him, the creature was gaining momentum with each leap. Sheridan realized that the access panel was going to be too small for the creature pursuing him to get through, and if he could only stay ahead of it, and if he could only get clear ...

  ...if, if...

  Impossibly he heard the monster give out one final roar as it bounced off a near wall and closed the distance between itself and Sheridan, its arms/tentacles outstretched. Sheridan fancied that he could sense it touching him, just barely drawing within reach of him...

  ... and then, miraculously, he was through the access panel, hurtling out into space. The monster pursuing him banged up against the opening, unable to continue the pursuit. Its furious howling propelled Sheridan toward ...

  ... the force field.

  He'd forgotten the force field. He was still going to be trapped within the sphere of the damned thing. He'd been so concentered on how to get in, that he'd given only minimal thought to how to get out. That's what happens when you toss together a plan on the fly.

  Sheridan prepared himself to give the all-clear, even though he wasn't going to be clear at all. Still, if he didn't say anything, Ivanova, Delenn-dear God, let them still be alive-and the fleet wouldn't know to pull back. While dying at the brink of pulling off the save seemed a depressing fate indeed, it sure beat allowing those creatures to break through.

  But the force field wasn't there. The mother ship was so vast that it apparently required dropping the field entirely. The Babylon 5 fleet had been so hideously depleted by that point that the artifact had been able to lower its guard with impunity. In perfect irony, the advent of invading forces might very well have proven to be Sheridan's salvation.

  "Sheridan to assault fleet... I'm clear!" he shouted as he put distance between himself and the artifact. "Break off!" "All ships, break off! Get the hell out of the way!" came Ivanova's voice, and Sheridan felt partial relief flood through him. Ivanova was safe. Now if only ...

  ... and then he heard Delenn's voice as she acknowledged the order, moving the Minbari vessels away from the artifact. He fancied that he heard relief in her voice as well.

  The fleet, needing no further urging, distanced itself from the artifact. The alien vessels began to pursue them, perceiving the withdrawal as some sort of massive retreat. The mother ship, for its part, was nearly through the gate that the artifact had created.

  And deep within the artifact's core, the monster which had pursued Sheridan in futility returned to oversee the final emergence of the mother ship...

  ... and noticed, for the first time, the strange-looking device that the annoying little Human had left attached to the wall. A device which, had the creature been able to understand it, was saying, "-five, four, three, two, one..." Ivanova, with her usual pessimism, was convinced that they weren't yet far enough away.

  The explosion erupted within the heart of the device as the thermonuclear bomb went off, and from there the destruction appeared to spread in segments throughout the artifact. Each explosion in turn became more and more intense. The mother ship, caught in the midst of passage, was unable to get away in time. The other alien ships immediately peeled off from their pursuit and darted back toward the mother ship, as if they might be able to provide some sort of assistance.

  Or perhaps... and this thought actually amazed Ivanova... perhaps they sensed that the death of the mother ship was irrevocable, inevitable, and they wished to share its fate, as if they were all linked somehow.

  As if they were One.

  The explosions built and built, each one fueling the next, growing exponentially in power. Ivanova shielded her eyes against the intensity as the artifact erupted in a final, brilliant explosion of light and power. For just a split second she thought she saw a single, flying figure highlighted against the dazzling fight of the discharge, then the light obscured whatever she might be able to make out.

  But she saw him again-more distinctly, completely clear of the explosion. She fancied that he even waved in her general direction.

  "Mission accomplished," said Ivanova with a relieved sigh. "We got it, Delenn. We got it..."

  In the Zocalo, Zack slammed an elbow into the face of an attacker, who went down. He spun, turning his furious expression toward Vir, and grabbed the Centauri with one hand while drawing back a fist to plunge it into his face.

  And suddenly, Vir's face seemed to clear. "Stop! What're you ... ?"

  Zack paused, frozen in place, as Vir looked around like a confused person waking from a dream. "What am I doing here? Why are you hitting me?" he demanded, his voice rising in indignation. "I was just in the transport tube with Ivanova..."

  For just a moment, Zack suspected it might be a trick, and he toyed with the idea of knocking Vir cold anyway. But then the lights came on. Zack absolutely could not believe it. Nor could Franklin, who called into his comlink, "Franklin to Medlab." He leaned over the injured woman whom he had been afraid to move.

  "Medlab online," came the reply as relief flooded through the healer. "We've been looking for you, Doctor! Where are you?!"

  "Zocalo, and I need a team here, stat!"

  Leo Rosen had a headache. His head was ringing, as if someone had struck him a hard blow.

  He looked around a room that seemed very strange to him, and a scene that was like something out of a bad dream.

  There were half a dozen unconscious people on the floor, and a very exhausted Minbari standing in the center of them, in some sort of defensive fighting stance, apparently ready to take on more people who were crowding in at the door. Except that they looked as confused as Leo felt. "What's ... going on here?" demanded Leo. "Who are all you people? What are you..."

  Then he saw Sheila on the ground, looking like a wild animal...

  ... and Alex...

  "God in heaven! " howled Leo, and he seemed to leap through the air to his brother's side. "Alex! Alex!-Do something!" he shouted at Lennier, "Do something, call somebody, oh my God, Alex, Sheila..." and he looked at her, his hysteria building. "Who did this!"

  She looked at him coldly.

  And he knew.

  And he started to scream.

  As Delenn, in the Minbari cruiser, surveyed the damage all around them, she said over the com system, "Delenn to assault fleet... escort all damaged ships to base. And be careful... some of the smaller enemy ships may have survived."

  Then Sheridan's voice came over the system. "By the way, Delenn, while you're making suggestions ..."

  She saw it coming as, with a smile, she said, "Yes?"

  "It looks like I used up the last of my navigation pack getting out of the artifact. You think you can swing by and pick me up on the way in?"

  "Of course," Delenn told him solicitously. "In the fullness of time."

  "And how long is that?" came his suspicious voice. She made no reply, of course. "This isn't funny, Delenn," he said after a few moments, sounding rather annoyed.

  "Yes, it is," she corrected him calmly.

  "No," Sheridan replied with utter conviction. "It isn't."

  Chapter 19

  Trent said, "I'm sorry for what happened, Captain."

  She and Sheridan were facing each other across his desk. Trent seemed a very different woman from the confident, swaggering scientist with whom he'd locked horns earlier. He wanted to be angry with her, to point fingers and speak in a most accusatory fashion. But he knew that if he was going to head in that direction, he was going to have to do some serious finger-pointing in the direction of one John Sheridan.

  Perhaps, he reasoned, the supportive approach might be preferable. "It wasn't your fault," he said. "Lots of people fell under the influence of that thing. And more would've fallen if we hadn't stopped it." But after a moment, he realized he could not help but add, "However, that doesn't explain your decision to hold back information before that thing began broadcasting those telepathic signals-----But we won't mention that part, will we?

  It would make the conversation so depressing."

  "Yes. It would," she sighed. She appeared lost in thought, and then she said-to herself as much as to him..."Bill would be alive right now."

  There was nothing he could say to that, nothing that could possibly make her feel better. She placed a report on his desk and continued, "This is everything I had on the artifact. Maybe it'll be useful someday ... maybe not."

  "And what about you?"

  "I'm ... going away for a while," she said after a moment. "After everything that's happened, I have to decide if I want this job anymore. I didn't like the part of me that thing brought out."

  "Then maybe it's a learning experience for you," Sheridan said, knowing full well that the exact same thing could be said of himself.

  If Trent realized that, she was too polite to comment. Instead she simply replied, "If it is, it's a hell of a painful one."

  "Ain't no other kind, Dr. Trent," replied Sheridan with grim empathy.

  The Zocalo had been mostly put back together. There was still some residual debris, but the place was open for business again, albeit on a limited basis.

  Vir sat at a table, feeling puzzled and confused. Then he spotted Lennier walking past. The Minbari was moving slowly, surveying the sight as if he couldn't quite register that the danger was over. "Lennier!" Vir called, gesturing for him to come over. Lennier approached him slowly, looking rather guarded. Vir noticed that he was walking with a slight limp. There were bruises on his face. "You okay?" asked Vir.

  Slowly Lennier sat down opposite him, regarding him in a most peculiar fashion. He didn't say anything. "Did you hear about everything that went on around here?" said Vir. "Fighting and craziness ... and apparently I was involved in it! Me! Can you believe it?" He shook his head. "I'll tell you, usually Centauri dreams are good luck, but wow, this was something! Can you believe the craziness?"

  Lennier still said nothing.

  "Fights and power outages," continued Vir, "and that... that crazy artifact had something to do with it. There hasn't been anything official yet, any kind of statement. I wish Londo were here. He'd be up in Sheridan's office right now, demanding to know what was going on. Me, I take the more sedate approach, you know? I figure, all things will be made known in their time. What's the point of rushing it? You find out too many things at once, you just get a headache. Can I get you anything, by the way? I know you don't drink alcohol because it makes you, well, crazy, although crazy around here seems to be the order of the day. But maybe something that..."

  "You hit me on my bone," Lennier said, sounding rather put out. Vir blinked and leaned forward. "What?"

  "You hit me."

  "I hit you?"

  "On my bone."

  "On your bone? I don't understand..." sputtered Vir.

  "It is a fairly self-explanatory statement. You ... hit me ... on my bone."

  "During the ... the ..." and with one sweeping gesture he tried to take in the entirety of the insanity which had gripped Babylon 5, "... the ... you know ... ?"

  "That is correct."

  "Lennier, I am ... I am so sorry! Great Maker, I hit you on your bone..."

  "With an iron bar," Lennier added.

  Vir buried his face in his hands. "I am so sorry. Really. I am so very, very sorry. Does it hurt?"

  "It will subside."

  "Let me ..." Vir's mind raced. "Let me get you ... some milk...."

  "Milk?" asked a puzzled Lennier.

  "Yes. Yes, it's got calcium. And that's good for..." He gestured and finished, with an air of helplessness, "... for bones."

  "Oh." Lennier gave it a moment's thought and then shrugged slightly. "I... appreciate the gesture. Very well."

 

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