Ankh

Anomaly TrekMUX Episode (#01-014) 8/15/00

The Neutral Zone - Station 419 - [IC]

Walking into the bar brings with it the usual experience of walking on bare deckplates. Each step is marked by a small clink as boot strikes against metal. The walls of the bar, in the tradition of such places from earliest Terran history, are lined with various objects of interest contributed by the crew and visitors. Here is a Cardassian Gul's rank-pin. Over there is the bridge alert indicator from a Jem'hadar battle cruiser. And in the center of the room, clearly in pride of place, is the actual bar itself. Made of gleaming metal, it takes a moment before it is recognizable as a piece of the hull of a Galaxy Class starship. Careful examination would be required to determine its origin, although the bar's frequent patrons might be pleased to share a wild story or two about it. A series of trapezoidal viewports offers a view of surrounding space. Suspended in the black void is something far more enigmatic than all of the odd artifacts in this bar. Looking almost like a miniature star, the anomaly quietly flashes alternately blue and white.

Obvious exits:

Back Room <BR> The Mall <O>

Accolon arrives from the mall, the entrance's double doors sliding silently closed behind him.

Accolon has arrived.

Tyler arrives from the mall, the entrance's double doors sliding silently closed behind her.

Tyler has arrived.

Tyler walks in quietly, her fingers fidgeting with each other. She ducks under one of the Bolians with a serving tray, and she looks about the crowded room.

Accolon appears recently arrived, at the bar ordering something or another as he's wedged between two space-farers, occasionally sharing a word with them.

Tyler slips up behind Accolon, and tugs on his shirt. "Jinn?" she calls softly from behind him.

Accolon turns quickly around and beams a smile. "Hello Wendy." He turns back to see if his order has come. It hasn't. "Can I order you something?"

Tyler shakes her head swiftly. "Wuh-will you join me when you're d-done?" she asks.

Accolon's smile fades a little as he glances Tyler over. He asks, "Join you where? I don't need to stay here. I just came for a cup of Raktajino."

Tyler has already started wandering toward a table.

Tyler sits down at square table.

Accolon glances back to the bar, lifting up the cup set before him. With a thanks he heads over to the table and drops into a seat, smiling softly. He asks, "Is something wrong?"

Tyler looks about the crowd again, then shakes her head. "W-we should wait," she says. She offers him a weak, forced smile, as if to try to reassure him that she's okay. She finally spots Jade walking in, and she flags him down.

Accolon's brow creases in concern when he spots Jade and he begins to glance around, as though considering some avenue of escape. He asks quietly at the table. "What is this about? I hope this is nessesary."

Jade's hand is running through his hair as he steps inside, his eyes, for once, not on the 'Zone's boundaries and its occupants. Still, as he slows, progressing into the bar, his head rises, almost immediately allowing him to focus on Tyler. His lips part, then from the corner of his eye he notices Accolon. Then closes his mouth. Purses his lips. And steps towards Tyler.

Tyler asks Jade, "W-w-w-will you sit down, Alex?" She then looks back to Jinn, nodding. "I think it is, an-an-anyway."

Accolon glances up, smiling a silent greeting toward Jade. He sips his Raktajino and sits there, straightening out cordially, as though for any commonplace meeting.

Jade has no drink, for now. Priorities right. He steps, in the same pace as his progression, up to the table, slides a chair back, eyes focused on the tabletop before him, and deposits himself neatly upon it. He exhales as he sits, then tilts his head towards Tyler, eyes inquisitively sliding to watch her.

You sit down at square table.

At your table, Tyler shifts uncomfortably in her seat, her hands working over her fingers. "I'm guh-glad you c-came.." she says to both, or neither, or one. She sighs. "I'm.. I'm r-r-really bad about tuh-talking about my feelings. B-but I'm sure that's n-not really news to either of you."

At your table, Accolon says, "Hello Mr. Jade." He slides his chair out a little so he can cross a leg over the other and lean back to sip his coffee. He waits in silence, with a nuetral expression not unlike one Jade might bear, perhaps only to mask his discomfort.

At your table, Jade's lips twitch a moment at Tyler's comment, almost into a smile, at the irony. Though the matching flame in his eyes is not condemning. And at that, his head tilts upwards, and he draws a breath. A nod to Accolon at his greeting, then his eyes go beyond him and to the ever-present Anomaly beyond, then back to Tyler. As the smile fades, there is a fear in his eyes, and his tension.

At your table, Tyler sighs again. "I f-feel like I've been puh-put in the middle of a tuh-tug of war match between two Kuh-klingons, and I fuh-feel like I'm being m-made to choose b-between the two of you." She shifts again, then glances at each of them for a moment, then says, "So I thuh-think I've f-finally decided.. S-so I wanted you both to know at the s-same time." She shifts again in her seat.

At your table, Accolon's brows furrow almost as though he were wincing and he glances momentarily toward Jade, raising his brows. He says to Wendy, "I don't think you need to really make a decision of any sort. I'm not sure this whole thing is nessesary, Wendy."

At your table, Tyler shushes him.

At your table, Jade's expression takes the opposite route, shifting from fearful to blank. His

facial muscles tense, jaw gritting, as if he is preparing himself. He glances up at Accolon's comment, but draws no visible support from the Lieutenant's words; the hazel of his eyes almost seems grey, but still he does not speak. Just nods, once.

At your table, Tyler sighs. "I've had a l-l-large crush on you f-for a long time, Jinn. I.. I've always thuh-thought you'd never reciprocate.. Being m-my superior officer.. And.. And I f-figured you always thought of me as a stuh-stupid girl. W-well, I am..." She looks to Alex, now. "And wuh-when I'd g-given up hope, along came Ah-alex, who has b-been very suh-suh-s-sweet to me, and has shuh-shown me things I c-could have never seen without him. I f-fell in l-love with Alex.." She smiles to him, then sighs again, in frustration. "Thuh-that's why I have to choose.. Neither of you." She looks at them, worried that one (or, worse, both) will explode at her, her eyes darting nervously between them.

At your table, Accolon glances toward Jade, seeming to say if he has something to say, he should say it first. His eyes turn back to Wendy, smiling softly as though he found what she said very sweet.

At your table, Jade does not react, save for a slow blink, a slow exhalation through his nose. No elation, no anguish; for all the world, he expected such words. And then he shifts in his seat, eyes rising to Tyler. "Too many times have you taken the choices of others over what you believe to be right. Such times have to end." He shifts again, drawing his coat about him and pushing away from the chair, head dipping once more even as he speaks: "Right or wrong, I will abide by your decision. If you will excuse me..."

At your table, Accolon glances up toward Jade. He says, in an attempt to persuade him, "I think you should stay, Alex. At least for a bit." He seems confused, "Choices of others? I think she came to this decision on her own."

At your table, Jade pauses, brows rising, looking quickly to Jinn, murmuring rapidly, "My apologies if I was unclear; that is exactly what I meant."

At your table, Tyler looks at her hands. "I'm sorry," she says very softly. "One of us huh-has to lose, n-no matter what decision I m-make. I figured it'd be b-better if we all luh-lost, so..." She sighs again. "So nobody w-would feel left out."

At your table, Jade finishes rising, and turns, speaking as he does so in a tone utterly, utterly devoid of inflection. "Oh... Wendy... Jinn..." He takes a step away from the table then turns, hands sinking, as so often, into his pockets. His head tilts, eyes glistening, the hazel filled with a strange implacable benevolence. "Please... the choice is three sad or one sad... -be- together." A beat. "Be -happy-." His voice does not break; and again, it is as if he expected to make such a speech. Not prepared, just... resigned.

At your table, Tyler stands up too. "I c-can't do that, I've g-got work that's m-more important than w-worrying who I should and shouldn't b-be with.. And I c-couldn't stand to b-be happy while one of you were uh-upset."

At your table, Accolon breaths a laugh and says, "No..." He glances momentarily toward Jade. "You love this man. You might have had feelings for me, but that's different." He looks down toward the ground for a moment, a shadow across his face. "Besides, I helped force this whole thing."

Tyler stamps her foot down, shouting, "Stop it!"

You stand and leave square table.

The whole bar's eyes suddenly turn toward Tyler.

Tyler turns, and runs out of the bar as fast as he feet can carry her.

Tyler stands and leaves square table.

Tyler heads out and into the Mall.

Accolon blinks, staring toward her as she hurries out. He slumps back in his chair and shakes his head once.

Accolon says, "Things can never be simple, can they?" sympathetically toward Jade.

Jade just tilts his head down. The others at the bar are paid no heed at all. Then his eyes swivel to Accolon. "If you had spoken before she and I came together, there would be a happy a couple." A beat. "If you kept silent afterwards, there would have been a happy couple." Another moment, and he turns. "Jinn, I hold you neither an enemy, nor an evil man, but you are one stupid bastard." He begins to step in the direction of the exit.

Accolon doesn't seem to heed the insult. He swivels in his chair and picks up his cup, staring toward the viewports as he drinks.

Jade doesn't seem to give a damn who's watching, or what is heeded. Now his flesh seems grey, eyes shadowed, all the intonation of emotion in his face that rarely appeared, drab. And he leaves the bar a shade of the man who entered.

You head out of the bar and into the Mall.

** Alex sends a message to Tyler falsely claiming that he never loved her, in an attempt to engineer a union between Accolon and Tyler. **

Dear Wendy,

I write this to you only because there is no further point in concealing the truth. What I set out to achieve, I have either achieved, or now cannot. There is thus no reason that you should not know the truth about my feelings.

I do not love you and never have. You were a convenient excuse to get to that which was stored in Science 2, and to learn more about it. I do not need it, and thus you, any longer. The word I gave regarding its secrecy still stands, however.

That doesn't mean I have no desire for your well-being. Though you'll no doubt find it hard to believe, I'm not a complete bastard. So go with Accolon. He truly feels about you as he claims to, and you deserve one another. I doubt we will speak again.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander Kristoff Jade

Alex,

I hope it feels good to have completely duped someone who was in love with you. I also hope that you carry around that shame for the rest of your life. But then, it sounds as if you are truly no better than a Romulan. Betrayal seems by far your nature, and I sincerely hope that you at least find some sort of honest, honorable place in your heart one day. As for Accolon, I told you my decision. I won't have anything to do with either of you in a romantic capacity, espcially not now, when someone I cared so deeply for was merely leading me down the garden path. We could have been great friends. And now you have just ripped whatever love and trust I had for any man and destroyed it. Perhaps one day you will find happiness. But then, with the way you chew people up and spit them out again, it's unlikely. You were the first man I ever loved, and to feel so completely /violated/ by your having used me hurts more than any decision I could have ever made. I don't think I can ever forgive you it. I was hoping we could be remain friends. For all things said and done, however, I'm sorry. It's time for me to get back to work.

Goodbye,

Wendy

You enter Holosuite Two.

Holosuite Two - Station 419 - [IC]

A gorgeous tropical white sands beach. It appears as Hawaii must have looked thousands of years ago, with no encroachment by man. Lush foliage borders the land side, the air thick with the scent of exotic flowers, only to be carried away by a gentle breeze. The water is a beautiful blue, and approximately 32 degrees Centigrade. Sets of perfect waves, gorgeous tubes of glass, roll in across the water with regularity. The only things spoiling the untouched picture are a changing tent and several beach chairs.

Contents:

Tyler

Obvious exits:

Out <O>

Jade does not step inside the Holosuite as he summons the arch. One hand remains on the keypad beside the 'real' side of the door, his head tilted down. He looks like a scarecrow - a ragtag assortment of hung clothes, disarrayed hair. The usual neatness with which he wears his coat is lost; the flick of hair and its shaping are likewise lost in a matt, through which his eyes slowly rise to look in shadowed terror for the sender of the message.

Tyler's swimming out in the water. A large piece of sand-art, made by someone's foot being dragged through the sand, extends about one-hundred feet up the shore. It is a complex and intricate snake, in an Aztec pattern. All you can hear of her is her splashing and laughing.

Jade jerks forward as if to enter the suite, then hears the second strain of laughter, tilts his head further up. He swallows, in a gulp, hand shifting from the keypad to simply half-rest, half support his weight on the doorframe. And his eyes silently fill as he watches her enjoying her life. His attention falls to the snake, at which he stares for a moment, breathing ragged.

The peals of her laugter, the sound of the ocean, and some sort of odd.. chirruping sound, like the sound that the computer makes while processing, are the only sounds that float into the arch.

Jade tilts his head, trying to identify the sound in the back of his mind, though his curiosity is, rarely, too vastly outweighted by other emotions to register on his face. A moment or two more, and he steps silently forward, to the area of sand just in front of the arch. He places the toe of a boot into the sand, deliberately, stating at the indentation made, then hesitates. Then starts to drag the foot back, leaving a line.

If Jade bothers to look in her direction, she is about waist deep in the water, swimming, diving and generally playing with five holographic dolphins. The ones at the periphery do tricks for her, as well as pull up along side for her to hug, hitch a ride on the fin, or generally pet.

Jade's gaze cannot help but flicker up to the girl. Every wave of laughter that is borne on the sea air causes a jerk in Alex's stance. He shifts, eventually, retreating a step, foot falling to a more normal position, eyes pinched, fists clenching in his pockets. Then his head tilts up. And without another change in expression, he takes off towards her across the sand. As he runs, he starts shrugging out of his overcoat.

Tyler startles, turning around. She instantly ducks down to neck level, as if to cover her body with the water, and just watches.

At the sign of her ducking, and as he throws his waistcoat to the sand behind him, he slow, and literally bellows: "WEEEHHHNNDEEEE..." His hair flickers about his neck and face in the wind, and, kicking his shoes off, he begins to belt towards the water's edge.

Tyler doesn't respond, just watches him across the water. If he wants to get to her, he'd better either end the program or start swimming. Wendy has wholly forgotten the dolphins which dance about her surreally, trying to get her attention and trying to play with her.

The former is either not an option or does not occur. Alex meets the water and, after just the slightest of pauses, where he looks momentarily at the breakers, draws a breath, begins to splash out into the water. His head rises again, and his eyes are on Tyler. "I -LIED-...I LIED..." he calls as he comes. Soon the drag on his feet becomes too great for wading, and he calls over, "I am...I am so..." Splashes of water have now plastered Jade's hair to his face, almost obscuring it as he falls forward, balance poor now, with a pulse of water, to his knees, now about chest deep in water.

Tyler frowns to herself, watching him. The dolphins continue to chirrup excitedly, trying to get someone to play with them as they weave in and out and do tricks. "Why'd you come here, Alex?"

Jade's hand rises to sweep the soaked hair from his face. It is now wet, tears lost in those of an artificial ocean; eyes pinched, but not from the glare of a nonexistant sun. He splashes, starting to rise, calling over, "Wendy... Wendy... I don't even -hope- you'll believe me after... after what I told you... but I only wrote you all... all that -shit-... because I so wanted you to be happy, with someone..." His head shakes from side to side, his tone desperate. "I love you... and I am so, so sorry..." And his expression bears utter, utter anguish, his eyes the manic terror of loss.

Tyler's eyes blink several times as she watches him, as if he were a shark swimming up on her. "You huh-hurt me so I'd be happy? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, Alex." She swims toward one of the dolphins and it happily saddles up beside her. She runs her hand over the smooth side of it, caressing it. "I don't know who you are, maybe I never did. Maybe I just fell in love with a dream. But how am I supposed to believe you? You don't lie to those you love."

"I thought..." Jade turns, eyes closing, stooping, as if he can't face what he's done, and sees its horror made flesh in the midst of photons and forcefields before him. A sob wracks him a moment. "I thought I... could let you go... for your own happiness. I've been a -shit-..." He staggers again, backward, losing whatever 'dramatic' emphasis was meant on that word as he falls, held aloft from the waves by a backsplayed hand. He shifts, steadies, still half submerged. "Wendy, please, please, please...I'm a stupid bastard, please... please believe me... I will never lie to you again. Please...I'm so sorry..." Towards the end, he loses coherency, emotion, in what was once the most guarded of men, overpowering all controls. No sense, no tactics. Almost a prayer.

Tyler sighs softly and dunks under the water, then comes back up, pulling her hair out of her eyes. "I just need the truth out of you, Alex, once and for all. I can't keep going back and forth being hurt all the time. I spent hours on this beach crying because of you, because the one person I loved in this whole terrible, horrible galaxy betrayed me, and I don't want to cry any more. I've made a couple of decisions about how my life is going to go from now on, and I don't need anyone interfering in that." If she knows she's not stuttering, she's not let on. She just paddles, keeping her head afloat. The waves are not violent at all here in the lagoon side, they roll in gently by the time they have reached here. As if to mark an exclamation point to her statement, though, a dolphin shoots out of the water behind her, does a forward flip, and lands with a splash. She doesn't even glance its way.

Jade pushes himself up again, an action that would probably be helped were he paying attention, rather than hanging on every word of the girl before him. "The truth?" He coughs, nods, straightening, stepping forward. "The truth, Wendy... the truth is that I still don't know if I can live as I have without your love. Your decision is made... I still have mine to make, of how to..." He swallows, wading forward again, pushing the water back with his hands. "How to cope with all of this. The truth... is that I'm a fool. The truth is that, though he is no enemy, no evil man, I resent the part Jinn has played in preventing either he and you, or you and I, being happy. The truth is... that..." He's exerted, slightly out of breath. "Is that I tried to push you away so I'd have done -something- noble... so you could be -somehow- happy..." Voice quieter now. He reaches up, to the back of his neck, grasps something, and starts to draw it forward. "The truth is that I love you, Wendy, and I will love you until my last breath." His hand extends. In it is the chord of his ankh, the metal symbol hanging down. A beat. "Please take it. Even if you don't take my words, or my love, or my apology... I'll drop it if you don't... because I would not have a thing to live for here, if you hated me. Nothing." He swallows again. "That's the truth."

Tyler watches him remove it and extend it to her. She looks between it and him for a few moments, trying to judge the sincerity of his words, his actions and his eyes. "It had nothing to do with nobility, telling me you used me. It had everything to do with hurting me, though. And it has. I'll be your friend, Jade, but I don't know when I'll be able to trust you again. If ever." She doesn't take his ankh, though, she just continues paddling and watching him.

The sound of the metal hitting the water is almost certainly drowned by the noise of the dolphins, the lapping of water, the moving air. Jade's hand remains extended for a moment, his eyes darting to his open hand, briefly, as if checking he really dropped it. "It... I know. I never wanted to..." He steps back. Then again. "I don't deserve you anyway." That clear, almost spat, at himself, face twisting momentarily. "Thank you... and I pray... you will trust me again, my love." His eyes rise from the water to Tyler's. "I will not live until you do." That half-whispered. He steps back again, but does not - or cannot - turn.

Tyler sighs softly as she watches it fall into the water and sink. She watches him backpedal, but makes no move to advance. A dolphin squeaks by her and she reaches over to it and grabs its back fin. It pulls away, and pulls her with it as she takes a quick gasp of air and disappears under water with the creature.

Jade watches the ripples for a moment, swallowing, face shimmering in a gentle confusion. Lines still adorn his cheeks and temple, red his eyes, as he steps back again, then half turns, wading almost sideways, towards the shore. An end to the meeting?

When Jade has left, Tyler ends the program, and in a flash, the beach has disappeared only to be replaced with the metal grid of the holosuite walls. Crying softly, she bends down and picks up the ankh that Jade has left behind. She whimpers softly as she drapes the leather strap around her neck, tucking it behind the neoprene of her wetsuit.