Part 1

Crysta nodded. "At least, that's what they tell us."

Nick whistled. "I didn't think our exploits would be so advertised."

Susan bit her lip. Well, it was a job, and it was also a chance to earn some money. The last few weeks had been hard on her pocket, with Kathy's latest obsession with fashion.

Even so....

"Dian Industries is so large, I'm sure they can afford to hire their own security," Peter pointed out. "Why pick us?"

"Well," Crysta said, looking at the report that the brass had given her, "it appears that the foreman is especially paranoid. Seems to think that some of our old friends has a grudge against the project."

"The Apocalypse?"

"Who else?"

"So the brass pointed at us for the job?" Ril asked.

"Well, we do have the most experience with this particular anti-human group."

"So where's this construction project?" Susan asked.

Crysta told her.

Ril looked at Susan. "You sure you want to go through with this?"

Susan nodded, looking out of the window. She could see various shapes buried under the ground.

The door opened, and the group stepped out into the open.

Susan looked around. After so many years, everything was still unchanged. The land, the forest.....

The memories.....

"You the new security team?" a large man asked.

"Alpha group, reporting for duty," Nick said, saluting. "Nicholas Connelly, at your service."

The man grunted. "Ben Harrelson. I'm the foreman here."

Nar looked at him. It was clear that Harrelson was extremely xenophobic. "Where do you want us to start, sir?" he asked.

Harrelson grunted again, and ignored Nar. Instead, he turned to Kathy. "Just keep all troublemakers out. And tell your other friends not to cause any trouble, either."

They watched him go. Peter was the first to break the silence. "Well, that was pleasant."

"We have to work for HIM?" Ril said disgustedly.

Crysta shrugged. "He's the one who pays us. We're gonna be here for the next two weeks. Or until the Apocalypse attacks, whichever comes first."

"That's not something that's gonna inspire confidence," Kavi muttered.

Kathy nudged Susan. "You okay?"

"Hm?" Susan jerked out of her reverie. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You looked lost for a moment there. Are you sure you want to continue? You can go back now."

Susan shook her head. "No, I'm sure I want to go through with this. If nothing else, maybe it'll help me forget all that happened."

"Memories are the hardest things to get rid of," Kathy said cryptically.

"What?"

"Nothing. C'mon, Sarah's giving us our mission plan."

"Sounds serious."

"Knowing Sarah, it probably is."

Susan was doing just that. She was idly looking at the plans for the electrical wiring of the system, and in the process brushing up on her Practical Electronics. The memories of ten years ago were firmly brushed aside. In fact, Susan could almost pretend that she was somewhere else.

She felt a presence. In addition, she also felt a headache come on.

Hello there.

Susan blinked. On only one other occasion had she heard anything inside her head. Yet this was different....

She turned, and saw a Zed looking critically at her.

"Uh..... hello," she said, unable to think of any other replies.

It's not often we meet a human with the Gift.

"The..... Gift?"

Be seeing you. The Zed left.

Susan stared at his back. "That was strange," she commented to herself.

"What's up?"

Susan saw Peter walking towards her. "Oh, hi."

Peter glanced at the Zed. "What did he want?"

"I have no idea." The headache was retreating. "He just told me something about the Gift."

"Gift?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

The two of them looked at the commotion around them in silence. After a while, Peter said softly, "You're sad, aren't you?"

Susan looked surprised. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one thing, you're holding my hand rather tightly."

Susan immediately let go. "I guess I am," she admitted as Peter tried to restore circulation into his hand. "I mean, I can just close my eyes, and walk around without falling into anything. I grew up here. It's not something you'd easily forget."

"Does it bother you that they're building a corporate building here?"

"Not.... really. This is far enough from where my village was. I think it's somewhere to the east."

"Even so...."

"Look, do you have a point to all this?" Susan asked irritatedly. "I don't like remembering the past too often."

"But you can't help it, can you?" Peter pointed at a passing Rachallian. "Every time you see one of them, you remember this place."

Susan's expression grew frosty. "Excuse me." She turned to go.

Peter watched her leave. "Damn," he muttered.

The construction worker glanced at the spot Nar was pointing at. "Oh, that's a Rachallian hole. We're not going to build over that, don't worry."

"Rachallian hole?" Ril asked confusedly.

Nar shrugged. "The Rachallians dig holes in the ground. They live in an underground city, which.... er...."

"Is forty miles from here," the construction worker finished for him. "Far enough away for this building not to interfere with them."

"I see. Anyway, the Rachallians dig holes, which allow them to come up to the surface."

"Then why a hole here? I mean, it is a bit far."

Nar shrugged. "Who knows what they think? But it's a possible security hazard. Anyone can just use this tunnel to pop in and out as they wish."

Sarah had remained expressionless and silent during this whole exchange. Now, she started tapping into her laptop.

The construction worker looked at her speculatively. "What's she doing?"

"She's inputting all the possible security hazards that we found so far," Nar told him.

The construction worker shrugged. "Better not let the boss see you doing anything suspicious. I'm not one to talk, but I think that there's something seriously wrong with him. Major paranoia, if you know what I mean."

"We know," Ril said.

"Good. And we never had this conversation." The worker strode off.

Damn that Peter! He had no idea what she was going through. To be back here after ten years..... it was simply too much. He had no right to say what she should be feeling and thinking.

Of course, part of the reason Susan felt so angry was because she knew Peter was right.

Damn him, damn him, damn him, damn him......

"Hey."

Susan whirled around. She found herself in a fighting stance, and forced herself to relax. An enemy wouldn't say "hey".

The speaker turned out to be a F'Val. He was handsome in a way, and was rather tall. His voice was smooth and reassuring. All that pointed to a very civilized upbringing.

One thing that definitely wasn't civilized, however, was the clear hostility in his eyes.

"What're you doing here?" the F'Val asked harshly.

So much for smooth and reassuring voice, Susan thought. "I'm here for the scenery," she said. "If that bothers you, go somewhere else."

The F'Val scowled. "Damn kid. Go back to your User friends on the construction site."

Suddenly everything clicked. This was an anti-human F'Val she was talking to. Susan had had enough of racism for the rest of her life. "Fine," she said snippily. "I suggest you go back to your anti-human friends as well."

Susan forced herself to walk calmly away. She could feel the other's eyes glaring at her. She could also feel that accursed headache coming back.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him going towards the construction site. Where he would probably be torn apart by that xenophobic foreman.

Serves him right for being such a racist jerk.

Even so.....

"Damn it all," Susan muttered, as she ran towards him. After all, she was a Guardian first, last, and always.

"Bear with it," Kavi said. "We're almost done."

Nick looked around wearily while waiting for Kavi to finish setting up the security alert beacon. The device would allow them to be forewarned, in case any unauthorized personnel decided to drop in.

Nick spotted a small round object on the ground. "Hey, what's that?"

Kavi glanced up. "I dunno. I think it's some kind of construction debris."

"Hm...." Nick called up a search on that object. He watched as the display on the inside of his goggles counted down the seconds.

On impulse, he went to pick it up. At least, try to pick it up. The object wouldn't budge.

"That's odd," he mused, just as the minicomputer inside his goggles finished the search.

"Aw, SHIT!"

"What do you want?" he snarled. "I thought I told you to go back!"

"I am going back. This is the way to the construction site, isn't it?"

"Get out of my way, User."

"What IS your problem, anyhow?"

"Get out of my damn way!"

Susan could see some commotion or something in the distance. Nick was running and waving his arms like a madman.

"Say, what's going on here-" Susan started, when the F'Val made a dash for it.

"Come back here!" Susan made a running tackle, and both of them went down.

The F'Val was about to let loose a curse, but all hell broke loose instead.

Harrelson glared at the people gathered before him. "I hire you all to maintain security, and this is what I GET?!"

"Actually, sir-" Nar started, when he was silenced by the foreman shouting, "SHUT UP!!"

The workman on the scene raised his hand. "With all due respect, boss," he said, "they did manage to clear us all out, and they somehow made sure the bomb did only minor damage. Nothing we can't fix in a day."

"One day of repairs! Pah! That's one bloody day behind schedule!"

The group left the foreman ranting to his subordinate. Ril tapped Peter's shoulder. "By the way, where's Susan?"

Peter shrugged. "I dunno. She left for the river some time ago, and I haven't seen her since."

"I have seen her," Kathy cut in. "I think she was heading there...." Kathy trailed off as she realized that her finger was pointing at the great big smoking hole that was the former location of the bomb.

"Uh oh."