When the call showed up on Juli's connection gear the next day, she didn't hesitate to answer. "Well?"

"Well what?"

Juli sighed. "You know what I mean, Doctus. The data you had Ziggurat 8 retrieve from the terrorist base. Were you able to analyze it?"

"To some extent, yes, and it's a good thing he got it out of there when he did. All the terminals on board were set to upload their contents and then wipe themselves clean, so the recovery crew that came back for the bodies probably didn't find anything even if they bothered to look."

"Which might be a good thing," said Juli. "I'm not so sure I trust the Federation government lately. Are we the only ones who know about this?"

"Aside from the Scientia personnel who worked on the analysis, yes. It's pretty badly fragmented, and some of it is written in a code we don't understand, but we did learn some very interesting things from the rest of it."

"Such as?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time to explain it all right now, but I think we may have found your secret network. I'll send you the full analysis so you can look over it yourself. Oh, and it might be in your best interest to discuss it with Jan when he's firing on all cylinders again. How's he doing, by the way?"

Juli's breath caught, and she turned away from the screen. "He's all right. You know he was in shock after the incident at the base. But he's been undergoing maintenance in the AMN lab, and he doesn't seem to have sustained any permanent damage. MOMO is with him now."

"That's good to hear. I figured he'd snap out of it eventually. He's lucky to have you and MOMO to look after him."

"Well, we all look out for each other, these days." She paused, realizing something. "Did you just call him Jan?"

It was the first time Juli had seen Doctus caught off guard, and her startled expression passed in an instant. "Isn't that what you call him?"

"Well, yes, but ...." Juli hesitated, and decided not to press the issue. If any course of action was in her best interest, it probably didn't involve putting Doctus on the defensive. "Do you really think it's wise to discuss the data with him so soon after the incident?"

"I think it would be unwise not to. If there's one thing I've learned in my time at Scientia, it's that you can't protect people from the truth. Not forever, anyway. Not if you want to earn their trust. He trusts you, doesn't he?"

"I never really thought of it that way, but yes, I suppose he does."

"Then you owe it to him to tell him, no matter how painful the truth may be. Otherwise, you might end up regretting it." She paused for a few moments too long--enough for Juli to guess that she spoke from experience--but then she continued hurriedly, as if to compensate for letting down her guard again. "I don't suppose you've heard of the Ambassador Lock-Up Incident? The Pilgrimage Meeting of 4667?"

"No, but ... wait, didn't those incidents have something to do with a case he worked on in his past life?" Juli vaguely remembered having read about them when she reviewed his files in consideration for the Pleroma mission three years ago. It occurred to her to wonder how Doctus knew, but Doctus had access to all kinds of information through Scientia; she could easily have downloaded his personal records, even the classified ones. Now that Juli thought about it, that was probably how Doctus had found out his real name.

"That's right, and not just any case. It was the last case he ever investigated."

"Oh." Juli forced a tight smile. "You mean the one that resulted in his suicide. Well, I'm sure he'd love to be reminded of that."

"I'm afraid he's had something of an unwelcome reminder already. There are uncanny similarities between those two incidents and what happened in Patmos yesterday. Look up the case history if you don't believe me. The official accounts are pretty heavily censored, but you'll get the idea."

"I'll take your word for it," said Juli. "But the events you're referring to must have happened more than a century ago. Do you really think there's a relevant connection here?"

"I don't know, but I certainly don't think it's just a coincidence. Either this is some kind of copycat crime, some history buff's idea of a sick joke, or .... Well, let's hope it's just someone's idea of a joke."

"If it is, it's not funny."

"I never said I shared their sense of humor. But I'd prefer that were the case over just about every other explanation I can think of. For now, I'll get back to you if we figure out how to analyze the rest of that data. I understand MOMO is busy at the moment, but when you see her, would you mind asking her to get in touch with me? Tell her I have a little homework assignment for her to do."

Juli nodded. "Of course. I'll let her know."

∞

When Juli had finished her work for the day, she left her office in the SOCE complex and headed over to the AMN center. The building had a suite of maintenance labs on its lower level; Ziggy used them whenever he had to undergo any procedure more extensive than his routine maintenance at home, or when he was due for a complete diagnostic scan to ensure all his systems were working properly.

Taking the elevator downstairs, she located the room they were using, pressed the call button by the door, and waited. After a few seconds the door slid open and MOMO stepped out into the hallway. "Mommy? You're here early."

"I tried to get my work done as quickly as I could," said Juli. Without realizing it, she had lowered her voice to the level people tended to use in hospitals or when someone was asleep nearby. "How is he?"

"I think he's feeling better," said MOMO in the same near-whisper. "He just woke up before you got here. His readings are back to normal, and he's not all ... quiet like he was when he came back from the mission. That's good, right?"

"I certainly hope so." Juli took both of MOMO's hands in her own and looked into her eyes. She and MOMO were about the same height now--if anything, MOMO stood a few inches taller--and it felt strange not having to bend down anymore to make eye contact. "Thank you for taking care of him. Is it all right if I go inside?"

"Um ... well ...." A worried look crossed MOMO's face, but then she gave a hesitant nod. "Sure, I don't think he'd mind. He probably wants to see you."

"All right. By the way, Doctus asked if you would call her when you get the chance. She said she might have an assignment for you, something to do with the data we recovered from--well, you know," she concluded abruptly, with an anxious glance at the closed door to the lab.

MOMO followed her gaze to the door. "I understand. I'll go talk to her now." She headed back down the hallway, and Juli stared after her until she disappeared around a corner. Then she keyed her own access code into a panel beside the door and went inside.

She found him seated in the maintenance unit in the center of the room, not leaning against the back of the chair as usual, but doubled forward, with his elbows propped on his knees and his head in his hands. His shoulders rose and fell in time with his breathing and with the steady pulse of the machines around him.

"Jan. It's me."

"I know." He didn't look up.

"MOMO ... said you were doing better."

He nodded, taking his hands away from his face. "I didn't want to worry her."

Swallowing hard, Juli turned toward one of the monitors and pretended to study it intently; it was easier to see him rendered into numbers and abstract data than to look him in the eyes now. "Jan, I ... I'm sorry. This was all my fault. If I hadn't ...."

"It's not your fault. You might as well say I was to blame for taking on an assignment I couldn't handle. I thought I knew my own limitations, but it seems I overestimated myself."

The data on the screen grew blurred and watery and she blinked to clear her eyes. "You didn't know," she said. "None of us had any idea what we were getting into. If we had, we all would have made better choices. Even so, I feel personally responsible for my part in what happened. I sent you into a dangerous situation unprepared, and if I hadn't been so impulsive, so anxious to prove I had a solution to a problem we knew almost nothing about, you never would have had to ...." But the knot in her throat kept her from saying more, and she tried to force it down as the screen in front of her wavered into a smear of greenish light.

From behind, she heard him get up, the shifting and settling of his weight followed by the heavy thud of his steps on the tiled floor, and she pulled her eyes away from the screen and turned to find him standing over her. He reached out with his right hand, and his gloved fingers traced the line of her jaw and passed lightly over the curve of her mouth as if urging her to silence. He closed his eyes and let his arm fall back to his side. "I don't blame you for what happened. You chose what you thought was the best course of action based on the information you had, and I did the same."

Juli swallowed again, but the solid thing blocking her throat hadn't moved. She wanted to thank him, but the words never came. Instead she leaned into him and he drew his arm around her. When she could speak again, she said, "There's something else I have to tell you. A few things, actually. And I'm afraid they might be hard for you to hear."

"Go ahead."

She nodded. "I got the report from the recovery crew. There was nothing you could have done to save those people. The terrorists never had any intention of keeping them alive; it seems they were planning to kill them along with the refugees and themselves. Even if you had managed to get them off the ship, it's not likely they would have survived for more than a few hours."

He said nothing in return, but she felt something tighten in his chest as he held her, so maybe he had already known or suspected as much.

"Jan, they ...." She hesitated, afraid to go on. "The hostages had all been brainjacked. Probably not long after they were taken prisoner, judging by the autopsy results. We still have no idea how it happened." Hacking into another user's mind was not only illegal, it was also next to impossible under the new security measures programmed into the AMN.

He was silent again, and didn't speak until she was convinced he wasn't going to. "I know."

His posture had changed, as if he had withdrawn from her without moving. She stepped back and tried to meet his gaze, but he was staring at something in the distance, something beyond the walls of this room, perhaps beyond this place and time altogether. And what she saw in his eyes terrified her. She had been frightened when she saw him after the mission, flat-eyed and staring at nothing, his expression so completely devoid of affect it made his usual manner seem theatrical. Now she wasn't sure which was worse--his shock or the way he looked now.

She tried to continue as if she hadn't noticed. "I also received word from Doctus, and based on Scientia's analysis of the data you recovered, it appears the terrorist attacks we've been seeing aren't the work of isolated groups. They're part of a network that's being coordinated somehow, by some other entity, although it's not clear yet who's behind this or what their motive is."

"I had suspected that as well." He relaxed his stance slightly, and when she looked again his face had lost that terrible distant gaze.

"There's another thing. Ah ... I wasn't going to bring this up, but Doctus thought .... I mean, she seemed to think it would be appropriate to mention it to you, since you've had experience with something like this before. She said there were similarities between yesterday's incident and a case you were investigating in your former life. I'm not at all convinced there's a connection," she hastened to add, "but there's the possibility your past experience might come in useful somehow, especially if this pattern of attacks continues." Juli took a step back, searching his face for any sign of distress, but he showed no reaction at all to what she had just said.

"I understand. I can't promise I'll be of much help in that regard, since my memories of that time are still fragmented, and I can't retrieve them at will. But if my experience can be used to prevent other incidents from occurring, I'll contribute whatever information I can recall."

Juli nodded, biting her lip. She hadn't expected him to respond rationally, but maybe he'd recovered control of himself, called himself back from the edge of whatever abyss he'd been staring into a few moments before. "Thank you," she said. "I know this must be hard for you, but please remember that you aren't alone anymore. I'm here, and so is MOMO. You've done so much for us, and the least we can do in return is to give you our support, for whatever it's worth."

"It's more than enough. I appreciate it." For the first time in several minutes he lowered his gaze and made eye contact with her. "But it sounds as though you and MOMO still have a difficult time ahead of you as well. I'd rather you focused on protecting yourselves instead of worrying about me."

She gave a desperate hiccup of a laugh and pulled him closer. "I can't not worry about you. I have to worry. So, please ... let me protect you for once."

"Juli."

"What?"

"You don't need to do anything more than what you've always done. If it weren't for you and MOMO, I ...."