Author's Note * S1, Ep: “Flyer” Deanne Bray later went on to portray Sue Thomas; F.B. Eye

NNL Sphere Hangar 1300 hrs

“Parker, what are your chronometer readings?” Ballard asked, shouting up to the Sphere's open door. The boyish chrononaut poked his head out the opening. From his high roost, Parker could see the tower where Ramsey and Talmadge were talking heatedly. He quickly wrote down the information and walked it down to Ballard.

“What are Ramsey and Talmadge arguing about?” Frank asked a confused expression on his chiseled features.

“The prisoners they detained this morning.” Jarod spoke from behind Parker.

“What prisoners?” Parker sounded irritated at having to talk to the good doctor. Jarod's dark, hawkish eyes stared at the two figures overhead.

“If I'm reading their lips correctly, they're talking about a crazy woman and two men. Ramsey says something about having two crazy Parkers on base.” Frank stared up too, but couldn't make heads nor tails of the conversation.

“Ah, Dr. Seaborg, you read lips?” Ballard's eyes shone with curiosity, “I bet that comes in handy.”

“It has its uses, yes.” Jarod answered, still focused on the two men overhead.

“Where did you learn to lip read, Jarod?” Ramsey walked away, fuming, so the Pretender came back down to earth.

“Oh, I learned from a deaf, FBI agent while test piloting for a private aerospace company, excuse me, gentlemen.” Jarod took off toward the tower. (*)Ballard and Frank looked at each other, both extremely confused.

“What's his malfunction?” Frank wondered aloud, one eyebrow lifted. Ballard just shrugged.

Scene Break

The Centre February 8

Angelo sat on the cold, cement floor of the sub level only a few yards above hell. His light eyes didn't mind the lack of light as he searched the dry, stale, document boxes. A pen light gripped between his teeth provided the only light to see by. Angelo had already read most of the sixty boxes of files about Project Backstep. Most of the documents were things like requisitions for materials, weather reports or other useless information. The emoto-sponge didn't know what he sought, but he knew it would be in Backstep files. With his usual, disjointed fashion, Angelo thew aside all the unnecessary file folders. He dug in the bottom of the box, his hands covered in spider webs and decades old dust, the empath heard a baby's cry. Fear and confusion hung in the air like dust motes. Angelo pulled the file from the bottom of the box of hanging files. Someone had tried to hide the file. The Centre, in metallic leaf still glittered in the weak beam of Angelo's pen light. Rocking back and forth, the empath flipped through medical records until he came to a birth certificate. Touching the tiny foot print on the proof of live birth, blue lines of electricity and feelings of disorienting weightlessness over took Angelo. Flashing images of natural disasters, mass destruction and violence threatened to short circuit him.

“Major Charles, Conundrum,” Angelo repeated the words in turn as he let go of the file, scattering the contents. Breathing heavily and still charged by the adrenaline rush, he rocked furiously.

Scene Break

NNL February 8

“Jarod, hello, I've been...” Olga stopped herself from finishing the sentence. Instead she smiled brightly and pulled her glasses off.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Vulkovitch.” The genius smiled, feeling awkward around the beautiful, Russian scientist.

“With all that's happened I haven't been able to tell you I had a wonderful time last night.” Olga fiddled with her wire framed glasses as she talked. Their voices sounded hollow in the seemingly endless, cement halls. Even in fluorescent lighting, Jarod noticed how lovely the lady scientist looked. He easily saw why Frank misinterpreted him as a rival. On the surface the scientist and chrononaut were complete opposites.

“Last night was great.” The bashful Pretender agreed. Inside he squirmed to get away. He had other things to do, but he didn't want to brush her off.

“Dr. Seaborg, there you are, Talmadge is calling a meeting, right now in the conference room.” Craig Donovan turned the corner, Frank on his heels.

“I thought perhaps you would like to have dinner again sometime.” Olga began, speaking very quietly as she led the way towards the required meeting. Jarod could feel Franks' cold, dark eyes boring into the back of his head.

“Olga, you still owe me a movie date from Tuesday, remember?” Frank interrupted, jogging a few steps to catch up. Daggers nearly shot out of the scientist's light blue eyes. Donovan hung back, taking it all in with a weary sigh. Frank could be persistent and sometimes obnoxious.

“We can discuss that later, Mr. Parker.” She spoke through gritted teeth. By the time Olga turned around Jarod had disappeared into the conference room. The chrononaut saw him moving fast toward the door.

“Looks like Einstein just gave you the slip.” Frank would have rubbed it in or died trying. Even Donovan had to hide a smirk.

Jarod breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind him. The rest of the BS team had already assembled around the oval table.

“Are you still treading water in the Bermuda Triangle, my boy?” Mentnor asked as Jarod took a seat beside him.

“Barely, Sir, I feel as if the sharks are circling.” Jarod spoke in a conspiratorial tone. Both men shook their heads.

“Alright everyone, I have more bad news.” Talmadge took control of the meeting immediately. “Reports have arrived from DC, a school was hit with sound waves, all teachers and students are reported dead.” Ramsey played the news cast on mute.

“The terrorists have threatened the White House next if their demands aren't met.” Lumps formed in the team's throats as Talmadge finished the report for Ramsey.

“What school was it, Bradley?” Frank asked, concern in his eyes, his voice taking on an edge.

“It wasn't your son's school, Frank.” Talmadge answered matter of factly. The chrononaut breathed a guilty sigh of relief. His son, Jimmy, was alright, but other innocent children hadn't been so lucky. Jarod stared at the television screen but didn't really see it. He could fix this, he would fix this.

“Has the Panel given us clearance to Backstep, Sir?” Frank asked, leaned forward on the table.

“Not yet, Frank, they're still gathering information on the Dark Moon Group, be ready at a moment's notice.” Talmadge finished the briefing with the latest information gathered on the terrorists. Jarod slipped away from the others as soon as he could.

Scene Break