Multiverse by Margo Ryor
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MULTIVERSE

Everybody here belongs to Sandy Franks; except Dr. Nambu who is the property of Tatsunoko; and Dr. Teresa Sukya-ti on loan with thanks from Heather Leanne Graves.

Chapter Three: Where Am I?
Part Two: Center Neptune; Headquarters of Galaxy Security



Nambu lay quietly on the examination table looking up at the scanner positioned over his head. A white coated doctor studied the readouts, smiled, "Everything looks normal here."

*But not here.* Nambu thought grimly.

"Oh thank goodness!" fluted a voice. Nambu's eyes slid sideways to 7-Zark-7 visible on monitor in his numbered sweater, and repressed a shudder.

"How are you feeling, sir?" the doctor asked, a hint of carefully shielded concern in his eyes.

*Of course, he's seen the chemical levels, knows I'm under stress.* "Tired." Nambu replied honestly, *Also confused and upset.*

The sight of an intact Crescent Coral, Center Neptune as these people called it, had rattled him badly. Opened up a Pandora's box of grief and regrets. He had seen this base destroyed, the man talking to him now had been one of the casualties.

"He should rest." said Mark from the sidelines, "We can do the debriefing tomorrow."

"Whatever you say, Commander." the robot agreed sycophantically.



"There are two possibilities," Nambu told the bewildered reflection in the mirror. "One; I'm suffering from full blown teleport dementia," he grimaced, "which would account for that robot." Certainly 7-Zark-7 defied rational explanation. Nambu shuddered at the memory, continued his ruminations.

"Two; Gel Sadra's messed up again and somehow managed to project me into a parallel universe." Which left him with the formidable problem of finding a way back to his own world, it would be simpler to be insane.

He rubbed his eyes wearily, *Leave it, Kozaburo, you're to tired to be rational tonight.* turned to open the door with the wry thought, *Maybe I'll wake up and find it's all been a dream.*

He was unsuprised to find the G-Force Team casually disposed around his bedroom, confident of their welcome and prepared to help him unwind just as his own children would have done.

The bed was turned down, with a tea tray on the table beside it. He took the hint and got in. Keyop promptly climbed on next to him. Nambu put an arm around the boy with a wistful thought for Jinpei, now all of thirteen and far to old for cuddling.

Princess offered a cup of tea, he eyed it with mock suspicion. "You didn't make this, did you?" realized, to late, that the usual jokes might be a mistake.

But she giggled, just as Jun would have. "'Course not!"

"We wouldn't do that to you, Chief," Tiny put in, muching a cookie, "You've suffered enough for one day."

Princess made as if to pour tea on Tiny's head. Mark blocked her and wrestled the teapot away amid much giggling.

Nambu breathed a sigh of relief as the pot was finally returned safe to its tray. "You've had a fairly bad day yourselves." he observed carefully, fishing for information.

"At first we thought you'd been killed in the crash." Jason said flatly, covering his emotion just as Joe would have.

"I'm sorry." Nambu replied sincerely, wondered *What crash?*

"We're sorry it took us so long to find you." Mark returned. "we didn't even start looking until you were overdue back from Capital City."

"Go easy on Zark, Chief," Princess put in. "he's feeling pretty bad about it."

"He's not programmed to track my movements." said Nambu *I hope!*

"You know Zark," she shrugged, "he always blames himself when something goes wrong around here."

"Especially when it's got to do with you or us." Mark agreed.

"It's not his fault," Nambu said firmly, "I'll have to make that clear." *Interesting, apparently they're emotionally attached to that dreadful robot.* It cast a new light on 7-Zark-7.

Involuntarily his eyes closed, he forced them back open in time to see Princess exchange a significant glance with Mark.

*She's drugged the tea.* he thought, annoyed rather than alarmed. Jun had pulled the same trick on him once or twice when she thought he was overworking. "Princess." he managed to slur reproachfully.

She blushed. "It's just a relaxant to help you get to sleep."

"I told her to do it." Mark continued. "You're all wound up, Chief, anybody can see that."

"Mark-" Nambu began, was interupted.

"Don't try to talk about it now." the Commander said gently, "tomorrow's soon enough."

"You're very sure of that." Nambu murmured, giving up the struggle and letting his heavy lids close.

"If it was urgent you'd have spat it out the minute we found you." Mark replied.

Nambu left himself drift off into unconsciousness, only dimly aware of Keyop and Princess' good night kisses and a very thorough tucking in.



Dr. Teresa Sukya-ti stood in the elevator to NCC, arms piled high with rolled futons, a lightweight silk quilt and one or two other items, talking to herself.

"I will have a new attitude towards my job." she was muttering, "I will be cheerful, courteous and co-operative."

*A regular girl scout,* a scornful voice in her head responded, *blend right in with 7-Zark-7 and G1.*

"Hey, it's not so bad, it'll look good on my resume; 'Assistant Director of Nerve Center Control'. Who outside of Center Neptune's gonna know that means playing side-kick to a tin can?"

*Yeah, but what kind of references will you get?*

"Shut up!" she snapped, "You will be cheerful!"

The elevator stopped. She glued a smile to her face and exited into NCC. "Hi, Zark, hi, 1-Rover-1. I'm back."

"Bai! Bai!" the robot dog barked agreeably.

Zark glided forward. "Welcome home, Doctor, your contribution was sorely missed."

*I'll bet.*

"What are you carrying?"

"Just a few things to make it more comfortable up here." Teresa answered. *I got tired of waiting for requisitions to get off their bleeding arses.*

She dropped a futon to the floor. "Something to sit on in here. And these are for when I get a chance to nap." tossed the other futon and the quilt into the next room. Turned to her robotic superior and handed him a plastic Phoenix. "This is for you."

He held it carefully in both hands, seemed to stare at it in some bewilderment dispite his lack of face.

"It's a model of the Phoenix." Teresa explained. "If you open it up," she did, "you see, it comes with five little action figures of the team."

"Thank you, Doctor." he said, added wonderingly, "No one has ever given me a present before."

"Um, ulp." *Oh Hell, he's going to go all mushy on me!* she hastily produced a large black wrench. "This is for Rover, it's rubber, be a lot safer to throw up here." Teresa tossed it to the robot dog who caught it neatly.

"Say thank you to Dr. Sukya-ti." Zark ordered.

"Bai! bai!"

"That was very thoughtful of you, Doctor," he continued to Teresa.

She blushed, shifted uncomfortably. "It's nothing really," she mumbled, "just a couple of cheap toys."

"It's the thought that counts." Zark replied firmly.

"Yeah, so they tell me." She quickly changed the subject. "Anything interesting happen while I was away?" *That oughta be good for a few hours' listening pleasure.* she thought, flopping down on her futon.

"Oh yes!" 7-Zark-7's antennae snapped upright. "Goodness, I nearly forgot--but of course you wouldn't know."  Dramatic pause. "Chief Anderson was captured by Spectra!"

"Say WHAT?"

"Chief Anderson was captured by Spectra,"  the robot repeated obligingly.

"Bloody, bloody hell!" It just wasn't sinking in. Teresa stared at her superior, desperately willing him to laugh and say it was just a joke. *But robots never joke.*

Zark shook his head, antennae drooping morosely. "It was terrible, Doctor. I haven't been so overloaded since the sinking of Center Neptune!"

She gave a harsh bark of laughter, "And now we're sunk again!" *Gods and saints, wasn't once enough? That's it. We've had it!* "How?" she croaked, "How did they pull this one off? When?" *And why in hell aren't we evacuating?!*

"By teleport," Zark said blithely.

*Of course!* Teresa thought savagely *happens everyday!*

"and just under two days ago." he continued, antenae dropping even lower. "I blame myself, I was unforgivably remiss in my duties. Why, the Chief was missing nearly twenty-four hours before I even realized there was something wrong!" A prerecorded human sigh. "Fortunately, the Team rescued him, but he was in Zoltar's hands for over thirty hours. My circuitry just curls when I think of what he must have suffered -"

"Hold it." Teresa signalled for a time-out. "'Rescued.' You mean we got him back?"

"Oh yes." The Can heaved another sigh, this one worshipful. "G-force saved him!"

Her blood pressure sank several points and she became conscious of a budding headache. Sighed, "Thank God for that."

Not that his continued absence wouldn't have solved some of her problems. . . she shook off the thought angrily, scorned herself for entertaining it a second.

*Idiot! He's back and Zoltar can't pick his brains anymore--that's what counts! Not what he's got on you! Earth's survival's more important than your career!*

Her hands were shaking with reaction; she folded them carefully. *But what did he spill while he was in Zoltar's claws? Good God, the man's the key to our entire Security program! Earth's not out of the woods just because we got him back.*

"Has he been debriefed?" Teresa demanded aloud. "How much did he tell Zoltar?"

"Why, nothing, of course." Zark sounded faintly shocked.

*After thirty hours in enemy hands?  Come on, pull the other one!* she groaned silently. *He's no agent or G-force member: he's just another scientist when you come down to it! Sure he'd do his best to hold out, but they're certain to have cracked him in the time they had.*   

"In thirty hours? Forget it! You know what Spectra does to prisoners: drugs, torture, personal interviews with Zoltar -"

"Oh, please don't talk about it, Doctor!" the robot begged, wringing his hands, metal squeeking on metal like a rodent jam session. "I can't bear to think what he's been subjected to! And he's been so very forgiving, him and the Team-"

"You musn't blame yourself, Zark." she interupted firmly, toes curling as the mouse concerto increased tempo. "You're systems co-ordinator for Nerve Center Control, not the Chief's personal bodyguard." *I don't believe this, I'm reassuring a robot!*

That's what the team says." Zark admitted, antennae still drooping but at least he'd stopped wringing his hands, the mice took five. "He's safe now. I try to focus on that."

"Right, that's the ticket." she agreed heartily.

"Oh dear, all this upset has me neglecting my duties," the robot fussed, "the Rigan sector should have been checked fifteen seconds ago." He skimmed back to his monitors started tapping away on his keyboards at almost lightspeed.

Teresa waited til the tempo slowed a little before interupting with a further question. "Zark?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Where is the Chief now?"

"In his office, I presume." the robot replied in mild suprise, head unit swiveling to look back at her. "Where else would he be this time of day?"

*Hunh?!* "Zark," she said carefully, "It was my understanding - that is they taught us in basic orientation that rescued prisoners would be quarantined, debriefed and tested for brainwashing or implanted commands before being returned to duty."

"That is standard operating procedure." Zark agreed calmly. "But quite unneccessary in Chief Anderson's case."

*Hunh! Why?*

"Perhaps you would care to attend his debriefing? As my assistant your security clearance has been upgraded to permit it.

"Yeah, fine, thanks Zark." *Wot the Hell?*



Chief Anderson's office, unsuprisingly, proved to be in the same place and otherwise identical to Nambu's own office at Crescent Coral. His alter-ego's full name was Keith Anderson, his title Chief of Galaxy Security.

*Galaxy?!*

Doctor sorted quickly through the memoes and memoranda stacking the in-box. Status report from the Early Warning Station on Pluto; situation report from Planet Riga; memorandum on new rules of engagement for the Space Patrol; diplomatic dispatches from Planet Zarkadia and Arcturus System; transcript of the last meeting of the Intergalactic Federation Council.

*Intergalactic!* Nambu let the papers drop, buried his head in his hands. He'd had enough trouble coping with the UN Security Council and assorted national governments, the prospect of trying to manage an official branch of a Galaxy spanning Federation was intimidating to say the least.

*It would definitely be simpler to be insane!*

"Chief?"

Nambu straightened up, carefully adjusted his usuall deadpan. Mark stood in the doorway, the other four behind him, all eyeing him with visible concern.

"You feel up to a debriefing?"

"Yes, of course, Commander." Nambu replied with an effort at normalcy, "Please come in."

The Team settled themselves on their usual couches. The big monitor opposite the desk lit up showing 7-Zark-7, still in that ridiculous sweater, standing in the middle of Nerve Center Control with a tall, dark haired woman on his left hand, and to his right a gold toned metal dog with outsized head sitting up on its haunches watching Nambu with glowing red compound eyes. Doctor closed his own tightly. *That settles it, I am demented!*



Teresa didn't even notice the Chief at first, she was too busy gaping at G-Force. *Guess I've gone up another notch securitywise,* she thought trying to scrape her jaw off the floor, *I get to see them out of uniform.*

The Commander's face looked both younger and softer without the tinted clear-steel visor, the wide blue eyes troubled. *Shit! he can't be a day over eighteen!*

Even G2's lanky height and lean, hollow cheeked face had an adolescent cast when seen out of birdstyle. G3's pretty, heart shaped face and big green eyes belonged on a homecoming float not the deck of a fighting ship. G5 looked chubby, cherubic and worried like his commander, but G4 was the biggest shock of all.

*Sure I could see he was small, thought he'd been made that way on purpose, a sort of midget to get in spots the others couldn't reach. But he's just a little kid! ten, eleven? Hell, I'm no good at placing 'em that young!* Teresa's stomach twisted. *I don't believe it! We've got the safety of Earth and the Federation riding on five kids who should still be in school!*

Suddenly G3 started forward with a cry of alarm. Teresa's eye automatically tracked her to the desk where the Chief sat white faced, eyes tightly closed, like he was about to faint. *Hell!*

"Chief!" her voice sounded over the speaker, high and frightened, "are you all right?"

"Of course he's not all right!" Teresa heard herself snarl, "He's just spent thirty hours with Spectra's worst doing the fifth degree on him and you're all acting like it's business as usual!"

G1 looked up at the screen, Teresa quailed. *Did I say that? What am I nuts or something?* But the Commander only nodded.

"Dr. Sukya-ti is right, we're pushing it." he agreed. Turned to the Chief, now sipping a glass of water G3 had fetched him. "Maybe you should take a few days off, Chief, we could go up to the beach-house kick back and relax."



*Which is the delusion? the world I think I remember or the one I think I'm seeing?* Kozaburo Nambu wondered, closer to panic than he'd been since that unfortunate incident back in flight school involving Kentaro, a bottle of saki, two 'hostesses' from a local bar, and a squad of military police.

As always the memory triggered an inner smile, helping him regain some equilibrium. he sipped the water Princess gave him, willed his heart rate back to normal, his hands to stop trembling. *Don't jump to conclusions, Kozaburo, there's still the second hypothesis to be tested.* He realized Mark was talking to him. "I'm sorry, Commander, what did you say?"

"I was suggesting we all take some time off, a sort of family vacation." his foster son repeated, exchanging worried looks with his teamates.

Nambu glanced around the room. The kids looked scared to death, the unfamiliar woman on monitor furious, even the robot 7-Zark-7 seemed distraught; voxbox lights flashing in irregular sequence, antennae drooping almost to its nonexistent shoulders.

"That might be a very good idea." Doctor conceeded. "Apparently I'm not as recovered as I'd thought." *And I'm certainly not up to Anderson's workload!* " But I'd like to get the debriefing out of the way first."

For a moment he thought the Commander would refuse, then Princess leaned in, spoke softly in his ear. Nambu caught a few words, his hearing was much better than anyone, including his children, realized. "Trauma.....talk it out....what he needs..."

Mark nodded reluctantly and the kids settled uneasily back onto their couches. The woman, Dr. Sukya-ti, hesitated a moment then sat cross-legged on the floor beside Zark, their heads now on a level.

Nambu studied her curiously. Unlike most of the staff he didn't recognize her, was sure there had been no one like her at Crescent Coral. He got the impression that her concern, unlike the Team's or even Zark's, was quite impersonal, purely professional.

*Not a friend, or even a close associate.* he decided. *How does she fit in around here? Could she be that robot's programmer? If so I Think Anderson should have a serious word with her!*

Teresa shifted uncomfortably and Nambu abruptly realized he'd been staring the poor woman out of countenance for several seconds, quickly turned his eyes on Mark.

"Perhaps we could begin with your giving me some background, Commander?" Nambu suggested. "I'm afraid I don't remember anything about the actual capture." A lie. He remembered the fight in his cabin aboard the G-Town all to clearly. What he needed to know was how and where Anderson had vanished.

"Apparently they pulled you right out of your jet while you were flying to Capital City." Mark answered readily enough. "We found the wreckage on Heikki atoll."

"At first we thought you'd gone down with her." Jason continued, voice tense with remembered anguish.

Nambu ached in sympathy, wished he could have spared them that.    "When Prin didn't find a body we realized you must have gotten off somehow," Jason continued, "but the emergency chute and ejection seat were still in place."

"Root-a-toot Found your -tvworp- glasses." Keyop piped up, put them on the desk.

Nambu picked them up, examined the twisted frames and cracked lenses *Why does he talk like that?*

7-Zark-7 continued the story. "I examined the evidence and deduced a teleport beam-"

"Wasn't that jumping to conclusions?" Doctor interupted, forcing himself to look directly at the robot, with a quick side glance at the mechanical dog, now lying beside its master, oversized head resting on metal paws. "Another aircraft could have locked onto mine."

"We considered that first, naturally." Zark replied, obesquious as ever, "But scans of the wreckage showed no trace of clamp marks or grapples. Teleportation was the only possibility left."

*That's what I get for trying to second guess a robot.* Nambu thought ruefully, "I see. Continue."

"I scanned for photon traces," Zark went on, "found a trail and passed my findings on to G-Force."

"We back tracked the beam straight to Zoltar's base." Mark concluded, "You know the rest."

"What do you remember, Chief?" Princess prompted.

"Opening my eyes to find Ka-that is Zoltar standing over me." Nambu replied with a reminiscent inner shiver. It had been a bad moment.

"What did he have to say for himself?" Mark asked. Nambu caught the dry note in his voice, smiled faintly in response.

"Earth was finished, the final victory of the Luminous One was at hand -"

"In other words, the usual crap." Jason grimaced.

"Zoltar is not an original conversationalist." Doctor agreed. He had proved even more loquacious than Katse, giving Nambu plenty of time to recover himself as he nattered on. Doctor frowned slightly, remembering.

"Then what happened?" Princess coaxed.

"Zoltar broke off very abruptly, as if he'd been interupted -"

"Tvworp - Luminous One." Keyop guessed.

"Very likely." Nambu agreed. *Must mean their version of Sosai X* "Called in Mala to take over and disappeared, I didn't see him again." He noted a definite increase in tension at the mention of Mala's name.

"What did she do?" Mark asked, this time with no trace of humor.

"Standard interrogation technique," Nambu began, "undermining physical resistance with drugs, inducing disorientation through sensory deprivation-"



Teresa was shocked by the hint of genuine panic in the glance the Chief threw Zark. *What's the deal? I've never seen a look like that on his face, not Mr. Cool Pants Under Fire! As if the Can scares him somehow!* She frowned at the computer coordinator. *Appalls, yes. But scares?*   Still visibly shaken the Chief took the glass of water G3 offered him, managed to drink it without spilling any down his front, a real accomplishment in his present condition.

G1 leaned over him.  "Maybe you should take a few days off, Chief, we could go up to the beach-house kick back and relax."

*Good thinking, Commander!* Teresa applauded silently. Looked at the Chief.

Nope, wasn't all there yet. He started, looked up almost guiltily. "I'm sorry, Commander. What did you say?"

G1 noticed; so did the rest of the team. The significant looks flew as the Commander repeated himself, slowly and clearly.

Teresa flicked a glance at Zark, nodded to herself: even he had realized something was wrong. His voxbox lights flickered madly. *Does that mean he's talking to himself? If so I wish I could hear what he's saying!* The profound droop of the robot's antennae suggested it might be very bad news.

Teresa looked back at the Chief, scowled. *Wot-the-hell is he doing out of bed in his condition? Can't he see he's worse than useless to us in this state?*   "- Apparently I'm not as recovered as I'd thought." he was saying.

*Got that right,* Teresa agreed approvingly. *Now toddle off back to bed like a good boy.*

"- But I'd like to get the debriefing out of the way first."

*Idiot!* she stormed silently, *Quit pretending you're functional, get out of that chair and let somebody who's compos mentis run things!* Exercising heroic self-restraint she bit down hard on her tongue. She'd already mouthed off once this meeting, that was enough.

G1 frowned and G3 leaned over to murmur in his ear; Teresa couldn't hear what she said, but Zark pricked an alert antenna.

The Commander sighed, nodded slightly, and with a wave of his hand signalled for the team to sit. Which left Teresa looking down at them from an acutely uncomfortable angle. She wished violently for a chair, then resigned herself to the floor.

*Now we get to watch Chief Anderson struggle through a debriefing disoriented, confused and not tracking all systems.* she thought with mordant humor. *This oughta be good -* shifted, trying to get comfortable, on the hard NCC floor, laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them. *- And long. I wonder how many times he's gonna have to ask people to repeat themselves?  Maybe if it gets too bad G1'll make an executive decision and call off the debriefing. He sure looks like he's having second thoughts.*

She sighed, wished she hadn't accepted Zark's offer to attend. Seeing the famous Security Chief Anderson reduced to a bewildered and frightened mortal was doing her morale no good at all.

Suddenly the man was staring at her, like she'd grown a third eye. Teresa squirmed, resisted an urge to sink down on her belly and wriggle snakelike out of camera range.

*WHAT?* She thought, beginning to panic. *Dammit he's not going to bring my clearance up now is he? If he says anything in front of the Team I'll never be able to show my face on monitor again--!*

Anderson broke eye contact abruptly, seemed almost embarrassed as he turned his attention to G1. Left Teresa floundering mentally, *What was that all about?*

She listened to the rapid-fire exchange of information, shook her head in suprise. All of a sudden the Chief was back to normal. Answering questions with no more then his usual hesitation, after all the man was famous for choosing his words carefully, and challenging some of Zark's more fanciful assumptions. A teleport beam? What was this, Center Neptune or a pop space opera?

But...there was still that odd reticence towards 7-Zark-7.  And the uneasy little glances he kept shooting at 1-Rover-1.    Finally it was his turn to talk.  "What do you remember, Chief?" G3 asked gently.   "Opening my eyes to find Ka-that is Zoltar standing over me." he replied.

Teresa stiffened to attention, ran the answer over in her head, nape hairs bristling. He'd started to say another name, not Zoltar's.

*Saw who standing over you?* an impossible suspicion bubbled to the surface. *Why are you lying to your team, Chief Anderson?*


 Special thanks to Heather for much constructive criticism, and best of all writing drafts of Teresa's scenes.
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