Changes

Walkin' round that big firefly Lily parked out at the langin' area didn't make me feel any better. I was goin' to miss my little one. I frowned, pickin' up a discarded peice of equipment and takin' it back to the toolbox in the cargo area. "Lily's been gone for a while now. I'm gettin' mighty worried where she went. Ardra's got her. Makin' her do stuff even she's probably not likin' much." I tossed the tool into the box, lookin' down at it. Thinkin' that's what might happen to her once Ardra's done with her. Usin' the toe of my boot, I closed the toolbox. The sound of it echoin' in that big empty space.

"Lily'd been Actin' strange.. well, moreso, since that gorram program took over. So I asked Seana to watch Anna. Keep her safe... from Lily." Rubbing my eyes, feeling the pain behind em. Not from headaches, but from frustration. "Gallagher sent a message last week to that Conan feller to get out of town. Our main suspect in the deaths of those folks. No one's seen him since. But where's he gone.... and how many more bodies he got stored for ealvin' b'hind is anyone's guess. Questions. Lots of em. Then there's Brooke. She's lookin' into the daeth of a brother she never knew she had. Seems he was a slaver. Maybe traded bodies off at the Necronom station. Or maybe sold those poor souls off as harvestable organs. That was twenty years ago Maybe, just maybe he got what he deserved. Lurn shwei jah jwohn...."

I sealed then picked up the old battered toolbox to put back in the cabinet. No sense in havin' loose tools floatin' 'bout in zero G. "Then there's Xoxo...... We w nt to Necronom, and that wasn't a real fun evenin' either." Shruggin', my mind raced back to that night Xoxo and me decided to head to one of the Umbrella corps labs.

"Was floatin' in orbit. Big ol' round thing with the symbol painted on it an big as you please. Xoxo found the entry and got the door open for us. Can't say as I liked it overmuch. Was so bright, my visor tintin' was at near full, that and the sound. Even with a gorram helmet on, the sound was piercin'. Scans lined the walls showin' who all knows what. I bet Xoxo knew.... We went to an upper level where we found a couple of containers of... well.... one I did recognize.... the twin babies Lily was tryin' to hide some time back. A couple others had organs in em. There was one, marked for Lily and me..... Xoxo called it a blastomere.... some sort of genetic material for makin'...... well, I don't want to know what." Closin' the cabinet, I rested my head on the cold metal. "Where was Lily at. It got me worried where all she is.... what's happenin' to her..." I looked back up at the old barrels, layin' empty in the corner. Walkin' over to em, I grabbed one up to drag outside.

I sort of felt like those barrels. Left on the wayside. Seems I been tryin' to hold together somethin' I know I can't. Things change. I changed too. "I ain't no kid anymore. Since takin' care of Anna, I started realizin' that. Responsibilities. Me... "I chuckled at that, "I was never the responsible one b'fore. Not 'til that night the reavers come. That's when things changed... started to change... Now bein' a sheriff's deputy, bein' a Pa, and maybe even a husband." The barrel clanged when I set it on the ground. I walked back up the ramp for the second one. "I don't know. "'Til Lily gets rid of Ardra though, I don't wanta think of gettin' hitched. I love Lily, but not with someone controllin' her."

The second Barrel went pretty much the same. A sorry soundin' clang sounded from it, "I can wait... and hopin' Lily'll be Lily like she was. I told Xoxo I was gettin' worried 'bout it. All she said was it might already be too late. If thats the case...No I ain't goin' to think of it." My fingers clenched around the edge of the barrel, maybe graspin' at it for answers. "Xoxo and me had a talk... Maybe not what I wanted to talk 'bout, but it was more'n I ever did 'bout my family." I swallowed hard. Even now the sounds and smell came creepin' back up from the black pit from the past. "I got to talkin' 'bout Lally, not kitten, but my baby sister. The natural reader. Sickly as she was, she knew stuff. Knew the night the reavers came." I could hear her scream across the yard on that too quiet a night...."Got us up when they got to the ranch. Then all hell tore loose. Then there was nothin'...."

Slowly, I let go the barrel and went back for the third one. "I was runnin' to get to Lally at the porch where she was.... Then the sound that set off the barn, turnin' it into kindlin'...Then there was nothin'." I stopped at the cargo bay, door grippin' the side of it. Maybe, that's why I had a need to go back. To say I was sorry for not gettin' there in time to save her. My responsibility.... "Was up to me and Cory to make sure Kitten and Lally were safe. Changed in the blink of an eye."

"Xoxo , Like Brooke, asked me to look into things. See what I could find out on, one, Mercedes Celestalis. And, two, on the organ/ slavery thing. I wasn't sure what all I might find. I had limited resources. G knew more on who to 'talk' to then me. He knew some of the back doors into and out of the 'laince secrets. I only know 'bout the organ stuff from Jai. She told me some on it. That some of the Blackburne residents were prime for the pickin' after the reavers. Both for organs and experiments. Maybe some of those bodies left 'round were neighbors...." I stopped in my tracks halfway to the barrel when that thought hit me. Somethin' I needed to ask Gallagher 'bout. "As to Mercedes? Jai told me stuff 'bout her. Like she had some of my DNA... not sure from where or when.... Maybe when I got took by the 'liance a while back. I didn't want to know what she was doin' with it. I didn't know if I shoulda said somethin' to Xoxo 'bout it. I couldn'ta stopped it any more'n a flea could hold back a flood."

"Jai knew stuff. She found out 'bout the IDs that were found on the derelict ship that was found a while back... with a fraction of the bodies. She told me some stuff that could be part of the link to some of this whole mess with the bodies, and the organ ring." I finally got to that last barrel, starin' down into the empty openin'. Feelin' like it was goin' to swallow me. I picked it up and set it next to the other two. The clang resounded off the other two, makin' my own ears ring. "I asked Dylan the other night to keep an ear out for anythin' on Mercedes. So at least I can offer somethin' to Xoxo...." Seein' her the other night had me bothered. She was more of a shell of herself. In one day she looked weak and tired. Like Lally did all the time. She Told me Mindo was still unconscious. That it was Mindo who forced her into bein' a test subject. That she ran from the last one Mindo had for her..... But Mindo was also the key... The key to a lot of locked things... A lot of dark things maybe he aughta never had played with. He was Pandora..... and he opened the box and played with it."

I went back inside the ship, still feelin' like I was bein' watched, "He might be the only one to put things back inside and lock it up. Xoxo needed help, so did Kitten.. Kitten bein' missin' has got me thinkin' either she run off again.... or...." I stopped that train of thought cold. "Bram, now Kitten and Lily. At least I had an idea where Gallagher went to. He had stuff to be tested in the core. I can't abandon my post here while the sheriff's gone. Again.... responsibilities. A cold hard knot layin' in my belly like a rock. People I care 'bout, and folk that depend on us." I slammed' a fist into the bulked, not realizin' I dented it badly. It was gettin' harder to focus. Changes... I could feel it.....