Walker and Chee look on to the injured craft of Seera's. It repairs itself well.

Dexter was ill. Like Walker and the other crew, before they had the chip implanted on their wrist, she suffers when teleported.

Now recovered, her mind races with the high of it. Dexter finds her knowledge, thought patterns, greatly enhanced. Her senses have sharpened beyond anything she can recognize. Nothing is recognizable. She stays in her quarters, sat on the edge of her bed. Her tools of trade are no longer needed. Recalling through memory she finds she can recite every word that has been taped, perfectly.

The other vessel is half torn apart, looking like some gutted whale, innards hanging out in ghastly sight. Devil's Gate is beginning to pull the ship into it, down to the desert surface. Seera's vessel again sends an SOS directly to Walker's craft. The computer wishes to act and advised that it'll do so- the first time ever going against Walker's orders; it awaits for him to concur.

"What should we do?" Irons scratches his face nonchalantly.

"There is also the question of Commissioner Treaves," Chee adds.

"Who?" Wheeler asks.

"My friend," Irons comments like a child.

"Ball," Reed punches the name out.

"Oh," Dobrovowski resigns before Wheeler can join in, leaning back in his chair, eyes examining the high ceiling of the bridge; just throwing in something so as not to be left out.

"He isn't your friend Irons," Reed says to the annoyingly not-so-mad-as-he-makes-out soldier.

"Yes he is," he protests, backing slightly away from Reed.

"He isn't what he may appear," Chee finishes off the criss-cross of words.

Walker looks around at that point, having ignored them all whilst eyes are focused on the main screen. He finds the situation intriguing. The vessel before them will be lost. It would be a waste. "What do you know Chee?"

"Something which they communicated to me," Samo replies.

"Well?!" Reed gets impatient.

Wheeler tuts loud, going back to his task of replacing all the wires he removed and messed about with, the ship could do it for him but it just doesn't feel like it.

"What do you know Chee?" Walker asks again.

"Ball isn't in all of this," the monk answers with an air of mystery.

"You wanker Chee," Reed comments.

There is a pause while Chee smiles at the middle aged looking gentleman.

"Computer..there is no possibility of you finishing the task you originally intended to do?"

"THE ORIGINAL INTENTION: DISABLE OTHER VESSEL."

"But you failed computer..it is about to plummet down into Devil's Gate and be ripped to pieces. You miscalculated."

"MISCALCULATION DUE TO TAMPERING OF CREW MEMBER."

Wheeler stops his work, taken aback, "you mean I was actually getting somewhere?"
*
Ball has no idea how long he has been there. It is a room ten metres by ten metres. There is a mattress with a single blanket and one pillow. There is a solitary chair with metal arm rests and hard uncomfortable seat. A large one way mirror faces one side of the room. He cannot find a door that he must have entered this place through- he will find it eventually.

He sits back on the bed trying to go through, once more, possible enemies he may have made, who wish to kidnap him in such a manner of distinct professionalism. He has also deduced that they have relative intelligence for they have not taken out any vindictive abuse on him, in fact, he hasn't seen anyone, let alone been in confrontation with his captors.

"Mr. Ball."

The disguised voice distorts and is a few octaves lower than normal. Ball smiles to himself, it's like some action movie; the stuff of spies.

He rises from the bed and sits on the end of it. He doesn't look at the mirror. He lazily, deliberately, lets his gaze wonder the walls of the room for a moment or two. Then he rolls his head, untensing his neck muscles. Ball is still in police uniform, Commissioner Treaves.

"Mr. Ball," the voice repeats.

It may be bluff but unlikely. His captors know that he is D. Ball. They also know that he is one of the elusive team. They haven't fed him for some time, he and the others have no need of food or drink.

"Commissioner Rupert Treaves," Ball says.

"Mr. Ball," the voice repeats.

"Whatever you wish.." Ball says quietly, "how may I help you?"

The kidnapped man quips, to see if there is any reaction from the voice.

"Very inventive Mr. Ball. You are in no position to help anyone but yourself."

"And how may I do that?" He raises one eyebrow in contemplation, mock contemplation.

The voice doesn't answer.

Ball lies back on the bed. Closing his eyes.
*
The tracking beam stabilizes Seera's vessel, much to the discontentment of the team. They cannot even board her vessel. Her craft will do all it can to protect her, knowing their intentions. They cannot blast the other vessel because it will completely destroy it; no vessel can destroy another, only disable- a point which Seera overlooked- not knowing her ship had neutralized most of the warheads.

Walker has had to cooperate with his own vessel. He is in the process of dragging Seera's ship into deep space, far from anywhere and then setting it adrift. He did suggest putting a tag on her vessel, his computer informed him that it would simply destroy the tag as soon as it made contact with the outer hull.

Cutter watches her vessel drift from them, sitting back in chair, wondering what to do, Seera is back and they cannot do anything about it, not yet anyhow. Reed, Dobrovowski, Wheeler, Irons, Dexter and Chee are at various stations about the bridge.

"Computer, give me the Earth news reports of the last week from this date back," he turns his chair to face a small screen to his right.

The news isn't good. In fact, it is very odd. There is a running story about the disappearance of Commissioner R. Treaves. There is a gut instinct with Walker that nags at him. The time factor doesn't add up. His vanishing act is recent, not a week old.

"Chris'..could you search out all news reports, data, on our dear friend, anything tracking his movements over the last couple of weeks," he thinks hard as he gets Dobrovowski to work with computer, "Chee can you shed any light on this?"

"The Univarians were not specific with me .I just know he isn't behind those assassination attempts," Chee shrugs, wishing to be more helpful.

"Any thoughts sergeant?" Walker gets them to work as a team again.

"It beats me. It did seem rather clinical but Ball has changed. I actually saw him with one of the assassin's, that's the part I can't get my head around," he asserts, "he wouldn't allow an obvious connection like that though."

"Unless someone is screening," Wheeler motions casually, monitoring Seera's vessel as it drifts further from them.

"'Screening'?" Walker asks puzzled by the colloquialism.

"That's far to risky for anyone to undertake, even in this day and age," the sergeant finds the possibility far too improbable, "he must have spent hours screened. I surveyed him for longer sometimes."

"How can you be sure of him?" Chee has a flash of inspiration, "it may be an it?"

"A Univarian?" Cutter catches on.

"Impossible," Reed adds, "the Univarians wouldn't indulge in power struggles. Why should they bother? They have everything anyway."

"MESSAGE BEING TRANSMITTED."

Each man looks to the other. Dexter sits back as a third party. No one can communicate with it unless the vessel deems it necessary. The message has broken through that one standing rule. A sudden edge is spliced onto the bridge.

"Source computer?"

"DEEP SPACE PROBE. 723 LIGHT YRS. DUE SOUTH EARTH COMPASS POINT EAST SECTOR 843/9786."

"That must be one hell of a probe," Wheeler comments.

"Source of probe computer?"

"NOT KNOWN."

"Scan it then computer."

"SCANNING ALREADY ATTEMPTED. UNSUCCESSFUL. MESSAGE BEING TRANSMITTED."

"On main screen computer."

"AURAL MESSAGE ONLY."

"Okay," Walker rests in captain's chair.

The voice is two octaves lower than what is should normally be. It is also slightly distorted. The team listen intently as it begins:

"Welcome Walker. Welcome to the rest of you:- Reed ,Irons, Dobrovowski, Wheeler and Chee. I hope you will forgive my intrusive manner. l shall resist the inclination on not referring to you by your former ranks…you did after all join the other side as it were.

"I shall get to the point, but you must allow some indulgence in this special moment when, after all, it is you who are on the receiving end."

"I have your last piece of the jigsaw- your last piece of the deadly puzzle. It shall be the way out as it were of a maze you have been vainly scurrying around in for the last few weeks. A splendid achievement I might add. Those Univarian craft must be kinda special," the voice chuckles for a moment, "I must continue......I have a hostage- Ball or as he is more commonly known Commissioner Treaves. The location is hidden within this message. I'm sure it won't take long for your computer to decode it.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, this is the voice of your long lost colleague, if you had any queries.." the disguised voice clicks off and then Ball's sounds across the bridge: "whatever you wish........how may I help you?"

The message ceases. It then loops full circle, "welcome Walker. Welcome to the rest of you.."

Cutter orders the computer to end it. He then orders it to find the coded location, then, "check that recording of Ball..I want to make sure he hasn't been bumped off already."

"Well," Wheeler gets up from his position at radar, "that's that then."

Reed and Walker regard Wheeler oddly.

"Hey. .fuck him. Let him die. This guy or whoever, sounds a bit too pro' for me," Wheeler is about to leave the bridge when Walker catches him.

"Look Rich'........something is going on, we can't walk away, not with assassins running loose after us," he wishes he hadn't used that corny language but it just came out that way- badly.

"You sound like a broken record," Irons says what Wheeler is thinking.

Cutter stares at him meanly. Irons sits back down.

"Wheeler, everybody goes on this last one," Walker orders.

"You said that on the last one, "Rich' smirks.

"TRANSMISSION COMPLETE. SCAN OPERATIVE. GENUINE IDENTIFICATION FOR D. BALL. LOCATION: EARTH. NEUTRAL TERRITORY NORTHERN CAP. BEARING ZERO BY ZERO. VOICE EXAMINATION TO THAT OF NEAR MATCH OF A. WALKER."

"A near match of me? I was the voice underneath that modulator?"

"SLIGHT DIFFERENCE IN PATTERN OF LARYNX: 95.7% MODULATION."

Walker says nothing.

Chee approaches Walker, "what now?"

"We can't leave Ball there. There's our own safety to think about…if they can find me on my home world," Walker notes that the bridge is filled with a change in attitude toward him, but he knows that they see the logic in resolving, "computer set a course for Earth."