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gurney, and be secured by multiple belts. With the all-clear, the
Alpha team helped them carry Joe to the helicopter, while Clark gave the stats
to Dr. Fox at the base, all pretty much within normal parameters except for
that pulse. The whole thing didn't take twenty minutes. As field cases went,
this was his easiest one in a long time.
    Pity he would never get to talk about it.

Chapter Six Smoke & Mirrors
     
    1
    For someone who had just crossed a few thousand light
years and then some, time seemed to have contracted in an odd way. Nick's
awareness didn't really kick in until he was inside an MRI. The interaction
between the magnetic field and his attempt to gain consistency had finally
gotten his attention, and now that he was getting a good idea of what was going
on, he knew he was screwed.
    He blinked a few times and took a deep breath, more
out of habit than because he needed to. Getting clothes now was no longer a
problem. He needed to get a hold of Jane, that was all that mattered.
    His options were limited. Fight his way through by
opening a few holes and risk radiation poisoning to the poor soldiers stationed
here. Vanish without any reasonable hope that he would be able to re-form again
at home –or anywhere, for that matter—and spare everyone the explanation. Or
talk to them and in some miraculous way, get to talk with Jane.
    "Are you awake?" a disembodied voice asked
over the noise of the machine. Unless the person was in the same room as he was
and he had some sense of the person's direction, there was no possible way he
could communicate verbally. No recording devices would pick up his
"voice", because he wasn't really talking, in a physical sense. He
was mentally projecting his voice—and his form—directly to the minds of those
around him.
    "Sir?" the voice asked again. He nodded
slowly.
    He raised his hand in a gesture of greeting, and
realized he had a pulse monitor attached to his index finger. It was odd to
realize he would be flat-lining on some screen somewhere. He hadn't been a
human for close to two hours now, yet the thought of not registering as
something alive made him uneasy.
    The noise stopped, and the bed slid out of the machine.
Two men moved to help him sit up, their movements slow and easy, and their
hazmat suits appropriately in place. Lights no longer blinded his eyes, and as
a dozen men and women stood staring at him in a half-circle, he felt
self-conscious.
    Way to go, Nick.
    First contact was supposed to be a quiet affair, true,
and as far as small groups went, this was a fairly good size. They definitely
knew he wasn't one of them, and that this was not some sort of prank. They
didn't know his intentions though, and that made the fear in their eyes
understandable.
    At least he could talk to them .
    "My name is Nicholas Logan. I need to speak with
my wife."
     
    2
    General Mitchell watched as people in the containment
area moved around the MRI machine. Something was happening, and two minutes
afterwards, that something came in the form of their non-human being sitting
up.
    Mitchell was about to press the mic button and attempt
to speak with their glowing guest when Greenwood pressed her hand to his wrist,
stopping him. "Wait. He's communicating with them. Let him finish."
    Great, he could be taking over their minds for all we
know.
    A couple of the doctors raised their heads to one of
the cameras. "He says you won't be able to hear him?" one of them
asked, curiously.
    "Is he talking to you?" Mitchell asked back,
all eight doctors turning to the cameras, nodding.
    "We can see and hear him like a normal man. But
he says there's no way we'll get him on video or audio. That nothing will
record his voice. "
    Not going to record you, my ass.
    Mitchell turned to his nearest officer. "Get me
the fastest typist in the Base, now. "
    I'll give you recording…
     
    3
    "Why do we see a human being, but our computers
don't?"
    The doctor in front of him, one eager Dr. Fox, was
running a reflexes