I can't believe it, I actually made it to chapter ten of a story. Yahoo!

Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing but the plot and my own characters. Everything else belongs to Anne McCaffrey and her family.

Chapter 10

Kelly pulled up to the ward to see Mrs. Ladu sitting in her customary position again outside of the doors. Despite the old lady's seemingly non-responsive look, Kelly was actually happy to see her there. She gave her a kind enough greeting, getting no response as expected from her, but still felt her piercing stare as her eyes followed Kelly into the building. She spotted Alex walking past the reception desk and called out to him. Alex started in surprise to see Kelly back again.

"Kelly? What are you doing here?" he asked, incredulously. "I thought that assignment was done?"

"I thought so too, but we got a new teacher last week," Kelly explained, shrugging. "Jess didn't tell you?"

"Come on, you know how Short Stop is," Alex said, calling his sister by a nickname she hated. "If it isn't anything dealing with sports she won't remember what happened two seconds ago!"

"Short Stop?" Kelly asked with a laugh.

Alex grinned. "She hates it when I call her that," he said wryly. "She played softball in middle school and missed a fly ball once while playing that position. I've been calling her that since."

"Alex, that's mean!" Kelly tried to sound stern but she couldn't help grinning at an image of Jessica with a baseball sailing right over her head.

"So who is this new teacher, and why isn't the assignment done?" Alex asked as they began walking down the hall towards the day room. Kelly explained about Mr. Malvo's abrupt leaving and the new teacher extending the assignment. Upon explanation of how the teacher looked and acted, and how she seemed somewhat strange to Kelly, she noticed a puzzled expression on Alex's face.

"Wow, that is strange," he said at length when she finished. "Kind of reminds me of a few days ago when our A/C suddenly went out and we had to call a repair man to fix it. The guy that came looked nice enough, except for those suede sideburns. It looked like he stole them off the head of Disco Stu or something. The janitor, Bajeer, later told my dad that while he was showing the repairman where the unit was, he kept asking strange questions about the patients here."

"Like what?"

"Like what were they in for, why did some act the way they do, or if they were on drugs or something."

"What did he need to know for? Did he plan to bring someone here?"

Alex shrugged. "Who knows? Bajeer only told him what he knew, which is not a lot, since he just comes here to clean and leave. One of the questions the repair man asked was if any new patients were dropped off recently. Bajeer wasn't sure, of course, as he only cleans the day room when no one is in there. Of course, the only person we've had admitted here recently so far was Goten."

"Ganten," Kelly corrected.

"Whatever." Alex paused as they got to the door of the day room. "You know what's even stranger?" he asked.

"What?"

"That A/C unit is not even four years old yet, and it had a complete shut-down, and the compressor had burned out. That seems rather odd to me."

"…sounds harsh," Kelly said, trying to sound comforting. She didn't know what a compressor was for an air conditioning unit, but it sounded important. "I'll bet your dad wasn't too happy about the bill."

"Don't remind me," Alex said with a grimace as he opened the door to the day room. G'ten was there in his customary position by the window, a seemingly puzzled expression on his face, which changed to surprise and delight when he saw Kelly and Alex approaching.

"You've come back," he said, smiling. "Was your assignment a success?"

"…not especially," Kelly said, slightly put out. "It's been extended for three more weeks because we got a new teacher. Probably a good thing, seeing as my report is lacking some parts."

"At least your enthusiasm has reached new heights for it," Alex teased, grinning. Kelly shot him a dirty look, which made him grin wider. In truth, Kelly felt that she would have come on her own regardless of the assignment, just to hear G'ten talk. She didn't want to admit it, at least not out loud, but she somewhat enjoyed the stories he told of his life, despite them being made up. Still, she wondered what caused this uncanny person, who seemed to have his wits about him more than the other patients, including Alex, to end up in a place like this.

"I suppose we better get started," she said, abruptly turning her back on Alex who, still grinning and with his hands behind his head, moved off towards the wall opposite of their table. As she dug out her note-taking material from her backpack, Kelly noticed that G'ten seemed somewhat distracted.

"Everything okay?" she asked, setting her notepad and recorder on the table.

"Well…yes and no," he said slowly. "I get the distinct feeling that something is not right. Klarth feels the same way, though he thinks it has something to do with the limited choice of meals he has while hiding."

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked, deciding to ignore his statement about his dragon.

G'ten thought for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip. "I've only been here a few seven-days, long enough to recognize most, if not all, of the residents, yet three of them I have noticed seem to be a little out of place as opposed to the others."

"How so?" Kelly immediately thought about Mrs. Ladu. The old woman did seem out of place, sitting in the front of the building with no emotion on her face. But Alex did say that's how she interacted with everybody.

G'ten leaned forward and dropped his voice so only Kelly could hear. "While I was at the window talking to Klarth, I noticed three individuals in the yard that looked as if they didn't belong here. One is completely bald and almost looks like my friend K'lon, except taller and his lips are very thin. The second one is also bald but has dark skin, and the third looks to be shorter than myself with thick eyebrows, and a head of messy black hair. I would catch at least one or the other shuffling about the area, but always in a position that kept the window in their view. Every now and again one would appear just off to the side somewhere out of the corner of my eye while I was watching the other, but they would disappear when I turn to look at them. And their movements are…stiff, unnatural, like a…um…" he paused, not sure what animal or object would best describe their movements.

"Like a robot?" Kelly offered.

G'ten blinked. "What's a 'robot'?" he asked.

Kelly had to remind herself that he was in a ward for this reason, and had to play along with his seemingly not-of-this-world farce. "In science fiction stories, many writers describe depictions of human-like metal beings, usually created in a laboratory somewhere by some evil genius trying to take over the world."

As she was giving him the explanation, she was looking up images of robots on her phone to show him. "They almost always run on some other form of energy than what humans do, most of the time it's through electricity of some kind." She turned her phone towards him so he could get a better idea of what she was talking about.

"Have any of these…row-bots…ever been created?" he asked, fascinated by the images on the screen.

"They have, but not like in stories," she said, putting her phone away. "Most of those depictions give their robot creations an almost human-like intelligence; real life robots that have been built lack that awareness, lessening chances for rebellion against their builders. Although somehow, I wouldn't doubt the possibility in the near future…" She noticed G'ten looking at her curiously, and realized she nearly went on another train of thought.

"Don't worry about it," she said, waving it off. "Are they still out there?"

"Yes, but it's probably best not to draw any attention to them just yet. Try asking Alex Fields later about them. And also, I think you'd better be on your guard," Ganten warned, his voice suddenly becoming serious. "Klarth tells me there have been strange men walking around the trees where he is hiding."

Kelly imagined it would be hard to miss something as big as a dragon in the middle of some woods somewhere, if dragons existed at all. She kept those thoughts to herself, though, not wanting to upset the man again, and asked if Klarth knew what they looked like.

"They looked just like the other men walking past, but they smelled different, he says. They don't stay very long, and they seem to be looking for something around him. They never come close to where he is."

"How do they not see him?"

G'ten gave a wry smile. "My dragon is very good at hiding," he said, a hint of pride in his voice. "There's a lot of brown grasses and leaves on the ground, so he hides himself in them. Easy enough, since he's a bronze and can match their color as long as he stays in the shade."

Kelly thought that was a fair point. It was still mid-Winter, and unusually hot for this time of year, but the foliage still behaved as if Spring hadn't arrived yet. And with bronze being a shade of brown it would be easy to hide under them. Still, she wondered, wouldn't it be an awkward sight for a strangely shaped giant leaf pile to be sitting in broad daylight, and nobody notices it? But then again, this is New York, so…

"I hope your dragon remains safe," she said, in awkward reassurance, though she couldn't help feeling a connection between what he noticed about the "patients", and her own ordeal over the last week.

"No worries, he will be," G'ten reassured her.

"Let's just act normal so we don't draw any attention," she said, turning on the recorder. "So what's a day as a dragonrider like in the…" she looked at her notes for the proper word. "Weyr?"

"Most days consist of training," G'ten began. "For the weyrlings, or those who have become new dragonriders, it involves teaching them about their duties to Pern. Not only is it our duty to protect our beloved planet from the destruction of Thread, but we are also to bring moral support to the surrounding holds and crafts we have sworn to protect. Our resident harper helps with the Weyrling master, usually an older dragonrider designated to teaching the newly paired riders, their ballads and teaching songs, as well as our glorious history of protecting Pern, and the famous heroes of the past that have given their lives to protect our future.

"The mature riders train to fight Thread, using flight formations and techniques passed down from generation to generation. The Threads always fall in a particular pattern, so it's easy to char them out of the sky before they hit the ground and can burrow. We use large balls of string launched high into the sky by launchers to imitate the patterns of Thread so we can train to defeat it. The worst thing anyone would want is for a dragon or his rider to get scored by Thread, so these maneuvers teach us to dodge the strands."

"Scored, meaning injured, right?" Kelly asked, writing.

"Yes," G'ten said, his voice dropping slightly. Kelly looked at him, recalling his melancholy at having to mention about the deaths of the dragons and their riders. Again, before she could comment on it, he continued.

"I've seen my fair share of Threadscorings on my fellow riders as well as their dragons. Not a pretty sight, I tell you. Try to imagine someone taking a red hot metal rod and drawing a fine line on your body, and having your flesh eaten away like fire to wood."

Kelly winced at the graphic description. She tried to think of anything around the world that could cause that kind of injury, but all she could think of was acid being thrown at someone.

"Some injuries are more fatal than others," he went on, "with either rider or dragon, in effect both, dying more often than not from multiple scorings. That's why it's imperative that we learn how to dodge during a fall, and to transfer between to freeze the Threads before it could do anymore damage.

"The weyrlings are not allowed to fly in any of our formations until their dragons are old enough to sustain flight for the duration of a fall, chew firestone properly, and emit a proper flame. They are taught to go between during their second Turn of being a dragon rider, after they and their dragons have learned to fly and are used to being airborne." At this he chuckled, remembering his first flight on Klarth, and subsequently losing part of his stomach after landing. At her questioning glance, he reassured her that everything was fine, and he was just reliving a memory.

"Are there only dragons and their riders that live in the Weyr?"

"Oh no. The Weyrborn, those who are born in a Weyr and live their lives in one, live in the lower caverns of the Weyr, where the kitchens, storerooms, dining area, and living quarters are situated. Those that don't become dragon riders, or may have the potential to become one in a later hatching, often stay there rather than go back to their home hold in shame. They work menial jobs around the Weyr, whether it's preparing meals, cleaning the feeding grounds, or guarding the entrances to the Weyr itself. Nobody is treated as any lesser than the other inside a Weyr. Many actually find a better life living in a Weyr than their original home; some even find their mates among the dragon riders."

His choice of words indicated to Kelly that there was more than one Weyr on Pern, which would probably make more sense if this "Thread" was as dangerous as G'ten makes it sound, and one stronghold of dragons, no matter how many it has, may not be enough for the entire planet, no matter how big or small it is.

"Is your Weyr the only one on Pern?" she asked.

"Not at all. There are many all over Pern, though they're not all big. There's Fort Weyr, which we know as the first and oldest; High Reaches Weyr, situated high in the mountains with lots of snow; Igen Weyr is near the desert; Benden Weyr, where I'm from, and Telgar Weyr to the southwest."

For some reason, the word "Telgar" sounded familiar to Kelly. She was sure she heard it somewhere before but couldn't place its origin.

"There are many other Weyrs throughout Pern," he went on, "but those are the biggest and have the most influence."

"How far back does the history of Pern go? Do you know who the first dragon riders were, or how human life began on Pern?"

G'ten thought for a minute. "Those are…rather heavy questions," he answered slowly. Then he smiled. "Unfortunately, I only know as far back as Dragonlady Moreta, and her efforts and those of the Master Healer during the sickness of the Sixth Pass. Most of what we know are taught to us through ballads and songs, and those mostly consist of specific events that have shaped our culture as a whole. Our harpers at the Harper Hall make a valiant effort to keep our traditions and history knowledgeable and current, but even they can admit that there are many things missing from our history. As far as any of us know, we were always there, just like a dragon always knows their name when they hatch and Impress. Do you know the history of how your people came about?"

"Mmm…not really," she said with a shrug. "Kind of depends on what region of Earth you live. There are so many theories and beliefs out there, it's hard to pinpoint which one is the truth. Alex and his family believes that a celestial creator nobody can see named God created the universe and all the planets; other people believe everything just appeared out of pure chance from some giant cosmic bang. Then there are those that believe in aliens that created the Earth and planted humans like seeds to harvest later. It's all a bit beyond me."

"How do you believe it happened?"

Kelly rubbed at her chin. It was an honest question, but she wasn't sure how to answer, as her family never really pressed the issue on anything involving creation of sorts, and what Science class taught as far as the Big Bang theory seemed outright ridiculous to her, so she never expounded on it. Besides, too many people liked to argue about that kind of stuff, and she didn't want to get caught up in any of their farfetched arguments, as they could get pretty heated.

"I really don't care for any of it," she admitted with a shrug. "We exist; that's all I need to know. Much like your people exist. It just is."

"Fair enough," G'ten said with a grin. "Anything else you would like to know?"

"Tell me about this Dragonlady Moreta." She sounded intriguingly important to Kelly, like the word Telgar. She vowed to look it up later. "What did she do for your planet that made her so important?"

With that winning smile of his, G'ten began to tell Kelly about Weyrwoman Moreta. Rather than explain it to her as the Ballad of Moreta's Ride interpreted it, he recited by memory the old and faded records he had to copy on new parchments as a weyrling. He spoke about how she Impressed her dragon Orlith, and became the new Weyrwoman at Fort Weyr when the old Queen and Weyrwoman, Leri and Holth, became too old to perform their duties and fly. He told of the sickness that enveloped Pern when a strange feline creature was found at sea, which the Master Healer, Capian, suggested a mass quarantine until a cure could be made. The devastation, according to the records, was so great that human and dragonkind was nearly wiped out of existence, especially with the added danger of Threadfall, as there were far too few dragons and riders that could rise to flame it.

He went on about how Capian, and a young healer girl named Nerilka, discovered a vaccination in old healer records found in the healer hall, and with help from others, suggested the cure. When one was created, the supply for it was so short that Moreta and several other healthy dragon riders had to go forward between times to gather the material needed to make enough of the cure to give to every Weyr, hold, and hall, as they were the only ones immune to the disease.

"Wait, the dragons can time travel?" Kelly asked, incredulously.

"If that is your term for it, yes," Ganten replied. "Is that ability present here?"

"Unfortunately, no," she said, thinking of the many advantages that ability could have. "Though the concept has intrigued many for years, and is ever-present in many a Science Fiction novel. I don't suppose you could have used that ability to go back to the beginning of Pern to learn how your people came to be?"

"No, we can't," he said. "Although the idea has circulated a few times among dragonfolk, the execution would definitely be fatal. Remember what I said about dragons going between to get to one place to another, and how in order to do that, they have to disappear into this dark void for at least a few heartbeats before reappearing at the desired destination? Going between times is far more dangerous due to the intense cold of between, as the longer you stay the more your senses, even your sanity, begin to slip away. Though it may not have been recorded, there probably were quite a few attempts to do just that, which resulted in their deaths. Even if one can successfully make the jump between times, the strain of spending a longer than usual time in between can cause fatigue and other problems, especially if one comes in close contact with a time they were already in, like a younger version of themselves, or coming back to a time before they left. And you have to have a vivid image in your mind of when you want to go, as well as where. Otherwise, you may end up somewhere, somewhen, other than where you were trying to go. Moreta was smart, but it was the rapid use of between that cost her life, and the life of Holth. But her heroic sacrifice saved Pern from a deadly fate."

"I thought Holth was the other rider's queen dragon?" Kelly asked. Why did she die?"

"Ah, that's because Moreta's queen, Orlith, had given birth to her eggs, and had to stay for the Hatching. Weyrwoman Leri allowed Moreta to use her queen, even as old as she was, to make the deliveries to the Weyrs, holds, and halls through times. The jumps were taxing, draining every last bit of their mental and physical strength, but she made them all. It was while they were on the way back to their own time that their tragic death between was keenly felt by Orlith and Leri. When the hatching and pairings of the new dragons and riders were finished, Leri climbed on Orlith's back, and the two quietly went between together."

Kelly was silent for a bit, not sure of what to make out of it. She could sense the high level of respect for the Weyrwoman, and the tragedy that beheld those that were there as G'ten recounted the events. No wonder she was chronicled in their history.

"Wow," she said at length. "Has anything like that ever happened on Pern?"

"There are rumors of a similar plague happening Turns before Moreta's time, but there's little to no information in our records that talk about it, so…" he shrugged helplessly.

"I'm sure the heroics would be worth telling," Kelly said with a grin. "By the way, how did you and your dragon get here, if travelling between for a long time is so dangerous?"

He shuddered a little, knowing this question would pop up soon enough, but even more having to talk about it. Even weeks after he'd arrived he still felt the dizziness of the trip from time to time, as did Klarth, explaining why he rested so much. "Well, it was a rather complicated issue," he began, "but we got here by-"

"Time's up, Kel," Alex said, popping up beside her.

"Already?!" she exclaimed. She wanted to hear what he had to say about his journey to get to Earth. She looked at G'ten and back at Alex, noticing the other orderlies ushering the patients out of the room. "Can we have another minute?"

"Sorry, Kel. Rules are rules," he said, shrugging. "I don't want my dad breathing down my neck about not staying on schedule."

"Blast," Kelly muttered, putting her things in her backpack. She felt a chill up her spine as one of the patients passed her by, but when she looked up they were gone. She looked around to G'ten, who was standing slightly behind Alex, a serious expression on his face. He gave her an almost imperceptible nod, indicating that he knew what she felt. Luckily, Alex didn't see the exchange between them, or her startled expression, as he was watching the patients file out of the room and in from the courtyard for the therapy session. G'ten fell in behind the last patient, giving one last cautious look to Kelly before Alex turned towards her.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her after she finished gathering her things.

"I suppose…" she said, somewhat dejectedly. She was a little more curious than she wished as to what G'ten had to say. Hopefully she remembers to ask him tomorrow.

As they walked towards the front, Kelly thought about what G'ten said about the strange men, and how they don't seem to belong there at the ward. As they neared the entrance, she decided to ask Alex at length, to see if he knew anything.

"I'm not as curious as that A/C repair man, but have there been any recent admittances here?" she asked him.

"…not that I know of," he said, tapping his chin. "My dad is the one who keeps the records of admittances. The receptionist might know…maybe."

"Mind if I ask her?"

"Go ahead. Why do you want to know, anyway?"

"I'm just a little curious about something," she said, walking over to the reception desk. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Yes?" the receptionist, this time a short-haired redhead with a high nasal voice answered, without looking up from the magazine she was reading.

"Do you know if any other patients have been submitted here recently?"

"Not that I'm aware of, you'll have to ask Mr. Fields," she said, looking up at Kelly with a bored expression on her face.

"Um, okay. Thanks, I think…"

The receptionist gave her a sarcastic smile before returning to her magazine. Kelly walked back to the front where Alex was, shrugging her shoulders at the lack of help from the receptionist.

"I didn't think she would know," he said. "Usually, the lists of who come in or go out are given to my dad at the end of the day…when he's here, anyway. He had a meeting today with the hospital staff and left me in charge for a bit. I can take a look later, if you'd like?"

"Yeah, if you can."

"What exactly are you trying to find out, if you don't mind me asking?" They were outside now, and Kelly was busy taking the chain off of her bicycle.

"Remember that stuff I told you about that happened over the past week?" she asked, as she turned her bike towards the road. She noticed Mrs. Ladu staring at them, or her in particular, and turned away so only Alex could hear. "I'm kind of wondering if this stuff is connected somehow. G'ten mentioned something about three patients he'd never seen being admitted here, seemingly out of nowhere. Granted, he's not one to talk, but he says he's been here long enough to know most of the patients, and those three stood out among them."

"Hmmm…" Alex thought for a minute. "They probably came sometime during the week; I know where my dad keeps his files, so I'll take a look through them."

"Thanks. By the way, where's that blond lady I always see at the desk?"

"Oh, Stella? Her and Ada switched schedules so she'd have the weekends off because of her pregnancy. Ada's the redhead you just saw," he explained. "You got anything else going on today?"

"Hiroki and I are hanging out at the mall later with Jess and her boyfriend. It's his birthday today."

"Ugh, glad I'm not going," Alex said with a grimace. He wasn't overly fond of his sister's boyfriend, seeing him as more of a stereotypical football jock than boyfriend material. The only silver lining was that he wasn't captain of the team, but he was still a narcissist. Alex failed to see what she liked in him, aside from their mutual love of sports.

"I'll make sure to give 'Short Stop' your regrets," Kelly said with a mischievous grin.

"Don't call her that! She'll know you got it from me!"

"I won't! I won't!" Kelly capitulated with a laugh. His pleading expression was too much for her. "Let me get going. We're supposed to take the one o'clock bus to Manhattan."

"Have fun," Alex said with a wave as she took off.

Later that day at the mall, Kelly, Hiroki, Jessica, and her boyfriend Omar Espada, a stocky brown skinned boy with straight black hair hair cut close to his head, dark brown eyes and thick eyebrows, and stood a couple of inches shorter than Hiroki, walked about through the crowded building browsing the stores, stopping at several of them to poke through what the stores had to offer. They intentionally avoided Macy's, as their material usually involved selling one's kidney along with the proverbial arm and leg to make a payment. Since it was Omar's birthday, Kelly, Hiroki, and Jessica decided to pitch in and buy him a gift he wanted, so he was free to select what he wanted, as long as it didn't go above what they were able to spend.

"Thanks for the present, babe," Omar said, smiling wildly about his new Jordans.

"Oh, you know me; I have to do something for my love!" Jessica said, smiling at him. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"Mattaku*…" Hiroki and Kelly muttered at the same time, watching the two. They were at the food court after walking around for an hour, and still had more stores to visit in the large three-story mall, and decided to take a break before continuing.

"What are you two mumbling about over there?" Jessica asked, turning towards them and raising an eyebrow. "It's not like you don't spend enough time snogging each other's faces!"

"Not in front of a large crowd!" Hiroki exclaimed.

"And we definitely don't look like we're going to jump each other's bones right on the table, either!" Kelly teased.

"Ignore them, sweetie. They're just jealous of our love, that's all!" Omar said, pulling Jessica's seat closer to him. Jessica made an agreeable sound as she leaned her head on his chest.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Kelly said, making a disgusted face, as Hiroki rubbed a hand over his face.

"Where do you guys want to go after this?" Jessica asked, eating a fry.

"I think there's a sale going on in Gamestop on the third floor," Hiroki suggested.

"That's right! My brother asked me to check that out for him!" Kelly exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "I told him I was coming here today, and he asked me to check out what they have there."

"So Gamestop it is," Omar said. "Might have something coming out new for the Xbox One."

They finished their meals and began walking again, heading towards the elevators. As they walked, Kelly had Hiroki deliberately lag behind to talk to him, but not too far from Omar and Jessica.

What's wrong? he asked her in Japanese. They usually resorted to his language when something was bothering one or the other. That way, no one could be in their business since most people had a limited understanding of Japanese. Hanging around Hiroki's family gained Kelly a pretty good grasp on the language, but she still had trouble writing the kanji.

I think we're being followed, she said. She felt that familiar chill up her spine again, letting her know she was being monitored.

What do you mean?

You remember those strange encounters I've been telling you about? Even today when I was getting ready to leave to ward, I felt someone watching me. Ganten noticed too, but we can't really say anything without proof.

And you feel as if you're being watched now?

Yes. It's like I get this tingle in my spine whenever someone is watching. Right now, I think they're somewhere behind us.

Hiroki began looking around, seeing if he could spot anyone suspicious.

Don't look! Kelly warned, grabbing his hand.

Did you see who it is?

No, but I don't think they're too far away.

"What are you two mumbling about this time?" Jessica asked, appearing in front of them, a sly grin on her face and startling Kelly.

"Nothing your dirty little mind needs to know about!" Kelly said, turning her around and propelling her towards the elevator.

As they got on the elevator, Kelly purposely faced the doors, her back towards the tinted glass, to see if she could spot who had been following them. As the doors closed, she felt the chill up her spine again, a little more intense than usual. She waited a bit as the lift began its slow ascent towards the third floor. She halfway listened to Omar, Jessica, and Hiroki talk, while casually looking over her shoulder towards the crowd below. At first, she didn't see anyone or anything too suspicious; just the normal ragtag of teenagers in all their crazy garb, and a few families enjoying themselves.

'No one out of the ordinary,' she thought to herself. 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid.'

Her gaze steadied on a particular individual that didn't seem to belong there. Their build suggested a man, a tall man that was rather wiry with a black overcoat that went down to his shins which remained unbuttoned to reveal a double breasted black suit with a black tie and white shirt, dark sunglasses, and a black Fedora hat. His skin was pale and he seemed to have no lips, just a thin line where his mouth should be. And he was staring RIGHT AT HER.

Kelly watched nervously as his head tilted upwards, following the elevator to the third floor. She began to wonder what was going on and why was she being targeted by strange people and circumstances.

"Kelly?"

Hiroki's voice and his touch on her shoulder made her nearly jump out of her skin. Omar and Jessica were already off of the elevator, waiting for them.

"Sorry," he said, giving her a wintry smile. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Kelly said, briefly looking over her shoulder towards the first floor again. The strange man was gone. She shook her head and followed Hiroki out of the elevator towards a waiting Omar and Jessica, who commented on how weird she'd been acting lately. Kelly insisted that she was fine, but Jessica wouldn't let up.

"Come on, ever since you started interviewing that weird old guy, things have been getting crazy around you,"

"He's not weird! He's just…" Kelly caught herself up, surprised at the vehemence in her defense of G'ten. "He's just sick, alright?"

"Yeah, sick in the head!" Jessica jeered with a laugh. "None of that stuff you told me about him makes any sense!"

"He makes more sense than you right now, Short Stop…" Kelly muttered.

"What was that?" Jessica asked, ready to make another retort about G'ten.

"Nothing! Let's just go to Gamestop!" Kelly waved her hands at Jessica, shooing her along. Hiroki gave her a concerned look.

"I'm fine," she said insistently, giving him a pat on his arm while curling her fingers in his. "I'm just ready for this assignment to be over with."

Alex fished through his dad's files in his office, searching for anything that talked about other patients being admitted to the ward. It was towards the end of the day, and most of the orderlies were on their way home. As his father was still at the meeting, it being an all-day event, Alex had no choice but to wait for him to pick him up, as his father had the keys to the building. A few of the more coherent patients were in the day room watching television, and Bajeer, the janitor, was doing his rounds. The paperwork from the receptionist had already been turned in before she left for the day, so aside from the after-hour security detail that was due to arrive soon, he was the only main detail worker there.

He rummaged through the file cabinets, being careful not to make his searching too noticeable. He did notice Ganten acting a little stranger than normal earlier before Kelly mentioned it, but just chalked it down to his having dementia, and the reasons for is admittance here in the first place. But the A/C repairman asking Bajeer those strange questions weighed on his mind as well, so it wouldn't hurt to look, if only to ease his own mind about it all.

He moved over to the desk and opened one of the drawers, pausing as he saw the faded badge and funny looking shoulder knot Ganten had on his person when he first arrived. He picked up the badge, a diamond shaped piece of leather that was faded red with a Roman Numeral II etched in black on it. It looked like it's seen its fair share of battles, judging from the scars and small cuts on it. The shoulder knot still held its brilliant red and black colorization, and if it weren't for a few stray threads here and there, it would seem quite new. It sort of reminded Alex of the shoulder cords military officers wear, except this one was double looped with a small fringe inside the middle loop. Alex laughed to himself.

'Just who is this guy?' he thought, rummaging through the files again. He was beginning to think that this was all pointless until he came across a folder with Ganten's name on it. Seeing that he never actually got the chance to read anything about the mysterious man, he took the folder out of the drawer and set it on the desk.

'I might be getting myself too deep into this,' he thought, hesitating to open the folder. He knew he shouldn't dig too much in his father's files, but there was a lot that didn't add up, and he was getting more curious about what was going on and who Ganten is. Swallowing against his nervousness at the risk of getting caught by his dad, he opened the folder and began reading, his facial expressions ranging from disbelief to astonishment, finally to surprise.

'Oh my…' he thought. 'Kelly is going to want to see this!'

The door to the office suddenly swung open, and Alex, thinking it was his father catching him, quickly closed the folder. But the person standing in the doorway wasn't his father, or anyone else that looked familiar to him.

"Who are you?!" he demanded as he got up from the desk. "You can't be in-!"

He was cut off by a sudden flash of light, and all sound was cut off from him. The figure calmly walked into the room, closed the folder and replaced it in the drawer, walked back over to Alex who was crumpled in the middle of the floor, leaned down to his head and seemed to whisper something to his prone form, then walked out of the room, closing the door.

*mattaku= good grief

Things are starting to heat up, and the mystery gets deeper. Who are these mysterious people, and why are they suddenly showing an interest in Kelly? How is Ganten involved? And what does Mrs. Ladu have to do with it all? Find out more as the story goes on!