Scene 3: It comes in the night

Asher stood shotgun in hand. He knew, it wasn't him, it was like being inside someone elses' skin. He also knew he had to find Kramer. Kramer the ßinehünden, the something had taken Kramer. Killed all of his men. Lead them down here into this nightmare.

Elias, Messer, Connel-Gulbane, and Kowalsky stood in line. Each armed, panting, the air thick with gunsmoke.

Messer turned and shined a light on movement at the far end of the cavern. It was Kramer, Veronica. It was her, and yet it was not her anymore. "Mein Gott!" He gasped. "I swear I hit it dead to rights with the flechettes." There was no visible damage to Kramer, though the bloody mess of shredded uniform indicated at some point it had been damaged.

"We corner it, I bet it stays down if we hit it with a hand grenade." Kowalsky growled in frustration.

"Yeah if those *things* don't slow us down. Keep icy."

Asher remembers that moment with crystal clarity as the fuse failed. That cold fear in his gut. He had seen too clearly what Kramer had been capable when committed to violence. No smoke screen, no chance to get away.

Elias leveled a submachine gun on target, a spray of fully automatic fire from his MP-40 ripped through Kramer. The others began to fire as well. Enough lead was dispensed that Kramer was quickly reduce to a leaky piece of meat.

But everyone, Kramer included knew that was a delaying action. As the haze of gunfire cleared. Kramer's flesh was already reanimating itself, healing, and with a horrific wail the body rose.

That was when you all woke.

The music had changed it was slower, deeper, darker, and it was coming from...

Elias was hurting, his whole body carried the remanant Kramer's memory. He recalled the hot metal ripping through him. The cold chill of death as his organs failed. And the worst, when the Consciousness in the planet had poured all that energy into regenerating his corpse.

The blue star, the greater of the binary system was rising. Elias had a strange desire to bow down before it. Soon the ache of the memory had faded. He felt better than he had in his life. In fact, he was seeing better now without his glasses than he had since childhood.

It was dawn on the alien world, and the fungi were glowing in the new dawn's light. It was a beautiful world, alien, but familiar.

"Sounds pretty similar to what was coming out of Veronica."

Justice said as he joined in the conversation drinking a tin cup of instant coffee he had made upon waking. He fished out his pack of cigarettes and pulled on free, sealing the pack and tucking it away before lighting the sachet.

"Hear isn't really the right word though is it? If I plug my ears its still there. But it is definitely coming from Elias now." He took a contemplative drag on his cigarette.

Kowalski also took the time to light up a smoke offering only a grunt in affirmative as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

Messer followed suit and looked over Elias curiously. "You haven't put on your glasses yet." The doctor remarked as he broke out a file on Elias. "Haven't seen you blow your nose today either. How are you feeling?"

"Interesting." Messer mumbles as he scratches some notes on a card. He approaches the MALP and grabs his field medicine kit. "I am going to take a blood sample. Lets also do a vision test. Doesn't sound like there'a anything wrong, but it sure is odd that your vision inproved." That was the doctor's way of showing concern. "Mind if we wait 30 minutes or so before hoofing it, Top?" He asked Veronica directly.

O'Niell's reply was short but to the point. "I think that's a fine idea Rodriguez. The idea of you being physically enhanced by a parasite is..." He took a beat to find the right word. "... disconcerting. From what brief I recieved from the eggheads back here, there are some things hormonally that changed. But they assured me it wouldn't be permanent. Dr. Messer will probably find them fascinating at any rate." His tone conveyed his annoyance at the scientific appraisal. "We have the historians peering over what intelligence remains of the Nazi Wunderwaffen programs. But their involvement seems a bit beyond the pale. If you do encounter any of them, you have clearance to do whatever you deem necessary, Captain. Aim High. Stargate Actual, over and out."

The reply contained several files of images, addressed to Justice, as well as an analysis of the blood sample Messer had transmitted during the night from Veronica. The images were not secured, clearly visible to anyone who wanted to view them. Only Messer's command key would open the patient file.

Justice had been standing nearby Veronica, likely awaiting his package. "Veronica, I had taken close up high definition photography of the engravings in the fist and second floors construction. They reminded me of something I had seen at Bravo site. So if you don't mind I would like to look at them closely. I don't know if you had seen my PowerPoint on Bravo site, it is the oldest known human heritage site and I am eager to see if my hypothesis is right. It could tell us a lot about the people who made this tower." Justice had been quiet since seeing the tower, but now seemed eager and animated.

Messer was doing reflex tests on Elias, vision tests, and had taken a blood sample. He was taking many notes. "Your blood pressure is excellent. Resting heart rate would make an olympic runner jealous as well. Not that they were bad before, but these numbers are way off your baseline. And you still don't have any congestion?" Messer didn't seem concerned, more perplexed. Elias hadn't been a paragon athlete, but his vitals would put them to shame.

Kowalski set to stowing gear, anticipating Veronica would go with Asher's suggestion.