by Sydnie MacElroy
> Jim wasn't really up to speed on this whole thing yet. One thing made sense > to him, though.
> "If Chris saw someone dying on a slab, he'd save them - no matter who they > were. At least, I'd hope so. Wouldn't you?" he asked Vanessa.
> "Yes. He wouldn't stand by and allow someone's death."
> "Does he have any specialties? If not, then they took a risk to use him when > any doctor would do. Unless they wanted to piss us off at the same time, of > course," Jim ventured.
"Or none of the above," Jordan commented. "It may not have anything to do with his being a doctor or with us, but something else we don't even know about."
Zenya wanted to object to the notion that it had nothing to do with Zulu, but Leo got to it first. "So whoever we're dealing with. They took him for some reason known only to them, and when we get involved, they send a couple of clones of Zenya and I that they just happened to have hanging around," he said skeptically.
"Wait a minute," Zenya said suddenly. "What was it Amanda said about Chris being cloned?"
"That's not possible," Vanessa said.
"No," Zenya said. "You are convinced that the Chris who returned is the real Chris Starling, and I'm not arguing that."
"But do we know he's the only one," Martin said.
"Or even the original," Zenya went on. "Perhaps he's the genetic double of some individual we don't know about. He goes about his business, lives his own life until they need him for some purpose. They take him, utilize him for whatever it is they needed him for, and return him."
"You said that he doesn't have full recollection of the time he was gone," Leo said. "He might have been under some sort of mind control."
Vanessa thought for a long moment. "I suppose that could be possible," she said reluctantly.
"Just one more theory to add to the list," Martin said.
"Doesn't do much to help us, does it," Zenya agreed.
"Not unless Chris remembers something more," Jim said. "If he's the key to the whole thing, whatever the whole thing is, he's the one we should be talking to. Ask the right questions, he might recall something he wasn't aware that he remembered."
"Like something to pinpoint the location of that cabin," Zenya suggested. That still bothered her. The cabin Chris escaped from was a tangible thing, a place they could go to and look around, maybe even find some kind of useful evidence, if only they could locate it. But without more information, it was an impossible task, as they had discussed before. There are just too many cabins on too many mountains for a search to be effective.
"Would he be willing to talk to us," Jim asked.
"He wants to know what happened to him," Vanessa said, nodding.
"Another perspective listening to what he has to say couldn't hurt," Jordan agreed. "Zenya, I'd like you in on it. See what sort of impressions you can come up with. Meanwhile, I have a meeting with Ann Cross."
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NRPG -
Sau Woon - First, I apologize for bringing up the cloning thing again. Second, I'll leave Chris's level of cooperation at this point to you.
Alton - Hope Beth is feeling better. My mom had to have surgery for a ruptured umbilical hernia a couple of years ago, so I can certainly sympathize with what both of you have been through.
Jeff - Separate message to follow. ;)