The Forgotten Past Part 12: Memory

	Jeff looked to Paula and exchanged looks. They were both 
worried about Ness. He'd expressed some sort of disorientation. 
	"Something about him just feels different," Paula muttered to
Jeff. The dream about the Fobbies entered her thoughts with startling 
suddenness. She guessed at what it really meant. "Ness. Try to use 
Psi." He looked at her and the two of them locked eyes for a long moment.
	"I can't," he said at last. "They said it was a necessary 
precaution for something that happens in  hours. I don't know any 
more about it."
	"Is it permenant?"
	"I doubt it." The tone in his voice was dark and almost seemed
to suggest otherwise. There was a long silence. They heard the door
in the cell next to Ness's open. The sound of someone being thrown in 
was heard and then it slammed shut again. Glad for the distraction, Ness
walked over to the window on that side and peered in. Ganiana stood up, 
rubbing her right upper arm. She whispered something under her breath,
but it was in Giygan, so Ness didn't catch it. She spoke again, louder
this time, and obviously angry and still in Giygan. No human could make
such a sound. Eventually, she rose and began to pace, still clutching 
her injured arm. It sounded as though she was arguing with herself. He 
wondered what she was saying.
	"Ness!" Jeff called. "Who's in there?" Ness walked over to that
window. 
	"A Giygan. I don't know any more than that."
	"Giygan! What's she doing in there?"
	"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with treason."
	"Interesting..." 
	The next six hours were spent in an eerie timeless state. No one
could begin to guess how long they were actually supposed to wait 
because Giygan time was probably far different from Earth time. The 
only things they could do were talk and wait. Talking was difficult 
because most of them were paralyzed. Many were stuck in terrible 
positions, such as having one leg in the air. Those who were in such a 
position was grateful to be numb.
	Somehow, the six hour time limit spread around, so another 
item was what would happen at that time. Everyone had thier own theory. 
The most popular (and sadistic) was that first, they would witness 
Earth's destruction and then they would be tortured until everyone met 
their own demise. 
	At last, the hour of destiny arrived. Everyone was taken out of
their cells, and for the most part, carried to a large room. Ness was
dragged to the center. One of the four guards surrouning him said 
something which sounded like Ratheyra Oriphec. It was obviously some 
sort of paralysis because afterwards, Ness could not move. 
	Meanwhile, the humans were healed from paralysis, got in a more
comfortable position and then were paralyzed again. Poo was 
un-diamondized, then paralyzed.There would not be any distractions. 
After that, the guards left. Only the mysterious dark figure was left 
in the room with them.
	"Ganiana, come forward," the figure ordered. Fron the shadows 
in the back of the room, Ganiana walked slowly toward the center of the 
room. She carried a simple gun, one which did not give as much pain as
the average Giygan would have wanted, but no gun could in this situation.
As she walked, the commander gave a speech to the humans in their own 
tounge.
	"Today, you will witness the death of your hero. Finally, you 
will know the pain which I and the whole of the Giygan race have 
endured, thanks to your barbaric acts. At last, your people will know my 
pain and the pain of all Giygans!" As he said the word step, Ganiana 
stopped walking. She was almost at point blank range, sort of diagnally 
in front of him. One glance she allowed herself at the human crowd. To
them, it seemed like an evil glare, but it was really one of deep thought. 
She felt her arm raise. At last, she was ready to fire. 
	[Do it! If you don't, you'll be tortured and killed! If you do, it
will be like before you met the humans,] part of her mind screamed. 
	[No, it won't. You'll never forgive yourself and you will never be
truely loyal to the Empire.] the other part whispered. The gun was lowered.
	"Ganiana..." the commander muttered. She looked at him for a 
moment.
	"I have to do this." Ganiana raised the gun again. This time, 
herhand was shaking like crazy. Part of Ganiana was still screaming at 
her not to, but it was too late. She squeezed the trigger.
	"Ness!" Paula screamed in despair. Everything seemed to be 
going inslow motion. Memories of the past flooded her mind. Her most 
treasured memories now became nothing but pain. Most painful of all 
were the words she'd never had the courage to say. 
	Through some twist of fate, the ray fired from the gun was 
absorbed by a Psi shield. Everyone looked around for the person who had 
activated it. Paula felt her heart leap at the ray of hope. 
	[Darn it! Just when I'd made my decision! Who is trying to 
torture me?!] Ganiana screamed inside her mind. She fired at him again 
and again, hoping to wake up from the nightmare.
	"Ganiana. Adjust the settings and fire again," The commander 
ordered in plain English. She looked at him for a long moment, then 
nodded slowly. Without adjusting her gaze, she changed the settings on 
her gun. She raised the gun to her own head, then slowly, almost 
reluctantly aimed it back at Ness.
	Ness wished he twist his head around to look at his friends and 
family once more. Instead, he was forced to stare at the commander's cold,
steady gaze. The alien seemed to be bursting with joy at the thought of his
demise, almost to the point of madness. 
	Paula wanted to look away. However, like a moth to the flame,
her eyes remained fixated to scene. Suddenly, a melody popped into her
mind. It was a song she could never remember hearing aloud, but rather 
one from a dream. Her deepest insticts told Paula to sing it, so she 
took a deep breath and began. There were no words; she just sang the 
notes using "la". Her voice was very soft at first, but it was just 
loud enough for everyone to hear.
	The commander clasped his ears firmly. "STOP IT!" His voice 
boomed, echoing three times. A confused Ganiana fired the gun, but it 
missed Ness's head and hit his gut instead. Paula sang louder. Her aura 
glowed yellow, as though she was praying. 
	"STOP IT! STOPITSTOPITSTOPIT!" The commander screamed even 
louder than before. He clasped his head as though it was in great pain. 
Paula finished the song, but started over again. This time, the entire 
audience gasped as a second voice began to sing along with her. 
	Ganiana looked on in wonder as the apparition of a woman 
appeared. She floated directly above Paula. After the song had 
finished its second round, an awkward silence filled the room.
	"What kind of power do these humans possess?" She muttered. The 
gun felt heavy in her hands. She rose it halfway toward her head once 
more, but the weight of it forced her to drop it and stare at what 
unfolded.	
	"Giegue," the apparition whispered. Her voice had an odd 
musical quality to it. Pain and hatred filled the commander's eyes at 
the sound of her voice. 
	"Maria," he whispered back. His voice did not match his face at all.
It sounded almost childish.
	Ness wished he could move. He wondered what was going on. He 
focused on the one thing he could see: the commander named Giegue. 
Visions of a strange world filled his mind. He realized they were 
Giegue's thoughts. Or rather, flashbacks.
	[How is this possible?] he wondered [I can't use my Psi.]
				***
	A young Giegue ran onto the bridge of a Giygan spaceship. 
"Giegue! Get back here!" called his nurse from the elevator. 
	The captain of the ship laughed at the elderly nurse. "In this 
case, Maira, I don't think anyone will care about you setting foot on 
the bridge." As he said this, the captain scooped up Giegue in his arms, 
so he wouldn't run off again. Maira blushed deeply as she walked rather
stiffly onto the bridge. She took the mischevious boy from the captain.
	"Thank you so much!" She then whispered into the captain's ear, 
"I just wish his real parents had more time for him. Then maybe he wouldn't 
act this way."			
	"I want to see the aliens!" Giegue pouted.
	"Oh, no you don't! We want to give our guests a good impression 
of us, don't we?"
	Giegue remained cross. "I want to see the aliens!" he repeated 
stubbornly.			
	As if on cue, the large round teleportation device in the 
center of the room began to activate. Within a couple of seconds, the 
ones from Earth and two guards appeared. The two guards did not make an 
attempt to restrain the humans in any way. They seemed relaxed. One of 
them was even talking calmly with the male one.
	Giegue, eager to meet them, squirmed out of his nurse's grasp. 
	"Come back!" She cried. As usual, it made no difference. He ran 
right up to the female human. She smiled at him. Although he was not 
sure what she was doing, he knew it was a friendly gesture.
	"Hello there, young one. My name is Maria."
	"Ma'am, he does not speak your language," one of the guards 
informed her.			
	She did not acknowledge his statement. Instead she pointed to 
herself and said "Maria," a touch slower than usual.
	Giegue understood. He pointed to himself and said his own name.
She smiled again. The nurse came up and grabbed Giegue again. She did
not know much of the human's language either, but said thank you anyway. 
One of the guards translated it for her.
	"Tell her not to worry about it. I like children." The male 
human nodded in complete agreement before he returned to his conversation 
with the other guard. 		
	As the nurse dragged him back to where he was supposed to be, 
Giegue smiled as though he knew a great secret. 
				***
	The flashback cut off abruptly there. Ness looked at Giegue and 
realized how much the warrior must have changed over time. He tried to 
get into a more comfortable position, but this only reminded him of the 
paralysis and his wounds. His life was fading away at a far slower pace 
than he would have liked.	
He wondered morbidly if Giegue was deliberately slowing everything down. 
	Ness forced his head to look in the direction of the woman's 
voice he had heard. The sight of the transparent woman shocked and 
frightened him. What had Paula done? He wondered if she would be 
all right after attempting something like this. Staring at the woman, 
Ness couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she were stretching his life 
span a couple of minutes. He had little time to ponder this because the 
apparition spoke again.
	"Giegue, I..." Another vision flashed before Ness's eyes.
				***
	 First, there was nothing but white. Slowly, a room came into 
focus. Everything within it was stark and white, but the room had a 
comfortable atmosphere. The two humans from the previous flashback were
there, as well as Giegue. He seemed to know enough of the human language
to carry on a moderately intelligent conversation with them.
	"Giegue," Maria sounded serious. "Do you have any friends?"
	"Friends?" The word was foreign to him.
	"George?" Maria looked to her husband.
	"Well, ah, a friend is someone who is very close to you, who you
can talk to and... tell secrets and... They kinda feel like a relative,
even..."			
	"Relative?" this word was not familiar to him either.
	"Family member," Maria clarified. 
	A look of comprehension crossed his features. "Oh. I know what 
that is."				
	"Do you..." George began.
	"You are my friends."	
	"Do you have any other friends?" George asked.
	"There was Maira, but..." He trailed off and looked down. Maria 
looked at George and they exchanged a look of sympathy for the boy. "What
do you want to do now?" he asked excitedly.
				***
	Jeff looked on, frozen in place. He too wondred what was truely 
going on. [Is it Giegue who is showing us this? Or is it that woman? Or
someone else?] He wanted to ask, or at least mutter to himself. At the 
moment, his movement was so restricted that even his facial expression did
not change easily. He managed to force his eyes to look at the apparition.
	"Giegue..." the woman spoke again. "I'm so sorry..."
	"Sorry!" He cried in angry disbelief. It looked as though he wanted
to say more, but could not. Time stood still as the third flashback began.
				***
	This one began in complete darkness. Slowly, details faded in.
Giegue bounded through the corridors of the ship, oblivious to all which 
occured around him.			
	At last, he stopped before an inconspicuous door, quickly opened it
and dashed inside. Maria and George were talking in quiet, serious tones to
one another. When they heard the door shut, this ceased immediately and they
turned toward the door to greet their visitor.
	"Hello, Giegue," Maria said. Her tone was a little less cheerful 
than usual and almost sounded forced. 
	"Hi!" Giegue replied, deciding to ignore the change in her manner.
	"How are you doing?" George asked in an odd tone.
	Giegue was not sure how to reply with both of them behaving so 
strangely, but decided to use the normal "Good!" 
	"That's great." Her reply seemed rushed in both timing and delivery.
She looked at George expectantly. 
	He cleared his throat and asked, "Giegue, do you know if they are 
planning on returning Maria and I back to Earth?"
	He looked at them both with an expression of deep hurt. "Don't you
like it here?"			
	"It's not that!" Maria replied instantly. "It's just that, well, 
Earth is our home and we miss being there. All we were wondering is if you 
know if they are planning on returning us there, even just for a visit."
	This did little to console the young boy, but he shook his head 
negatively and replied, "They wouldn't tell me anything like that."
	The two of them looked at one another and exchanged a series of 
looks, rather like a private conversation.
	At last, Maria spoke. "Thank you. Now, what do you want to do 
today?" Giegue's expression plainly stated that he felt this was rather 
trivial. An eternity of silence followed her comment. "Don't you have a home
you miss, Giegue?" There was still a silence, but his answer was obvious.
"This is... the only place..." Maria trailed off, completely stunned.
	"My only real home is this ship." He said at last. "... With you."
No one had anything to say about that. The silence lasted so long that it 
seemed that time had stopped. 	
	"I'm... so sorry. I wish... we had never..." Maria was the first to
speak.				
	"If there is anything we can do to make it up to you..." George 
added lamely. Giegue did not respond for a moment.
	"I'll think about it," he said sullenly, but he seemed less 
distressed than before. 	
				***
	Poo stared at Paula. He too wondered how they were seeing these 
things and what was the purpose was. However, he was more worried about 
Paula. He understood how much energy it must have taken to summon and the
woman and maintain the apparition. 
	"What is going on?" he muttered as the fourth flashback began.
				***
	"Maria, will you tell me a story?" Giegue asked. The view was 
immediately in focus. Although there was no way to know, everyone witnessing
it understood that it was nighttime or close to it.
	"I-I don't know many stories."
	"You know some. Tell me an Earth story. You never have."
	"Alright. I'll tell you about Queen... Queen Mary."
	"Okay." However, neither Giegue nor the audience heard much of the 
tale because he fell asleep after a couple of sentences. The vision faded to
blackness but did not stop. Suddenly, Giegue's eyes opened again. It seemed
as though it was very late, but once again, there was no real way to tell.
	He looked around and saw George and Maria still awake and talking 
in the opposite corner. He did not wish to interrupt them for the time being,
so he pretended to be sleeping.	
	"I told you we shouldn't have asked him," George muttered to Maria.
"I knew it was pointless." After a moment, he added, "However, we did get 
our answer."			
	"What are you talking about? He didn't know."
	"Giegue will one day rule their entire empire. They wouldn't risk 
his future rath by taking his only friends away." He paused, allowing the 
facts to sink in. "Face it Maria. At this rate, we will never go home unless 
we escape. And if we are going to, we'd better do it while while we're 
still close enough to Earth to find our way back!" 
	"You haven't even asked anyone with any real authority on this ship.
How would they know we want to go home at all? We're the aliens to them. 
For all we know, they wouldn't understand homesickness. For all we know, 
they think we don't know the concept."
	"If they don't understand it, then that would be a very good 
reason to suspect they will not send us home."
	"Stop being so negative! They may not be human, but they are a 
reasonabe people who will send us home if they are asked!"
	"Stop being so loud. You'll wake up Giegue." Still pretending to 
be asleep, Giegue shut his eyes tightly, trying not to think too deeply 
about their conversation.		
				***
	Ganiana stared at her commander. It seemed so unbelieveable that 
he had once been such an innocent, trusting young boy. Or a young boy at 
all for that matter. [Those humans seemed like good people. They were not 
mistreated on that ship either. Why did they betray us?]
	"Why do you apologize now?" Giegue screamed at the apparition of 
Maria. He had no time to say more, for the final flashback began.
				***
	"Maria, why did George leave?" Giegue asked.
	"He wanted to go home, that's all."
	"He didn't like it here?"
	"He wanted to go home. I'm sure he'll miss you and everyone here."
	"Why didn't you go with him?"
	She didn't answer. Her face saddened, giving the impression that 
she had not been asked. 
	"I'm going to miss him. Will he come back?"
	"I don't think so." Giegue was very saddened by the news. He began to
cry, as a little child would do. Maria reached out to comfort him. In an
attempt to soothe his tears, she began to sing a song she knew. It was very
short, only eight notes long. However, the damage was done. Giegue began to
shake, as though he was having some sort of seisure.
	"Giegue! What's the..." She never got to finish. A great light filled
the room. She saw a vision of George just before collapsing.
				***
	Giegue stared at Maria, his eyes filled with anger, pain and regret.
"Did you think one final betrayal would not matter? Do you realize what that
did to me? Did you ever stop to realize how many planets, how many people I
destroyed, just trying to get those eight notes out of my head?!!" He fell to
his knees, near tears.
	"Yes. I realize the mistake I made. I wish I could change 
everything..."
	"Then, just recently, you betrayed me again!"
	"I had no choice. You are no longer the innocent child I once knew.
I realize that this is essentially my fault, but..."
	"But what??"
	"It was all a mistake!" she cried, her face in her hands. "It was
all a horrible mistake! I had no idea what the song would do to you. If I
had, I wouldn't have..."
	"LIAR!"
	"You have no reason to believe me. But it is the truth."
	Giegue broke down in sobs once more. "My entire life... my entire 
life was ruined... wasted... because of a mistake..."
	"I'm so sorry." Maria's apparition flickered for a moment. "I cannot
remain here much longer."
	"So leave. As you did before." A great sorrow filled her eyes.
	"I wish none of this had ever happened!"
	Giegue stared at her flickering form, which was slowly fading into
nothingness. "So do I." Tears rolled down her fading cheeks, but she could 
say no more. Maria faded away.
	Paula collapsed from her effort, nearly unconscious. Ness cried out
to her, thinking the worst. At the sound of his voice, she bolted to her 
feet, despite how weak she was. Realizing her paralysis was gone, she ran to
Ness's side, fighting the urge to collapse again. 
	"You're still alive," she whispered, unable to speak any louder.
"There's still a chance, then."
	"Paula..."
	"Don't talk. It will make you weaker." She attempted to drag him over
to Poo for healing. "Poo! Use Lifeup! It doesn't matter which one!"
	Immediately, Poo tried to comply. However, he found, rather suddenly
that he could not concentrate.
	"I can't..." He said at last. 
	"What do you mean you can't!" Paula screamed.
	"It's not working..."
	"Paula..." Ness repeated.
	"Don't speak," she whispered again.
	"Paula, I want you to know that I love you."
	For a long moment, she could say nothing. At last, she whispered back
"Ness, I love you too." They stared at each other silently. No words needed
to be said. All too soon, his body grew stiff and dead. 
	A second passed before Paula reacted at all. Finally, tears began to
form in her eyes. Not long afterward, she was sobbing. "No," was her silent,
sorrowful and pointless plea, for no one could bring him back. Poo's Psi and
her prayers were only good on the unconscious, not dead. Suddenly, his body
began to fade away. Before long, nothing remained of him. 
	"What's going on?" Paula cried frantically. No one could answer her,
for no one knew.
	Giegue watched all that unfolded, without any real reaction. His only
thought was the fact that his entire life had been wasted for no real reason.
	"What was the point of my life at all?" he muttered bitterly, [All I 
was was a villian. All that I am is nothing but a plague to be stopped.]
His head turned to Ganiana, who was still trying to digest everything. Her
world view, which had been shaken before was now completely shattered. [I've
been nothing but a burden, holding her back. I've held the entire empire 
back.] "No more," he whispered. Giegue noticed Paula's weeping form. 
She was weak, but strong enough for this. He whispered a couple of strange 
words, staring at Paula. 
	Paula's eyes grew dim and lifeless. She rose to her feet and turned
to face Giegue. 
	"Paula! What are you doing?" Jeff cried out, but she did not appear
to hear him.
	In a voice devoit of tone, she whispered, "Freeze Omega." The blast
of cold wind which erupted from the palm of her hand hit Giegue at full 
force. The song had already weakened him and this nearly finished the job.
However, she attacked him again and again, with a frighteningly savage 
rythym. Because of the nature of the attack, he suffered no external damage.
Aside from how pale his face had become, he looked to be the picture of 
perfect health.
	Ganiana snapped out of her revere and realized what was going on.
"Commander, why are you doing this?"
	"I'll end it all now, here. My existance was meant to be nothing more
than a hinderance to everyone. Now I shall depart from this life and trouble
the cosmos no more."
	"You can make it right! Stay alive and fix it!"
	"I cannot make anything right." Paula continued her barrage. Ganiana 
screamed at him to stop, but it was no use. The final blow struck and the
great prince lay dead. Paula snapped out of her trance. She looked at her
outstreached arm, then at Giegue. 
	"What happened?" she asked tiredly, then fainted. 
	Suddenly, voices of Giygan soldiers could be heard from outside the
door. "What's going on in there?" their leader called out. No one answered.
Shortly afterward, the door was broken down and about twenty soldiers entered
the room. They noticed Giegue's carcass. 
	"What happened here?" the leader finally managed out. Ganiana could
not speak. She looked to her gun, then to Giegue. "You mean..?" Ganiana shook
her head. "Well, what did happen?"
	She spoke one word, "Maroea", which was Giygan for suicide. The leader
repeated it dumbfoundedly. She nodded. 
	"I-I can't believe it. By what means?" Ganiana looked at Paula.
	"The forbidden technique," she answered in a low voice. "Revath."
	"Mind control?" the leader could not stop repeating her. 
	"Wait a minute," another officer spoke up. "How do we know you are 
telling the truth? Where is the body of the one who were SUPPOSED to die
today?"
	"There is nothing left of him. He is dead, I assure you."
	"That will do, for now," the leader replied before anyone else could.
"Take the humans back to their quarters. We will deal with them once we have
come to some conclusion about Giegue's death-"
	"I'm telling the truth!"
	"Even if I were to believe you, your word will not convince the 
empire. I will look into more trustworthy sources. You are aware of the 
security cameras?"
	"Yes."
	"We will look at the footage. Until then, I regret to say you must
remain in a cell alongside the humans." He looked at the soldiers whom had 
not moved. 
"Did I not say to take the humans to their cells? While you are at it, rid 
them of paralysis. It must be terribly uncomfortable for them." One of the 
soldiers took Ganiana back into custody. Everyone left the room except for
the Giygan's soldier's leader. He stared at Giegue's carcass and sighed. "I 
just don't understand it. Why would he do it? Why would anyone?"