Memories flashed across Kate's mind with a ferocious speed; gaining momentum as they compiled fragmented pieces from her past into one distinct image. It was a truth she would give anything to submerge again. The terrible things she had witnessed, caused by a crippling disease that deformed and tortured its many victims. A disease made all the more unbearable because her people had never known illness, never felt pain before then. With no natural immunity the disease spread swiftly, the virus mutating as needed to evade their natural healing capabilities. Fear lead to hysteria, another trait they knew little about. The terrible things she had done, abducting humans from a far away planet called 'Earth', the many failed experiments it took to combine their DNA, their memories, and become one with them. And the final plan, it clicked into view and everything became clear at once. It was something she would have never thought herself capable of, but the instinct to survive was stronger than her conscience.

"Are you crying?" Cole let his hand drop from her face as if touching her was suddenly less than desirable. He scrunched up his face showing his obvious distaste for the salty pools of water that were rolling down her cheeks. "These are human emotions Alleyon, just block them out."

Jealousy did not come easy to them, but he had always found a way to resent her status and was the only one on the team that resisted her leadership.

"Keep calling me Kate, and stop using abilities the humans don't have. Have you forgotten what we're here for? How important it is?" Kate straightened her back and looked right into Cole's eyes, human emotions or not she could not let him get the upper hand. She was in charge and it needed to stay that way.

"Well it's a bit too late for that, isn't it? I fixed their Chief's arm - which you broke by the way."

"That was an accident! As soon as you realized that you were undamaged and the rest of us needed help you should have come to me immediately, not gone on a solo mission to scope out potential allies."

"What's done is done," a sly smile spread across Cole's face, he knew he was antagonizing her and was enjoying it. "He's a smart choice; he has just enough authority to help us but probably not enough to hurt us." Cole relished in the fact that he had come around quicker than the others, feeling like it made him superior in some way physically. It had been right around the time they were leaving the station that the fog slowly lifted for him, but it was clear that the others were not going to be so lucky. True, he had let it go on longer than he should have. Alleyon was in charge of this mission, like it or not, he should have tried to reach her immediately. Alleyon, Kate, whatever her name was now.

"Wait, you told him we weren't here to hurt him . . ." Kate thought back to the scene she had witnessed, Cole clearly told the man he was trying to befriend not to be afraid.

"That, Kate, was a lie. Start practicing; it's a defense mechanism they use a lot here." He turned and started to walk away.

Kate quickly scanned his thoughts; he was going to take care of the x-rays. Satisfied that he was, albeit reluctantly, following her orders, she went back to checking on the others. It took energy to heal, especially to heal the mind which was tricky. She would have to decide who to give priority to and who to leave in the dark for a bit longer. Even between the two of them, they couldn't fix everyone at once.

She decided she needed Vesta, who was an expert on Earth's history and sociology. What was it they had called her when she jumping up and down hooked up to those machines, Sadie? She had to remember to call her Sadie. On a determined mission Kate strode quickly through the hallways, the flickering fluorescent lights and identical decor of each area made it difficult to remember where she needed to go. She skidded her heels to a stop just short of running into the blond woman that resembled her human form so much, her mother.

"Kate! I've been looking everywhere for you! You need to get back to your room, they aren't done making sure you're alright yet."

Kate dug around in her own head, looking through the memories and thoughts of her host, the real Kate Sellers, who this tired but persistent mother expected her to be. Kate had been a cheerleader, whatever that was, and an all-around good daughter. She was polite, energetic and she smiled a lot. Kate tried to imitate the dazzling smile she saw in the memories.

"Kate? What's wrong? Are you ok?" Her mother looked panicked. Kate dropped the fake smile; she obviously hadn't gotten it right.

"Where's Daddy? And Kyle?" The questions did the trick, distracting the frightened mother from worrying about the inhuman smile she just witnessed. Her eyes softened and she put an arm around her daughter's shoulders as they walked down the hall together.

"Kyle is spending the weekend with your Grandmother. He missed you so much Kate, he hasn't been able to sleep well since you, well, went missing. And your dad is on his way, I promise. We'll all be together again soon." She squeezed Kate's shoulders reassuringly and Kate wished she didn't have to lie to this nice woman.

Kate was rescued from the awkward interaction by a flurry of activity and shouting that erupted from the next hall over. They jogged around the corner just in time to see a boy on a stretcher being wheeled into a room, paramedics shouting vital signs at hurried nurses and doctors, and one wide-eyed police man who accompanied them.

"I don't know what happened; he was fine one minute and the next . . . the next he was on the floor." David Sellers immediately starting relaying the story to the nearest woman in blue scrubs. He looked around, noticing the crowds of people and stopped talking. He turned just as his daughter and wife came around the corner.

On cue, Kate called out, "Daddy!" The word sounded strange in her ears but it seemed appropriate, he raced to her, picking her up off the ground in a sweeping hug.

"What's going on David" her mother asked as he reached out to pull her into the hug as well.

"It's Troy Harrison. I found him out wandering when I went to investigate the site we spotted Cole Parks at, and I took him home to see his parents. He was doing fine, disorientated or in shock or something, but fine. Then all of a sudden he just stopped breathing I guess."

Kate and her mother both looked horrified by the news. The mother was terrified that a similar fate could happen to her own daughter, since they still had no idea where the kids had been or what was happening to them. Kate was terrified because she knew exactly what was happening to this boy and also because taking into account who she had already seen and who was still missing, this person they called Troy was really Krave, their engineer. The whole mission depended on him bringing them back home, he couldn't die.

"I want to see him," she said flatly, pulling from her father's arms.

Sellers answered that she would have to wait, that the doctor's were doing all they could. He watched her, standing perfectly still, staring quietly at the doors through which they had taken Troy. She caught him watching her and tried to pull the corners of her mouth into a smile. The result was a creepy lopsided grin that startled Sellers into looking away. He reasoned with himself that Kate had been away a long time, and no doubt had suffered some sort of trauma, but he could not brush away the feeling that this girl did not seem like his Katie at all. And since when had she started calling him "Daddy" again?

*** *** *** *** *** ***

Chief Tanner and a few of his men were huddled around an outdated picture tube TV in the waiting room. The screen showed the County Hospital in the background and a smarmy looking middle aged man in a suit holding a microphone.

"After months of fruitless searching, many of the missing teens have suddenly reappeared. So far we have received no comment from the Chief of Police about where the children have been all this time but our sources tell us that they were brought here for evaluation only. Just moments ago we witnessed a teenaged male being unloaded from an ambulance, escorted by a county cop. The identity of this boy, we have discovered, is Troy Harrison, who was in fact one of the missing teens."

"Bastards," exclaimed the Chief under his breath, turning off the television.

A hand tapped his shoulder from behind, startled, he whipped around to find a nervous looking x-ray tech holding what looked like blank photo paper in his hand. "Ah, it's the strangest thing; something seems to have gone wrong with your x-ray. There's . . . there's nothing on them anymore. Do you mind if we redo them?"

The Chief looked down at his newly healed wrist. "Nah, feels much better now, think I'm alright."

"Are you sure? It sure seemed broken to me, maybe we should just check."

"Are you deaf son, I said I'm fine," the Chief barked at the young man sending him tottering back a few steps. He calmed his voice as much as he could and added, "Can you send in someone with an update on that Harrison boy?"

"I will Sir, right away." The tech stumbled over his words and couldn't get out of the room fast enough.

"Geeze, Chief, what'd ya do to him? He looked like someone walked on his grave," said the Deputy, Tanner's oldest friend on the squad.

Tanner knew exactly what was wrong with the tech, the x-rays were fine when they were taken and now they were gone. It was mysterious, and people didn't like mystery invading their every day normal lives.

"I don't know, just my charming personality I guess." He rubbed his wrist that no longer ached. What ever it was that was going on, it was best to keep it to himself until he could figure it out for sure. He was going to have to figure it out fast though, before Special Agent Randal Briggs and rest of the Junior G Men showed up. He shuddered thinking about having his two least favorite things, the media and the FBI, constantly looking over his shoulder again.

In another part of the hospital a barely stable Troy Harrison was being transported to the ICU. They had gotten him breathing, but he was still clinging to life by an amazingly thin thread. A ventilator pumped air into his lungs and although he had stirred once or twice, he never came to. The doctors had no explanation for his condition as in the next few hours all of his test results would indicate a completely healthy young man. Scratch that, a healthier than average young man, with a perfectly steady heart beat and an abnormally high level of brain activity.