Part Two
By: Me, Tato

Elmira sat reading about math.  Why did it have to be math?  She sat 
in the lounge trying to stay awake while reading the subject.  
Suddenly,a pair of hands came over her eyes. The old 'guess who' game.
She smiled.  "Let's see.  Harlan?"  There was no answer.  "No.  Too 
quiet.  Rosie?  NO, she's in medlab.  Suzee?  Hm.....no.  Not Suzee.  
Okay, I give up.  Who?"  She turned around to see Radu standing 
sheepishly.  She nearly screamed as she fell back from her chair.  

"Whoa, are you okay Elmira?" Radu asked lending his hand out to her.
She got up and looked at his beautiful blue eyes.  

"Radu!"  Elmira put her arms around him as if she would never see him
again.  Radu hugged her back, a bit confused on why everyone was 
scared of him.  Harlan walked in.  

"Elmira---Radu.....am I interrupting anything?"  The two looked at him
as if the answer was obvious.  "Silly question.  I just came to tell
you that your BOYFRIEND is back to normal.  But I guess you already 
figured that out."  Harlan looked at the couple.  They had blank 
expressions on their faces.  "I'm going to leave now," Harlan  said 
slightly embarrassed.  He left the two alone.  

* * * * * *

Suzee stared at the ceiling with her sharp, green eyes.  It frightened
people to go near her.  After the effects it had on their quiet
navigator, they'd hate to see what would happen to Suzee.  

* * * * * *

"Harlan, Bova, Ms. Davenport, Commander Goddard, and Rosie entered the
lounge where Radu and Elmira were flirting.  They stopped once they 
saw the crew coming through the jumptubes.  "Ah, there you are," 
Commander Goddard said walking toward the two.  "We need to come up 
with a way to kill this thing.  Now we're each going to tell what we 
know about it."  They each took a seat and started to tell what they 
knew.  

"Well....me and Rosie were going through the caves," Radu began 
nervously.  "I suggested that...that we might split up.  I-I didn't 
mean any harm.  I just thought it would--"

"That's okay, Mr. Radu.  Contintue please."  

"W-well....we tied a rope to eachother so we could find eachother.  I
saw a....rod of some kind.  It was a-about twice my size.  It had a 
strange, green glow to it.  I-I called Rosie to tell her about it."  
Radu paused as he tried to remember the blurry scene.  "Then....I 
think I came up to touch it....but....when I did....I...." 

"You what?" Harlan inquired impatiently.  All of them looked at Radu. 
Radu tried to think.  The memory was becoming more and more dark.  He
tried to remember, but it was no use.  Whatever had entered him made 
sure they left no clues about their presence.  

"I....don't...." Radu felt something flash in his eyes.  He quickly 
felt dizzy and put his head down in hopes of the dizziness stopping.

"Radu?  Are you all right?"  Radu heard voices around him.  He 
couldn't see them.  He could here one voice in particular.  

"That figures," he voice cried, "soon we'll all be like this.  We're
doomed.  Let's just end it right now."  Radu tried to make a nervous
laugh as he heard the others.  

"Bova!" they all said simultaneously.  He felt some one lift him up.
No.  Two people.  Carrying him somewhere.  But his vision was blurry.
He couldn't see where he was going.  

"Hey buddy.  You okay?" a dark shape said in front of him.  It waved
his hand in front of Radu's face.  It was Harlan.  

"Of course he's not okay," came a reply from behind him.  "He's doomed
like the rest of us.  I knew something like this would happen.  I just
knew it."  

"Will he be okay, Commander?"  Radu knew who's voice that was.  
Elmira's.  He could never mistake her voice.  

"Oh, he'll be fine.  I'll see to it that he's fine!"  That was Rosie.
Her cheerful, optimistic voice was hard to mistake.  He heard a sigh 
of annoyance.  //And that must be Bova.//  He was set down somewhere.
He felt something on his skin.  An anesthetic.  His vision slowly 
began to come back together.  

"Are you okay?" Elmira asked leaning over him.  

"Yea...." Radu said slowly.  This just wasn't his lucky day.  He 
slowly sat back up.  

"Well, I'm glad to see you back up Mr Radu." Goddard replied. "But 
right now, we need to stop Suzee."

Bova raced in the medlab.  "Suzee's gone.  She's not in her bunk."

"Great.  Now we REALLY need to stop her before she does anything
drastic."  

"Oh no you don't," a deep, spine-tingling voice said behind them.  
They all looked back to see Suzee.  

"Suzee, what's happened to you?"

"Don't you get it?" the mellow voice replied.  "I'm not your Suzee.
I am Valkasi, lord of the Balrogs.  And I will destroy each and every
one of you."  

"Aaahhh!"  Ms Davenport screamed.  

"Ms Davenport, calm down.  We'll--"

THUMP.  Too late.  Ms Davenport had fainted.  Commander Goddard rolled
his eyes, and faced Suzee/Valkasi.  

"What do you want from us?" Harlan questioned, completely and utterly
annoyed.  He had taken enough of this guy (thing?).  He just wanted
Suzee back.  

"What do I want?  Ha, ha, ha!  Why, that's simple children. I want 
you."  

"Pick something else,"  Harlan replied with only a hint of sarcasm in
his voice.  

"Well wait," Elmira said suddenly, "if you want us, then why haven't 
you killed Radu?"  Radu looked over at her.  

"Don't give him any ideas."  

"Sorry Radu. But why?"  

"I don't want to destroy you.  I can use you.  By placing a certain 
pattern in your head after taking your body, once you listen to the 
pattern enough times, you will obey anything I command you."  

"Well, we're not going with you," Harlan said, bravery shining through
his quivering voice.  

"You will if you ever want to see your precious Suzee again." Goddard
looked at each student.  There was only one thing they could do.
Give in.  "I will give you 24 hours to decide."  And with that, Suzee
quickly disappeared down the corridor.  

"What do we do Commander?" Harlan asked facing him.  

"Well, we'll try to think of a way to stop Valkasi.  Let's all sleep
on it, until then.  If any of you have any faint idea to what we can
do to stop it, wake everyone up and get everyone together."

"But Commander--" Rosie said slightly worried.  "We can't stay in the
girls bunk room.  What if Suzee--I mean...Valka....Valak....that V
person comes back to our bunk!"  The commander thought about it and
realized that she was right.  

"Well....we can't leave anyone alone.  Okay, I have a plan.  We'll all
stay in assigned areas that I'll be giving you.  Get some sleeping
bags.  But no one will go out of anyone's site.  You got that?"  The
commander looked around the room to make sure everyone understood. 
"Good.  Now, you're going to need a buddy to team up with.  Start the
buddying system now.  Start pairing off."  

"I'll be your partner," Elmira said holding Radu's hand.  He blushed
slightly.  

"Oh Bova!  We can be partners!" Rosie said cheerfully.  

"I guess I have no choice," Bova said in his normal, pessimistic tone.

"I guess that means me and Ms. Davenport," Goddard said rolling his
eyes and pointing toward the unconsious woman on the floor.  "Mr. 
Band, you will join me as well."  Harlan sighed.  

"Well Commander....I uh....I can be partners with.....uh...." he 
looked around.  Everyone was partnered up except him.  Darn his luck.
Now he'd have to be stuck with Ms Davenport.  Could it get any worse?
Radu tried to hide in laughing.  He felt sorry for the desperate 
earther.  

"Uh...Harlan can go with us, Commander.  The more the merrier, right
Elmira?"  Elmira looked down as if she'd been crushed.  She didn't
want that earther there with them.  She could here him mocking them
now.  

"Right," she sighed disappointed.  Harlan's eye's lit up.  

"All right!" Harlan said enthusiastically.  He pushed in between the
two of them and put his arms around the both of their backs.  "It's
party time!"  

//Maybe I shoulda thought about this first,// Radu thought suddenly.
They walked to the different bunkrooms to gather their things together
for their camp-out.  

"The Commander said that we're assigned to the compost." Harlan stated
even though the two had already heard.  They reached the boys
bunkroom.  Radu and Harlan pulled out two sleeping bags.  They pulled
out their pajama jumpsuits and left for the girls bunkroom to gather 
things for Elmira.  

* * * * * *

Bova and Rosie made their way to the girls bunkroom.  There, Rosie got
her jumpsuit and her sleeping bag out.  She pulled out an extra one
for when Elmira would get there.  "Okay, let's go get your things,"
Rosie said merrily to Bova.  He rolled his eyes.  Great.  He had to be
partnered up with someone who was the exact opposite of him. They 
slowly made their way over to the boy's bunkroom.  On the way there,
they ran into Radu, Elmira, and Harlan.  

"Oh, I know!  I know!" Harlan said excitedly.  Harlan was giving 
Elmira and Radu a hard time.  "You can run towards eachother in
slow-mo.  Leap into the air and hug for several minutes until the 
romantic music stops.  Then you both hold hands together and walk off 
in the distance into the sunset!  Ta-da.  A happy ending."  Harlan 
laughed at what he said.  He was the only one laughing. Radu tried to 
make a fake laugh, but got a glare from Elmira saying  //stop it.  
Don't humor him.//  

"Very funny, Harlan Band." Elmira said, her arms crossed in 
frustration with his infernal teasing.  

"Heh...heh..."  Radu tried to get a small laugh out of it.  But he
didn't really feel that it was funny.  He never quite understood earth
humor.  When Goddard or Harlan spoke something that was supposed to be
funny, he never saw the humor in it.  Elmira looked at Radu sending 
him a psychic message.

//Don't laugh with him.  You'll only encourage him more.//  Radu 
nodded and stopped.  Harlan looked over at the two.  

"Elmira, you aren't talking about me, are you?" Harlan asked,
realizing that she could easily talk about him mentally to Radu.  He 
couldn't talk back mentally, but he could listen.  Elmira just grinned
in a troublesome way at him and continued walking.  

"Hi you guys," Rosie said cheerfully.  She walked up to the group.
Bova dragged behind sulking over the incredible happiness Rosie was
throwing at him.  He looked up and saw Elmira getting mad at Harlan,
Radu trying to please both of them and failing, and Harlan 
continuously teasing Radu and Elmira about their relationship.  

"Hi Rosie," Elmira said in a lackluster tone.  

"What's wrong?"  

"Oh," Elmira said in a sigh, "nothing."  

"It sure doesn't LOOK like nothing."

"Well, if you MUST know, it's THIS thing."  Elmira made a motion to
Harlan.  

"Oh," Bova said pointing to Harlan, "your boyfriend!"  

"Oh.  Harlan." Rosie said with a laugh.  "What's he doing?"

"Oh, let's see.  Only being the most annoying person in the UNIVERSE,"
Elmira said glaring at the Earther.  He was now talking to Radu.  
Still teasing him.  

"Really Radu.  In the movies, there was always stuff like that.  You
and Elmira are perfect for that."  Radu tried to smile at the comment,
but Harlan's teasing was getting VERY annoying.  

"Uh....really?" Radu said trying to be interested.  He tried to be 
nice about it and laugh along, but Elmira wouldn't allow it.  He was
going to have the hardest time making them get along.  

Elmira sighed heavily.  "Come on Radu."  She grabbed his hand and 
dragged him away.  Harlan followed.  

"Yea, that's it! Should I leave you two alone?"  Harlan's voice faded
away from Rosie and Bova.  

"Man, you think that Radu would do something about Harlan," he said as
he watched the three figures fade away.  

"Like what?" Rosie asked afraid of what the answer would be.  

"Oh, I don't know.  Rip him apart."  Bova started to walk away.

"Bova!" Rosie said in her that's not very nice tone.  They got Bova's
things from the boy's bunkroom.  Then they headed towards their
assigned spot.  The Rec Room. Hey, this wouldn't be so bad after all!

* * * * * *

Radu, Harlan, and Elmira plopped down on the command post floor.  They
rolled out each of their sleeping bags. Elmira's was right by Radu's,
and away from Harlan's.  She hated his infernal teasing.

"Hey, Radu.  Did you know that your name starts with an R?"

Radu looked at Harlan with a blank expression to his face.  No.  He 
couldn't be sarcastic.  He just couldn't.  Uh-oh.  Elmira spoke.

"No really Harlan?" Elmira said with an obvious tone.  "I always 
thought it started with an X."  

"Nope," Harlan said annoyingly.  "It starts with an R."

"What's your point?" Radu said finally, afraid of what Elmira would 
say if she got to saying something before him.  

"It's the same letter as Romeo!" 

"Yea.....so?"

"Romeo.  You know."

Radu looked at him, extremely confused. What was this earther talking
about?

"Romeo was a total lover, man!"

"Oh.  And the point of bringing this up is...."

"You're the same!"  Harlan laughed as he sat back.  Elmira gave him a
glare.  

"Oh yea, Harlan Band?" Elmira said suddenly.  

"Uh..." Radu said trying to stop the fighting.  It didn't work.

"Well your name starts with an H.  And that stands for headache.  A 
big one!"

"Oh yea Elmira?  Well E stands for embar---"

"Uh....eligant!  Enchanting.  Exquisite.  Excellent."  Radu tried to 
think of as much E words he knew.  Lets see.  Nope.  That's all he
could think of off of his head.  He'd have to make a mental map of E
words in case that ever came up again.

Elmira smiled and kissed him on the cheek.  Radu turned bright red 
trying to hide his glowing face.  Harlan started to laugh and say that
he looked like a cherry.  

"Well Elmira.  You're a spung right?  And S stands for--"

"Spectacular.  Splendid.  Superior.  Stupendous.  Smart.  Sincere.  
Sensitive." Radu interrupted again.  Wow, Harlan was making this 
difficult.  Elmira smiled again.  Harlan was losing the battle.  She 
had one thing to say about that.   

"Hah, Harlan!"  She gave Radu a hug.  If it was at all possible, Radu
turned even more red.  He was really glowing this time.  Wow, if he 
turned bald suddenly, he'd be identical to Rosie.  Yea, right.  

"Well..." Harlan said trying to think of more things.  "You're
.....green and.  And G stands for--"

"Glorious!  Great.  Graceful.  Gallant.  Glamourous.  Gracious."  He
wished Harlan would stop.  He was tired.  And this could go on all 
night.  He was already turning bright red from embarrassment and 
bashfulness.  No doubt Elmira would keep that up until he exploded.
Either that or permanently turned red.  

Harlan looked at the young Andromedan. //Darn.  Too bad he's so 
attached to her.  He seems to be racking up points for words.//  He 
thought about another letter he could compare Elmira to.  He had it!
"Well Elmira," Harlan said in a cocky way.  "Your father is a Warlord.
And W stands for--"

"Witty.  Wonderful.  Well-mannered.  Uh...and majestic!"

"That starts with an M." 

"Uh....so it does. Well, if you turn it upside down, it'll be a W.  
Besides, Elmira's too good to just be catagorized by W's."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Elmira said hugging him.  Harlan started 
humming romantic music from a movie while Radu was lighting the room
up with his face.  Yep, you'd need sunglasses to protect your eyes 
from the radiant red color bouncing off the walls.  Okay, so maybe 
Radu was exaggerating things just a LITTLE BIT.  But He did notice 
the room getting lighter.  And lighter.  And....well, you get the 
picture.  Harlan continued the romantic music until Elmira used her 
telepathic messages to get across to Harlan.  Radu didn't know what 
she had said to him, but he stopped right away.  

* * * * * *

Rosie and Bova sat in their assigned area.  The rec room.  Hey, they
didn't mind having the room with all of the games.  Bova prefered the
kitchen, but games were fine with him.  Bova and Rosie sat playing 
Minbar Chess.  It was one of the most popular games on the ship.  Bova
was losing.  

"That figures," Bova said as he looked at the third game he had lost.
"With my luck, I'll never win."

"Oh Bova.  This is probably all luck!"  Rosie tried to cheer the
pessimistic child up, but it was no good.  Nothing could cheer Bova 
up.  He got up and rolled out his sleeping bag.  Then Rosie did the 
same.  

* * * * * *

Commander Goddard, THELMA, and Ms Davenport were in the mess hall.
Otherwise known as Bova's office.  For once, this was very peaceful.
Except for the two adults talking along with THELMA sitting right by
them, there was no sounds to disturb anyone.  One of the most peaceful
rooms.  

* * * * * *

Radu stared at the ceiling.  He could hear Suzee (or what used to be
Suzee) walking down the corridors, roaming the halls.  He was almost 
asleep when he heard a familiar voice in his head.  

"I'm back, Radu.  You didn't think you could really get rid of me, did
you?"  Radu sat staight up.  What was that?  Halran and Elmira didn't
seem to notice anything.  Elmira was lecturing Harlan of how much of a
pain in the neck he was, and Harlan was lecturing Elmira about how sad
it was that she was the strong one in the relationship.  They had been
arguing non-stop.  Did they have to yell?  But when Radu sat up, they
both noticed.  

"What is is man?" Harlan asked slightly worried.  

"Are you okay Radu?  You look a little pale."  Elmira came over and 
put her hand on his forehead.  Then she shook her head.  "I don't even
know what I'm looking for.  What temperature are Andromedans?"

"Uh...I'm fine.  Really."  Radu said in an unsure tone.  Still, Elmira
and Harlan agreed and started to argue again.  

"Heh, heh, heh Radu.  Don't you get it?  When I leaped into your 
little Suzee, there was still a part of me here.  She pulled away
before I got her completely.  But that's okay with me because now I 
have both of you!"  Radu sat back up.  Elmira and Harlan still didn't 
seem to notice the voice.  It must be in his head.  He tried to get 
some rest, but every time, the voice would return.  Taunting him.  

"No!!!" Radu said finally covering his ears.  This brought Elmira's 
and Harlan's attention towards him.  

"Radu.  What's wrong?"

"Yea, man.  Maybe we should get Rosie in here."  

Radu didn't seem to hear.  Elmira nodded to Harlan and they both 
picked up their Andromedan friend, heading for the rec room where 
Rosie was.  

* * * * * *

"Come on Bova.  Let's play again.  You know, just for fun!" Rosie said
cheerfully.  

"What, so I can lose again?" Bova said folding his arms.  He was sick
of losing.  Suddenly, the doors opened and in walked, Harlan, Elmira,
and Radu.  

"Hey, Rosie.  Somethings up with Radu." Harlan said as he set his 
young friend down.  Elmira did the same, but didn't let go of his arm.

Rosie got up slightly worried and looked at Radu.  "Okay Radu.  What's
wrong?  You can tell me."  

"Theres....something in my head.  A voice.  Telling me 
that....it has me and Suzee.  It says it-it wasn't fully gone from me
and--"

"You mean that monster is still inside of you?"

Radu nodded.  They all looked at Radu in horror.  They didn't want to
see their quiet navigator go through that again.  Bova thought for a
second.  Then he came up with an idea.  

"I have an idea.  But it probably wont work," Bova said in a dull 
tone.  

"What is it?" everyone said simultaneously.  They looked over at Bova
waiting for a response.  

"Well," Bova began, "I've heard of this parasite who lives inside a
host.  Sort of like this one that's on the ship."  Everyone nodded.

"Yea, so what?  The parasite you're talking about isn't the same one
as the one we have here is it?"

"Nope. But the parasite I'm talking about hates to have another one
of it's kind inside a body.  Now, Radu has one inside him.  And Suzee
has one inside of her.  What if we connected the two so it would go
into one body.  It wouldn't tolerate another one entering.  It looks
like the parasite has separated itself into two different kinds of
it's species.  If Radu's been hearing the voice in its head, than that
means it can split apart.  But it can't go together again once it 
does.  Well, it might not tolerate another visitor in the same body.
Get my drift?"

"That's brilliant, Bova!" Rosie said jumping up and down in 
excitement.  

"But of course, I dont think it'll work." 

"Bova!" everyone said in a chorus.  

* * * * * *

Radu, Elmira, Harlan, Bova, and Rosie explained their plan to 
Commander Goddard.  "Well done, team.  We have a creature to kill."  
And with that, they were off.  

* * * * * *

Suzee (or....well.....Suzee's body) roamed the halls.  She saw a 
figure walk up to her.  It was Radu.  Suzee laughed.  "Big mistake
Radu."  Suzee touched Radu's shoulder, and the mist started to exit
Suzee.  But Radu didn't move.  He wanted to make sure and get it all.
If he was correct, he would be fully taken over until the battle would
begin.  Suzee's arm began to grow limp until she collapsed on the floor
along with Radu.  Harlan quickly came out and grabbed Radu.  Then he
started to drag him to the airlock.  Meanwhile, Bova and Rosie came
after Suzee.  

* * * * * *

Harlan reached the airlock and put Radu in.  He quickly closed it up
and not a moment too soon.  Immediately after, he heard a rumbling
coming from the airlock.  There was a battle going on that no one
would have liked to see.  When Harlan opened the airlock back up, he
saw the green mist take form into a giant warrior.  The other, the
same.  Harlan quickly dragged Radu out and closed the airlock.  The
battle still raged.  Harlan opened the outer airlock, and on screen,
Elmira watched the two green mists float away in fury.

* * * * * *

Radu opened his eyes.  His vision was slightly blurry, but that would
clear up.  He saw Elmira waiting by him with her CompuPad. She looked
tortured.  //She must be doing physics.  She always got a pained
expression every time she did physics.//  

Elmira looked up.  "You're awake!" Elmira said excitedly.  

Radu slowly dragged himself to a sitting position.  "Yea.  How'd the
plan go?"

"Perfect!  Even though you didn't have much left in you, it was enough
to get it out.  You've been out for a few days."

"Oh."

"Radu!  You're up!" Rosie said entering the medlab.  

"Yea, so I've heard."

Rosie smiled.  "I'm going to take your temerature."  Rosie pulled out
a device and attached it to Radu's wrist.  A few moments after, it
started to make a high-pitched beeping.  Rosie looked at it.  "All
normal!"

"Good.  Now you can come with me to bio-class.  You wouldn't believe
how much of a drag Ms Davenport has been when I have to face her 
alone.  She's scary."  Elmira helped Radu up.  

"That's too bad."

"What's too bad?" Elmira said looking at Radu in confusion as she
helped him up.  

"I was hoping to be sick for that class."  Elmira hit him slightly.

"At least you're back to normal."  The two walked back to class 
talking about Ms Davenport along with what he had missed.  On the way,
he met up with his comrades.  They filled him in on everything that
had happened.  

As the Christa glided along the open area of space, a raging battle
could be heard a distance away.  A battle that may never end.

In the distance of the night,
Fury will arise.
And the form it soon will take
Is one it does despise.


The End