Темное, кривое зеркало. Том 3 : След на песке.

"Know the past," he said softly.

"Talking to yourself is meant to be one of the first signs of madness," said a voice from behind him. Slowly, unsure of what he was hearing, he straightened, and turned. "But then, if you want to become a Minbari and start acting like one of their Gods, then I guess you're way past that stage, hmm?"

It was her!

"Catherine?"

She smiled. "Hello, Jeffrey."

* * *

They called him the Starkiller, the last hope of humanity, the scourge of the Minbari, the greatest living captain. They had called him those things before he had betrayed them, before he had allied himself with the Minbari, and even dared fall in love with one of them. Little about John Sheridan was now common knowledge. People did not like to think about him, even after the recent victories. When they did speak of him they did so in hushed voices as if he were gone forever, in tones of reverence for the nobly dead.

Such an ironic prophecy was nearly true, for John Sheridan was dying. He did not talk about it, save to the one person who had become closer to him than anyone he had ever known. Indeed, only two others even knew of his fate.

He was not afraid of death, and he had already made his plans for dealing with the situation when it became necessary.

He had never been afraid of death, but he was afraid now. The instincts that had kept him alive for so long were screaming at him. Something was happening, or was going to happen, and he was not in control of it. That frightened him.

Not long ago he had received a message, short, but strange. It did not seem to make sense, and yet it was the kind of message he could not ignore.

Breathing in slowly, he rang the door chime, which was answered almost immediately with a "Yes?" The mere sound of that voice made him smile. He could have spent all day doing nothing but listen to it.

"It's me, Delenn. Can I come in?"

"Always," she replied. He knew she would be smiling and sure enough, when the door opened and he stepped inside, she was. She glided across the floor to meet him, her smile lighting up the room. "I thought you were running drills on the Parmeniontonight," she said. "Or did you finish early just to be with me?"

"No…. ah, not that I didn't want to…. it's just that…." He paused, catching his breath, and his thoughts. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No. I was just going over the proposals put forward by the Drazi Government. They seem to think they are entitled to a larger share in the Alliance than we are giving them. It is nothing, but even if it were important, I would put it aside for the moment." She looked at him closely. "John…. is something wrong?"

"Yes…. ah, no…. I don't know. Have you seen G'Kar recently?"

"No, not since…. this morning. Why?"

"I got a strange message from Bester just now. An order, more like. It sounds as if there's something major going on. He's…. recalling me to Sanctuary."

She frowned. "Did he give a reason?"

"No, none. That's why I wanted to see G'Kar. See if he knows anything. This is…. it just has a bad feel about it. Not to mention that with the Parmeniongone, and the Ozymandiasas well, there'll be only the Alliance ships left to defend this place if anything goes wrong."

"There is also the Great Machine, which is more than capable of defending the station. You remember the first time we saw it?" He nodded. "Still, this might be a cause for concern. Perhaps we should try to find G'Kar."

He nodded again. "Now?"

"No time like the present." Smiling, he took her arm and they left her quarters, his long stride consciously slowed to match her shorter one.

As they began to walk down the corridor however, they encountered two figures coming the other way. Sheridan started and stiffened, and he knew Delenn had noticed the tension in his arm.

He looked at the two men closely. Captain Ari Ben Zayn and his telepath, Harriman Gray. Bester's men through and through. Both men had noticed them and while Gray looked uneasy, Ben Zayn consciously straightened his bearing and stopped, waiting for Sheridan and Delenn to approach him.

"I thought I'd find you with her," Ben Zayn said, addressing Sheridan directly without a glance at Delenn. "Didn't you receive your orders, then?"

"I received them," came the careful reply. Sheridan was looking directly at Gray, who seemed…. fascinated by his gaze. That was still better than looking at Ben Zayn. The man was a career soldier, with years more experience than Sheridan himself. His scar seemed to bleed as Sheridan looked at it. "I was just looking for G'Kar to…."

"And have you started working for G'Kar now, Captain?" he snapped. "You work for Bester. The Parmenionis his ship, its crew are his men and you are his soldier. Have you forgotten that?"

"No, Captain, I haven't. But Bester did post me here to safeguard this project of G'Kar's, as well as to maintain general order in the League and Alliance worlds, as per G'Kar's wishes. My exact post was, if I remember the term correctly, Bester's liaison with G'Kar."

"Yes, I am completely aware of that, but now Bester has requested your presence on Sanctuary. This supersedes your posting here. You are to come along…. now, or your ship and your crew will have to go without you."

"You know as well as I do that at least half of that crew is mine."

"And they will obey the orders of Major Krantz just as well as they would yours. If they do not do so, then they can easily be replaced. You have your orders, Captain. So, unless your recent freedom has affected your ability to obey them, I expect to see the Parmenionleaving here within the hour. Do you understand me?"

"I understand you perfectly well! But I have my responsibilities here, to G'Kar, to this station, to…." He stopped as he felt Delenn tapping his arm gently.

"Go, John," she said. "We will be fine here." He started to speak, to protest, but his words were stifled by her kiss. "I love you," she said softly, so softly it was hardly audible. "Go."

She stepped back and, with a twirl, turned and went back towards her quarters. Sheridan focussed his gaze on Ben Zayn. "We will be gone within the hour," he snapped. "And if this is no emergency, we will be back here equally quickly. Good day, Captain."

He stormed down the corridor without saying another word.

* * *

Lord Jarno stood at his window looking out at the streets of his city, and shivered. It was night-time and yet the city was lit as if it were day. Not just by lights, but by the fires.

They had been burning for days, it seemed — in the warehouse sector, the peasant villages, the fields, even in the streets themselves. Where each inferno blazed, someone stood in the centre of it, screaming that the Shadow was coming.

Jarno did not need to be told about the Shadow, he saw it every night in his dreams. The sky was blacked out by the appearance of countless billions of ships, each one screaming inside his mind.