Days of Future and Past<BR>
by Zaxxon<BR><BR></CENTER>
Part 3

[=== From Part 2 ===]

     As he walked around Babylon 5 En Sabah Nur noticed the different 
aliens that populated the station. // Each must be judged, // he 
thought, // For only the Strong can survive. //

[=== End of Part 2 ===]

     For almost three days now, Delenn had been trying to get 
information on Commander Ivanova's new friend and the term 'Askani.' 
Despite the vast computer resources available to her,  Babylon 5, the 
Rangers, and those still friendly with her on Minbar, the search had come 
up with nothing. The man and the word did not exist as far as Delenn's 
sources could find. Desperate for information, she went to Mister 
Garibaldi to see what he had found out.
     "What I've found out is  . . .  zilch . . .  nada . . .  nothing. 
Then again, Ivanova seems to know him and we're not exactly on 
EarthDome's Christmas list at the moment, not since we broke away from 
them,"  Garibaldi answered to her inquiry.
     What 'Christmas List' was, Delenn was not sure. She knew from talks 
with Ambassador Sinclair that Christmas was an important holy day to 
Sinclair and some of the other humans on Station, but not all the 
humans. Ivanova said she did not celebrate Christmas instead she 
observed 'Chanukah.' It was the very first the fact that Humans had 
different religions was driven home to her. Delenn knew she was letting 
her mind wander but she had nothing else to work with. 
     It was easy to ask for the location of Commander Ivanova, so she 
headed to the Zocalo to find the Commander. Once in the Zocalo it was 
easy to spot the stranger due to his height and white hair. He stood a 
good head length taller than the others there. Delenn saw that Ivanova 
was with the stranger as she got closer. She saw that Ivanova and the 
stranger had sat. Delenn decided that the only way to get the information 
she wanted was to get it from the source. So she went to join the duo.

     After three days Ivanova noted that Garibaldi had stopped trying to 
pump her for information about Nathan and his stuff that came with him. 
In truth, Susan only had a little more information on the items in 
question.  The little she knew was told in confidence, one that meant more 
to her than anything else in her live including Babylon 5 and those on it. 
Still despite, or possible because of, all that happened, things were 
getting back to normal. 
      // Or whatever normal around here is, // thought Susan. As they 
habit, Susan and Nathan were having breakfast together in the Zocalo. 
Today they decided to try some Kaoti food. Susan ordered and paid for a 
weird vegetable // fruit in a grain-like wrapping. It was easy to hold, 
tasted delicious, but it smelled  . . .  Susan could not place the smell, 
the little there was. Its lack of familiar scent had made a lot of the 
humans on station avoid it. But Nathan had insisted and Susan never could 
say 'no' to him, especially in such simple matter as trying something she 
wanted to try anyway.
     They had sat since the tall Nathan was attracting attention and it 
had embarrassed him enough that Susan started to kid him about it. After 
the kidding, they relaxed into a comfortable silence. Susan noticed 
Nathan's head movement just before seeing Delenn approach their table. 
"Commander, may I join you?" Delenn asked.
     Susan replied, "Sure Ambassador." Nathan got up, pulled out the 
chair between himself and Susan, and offered it to Delenn. Once she 
accepted and sat, Nathan easily slid the chair back into its place at 
the table. Nathan then sat back into his chair with Susan giggling and 
she said, "Nathan, the Gentleman." Susan then processed to burst out 
laughing.
     Delenn was confused.  // Obviously, the stranger's name is 
'Nathan' but I do not understand the 'Gentleman' part or the humor, //  
Delenn  thought to herself. She noticed that Nathan's left eye was 
glowing slight, enough that she was not sure if she was truly seeing it. 
Delenn that Nathan casted a look at Susan that sobered her up.
     "Sorry, Delenn, old joke," Susan began, "It's considered a 
gentlemanly thing to help a Lady with her seat."
     "Oh," Delenn replied,  // Another Earth custom I am not aware of. // 
     "Yes," Nathan replied, "In the past, a Lady would wear a lot of 
heavy clothing, for either the sake of the Weather or Fashion. So it 
was considered good manners to help the Lady sit since the clothing 
would restrict a women's movement. And my parents raised to have good 
manners."
     The last statement caused Susan to chuckle again. Once again, she 
calmed down with Nathan looking at her. "Sorry," she said to no one 
in general. Braking off a piece of the food cake, Susan placed it into 
her mouth.
     "Oh," Delenn replied.
     Just then Garibaldi asked to join. Nathan simply nodded and pointed 
to the fourth and last chair at the table. Garibaldi turned the chair
uaround, laid his elbows on the table, and asked, "What are we talking
about?"
     Susan just laughed and said, "Manners."
     Garibaldi quickly removed his elbows on the table when Delenn started 
to recite for Garibaldi what Susan and Nathan had said about gentlemen 
and chairs.  "Okay, sorry, I asked," Garibaldi replied. Turning to Nathan 
he said, "You know, you're a hard man to track down."
     "I am?" Nathan said innocently, "I guess then my credit line has not 
caught up to me yet."
     "Yeah, well, Earth Bank and other Alliance stuff have not been talking 
to us that much even back when the Station first came on-line. Now with 
the secession . . . " Garibaldi said. Garibaldi's commlink beeped. He said 
into it, "Garibaldi here."
     "Chief, we've got another one," the disembodied voice said from the
commlink.
     "Great . . . ," Garibaldi said sarcastically. "Where," he continued, 
wishing he did not need to know.
     "Brown Six," was the reply.
     "Right, I'm on the way," Garibaldi said as he rose.
     Commander Ivanova corrected him, "*We*'re on the way."

     "What am I looking at," Ivanova asked Garibaldi as she pointed to 
the  // blob //  in the center of the room. The blob was a circle of mush 
that was all over the room.
     "The remains of some person. Who or what race I don't know until 
MedLab runs a DNA test," Garibaldi answered. "Somehow the poor shmock 
was reduced to the blob you see before you."
     "May I suggest that the victim was squashed with a circular object 
that had a radius of a meter. What person who could wield such an object 
with the force needed to crash a living person, I don't know," Nathan said.
     Garibaldi was so busy looking for clues that he forgot that both 
Nathan and Delenn had tagged along with him and Ivanova. "Oh and how do 
you come up with 'a circular object with a meter radius?'" Garibaldi asked 
heatedly.
     "Simple," Nathan said calmly, "See the blob (as you called it) is 
circular as well as the indention in the floor. The circular remains are 
what got suck between the object and the floor." 
     "That possible," Garibaldi said to his number one suspect. The 
cartoon image of Duffy Duck being hit with a large mallet came unbinding 
to Garibaldi's mind. The cartoon scenario produced similar results 
although not the mess.
     Delenn gasped and said, "Mister Garibaldi, I think you will find the 
victim was Minbari."
     "How . . .  Never-mind," Garibaldi said quickly.
     "Garibaldi, the Security officer that called you said 'We've got 
another one.' Who were the others?" Ivanova asked.
     "This is number three in the last two days," Garibaldi said with a 
sigh. After thinking a bit he said, "They started a little after he 
arrived." Garibaldi's finger pointed at Nathan.
     "Mister Garibaldi, I'll have you know that I can personally testify 
to Nathan's whereabout since he got on Babylon Five even when I was on 
duty. So unless you care to implicit me as well as Nathan, I suggest you 
look elsewhere for suspects," Commander Ivanova said in a tight voice.
     "Easy, Susan," Nathan said to calm Susan down, "The man's just doing 
his job. I'm the only abnormally that he knows of that occurred in the 
same time frame.  It's only natural for him to think I might have some 
thing to do with this." Nathan waved his arms to encompass the room. "Of 
course, for that reason, it's logical to assume that it would be foolish 
for someone to attract the amount of attention I did and the do something 
unusual."
     "But what could have cause this?" Delenn asked.
     "A very large mallet," Garibaldi joked.
     "A portable gravity field," Ivanova suggested.
     "Telekinesis," Nathan softly.
     "What?" Garibaldi said, "Why didn't I think of that?"
     "Because, no human teek is that powerful. The most powerful 
telekinetic Psi Corps got, could only lift a unoccupied chair a few
inches off the ground, that's about it.  Besides, most telekinetics 
are locked up, since they're insane," Susan said. 
      // Interesting, //  Nathan thought.

[=== End of Part 3 ===]