Juri had intended to show an ashamed face because he'd kept the Commanders waiting for so long, but that decision withered into dust within moments after he'd found the room where Orwel directed him. His profuse apologies were cheerfully waved aside, and the men lounging around the table placed in the middle of the room declared in near unison that he'd needed the rest. Wouldn't he rather save his breath for telling them the whole story, though not before the T-clones and their meal had time to grace the room with their presence?

The meal was soon brought in by remarkably identical personnel whom Orwel introduced as M-clones, and within moments of their disappearance the company was joined by the dark-haired man and two T's he had seen earlier. Juri found himself unable to resist the temptation of the deliciously smelling dishes, and was soon gleefully filling his plate from the bowls just like everyone else. For a while he was too overwhelmed by the feeling of peace to really listen to the light bantering of the others, and he was allowed to satisfy his more immediate needs before curious glances began to be leveled at him across the table.

"Do you think you could now tell us the whole story?" Arria inquired politely when Juri sighed and picked a roll of bread from a tray to nibble on. Juri swallowed the rest of his food and nodded eagerly.

"Sure. I think I ought to have a break now anyway, otherwise I'll eat myself sick," he grinned. "Okay, where do I begin?"

"Why not start from the beginning," Orwel suggested and laced his fingers together on the edge of the table. "Anything and everything you can tell will be welcome."

"And you can be sure we'll keep asking questions," interjected Rori, the wavy-haired young mentalist. "You see, this is something of a puzzle... oh well, you start first and then we'll fill you in."

"Should Adrien be here as well?" Osip asked but the two T-clones shook their heads.

"He's keeping an eye on Salvador," André said. "Even though he's sleeping now, we thought it best not to leave him alone. And Wilson's there to keep him company."

"Well in that case," Osip nodded and winked. "So, please, Juri – go right ahead!"

"All right." Juri frowned a little in thought and then nodded to himself. "Maybe I'd better start with the background story. That one deals with Michel Orcagna..."

He couldn't have hoped for a more attentive audience than the six people sitting around him, and their interest was very obviously piqued by the introduction of Salvador to the equation. Especially the T-clones leaned forward with an intense expression on their nearly identical faces, and Juri noticed that he had to avoid looking at them if he wanted to keep his his story coherent – especially when talking about Salvador whom they uncannily resembled.

The listeners soon realized with relish that Juri evidently had a knack for storytelling. His face, hands, whole body were involved in bringing the story to life as efficiently as they could, reliving the events as he recounted them. Because he avoided looking at André and Terry, he also missed the numerous quick glances the two shared while he was speaking, but the others around the table did notice them. A couple of times Orwel raised a questioning eyebrow questioningly at them, only to be receive a small wave a dismissal from André.

"... and that's what I was really wondering myself," Juri said pursing his lips thoughtfully. "I mean, after the treatment he'd been getting from that bastard Calvin, how come he could so suddenly and so completely trust me? I was thinking that maybe he was sort of picking it up from me, that I really wanted to help him."

This time he did notice André's little gasp and Terry's blink, and fell silent in confusion.

"You shouldn't wonder at all," André said breathlessly. "You're really projecting your feelings around, so strongly that he could've probably caught them even when hardly conscious!"

"Projecting?" Juri said uncertainly. Terry smiled and patted his arm.

"Nothing bad in that," he said in a reassuring tone. "Some people are very guarded in that respect, quite naturally so, while others are much more forthcoming. And you're definitely of the latter kind. If I winced a moment ago, it was just because you thought of Calvin again – ohh..."

"Sorry!" Juri was even more confused now, but the Commanders just smiled in sympathy.

"I'm always accused of shouting," Osip assured him with a lopsided grin, "but then that's nothing new anyway. Terry's tried to school me, and I guess I've learned a little bit of something."

"Just try to sort of push your feelings back," André explained. "And really, there's nothing terribly bad about it. It's just a little overwhelming at such close distance, especially as we're listening to you so raptly anyway."

"All right," Juri said somewhat dubiously. "I'll try, I promise."

When he finished, the Commanders looked in askance at the T-clones who both sighed deep.

"Your go first, Commanders!" Rori nodded. "If you want to ask anything, just shoot, because we have a little something to discuss and that might take time."

"Very well!" Arria rested his chin on his crossed fingers. "First of all, how about your mission from now on? Have you contacted Ashanti yet?"

"No," Juri said. "Quite frankly, I've been too exhausted to think about anything else except getting Salvador to safety. Now that he's in good hands, my next task will be to get into contact and think of a way to get the data there."

"Well, that's something we can help you with," Orwel said. "But I find it interesting that the police let you go so easily. That they practically pushed you on your way, and let you take Salvador with you!"

"They weren't very partial to the Union," Juri shrugged. "They made it amply clear without actually saying anything to the effect... and I did make doubly sure that there were no tracers or such left in our things."

"Well, I should imagine that you'd certainly be qualified to say something like that with some authority!" Arria smiled. "Anyway, I don't think there's any harm done if you gather your strength until tomorrow before getting in touch with Ashanti. What's another few hours, after you've made all the journey here?"

"Precisely," Osip nodded. "We'll establish a connection in the morning. But in the meantime, I don't think there's anything in particular that I want to dwell on right now. I'm sure there'll be questions once I have time to ruminate a little, but nothing at the moment. Your account was pretty comprehensive."

"Does anyone else have any more pressing questions?" Rori looked around the table and took a deep breath. "All right, so maybe we could then go to the one that's bothering us at the moment. And that's Salvador."

"What about him, exactly?" Arria asked.

"We managed to ascertain that he is indeed TC-033," André said. "But, you see, the question is: what the hell has happened to him over the past eleven months or so? Because according to the data, there is no mission called Salvador Marquina."

"Whoa," Juri raised his hands, "would you please explain a few things to me before going on? I remember something from the data you sent back when you'd just found out about them, about priming and wiping and missions, but I have to say that I'd much appreciate a quick summary – just to make sure I know what you'll be talking about."

"Sounds fair enough," Rori said. "Okay, a quick rerun of the facts. T-clones have been used as spies, to surreptitiously collect information from various locations. For this purpose they were given an identity, complete with a suitable background and all, which was transferred to them by a method called 'priming'. In essence it means that in priming, the clone fully becomes this person, not knowing anything about the Union or T-clones or other such strange things."

"Right," Juri nodded. "And there always was this guardian to accompany them? Why?"

"To keep an eye on any anomalies," Terry explained, "and also to keep an eye on how the clone made progress. The guardian was incorporated into the background story, to explain why the clone would meet him every week or so. The guardian used a 'probe' to extract information stored in the clone's brain. This information was then sent back to headquarters for analysis, and the guardian would afterwards receive further instructions and orders on how to proceed."

"What happened when the headquarters decided that the clone had obtained enough information?" Juri asked.

"Then he'd disappear under some suitable pretext," Terry said, "be wiped, and become a mere T-clone once more. Until the next mission."

Juri shuddered at the coldly toneless statement and caught a movement in the corner of his eye: André quickly passed a slightly trembling hand over his mouth, then the slender digits slipped into Rori's hand and were squeezed reassuringly.

"It... uh... how does it affect the clones? I mean, this priming and wiping?" he asked.

"It's gradually destructive," André said quietly. "No matter how thoroughly the wipes are done, there's always something left behind. More and more of it after each wipe. Priming doesn't seem to be nearly as hard, but the wipes..."

His voice trailed off but Terry picked up the lead. "They get more difficult, and also recovering from them keeps taking longer and longer. My luck that I was only getting over my third mission when these guys barged in here. Otherwise they might have had just a wreck to deal with."

"A wreck?" Juri repeated, puzzled.

"The number of existing adult T-clones isn't that great," Rori said sadly. "There's André, Adrien, Terry and now Salvador, plus possibly another two whose whereabouts are not known. All others have been... terminated because of incorrigible mental problems."

Juri's blood ran cold. Terminated... that could only mean one thing.

"You mean they've all been killed?" he said hoarsely.

"Yes." André blinked a couple of times as if battling tears, and Rori cleared his throat.

"But to come back to Salvador. So we know who he basically is, but that doesn't bring us any closer to an answer. You see, according to the data Terry has been poring through these past months, all T-clones were always primed and wiped here, in this base. This was the headquarters for that sort of operations. But there's no data on a mission like this."

"Precisely!" Terry leaned forward, hands accentuating his words. "The data states quite unequivocally that he was sent out on a mission to the planet of Tabaimo nearly a year ago. He was primed as a physics student called Benedict Duchamp, and he entered the university there. He was accompanied by his guardian, David Romy, and there was a steady flow of information ever since."

He paused to glance at his datapad. "He stayed there for several months – apparently the mission was a tricky one, since it involved gathering information on no less than three different individuals, each one of them associated with the university. Then we came and took over the base, so that's where the leads end. There's obviously no record of the mission ever being officially finished, and I had no time as yet to investigate any further."

"But the man who was with him was called Calvin," Juri said. "He was constantly referred to as Calvin, and I don't think I ever heard a first name on any occasion."

"Here's a picture of Romy," Terry said and turned the datapad so that Juri could take a look at it.

"No, definitely not." The dark man shook his head decisively. "There's no way that man could be Calvin. But he said he'd worked with Salvador's 'kind' before."

"Possibly he's been involved in missions where he's been working with T-clones and their guardians?" suggested Orwel, who'd so far been content just listening to the exchange with his fellow commanders. "Was there any Calvin among the other guardians listed, Terry? I'm sure you've taken a look at that, too... no, I thought so."

"Wouldn't Salvador's case then indicate that the Union has found some other way to prime T's?" Osip asked. "To me it sounds like he's been reprimed somehow, and been assigned to a new guy to work with, even if the process seems to have gone badly wrong."

"That's what it sounds like," Rori nodded. "And that's what we don't like one little bit."

"You see, the priming and wiping equipment is devilishly complicated," André chimed in. "And, again judging by the records, it's been under constant improvement here. They really have been working on it, hard. We think it's rather unlikely that there'd be anything even remotely like it anywhere else – and why would there be?"

"Hold on a second," Arria said suddenly. "Back when you, André, contacted Adrien – wasn't he on Jehan? And you yourself remarked on how unusual it was, that he should have traveled somewhere with his guardian without being primed first?"

"Holy shit... that's true!" André's eyes widened. "Why didn't we come to think about that?"

"You're right, Arria," Rori said with a frown. "Maybe we ought to take a really good look at Adrien's files first, to find out if we could spot any clues there."

"But what about Salvador?" Juri insisted. "How's he now? And what are you going to do about him?"

"We doped him good and proper with painkillers to give him the opportunity to rest," Rori said. "His whole system has been suffering from the headache, as he's obviously been too ill to even eat properly. He's sedated and on IV at the moment."

"His brain scans are a jumble," Terry added. "I wish we could think of something to do, apart from medicating him."

"Juri, you said that he was talking weird," André said. "What kind of things were they? And when was he most likely to 'talk weird'?"

"Mostly when he was sleepy." Juri thought about it for a while. "Such as right after waking up."

"Okay, in other words when he was just emerging from whatever dreams his brain had concocted," André nodded. "Was there anything in particular that he'd talk about repeatedly?"

"Troy. That was the one recurring theme. What – didn't I mention it earlier?" Juri blinked in surprise. "Sorry about that! Yeah, there was this 'Troy' about whom he had also spoken to Calvin. I overheard them a couple of times, and that never failed to royally piss Calvin off. He kept telling Sal to cut the crap, that he didn't know anybody by that name, etcetera."

"So it's a person?"

"Definitely. He kept saying that he needed to find Troy, and that was also how I gained Sal's trust to start with – by promising I'd help in finding him. A couple of times he'd even call me 'Troy' when I woke him up."

"Ahh!" André and Rori shared a meaningful look. "A close friend? A lover perhaps?"

"I wouldn't venture a guess," Juri shrugged. "It's true that I've always held him as he sleeps. Being close seems to calm him down a lot. But I don't think I really look much like this elusive Troy person, because Sal never mistook me for him when he was even half-coherent."

"Well, I'll definitely go through all his mission data once more with a fine-toothed comb," Terry decided. "It's just possible that I'll find something there, unless it's somebody he's met only after the mission on Tabaimo."

"I don't know if I should even ask this," Juri mumbled uncertainly, "but I'll do it anyway. And please blame my ignorance if it's a horrid question... couldn't you use this equipment you have here –"

He snapped his mouth shut when Terry buried his face in hands with a sharp intake of breath and André pressed a fist on his mouth, looking ready to throw up. "Sorry. Genuinely sorry."

"It's a valid question," Rori insisted, "and you deserve an explanation. We don't want to even consider that, because in spite of all the information we've found in the files, we still aren't any experts in using it. We'd most likely just cause far worse damage than what's already been done. Moreover, the treatment is extremely painful. We simply cannot do it to him, or anyone."

"I understand," Juri said quietly.

"Now this is beginning to sound like there's some more research ahead," Osip said and slouched lower to stretch his long legs under the table. "I suggest that we call this meeting off and let Juri relax for the evening. Salvador is safe and taken care of, Terry can go on with the data tomorrow, and we all could surely use some time off."

Juri was intrigued to notice that the blond commander Hamidha started in his chair as if in reaction to some invisible provocation, then shot a withering glance at the dark Head Pilot and batted at something under the table. His eyes widened still further in surprise when something that suspiciously sounded like a hissed "Behave or you'll be sleeping on the floor" drifted across the table to reach his ears. Osip immediately straightened in his chair and composed his face into an altogether too innocent expression, hands resting primly on the table. His brother cocked an eyebrow at him and grinned a little.

"Aren't you meek today," Orwel grunted, amused.

"Hey, you're not the one being threatened here!" Osip insisted, then his gaze fell on Juri's astonished face and he chuckled. "But really, Arria mine, I think you just managed to shock our guest..."

Arria flushed a delicious shade of red, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again and averted his eyes from Juri's broadening smile. "That's twice today you've embarrassed me! Now there's no doubt about it any more, you are a bad influence."

He bent forward to stab a forefinger at Osip's uniformed chest, then took a deep breath and glanced at Juri. "My apologies, this –"

"No apologizing, really!" Juri hurried to interrupt, and only belatedly remembered that he was indeed interrupting the Supreme Commander of the place. "I'm just surprised, that's all, not shocked at all. I mean, on Ashanti everything's rather subdued, and –"

"Talking about Ashanti, would you like to meet somebody you might've met before, Juri?" Orwel broke in with a slight smile and received a grateful glance from Arria. Juri turned to look at the other Commander Dahomey with a puzzled expression, then his face brightened.

"You mean Shenovski is still here? Vanya Shenovski?"

"The one and only," Orwel nodded, obviously satisfied that the distraction had worked so well. "I might go on with the little introduction you got earlier, and take you to the canteen. That's where everybody is hanging out at this time, anyway, and I'm rather sure we'll find him there as well."

"I think we might go and relieve Adrien," André said and stood up. "Will you join us, Terry?"

"Yes, as far as the T-complex anyway," Terry nodded and stretched. "I might recall all data from 'Mission Benedict' and take a look at it."

"You're not going to do that tonight," Rori informed him as they stepped out of the door. "It might be your turn to keep company to the School of Angels..."

"School of Angels?" Juri repeated, eyebrows scrunching together. The three commanders shared a glance and smiled.

"Our five young T-clones," Osip chuckled. "And believe me, you'll understand the nickname well enough once you see them, even though they don't always quite live up to it."

Juri pushed himself on his feet and nodded in reply to Orwel's questioning glance. "Okay, I'm definitely curious to meet more people, especially old acquaintances!"

He followed the tall man out into the corridor, still feeling the trials of the journey in his bones but with a mind far too alert to even think about retreating back to bed yet.