trilluminati | voicemail

The... compulsion. To... To, uh, to... hurt them.

[Hold a moment while he just shakily sorts through the worst day of his life.]

I hurt someone real bad before he got the-- the, uh, medicine to me. Since then, I mean, I've... Well, it never happened again after all that. So. It couldn't hurt just to give it a shot, right? I mean... I didn't wanna do it. At first, but... I couldn't... I couldn't... take that chance, you know? Personally. I had to do all I could.

Is that...

[He chews his bottom lip for a moment, then charges forward with his question.]

Is that a common side effect of... of being cloned? Or somnua or... whatever else has been done to us?

You're somnua.

[He says this amidst a whooshing breath. He'd begun to suspect.]

It... In a way. Somnua unleashes the parts we keep internalized. I don't know for sure; the research isn't really there, but we're working on it, Wes and me. For now, it's a safe bet to just assume.

I wouldn't offer you anything I didn't earnestly believe would help, though. I hope you do really consider it, I... I've been what we are all my life. I wanna help.

So what it conjures up is already there?

[He sounds desolate over that realization but a moment later sucks in a soft breath.]

I'll... I'll talk to Jet about it. I'm hesitant not because I don't trust you - I do trust you - but because I've had some unfortunate history with drugs being given to me without my consent. There's also that if Leonard made this serum for you, it may not work the same on me.

Of course. All of us have the potential to do bad things... we just don't. Shit, I could tell you well as anybody.

[Lest we forget whose face it is waiting out there in the endgame.]

I don't think that means it's who you are, though. Oh hey, and don't forget...

[Q sounds pretty happy about this:]

We got the best scientist in the world on our team. He could probably tell you what's in it and what it'll do if you're worried. Just, uh...

It'd be nice if you could maybe not tell him I'm the one offering this shit to you.

You have a lot of faith in Wesker.

[At least that's who he thinks Q is referring to. Q places his faith in a lot of people, but considering the two he's heard are Pyunma and Jim and he was right on the money there... well, he feels he should trust Q's judgement.]

Why should it be a secret from him?

You want Jet to know your every aching fallacy? It's...you know.

He fixed up Pyunma and Mal, got me and the c--Kirk back on our feet -- no gratitude there, by the way -- and he's this close to honing in on a real, true cure for the Haze. Exactly why he doesn't need to worry about whether or not his lab partner's batty, especially when the doc's cure works fine.

No, but he tends to find out regardless.

So you and Wesker are...?

[No, not important to the topic at hand, even if it would be nice to talk about something besides their damage.]

I'll let you know. I trust Wesker as well. He's been working behind the scenes for our benefit this entire time.

That's not what I meant.

[Even if we are moving on, Q isn't.]

Verzeihung, I didn't mean to assume.

[He sounds almost like he's been struck, cowering a bit with the emphatic tone of Q's words.]

Yo...

[Let's redouble that hopefully:]

Verzeihung. Halt's Maul, so fliegt dir keine Mücke hinein. I told you I been a big moody baby lately.

It's fine. We've all been a little...

[He lets out a breath.]

It hasn't been easy for any of us, but at least in that fact we are none of us alone.

[It's nice to hear his mother tongue though. For all that people say German sounds angry and harsh, to Albert it simply sounds like home.]

Sind Sie fließend? Ich weiß, dass Sie Französisch und Spanisch und möglicherweise Arabisch, aber auch Deutsch sprechen?

Spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. Gēraskō d' aíeí pollâ didaskómenos. Di gantse velt shteyt oyf der shpits tsung -- nyet?

[ Q giggles. ]

I picked up this and that back home. You gotta realize where I come from, homie -- and how much it bothers my nosy proclivities when I can't get myself included in a conversation.

Bitte, I didn't understand most of that.

[There should be a chuckle here. Sadly there isn't, but he does give a weak smile even if Q can't see.]

Some things are better left unknown though, I feel.

I'm learning that more and more each day.

[Who knows where this bitter reply comes from. Probably from a great source of jealousy, judging by how quick and sardonic his response is.]

Not like I'd ever be able to stop myself from figuring everything out. You know how I do, papasan.

You're too smart.

[Well that was blunt.]

Not to say it's a bad thing generally, but it does lead to certain frustrations when others don't see certain concepts as clearly as you do.

Believe me, I've dealt with the sentiment all my life. Imagine being this way and growing up in a place where most of my peers are illiterate.

[Q is quiet now.]

I never really had a lot of friends because of it.

You have friends now.

[His words are quiet but hold no hesitation. He counts Q as akin to family; frankly, he wouldn't be talking to him at all right now if he thought otherwise.]

Yeah.

[A smiling edge creeps into his voice.]

I wish it never had to have happened in the first place, but I'm always gonna be glad that I could meet all of you. If I'd've been all alone with the mind I woke up with, I don't...

[That's a depressing train of thought. Q laughs softly, mostly at himself.]

Well. I think this's the better deal.

[He grunts quietly in agreement.]

We need each other. We need to band together, no more of this infighting.

[A pause.]

I would... try to talk to Jim for you, but-

[He makes an uncomfortable noise.]

It's difficult for me to look him in the eye after his double...-

[He stumbles haltingly over his own words, suddenly again sounding intensely vulnerable where he'd been getting a little better before. When he manages another word, its very quiet.]

I'm sorry.

Hey now. You don't got nothing to be sorry for. We always fighting anyway. It's just how we show our love for each other. Anyway, I think we're all more together now than we ever been. It makes me optimistic for the future.

That's good to hear.

[Though Albert is less optimistic. He huddles up against the bathroom wall, shivering from the virus running its course. After a moment, he pulls the towel down from the rack and wraps in it.]

I just hope we can do some good. I'm not certain purifying the well on Moc'awa actually did much overall. At least not that I could see.

It did. Every little bit is restoring the world to how it's intended. And those wells ain't just stuff stuck in a ditch -- those are lives you saved.

You're a great goddamn hero, papasan.

I don't feel like much of a hero, Q. Eve, Shindou, and Harry are still there and Jaden still lives.

We're working on it. That's all we can do. Can't give up when we only just begun, ja?

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