The Song of Sqia'lon Seven

4. Forever

"Dude, I don't know whether you've cottoned on yet, but we're stuck in the Tardis with a crazy man and an alien."

Nathan listened to this statement whispered by his, let's say, "unconventional" rather than, "weird", brother, and had the overwhelming urge to laugh insanely.  But his years with Blade had told him one thing for certain. Blade did not cope well with having his sanctuary, his Tardis, infiltrated with strangers (or "unfamiliars" as Blade referred to them).  Even taking just Violet there was a huge risk – not only to his budding friendship with Violet, but to his brother Blade's mental equilibrium as well.  Nathan did not want to risk a meltdown from Blade, on top of the situation he was already facing in the Tardis.

The speaker beside the monitor beeped into life again.  "This is Agent Onetti of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America.  We have reason to believe that you are holding Miss Violet Sqia'lon and Agent Frank Sqia'lon in the basement of this house."  At this juncture, Agent Onetti flashed his CIA badge up to the camera outside.  "You are required to fully comply with our instructions.  Release Ms Sqia'lon and Agent Frank Sqia'lon into our custody and you will face no further legal consequences as a result of what has happened here today.  You have 4 minutes to comply with our request."

"Don't open the door!" Frank bellowed standing up and taking command of the room.

"Why not?" fired back a clearly unravelling Blade, his voice spiralling upwards in pitch and cracking under the pressure. "Dude, the CIA obviously think that we have taken you both hostage against your will!"

"Who knows what they think," growled Frank, "but our lives are all collateral damage to the big prize of securing that alien ship out there.  And they'll do anything, and I mean anything, to achieve that objective" stated Frank emphatically.

Concerned, Nathan watched as Blade's head seemed to tilt askew as the latter's attention was fully diverted to the monitor screens on the console.

Through the monitors, Nathan could see the agents outside the Tardis clutching at their ears, expressions of agony on their faces.  Blood trickled from their ears, before they silently fell to the floor.  Riveted by the unfolding chaos outside, Frank screamed at Blade, "What's happening out there?"  "What have you done?" he demanded.

"Dude, that's not me.  I think its her."  As he spoke, Violet rose from the floor and pointed to the mainframe computer on Blade's console.

A digitalised image of a woman, blonde and blue-eyed, stared back at them.  "Hello Frank."

It was as if Frank had been struck over the head with a mallet.  His eyes widened at the sight of the image on the mainframe, his mouth gaped open dumbstruck.  As he processed the image, a look of disbelief cloaked his eyes.  Staggering forwards towards the screen, Frank stretched out his hand incredulously, as if grasping for the truth itself.  "Allison?" he said out loud.

"Yes Frank, it's me." The voice was smooth and calm.

"But how?" Frank stammered.

Blade spun in his chair, arms raised straight in the air as if signalling traffic to stop. "It's a trick Frank, be careful about believing what you hear.  Your wife died, remember?"

But Blade's warning fell on deaf ears as Frank continued to speak to the screen.  "Tell me," Frank continued, "tell me something that only my wife would know."

"All right.  Remember when we adopted Violet, you were so surprised that I wanted to call our daughter by that name, since that was the very codename used by the FBI to designate the seventh bearer of this life form – 'Violet Sqia'lon'?  But I told you that I took that name from the daughter character in the Disney movie, 'The Incredibles' because . . . "