lurkers-guide/synops/048

<h3>Synopsis by Katrina Glerum (kat@midwinter.com)</h3>

<p>
As Ivanova and Brother Edward banter over the outcome, Brother Theo and
Captain Sheridan are engaged in a match of wits over chess and faith.  Just
as Brother Theo wins at both, Ivanova is called away to meet Ambassador
Kosh's arriving ship. She has been invited to witness his ship deliver Lyta
Alexander, the mysterious telepath who had helped the B5 crew find the Psi
Corps plant in their midst
(<a href="041.html">"Divided Loyalties"</a>).<p>

Later, in Sheridan's office, Lyta explains how she had felt drawn to Kosh
since she touched his mind years before
(<a href="000.html">"The Gathering"</a>).  In a final
desperate attempt to find the Vorlons, she had herself abandoned in a life
pod at the edge of Vorlon space.  Although she agrees to submit to a medical
exam by Franklin, she refuses to tell anything about her experiences after
the Vorlons rescued her. As Garibaldi sums up for them all,  "Nobody's ever
been to the Vorlon homeworld, and back again; and yet she goes and comes
back like she just took a trip to the corner store.  And now she's working
for Kosh.  Is anyone else as creeped out about this as I am?"<p>

In wrapping up business negotiations, Brother Edward explains that the data
transfer service his order provides is like the manuscript illumination
of the Middle Ages, namely a means to earn the money they need to continue
their work of  "learning all the names of God from our non-human brothers."
As she is about to depart, the woman asks about the black rose that falls
from the monk's bag, but he is more bewildered by it than she.<p>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/048/mindwipe.gif" alt="">
Garibaldi and Delenn watch an ISN anchor report the sentence of  Death of
Personality for a serial killer.  The Chief explains that this type of
mindwipe is considered more humane than the death penalty, and that after a
criminal's memory has been erased, they are programmed to serve the
community they harmed.<br clear=all><p>

In MedLab, Dr. Franklin is intrigued to find that not only is Lyta in
excellent health, but all her prior chronic and congenital ailments are also
inexplicably gone.  She manages to get away just as the gleam of fanatic
inquisitiveness appears in his eyes.<p>

Returning to his quarters, Brother Edward is terrified to see "DEATH WALKS
AMONG YOU" scrawled in blood across the bulkhead.  When he returns with a
dubious Garibaldi moments later, all signs have vanished. <p>

Londo catches Lyta exiting a transport tube.  He is extremely curious to
hear what she has seen among the Vorlons.  When bribery fails as an
enticement, he threatens to apprise the Psi Corps of her presence on B5.
Her promise to bury a never-ending nightmare in the psyche of anyone who
turns her in seems to cool his ardor.<p>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/048/valen.gif" alt="">
In an interview with Ambassador Delenn and Lennier, Brother Edward asks
about the Minbari faith.  In return she asks him what the defining moment of
Christianity is to him personally.  He replies by telling the story of Jesus
waiting all night in the garden of Gethsemene for the Roman soldiers to
seize him.  Though he knew what was going to happen and he could have
escaped, Jesus chose to stay, to sacrifice himself "to atone for the sins of
others."<p>

	"A very fragile human moment," Brother Edward tells Delenn.  "And I've
often thought about that night, and I honestly don't know if I would
have had the courage to have stayed."<br clear=all><p>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/048/memory.gif" alt="">
Returning home Downbelow, Brother Edward bumps into an odd Centauri.  A
moment later the corridor is pierced by a woman's scream of terror and
pain -- and the hideous whine of an electric saw.  Confronted with the same
bloody message as before, the monk tries to run away, only to watch his
panicked steps begin splashing through filthy water.  With accusations and
foreign sirens ringing in his ears, he collapses nearly on top of the corpse
of a mutilated woman -- one who has a black rose stuffed in her mouth.<p>

Brother Theo finds Brother Edward sitting deeply disturbed in his quarters.
The older monk realizes the futility of his counsel, even as he asks Brother
Edward to refrain from digging after the source of these waking nightmares.
His fears are well founded, for the instant Theo is gone, Edward queries the
computer about the things he has seen, cross-referenced against criminal
records.<br clear=all><p>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/048/theosher.gif" alt="">
Quickly assessing the situation, Theo goes directly to Sheridan to enlist
his aid in tracking down the information before Edward can.  Sheridan is
astonished to think that the kind, generous man they are all fond of could
have been an irredeemable serial murderer.  Garibaldi's search turns up that
the troubled monk was once Charles Dexter, a.k.a. the Black Rose Killer, but
not before Brother Edward discovers the same.  Security also finds that
Brother Edward's visions were not just hallucinations, but planted by
somebody trying to rattle loose the memories of the past.  This suggests to
Sheridan that the strange Centauri was a telepath.<br clear=all><p>

<img align=right width=160 height=120 src="/lurk/gif/048/sins.gif" alt="">
Edward waits for Brother Theo to bid him goodbye.  "I am a murderer," he
says.  "The sins of my former life must be atoned for."  Theo begs him to
come back into the fold, "If you ask God to forgive your sins, He knows what
they are even if you've forgotten.  Leave it in His hands!"  But it is to no
avail.  Edward goes to await his victims' avenger, who has deliberately
awakened the evil memories.<br clear=all><p>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/048/scan.gif" alt="">
Sheridan and Garibaldi attempt to interrogate the Centauri telepath about
who hired him.  When he smugly refuses to divulge anything, they toss a bag
over his head, and usher in Lyta, who easily wrenches the location of the
avenger from his mind.  <p>

Once again they are just a little too late though.  By the time they find
Brother Edward's battered body strung up spread-eagle on a rack, his life is
nearly dissipated.  Yet he forgives his tormentor.  Finally, he has found
the answer to his question.  He did have the courage to wait in the garden of
Gethsemene.  As Edward draws his last breath, Brother Theo administers the
final sacrament of Extreme Unction, the remission of sins. <p>

The monk's torturer is easily caught and proudly admits to the crime, and
two weeks later is sentenced to the death of personality.  In the course of
a conversation about the meaning of revenge and the difficulty of
forgiveness, Brother Theo asks the Captain to meet the latest addition to
his order, who is about to be shipped back to the monastery for training.
It is the young psychopath, looking like sweet, untrammeled innocence.
Under Brother Theo's reprimand, Sheridan struggles to overcome the bitter
taste of forgiveness, and gives the newest monk his blessing. <p>

<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/048/energy.gif" alt="">
After completing an errand for Kosh, Lyta joins him in his chambers.  As she
faces him, a stream of energy leaps from her eyes and mouth into the glowing
orifice of his open encounter suit.  It becomes eerily apparent why she has
no need of a breather in the methane environment.  Puffing and fluttering
gently on her neck are a set of gills.