The Room with No Walls (Part Two)

May 17 - Paquin

"How did you get the name Lynx?" I asked.

"It was on a box in the cargo container I woke up in," he replied.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What was in the box?" I asked.

"A big sticker with the letters LYNX on it," he explained, "It had some freeze dried things in packets. I couldn't tell what they were and couldn't open them. There were symbols and numbers on them."

"What kind of symbols?"

"I knew one of them," he said, "A biohazard symbol. But then there were a few I haven't seen before and none since I've been travelling."

"Okay..we will be on the lookout. And what were you wearing?"

Lynx blushed slightly, "Ummmmm... I had to find some clothes."

"Were you injured in anyway? Markings on your skin?"

He frowned, thinking back. "I can remember a lot of bruises and feeling sore. Like I was beaten up."

This I had heard before. I wanted to hear it from him again. "Where were the bruises located that you can recall?"

"My sides.. my face," he replied, "I remember one eye was sore when I touched it. A split lip too. I remember because it hurt when I smiled."

I paused, then asked carefully, "When you touched the eye, did it provoke a memory in anyway?"

Lynx shook his head, "No. Just that it hurt. But the box I was in was padded."

"Where was the container from?" I probed, "Any idea?"

He shook his head again, "I don't know. But the box had a set of instruments on it. Like a stasis box. Most likely it's what it was." Lynx suddenly turned pale. "What if I was going to be eaten back then too...." he asked, the fear creeping into his voice.

"It was a different setting, remember," I said, brushing aside his concern.

"I... I suppose it was," he hesitated.

I elaborated, "A shipping container... not a hollowed out asteroid somewhere."

Lynx nodded slowly.

I reviewed. "And you were beaten and any clothing that could have identified you was removed..."

He nodded again.

"...why go to that trouble?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied, "To hide me or change my identity? Or maybe I was in some witness protection program."

"But why the memory loss?"

Lynx shrugged completely at a loss.

"Trauma induced?" I was thinking aloud. I did not expect him to reply.

He shrugged again, "I don't know."

I shook my head slowly as I puzzled it out.

"How can trauma do that though?" he asked, "There's nothing beyond when I woke up that day."

I was no longer listening to Lynx. This was not Lynx anymore. This was now a mystery to solve.

I repeated the facts. "Beaten... no clothes... in stasis... then in a cargo container. Some one placed you there. It could be assumed they undressed you."

"Yes. And took everything I owned... including my past."

"Bruises only? or dried blood too?"

The presence of dried blood would suggest the body was not washed before placed into stasis.

Lynx frowned. "I think I had a little on my face... and one arm... my forearm...." he raised his left sleeve to look at the barely visible mark. "It was something. Like glue. Like I had a scratch and someone patched it."

I narrowed my eyes, incorporating the new information. If his memory loss was medically induced, that reduced the number of possibilities for a point of origin.

Silently, Lynx rubbed his forearm then covered it with his sleeve.

Circle back.

"Okay," I began, "can you draw any of the symbols, numbers, words you saw on or in that cargo container?"

"I can try," he replied. Lynx reached for paper and a pencil and began drawing a series of symbols. He frowned slightly checking their accuracy, then pronounced, "These are them," and handed me the paper.

It was the same cypher I had seen in Wylder's ship and in the extracted data from the Arudra drone.

"Do you know any of them?" he asked.

I licked my lips as I decoded the script. # for h. ! for i.

Biohazard(ous) materials.

High priority.

"The numbers were simple," he added, "From what I could tell they were in two rows as I drew them out. Is that significant?" Adding to the surreal nature of the moment, as he spoke, Lynx seemed to be mimicking my accent.

"These symbols..." I began.

"Yes?"

"I have seen symbols like this before. Used by scientists from Zenobia," I explained. "Lynx. Don't show these to anyone..."

"Scientists?" he frowned, "Then what might've been in the packets?"

"...not until we know more." I added firmly.

"Okay," he agreed. "Do you think there was scientific equipment in the cargo container?"

"Maybe," I replied, "you mentioned 'biohazard' on the box marked LYNX."

"Yes." He paused a moment then added, "Ummmm, Could it be a play on words and it meant 'Links'?"

"Perhaps, but it does suggest the container at least, passed through Albion or Avalon."

"Then I could've been from one of those places maybe?" he asked, as if grasping for answers.

"Maybe..." I said absently. It was too early to draw conclusions. Just because Lynx and the bio-hazardous material ended up on Hale's did not mean they shared a point of origin.

Lynx's earliest memories were waking up in the cargo container on Hale's Moon, shortly after the fall of Shadow. Like a pin on the map, Hale's Moon was the end of the journey.

Draw a line to Zenobia for the likelihood that the bio-hazardous material was shipped from there. We now had a rough course for at least part of the journey of that shipment. Lynx could have been placed in the cargo container at any point.

I will need to check the location of nearby planets during that time.

Lynx frowned again, rubbing his cheek. It brought me back to the present.

"I should let you rest," I said finally.

"I guess so," he sighed. He looked out the window then back towards me, "When will you be able to be back?"

"I have to head to Avalon." I could say that much at least. Work related matters.

Lynx nodded.

"You can join me there if the doctor will let you travel... otherwise I will be back when I can."

"I've been able to travel for weeks," he reported, "but wanted to wait to hear from you."

I smiled warmly by way of reply.

Lynx politely stood up as I rose from my cushion.

"The UAP offices are just across there," I reminded him, "If you need to get me urgently and I am out of range, head over there."

"I will, Major."

I told Lynx that Calina had said that he was welcome at House Shanjian. "She asked about your well being," I added.

"That's nice of her," he replied with a smile, "I've missed her too. Will she be around in the next few days? Maybe I could find a ride there."

I did not know. "I will let you rest," I said instead, "We will talk soon."

Lynx bowed respectfully.