Part four: Dreamvoice

	Mallory woke up. Somebody was in her room, and she  could feel
their presence. She turned on the light and looked around. There was
nobody to be seen. Mallory remembered an old statement. She first heard
it from Gus, and then, a couple of years later, from Duke. It was supposed
to be a lesson to be learned, but she never got a chance to. 
	"Beware and be aware of the unknown. Be alert and don't disregard
a strange thing or feeling just because your five senses say everything
is fine. Listen to your sub-conscience. Sometimes, it is easier to listen
just to your eyes and ears, than to listen to your sixth sense, but is
never more important. Listen to a hunch and believe it will lead you the
right way," Duke's voice echoed through her mind.
	"Who is there?" she asked, sitting up and not hoping for an answer.
She didn't get one. Nothing moved in the room. Mallory decided it was a
false alarm and lay down in her bed. The moment she closed her eyes she
felt it again. Somebody or something was in her room. She opened her eyes,
but didn't see anything, this time either. She closed her eyes and there 
it was again! This time however, she did not open her eyes. She turned off
 the light. She could see a gray shadow against the black background of 
her closed eyelids.
	'Who are you?' she asked in her mind, just thinking the question.
	'So, you finally are learning,' replied the voice. Though knowing
that no one would see her, Mallory frowned. Talking to something in her 
head was not exactly how she planned to spend the night.
	'Learning what?' she thought confused.
	'That there are powers and abilities beyond the basic five senses,'
the voice said. Somehow, it sounded familiar, that beautiful woman's voice.
Maybe, she heard it in the mall the other day, or maybe she heard it last
time she hit her head on a rock.
	'Who are you?' she asked.
	'Well, Mallory, that depends. You see, I am not a being, and there-
fore cannot be a "who". I have different names, given by different people.
Some call me a spirit, a soul, a conscience, others are nice enough to give
me names. One person, couple years ago, called me the female version of
"Interspace" or "Innerspace", I don't remember, it was a long time ago.
But, I am none of the above. I am a burst of pure energy created with the
Big Bang.'
	'Excuse me, don't tell me you are a gazillion year old battery,'
Mallory wasn't very happy, which she was when she couldn't understand what
was said.
	'In a way. I can create an illusion of a body and 'possess' it. I
influence the basic five senses to make them think that the illusion is real. That way I can interact with other people and they won't even notice that I'm fake. Only people that CAN figure me out can also summon other senses, so they won't be fooled. People like you have the potential to become one of these, "special" (or as humans now call them, "Psychic"), people.'
	'Halt! Are you saying that I can do all that voodoo stuff?' she asked.
	'No, voodoo is an idea created by humans to explain various pheno-
mena, an idea with no hard evidence as ground to base it upon, just beliefs.
By the way, you might want to get used to talking to me by thinking. I know
you don't like it, but I'm sure your opinion will change with time. I'm
gonna be here for a looooong time.'
	'Okay, if you gonna say here for a while and since you know so much
about me, and I know only a thing or two about you, what is you name?'
	'Honey, I have lived for over 20 billion years. During that fraction
of my life when humans and other intelligent species lived, I was given a
million names. Some of the weren't even made of sounds. But, even out of
those that were, 99% you never heard of in your life. The most resent name
that you heard and that was mine at some point in my life, is Jessique,' as
it spoke the voice never lost its muse-like and confident quality.
	'You are Jessique?'
	'Yes and no. I had that name back in the 15th century, but I have
nothing to do with Jessique you are talking about.'
	'Okay, then. Do you have another name, so that I don't confuse you
two?'
	'As I already told you, I have millions of names. But if you want
to call me one, you will have to make it up. But don't think of that right
now. You are tired. Go to sleep. Sleep... sleep...' the voice faded as
Mallory fell asleep.

	She woke up, feeling all nice and rested. She turned to the alarm
clock that was on her night table. It said 7:29. She stared at the alarm
clock and wished for it to ring. Never before has she waken up seconds before
the alarm clock went off and witnessed it ring. That's why she wanted it to
ring. So that there will be some record set on that day. The alarm went off.
Not the Drake 1 alarm, the alarm in the alarm clock. Mallory got up and
stretched.
	"Oh, thank goodness, it was just a dream," she yawned, recalling
the events of last night. She didn't want to believe them. She just wanted
to regard it as one of many lifelike dreams, that she had in her life. But
something advised her against it. Something was strange about that particular
dream, maybe the fact that it was so unrealistic, it went off the scale. She
wanted to think that... no, she wanted it to BE a figment of her imagination.
	Half an hour later, she walked into the kitchen and greeted her
teammates who were already there. She made herself a pop-tart and sat at
the table, eating and wondering what other ducks were thinking of. Especially
Wildwing, who was sitting across the table. Suddenly, she felt strange. If
felt as if a stream of air, filled with evil, rushed and hit her straight
in the face. But nothing moved. No papers flew off their spots. Not even a
single hair on her head moved. That was strange.
	'Maybe, if a borrowed the mask and scanned the place with it, I
would see something,' she thought.
	'That's a good idea,' said the voice.
	'You!'
	'Yes, me. And you thought that I was just a dream.'
	"Wildwing, can I borrow your mask?" asked Mallory.
	"Why?" he was surprised to hear something like that from her.
	'I would make him worry, if I say that I fell weird, won't I?' she
thought.
	'You probably will.'
	"Oh, just wanna see something, nothing to worry about," she said
out loud. Wildwing took off the Mask. Mallory hesitated a second, but then
took the mask.
	'Why on Earth did I do that? I don't even like him!!!' she was mad
at herself.
	'Because you wanted to. Or not... whichever reason, it's the same
one as that which causes you to stare at his picture on the poster and...'
	'Would you shut up? New rule. From now on, you will not speak, until
you hear your name, got that?' Mal was now mad at the voice. She put the mask on. Suddenly, she felt burning and stinging pain on her face. Moments later, she was unconscious. As she fell, the mask fell off her face and hit the ground, making a "broken glass" noise. Everybody just stared. Wildwing was the first one to come to his senses. He picked up the mask and tried to put in on. However, as he let go, the mask fell off his beak, and he caught it just before it hit the floor again.
	"I didn't scan her," he said. "I didn't think it was necessary. Tanya
is there any way the mask would reject a duck?"
	"I, uh, I don't think so..."
	"So, that means she is not a duck. We should put her in the cell
with the others. That way, we will be sure that if we meet Mallory somewhere,
we will know that it's not this imposter and won't be fooled again. And, if
Tanya is wrong, and she really is Mallory, she will understand... I hope,"
he sighed. Tanya walked to the computer terminal in the kitchen. She typed
some commands to make sure that the security program doesn't think that they
are busting someone out. She looked at the screen and rechecked everything.
She then brought up the video from the camera and gasped.
	"Uh, guys, I think you ought to see this..." she started.
	"Wha..." said Duke, turning around. He never finished. There was no
need to. Everyone gasped when they looked at the screen. The picture showed
seven or eight thick lines, a bench, behind them and that's it. The ducks
knew that that was the jail cell, they just "happened" to have on the bottom
level.
	"What happened to the girls that were supposed to be there?" asked
Wildwing, while Tanya typed on the little monitor, ringing up menus and
tables. Then, another picture appeared on the bit monitor everyone was
looking at. This one featured a human and a duck, both known to them as
Jessie and Lucretia, respectively. Time of taping was in the bottom right
corner. The picture turned to motion, soundless.
	Jessie was sleeping, while Lucretia stared blankly in space.
Suddenly, she looked up. Jessie moved and woke up, looking in the same
direction as Lucretia. She got up. Then, a duck girl with long red hair
came up to the bars. They could not see her face, but all had a pretty good
idea of who it might be. And, is if to answer their question, she turned
around. The ducks gasped. It was Mallory! She turned back and entered the
security code, opening the door and letting the prisoners out. They left,
but then Mallory came back and punched the screen, ending the movie.
	"This might be computer generated. Let's go, team, we have to check
it out for ourselves," decided Wildwing. They all ran to the jail and saw
that the camera was correct. They brought unconscious Mallory with them. By
Wildwing's request, Tanya ran the movie over and over. Wildwing was staring
at Mallory's head. Then, he kneeled, and put his hand on her head.
	"If you are searching for, uh, bugs, she, um, she doesn't have any,"
said Tanya. Everyone looked at her. "Drake one would have, you know, picked
it up and told us. What?"
	"Bugs?" asked Duke in disgust.
	"Yeah, bugs, spying devices," she didn't understand why everyone was
staring at her. Wildwing turned back to Mallory, searching for something in
her hair. He seemed to have found it, because he took his hand out, pulling
a tightly wrapped in a bun and carefully hidden lock of hair, tied with a
scrunchie. He took the scrunchie off and let her hair fall. Now, in front
of them was lying Mallory who looked the same as the one on the video.
	"My personal opinion," said Duke. "Is that this is Mal and the one
on the tape is not."
	"Huh?"
	"Well, in my experience with her, as her teacher, I have learned
ALMOST everything about her: the way she moves, the way she talks, her
intonations. And, judging from that, I thing that she is Mallory. THAT
character on the tape is someone I don't know. She looks like Mallory only
to a person who doesn't know Mallory. I do, and I know, that if that was
Mallory, busting them out, there wouldn't be a trace of her. It would be
like putting a picture we had in the beginning of the movie, followed by the
picture of now, nothing in between."
	"Okay, maybe we don't know Mal as well as you do, but what about
the fact that they both have long hair. Mal's is short," protested Wildwing.
	"You don't know that. Five minutes ago, it looked just as Mal's does
on any other day. She is a pro at twisting something her hair. She can make
it look like it is any length she wants. Limited to reality, of course."
	"Oh is that another secret of hers?"
	"Yep."
	"How many more are we gonna find about in the next thirty years?"
Wildwing asked angrily. He wasn't expecting an answer and Duke didn't give
him one. Wildwing picked Mallory up and deposited her on the floor in the
cell. He closed the door and pushed some buttons, resetting the access code.
Suddenly, a blue aura appeared around him. He screamed and faded out of
existence as the aura disappeared.


To be continued...