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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5046477" data-attributes="member: 143">Interlude: Results, Part 2 (July 5, 2008)Catalina nodded in acknowledgement of her quarry’s words.  “Doctor Okwelume,” she said.   The resignation on the scientist’s face, and what appeared to be relief in his expression, was not lost on Catalina.  Will he talk now, in a moment of weakness, before realization of his situation and self preservation make him more wary?  It was not the best of locations.  Her eyes didn't leave Okwelume, but her ears and every other nerve ending tuned to her surroundings, and she made sure her own back was towards the nearest wall. Carpe Diem.  "So Steven, may I call you Steven?"  Catalina motioned with the barrel of the gun purely to emphasize its existence, and the fact that it was pointing right at him.  "Care to tell me exactly what this is all about?  Who are you working on behalf of and why you feel the need to do so?  I think you'll find I'm a very good listener."Doctor Okwelume sighed, and leaned against the wall at his back.  As he shifted, Catalina caught sight of something concealed in his lap, a small object that might have been a small laptop computer. "Have you ever read the novels of Chinua Achebe?"  He did not wait for a response, and as he continued, he barely seemed to notice that Catalina was there.  "His stories describe a people that were complex, noble... well, noble insofar as any human society can be considered such.  We had a culture, my Igbo, a language, a belief system, and all of the loves and hates and goods and bads that come with them." "We were not unique to the process of colonialism.  I won't presume to lecture you about the evils of British imperialism; I'm sure you got plenty of that in your primary school.  In any case, I am one of those who believes that the history of colonization ended up consuming the colonizers as much as the colonized.  Like us, the British were products of their own culture and beliefs.  There were good men, bad men, and a vast mass that fell somewhere in between." "Africa is one of the richest continents in terms of mineral wealth—did you know that?  They say that there is enough uranium and oil under it to keep the Industrial Age going for another four, five decades.  Though perhaps it is better for the West that it learn now to stop its dependence on..." He looked up, and suddenly smiled.  "I am sorry, I am babbling.  Ada always said I tended to run my mouth off.  Everything that you need is here," he says, glancing down to the laptop.  "All my contacts, and the different nations to whom I sold the information.  The Chinese, the Indians, the Israelis.  My price was steep; nothing less than the introduction of the twenty-first century to the Niger River delta.  Sixteen hospitals, two modern oil refineries, a solar power plant, two water treatment facilities, two hundred schools..." "I used to rationalize that I was doing what I did for the good of all humanity.  Knowledge should not be concealed, especially in the face of this threat.  Are we not all united against this new threat?  Could not an alien invasion do what all of the empires and religions failed to do, bring humanity together?  I am not so naive, now.  I have learned a great deal." He meet Catalina's eyes squarely.  "Do not trust the Chinese.  Not the people; their leaders.  They have been treating secretly with the aliens." "Please extend my apologies to your superiors.  I must say, my time at X-COM has been among the most rewarding in my life.  The sheer... wonder of the science that is done here.  That is my one regret, that I will not see the transformation of human knowledge come to its fruition." He sighed, and took out a pistol from under the laptop.  He lifted it and placed the mouth of the gun under his chin. Catalina had watched Okwelume impassively throughout the conversation, whatever thoughts were going on behind her eyes hidden.  Except perhaps a subtle widening of the eyes when he spoke of China.  Though she'd seen the laptop, she was startled when the gun appeared. Catalina lunged forward, trying to cover the gap between them in a leap.  Her free hand reached out ahead of her, swinging to knock the gun away if not grab it. "Noooo!"There was a ear-shattering roar as the handgun discharged in the close space of the service passage.  A hiss of hot metal zinged past Catalina's ear as the bullet ricocheted off the wall, then the ceiling, before missing her by a scant few inches. Okwelume's gun went flying down the corridor.  The doctor himself sagged to the floor, sobbing.  Catalina quickly verified that he wasn't carrying another weapon.Once sure that he was clean, Catalina reached for and took the computer.  "I think we need to make sure you are looked after, Steven, that is no way out." Pistol still trained on him, she signaled him to his feet.  "I think we are likely to have company shortly, let's go."</blockquote>

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