Hannibal didn't sleep much and when he woke from a doze at five-fifteen, he decided the night was now over. He'd woken because he thought he heard his communicator buzzing, but he must have dreamt it as the device showed no sign of a message.

Damn. He sat up and stretched then hurried to the shower. Okay, he thought, okay. Maybe Murdock decided to spend the night at Calvin's, not wanting to fly while too tired. Maybe it had taken a while to find the bunker in the first place. And just maybe he was in trouble.

He dressed and went downstairs, walking softly through the corridors of bedrooms. Downstairs was deserted. Breakfast didn't start until seven, and so far even the kitchen staff had not arrived. No problem for Hannibal, quite used to foraging. He found the kitchen and a tray and loaded it with Danish pastries, bread, butter and other bits and pieces for a picnic breakfast, then left by the back door.

When he stepped outside, he found he was not the only one awake at such an ungodly hour. Mr Lambert sat on a low wall drinking a mug of coffee and gazing out across the town.

"Morning," Hannibal said. "I didn't realise anyone else was up." He nodded at the tray. "Sorry, I helped myself. I'm going down to the sheriff's office. I thought I'd take some breakfast down for them."

Lambert shrugged, not apparently bothered. "That's fine. Um, is Captain Frost all right?"

"So far."

"Good. Good. I hope this is all sorted out quickly. I'm sure she must be innocent of these charges." He grimaced. "I'm afraid my wife doesn't agree."

Hannibal nodded, recalling hearing some raised voices from the family's quarters the night before.

"Your son thinks she's innocent too though."

"Yes." Lambert nodded. "And he knows her well, so I'm more inclined to trust his instincts." He sighed. "My wife thinks it's all an insurance scam. That Kyle does the damage and Captain Frost inflates her repair costs to the insurance companies."

An insurance scam? Hannibal would be very... disappointed if that's what lay behind all of this. Severely disappointed. Disappointed with extreme prejudice.

"I don't think that's very likely," Hannibal said. "Not enough profit in it."

"That's what I said. Then she said that she finds it suspicious that Captain Frost visits that Mr Calvin so much. She says the doctor visits him too, so he must be ill and that Joy is influencing him to change his will to her benefit.

Hannibal opened his mouth and closed it again, before he said something rude. Eventually he managed a diplomatic response.

"Um, does your wife particularly enjoy mystery novels, Mr Lambert?"

Lambert laughed then, shaking his head. He looked at Hannibal.

"Well, we have enough mysteries around here, Colonel; I hope you can shed some light on them soon. Good luck to you."

With that, he went inside and Hannibal sighed and headed for the sheriff's office. Ted had said all hell would break loose, Hannibal recalled, and it would. The town would split right down the middle and perhaps never recover from such a division.

But even that wasn't the worst of it. It would not only be the town itself that would be divided. Families, friends, loved ones would be split over it.

Perhaps the only good thing likely to come out of it would be that Joy would find out who her real friends were.

"Hello, John."

Hannibal smiled. Ah, now that was a welcome voice for the early morning. Maggie walked up the street towards him, carrying her doctor's bag.

"Hi. Up and about early too, eh?"

"I couldn't sleep."

She did look tired, Hannibal thought, dark circles under her eyes. "Worried about Joy?"

Maggie nodded and grimaced. "Yes, I... well since I'm up I might as well go and open up my clinic. There's still quite a few extra people in town." She smiled. "That crowd you attracted. Some of them will likely pop in to see me."

Hannibal nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to lunch yesterday. But when this thing is over, we could have dinner."

"That would be nice."

"And..." He hesitated for a moment. Would she think him too pushy? But he would be gone soon. No time to take things slow. "Maggie, I wanted to say that, I'd like to stay in touch, after this is over."

She looked up at him, her face hard to read.

"John, that's very flattering --"

"Look, I'm not saying I'd be expecting anything besides, well, keeping in touch. But if I ever came back here, or you visited Mars, well it could be fun to spend some time together. No expectations, just spending some time."

"John, I've done the long distance thing before, it didn't really work for me. And then there's your, well your life. The danger. I've done that before too." She said the last part quietly.

"In the war?" Hannibal asked. She nodded. "You had a man who didn't come back?"

Maggie sighed, looked away, shaking her head.

"He came back, he just wasn't... wasn't who he had been before."

Hannibal nodded. Nobody who went into combat come out the same person. He could understand Maggie not wanting to go through that again.

"Well," he said, seeing she didn't look like she wanted to continue this subject. "I'd better get over to the jail and relieve Face. I'll see you around."

"Okay," she said. "See you later, John."

She walked on. Hannibal watched her for a moment and then went on his way. Well, she had just shot him out of the saddle, but nil desperandum. Plenty of time left. He didn't give up after one attempt at anything after all. What was he, a quitter? Plenty of time.

In the office, he found Face sitting at the sheriff's desk playing a desultory game of solitaire. And probably betting against himself.

"Morning, Hannibal," Face said. "Sleep well?"

"Like a log." One that's on fire. "Any word from Murdock?"

"No." He looked at Hannibal, some worry visible in his eyes.

"Okay, you get out of here and get freshened up and have some breakfast. Get BA and Amy up. Then we'll go look for Murdock."

Face nodded, a relieved look on his face, and at once gathered the cards up and stacked them neatly.

"See you soon, Hannibal." Hannibal watched him leave then walked over to the cell.

"Morning, Joy. You okay?"

"Not really." She slumped on the bunk looking tired. Well sleeping in a jail cell didn't usually mean a good night's rest, Hannibal knew from experience. And he'd bet she and Face had talked half the night away too.

"I brought you some breakfast." He showed her the tray of food.

"Thanks, Colonel." She managed a weak smile.

Ted came out of a back room then, carrying a coffee cup, his hair damp.

"Oh morning, Colonel. How are --" His computer console buzzed and he sat in front of it, and then looked up at Hannibal.

"Colonel, it's an incoming transmission for you. It's Murdock."

-o-O-o-

Murdock kept his voice low, but it still woke Calvin, who'd been asleep in the co-pilot's chair, Duchess curled on his lap.

"Hannibal? Oh, man, I'm glad to hear your voice."

"Murdock, how far away are you?" Hannibal's voice came over the speaker with a lot of crackling and buzzing.

"About thirty minutes out. Boosting this transmission as hard as I can. Listen, Colonel, I had some trouble. Kyle really doesn't want us seeing this data. He tried to kill me and Mr Calvin to stop me getting it back here." Static almost drowned his last few words.

"What?" Hannibal replied. "Okay, never mind, tell me when you get here. Just get back as fast as you can. Things have changed here. A transmission to Kyle's base was found in Joy Frost's workshop. She's been arrested."

"What?" Murdock and Calvin said at the same time.

"I'll explain when you get here." Another burst of static overwhelmed his voice. "Hurry up, Murdock."

"Wait!" Calvin shouted, but the channel was closed. "This is outrageous! Joy would never - ow!" Duchess, disturbed by his agitation and still nervous, shot back up to his shoulder.

"Take it easy." Murdock soothed. "Both of you. I'm sure it'll all get straightened out."

"Joy is an honourable woman!"

"I know," Murdock said. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon, and I hope this data," he patted his pocket, "will help us get everything worked out."

Thirty minutes later Murdock brought the shuttle in to land and closed down the systems. They disembarked and Murdock almost had to run to keep up with Calvin in the passageway into the town, as the older man strode ahead, a deep frown on his face.

But Murdock did catch up at the door, as when it opened, Calvin stopped dead, staring around at the huge cavern that held the town. He moved to the side of the door and grabbed the frame.

The space, Murdock thought. He's lived in a small space for so long he's given himself agoraphobia.

"It's okay," Murdock said, stepping up, his voice gentle. "Come on, this way." He reached across Calvin's back and nudged the man's elbow, making him take his hand off the doorframe. Calvin took a deep breath and nodded at Murdock, then walked out onto the street.

A few people were on the street now, heading to work. Most of them stared at Calvin curiously. Strangers were a novelty here, Murdock recalled. Calvin looked back at them, just as curious. New faces, Murdock thought. Reclusive he may be, but the mind can't help being drawn to faces, when it's been deprived of the sight of them for so long.

He spotted a face he knew Calvin was already familiar with. Maggie Sullivan, standing at the door of a small building, a steaming cup in her hand.

"Maggie," Murdock called to her and waved. She looked back and then stared in apparent amazement. Calvin nodded to her.

"I think the whole town's a bit shocked to see you," Murdock said.

"I can promise you that they are not as shocked as I am to be here."

-o-O-o-

"Oh, Danish, my favourite," Joy said as Hannibal passed her a pastry through the bars of the cell. "And a coffee would be..." She trailed off and stared past him. "Good god!"

Hannibal heard the door open and turned to see Murdock and another man walk in. So, that other voice he'd thought he heard on Murdock's transmission had not just been an echo after all.

"Seth?" Joy sounded astonished. Calvin walked straight up to the cell and reached through the bars to take her hand.

Ted came out of the back room and stared at Calvin. Hannibal moved away from the cell, stood beside Murdock.

"This is Calvin?"

"Yes," Murdock confirmed.

"Right. And why exactly does he have a cat on his shoulder?"

Murdock frowned. "Because parrots are extinct?"

"Murdock." Hannibal scowled at him, not in the mood.

"Long story short. Kyle drilled his way into Calvin's little bunker, nearly killed all of us. Only my genius piloting skills saved the lives of myself, Mr Calvin and Duchess. That's the cat. She's a tad upset. She might relax enough to be pried off in a couple of days."

"Kyle drilled in?" Hannibal actually smiled. "Creative."

"Did I mention the part where I almost died?"

"Sorry, Murdock. You're both okay? You need the doc?"

"No, we're fine." He held up the data chips. "Colonel, Sheriff, we should get to work on these as soon as possible."

"Agreed. Let's get them over to --" Hannibal began. He stopped and frowned as Murdock's face changed, going pale, and his jaw dropping. Puzzled, Hannibal turned to see Face, BA and Amy coming through the door. "Oh, hey, guys, Murdock just got back."

Murdock flew past Hannibal in a blur and crashed into Face as Face raised his hands defensively, staring in shock.

"Murdock!" Hannibal yelled. He gaped as Murdock and Face grappled. Murdock had grabbed one of Face's wrists, seemed to be clawing at it. "Murdock! What the hell are you doing?"

"Get him off me!" Face yelled.

"Give it to me!" Murdock shouted. "BA, grab him!"

Face tried to jerk away from Murdock and lost his footing, sending the two of them crashing into a desk. Ted jumped forward and pulled Amy out of the way, as the two men fell to the floor, still struggling.

Hannibal's wits came back at last. "BA!" he shouted, stirring BA from also staring in disbelief at their fighting team-mates. The two of them leapt in and dragged Face and Murdock apart, BA hauling Murdock off, Hannibal pulling Face away.

"He dropped it!" Murdock yelled. "There! There!" Managing to pull an arm free Murdock pointed at the floor. "Smash it!"

Face struggled to get away from Hannibal and failed, but Murdock succeeded, with a huge effort, in ripping free of BA's grip. He ran to where he and Face had fallen against the desk a moment before.

"No!" Face yelled, too late, as Murdock raised his foot and for a second, before Murdock's heel shattered it, Hannibal saw something on the floor, something small, something that he thought looked like a watch.

And then he felt a tingling, saw the air shimmer and instinctively pushed Face away from him, fearing a transporter field. A second later he realised the tingle against his skin was in fact the collapse of a force field, a projection.

What he pushed away wasn't Face.

Where Face had stood a second before, Kyle's man Leto now stood in his place, pointing his gun straight at Hannibal.