It's a little quirk I have.

A little extra talent I haven't told the others about.

But sometimes, I wish I didn't have it.

Why?

Well, we all say we want honesty. Human or alien, we're born saying that phrase to one another.

But do we really mean it?

Do any of us mean it?

When it comes down to it, do we REALLY want to know what others think of us?

I'm not so sure.

Ego is a fragile thing.

Especially when one has been regenerated. Something might have been lost in the translation.

One might have become a non-sequiter, if you will.

Making no sense in the context. Having no meaning. It does not follow.

I do not follow.

A non-entity.

C'est moi.

And isn't it WRONG to eavesdrop? Don't I DESERVE to hear what I hear?

Yes, most would say.

Max would say.

It's only the truth, after all.

* *

I focus my mind and begin listening for Max. It's sort of like homing in on a beacon. I'm surely drawn to him like a beacon.

Beckoning me to listen.

To hear the truth.

As always, images come first. Images are easy.

It's words that are hard.

He's talking to Liz in front of the Crashdown.

Isabel is nearby, wringing her hands and looking distressed.

Now the words come into my mind.

"...that whole Tess situation..."

THAT whole Tess SITUATION. How masterly you cut with words, Max. With two words you manage to distance yourself from me and to excise any humanity I might have.

Of course, I'm not human. But you know what I mean.

"...it's DEFINITELY over." He says the word "definitely" as if he's scraping shit off of his shoe.

So it's over, is it, Max?

Did it ever begin?

Did you ever listen?

Ever give me a chance?

Ever stop to think, for ONE MOMENT, about the risks your mother took?

Ever remember a promise once made, in another life?

I guess not.

"I don't have feelings for her."

As if I needed that spelled out any more clearly. As if Liz will listen now, after having made her noble sacrifice. But we've got to play out our roles.

"I've told her that..."

Yes, you told me that, revulsion marring your features the whole time. Loathing in your voice. Abhorrence in your posture, your body language signaling your contempt for me like a semaphore to all the world. Yes, you told me, like the Beloved Leader you are.

It's the only command you've ever issued to me.

And command me, you did.

As if I were a dirty, loathsome thing.

That. Tess. Situation.

It's definitely over.

"...and she understands."

Oh, yes, I understand.