Category: crossover
Series: Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets
Rating: PG



              A Stranger in a Stupid Land


	It must have been an impressive city once, but no one could tell that now,
not after the last series of attacks.  The taller buildings had been knocked
down to near ground level; the smaller ones had been crudely braced with
wreckage  from the others and made into primitive forts and shelters.  No
life could be seen on the streets; the few survivors kept themselves well
hidden until after dark, when they'd emerge to forage.  In daylight they
disappeared out of necessity.  But within the shell of an old church five
figures were very much awake and alert as they kept watch.
	"You really think they'll come back?" asked the Owl.
	"They'll have to," replied the Eagle.  "They'll keep sending in troops
until they finish taking over an area."
	"That's them all over," from the Condor.  "Never stop until they crush a
place.
	The Swan and the Swallow had been scanning the skies  and listening for
the sound of the enemy.  Then they all stiffened as they caught the familiar
hum of the great carriers.  Quietly they took their positions as the massive
doors slid open  and the green-uniformed men swarmed over the area, ready to
take anyone they found.  But they weren't ready for Gatchaman.  The five
swooped down on the troops and dozens fell before they could grasp what was
happening.  The fighting was fast and furious as always, and in no time the
remaining troops had beaten a hasty retreat.
	Suddenly the dark form of the Condor was encased in a shimmering white
light which grew brighter and brighter until nothing more could be seen.
Then it started to fade until he could be seen again, blinking and looking
stunned.
	The Eagle was the first to reach him.
	"Joe, what happened?  You okay?"
	The familiar blue eyes turned to focus on Ken, who repeated, "Joe?"
	And a stranger's voice asked, "Who?"

                        *     *     *     *     *

	When the lights first appeared, Joe's first reaction was, "Oh, NO, not
again!"  He felt himself being spun around, helpless, worse than the last
time when he was dying.  But when the lights cleared, he wondered if he
HADN'T died.  He was back at what looked exactly like Crescent Coral with
the others gathered around him.  Stiff and perplexed, he sat up and asked,
"What happened?  Where am I?  Why are you wearing your old clothes?
	They all blinked at him in puzzlement, and Jun said, "You're at Centre
Neptune, of course.  Jason, are you all right?"
	"My name isn't Jason and you haven't answered my question.  What happened?"
	Ken asked, "Don't you remember?  You were chosen to test-run the new
transporter system.  You were phased out and then brought back.  How do you
feel?"
	Joe said nothing but glared around at his surroundings. "Just what's going
on here?" he thought.  "I'm not dead, I'm asleep and having the mother of
all nightmares.  Any moment I'll wake up and..."
	Jinpei put his hands on top of his head, looked at the ceiling, and said,
"Arrrr...broop-beep...must have...whirrr...scrambled his....toot toot...brains."
	Joe's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped. "What the %*#@ was THAT?"
	Horrified, Jun clapped her hands over Jinpei's ears.  "JASON!!  Your
language!!!
	Finally realizing that this wasn't a dream, Joe got up and said, "I'm NOT
Jason; I AM losing my patience; and I want to know WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!"
	Ken put a hand on his shoulder and started to say soothingly, "Take it
easy, buddy.  You're just...UULLLRRRGHHH!!!"
	Joe had grabbed him by the T-shirt and was holding him out at arm's length.
	"ENOUGH! Who are you and what am I doing here?"
	"I...hey...I told you...c'mon....you're at Centre Neptune...with us..."
	"WHO?!"
	"G...G...G-Force..."
	Joe growled in frustration and flung the leader at the wall.  But instead
of his usual countermove (which was twist in mid-air, spring off the wall,
cartwheel and attack) he hit the wall flat on, with a sickening crack, and
then dropped on the floor, out cold.  The others were speechless with shock
until Jun gasped, "Jason, how COULD you?"
	Joe howled, "FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT JASON!!!" and stormed out of the room.
	Tiny waited until he was well out of earshot before muttering, "I'll say
you're not..."

                        *     *     *     *     *

	It took Jason a few moments to realize that he wasn't back where he'd
started from - they were outside, and in uniform.  The others were all
looking at him, quite concerned.  Mark asked, "What happened?"
	Jason tried to clear his head.  "I don't know...I was testing the new
transporter..."
	"What transporter?"
	"The new one, back at Centre Neptune..."
	"Where?"
	"Centre Neptune, remember?"
	"Joe, what are you talking about?"
	"My name isn't Joe..."
	"I know, it's really George..."
	"WHAT?!?!"
	"...but that's what we always call you."
	Key-Op snorted, "Doesn't even remember his own name!"
	Jason stared at him in surprise.  "Hey, what happened to your voice?"
	The boy glared at him.  "Whaddaya mean, my voice?  YOU sound like you been
suckin' helium!"
	"Jinpei!"  Swat!
	"O-Nee-chaaaan..."
	Suddenly Tiny yelled, "Heads up! Reinforcements!" as new troops appeared.
This time they aimed directly for the five, who sprang into action at once.
Jason joined in, as always, launched his own attack on them as always - and
found himself being creamed three ways from Sunday.  Several of the goons,
seeing the Condor unable to fight, jumped on him as well and kept him down.
	"Hang on, Joe. we're coming!"  Tiny had what looked like a long chain with
a vicious hook at the end.  This he swung aound the neck of the topmost
Spectran, pulling him off and taking a few others along as well.  Key-op had
something like his old weapon, but he was using it to full advantage, taking
out a few more.  Princess kept touching her shoulder, at which point a
glowing light net sprang out and stunned anyone it contacted.  And
Mark...Jason could only stare at him:  He'd never fought like that before!
And where did all those weapons come from?  Finally he drew a light sabre
and routed the remaining troops.
	Slowly Jason got to his feet, the others gathering around him again,
looking quizzical and worried.
	"Joe, what happened back there?"
	"I'm NOT Joe!"
	"Of course you are!"
	"You sure, aniki?"
	"JINPEI!"
	"Sorry, O-Nee-chan...but he wasn't much help."
	"It was the light, wasn't it, Joe?  What did it do to you?"
	Jason looked all around, at the ground which was littered with the fallen
ranks, and at his team, who had suddenly become very unfamiliar.
	"Joe?"
	"I'm NOT JOE!!!" he wailed.
	The Owl looked at him in disgust. "I'll say you're not."
	Suddenly one of the wounded made a rush for the Condor.  The Eagle reacted
first, slicing him in half with his sword.
	Jason fainted.

                      *      *      *      *      *

	Joe's wanderings took him in and out of the building, whose resemblance to
Crescent Coral was beginning to fade.  Oh, most of the rooms looked the
same, but they were in the wrong order and many were missing.  Nobody
stopped or questioned him, though he did hear the name Jason, and "Hey, nice
shirt!" a little too often.  He found a room he didn't recognize at all,
with bright colours on the walls, little furniture, and a giant vid-screen
on one wall.  He started checking it out, while sorting out the last few
minutes in his mind.
	"So," he thought, "Suddenly I'm not where I was. I'm somewhere else.  And
the team - if it IS the team - is acting very strangely.  Possibility one:
it's a Galactor trap.  They did this before, with Ken, making him think he
was in the future.  That could be it; they're clumsy enough to be
Galactor....aw, no, even Gel Sadra wasn't this bad.  It's their idea of a
joke, that's what it is.  Let's confuse Joe.  Right, wait til I get hold of
them..."
	While Joe pondered several possibilities for revenge, the vid-screen lit
up with the image of a silver and gold robot.
	"There you are, Jason!" it said.  "What on earth got into you?" 
	He regarded it with some amusement and went on with his search.  It
continued, "Report to security immediately!"  Joe still ignored it, but the
voice was beginning to grate on his nerves.  "Jason!  Didn't you hear me?
You're to report to..."
	A well aimed ping pong paddle put an end to the chattering.  Joe moved on
in his explorations, thinking, ...but if this is a joke, where did this
building come from?  Maybe it is Galactor, and they're trying to drive me
crazy.  And at this rate, they may well succeed.
	He thought of the robot and shook his head.  As he passed down the
corridor, a number of security guards appeared beside him.  They regarded
him warily, and one stepped forward.
	"Uh, Jason?  Uh...you're to come with us."
	"Where to?"
	"To, uh, security.  They, uh, want to ask you some, you know, questions."
	"Suppose I tell you I'm not Jason?"
	They looked taken aback and the others clustered around the spokesman.
	"Then...they'd still want to see you.  Now, come with us...please?"
	Well, why not? thought Joe. Maybe I'll get some answers to all of this.
And if not, at least I'll know who to ask.
	They led him to an area which seemed more familiar; it used to be Dr.
Nambu's office.  The guards led him up to the door.
	"Right in here," the leader said.  "They're waiting for you."  And the
others backed away, grateful their job was finished.  Joe opened the door,
to find the team clustered around a desk.  Whoever was in the chair had
their back to them, until the Jun-clone tapped him on the shoulder to get
his attention.  The chair swivelled around, revealing...
	"Hakase?!" gasped Joe.  "But you're dead!"
 	The others flinched in shock, but the Chief recovered quickly.  "Don't
you wish," was his dry retort.  "I think a few explanations are in order."
	"Certainly.  Go ahead."
	"I wouldn't be too flip if I were you, Jason."
	Joe leaned forward, his eyes going cold.  "The next person who calls me
Jason - and I don't care who it is - is going to find themselves having an
intimate relationship with a shuriken."
	Several pairs of eyes glassed over and the Ken-clone leaned towards the
Chief and said, "He's been like that since we got back."
	"I see.  All right, what do we call you?"
	"What are you playing at?" demanded Joe.  "You know who I am:  Joe
Asakura, known as the Condor, known as G-2, known as Oh-God-it's-HIM-again...."
	"Any other names?"
	"Yes, but there's women and children present."
	"I see. You can go now, but don't leave the complex.  I'll want to run
some tests later."
	Joe left, leaving a very puzzled G-Force behind him.  Princess asked,
"Chief, you're not going to just let him go, are you?"
	"Don't worry, I'll have Zark keep tabs on him.  In the meantime, I want
that transporter checked out end to end.  I want to know exactly what
happened in there!"

                       *      *     *     *     *

	Back at Fort Phoenix, Jason was lying on a table in the medical wing.
After recovering from his ordeal, he proved to be in such bad shape
emotionally that Ken ordered a sedative.
	"That won't stop Joe," snorted Jinpei.
	"If that's Joe...which I doubt," retorted Ryu.
	Jun looked at the semi-conscious form, said, "Wait a minute," and dashed
out of the room.  She returned a moment later with a small black plastic
box, about three inches by two, with miniscule red lights on it.  She ran it
over Jason from head to toe; it flickered briefly over his belt and
bracelet, but otherwise remained unlit.  She frowned at this and turned to
Ken.  "That's NOT Joe."
	"Why not?"
	She explained briefly and Ken summoned security to run some more tests.
The results were puzzling in the extreme: what they had was someone who
looked like Joe, right down to the fingerprints, but minus the cybernetics.
And absolutely no memory of who he was.  What he could remember bore no
relation to Joe's life. 
	This was the dilemma faced by Gatchaman as they consulted with Kamo, their
co-ordinator.
	"All right," said Ken.  "Input.  What are we dealing with?"
	From Jinpei: "It looks like Joe..."
	"...but it sure doesn't act like him," finished Ryu.  "Someone else?"
	"A Galactor spy?" guessed Jun.
	"He's clumsy enough to be one," muttered Jinpei.
	"Aw, come on, even Gel Sadra wasn't this bad!"
	"He doesn't act like a spy.  There's another possiblity: a clone."
	There was silence for a moment as they considered this angle, then Jun
said, "It would explain the fingerprints.  But is Galactor capable of that?"
	"They were responsible for Berg Katse and Gel Sadra." said Kamo.
	Ken was still brooding.  "What bothers me is that memory of his.  A spy,
any spy, would have to be as much like Joe as possible.  This one acts like
somone wiped his memories and rewrote them."
	He looked over at Jun, who was studying Jason with a look of troubled concern.
	"Jun!"
	She started, then came back to the table.  "I'm sorry, it's just that he
looks so much like Joe.  And he's miserable, poor thing."
	Ken looked at her, then at Jason, then at Jun again, and then burst into a
wide smile.
	"That's it!  Good thinking, Jun!"
	"????"
	"I want you to ask our friend some questions."
	Sometime later, armed with a stack of photographs, Jun entered the room
where Jason had been trying to get his mental bearings.  She approached him
with a warm smile.
	"Hi, how are you feeling now?"
	"Not bad, all things considered."
	"Good.  Why don't you tell me what you can remember?"
	"About what?"
	"About anything.  Start where you like."
	"Well, like I said, I was doing the test run on the new transporter and it
worked fine when they sent me out.  But when they brought me back I was in
the field with you guys, and then the Spectrans attacked, and then you
started fighting...where did you get all those neat weapons?  Are they new?
What's mine like?"
	Jun's eyes got wider and wider.  I don't believe I'm hearing this, she
thought.  "Ummm....we want to run some more tests, to see how you were
affected by the, um, transporter."
	"Sure thing, Princess."
	Who?!  "Ah...right.  Tell me what you can about yourself."
	"Name, Jason Thomas; age, eighteen and six months; ID number 479325;
weapons expert for G-Force; I race cars when I can and you all think I'm too
hot-headed."
	"You?"  thought Jun.  "I'm going to show you some photos and I want  you
to identify them."  She held up a picture of Ken.
	"That's Mark, of course."
	She smiled weakly.  "Of course."  She continued with a shot of Ryu.
"That's Tiny." he said.  And so it continued: he identified Jinpei as
Key-Op, Nambu as Anderson, Anderson as the President, and Berg Katse as
Zoltar; denied ever seeing Fort Phoenix, Kamo, or G-Town; and fell into
hysterical laughter at GelSadra.
	"Is that it?" he asked, finally.
	"I guess so."  Jun's brain was still reeling.
	"When do I get to see Zark?"
	"Who?"
	"7-Zark-7, our robot co-ordinator."
	She riffled through the photo's for the New God Phoenix's robot pilot.
"You mean Pimer?"
	"No, quit playing games.  I mean Zark.  Hey, is Mark in trouble about that
Spectran?  He'll be all right, won't he?  Hey, you don't look so good; you
feel okay?"
	"Would...you...excuse...me..."
	Glassy-eyed, she strode out of the room, past Ryu, past Jimpei, threw the
photos at Ken, and screamed.  Loudly.

                        *     *     *     *     *