Chapter 11
While Jon and Loxy were napping, Alish was instructing Lakeisha and Jack on grass propriety. One should walk barefoot. She taught them that Isis could manifest food on demand, creating it from energy and simply ‘beaming’ it in. Alish taught them that their entire station recycled everything, including their waste. The tree and grass participated in maintaining an atmosphere, but that the tree’s primary function was to facilitate telepathic communications.
“You mean, it kind of works like the telepathy machine used by Xavier in the X-Men?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know,” Alish said. “Teach me about this machine…”
“It’s fiction,” Lakeisha said. “Just ignore him.”
“My experience is that there is no fiction,” Alish said. “Somewhere, all realities exist. Creating fiction is just a form of channeling.”
“Yeah, so if I want to believe in magical worlds with my little pony and rainbows, that exists?” Lakeisha said.
“What a lovely world. I would love to channel this with you,” Alish said.
“Next you will be telling us Ewoks exist,” Lakeisha said.
“They’re called Furlings,” Jack said.
“Seriously?” Lakeisha asked.
“Yeah, but maybe if we don’t talk about them, they won’t become cannon,” Jack said.
“I really want to go home now,” Lakeisha said.
“Would you like to see your home?” Alish asked. “I can do that?” Lakeisha said.
“You can go anywhere that you allow your mind to go,” Alish said. “You are most likely to visit places you are most attuned to. That’s why seeing new places can be more challenging than navigating old haunts.”
Lakeisha went to sit down but Jack interrupted her. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah,” Lakeisha said.
“She will be okay,” Alish said. “If you like, I can go with, help you sort things if it’s troubling.”
“I guess we can squeeze in here together,” Lakeisha said.
“Oh, I just need to touch the tree,” Alish said. “Sit.” Lakeisha sat down, and immediately jumped up.
“OMG, Jack,” Lakeisha said.
“What?” Jack said.
“It’s loud!” Lakeisha said.
“You must acclimate,” Alish said. “Sit, then persist through the initial noise. The initial noise is the sound of the Universe. Once you have attuned to this, you can focus beyond.” Lakeisha sat. She rode through the noise, like static from a television that suddenly became a clear image. She found herself standing at home. O’Neil, Carter, and Jackson were there, apparently discussing the situation with him. Alish asked about the people, and Lakeisha introduced her. Alish was impressed with the variety of flowers on the table and on the counter. Lakeisha explored, seeing cards of sympathy, and found a news a paper article about a troubled kid blowing himself up with a grenade, killing fellow students, Jack and her. There was another article where people suggested that it didn’t happen, as there was no bodies, and no damage to school property. There was only persistent reports that a grenade was taken to school, and the person, Jon Harister, was also missing. She found herself suddenly at school. Her cheerleader friends were discussing her, but it wasn’t reverently. One of them actually said ‘that’s what she gets for hanging out with the wrong crowd.’
“That’s not right!” Lakeisha fumed.
One of her friends, the one that was considered to be the most timid of the group, mirrored Lakeisha. “That’s not fair. The situation had nothing do with Jack, and no one knows
Jon well enough to understand him.”
Lakeisha was grateful for that, but the friends were divided. Their friendship was ending. She found herself standing up in real life, out of the vision, off the tree, and her face was wet.
She hugged Jack. “They think we’re dead. I want to go home, Jack.”
“I know,” Jack said. “Come on. Let’s go get some sleep.”
“No!” Lakeisha said, pushing away from him. “I don’t want to sleep.” “We haven’t slept since we got here and we need to,” Jack said.
“No! I don’t want to normalize this space. I don’t want to start a routine here. I want to go home and I want to go home now!” Jack said.
“I hear you,” Jack said. “And we can focus on that tomorrow, after we have rested.” “You say that, but I know what’s going to happen. We will sleep, and we will wake up tomorrow and not be any closer to getting home. Every time you sleep and wake up it’s you accept your fate and condition. We’ll get further away, Jack. That’s how time works. That’s how sleep works. It takes you away from things and places.”
“You’re right,” Jack said. “The question now is, are you going to kill yourself?” “No! Why would you ask that?!” Lakeisha said.
“Because choosing not to sleep is harmful. Now, I personally am okay with you staying up until sleep catches you, and it will, eventually, but why wait,” Jack said. “You’ll feel better once you have slept. You will think better.”
“I don’t want to be alone,” Lakeisha said.
“I will sleep with you,” Jack said.
“Just sleep,” Lakeisha said.
“Just sleep,” Jack said. “Clothes stay on.” “Okay,” Lakeisha said.
“Isis can make you sleep clothes, if you want,” Alish said.
“Whatever,” Lakeisha said.
Jack and Lakeisha retired to a room. Lakeisha got in bed, Jack laid on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Lakeisha asked.
“Sleeping,” Jack said.
“Up here, please,” Lakeisha said.
Jack shared the bed with her. They both lay awkwardly on their back. They stared at the ceiling.
“How did you deal with it?” Lakeisha asked.
“Could you be more specific?” Jack asked.
She turned to him. “How did you deal with traveling off world daily knowing you might never go home,” Lakeisha asked.
“Every day is always a day you might not go home,” Jack said.
“But how do you cope?” Lakeisha asked.
“There’s no magic formula, Lake,” Jack said. “You just keep breathing.” She put a hand on his chest, over his heart. “I am afraid,” Lakeisha said.
“Yay you,” Jack said.
“What does that mean?” Lakeisha asked.
“I am applauding the fact you’re thinking correctly,” Jack said. “This is scary.” “Does it get easier?” Lakeisha asked.
“Some of it,” Jack said. “And do this too much, you can never go home. Nothing else will ever satisfy you again. Once you learn to fly, you just got to fly.”
Lakeisha didn’t say anything. She was gone. He got up and folded the blanket over her, and then lay back down.
निनमित
Jon woke to find himself facing a ‘familiar’ stranger. He wondered if he were dreaming. She was facing him. She was awake. She smiled and touched his face, kindly. “It’s so rare to be in a world with you where you remember youth,” she said.
“What?” Jon asked.
He suddenly realized who she was, but there was something different about her. She didn’t have a discernable aura, for starters. She was a brunette, with short, cropped, straight hair. She was in her twenties, but would probably pass for being a teenager if she was casted in a high school movie.
“Loxy?” Jon asked.
“In the flesh,” Loxy said.
“Seriously?” Jon asked.
“Yep,” Loxy said. “Everyone can see me now.” “You good with that?” Jon asked.
“Very good with that,” Loxy said. “Want to kiss me?” “Excuse me?” Jon asked.
“I thought for sure the first time you saw me in person, you’d be all over me like stripes on a candy cane,” Loxy said.
“I am suddenly feeling conflicted,” Jon said.
“We’ve done much more than kissing in your fantasies,” Loxy pointed out.
“You remember…”
“Everything,” Loxy said, wiggling eyebrows.
“Um, even…”
“Everything,” Loxy said.
“You okay with all of that?” Jon asked.
“Living in a teenage boy’s fantasy life, yep,” Loxy said. “I suspect it doesn’t matter how old you are, or what universe you’re in, you’re fantasies are probably going to be pretty consistent.”
Jon nodded. “I have hated myself because of my libido,” Jon said.
“I know. I know everything about you,” Loxy said. “And yet you’re still in bed with me,” Jon said.
“I love you,” Loxy said.
“Because I made you?” Jon asked.
“You made me love you, but I didn’t want to do it, no I didn’t want to do it,” Loxy sang. She sang the whole song for him. She wiped the tear from his face. She scooted closer. She kissed him. “And I will always love you…” “Houston, I have a problem,” Jon told her. Loxy laughed and pulled him to her.
निनमित
Jon, Loxy, and Alish were sitting in the grass. Alish and Loxy were excitedly discussing the lives, real and fantasy, that they had shared and remembered. Jon listened eagerly, waiting for his memory to kick in, but it was all fiction, and he kept having moments of sheer terror and embarrassment as the two of them discussed being intimate with him, both alone and together.
They even discussed partners that he had had that he didn’t remember. The people they recalled seemed to be good friends. Jack and Lakeisha emerged from their sleep and joined them. Loxy got up and hugged them both, Jack first, and then Lakeisha, but only after an invitation was accepted.
“I am so happy to meet you finally, properly,” Loxy said. “You don’t know how instrumental you both were in saving Jon’s life.”
“Come, breakfast,” Alish said, summoning plates with scrambled eggs and toast. She brought Jack coffee.
Jack accepted the coffee and sat on the grass. Lakeisha was not happy.
“I was hoping this was all a dream,” Lakeisha said, not accepting food or drink. “And I don’t like how bubbly you two are.”
“I find coffee helps acclimate to bubbly,” Jack said.
“I don’t like coffee, Jack,” Lakeisha said. “That’s an old person’s drink.”
Loxy sat on the ground, Indian style, close enough to Jon that she could rub his back. Alish sat on her knees in a style known as seiza, a Japanese style that denoted humble service and respect. It wasn’t lost on Jack who had been to Japan, and once, even a planet that was all Japanese, including monsters.
“How do you feel, Jon?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know how to respond to that,” Jon said.
“Most people say fine and move on down the road,” Jack said.
Jon seemed to be struggling to find the words to describe how he felt.
“I don’t feel good, if anyone cares,” Lakeisha said.
“We care,” Alish said. “How can we serve you?”
“Wake me up from this perpetual night!” Lakeisha said.
“Oh! You want daylight?” Alish said. “Isis, shift us to dayside.”
A transporter beam caught them and placed them on the flip-side of the station. In essence, the station was like a double sided coin. One side of the dome contained the night, and it faced the galaxy. Underneath the night, the flip side, there was daylight which varied in intensity from morning sun to evening sun, but never no sun. The north side of the habitat had two trees, grass and flowers, and a garden. It also contained an ocean. A beach ran down the middle of the habitat, separating the water from the garden. From above, one might see the curved beach denoted yin/yang. Gentle waves lapped at the shore.
“Oh!” Loxy said. “This is nice.”
“Many people came together to ensure Jon’s recovery,” Alish said. “No expense was
spared. Much thought, blessings, and love was poured into this station’s design.” “This is unbelievable,” Lakeisha said.
“We can only get to daylight by transport beam?” Jack asked.
“No, there’s an access tunnel that descends through the primary structure to both side. You have to pass through several airlocks. Most people can’t tolerate the tunnel. It gets a bit screwy in the center, no gravity, and you have to be ready to reorient to ‘up.’”
“We’re on a space station,” Lakeisha said.
“Yes,” Alish said.
“With a beach?” Lakeisha said.
“Yes,” Alish said. “Any time you wish to come here, just ask Isis to shift you.” “Does the space station have a name?” Jack asked.
“Not yet,” Alish said. “Jon, care to christen it?”
“Why me?” Jon asked.
“Why name it? It’s yours. This is your home,” Alish said. “Your safe place.” “But, why me? I am not special. I have not done anything to warrant this level of intervention,” Jon said.
“You’re special to us,” Alish said. “And we love you.” “And that’s it?” Jon asked.
“Isn’t that enough?” Lakeisha asked.
“No,” Jon said. “It has to make sense. People don’t just give things for no reason.”
“Maybe everyone in the Universe eventually goes to a place like this, so they can heal. Maybe people go where they need to go in order to learn their next lesson,” Loxy said. “No one earns love, Jon. It is as free as the light from the sun. No one earns forgiveness, Jon. That is something that is given to diminish debt and promote health. Forgiveness improves the health of the one who forgives.” She took his hand and drew him closer. “You are loved. You could not be here if it wasn’t meant to be.”
“Also, you asked to be here,” Alish said.
“I don’t remember…”
“Jon,” Alish said. “You have been asking for help all your life. Your prayers, your cries, your pain, your hopes, your loves… We heard it all. We responded. Welcome home.” Jon cried and Loxy hugged him. Lakeisha rolled her eyes. Jon stepped back and wiped his eyes. “I don’t know what to say…”
“How about a name for the place?” Jack said.
“Enterprise?” Jon asked.
“I like that,” Jack said.
“Um, no,” Loxy said.
“Xanadu?” Jon asked.
“I like that, too,” Jack said.
“Like the movie with Olivia Newton Jon?” Lakeisha asked. “You know that one?” Jack asked.
“Pappa loves ELO,” Lakeisha said.
“They’re awesome,” Jon agreed.
“Yeah, they’re alright,” Jack said.
“Alright? How many artist bring in a full orchestra and mix pop?” Jon asked. “Not many, and Jeff is definitely a superior artist,” Jack said. “Back to the name.” “Tranquility Base?” Jon asked.
“Oh, I really like that,” Jack said.
“Very nice,” Loxy said.
“Yes,” Alish said.
“This is much bigger than a giant leap,” Lakeisha said. “Okay. Tranquility Base it is.” “In-coming wormhole,” Isis announced.
“Isis, flip side us,” Jack said. They were transported directly to the communication room where they heard Hammond speaking over the radio: “Hello, Jack. This General Hammond. Are you there, Son?”
“We’re here, Sir. All of us,” Jack said.
“That’s good to hear. How is everyone?”
“Home sick, Sir,” Jack said. “We made some new friends. Met a planet of Native
Americans. Oh, met Big Foot! He’s like for real! And we have some new friends staying with us. There is a flower girl here by the name of Alish, and Jon’s tulpa, Loxy, is now a real live girl. I am thinking I might make one myself.” Lakeisha hit him. “Or, not. Anyway, I have some rumors on the galactic social life. Apparently the humans are the bad guys here. Think fifty shades of Empires and Star Wars. Yeah, humans are the minority, but they run the show. Interesting, the
Goa'uld are rumored to be the good guys.”
“Interesting, Jack. Are you safe where you are?” Hammond asked.
“We appear to be,” Jack said. “We have access to tech that appears to be on par with the
Asgard, if not better in some ways. As near as I can tell, we’re on a space station. It’s pretty big.
And, we’re now calling it Tranquility Base”
“Interesting,” Hammond said. “Well, speaking of the Asgard, we’re passing some gifts through to you now. Let us know when you received them.”
A pendant arrived and Jack took it, pulling it free from the gate. Attached to the chain were two other pendants. He separated them, giving one to Jon and the other to Lakeisha. Shortly after Jack reported receiving the pendants, SG1 arrived, along with two guests. Lakeisha’s grandparents looked up at the face hovering over the table. The domed shield maintaining the atmosphere for the little people popped on. They were aware this was due to Isis and her desire to preserve life. Grandmother began to wail. The gate shut off.
“No, no, no, don’t cry, mamma,” Lakeisha said. “I just look big. I am not really big.” “Are you okay?” her grandfather asked.
Jack didn’t look at her, though he wanted to coach her. She said the right thing. “I am fine, Pappa. I am safe. I have food, water, clothing, my own room with all the modern luxuries,” she assured him.
“Then, explain why you’re still wearing the clothes