Chapter 13
Jon didn’t expect to go to sleep before Loxy came to join him. He only wanted to close his eyes for a moment. He found himself dreaming that he was back on Earth, being drilled by Jack’s father, Daniel, Teal’c and Samantha. There was a bald guy there. And the Doctor was there, too. It was confusing and he felt sick. Loxy was also there, and she was interacting with them.
He woke back to his room, alone, and wandered back to the control room. He didn’t descend all the way. The light was dim, as if lit by a light from a swimming pool. Jack was speaking, a conversation that was clearly already in progress.
“What should I do, Sir?” Jack asked.
“I am not sure I am qualified to advise you, Son. You’re navigating new territory. You have traveled much further than anyone has ever imagined was even possible,” Hammond was saying.
“I am sure there’s a book somewhere that covers this. Maybe you could send it through the gate?” Jack said. “Even fiction would be better than no road map at all.” “I will send you some books, Jack,” Hammon said.
“Sir, if you can’t advise me…” Jack didn’t finish his statement. He didn’t know how to finish this. “Were you going to say you’re otherwise lost? Jack, I have worked with you a long time. I have made almost all of the command decisions, but it was always you who advised me. Now, the way I see it, you’re safe and sound right there at Tranquility Base. You could live your entire lives there. It would be a nice life, actually. I wouldn’t mind retiring there myself. No one would blame you if you sit this life out. You could actually retire. You’ve earned it. Or, you can get out there and live your life, make friends, build new communities of friends. Change the world. Hell, change the universe, son. I don’t have to advise you, Jack. I know you. I know what you’re going to do and what you’re going to say. And I know, you’re going to be alright.” “You been holding that speech in reserve for me?” Jack asked.
“Completely impromptu,” Hammond said.
“Nice,” Jack said.
Jon quietly retreated back the way he came and wondered out over the grass and looked up into the stars. He knew there was a dome there, but it might as well have been invisible. Loxy was suddenly by his side, but he didn’t know it until she had touched his arm. He gave a bit of a start, which Loxy mirrored, and then laughed.
“Don’t do that,” Jon said.
“Sorry,” Loxy said.
“Lake okay?” Jon asked.
“I wouldn’t call her that in person, yet,” Loxy said. “But yeah, she’s good. It took her a moment to fall asleep. Alish will stay with her. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
Loxy took his hand to lead him back to his room, but he held his ground. “Maybe
Lakeisha is right, I have unduly influenced you.”
“Jon, I am sentient. I am aware. I want to be with you,” Loxy said. “I choose to be with you.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you,” Loxy said.
“Yeah, and so, it begs the question, WHY?” Jon asked.
Loxy kissed him. “Come to bed,” she insisted.
“Okay,” Jon said.
निनमित
Alish gave them history lessons. The Forest of Ever wasn’t just one forest on one planet. They had an origin planet, which was still alive and well, though its star was nearing its twilight. Because of the nature of Avatars, it was possible to manifest themselves on other planets, and in this way, they had seeded most of the viable worlds of the galaxy long before humans had appeared on the scene. They considered themselves the caretakers, the forerunners; they were True Elders. The first hundred years of an Ever-tree’s life was considered childhood. The manifestations of spirit were small miracles, like butterflies and sprites. They experienced the full lives of whatever they created and then, on death the spirit would return to the tree. At some point, they could skip the life cycle and manifest as whatever they wish. Trees working in teams could design new species, becoming the parents of this species, introducing them to the niche world’s they thought would be best suited for their particular talents. Everything in harmony and balance, working together with the whole.
“So, you’re going to start a new religion explaining why we shouldn’t cut down trees,” Lakeisha said.
“No,” Alish said. “I am saddened about the state of your planet, but I also understand it is complicated, much more complicated than I can judge from the outside. So, let’s say you, by yourself, find a place to live, and there is a tree there, and you cut it down. You see one tree; one tree won’t impact the world. It is true, individual trees fall all the time. But if you see your world from space, and you see a billion people each cutting down one tree, and a billion trees falling, then you have a different picture. Perspective. A billion trees gone is a forest obliterated.”
“Is that why you sent me to Earth?” Jon asked.
“You volunteered to go,” Alish reminded him.
“Yeah, I don’t remember signing up for that,” Jon said.
“That Earth, Jack and Lakeisha’s Earth, is actually a beacon of hope that things can be better. It has problems, but it has a lot going for it. Teams from a dozen realities have rallied around that planet,” Alish said.
“Why?” Jack asked.
“There are those of us who work in your future. There are those of us who are influencing your past. Some of us work in your now,” Alish said. “If your world lives up to its potential, it will be a game changer. It will influence a billion Earths in a new direction because all people will know, on a subtle level, life can be different.”
“We are all one,” Loxy translated. “What we do to ourselves, we do to others. What we do to others, we do to everyone.”
“No man is an island,” Jon said.
Jack pointed to the map of the galaxy and highlighted a star. “If I am right, this planet might have Asgard tech on it. We can get there by Stargate, but to do that, we need to Ring to a place that has an active Stargate.”
“Wait wait wait,” Loxy said. She pointed at the map, to a mark Jack had made. When she touched it, it expanded. There was a picture of familiar planets in a system. “Jon! There’s an Earth here! In this galaxy! In this Universe.”
“Yes, Loxy,” Alish said.
“Seriously?” Lakeisha asked. “We could go home?”
“It would not be your home,” Alish said. “You will find they have had a parallel development, but it will be an alien world. You will be strangers in a strange land.” “Oh, I like that,” Loxy said.
“You should. It’s a book we read,” Jon said.
“Oh, yeah!” Loxy said, and hugged him. “Thank you for the books you read!” “OMG, get a room,” Lakeisha said.
“You don’t want to watch?” Loxy asked.
“Eww, no!” Lakeisha said. “Alish, is my grandparents on that Earth?”
“Unlikely, but if they are, they would not be your grandparents, and they would not know
you,” Alish said. “This is world is probably twenty years ahead of your world.” Jack was chewing on a thumb nail. “But they’re bad people? Like, how bad? The Germans won World War Two?” Jack asked.
“That is my understanding,” Alish said.
“So, Edith Keeler kept the American from entering the war, and now we have no Federation,” Jack said.
“Yeah, but Kirk kills Edith Keeler, thereby correcting the anomaly that changed the timeline,” Jon said.
“He didn’t actually kill her,” Jack said.
“Might as well have,” Jon said. “I mean, she was smart, right? Ahead of her time by all the contextual evidence of the show, so, why not just pull her aside and say, look, we’re from the future and we made a mistake, but you don’t have to die to correct this mistake, but you need to be less involved. Or, I don’t know, take her back to the future with them, thereby rendering her for all intent and purpose dead to her time line.”
“That is a good argument,” Jack said.
“What the hell are you two talking about?!” Lakeisha asked.
“Star Wars,” Loxy said.
“Trek,” Jack and Jon both said.
“I thought you said they were the same,” Loxy said.
“I am trying to have a real discussion here,” Lakeisha said. “Wait. Jon told you they were both the same?” Jack asked.
“I made an argument that Lucas stole everything from Roddenberry,” Jon said.
“Who?” Lakeisha asked.
“No, Doctor Who is another Universe,” Jon said.
“Let’s hear the argument,” Jack said.
“First episode that aired, ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before,’ the Enterprise crossed through an energy barrier surrounding the galaxy, energy that is created by the galaxy, holds it all together, kind of like the Force, eh? Two people on the ship, the ones with the greatest ESP rating, start manifesting psychic and telekinetic powers, exactly like a Jedi,” Jon said. “It always bothered me that Spock wasn’t affected, when he’s was the strongest telepath on the ship…”
“Good point,” Jack said. “And their eyes glowed, like the Goa'uld!” “A ghoul?” Jon asked.
“Goa’uld,” Jack said. “But I think Daniel told me once that ghoul is a bastardized form of Goa’uld. Is that your only argument?”
“No, remember the episode where the space omeba destroys a Vulcan ship and Spock has this heart attack like histrionics where we think he’s dying, but then he recovers and basically said that he felt them dying from millions of light years away?” Jon said. “That’s exactly what happened to Ben Kenobi when Alderan blows up, only, Spock was sensitive to a hundred people, but a whole planet had to be destroyed to get Ben’s attention.”
“Oh, tell him your theory about how Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz are the same story,”
Loxy said, excited. “I love this story.”
“It’s not the same!” Lakeisha said.
“It really is. So, like Luke and Dorothy, they’re the same characters. We both find them on a farm with their aunt and uncle, no clue about their history or where their parents are. They both go on a mystical journey of self-discovery. They both encounter a wizened magical being, as Kenobi and Glenda are the same character. They find friends along the way. West and Vader are the same character. Ruby slippers. Ruby lightsaber. Can’t you hear West telling Dorothy, ‘Glenda never told you what happened to your mother, did she, Dorothy. No, I am your mother! Join me and we can rule the Emerald City has mother and daughter.’”
“That’s pretty good,” Jack said.
“No, it’s not! You can’t ruin my favorite show by making it into a war,” Lakeisha said.
“You’re such guy!”
“Can’t you hear Yoda telling Dorothy, never your mind on where you were, what you were doing. Adventure, Ha! Over the Rainbow, ha! Jedi’s crave not these things,” Jon said.
“Stop it,” Lakeisha said.
“So, Oz is Yoda?” Jack asked.
“Oh, no, he’s clearly the evil emperor,” Jon said. “I mean, who else would send a nine year old girl to kill a witch? He needed Dorothy to kill West so that she could become the next
Sith apprentice…”
“You can’t mix two genres and call it a new thing,” Lakeisha can.
“People do it all the time,” Jon said.
“Like chocolate and peanut butter,” Loxy said.
“Technically, it’s not two different genres,” Jack pointed out.
“No,” Lakeisha said. “You can’t one day be in Kansas and the next day be a part of the
Empire on planet Vulcan…”
“Wait, let me finish tracking that…” Jack said. “No need to sort, we’re in another universe…” Jon said. “Oh, what if there isn’t a Star Wars here! You and I write it, but only write it better.”
“I am down for that,” Jack said.
“No!” Lakeisha said.
“We are getting a little off topic,” Alish said.
“But it’s fun. Tell us more about the Java guys,” Loxy said.
“Who?” Jack said.
“You know, the java jive guys. I like coffee, I like tea, I like java time, and it likes me,” Loxy said.
“Jaffa, not java,” Jack said.
“I find it interesting how they still ended up being the middle men and slaves in both universes,” Jon said.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t a warrior class rise up against their oppressors?” Lakeisha asked.
“There is never just one answer to that. If they were taken off world, they may have been told their families would suffer if they didn’t cooperate. Some people actually like being slaves,” Jack said. “No one wants to be owned,” Lakeisha said.
“Lots of people like being owned. It’s comforting. Some people like being dominated, and some people like dominating,” Loxy said.
“You want people to control you?” Lakeisha asked; she asked that, but then glared at Jon.
“Oh, I like to switch it up,” Loxy said.
Lakeisha took a moment to understand. “We’re not talking about the same thing, are we?”
Jack and Jon shook their heads ‘no.’
“Jon also likes switching,” Loxy pointed out. “He just naturally fronts submissive because it’s less threatening…”
“They really didn’t need to know that,” Jon said.
“It really wasn’t a secret,” Jack said.
“I am that transparent?” Jon asked.
“Pretty much,” Jack said.
“I didn’t pick up on that,” Lakeisha said.
“Well, I am a lot older, but now that you know what you’re looking for, you’ll see more evidence,” Jack said.
“OMG. I don’t know what I ever saw in you, Jack,” Lakeisha said. She pointed at Loxy.
“You, stop sexualizing everything.” She pointed at Jon. “You, well, just stop thinking about it.”
To Alish she said, “And you, well, you’re alright, just keep being a peaceful plant person.” “Plant’s like sex, too, you know,” Alish said. “Vine sex is as good as tentacle sex.” “Is there no where safe in the universe?” Lakeisha asked.
“We’re very safe here to explore and discover who we are and what we want to be,” Loxy said.
“Look, Loxy, I don’t blame you for what you think you are… I blame Jon,” Lakeisha said. “What did I do?” Jon asked.
“Creating a tulpa is kind of like creating a robot that eventually becomes sentient, right?”
“No!” Jon said. “It’s nothing like that.
“It’s exactly like that. It’s Frankenstein’s monster all over again,” Lakeisha said. “I am so glad you didn’t go with the Abby normal brain,” Loxy said. “Abby was on my name list for you,” Jon said.
“Oh, that would have been a lovely name, short for Abigal…” Loxy said.
“You created a monster! A sexed crazed, overly feminized and extremely attractive nymphomaniac, monster,” Lakeisha said.
“She thinks I am hot,” Loxy said.
“No! Okay, maybe. Yes. I am so confused,” Lakeisha said.
“Can’t help you there,” Jack said.
“I would help you there,” Jon said.
Loxy tried to direct a secret no to him, but it was too late. Lakeisha was angry.
“Stop flirting with me! Stop making innuendoes around me,” Lakeisha.
“Alright,” Jon said. “I am sorry.”
Lakeisha turned to Isis. “Can we ring to Earth?”
“You may use the Light Rings to go to any planet that has experienced a singularity
event,” Isis said. “You can Ring to most planets that have a Stargate.” “That didn’t answer her question,” Jack said.
“You can Ring to Earth, but I cannot tell you where you will arrive,” Isis said. “I recommend not going to Earth.”
“But you can get us to Earth?” Lakeisha asked.
“Yes,” Isis said.
“Well, what are we waiting for,” Lakeisha said. “Hold on,” Jack said. “Can we Ring back?” “Yes,” Isis said.
“Let’s go,” Lakeisha said. “Conditionally,” Isis said.
Jack gave a hand gesture that suggested, ‘see let’s figure this out.’ “What are the caveats?”
“Jon must be conscious in order to request the rings,” Isis said.
“You’re telling me, Jon is the DHD?” Jack asked.
“DHD?” Lakeisha asked.
“Dial Home Device,” Loxy said.
“Wait a minute. Loxy ordered the Rings to come home the Yeti-People planet,” Jack pointed out.
“I will not be able to accept commands from Loxy on Earth,” Isis said.
“Why?” Jack asked.
“Who cares? We’re going to Earth. Jon, you’re coming with,” Lakeisha said.
“I don’t want to go to Earth. I just left Earth. There’s a reason I left Earth,” Jon said.
“And this is a bad Earth. Your Earth wasn’t so nice to me. I don’t even want to imagine what a Bad earth might do to me.”
“You’re a coward,” Lakeisha said.
“Yes! I am afraid. Who isn’t afraid?” Jon asked.
“Lenny Bruce is not afraid,” Loxy said.
Jack laughed. He was the only one that laughed. “Now that was funny,” Jack said.
“That’s exactly the kind of joke I would make,” Jon complained.
“Loxy’s timing is better,” Jack said.
“Jon, you’re the straight man. I am the comedian,” Loxy said.
“Good, so you won’t mind me getting this point straight: there is no way in hell I am going back to Earth, any earth, ever,” Jon said.
“Oh, please, you’re life wasn’t that bad. Waaa, my parents abandoned me and I had to go to work. Poor you. Now, grow the fuck up,” Lakeisha said.
Jon was clearly bothered, but he didn’t speak his peace.
“Lakeisha, bring it down a notch,” Jack said.
“Oh, fuck you, too, old man,” Lakeisha said. “I don’t care that it’s a facsimile of Earth. I want to go to Earth and be with normal people. And you’re going to help us, Jon, cause I guarantee you, your life wasn’t as bad as mine, but I will make you wish it were if you don’t get me to Earth.”
“We’re not going to compete for whose life sucked worse,” Jack said.
“So he was physically abused,” Lakeisha said. “He got away, and he’s got food and shelter. At least he wasn’t raped on regular basis while his family watched….”
Jon walked away. Loxy frowned at Lakeisha. It was the first serious look she had given anyone. “Yeah, actually, he was,” Loxy said. “He was lucky to have survive the first two years of being trafficked. He watched as they buried boys his age alive. Boys usually don’t survive being trafficked. He survived because he made himself valuable. And when his mom got him back and she needed a fix, she sold him cheap. You’re not alone in suffering, Lakeisha.
Everyone suffers. Not everyone makes it public. Excuse me…” Jack sighed. Alish followed Loxy.
“I didn’t know,” Lakeisha said.
“I know,” Jack said.
“But you did? Could you have warned me?” Lakeisha asked.
“I didn’t know,” Jack said. “I suspected, but you just don’t open that door. You make yourself available as a friend, and when they trust, they will share what they need to share when they are ready to share it, and never before. People heal in increments. It’s just another reason why I went slow with you. It’s why I declined all of your offers. You weren’t ready.” “I was ready,” Lakeisha said.
“No, you weren’t,” Jack said. “The fact that you are completely 180 against it even being a remote possibility is just more evidence you have miles yet to go. But here’s a new flash: I sure as hell wasn’t ready. I had a life. People think, yay, you’re young again, you can just start over, with all bills paid, but I had my life set. I had people I cared about. I loved someone. I wasn’t going to just medicate my losses with meaningless sex and drugs. Believe me, I could have. You weren’t the only one offering me shit.”
Lakeisha turned to storm out. He took her hand. She spun, bringing her hand up to hit him, but he blocked, putting her in a joint lock.
“Lake,” Jack said. “Don’t hit, don’t run. This is uncomfortable, but this is ‘fight or flight.’ Stay present, stay with me, and know I still accept you. This is how we learn that we are safe.” When she eased up, he let her go.
“I messed up, Jack,” Lakeisha said.