Insight (Chapter 1)

Jo paced across her office. 15 steps in one direction, 15 in the other. Look at her watch, turn, repeat.

The Astraeus candidate interviews had concluded an hour earlier. Having already withdrawn her application, Jo was the only interviewee who was certain of her fate. Still, she was nervous for Zane, worried that rejection for the mission would be the impetus that would push him out of Eureka and out of her life. Even if he stayed while others went to space, he might turn his back on the community, threatening their chances for a deeper connection. So it was with no small amount of anxiety that she read Senator Wen's summons to return to the interview room at 5 pm to discuss a "matter of some importance."

The topic couldn't be Jo's decision—she'd been very clear about its finality, and the selection panel didn't seem inclined to argue. With hundreds of applicants for the few slots on the mission, reluctance on any candidate's part was an easy basis for disqualification.

A security issue was the most likely cause for the meeting. Yet Zane was so much the focus of Jo's thoughts that she couldn't put her concern for him entirely aside. It was almost a relief when the time came to head for the interview room.

When she entered, the room was much as she'd left it. The bioscanner system was still in place, humming softly. However, the only other occupant of the room was Senator Wen, her fellow panel members having departed. Despite being barraged with memories from dozens of scientists whose raging egos made them all too willing to share, Wen looked as fresh as she had in the morning. In comparison, Jo felt increasingly frazzled, although she struggled to keep her expression calm.

"Ms. Lupo. Thank you for coming. Please have a seat." With a start, Jo realized that the seat the Senator was referring to was the one at the bioscanner. "Don't be concerned," the Senator continued. "We aren't delving into your memories. Actually, I want your input regarding someone else's."

Jo felt her breath stop, grateful for having turned away to step toward the chair. Someone else's. What memory could have led Wen to request a private meeting with GD's head of security? The timeline change. Oh, God, thought Jo.

Fargo, Grace and Zane had all been hooked up to the bioscanner today. All three knew more than enough about the trip she, Carter, Henry, Allison and Fargo had taken back to 1947 to earn them sanctions for engaging in unauthorized time travel.

She'd had the same worry earlier today when she'd arrived to have her own mind explored. Then, she'd barely had time to be terrified before fury at not being told about the mining of GD brains took over. The panel members took pains to assure her that no memory could be accessed which the subject didn't want to share. After undergoing the process herself, her concern had abated.

But not all minds were created equal, she thought. Grace and Zane were more than capable of blocking unwanted excursions into their thoughts. In fact, Zane made an art form out of keeping people at arms' length. But Fargo? Fargo and flustered went hand in hand.

Suddenly it was all too easy to imagine him cracking under pressure, images of him crouching naked on the grounds of the Army camp Eureka had once been flashing across the bioscanner's display screen. Once he realized what the panel had seen, would he have the presence of mind to concoct a reasonable explanation? True, Fargo had grown leaps and bounds in maturity and competence since returning from the past. But he desperately wanted to impress the panel, and a desperate Fargo was an erratic one. Jo's heart sank, but she fought to maintain a calm exterior as she sat.

"Let me get right to the point," the Senator began. "We've reached a unanimous decision in selecting 19 of the 20 team members for Astraeus. Unfortunately, we're in disagreement about who will take the last slot. Frankly, my co-panelists believe that my choice poses a significant security risk. Hence your presence here—I want your input regarding those concerns, based on your experience with the candidate." She pressed a button and words appeared across the bioscanner screen.

ZANE DONOVAN, File No. 233145.1

Jo's eyes widened. Zane, not Fargo. Had Zane revealed what he knew about the altered timeline? If so, had it been…deliberate?

No. Although Jo wasn't yet sure that she fully trusted this Zane, she was certain that he wouldn't have intentionally endangered her or the others. Had Wen pressured him? With what leverage? His pardon was final—only the President could revoke it, and Jo doubted that even Wen could convince him that Zane's status took priority over other things on the man's plate.

Jo cleared her throat. "What do you need to know?"

"If he can be trusted," Wen asked.

Seriously? Jo thought, nearly laughing. The irony of being asked the very the question she'd been plagued with since realizing this Zane was a sophomoric, testosterone-driven iteration of the man she once knew was stunning. Jo could only stutter in response. "I..I,-".

"Ms. Lupo," Wen interrupted. "I know about your…" her eyebrows raised, almost smirking. "…involvement with Mr. Donovan. I assume that you consider him to be at least somewhat trustworthy." Jo flushed, but held her gaze. "What we need to know, however, is not how well he interacts with one person, but how well he will work in a team. I can tell you that his behavior during his interview didn't help his cause with my co-panelists." Oh, no. Jo moaned to herself. Zane, what did you do?

"It did, however, intrigue me. He's clearly not accustomed to working with others and has little respect for authority. If we had any doubt in that regard, he sealed it by walking out of the interview before we were finished with him." Jo closed her eyes. You idiot, she thought. "By itself, that would ordinarily make someone ineligible for this kind of assignment. But I'm acutely aware that this team will be made up of nothing but scientists."

"And with no disrespect, it's become apparent during my time here at GD that scientists at this level are deeply attached to a way of decision-making that's foreign to me. They pose hypotheses and want to test them for weaknesses before concluding whether they're valid. As such, they tend to remain open to a variety of outcomes. While necessary to scientific achievement, that kind of analysis can be, shall we say, inefficient in the face of a crisis. In a crisis situation, someone who decides where they want to go and is willing to bend the facts to get there can be invaluable. I believe Mr. Donovan is such a person."

Despite her best efforts to squelch the impulse, Jo couldn't help but smile. Wen's lips twitched in response. "I see that you agree. The question remains, however, whether Mr. Donovan can be counted on to use his…well, skills for the benefit of others. Or, when push comes to shove, will he put his own interests first?"

Jo's smile faded. She really wanted to see Zane go to Titan. It meant so much to him. And having such a high level of trust placed in him by so many people would be a litmus test of sorts. Either he would rise to the occasion by demonstrating a level of maturity he only flirted with now, or he'd treat the mission with the same cavalier attitude that lead him to "borrow" an ion pulse dampener for the Apollo capsule rather than build one as requested.

The seriousness of the concern over Zane's selection for Astraeus was suddenly and painfully obvious. He and Fargo had barely survived their flight into space on the capsule because Zane had cut corners in taking the dampener from the BCE. If he did something similar on Titan, many people could suffer or even die. Jo swallowed hard before speaking.

"I don't know if I can answer that question, Senator. The Zane Donovan I know-" Both of them, thought Jo. "—would never intentionally put another person in danger. He can be immature, even selfish at times, but he can also be incredibly kind. And dedicated. He's…he's a good person." Listening to her own words, Jo was surprised to find she believed them. In many ways, this Zane was still a mystery to her. But he was a good person, just as the Zane she'd once known had been.

"Maybe it would help if you had more information. That's why I wanted to meet here. I'd like you to see something, then tell me if it informs your opinion or changes it in any way." The bioscanner screen flickered, then filled with an image of a kitten clutching at a rope. "HANG IN THERE" the image implored. Jo was confused. She'd been brought here to look at a cheesy inspirational poster?

Then she realized what she was seeing. This was Zane's memory, the one he'd chosen to share with the selection panel. She gasped and spun her head toward Wen. "I thought these memories were highly confidential, that no one other than the panel members would be allowed to see them without the candidate's permission."

Although Jo's outrage at the invasion of Zane's privacy was real, so was her curiosity. The prospect of looking directly into his mind was irresistible. If this was a cartoon, tiny good and evil Jos would be dancing around her shoulder, arguing loudly. On one hand, it was wrong to watch a memory Zane had never intended for her to see. On the other hand…oh, hell. Who was she kidding? She'd give up her guns to see what was on that screen.

"Given the stakes, we decided that the security interests in play outweighed Mr. Donovan's right to privacy. Do you not want to see it?" The Senator looked at Jo with an expression bordering on smugness. If she knew—however she knew—that Jo and Zane were "involved," then she knew that the recording of Zane's memory was to Jo what a sandwich would be to a starving man. Essential.

Jo sighed in defeat, and turned back to the dangling kitten.

The sight of Zane as a 10 year old boy took her breath away. He was staring at a completed test paper, waiting for his classmates to finish the exam. It seemed that he'd been waiting a long time, and Jo wondered briefly if anyone had bothered to recognize Zane's intellect before standardized testing confirmed it. Or had he been abandoned to boredom in grade level classes, isolated by his genius from the other kids?

Jo bit her lip as she realized that she and Zane might have more in common than she'd known. Until succeeding in the Astraeus entrance exams (thanks in no small part to Zane's tutoring), Jo had felt out of place in Eureka's herd of geniuses. Maybe Zane had felt the same way as a child—always the answer to the question "which of these things is not like the others?"

Although very young, the Zane on the screen had his older self's eyes. Eyes too old for the face they looked out of. This Zane looked…sad. A lump formed in Jo's throat as she heard his "You and me both" in response to his teacher's cheerful comment about looking forward to seeing Zane's father.

Watching him standing hopefully in front of his class, showing them doctored photos of his absent father to gain their approval was heartwrenching. So much so that she nearly shouted "leave him alone" at the federal officers who took Zane and the classified documents he'd hacked from NASA's mainframe out of his class.

By this time, she'd all but forgotten Wen's presence in the room. She'd entirely forgotten that the scene unfolding before her was two decades old. Only the appearance of the adult Zane in the recording, watching his younger self with the same expression of sadness, broke the spell. Jo sat, eyes closed and fighting tears, until Wen spoke softly.

"I think I have my answer. Thank you, Ms. Lupo."

Jo sat for a moment, trying to collect herself. In her mind, the child Zane's face appeared superimposed over her image of his adult self. She felt like she'd been given a gift, one that connected the dots between the Zane she'd just seen and the one she knew.

"No, I don't know that you do." Jo turned, not bothering to hide her emotion. "Zane isn't a loner. He's just been alone." She stood, facing the Senator. "He'll do whatever is necessary to make sure that the mission succeeds—for everyone on it. It may not be what you ask for, but he'll give you what you need." Jo glanced back at the screen, now blank. "Pick him, Senator. Trust me-you need him on this."

With a nod, Jo left the room. It was time that she and grown-up Zane had a talk. He might be going to Titan without her, but he wasn't going to be by himself anymore.