Authors Note: I thought I'd try something that I haven't done in a while which is to alter a canon story with some crazy twist. I mused to a friend about what may have gone differently if either Henry or Jo had gone inside the Matrix instead of Carter in Force Quit and it led to an interesting discussion. So I'm running with that idea here. I've had this kicking around my hard drive for a while in parts but haven't really put much time into editing it. Since I'm on another trip where I'm spending a lot of time on buses and airplanes and trains, I thought I'd spruce it up before I lost the energy/time to do anything with it. I'll be hitting up six states in six days (okay, five states and an unfairly disenfranchised territory) so we'll see if I end up posting a section in one of each.
Also, I don't claim to own any parts of the show or the characters. I'm just playing nicely with them.
Spoilers for all episodes up to Force Quit. It's probably a good idea to have seen that episode or I imagine some parts would be confusing. Enjoy and thanks for reading.
Chapter One
Control: Part I
Jo stared from Beverly Barlowe to Carter to Henry. They were all huddled around a computer contemplating the most sensible plan for saving their friends. Or at least that's the story that Beverly is sticking with. Her allegations about the total immersion simulation sounded impossible. But what else did they have to go on?
It was taking everything in her not to handcuff the older woman and kick her ass into the dingiest, darkest cell to rot. Her anger at being locked in her own cell hadn't dissipated not to mention what that bitch had put Henry, Allison and the rest of her friends through. But she had too much information to be bluffing and Jo wasn't willing to risk the lives of her friends and colleagues just to settle a score.
She wasn't willing to risk Zane.
Her walkabout hadn't gotten her very far in the self-reflection department but neither had it dimmed the way her heart fluttered when she thought of the man she'd been sharing her bed with recently—and reluctantly her heart, she realized belatedly. Well, not realized exactly. It was more like she knew from the beginning and had been running from it, keeping as much distance as she could so as not to get hurt if he wasn't willing to fall for her a second time. With so much confusion in the rest of her life, she was afraid to believe that he was serious. Then she'd have no choice but to surrender and that thought terrified her.
When Beverly said that someone had already been killed inside the simulation, she panicked, sure that her self-proclaimed smartass would have been the one poking around and figured out something was wrong. If he died in there, she'd never be able to make things right with him. There was no relief to hearing instead that it was Holly who was murdered by Senator Wen. She didn't want to think about how crushed Fargo would be over this. And she certainly didn't want to contemplate what would happen if she, Henry and Carter couldn't find the crew in time to save them from the same fate.
She didn't claim to understand everything that Beverly was implying about where the lost Astraeus crew was located, although she clearly understood more than Carter judging by the confused expression on his face. She didn't care about the science behind it, all she knew was that she needed to get her people out of there.
Jo listened quietly as Beverly broke down to Henry how the program worked and how they should go about infiltrating it. These things always sounded so simple when the eggheads explained it but give them a spare second and they'll come up with a catch.
"If you die in the program…" Beverly offered.
"Uh, yeah, you die here too." Jack finished grimly.
They all looked at each other contemplating the gravity of the situation they were in.
Henry stared down Beverly before breaking the silence. "I'll do it." Jo's heart sank. It had to be incredibly difficult for Henry to know that Beverly held Grace's life in her hands along with the rest of the crew. She had been responsible for so much destruction in his life and for him to offer up himself defied all logic to Jo. But the depth of Henry's love and devotion to those he cared about was unmatched by anyone Jo had ever met.
Jo was so focused on Henry that she didn't notice the building resolve from Carter. "I think I should go." Cautiously glancing at Henry, the sheriff tried to gauge his reaction.
"What!" Jo was not amused at this development.
Carter must be thinking along the same lines as she. Henry was already worried and under pressure from the DOD. This was too much to ask of him. However she listened as Carter rationalized why he should be the one to go inside the program. All it did was provoke her annoyance. Jack Carter had started off being a cocky, insensitive know-it-all of a boss but over time, he had turned into a mentor and one of her closest friends. She had a tremendous amount of respect for him, even more important to her because he had earned it.
But damn if he didn't love playing the hero. He just threw himself right into the line of fire even when it made no sense to do so.
"Hold on a second Carter. Beverly just said that the NPCs are already on the prowl for anything that looks even remotely out of place so they can eradicate any threats to the integrity of the program. It's going to be even more dangerous once we cut off the programmers' ability to see what's going on."
He furrowed his brow in concentration and stared at her. "Right," he responded slowly, clearly not knowing where she was going with this and certainly not expecting her to protest.
"So who do you think is better suited to infiltrate that program, someone with years of experience running covert ops in hostile territories or someone who has twice spilled the beans on one of Vincent's surprise parties and gets flustered if S.A.R.A.H. switches up his early morning coffee routine."
Carter opened his mouth to protest. Which part of her statement he had the most trouble with was unclear but she had no interest in waiting for a response.
"We don't have time. Carter, my team knows that you're taking the lead on this operation and they will follow wherever you tell them to go and whatever you tell them to do. Beverly hook me up." She walked over to the chair and waited for everyone else to get over their shock and get things started. "Now!" she shouted. "It's decided," she followed with a quiet conviction.
With one final look around the room, eyes lingering a moment longer on Henry, Beverly snapped back to business. "Should we get started then?"
Jo was situating herself into the chair waiting for Beverly and Henry to do the final checks on the system. Carter had jokingly quizzed her on the information she needed to convey to the others in order to blow up the program. In return, she made him promise not to let Beverly Barlowe out of his sight.
"Jo, we're ready to, uh, jack you in, I guess," Henry said walking over to her.
Carter rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Oh, now that just sounds weird."
"Tell me about it," she said smiling lightly. Her grin faded quickly though as it settled in what exactly it was that she had agreed to do. She was aware that the crew thought it was four years in the future but she had no idea what kind of response she would get when she tried to explain the frankly ludicrous idea that they were trapped in some kind of real-world Matrix. Well, Fargo would probably go for it but what about everyone else? They were all scientists and she wasn't exactly the best authority on technological issues in Eureka.
She pushed away her self-doubt. She couldn't afford to second-guess her skills. Just like any other undercover mission she'd done before, she was going to focus on her objective and not every little thing that may or may not go wrong.
Beverly suddenly entered into her line of sight. "You'll replace the NPC Jo Lupo that's already in the program. All the NPCs are independent subroutines so they'll only know that something's different if you tip them off, so don't."
She heard Carter chuckle next to her. "That means no riding into armed troops on a stolen motorcycle and going out in a blaze of glory." She flashed him a sharp look while Henry laughed softly at his shoulder. "Okay, the blaze of glory is authorized but only if it's the IR spikey thingie we're looking for," he clarified, simulating a large explosion with his nervous gesticulating.
Jo rolled her eyes. "Right. Got it." She straightened out her shoulders and prepared herself for the next steps as Henry continued going over their plan one more time.
"Blow the ship up quickly; once we see the heat spike we'll pull you back." Beverly nodded in agreement but nothing about either of their explanations gave her any comfort. No matter which way you looked at it, there were no guarantees. But she had to destroy that ship and get her team in position to rescue the Astraeus crew. Whatever happened to her wasn't as important as getting them out of there. She was military so she knew the risks. The crew were civilians and they had never had a choice or a chance.
"Okay," Jo said with determination, ready to get the show on the road. "Zane always said I should play more video games," she quipped, leaning back.
"Except in this one there are no extra lives and we won't have a way to see what's going on in there. You'll be on your own," Beverly warned. That wasn't exactly true. She had Carter and Henry and her team in Eureka watching her back. But Beverly wouldn't understand that concept. Everything was cloak and dagger to her. It's like it wasn't worth doing unless it involved a whole lot of unnecessary subterfuge and massive betrayal.
"Great pep talk." From the way Beverly flinched, she was sure the woman had registered her bitter tone. She approached Jo anyway carrying some kind of metal contraption in her hand. This was it.
It turned out the metal ring went around her head, presumably to hook up to the computer accessing the program. It was cold but not too constricting. She could feel the hum of something, some kind of current running through it and she could tell her brain was already starting to react. Amazing how such a simple object could create something as all-encompassing as Beverly suggested. Deep down, Jo had trouble believing this was actually going to work. How could even the biggest genius create something that real? How could the crew not know they were stuck in a computer simulation?
"One other thing." Beverly hooked up the final cords and leaned in to give her some last minute instructions. Or so Jo thought. "In the program, you're dating Jack Carter and raising Allison's kids for the past few years."
Jo's eyes widened. She immediately questioned the jumble of words that came out of Beverly's mouth because she couldn't have heard what she thought she heard. There was always a damn catch.
"What!" she yelled, feeling the pull of her mind towards…towards…
Author's Note: Let's see how much I can power through and post tonight!