Disclaimer: I don't own Alias or any of the characters from the show

ALIAS

"Numbers"

Prologue

Previously on Alias...

(Siberia)

Sydney: "I found the music box."

(The music starts playing.)

(CIA prison cell)

Irina: "Every musical note has a corresponding frequency. Any piece of music can be expressed as a series of numbers. Sark is looking for a music box designed by Rambaldi. The box plays a unique tune. Encoded within the tune there's an equation."

Sydney: "For what?"

Irina: "Zero-point energy - a fuel source."

(Siberia)

Vaughn (voice-over): "We've got the recording."

(Sydney sprays a corrosive substance on the music box, and it starts to quickly decay.)

(Hong Kong)

Vaughn: "You've been missing for almost two years."

(CIA Office)

Dixon: This is Lauren Reed. She's going to be our new liason to the National Security Council."

Lauren: "You should know...I'm also Michael Vaughn's wife."

(Hospital)

Sydney: Dixon, it's me. I'm at the Naval Hospital. There's a sniper. Lazarey's been shot; he's dead.

(On the hospital rooftop)

(A gloved hand picks up the bullet shells and disassembles a sniper rifle. Lauren picks up the phone.)

Lauren: "The matter's been taken care of. Yes sir, I will."

(END OF RECAP)

LOSANGELES

It was supposed to be her day off. Lord knew how much she'd been through over the past few weeks. She had needed to take a break from this "spy crap", as she called it. Like always, however, she had been paged at the last minute to come into the office as soon as possible. Sydney Bristow was not happy.

"Morning, Sydney," said Lauren, with that fake smile she always seemed to put on whenever Sydney was near, as if Sydney was just another coworker, not the former lover of Lauren's husband.

"Good morning, Lauren," said Sydney, forcing herself to put on a sweet smile. "Any idea what's going on here?"

Lauren shook her head. "Director Dixon's been in his office since I got here. Talking with someone from the DSR about something important. Rambaldi related, no doubt."

"Yeah," said Sydney, trying not to wince at the name Rambaldi. That name had caused her too much trouble, too much pain, over the years. DSR...Special Research...now that was interesting, thought Sydney. The DSR was a highly classified government agency investigating matters of fringe science, the occult, and, unsurprisingly, the works of 15th century visionary Milo Rambaldi.

The sound of footsteps came from behind her. Sydney turned around to see who it was. "Dad," said Sydney, acknowledging her father Jack Bristow.

"Good morning, Mr. Bristow," said Lauren, as she gathered up some papers in her arms.

Jack merely nodded. "Dixon wants to see us in his office. Apparently, it's a matter of importance."

When is it not? thought Sydney dryly.

As Sydney, Jack, and Lauren entered the room to join Vaughn, Marshall, Weiss, and Dixon, Sydney was surprised to see Kendall, former Director of the Joint Task Force on Intelligence and an agent of the DSR. If Kendall was here, then whatever the reason for this meeting was, it was important.

Kendall nodded to acknowledge everyone in the room.

Dixon stood up to speak. "Director Kendall and I have been discussing an...interesting development," he said.

"Is it related to the Covenant?" asked Lauren.

"Yes, Ms. Reed, it is," said Dixon, nodding. "Approximately 23 hours ago Echelon intercepted a phone call made by Julian Sark to an unidentified Covenant operative." Dixon nodded at Marshall, who clumsily pressed a remote. The viewing screen in the room changed to show the image of a recording.

A man's voice came over the speakers. "I thought you told me the box had been destroyed, Mr. Sark?"

"It was," said Sark. "However, I am confident that the CIA was not so incompetent as to keep no record of the equation the box held."

The other man was silent for a moment. "Do you know where the equation would be?"

"No. But it is only a matter of time before our friend finds out for us."

"Very well," said the man. "Proceed as planned. Keep me informed as you proceed."

"I will," said Sark.

The recording ended. Sydney was puzzled. What were Sark and the Covenant man talking about?

"What exactly is this 'box' that they're talking about?" asked Vaughn, saying exactly what Sydney was thinking. Sometimes she thought Vaughn still cared for her.

"Do you remember a mission two years ago to recover a Rambaldi artifact in Siberia?" Kendall asked.

"The music box," said Sydney, nodding her head as she realized what this was all about. When Lauren looked at her, puzzled, she continued, "My mother told me that encoded within the melody the box played were numbers. An equation for zero-point energy."

"That's...not entirely true, Ms. Bristow," said Kendall.

"What?" asked Sydney, coming off a little ruder than she meant to. "What do you mean?"

"We initially believed that the equation Rambaldi encoded in the music box was a formula for zero-point energy," said Kendall. "However, once the DSR analyzed the equation, we found something entirely different."

"What was the equation for, then?" asked Jack.

"We don't exactly know," Kendall replied.

"So then what makes this music box so important, if it's just...numbers?" asked Weiss.

Kendall laughed humorlessly to himself. "Funny you should say that. While we don't know what these...numbers mean, we do know that they are somehow very important to Rambaldi's prophecy."

"What were the numbers?" asked Lauren.

Kendall looked at Lauren. "Four. Eight. Fifteen. Sixteen. Twenty-three. Fourty-two."

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