He winces in sickened revulsion at the bloodied, crumpled and lifeless body of Arvin Sloane on the ground. The end of a blade can barely be seen, buried deep within the man's chest.
Sark turns away and sees Sydney, lying spread out against a chair, eyes closed. He walks quickly towards her, taking her wrist in his hands and checking for the slightest hint of a pulse.
The pulse is there, at a slow but normal rate. Thank God, he breathes silently.
She appears to be breathing, too.
In fact, everything appears to be normal. Except for the fact that she hasn't awakened yet.
Sark speaks her name, softly to her. "Sydney." She doesn't respond. "Sydney," he says, slightly louder, even though he's gradually realizing that she won't wake up, no matter what he says or does.
Two members of the team run in from behind him. "Is she alive?" one asks him.
Sark can't answer at first. "She's alive," he replies quietly, after a second. "She isn't responding."
The other man takes a look at Sloane. "From what I can see, Bristow took a pretty clear stab at him." He radios into a walkie-talkie, "Send medics to east wing, third room."
Sark turns away, not looking at them, not looking at her, looking away until the others arrive, taking Sydney out of the room.
He doesn't follow. Instead, he approaches Il Dire.
It isn't small. It isn't massive, either – yet an aura of dignity and importance surrounds it. Sark studies it hard . . . so this is what they had been seeking to build – here, in the flesh. It was real. And yet so surreal.
Several wires with circular caps on the ends are hanging down off of it. Sark runs his fingers through them, feeling the smoothness and perfection of five hundred years of discovery. Suddenly he feels a break in one. He touches it again.
There is a splice in the center of a wire. He isn't sure – had she ripped it off and caused it to break? He takes a closer glance at it.
"Sir, we're going to have to take this," a voice says behind him, and he turns to see a few members of his team. He steps aside and watches them carefully take the machine up and across the room, going out.
Sark is alone in the room. Sloane's body is also gone – it is only himself.
With one final, desperate glance around, he approaches the doorway and follows
the last of the team down the hall.
