Chapter 60

They all gathered in the surveillance room, where Locke had the new map laid out on a small table.

The tension was palpable; Jack and Ana stayed as far away from each other as possible without it seeming obvious; it did anyway, and Kate and Sawyer exchanged evil grins as they all looked over the map.

"Before we make a decision on the map," Locke said, scratching his head, "I would like to say that I think someone else has arrived on the island."

They all stared at him, dumbfounded. "What?" Jack didn't look at Locke; Ana was standing next to him and he didn't want to see her. She'd chosen her side and it wasn't his.

"I told you, Jack, about the fishing boat that disappeared in the cloud. Well, I think I know what happened." He held up A Wrinkle in Time and said, "Here is the answer."

Jack laughed derisively. "Getting your answers from grade school fantasies now, Locke?"

Locke glanced down at the book and said, "Well, yes, Jack. See, any grade schooler can tell you that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right?"

Nodding impatiently, Jack said, "Yeah, Basic geometry. So?"

"So, what if it isn't? What if there is a wrinkle in the fabric of space that shortens the distance allowing someone to step across the boundary into another world?"

Sawyer was nodding sagely, smirking at Jack. He could tell Jack was confused because he was getting pissed; he said, "Here, let me explain it to ya, Doc." Kate smiled as he picked up a piece of paper from a nearby table; she knew he had to be enjoying this. Holding the paper between his hands, he said, "This is a straight line, and you are walking on the edge of it, on your way to, oh, let's say, your favorite strip club. It's a pretty long walk and you sure do wanna get there, 'cause it's Naughty Nurse Night." He could hear Kate giggling silently beside him; Ana was smirking at Jack, too. Eyeing Ana he said, "Curvy Copettes are Wedneday nights." She glared at him and he sneered back at her before continuing. "Well, maybe I can help you out, Boss. If you bend the paper in, like this," he demonstrated, folding the paper so that it creased in the middle making a kind of loopy U, the edges meeting over the wrinkle, "Now your walk is nothing, it's just a step across the street to the pleasure palace." He glanced around as Kate chuckled; everyone was staring at him. "What? I read the damn book, people."

Smiling, Locke shook his head. "Interesting example, Sawyer." He noticed with some amusement that Jack was fuming at Sawyer, though he didn't seem to care. "Yes, that was pretty accurate. A wrinkle in time allows someone to cross over." He paused, "What if that is what's happening here?"

Jack laughed crazily, sparing Sawyer his glaring attention. "So we're on another planet?"

Fine distinctions were not Jack's style; Locke sighed and said, "Not exactly, Jack. We may be in another world; one that is similiar to ours but on a different plane of reality. An alternate Earth, I guess you could say."

"Oh really, John?" Hostility was radiating from Jack in waves. "And just how did we get to this 'alternate universe'?"

"Through a door. A portal."

"Right. A portal." Sarcasm dripped from his tongue. "So we all came in through this wrinkle in space and time that allowed us to go through a magical portal into an alternate universe Earth?"

Locke laughed. "Well, it sounds crazy when you say it."

Kate thought she might have an inkling about the portal, the door; she kept it to herself, though, Locke wasn't on their side. And apparently, from the way she was standing close to Locke, Ana wasn't either. "So, where is the portal?"

Locke hesitated. "I think a better question would be what is the portal." He thumped the book idly in his hands as he looked around; everyone but Jack looked thoughtful; Jack just looked irritated. "Do you know Umberto Eco?"

Everyone's eyes shifted to Eko, wondering who the hell Umberto was, was he the new arrival? "Eko?"

Locke laughed. "No, no. Umberto Eco, E-C-O. The writer. The Name of the Rose? The Island of the Day Before?" He shook his head. "Does anyone here read besides Sawyer? They're called books, people. Open one." He ignored everyone's glares as Sawyer gloated at them. "The Island of the Day Before is the story of Roberto, who is shipwrecked somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, which in the seventeenth century was largely unexplored and almost completely uncharted. He drifts on a piece of flotsam until he comes up to another ship which is anchored off of a beautiful tropical island; the ship is the Daphne and when Roberto boards it he realizes that it is deserted; the crew is gone. He is in dire straits then, because he cannot swim and the crew has taken the boat, and so he paces the decks looking for a way onto the island, asking for a way onto the island." Pausing to catch his breath, he noticed he had everyone's attention, even Jack, who was trying to look like he wasn't interested. "See,the woman he lovedwas on the ship with him also, and he believes that she has been tossed up on the island. He is afraid she is dead." Kate had moved closer to Sawyer almost without thinking; he hugged her close at Locke's words. "But the Island is special; it lies on the 180th meridian, the arbitrary line that divides the Earth into today and yesterday. The island is split in half; half lies in today, but half remains in today's shadow. Roberto thinks if he can just make it to the Island he can find his love and carry her across the Island from today into the past to bring her back to life." He paused, his eyes glowing as he said, almost in a whisper, "So, what if someone on that fishing boat was asking for a way to get on the island? What if they needed to save someone, save themselves,by going across the line to yesterday? What if they called the portal?" He looked at all of them, meaningfully, "What if that's what we did?"

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The question had shaken all of them; by mutually silent consent the subject had been dropped for the moment to give them all time to think. They decided to go to the small red-shaded area since it was closest; after that they could round the northern edge of the mountain ridge and move either to the Eagle hatch or the other red area, the large one.

Sawyer spirited Kate away to the Aquarium before the issue had been decided; he didn't really care where they were going and he wanted to get her away while no one was paying attention.

Locking the door behind him, he smiled at her wickedly; dusk had fallen and the water was a hazy, ethereal gray; the fish were just muted little blurs as they darted from reef to reef. She went to him, breathlessly and they held each other for a minute before he kissed her gently. "Well, Freckles, that was interestin', eh?"

She wasn't sure if he meant the kiss or the conversation; both were a yes, anyway. Nodding and lying her head against his chest she sighed. "Yeah."

Sweeping her legs out from under her he moved to the couch and sat down, still cradling her; seated comfortably he relaxed and they sat together, contented and peaceful. Saywer's bad feeling from earlier was forgotten, almost; it's shadow nagged at him but he pushed it aside, concentrating instead on the feel of her warm body snuggled up to him, her hands caressing him softly over his shirt.

Sawyer finally spoke. "What do you think, Freckles? Did we ask for the Island to crash the plane and bring us here?" He sounded scared and Eko's words came back to her; Something called to you and you answered, whether you knew it or not.

"No, Sawyer, that's crazy." It was a reflex, something to say to make him feel better, but she knew it wasn't crazy, not at all.

He agreed. "No, it ain't." His fingers grazed her cheek. "I know what you were headed back to, Freckles, and there is no way in hell you wanted to be going there."

She glanced up at him, smiling. "You know, I've never asked you why you were on the plane." When no answer came she said, "Come on, Sawyer."

He looked a little angry and ashamed. "I was bein' deported."

She couldn't help laughing, though she tried to at least stifle it. "Imagine that."

He smirked back. "I wasn't the one in handcuffs, baby." His eyes gleamed at the idea.

Shrugging in defeat, Kate smiled. He had a point. She beamed at him as he kissed her forehead gently. "Why were you being deported?"

"Bar fight." Kate shook her head against him and he grinned as her hair tickled him a little; he ran his hand through it, pulling it back from her face.

"A bar fight? Come on, Sawyer. It was Australia, they don't deport people for a barfight. There's more to it than that." His eyes were burning her with their gaze; she turned her face to him and he grinned at her.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Freckles. I just duked it out with some goverment type, a Minister of Agriculture' or something." She rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

"That makes a little more sense." She flashed him a sarcastic smile and he chuckled. "So, did you want to be going home?"

He thought about it; no, he hadn't wanted to return home but there was nowhere else for him to go. He didn't want to be anywhere, in fact he just didn't want to be. It was different now, of course; he still didn't care where he was- as long as he was with Kate. Because of her he wanted to be; now he wanted so much more than that. "No, I guess not."

Kate was quiet for a minute, sliding her hand across his chest to hug him, she said, "I think it's the Cloud. You know, the portal? Eko said it was a door."

Sawyer considered as he played idly with a strand of her hair. "I don't know, Freckles." He glanced up at her. "Do you want to go home? I mean, back to the real world?"

The urge to get back to the real world had faded along with the likelihood of rescue; if they weren't found then she couldn't be. She didn't have to run anymore, literally or figurativetly and for the first time she could ever remember she didn't want to run away from something, she wanted to run to it. And if they left the Island she would lose that. "Nah. I am home, Tex."

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