Chapter 11

Once Taylor looked up from the papers in her lap again, she was slightly surprised to see the commander returning to the tent. She had expected for Anya to come back earlier with food. Taylor frowned slightly; she could not tell just how long she had been alone in the tent.

She had always been able to write in a very quick pace, so, Taylor could not really use the number of pages she had already filled as an indicator for that.

Taylor's frown only deepened when she let her gaze drop from Lexa's features back to the pen within her fingers. The pen was visibly shaking and no matter how much she tried to will her fingers to be steady they just would not stop shaking.

"You have exhausted yourself" Lexa assessed in a critical tone and her features showed a hint of worry for the blonde woman.

Taylor sighed slightly and brushed a damp strand of wavy hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. She knew that the younger woman was correct though. There was a cold sweat on her forehead and the fact that her hands were visibly shaking was just another hint to her exhaustion. Taylor knew that she was in danger right now to push her body too far.

Under normal circumstances of the time and reality Taylor had grown up in, a patient with a gunshot wound would definitely have received a blood transfusion after the blood loss she had suffered a few hours ago. The patient would also have to rest a lot and have the help of strong pain medication.

Taylor could still not understand how the papers she had written before had just set aflame once the commander had tried to read them. She knew that a wound like she had suffered today was dangerous. She did not have access to antibiotics. If an inflammation sat in, she knew that she was utterly screwed, so, she was extremely determined to note down all which she thought might be useful as long as she was still able to do so. Taylor had wasted very little thought to the possibility that her second attempt of writing down her information may just be a waste as well.

What if the papers set aflame again when Lexa tried to read them?

Taylor hesitated while the pen was still shaking visibly in her hand. She looked up again and met the commander's intense stare; it seemed as if the younger woman was still somehow waiting for a reaction from her.

"L…" Taylor broke off immediately again, noting that she actually had not really even gotten permission to call the commander by her given name. The last thing she wanted was to affront the young leader by being disrespectful towards her. She cleared her throat awkwardly before she started to speak again "Commander, it…".

Lexa interrupted her though, holding up a hand for a second "You can call me Lexa" she granted in a gracious tone, stepping closer to the bed and coming to a stop directly in front of Taylor, looking down at her attentively.

Taylor swallowed down the sudden lump lodged in her throat and she nodded with the hint of a smile on her lips. It somehow felt important that the commander allowed her the usage of her given name, she knew that this was not to be taken for granted. "Can you try and read that?" Taylor questioned, adding the "Lexa" in an almost reverent tone.

Lexa inclined her head in agreement, holding out a hand mutely to receive the papers.

Taylor noticed that she in fact had only filled two pages. She was sure that more time must have passed already though. She ignored it and handed the first page over to the commander, holding her breath in anticipation of what would happen now.

Taylor blinked dumbly a few times. Just a second ago Lexa had given her a subtle smile and the very moment her green eyes had left her features and dropped down to the sheet of paper in her hand, one corner of the material had suddenly been burning. She knew that Lexa could have impossibly read more than one or two words of which she had noted down before the paper had set aflame.

She pinched the bridge of her nose in agitation "I don't have an explanation why or how, but this is obviously not going to work" she breathed out in a frustrated tone. Taylor just wanted to help, but how could she possibly record her knowledge if her written words just set aflame if someone tried to read them.

Taylor shook her head slightly, letting her eyes drop to the other page left on her lap, she read over it without anything happening.

Lexa watched the blonde woman's grey eyes move over the page after she had made sure that the burning piece of paper could not damage anything. She also was clueless about what was going on and she had never heard of such a strange occurrence either.

"Anya will be bringing you food soon" Lexa proclaimed, turning from the bed again. She had to get changed. She planned to speak to two Skykru which had been brought to their camp. One of the men had already been brought here the day before, but Anya's return had degraded the importance of speaking to him.

Taylor nodded slightly and watched how Lexa suddenly began to change her clothing. It took her a moment to recognize what the commander dressed into, but once the younger woman put a dark scarf over her head, hiding most of her braids, Taylor suddenly recognized the outfit perfectly.

"Wait" she called out, sitting up a little tighter and immediately regretting it. White hot pain shot through her body and for a moment Taylor saw stars dancing in front of her vision. The hand with which she had reached out towards Lexa to make her pause, still hovered in the air, while Taylor tried to breathe through the flash of pain.

Her voice was notably strained once Taylor finally could form coherent words again "You are going to meet two Skykru. I recognize the clothes you wear to disguise you for a servant girl".

Lexa raised a brow in surprise. She had only moments ago finalized the plan together with Gustus and a few other warriors. So, it was impossible for Taylor to have heard of her plans. The blonde doctor had only been in Anya's company and her former mentor had not been informed either as of yet.

"One of the men you are going to meet…" Taylor just continued talking. If she could not write down what she knew then she would need to try and warn the commander in person whenever possible. She remembered the role Thelonious Jaha had played in the show very well. Taylor was not sure if the discovery of the city of light was actually important in such a way that it needed to happen, but what definitely should not have happened was unleashing ALIE. "… in the possible future I know of, he was basically caused a disaster" she tried to explain. She had not consciously chosen to say "the possible future", but Taylor still needed to believe that the plot of the show did not have to play out and that it may be altered.

"A disaster" the commander echoed in slight confusion "another massacre on a village?" she asked for clarification a second later.

Taylor shook her head in the negative "No, he will discover the city of light" she answered.

Lexa's brows furrowed together. She had read this term in one of the journals of the first commander, but no one actually knew what it meant. "Do you know what and where this city is?" she questioned, sitting down on the edge of the mattress; the Skykru men could wait a while longer for her. Right from the time of the first commander, people had tried to locate the city of light. It had grown into a myth now, a place of salvation. Lexa knew that especially those who were born with a tarnish were still seeking for this wonderous place beyond the Dead Zone, but no one had ever been successful to her knowledge.

Taylor bit at her lower lip slightly. She did not know on how to explain this. She was by no means any expert in computer things or artificial intelligence and she knew that Lexa probably would not even know what a simple computer was at all. So, how to explain to her what ALIE even was.

"The city of light is no actual physical place" Taylor finally settled on, fiddling with the pen in her hand nervously "I know that there are people searching for it". Her memory flashed to Emori and her brother and the other grounder which had been shown there. People had already found it, but ALIE had not cooperated with any grounder really, apparently waiting for Skykru and their technology. "And people have already found it in a way" Taylor could basically see the confusion and even alarm settle on the commander's features.

She sighed under her breath, shaking her head slightly "I am sorry, I am really not good at this, but… one of the men you are going to meet now. His name is Thelonious Jaha, he will be the one who actually discovers the city of light and he will bring something back from it. A piece of old technology from before the old world was destroyed."

"And that is a problem?" Lexa obviously was trying to keep up, but Taylor highly doubted that the younger woman truly understood her currently.

Taylor nodded "Yes, what he brings back is called ALIE. It is an artificial intelligence…".

"What…?" Lexa tried to interrupt the blonde woman, not having understood anything of her last words, but Taylor did not let her finish.

"The flame which you carry" Taylor said, locking her gaze with Lexa's "it is basically the second version of ALIE. ALIE has an error, it recognized humanity as the problem and its solution was to wipe out the human population and bring them into the city of light. Which is just an illusion, it is not real".

Lexa's mind was slightly swimming and she highly hoped that she could speak to the first commander. She was not sure if Becca would show herself when she tried to access her memories. It astounded her immensely though that Taylor also knew about the flame. She pushed the surprise over this small detail from her mind though; it was just another hint that Taylor's claim to know the future was true.

"If ALIE…" Lexa hesitated for a moment, trying to connect the pieces of information Taylor had just given her in her mind "…is brought back. This thing will then cause the disaster you mentioned, correct?"

Taylor nodded quickly. ALIE still was convinced that all humans had to die as far as she could tell and also it was out to destroy the second AI and thus in a way ALIE was also a danger to Lexa.

"And if Thelonious Jaha does not reach the city of light?" Lexa wondered out loud. Her green eyes had wandered through the tent deeply in thought.

Taylor did not quite know what to say to this question. She had already wondered herself how the "future" was changed if she managed to influence what she regarded as "key"-events. She was relatively sure that the power plants were already melting right now while they were speaking; the radiation level had just not climbed high enough yet for the grounders to notice. She knew that there was the bunker in which Octavia had reigned as the blood queen, while Clarke had survived the radiation wave as a newly made nightblood.

Could this be a solution?

If the grounders and Skykru could work together sooner and with Taylor's knowledge would it be possible to synthesize enough nightblood to allow others to survive outside of the bunker.

Taylor went through the other possible places of where to survive the radiation wave which would come. The Mountain might be an option. She would just need to warn Lexa of Nia's assassin destroying the Mountain or better probably was to make sure that Emerson would not fall into Nia's hands.

With more time of forewarning and without ALIE at lose, the rest of the Ark could also function to house people for some time.

Then there also was the option of going to space.

Taylor's had begun to swim with all the possibilities she had to think of now. The show had been filled with so many little things which had all added up to the disaster after Lexa's death.

"I need to tell you far more than this" Taylor finally sighed, feeling the exhaustion settle into her body and mind "but I do not think that Jaha should reach the city of light. The danger of him setting lose ALIE is too high".

Lexa inclined her head. Her expression clearly showed that she was still mulling over the information Taylor had just told her. "He will remain in custody then" she finally proclaimed.

Taylor nodded; she also was of the opinion that keeping Jaha somewhere guarded was the best solution. He would also try to make Skykru flee, telling them once again about how cruel the grounders were, making his people just a little more hostile towards the survivors of earth.

"Rest now, Yssa" Lexa finally said, standing up from the edge of the mattress.

Taylor appeared surprised for a moment and she frowned slightly. She could not remember to have told her nickname to the commander.

Lexa must have noticed her frown and the commander's features showed just a tad bit of unsureness as she said "Anya told me this name. I …" in a low tone.

The corners of Taylor's lips turned into a smile and she shook her head "You can call me Yssa as well, Lexa".

The commander nodded once again, before she turned on her heels and left the tent without another word.

Taylor watched the tent flap fall close behind the younger woman. She glanced down again at the papers in her hand and she sighed. She had seen the page set aflame with her own eyes now. She doubted that it was only Lexa though. Somehow Taylor had the feeling that the same would happen for every other grounder as well. She would ask Anya to try and read the other page once the general returned.