Chapter Eighteen

Jack sat in the cool moss under the pale blue moon with his back up against one of the large granite boulders. It must has been cloud cover that had hidden the moon from view last night because tonight it was so bright it dimmed the stars. Despite the clear night he wasn't watching the stars.

In Jack's lap was the last book that Sam had been writing. He was reading through the pages of calculations she had been writing down, trying to make sense out of them. Jack knew that they had something to do with faster than light travel, but only because when she had been working on them he had asked. Leafing through a few more pages he smiled at the ridiculous constellation they had named while they had been sitting in this very spot.

"There has to be fifty pages of these things." Jack said to himself.

Beyond the constellations were various drawings of the local vegetation. She had done detailed drawings of each of the flowers that he had brought to her over the past month. He smiled as he came to one that she had drawn from several different angles. It was an orchid type flower that only bloomed at night and it had been her favourite.

The book ended about one fourth from the end of the actually pages with the drawing of the orange dragon. She had done an excellent job of capturing him and had done several close up drawings of his necklace to ensure that he recognized it. Seeing the orange alien caused the muscles along Jack's shoulders to tighten. Jack had not noticed his return and right now he felt foolish for allowing his hopes be raised by the chance encounter.

Sighing heavily Jack went to close the book. As he flipped the back cover closed a page near the back caught his eye. He flipped through the blank pages at the back of the book and found a page that had writing on it. He read it silently a few times and decided to read it out loud as well.

"Jack, you must be really bored if you're reading this. Well as long as you are I guess now would be as good a time as any for confessions. As I'm sure you've noticed I'm not the kind of person who believes that 'everything happens for a reason'. If anything I believe the exact opposite, in a Universe ruled by the laws of physics there is not a single predictable event, measurable phenomenon or mathematical formula that can be used to predict even the simplest of human fates. Daniel has even taught us that death itself is no longer a constant that anyone can depend on.

So, if asked if I think we're in our current situation for a reason I would have to answer 'no'. However, just because I don't believe that things happen for a reason, doesn't mean I can't find reason in things. I wouldn't want to go back to the way things were between us even if meant freedom. It was killing me, and here I can live with a new kind of freedom that gives everything new meaning. Now put this goddamn book down and go remind me of all the reasons why life here is better in so many ways."

After staring at the page for nearly an hour Jack tore it out of the book. The odd paper acted much more like a plastic and did not come free easily. Once he had it in his hands he folded it into a small flat rectangle. Putting the page down for a moment he worked a thin strip of cloth free from the hem of his pants with the help of a small sharp rock. Using the cloth he tightly bound the folded page to the back of one of Sam's dog tags.

With the memento in place he leaned back against the rock and closed his eyes. If asked if he'd fallen asleep he would have said 'no'. However the sound of something heavy falling next to him jolted him awake. Jack looked over and in his half awake state saw a gigantic snake on the ground by his feet.

"Yaaaa!"

Jack scrambled away from the coiled reptile. Now perched up on the rock he'd been sleeping against he took a closer look at the invader. It didn't seem to be moving, or even alive for that matter. Upon closer inspection its neck stretched straight up...all the way to the opening in the ceiling.

"If I didn't know any better..."

Jack was cut off as a dark figure rappelled down the recently dropped line. Landing lightly on his feet the orange dragon looked around. When he spotted Jack sitting on top of the rock he barred his teeth at him in the same frightening way that Ser'in always tried to smile. Jack smiled right back at him.

"Hello."

"Ja'ck."

"That's right. And you are?"

"Tai."

"Tai...it's nice to finally meet you."

Tai's green eyes dilated and glittered with excitement. He held out his hand for Jack to take however Jack shook his head.

"I'm not going anywhere unless it's to go get Samantha."

"Dak, dak, Saman'ta."

Tai reached into his breast pocket and brought out the crumpled and folded page that Ser'in had shown Jack before. Upon seeing the page Jack jumped down off the rock and rushed over to Tai. The dragon was careful to put the page back in his pocket before proceeding. Tai was wearing a harness of some description and a back pack.

He slung the back pack off and pulled out another harness that he offered to Jack. It was similar to gear Jack had used before except that he couldn't work the snaps with only one thumb on each hand. Tai smiled and offered his assistance with his dexterous hands. Tai snapped the gears on the front of the harness to the free end of the rope. He quickly demonstrated to Jack that if he pulled up on the rope the gears would catch the rope and wouldn't slide back down again.

"Got it, let's go."

"Dak."

"Wait... Gala, Tai, thank you."

Tai's eyes dilated once again and he smiled. The orange dragon put his hands over his head and started to haul himself back up towards the opening in the clear ceiling. Jack followed him once he was about ten feet ahead. When Jack got to the ledge there were several hands there to help him up. It was a little disconcerting to be fifty feet in the air with little more than an energy field between him and falling.

Looking up rather than down Jack was surprised to find five others on the roof. Since there was nothing to tie off on up on the large roof they had dug their clawed feet into the surface of the field and used themselves as an anchor point. A familiar face stepped to Jack, looking guilty.

"New friend's of your Ser'in?" Jack chuckled.

"Dali, Jaa'ck."

"You came through in the end, that's all that matters."

"Eris take mie." Tai whispered urgently.

"Right, now what?"

The others had already brought the rope up and stuffed it into another back pack. Tai took off his own harness and Ser'in helped Jack with his. Once everything was packed away Tai led the group over to roof access door. Jack noted that the edges of the doors had been melted by something. The maintenance halls didn't have the kind of security that the medical areas had and they easily made their way through the dimly lit halls.

Jack's heart jumped when he caught sight of a uniformed guard standing by an emergency exit door right in front of them. However, Tai and the others did not seem disturbed, in fact they headed straight for him. The guard stood in front of the door with his arms over his large chest.

Tai handed him a small bag that made a clinking sound of metal against metal as the guard closed his hand around it. Ser'in came up to the guard and gave him a kiss. The dragon's eye dilated until they were barely viable slits. He kissed Ser'in back and then punched his code into the door and let them pass.

Tai took Jack's hand and rushed him towards two odd looking vehicles. They jumped into the back of the one that looked more van like and Ser'in followed. The others climbed into the other waiting car. Once everyone was settled Tai gave the driver a quick whistle and they were off. Tai was breathing heavily, but he looked pleased with himself. Jack smiled brightly and shoved at Tai's shoulder playfully.

"Why do I get the feeling you've done this sort of thing before?"