Chapter VII: Sacrifice

The next morning Jim received a rude awakening when Elizabeth unceremoniously pulled him out of bed by his legs.

"Jim, for god's sake wake up!"

"Wha…Whaaaooooh! What's going on?" Jim asked, not sure of where he was.

"It's Noah! I got up to make a special breakfast since she's leaving today and she's not in her room! Her bed wasn't even slept in!"

Jim sighed and, with his eyes still half shut, climbed back into bed.

"Jim!" His wife's panicking voice kept him from dozing off again.

"Relax, Elizabeth. I know where she is." He said, finally giving up and opening his eyes. "She probably spent the night with Taylor!"

"Really? Those two are a couple?"

That remark did not come from Elizabeth but from Josh who had evidently been woken up by his mother's frantic, and mostly useless, attempts at waking up his father.

Jim sat up before answering his son.

"Yeah, they are. And I appreciated it if you wouldn't go shouting that around Terra Nova. Taylor would have you on latrine duty for the rest of your life."

Josh, who still had vivid memories about the latrine duty he had gotten on his second day in Terra Nova, backed away with his hands in a sign of surrender and returned to bed. Jim stared at his wife for a second.

"You know, if she's isn't here there is no need for a special breakfast." He said with a sly smile.

Elizabeth immediately understood him and closed the door to their bedroom.

Taylor was watching Noah sleep: she was lying on her back with one arm across her stomach and the other slightly raised above her head. Taylor supported his head with his arm while he contemplated Noah's appearance in Terra Nova and what it had meant. Off course, to the colony as a community, the appearance of someone they considered to be a founder was huge. But to him, Noah's appearance was something else: a promise. A promise that what he told every new arrival, that Terra Nova was a chance to start over, could also be true for him. Other people would argue that Taylor had successfully started over: after a brilliant career in the military he had become the leader of an entire new world. Some people would certainly call that an excellent new start. And maybe it was, but not to him. Ever since he had been forced to make the decision, he had been haunted by his wife's death. For a long time he had believed that if he had done things differently she might still be alive and Lucas might not have become the person he was today. Taylor had long believed that he would never be able to feel love for someone again, at least not the kind of love he had shared with his wife. Noah had given him hope: maybe there could be a new beginning for him; not just as a commander, but also as a husband… and maybe, just maybe, as a father.

Noah moved and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Taylor looking down on her.

"Hey."

Taylor kissed her and held her in his arms, keeping her close to his heart. Noah could feel it's steady beat and was reassured by it.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"Still too early to get up."

"I don't want to get up at all, especially today." She responded.

Taylor kissed her forehead. "Then don't."

"I have to. We have to."

Miles away, at the side of a patch of grassland, 2 Sixer-rovers stopped. The people who exited them exchanged a few words with the drivers who took off again. Mira, Lucas, Cooper, Carter and Leech gathered together to talk tactics.

"Everyone knows what to do." Mira concluded after they had run through the plan. She wanted to walk to the nearest trees to take cover when she heard Leech say something to Lucas.

"Why are you guys so desperate to get your hands on this key?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow at the man. "Isn't that obvious? For the same reason as you want it: to get home."

Leech, however, was not convinced. "You have a lot of firepower and from what I can tell you guys did come here voluntarily."

Lucas became enraged by the mans' obvious stupidity.

"Alright, you want to know the truth?" he said while advancing on Leech. "Here it is: because I want to see this world burned. And my employers will pay us handsomely if we deliver them the tools to strip this world from its wealth."

"You want to destroy this entire world?" Leech asked disbelievingly.

Lucas behavior became rapidly disturbed.

"And why not?" He shouted. "The man who leads that colony destroyed my life, well, I'm going to destroy his."

Before someone could stop him Lucas had pulled his gun and shot Leech right over the heart. Mira, Carter and Cooper stared at Leech's body without moving, too shocked at what they had just witnessed.

"Was that absolutely necessary?" Mira eventually asked whit a fake serenity while Cooper and Carter dragged the body away.

Lucas stared at her, the glimpse of madness still visible in his eyes.

"We don't need him, not anymore. He wasn't very reliable."

Mira shrugged, as if to say that it didn't matter, but inside she felt unsure that this was still a good idea. The safest thing was to get out of sight so that no one arriving on the scene would notice them.

It was noon in Terra Nova. Noah's equipment had been loaded in one of the 3 rovers that was standing ready in front of the gate. A large crowd had gathered around the vehicles. Noah, who had spent most of the day in the science building, was surprised at the turn up. Until now most inhabitants had left her alone, she had never realized exactly how important she was to these people. She was used to the bullying and shunning by her own people, the idea that she was respected and honored here was entirely new to her. When Noah approached the vehicles the people gave her an applause. Taylor, who was walking next to her, could see she was rather embarrassed by all the attention she received. Her shyness made him want to hold her, he was only just capable of restraining himself. He didn't dare to think of what the people's reaction would be if publicly displayed his love for her. More importantly, Boylan would never let him forget it, and considering the fact that the man was standing next to one of the rovers, grinning broadly in his own unique way, Taylor considered it a good idea to keep a mild distance. Nevertheless, Taylor had the distinct impression Boylan knew exactly what was going on between him and Noah.

Michael and Mathew, now dressed in the uniform Taylor had given them, came forward. Michael, obviously oblivious to the relationship, hugged Noah right in front of Taylor who had to resist the urge to shoot the man.

"Well, I won't say farewell because you did promise to come back." Michael said, finally releasing Noah.

Mathew was a bit more formal in his goodbye but also had a request for her.

"Would you mind, if you had the time, to bring back a few books for me?"

Noah laughed, the bookishness of this soldier had always amused her.

"I'll do that. Any special requests?"

"I'd love to get a copy of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'." He answered immediately.

"I'll make sure to get one for you."

Noah said goodbye to the Shannon family. She promised Maddy she would try to acquire a copy of 'Cultural history: highlights of a discipline', a much respected book that none the less had not survived the ages.

Eventually Taylor had to cut things short because it was a 3 hour drive to the site and he wanted to reach it before evening fell. Guz and 9 other soldiers got in. Taylor, giving himself away a bit, uncommonly climbed in the back of the rover to sit next to Noah. Jim chose to give them a little privacy and went to sit next to the driver.

3 hours later, and after a very bumpy ride, the rovers arrived at the site. Unaware of the eyes that followed their every movement, Taylor's men began unloading the equipment and place it in the position Noah asked them. Then, finally, the hour had come. Both Taylor and Noah maintained an emotionless face but Jim nevertheless saw through it and ordered the soldiers to back away. Before they could do so however Noah was already in Taylors arms. Taylor, giving up on all secrecy, kissed her in front of his men. When he looked up most of them were suddenly very buzzy checking their guns or studying the plants. The only one who looked at him and Noah was Guz, who grinned at Taylor. He shrugged and looked down on Noah.

"It's going to be ok, you can do this." He said silently.

"I know, it's just… I'm going back to a world I know is doomed. What if they don't want to come? What do I do then?"

Taylor stared at her face for a while.

"Then you have to decide for yourself if you want to stay with them."

"You never tried to force me to stay with you." Noah's observation was more a question than a statement and Taylor understood it as such.

He nodded: "I could have done that, I certainly thought about it. But you would've hated me for it. Besides, you are doing this for your family, I know how important that can be."

Noah nodded and took a step back. Taylor knew it was time. He looked at her one last time and then turned to go. His soldiers and Jim, putting his hand up to say goodbye, followed his example. Noah watched after them until they were out of sight. After that she turned towards her equipment. She had only just started to turn it on when she heard a crack. She looked up, thinking Taylor had come back, and looked right into the barrel of a gun.

Noah's jaw dropped. In front of her 3 men and a woman were pointing there gun at the same point: her. Slowly she got up, with her hands slightly raised. She was too surprised to say anything. The man that was standing nearest to her put his gun to her head.

"Good afternoon, miss Storms." His voice seemed to quiver with some kind of mad excitement. "If I may introduce myself: I am Lucas Taylor."

Lucas laughed as he saw the shock in her eyes.

"Oh yes, I take it my dear father hasn't told you about me. I make him so proud."

Even though she was still as a statue on the outside, Noah was panicking on the inside. Contrary to what Lucas seemed to think, Noah did know about his existence. Taylor had told her about him on the drive back to Terra Nova, after their first time together. He had asked her never to say a word about it to anyone. Not that it mattered, Taylor had told her, everyone knew about Lucas but the things he had confided in her were very private. Noah knew of the danger he posed to the colony.

Lucas Taylor lowered his gun a little so that it rested in her neck.

"I take it you know what we want?"

Noah stared at him. She knew and she also knew that if they got hold of her key there would be no tomorrow for Terra Nova.

"And you expect me to give it to you, just like that?" Noah said coldly, acting a lot braver then she actually felt.

Before Lucas could answer, the woman had stepped forward and punched her in the stomach. Noah fell to the ground while Lucas laughed, evidentially enjoying the scene.

"Listen, you little bitch!" The woman said. "You're going to tell us what we want to know or you'll feel all kinds of unspeakable pain, got it?"

Noah nodded; she witnessed the two other men walk over to the key and pick it up while Lucas started looking at her control panel. He seemed thoroughly fascinated by Noah's work. For one moment, just one second, the woman's attention faltered. Her eyes were drawn to the heavy key and away from Noah. Without thinking Noah got up and ran in the direction Taylor had went. The next thing she heard was a gunshot and she fell on the ground, a white hot, searing pain in her right leg, centimeters above her knee.

On the other side of the bushes separating Taylor and his men from the clearing were Noah had been preparing, Taylor, about to get in to the rover, looked up. A gunshot! The other men, who had already been inside, came back out again and stared at their leader. Jim looked at Taylor.

"Sixers!"

No one needed any encouragement; without losing any time, Taylor and his men stormed through the bushes and into the clearing. The sight Taylor saw then was the most terrifying he had seen in a long time: Cooper pulled Noah up and took her in a chokehold. Mira, Carter and Lucas immediately pointed their guns at them.

"Let her go!" Taylor yelled.

"How about NO!" Lucas yelled back, laughing.

Taylor's men took position next to their leader, each one of them knew what was at stake: if the Sixers got away with Noah and her invention, Terra Nova would once again have to face a hostile future.

"Give up, Lucas. There are only 4 of you and 10 of us." Jim said, pointing his gun straight at Lucas' head.

"We have my father's little friend here. What, dad? You didn't think I'd know about that, hé? Well guess what? I did. She's mine now, and I will use her as tool to finally achieve the destruction of Terra Nova. Thanks to your girlfriend Terra Nova will finally be destroyed!"

Lucas' words sliced right through Taylor, he knew he was right. He took a look at Noah: her face was pale and she was bleeding from a gunshot wound in her right leg. Nevertheless, she looked at Taylor with as calm eyes as could be expected under the given circumstances. Taylor knew he had one shot; he only hoped that Noah would react as quickly as he hoped. Almost without moving Taylor gave Noah a signal; a short hand wave downwards. The next moment Noah swung her left hand down and, before he even knew what was going on, punched Cooper in the private parts. Cooper let out a howl of pain and let go of Noah. Noah seized the opportunity and jumped forwards despite her wounded leg. She landed hard on the ground but before any of the Sixers could react Guz had pulled her even further back until she was safe next to Taylor.

"Now you have a problem, son." Taylor said dryly.

Lucas' eyes were alive with anger and malice.

"No I don't!" He yelled fiercely at his father.

Lucas pointed his gun at Noah, a mad glimmer in his eyes, but Taylor shot it out of his hands, forcing Lucas to back away a few steps, clutching his hand. Taylor kneeled down to protect Noah who was panting and looked even paler.

Noah was terrified. The Sixers still had her invention and she knew what they would use it for. The pain of her leg temporally forgotten, she stared with rising fear and anger at the confrontation between the two groups. She knew that whatever would happen next would decide the future of both Terra Nova and herself.

Lucas picked up the control panel again and showed it to his father. The mad glimmer in his eyes was more visible than ever and he seemed to have lost all control.

"Look here, old man! I still have the portal. All I have to do is find a way to bypass the security and I'll be on my way to bring a new army here. An army that will finally crush you and your hopeless and pathetic dreams! I don't need her! I have this!"

To enforce his last words Lucas Taylor lifted the control panel high above his head. In that moment Noah knew what had to be done. She had always believed that the friction with her family had been the prize she had to pay to follow her scientific believes, but now she realized that she had not yet paid the real prize. In that second Noah realized what she had to do if she wanted Terra Nova, her dream and her hope, to survive. She knew she had no choice, it had to be done. All this she realized within the second that Lucas had lifted the control panel above his head and without further hesitation Noah took Taylors' handgun and took a shot at Lucas.

Lucas' scream was heard wide and far. But it was no scream of pain; it was fury. White hot fury, as he felt the control panel being blasted out of his hand by Noah's shot. Noah, and everyone present at the site, followed the fall of the control panel. The blast had broken it into pieces and with soft thuds they fell into the grass behind Lucas. For one moment it was completely silent, then Lucas screamed again and launched himself in a furious attack at Noah, not caring if he would get hit. Jim responded swiftly and shot Lucas with a sonic blast from his own gun, throwing him back several feet.

The other Sixers moved forward in a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation but after a few blasts at their feet began to pull back. Carter dragged a semi-unconscious Lucas with him. Within minutes the Sixers had gone, returned to the cool darkness of the jungle in shameful defeat.

Taylor looked down at Noah, who had dropped his gun. She didn't speak, she only stared at the pieces of her invention lying in the grass, only a few feet away. He didn't know what to say to her; he realized what sacrifice she had just brought to safeguard the colony. He knew how much pain it had caused her, to take that shot. The next thing he knew, Jim was at their side and busy making a tourniquet around Noah's leg with his belt.

"We have to get her to the clinic as fast as possible." He said.

Taylor nodded, still half in shock from what Noah had done, and lifted Noah of the ground.

He turned to his men and said: "Get the key and the remains of the control panel."

Without concerning him with it any further he walked towards their rovers. Noah, still silent, hid her face in his neck and began to cry.

In record time the small convoy managed to reach the colony. An anxious Elizabeth, warned by a radio transmission from Jim, was waiting for them. She was shocked when she saw Taylor lift Noah out of the rover: Noah's face was completely emotionless, she stared without seeing. Her eyes crossed those of Taylor and she understood. With Taylor following her, she ran back to the clinic where Taylor placed Noah carefully on the med-bed.

"There is nothing you can do now, commander." She gently said when she saw Taylor standing next to the bed, gazing down on Noah.

Taylor looked up but didn't answer. Luckily Jim walked in, he understood the situation and his wife silent plea for help as soon as he came around the corner.

"Taylor." He put his hand on Taylor's shoulder. "Come on, Elizabeth will warn us when she's finished."

With some difficulty Jim managed to guide Taylor out of the clinic and into the direction of Boylan's bar. Inside the bar it was rather calm for the time of the day and Jim and Taylor sat down in a corner.

"Commander! Drinking away the sorrow of departure, are we?" Boylan said cheerfully.

He put two drinks on the table.

"Here, on the house, to ease the pain. What's wrong?" He added when he saw Taylor's expression.

"Lucas." Taylor answered.

Boylan's expression changed instantly: gone was the smiling face and out came an expression that Jim had only seen once: when the colony had been occupied. Boylan sat down and put the bottle next to Taylor's glass, as if to indicate that he could drink it all if he needed it. Somehow this simple gesture of sympathy by a man with whom Taylor had fought many 'cold' wars got through to him and made him smile.

"She's fine, Boylan. Elizabeth Shannon is treating her, but she'll be fine." Taylor said.

"They didn't get their hands on her invention, did they?" Boylan asked and Jim could hear the anxious tone in his voice.

Taylor shook his head: "Nop, Noah destroyed it before they could take off with it."

Boylan was impressed: "So, she's stuck here. She won't be going home."

Jim shook his head. Boylan left Taylor and Jim to take care of his other customers. About half an hour later Elizabeth walked in to tell Jim and Taylor that everything was alright with Noah and that she was now sleeping. She turned to Taylor.

"She's going to be fine, commander." She hesitated before continuing, "But she'll need time. The shock of what she has done and the fact she's now cut off from her own time… She'll need time to recover from that."

Taylor nodded, got up and left the Shannons without saying something.

Epilogue

Noah was sitting in front of the housing unit Taylor had assigned to her. It had been two weeks since her failed departure and thanks to the excellent medical care of Elizabeth Shannon Noah was physically better, except for a slight limp. Emotionally however, Noah was still very scarred. She had not yet spoken a word since that day and spend most of her time staring into nothingness.

She hardly looked up when Taylor walked up to her. Taylor was heartbroken every time he saw her sitting like that. He realized that she blamed herself for the fate of her family: if she hadn't destroyed her own invention to protect Terra Nova she might have been able to save her family from a doomed future. Taylor had tried everything to convince her that she was not to blame but nothing had helped, so now Taylor had come back to try one last time.

Without much ceremony Taylor lifted Noah on her feet and forced her to walk with him in the direction of his headquarters. Instead of climbing the stairs to his office however, Taylor walked to a door in the side and led Noah in. She had never been here before and Taylor saw that despite her apathy she started to look around. Seconds later they were in the room where the 'Eye' stood. Noah's apathy was clearly tested even further because she stared at the Eye with a vague interest. Taylor led her to the chair in front of it and made her sit down.

"This is the 'Eye'." Taylor said as he sat down beside her and put his arm around her. "It's a supercomputer, containing every bit of information about our past. There is something you should see."

Taylor turned to the computer: "Show the history of the family of Noah Storms from 2017 until 2129."

Immediately images came to life and pictures of documents were shown. Taylor began to talk.

"In 2018 Word War III broke out in Europe. Your father, being an American diplomat, and his family were evacuated by the US-government early 2019. Your brother and his wife accompanied them. After they arrived in the US, your father managed to get a job in Washington. They had a good life. Your brother's son, Jamie, grew up to be a fine young man who eventually married and had a daughter named Noah."

Silent tears began to appear on Noah's face as she watched the documents but Taylor continued, knowing that he was doing the right thing.

"Their family line continued until a child was born in 2129, a boy. He is the last of your family line."

"And he is stuck there, in a doomed world." It were the first words Noah had spoken in two weeks, they were loaded with guilt and sorrow.

Taylor smiled: "No."

Noah looked up at him through her tears. "What do you mean?"

Taylor pointed at the image of a document, a birth certificate. "Your brother's descendant was born in 2129. He joined the military when he was sixteen. He came to Terra Nova shortly after he joined up. Your family made it to Terra Nova, Noah, just not the way you wanted them to."

Noah looked at the document, her tears completely forgotten, trying to comprehend what Taylor had just told her.

"He's here?"

Taylor nodded.

Noah tried to read the name on the certificate: "I can't read the name." She turned to Taylor. "Who is it?"

"His name is Mark Reynolds."

Noah's jaw dropped: she remembered the corporal who had behaved so funny the day that Noah and Taylor fought. For a moment or two Noah's gaze was lost in the distance, but then she turned to Taylor and he could see, with a sense of relief, that life was returning into her eyes. She smiled, a weary and tired smile, but she smiled.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Taylor got up and Noah did the same. He kissed her as he held her in his arms and together they walked out. Noah's limp was gone, she had finally accepted and was ready to move on. She was ready for a new future, in a world she had unknowingly helped to create.

THE END