Chapter 6

Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™.

After Lester and Connor left, the meeting was pretty much broken up, for while everybody had something to say, everyone also wanted to have a private conversation, and a more or less public meeting was not the way to do it, so they broke up and went their separate ways...

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"Good day, Miss Leonard," Lester said calmly, "glad to see you back among the living, yes?"

"You – shut up!" April snapped, half-angrily and half-bitterly. "It was because of your actions that Philip's dead!"

"Our actions?" Connor asked indignantly, "it's his fault for consorting with Helen Cutter of all people!"

"I didn't see anyone new at the 'New Dawn' site but you people," April growled back, "not to mention that what Philip built was just a larger version of your prototype-"

"And you were there when I built it along the way, remember?" Connor was not backing down. "What were you here, then for? Decoration?"

"No, to ensure that you don't get distracted by that midget of yours," April growled, "and to assist you with the lesser tasks. Honestly, I didn't understand half of what you and Philip were talking about, especially when it came to technical terms, and-"

"Abby wasn't a midget! And besides – she is dead. Did you kill her?" Connor asked April, sobering slightly.

"The two of us were doing our best to kill each other off back then," April said thoughtfully, "so yes, probably I did. Would you rather it be her here than me?"

"Yes," Connor said instinctively.

April's face crumpled and she began to weep – quietly.

Next to Connor, Lester too emitted a sound that was somewhat similar to what April was making, and Connor... just stood there feeling lost: it was the first time he had made a woman cry, and he did not like it one bit.

"April, please! I am sorry! Abby was my girlfriend!" he tried to shake April out of it, but the bespectacled blonde wasn't responding to him anymore, until – "With Philip gone, we're the senior members of Prospero™ in charge of 'New Dawn' and related projects, so we have to work together!"

"Say what?" April's eyes were still red and moist, but her gaze was now slightly more alert than before.

"With Philip gone, the two of us are in charge of at least a part of Prospero™," Connor repeated his previous statement, "so you want to work together or what?"

"I think that we have to," April repeated, also slowly. "I mean, you don't like me, I don't like you, but we cannot just abandon Prospero™, can we? People – real, decent people – don't do things like that, do they?"

"No they don't," Connor admitted quietly. "Does that mean that you're in?"

"Yes," April nodded in reply.

"Splendid!" Lester put his two cents in. "I'm in too. What," he added, as the younger people just stared at him, "this was my idea. We need Prospero™ afloat or else the ARC may be sunk too."

"Mr. Lester," Connor said flatly, "you're all heart."

"I know."

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"So, Jess, you want to talk?" Becker asked quietly Jess Parker, as the two of them had wandered to the ARC's control center.

"Well, yes, but," unlike her usual self, Jess hesitated, but Becker did not comment on that, for a change.

For few more moment Jess fiddled, until she turned and faced Becker. "Hilary, you could've died today!"

"So could you!" Becker shot back, startled, but not that much.

"Well, yes, but," Jess fell silent again before turning towards Becker once more. "Hilary, I confess it: I'm something of a coward. I'm not much for outdoors either, and I initially ended up working for Prospero™ because they paid well and I love being well paid."

"But?" Becker asked, feeling quite confused.

"But I care more about you than about anything that I mentioned above, so... I am sorry for being so shallow and for babbling right now and not making any sense-"

"Jess, you're not shallow," Becker said firmly, "you helped me out at least once, when Ethan had set up that bomb trap, remember? You're kind and competent, and you rescued us just now too, as well."

"It was mostly Connor's idea," Jess sniffed, "I just went along with it."

"You didn't have to go along, remember? I doubt that Lester's any better than you with the controls," Becker said firmly, "but you did, and that alone counts for a lot. I mean, you did not, and do not, have to go with us-"

"Yes I do," Jess said firmly, "I want to matter – for a number of reasons. And speaking of number of reasons, what are we going to do about Ethan?"

"Bulk up security a bit," Becker said thoughtfully, "I'll have to talk to Lester about it, and I want to talk to Emily some more about her experiences in the past, but I already have ideas as to how to deal with Ethan's new minions – they aren't so tough to begin with!"

"No, it's you who're so amazing!" Jess giggled, some of her usual good humour finally returning to her voice. "You should be more careful, though, what if they decide to launch an attack on you while you're alone?"

"Well, I usually spend the nights in the ARC bunk beds already, so tonight shouldn't be any different," Becker shrugged, mock-casually.

"Oh," Jess blinked, genuinely surprised. "Want me to keep you company?"

It was Becker's turn to be surprised. "Jess, if you don't want to-"

"But I do," Jess said firmly, "I do."

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The silence between Matt and Emily was not so much oppressive, as it was uncomfortable. "Well," Matt said, trying to put his emotions into words, "well, uh, you had life before the ARC?"

"Matt, we all had lives before the ARC, including you," Emily said sternly, "and if you have problems with mine, if I'm not the person you thought I was-"

"Actually, you were still the same person I thought you were, just rawer, less restrained than normally," Matt replied. "That what startled me, really."

"I am? I was? Really?" Emily said, surprised.

"Emily, you can handle Becker and me when you want to, so I'm not exactly surprised to learn that you can defend yourself with more than just EMDs," Matt confessed. "It's just that I don't really like killing people – or anyone or anything for that matter; back in the future, we were taught that each life is precious and we should avoid killing unless it's absolutely necessary."

"And in the bathhouse it wasn't?" Emily asked more tartly than she had intended.

"We had the EMDs!" Matt protested ardently.

"Yes, Matt, but there was also Ethan, who would not be cowed by them, and there was also Alexandra," Emily shook her head. "Who is she, anyways? Do you have any ideas?"

"No, yes, sort of," Matt admitted. "Lady Iuna was a scientist from a settlement allied to ours; she and my father worked in the EMDs in the future...there were some feelings between them to be sure, but she was a human! And there was no sex between them, there couldn't be..."

"Matt, I know that it's hard for you to understand, but parents have sex too," Emily said, sounding more like her usual self.

"It's not that," Matt shook his head, "it's that I wonder-"

A time anomaly alarm stole whatever Matt was going to say next and replaced it with:

"Crud."

End chapter 6