Chapter Thirteen
Restart: Part I

Zane absolutely hated this feeling. His mind was all confusion and numbness. He remembered Fargo disappearing from the infirmary and he still recalled a few images of being rushed towards the waiting Astraeus crew members in the rotunda. Between the dizzying twists and turns and whatever medication Allison had injected him with, by the time they reached the others he was pretty out of it. He had no sense of time or space; there was just the throbbing in his chest, nausea and a dullness all over the rest of his body.

And there was Jo. He needed to focus on Jo.

He heard rather than saw Global Dynamics breaking down and disintegrating as the program failed. All around him were the signs of it. He didn't dwell, he just kept holding onto his lifeline—his very beautiful, very pushy touchstone. His awareness went in and out, but always it came back to her. She'd yelled at him and he yelled right back, half out of his mind but not so much that he didn't hear the fear in her voice and wanted to make it all better for her. He grasped her hand, held it as tight as he could. For some reason he thought that if he wanted to get out alive, there could be no one else in his world but her—no crew members, no Allison, just his Josefina.

He felt her fingers around his, now crusty with drying blood. He tried to tell her to hang on to him. He held her gaze as if life depended on it because, to him, it seemed like it just might.

And then she was gone.

The next thing Zane registered was incredible pain. It wasn't just the burn pulsating throughout his chest and thankfully dissipating but also a heaviness all over his body that made it hurt to move. His heart was racing and he felt annoyingly light-headed. As each second passed, the dizziness he had been feeling inside the program started to clear along with the nausea.

Making a tentative attempt to assess his surroundings, he moved his head around the room as far as it would go. It was mostly dark with the eerie glow of computer screens and active hardware spread throughout a relatively small space. The sight of data brightly streaming across a clear interface was something he normally enjoyed being a computer type but now the flickering was just irritating. He saw the rest of the crew in much the same state of disorientation as him. There was a lot of confusion and discomfort, not to mention the chaos of military personnel surrounding them as they rounded up some technician-types in the background.

They'd been right! It had all been a simulation. Now that he was awake, he could fell the difference between what the world seemed like in there and how it really was out here. Not that what he'd been through in the past month hadn't felt real—it had absolutely felt real. But there was something else, some extra awareness that he could sense now yet couldn't identify.

Several of the crew were being assisted by the military personnel or medical staff; Grace had already slid off of her bed and was trying to ensure everyone was accounted for. Across the room, he caught a glimpse of Fargo working intently on something at a brightly lit console. Then his brain caught up to the present and his chest constricted again, this time in panic.

"Jo!" he said out loud, putting voice to his concern.

He shook off his grogginess enough to remember she was back in Eureka and not wherever they were. And she had still been in the program when they'd disappeared. Recalling those final, hazy seconds, she was the last thing he saw; those expressive brown eyes filled with worry and determination. Did he tell her not to let go of him? That's what he'd been thinking.

Instead, he had let go of her. Zane felt sick again.

Suddenly Allison was in front of him, looking shaky but otherwise okay. "Don't move Zane. We need to make sure you're stabilized. You were not doing well at the end there."

Ignoring her, he tried propping himself up on the bed and swinging his legs over. The effort seemed enormous; it felt like he had 100 pound weights tied to every part of his body. "Jo's still in there. We've got to get her out before it's too late." Zane tried pushing himself off of the table but Allison stopped him. He tried his best to sweep her aside but he didn't have the strength. "It might already be too late. Allison, move."

"Fargo is already working on it. You need to slow down or you won't be any good to her when she gets out. Your body has suffered major trauma in addition to whatever neurological damage has been done because of the program. Stop and let the doctors examine you."

He sat at the side of the bed and tried to steady his breath. "What if I can help?" he pleaded.

Allison's eyes softened on him. "You can't. Let Fargo handle it. Jo is his friend. He won't give up."

Just then Carter walked over and put his arm around Allison to help her maintain her balance. "Giving her trouble already?" he asked trying to lighten the mood. But Zane could see the tension in his face as well. "Try and slow down. I'm sure you're feeling a little limp but don't worry, I won't tell Jo."

"Cut the jokes, Carter. Where is she?" His tone was dripping with hostility yet a moment later, Zane sighed, realizing that he should reel it in. Maybe it was Carter's stunned face, hand up in surrender. Or maybe he was getting his faculties back about him the more he grounded himself in the real world. He had to remember that this wasn't the same Carter who had tried to kill all of them, who he had tried to kill right back only to be given a bullet in his chest as a parting gift. This wasn't the same man who had taken Jo from him. Getting past all that baggage now that they were back in the real world was going to be incredibly difficult.

"Sorry," he muttered. However, he refused to make eye contact with the sheriff. "Long story."

Carter narrowed his eyes at Zane but let the issue go. "It's okay." Zane had a feeling that things between them were far from over though. Carter turned back towards where Fargo was sitting. "We just made contact with Beverly. Fargo logged her back in and she'll eject Jo."

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Allison asked frowning.

Carter shrugged. Zane noticed that he seemed just as tired as the rest of them. "I don't know Allie. Of course, she can't be trusted but she helped us get all of you back. I have to think she wouldn't just leave Jo to die."

"Of course she would," Allison said bitterly. "She would have left me to die when she sent Grant back to 1947. She let Kim die." Zane then watched her panic as she remembered he was sitting right there in front of her. "Zane, I'm sorry. I'm just really stressed and worried, like you are." She turned to Carter and held on to him tighter. "Jo saved us, Jack."

Carter kissed the top of her head. "I know." He turned back to Zane. "Fargo was talking it through with Beverly when I stepped over here. There's no reason to believe that she couldn't get Jo out too."

"And the rotunda hadn't completely come apart yet either. She had a little bit more time for Fargo and Beverly to get her out," Allison added.

Zane understood that they were trying to make him feel better and calm him down. It was a wasted endeavor. Until Jo was standing in front of him, close enough for him to hold, he didn't see his tension subsiding much.

Hearing Fargo's panicked voice, they all turned towards his side of the room. "Beverly? Beverly!" he shouted. He tapped his earpiece and then removed it to check that it was on and still working. Placing it back into his ear, he tried again. "Beverly! Darn! Lost contact."

"No!" Zane shouted. "Did you get her?" He was again attempting to move off of the table, ignoring the medical technician who had come over to examine him. He almost fell to the floor but Carter quickly released his hold on Allison and grabbed him before he hit the ground.

"Easy, Zane. I'll get you over there, just take it easy." They shuffled over to Fargo as he continued to type commands into the computer.

Looking up, Fargo winced seeing Zane's intense stare directed at him. It was definitely making him nervous. "Jo is integrated from a different source and she's gotta be ejected from there. I lost contact with Beverly but I did log her in so that she could help Jo."

Zane leaned against the console to peek over Fargo's shoulder. "She didn't have much time. Can you tell if Beverly got her out?"

"I can't tell," Fargo said typing in a few more commands. The cascade failure is causing all of the systems to shut down. Because Jo took over for an NPC, I don't have data specific to her. All I can see is that the outside signal, presumably the one from Eureka, is no longer active." He glanced at Zane with one of his annoyingly optimistic expressions. "But it's a good sign that she got out, right?"

"So basically you don't know anything." Zane's tone was harsh and Fargo recoiled a bit, unable to hide his guilt at not having more information. A few moments later Zane put a hand on his shoulder in apology. They were in the same boat really, both not knowing the fate of the women they cared about. Except Zane at least knew what he was facing and there was a chance his girl had made it through. Fargo wasn't so lucky on either count. The accidental director of GD had bravely volunteered himself when things had gotten down to the wire and he'd obviously come through for his people. Fargo's world was about to come crashing down on him and he didn't even have a clue. Zane needed to cut him some slack.

While Fargo continued his attempts to locate Jo, Carter called over one of the security officers. "Have you established contact with Eureka so we can get a status update on what's happening there?"

Zane recognized the guy as one of the men on Jo's command team. Thomas or Tompkins, something like that. Zane had been fond of calling him Deputy Dumbass based on their history of annoyance and avoidance. The guy had been happy to leave Zane's troublemaking antics to Lupo who was always in the mood to lock him up. Besides, he'd gotten the last laugh after he started sleeping with the boss but he tried to mostly behave himself around Jo's subordinate so as not to make things difficult for her.

In response to Carter's question, 'Thompson,' Zane read on his uniform, signaled another person over, examined their data pad and waved them away. "We're only just now re-establishing contact with Eureka. This mission was top priority, mandatory radio-silence. It's going to take a while to get all of this under control," he explained, indicating the complex operation they'd stumbled upon. "What we can do is get all of you back to GD so that you can get checked out in the infirmary and we can figure out how to handle things with the Senator."

He paused and held his hand to his ear, probably listening to someone speaking to him. Directing his attention back to the group, he added, "I've just got a report that the Senator's personal security detail is not answering requests for status. A team has been deployed to their last known location to intercept."

"What was the last known location," Carter asked.

The soldier sighed. "Dr. Deacon's garage."

"That's where Jo is right?" Zane asked. Carter nodded.

"Let's go then."

Jo's eyes flew open and she took in a world surrounded by blue. She felt something soft and warm against her head and surrounding her body. Was she in the infirmary? Was she dead?

Her last memory was the Matrix breaking apart around her. However, she also remembered the crew disappearing moments before that so they had at least gotten out before the program shut down. Unfortunately, her instinct was that something had gone wrong with her extraction. That really sucked. Of course, she was glad that the others had been rescued but it didn't seem unreasonable to hope she'd live to tell of it too.

Although awake and aware of herself, everything seemed fuzzy around the edges to her. She didn't feel fully conscious but it also didn't feel like she was dreaming. The air seemed real; the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed felt natural. Still, the blue was everywhere.

"Oh good! You're awake!"

Jo jumped at the sound of a voice to her left. She struggled to sit upright but her arms felt trapped and her head was swimming. Was she starting to hear things? Was this the beginning of some empty existence where she slowly went insane? And that voice. It was an impossibly familiar voice. Maybe that's how the insanity started.

Clamping her eyes shut, Jo tried to clear her head to concentrate on the things that were real to her at the moment. She sensed how her body rested against a hard but slightly pliant surface. The pressure of each controlled exhale she let out increased her mind's alertness. She told herself to focus on the endless blue all around her.

But that voice? It simply continued. "I was wondering if I'd have to sit here all alone and then you showed up. But you wouldn't wake up and I thought it was some kind of weird, cosmic thing that I'd be here for the rest of my days and my sole company was this unconscious person that I don't even know that well; not that I don't like you because I do. Yay Jo Lupo! It's only that it would be just my luck is all. And now—"

Jo finally got her arm working and sharply raised her hand to signal that the endless stream of chatter needed to cease. Her brain was overwhelmed with processing the fact that said chatter came courtesy of Dr. Holly Marten. The recently deceased Dr. Holly Marten—at least recently deceased in the real world according to the notoriously deceptive Beverly Barlowe.

When Jo sat herself up, she noticed that this was not the abyss from a broken Matrix program and that she was not in any kind of setting that she'd ever pictured to be Heaven. The binding that had been constricting her was a blanket covering the length of her body up to her shoulders. The pliant surface she had been resting on was the grass in the middle of the town center, pillow under her head to keep her comfortable. The blue that she'd seen was simply the sky over Main Street in Eureka.

The presence of Holly begged the question: where the hell was she? She couldn't still be in the program. She had watched the whole thing de-res and fall apart. It was impossible. Wasn't it?

Ignoring the over-excited redhead sitting next to her for a moment, Jo looked around and saw what amounted to an exact virtual replica of Eureka. It was the same one from which she had just helped everyone escape but without any of the residents. It was like a ghost town and eerily quiet.

No, they had destroyed the program! What in the world was going on?

And not that she didn't like Holly and she was certainly glad to see some version of her alive and well, but the thought of spending eternity with her was even more terrifying than three Terminator Carters on the warpath. She swiveled around on the grass and faced the other woman again. There had to be an explanation or rationalization for this, no matter how far-fetched.

"Holly?" Jo was apprehensive. Interacting with anything here amplified her fear that this was her true reality now.

Holly didn't seem to be put off by her cautious attitude though. She smiled and gave Jo an enthusiastic wave. "That's me. It's good to see you, Jo." She reached out to possibly hug the other woman and then thought better of it when met with Jo's ongoing confusion and frown. Undaunted, she retained her good cheer at having some company. "Actually, it's good to see anybody, although I'd love if it had been Doug who dropped in, naturally. Or Grace. Oooh, or Zane, it would be awesome if—"

Jo continued to stare at her, still unable to process how they were both here in this surreal version of Eureka. Holly mistook her silence as offense and began making a grand effort to clarify. "I don't mean I'd want Zane here for any weird reasons, just that he's really smart and good with computer stuff and I think we're stuck in a computer simulation so he'd be great to have around. I realize you and him used to … you know. But I've never even remotely thought about him with his shirt off or naked or anything." She rolled her eyes a bit at that. "Well, not too seriously anyway. Besides, you're with Carter now so—"

"Holly!" Jo said stopping her once again from speaking.

"Oh," she replied. "Awkward, right? Sorry." She looked around, trying to think of something else to say. "So … how's it going?"

Sweeping her gaze across the empty streets and sidewalks again, Jo sighed and removed the blanket that Holly had thoughtfully covered her with. Finally, she smiled at Holly who returned a nervous grin of her own.

"I gotta say, I've had better days."

TBC...