Chapter Fourteen
Restart: Part II

Jo turned her attention away from Holly. She stood up and circled the small, grassy area to get a good look at the empty streets and buildings surrounding them. Every detail seemed genuine, with a few minor alterations here and there one would expect of the town four years in the future.

Holly was bouncing with excitement next to her. She had obviously been going a little crazy in this version of Eureka by herself.

"So what should we do first? We can go hang out at Café Diem and snoop in Vincent's freezer. Or there's a TV in the Sheriff's Office." Her enthusiasm was accompanied by a smack to Jo's arm, causing her to purse her lips in annoyance but otherwise remain silent. Jo simply reminded herself that five minutes ago, she thought Holly was dead.

"Oh I got it! Let's go play video games in the Tesla computer lab! They've got this one where you have to navigate through this thing and then chop up all these orc looking dudes. I know it sounds lame but it's so awesome, especially if you have two players. By the way, I have no idea how to get out of here in case you were wondering. All I know is that I'm really tired of playing with myself so let's go!" At this point, Jo was staring at her as if she'd grown another head.

Holly finally paused and schooled her sheepish expression. "Here I am going on and on but you probably know this town better than I do. You've had a four-year head start after all. I bet they programmed you to know all the good stuff … whoever, 'they' are. Should I be worried about the 'they'? And do you feel weird? You know, not being a real person and all? I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but I'd be really interested to know."

Jo tensed at that last part. She thought it would get easier to explain what was going on with the Matrix, especially because Holly seemed to have some understanding of the circumstances. But it turned out that she was the hardest one of them all. How was Jo going to explain to Holly that out in the real world, she was technically dead?

It was difficult to even know where to start. Best to begin with the most important part.

"I know this sounds weird, Holly, but I'm the real Jo, not the one you've seen for the past month. I replaced the Jo Lupo NPC in the program so I could help get them out."

Holly narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Seriously? Because you look just like her. I've got a thing for faces and I saw you and Sheriff Carter at Café Diem playing checkers with Jenna like two days ago."

Jo shook her head, "Jenna could barely use a spoon when I saw her this morning let alone play checkers." Holly stared at her skeptically. "It's only been a month since the Astraeus disappeared, not four years," she explained. "While I adore Jenna, I'm not her surrogate mom and I'm definitely not hooking up with Carter." She still had the urge to flinch every time she clarified that.

Holly's face scrunched up in concentration. "Oh." She looked around the program again. "Now that you mention it, the last thing I remember before everyone disappeared is talking to Sheriff Carter about the computer glitches that were happening, first with that stupid dragon and then with the scratches on my arm. He got really sad looking and then … this," she said, pointing to the Eureka around them.

Jo was confused. Did she say dragon? Was it possible that Holly's mind had been damaged by whatever version of the program they were in now? Would that happen to her too?

Holly snapped out of her musing and began sputtering with agitation. "Ohmygod, ohmygod, do you think Sheriff Carter killed me or ratted me out or something? I thought he was just being nice because he didn't understand what I was talking about or he was being all sheriffy and concerned. You know how he gets with the eyes and the kid voice—"

Jo nodded but she needed Holly to focus. "Yeah, I get it. But Holly—"

However, Holly was on a roll as she seemed to be remembering her last moments in the other simulated Eureka. She was waving her hands around and pacing too. "No wait, I was explaining how we were probably in a computer construct of the real world and he was, like, apologizing because I said that. There's kind of a blank afterwards but then the next thing I remember is being here by myself—well, until you showed up, of course."

Jo didn't know what to make of this information. Beverly said that Wen had killed Holly so what did Carter have to do with all this? She never really elaborated on how Holly would have disappeared in the program, only that Wen had disconnected her and disposed of the body. Before getting jacked into the program, she had sent another team to check out the coordinates Beverly gave her for where they had taken Holly's physical body.

So had Beverly been lying about Holly's death? Would her team find nothing when they went to investigate, or find Holly in some kind of coma state?

Or maybe Beverly had somehow kidnapped Holly after the fact just like the Consortium had stolen the Astraeus crew. The main program running for the rest of the crew had been destroyed. Jo was sure of that. If Beverly had stored Holly's consciousness in another machine somewhere, who knows what she was planning on doing with her. It didn't explain what she could possibly hope to gain from kidnapping Jo and holding her in this purgatory though. That didn't make sense.

But Beverly had actually wanted Henry to infiltrate the program. She'd made a strong argument for it before she and Carter had shut her down. It's possible that Jo hadn't been part of the original plan.

Or it could be that, like Holly's talk of dragons, she was going crazy and succumbing to paranoia.

Seeing Holly standing next to her with a very worried expression, Jo thought she should add to her fund of knowledge in case it was helpful. "The last thing I remember, I was helping the others destroy the simulation and escape the program. Zane and Fargo built an ionic resonator and then we detonated it inside the Astraeus so that Carter and Henry could trace the heat spike from the mainframe's IR signature after a thermal overload. But it caused a fatal cascade failure and the entire town de-resed, piece by piece. We had to send Fargo ahead when it got down to the wire." Holly nodded in understanding. "I'm pretty sure everyone got out of the program right before it crashed; everyone except for me, I'm guessing because I wasn't with them. As far as I know, my body is still back in Eureka."

"How were you supposed to get out?"

Jo frowned. "Henry and Beverly were supposed to disconnect me once they traced the heat spike and discovered where the crew was being held. But they never did. I don't know, maybe Wen caught them or something went wrong on Carter's end."

Holly considered the new information for a moment and then asked, "Who's Beverly?"

"Sorry, Beverly Barlowe. Explaining her is more of a story than you're asking probably."

Holly tilted her head in thought. "Isn't she the one that brain-jacked Dr. Blake? Leaving her in charge doesn't seem like the best idea." She directed an apologetic shrug at Jo and added, "I don't think it's working out that great for you. Sorry."

Jo sighed. It really did sound insane when it was laid out like that. "Yeah. But I trust Henry. And our plan gave Fargo a chance to make sure everyone else got out. It's possible that Henry and Carter never picked up the IR signature and Fargo was the one to eject the crew from the program and get them to safety. Either way, it was worth it for me to take the risk."

"So you saw Doug? And he's the hero? Does he miss me?"

Holly's sudden excitement at the mention of Fargo was a bit startling. Jo thought there were more important issues in her explanation but who was she to thwart love? She watched the woman beside her beaming with life and vivacity at the mention of her boyfriend. She hoped Beverly had been wrong about her being dead. Thinking of Fargo made her long for a miracle in all of this for him.

"Fargo was definitely missing you," she confirmed.

"And you got to see Zane, right? Because he was really sad without you. And pissed off! Boy was he mad seeing you together with Carter."

Jo nodded absently and continued to take in their surroundings. She did smile at the mention of Zane though. Holly's sentimental mood was contagious. "Yeah, I talked to Zane and we worked it out sort of."

"… and Allison, she sort of hated you too."

Jo took a deep breath, keeping her patience in check. "I know. We're good."

As they walked, Jo sensed something else odd like a feeling of unease or discomfort. She couldn't put her finger on it. She had first heard something a few minutes ago but wrote it off as part of the creepiness of this Eureka. She slowed her pace and then stopped as she made herself more aware of this world around her.

There it was again; a sound and a sort of glare she picked up from just beyond her peripheral vision. The sound registered as a slight tone in the background. It was impossible to tell from what direction it was so faint.

And it was getting louder. This wasn't her imagination.

Holly noticed that Jo wasn't at her side anymore and backtracked without missing a beat. She tugged on Jo's arm to get her attention. "Hey, so if the others are back in the real world, when do we—"

"Shhhh! Can you hear that?" Jo looked behind her but there was no one there. There was nothing in any direction as far as she could tell. As the seconds ticked by, the tone turned into a buzz and then a piercing, high-pitched noise.

Tipping her head for a moment, Holly gestured in the negative. "I don't hear anything. Anyway, as I was saying, are we gonna get—"

"Holly?" Jo shouted now watching the scenery around her fill with static and bright flares rushing around her like a tidal wave. The noise was thundering in her head and the static distortions were quickly becoming so thick that Jo's view of the scientist in front of her was getting lost in the visual confusion.

Jo registered Holly's wide-eyed surprise when the woman's full attention was directed towards her. "What's happening, Jo?" Her roving eyes were trying to find some explanation for the changes occurring in front of her. Jo and Holly both reached out to grasp the other's hands but their fingers passed right through. The whole world was fading and Holly was getting farther and farther away.

"Holly!"

The chaos engulfed her and then darkness. One second. Three seconds. Five—

Jo's eyes snapped open wide and a deep inhale burned through her chest. She raised her head up and felt a cold metal ring lining her forehead. The smell of the air, the dimness of the light—

She was back in Henry's garage.

Looking around, she saw bodies littered across the room. She instantly recognized them as military personnel seen in passing the last couple of days although they weren't part of Eureka's regular detail. And amongst the soldiers lay Henry.

Disregarding her fading disorientation, Jo ran over and shook him a little, watching as he returned to consciousness. "Henry? Are you okay?"

Henry was groggy and seemed a touch out of focus but when he set eyes on her, his relief was apparent. "Jo! Welcome back." He watched while the other people in the room were coming around as well. As he became more alert, his eyes widened with concern. "The others?"

Jo shook her head. "They got out. What happened here, Henry? Where's Beverly?"

Henry rubbed at his eyes and tried his best to concentrate on their conversation. "I had to trust her with your life. She got you out of there but it was close."

She let slip a small, nervous chuckle. "Tell me about it. "But where is she?" Jo asked again trying to see who had been left behind in whatever standoff had occurred here.

Henry shook his head. "She's gone," he responded as if he wasn't surprised in the least. Jo's shoulders slumped with disappointment but she couldn't claim surprise either. That was Beverly's M.O.

If the others were alright, that was enough for her.

However, what about everything she'd seen in the past ten minutes? Being out in the real world now, things did feel somehow different. It was entirely possible that her brain was playing tricks on her; they'd certainly seen enough of that in this town. Maybe Grace would have a better explanation. It could be delusions or an echo of the program or anything really.

Jo knew she was making excuses. She had been in an intact and deserted Eureka program. She had seen Holly. She felt Holly's playful swipes to her arm and heard her voice. She didn't want to think that Holly's consciousness was stuck in an empty world by itself or that she would be further abused if Beverly was masterminding something more diabolical.

It was so disturbing and frightening. Had all of that been in her mind or was there something more?

TBC...