Rauc-Nor looked up Jeff, "Please tell him I'm sorry... I wish I could have done more...
Alas, the flesh is weak...
Tell him I am eternally grateful..
I would not have wanted my time to have ended the way it would have.
He gave me the chance."

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

It had been a week since the Jeep had run out of gas. Only a half day later, the Bullquid attacked Jeff.
Since then, they had taken turns pulling him on a litter.
Jeff knew his life force was thin, and the infection stole more of it each day, he had very little time left
But since the food had run out 3 days ago, the clock was ticking on them all, they could have gone so much farther if they were not pulling him. He couldn't stand the idea, that he might cause them all to die.
Enough was enough, he would no longer be a burden to his friends. So, that last night in the plains he died.

His friends were very worried, he had not awakened all day. He hadn't even cried out when the litter had taken some good bumbs.

Each of them spent a little time talking to him before they lay down for the night, Jeff had not responded at all.

Jeff visualized his life force as a mist spreading out from his body in all directions.
He pictured it dispersing, covering a wider and wider area, he watched it trail and snake through the country side.
He pictured it rising into space always moving farther and faster from his body and getting thinner and thinner.
Soon it was rocketing out as it dispersed through out the solar system, galaxy, universe and was it still moving out.

He was a dreamwalker though, and found his friends concern for him kept drawing him back to their dreams.
And something weird was happening, each time he was drawn back he felt stronger.
So Jeff concentrated and gave it everything he had as long as he could, He put everything he had into it, he pushed will all his heart and soul. He would not fail. His lifeforce covered light years of space, and still moved out getting thinner, refusing to give up.

That is how Rauc-Nor found him...

Life is attracted to life; Jeff wanted to give all of what he had.
Rauc-Nor was a Vortiguant, during the resonance cascade he had been a part of the Nihilanths invading army.
The Nihilanth teleported him into Don's home, with the instructions, "kill all Humans".

But something wonderful happened between him and the human; they were able to look past the flesh, Rauc-Nor had perceived Don's essence.
The experience changed him, he rebelled against the Nihilanth and was struck down.
Much of the Vortiguant life force is communal, it is shared with all the race and so never passes and a part of every vortiguant.
Rauc-Nor's life source never rejoined the race, it had not be able to find it's way to them, It had been traveling in much of the same way as Jeff's lifeforce right now.

Life attracts life... They mingled... The life forces coalesced... The essence of the two beings mingled...
It might be said the Rauc-Nor had unfinished business... he hoped that somehow Don could understand.
Rauc-Nor, Jeff and Don relived that fateful night of the resonance cascade.
Everyone attributed Jeff's miraculous recovery to the healing powers of the Vortiguants.
When in fact he had been healed that night. Jeff had given all he had that night, both good and bad.

Jeff's lifeforce had covered thousands of light years of space, it had attracted life and energy from countless planets an stars.
Now it flowed back into Jeff's body as a torrent, and there was no longer any room for sickness and death.
Jeff's brain felt like a drain, everything flowing to him and down through.
He opened his eyes to see his friends lying around him asleep.
He was proud to know these people and glad his time with them was not over.

They saw little of Jeff those first days in the city. They assumed the Vortiguants were healing his wounds.

And indeed he did spent those first few days pretty much exclusively with the Vortiguants.
His whole being had been tingling with all sorts of energies.
The Vortiguants had the ability to draw energy out of the world around them.
He wondered if that might have something to with their communal life source.
So he spent that time listening to the world around him, to the very fabric of existence.
But all he found were more mysteries, so he decided to rejoin he friends.

Gordon loved coming picking up Jeff in the wheelchair kinda like a taxi cab, and then taking him to see his friends.
So they naturally thought he still needed the wheelchair.
But today he walked.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Many people misunderstood Jack. He did things a little different than other people would do them.
He didn't want to be thought of as different from others. He didn't want people to think he was special.
If you would have told him he was unorthodox, he would have no idea what you meant.
Jack didn't look at the world like that. The reason he did things a little bit different is because, that's how it made sense to him to do it.
And that is why, Don and Chiyo were surprised when he started helping Gorou cook.

It's ironic too.
Jack assumed Gorou was teaching him to be a cook, when Gorou was training him to be a warrior.

This was the city.
There were no buses or schedule's. There was no set time or set place to eat. There was no crime. Very few arguments. And somehow it worked without anyone administating it. Most everyone assumed it worked because of those very things. There was an unspoken understanding that no one would attempt to start a goverment or an adminstration of some sorts until was evident it was not going to survive.

But Danni realized that somehow, without breaking the "no system" that worked, they were going to have to get a little organized. There was a lot going on, and it was hard to talk about, because it was more about thinking something was a miss than having proof. It was hard enough to follow a train of thought and speak it clearly, because it wasn't something you could be sure of. Things like that get dropped and forgotten. They needed to start watching for trends. They needed to know what they were looking for. They needed to compare notes.

The city was a strange place. It was a mish mash of arcitecture. Some buildings looked like the pueblo indians built them. Others were similar to Chalets you might see in the mountains, Still others were similar to the domes you see in the middle east. But nothing was extraordinarily different either. Which is in itself, was pretty stange. Of course it is said the all knoweldge has already existed, we just remember it. Maybe the same goes for arctitecture.

The city is built on the walls of a canyon that is 20 miles long. It covers the whole inside of it. We think it just spirals around, level after level till finally it would come out the bottom. But nobody knows because, first it would probably take he rest of your life to investigate, secondly, it doesn't matter. The city is a beautiful cornucopia of different colors and shapes. There are the gigantic trees growing on the canyon floor, plus all the small trees and bushes that are growing through out the city. The mish mash of arcitecture is set in levels rising up from the canyon floor. There are several waterfalls from underground streams that surface in the city. Because there is water here but we are also in the desert there is tons of moisture in the air. The air is hazy with lots of low clouds and mists which obscure much of the walls and city. It really makes for a hauntingly beautiful site. But its hard to gauge whats here by sight. The first time you look at it. You might think it has 5 or 6 levels, Look at it again and you might think twice that number. Its like an ant hill. A quick glance and you might not see any ants, look at little closer and you see a few and then really look at it and you see hundreds of ants that were there all the time.

The city is tremendously large but there is no transportation system. There are no 2 way streets, no intersections with lights and crosswalks. The walkways in many places were wide enough and looked like they could have had some traffic but then it might thin into a sidewalk and have access to home entrances. But one the strangest things about it is how easy and fast it was to get to a spot in city after you have been there once. It doesn't take but a few minutes no mattter where you are. Going to the canyon floor for example. The stairs wind down to the floor. A set of stairs about 15 to 20 ft in length may run down the outside wall, allowing a view of the canyon. Then stop on a on landing where another set of stairs goes the opposite direction down on the inside wall. Makes sense. But it never takes over 3 sets of stairs to take you anywhere. Top to canyon floor, head down the stairs, you wind around a couple times, and your at the bottom. That is unless you wanted to go to the 3rd level, then you would take the stairs and they would wind around a couple times an you'd be at the 3 level. No one really knows how many levels there are. The most anyone has walked down is 3 . And you can look over the side and see that there are more than 3 levels.

Somehow the city knows where you want/need/should go and transports you there. You start down the stairs and when you walk out of the opposite end of the inside stairwell you exit at the inside stairwell closest to your destination. It's like an elevator you walk down, you walk in one end of the stairway and when you walk out of the exit you are on the floor that you wanted.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Danni and Don were already seated at the corner table when Jeff and Gordon arrived. Jack was talking with them, Jack had always been a pretty good natured person, as good natured as you can be under the harsh Combine rule, but he didn't seem as hyper, as strained, as forced to manufacture a good mood, he was more relaxed or maybe contented. "Good Morning" Jeff said, walking up to the table.

"Wow" Jack exclaimed, "Jeff you look great. What are the Vorts feeding you?"
"Well that's something we need to all talk about. I know I haven't been the life of the party, I've been kinda distant since we arrived."
Don burst in, "Jeff don't worry abut it, that squid got you pretty good. Take as much time as you need."
"Well that it Man, I haven't needed as much time as I've taken," he said sheepishly.
Don looked puzzled, "I don't understand."

"See Don, this is why we really need to talk, first I have some thing to tell you in particular, I need to pass along a message. And then as long as it doesn't bother you, I'll tell my tale of the last week to everyone. It's pretty important and I know part of what's going on."
"Well, if that's the case, as soon as Chiyo and Bob get here, tell me then. That way you don't have go through it twice. As long as it's not some big confession about stealing my dvd collection."
"No nothing like that, besides you don't even have a dvd player so you didn't need your collection any more." Jeff grinned wildly. It felt good to get back into the banter again, although he now recognized how strained it had all been. How hard all of them had been trying to make good times out of the horrible life under Combine rule. Just then, a squeal brought him out of his thoughts as Chiyo threw her arms around him and planted a big kiss on his lips. "Oh God Jeff, you're okay. You're really okay, you really scared me. I thought we had lost you for awhile."

They all sat and ate and joked for a time and then Danni said, "Please don't run off after we finish, I've got something I'd like to ask your your help with, but I'll wait till after Jeff is finished ." They shook there heads, and Jeff said, "I don't really know where to start. First I want to tell you all how grateful, and proud I am to have you as friends. You didn't abandon me, even though I pleaded with you to. You risked your lives draggin me behind you knowing that our time was running out. I was powerless to do anything, and was afraid that I would be the cause of all of us perishing. The night before Danni and Bob found us, I was determined that wasn't going to happen. I was so weak. I knew I was dying and that the chances of us finding some help in time were slim and none. I also knew that your chances would be a lot better if you weren't pulling me around on that litter."

"So that last night out there on the plains I finally let go. I tried to let go of my life and just fade away. Don... now that you've regained some of yor memory, do you recall dreaming of anything that night?" Jeff asked.
Don thought about it for a second, "Well, I'd had nightmares all that night. And now that I think about it, they may have been about what I remembered."
"Don, tell me... that Vortiguant in your house, do you remember it's name?"
"How the heck should I know it's name?"
"Well, you said that you made some kind of connection to it, that you recognized something." Don was shaking his head no,
"Okay, does Rauc-Nor mean anything to you."
Recognition came over Don's face, "That's it, don't ask me how I know, but I know that's it. But how the hell do you know that?"

"Because I was there. Now this is going to sound absolutely crazy but I was there. The Vortiguant died there, he was killed by the Nihilanth. The portion of Life force that is shared by all Vortigants, that was him, well, its just been out there, not part of the whole. Who knows why, it probably had something to do with the portal storms. And when I was letting go of mine he found me, and he found me out of his desire to tell you how sorry he was for what happened. I relived that night with you two. I saw through both your eyes."

"He spared you, just knocked you out. But the Nihilanth wasn't fooled. And punished him, he then sent him to kill Betsy, and when he rebelled, he tortured him. He tortured to a point that the Nihilanth could completetly control him and then took control of his body and made it kill Betsy. Afterwards Rauc-Nor was filled with the pain and remorse for what he'd been made to do, he was totally shamed and defeated, the Nihilanth laughed at him and then stimulated the pain sensors in his brain so much he died. You know, we can't know how some things in our lives can affect others, some kindness, something said or done. That night he was so overwhelmed by the love and respect you'd had for your dog, he felt the love and the pain you had for some other beings life, that he gave up his life for yours. He wanted you to know how sorry he was for the part he played in the destruction of your family, he wished that he could have done more and somehow saved Betsy. But mostly, he wanted to tell you how grateful he was for the chance to change his life, for it to be able to stand for something, rather than have his life just be one bent on the destruction and enslavement of others."

"He also saved my life. Somehow and this is what I've been trying to figure out since Danni & Bob found us. I either was able to draw life force from everywhere or maybe I gained the Vorts ability to draw energy from the world around us, but I drew in so much energy, life force or somthing that there wasn't any room for the infection or anything else bad in my body. I was completely healed that night. I was incapasitated from the whole ordeal, but the infection was gone and driven out in such a way that my wounds are completely healed and gone in the the couple days it's been since we got here."

"I feel like there is more to tell but right now I'll leave it at that. I know all this sounds unbelieveable but look at me."

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

end Chapter 8

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