Ala Wai Marina

Oahu, Hawaii

"Do you agree that it can be selective?" The cosmologist asked, leaning his forearms on the rail of The Searcher, picking at the label on his beer and watching a couple of other boats pull in and out of the slips nearby.

"What, because some people think it's either done with you or not done with you?" Desmond stood with his back to the rail, alternating his gaze between his guest and the control room one floor up where Penny and Charlie were at the moment. A few yards away their other guest, the psychologist Hurley and Ben had them pick up in Hawaii as well, was sitting with his nose deeply planted in a professional journal. He'd barely moved the last half hour except to flip the pages.

"Exactly. Do you not believe after all you've seen that it does make choices?"

"I dunno, Max," Desmond shrugged, took a sip of his own beer. "I tend to think people just over interpret things. Sometimes I wonder if I've done so myself."

"How about the fact that it moves frequently in space? Do you know any non-living thing on the planet that moves independently of an outside force that propels or, in the case of fire, feeds it?" Desmond turned, looked down at the water too, didn't reply and Max Tegmark laughed, not at Desmond so much as with him.

Max had a boyish face and dark, longish hair and a way of moving and talking that made him seem more Desmond's age than a dozen or so older. He had been a D.I. scientist back when the Weather Vane was a concept and even worked on it awhile as a doctoral student. But there'd been some philosophical falling out, and since the early '90s he'd been a consultant for the Others.

"Are you two really discussing what I think you are?" Desmond heard Penny coming down the steps, turned now to see her with Charlie on one hip. "Are you really picking at the question of 'what is the island'? Because I don't think there's any boat trip long enough to answer that one."

"You win, Penny," Max said. "That is the only thing anyone has said this afternoon that's absolutely correct."

"If that's settled, then, I hope you won't mind if I steal Desmond away for a few minutes," she looked up at him, a touch of concern in her eyes that hadn't been there a moment before. "Ben wants to talk with us about something before we leave."

"Of course," Max said, and they headed back up, Penny stealing a glance behind her.

"Do you find Dr. Scharff odd?" She asked. "The psychologist planted in the deck chair? Unlike our Max, he seems to have very little interest in the other humans. That's usually something a psychologist really needs, curiosity, but he seems like he's already made up his mind."

"Maybe he just really needs a vacation," Desmond said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, opening the door to the control room for them.

Penny's crew was out prepping for the trip back. They had the room to themselves.

"Ben, we're back, go ahead," Penny yelled as they both pulled chairs up to the small computer bank against one inside wall of the boat.

"Time is short, so I'll keep this brief," Ben sounded stressed and they each looked up, seeing if the other had noticed it. "I'm headed back to the island within an hour. Hurley needs me there more than he needs me at the Lamp Post, and part of the reason is that boat you dodged on the way in. We think it's a decoy, something they're hoping will keep our attention and maybe make us miss their real avenues of attack."

"Did you say 'avenues," Penny asked, "as in plural?"

"Yes, " Ben said. "We think the main D.I. leaders will be coming in on a larger boat, and taking Sawyer and Annie with them. They may have much more sophisticated systems, both for hiding themselves from your tracking station and piping into your data that you'll use to find your way back. And here's the important thing: We have no idea if they'll try to tap in from a distance or take The Searcher. If they're smart, they won't leave an able adversary alone, so…. Hurley wants to send some hired guns to make the trip back with you all."

Penny looked at Desmond, sure he wasn't going to like the idea but was surprised at what she heard next.

"Send them," Des said, "But give us tonight to talk. We have some decisions to make," he said, looking squarely at Charlie on Penny's lap, "about who exactly will take the trip back, okay?"

"Of course," Ben said and there was a pause, "But make it quick and plan to leave tomorrow, whoever that means. We know they're planning to set off in under 48 hours. The sooner you go, the greater the chances they won't catch up with you."

"What aren't you telling us, Ben," Penny asked, feeling out what she was hearing in his voice. "What else do you think is going on?"

"A lot," Ben said, "But not much else that affects you or that you can do anything about, so I'll only burden you with one piece of it: Their leadership may be coming in by boat, but we don't think it's their main plan of attack. It's too easy for us to fight back against. So they must have something else in the works and we're trying to figure out what. If you have any ideas, anything…. let us know."

Ben didn't bother with a goodbye and Desmond noticed Penny was staring at him very straight faced as the line went dead.

"You aren't seriously thinking about telling me you want Charlie and me to stay behind here in Hawaii while you go?" She asked him. "What about never leaving each other again?"

"After that?" He nodded toward the phone but didn't break her gaze. "How can you even think about taking him on this trip?"

"Because, Desmond," she said, "No where is safe, until we win this thing, until we beat them. Until then, it's really just geography and no one piece of the planet is very safe at all. That's why we went back, isn't it? Do you think they won't come look for us, to stomp us out, too, if they get you? They'd better, if they do, or they can know I'll spend the rest of my life hunting them each down with Hurley's help and killing them personally."

Desmond leaned his elbows on the console, in misery, his head in his hands. He didn't want to acknowledge she was right.

"Look, I'm sorry, but if there's a time to be blunt it's now. We don't have to decide anything this second though," Penny said, "Let's go have lunch with our guests, wait for the guys to get back and we'll talk. They all need to know the risks and make an informed decision for themselves."

"All right," Desmond sat up, but didn't look any happier. "We'll talk. We'll talk."

Hurley's Bungalow

The Island

Hugo sat in his living room, more amused than anything, and watched Richard and Kate get just about in each other's faces sniping and snapping in frustration. It had all started out so well. Kate had given them both her update on Island Iteration 4 of 5, her sense of just how close it was in every way to their own, what she had told Sayid and Jack and how the Weather Vane on that side might be of use to them in a pinch.

Then it was Richard's turn to share what he and Walt had found on the other four island iterations, and that's when things went downhill.

The problem wasn't Iteration 3 of 5, he was happy to tell them both the story of how they found The Heart of the Island, but no signs that any human had ever lived there – and by that he meant not just now, but really ever.

"Did you go back far enough?" Hurley asked. "Are you sure?"

"I'd say so," Richard nodded, just the hint of a smile in his eyes. "On our last stop there, it hadn't actually been an island for long. Ask Walt about the wooly mammoth tooth in his pocket. We found it a few hours after it died. We went way the hell back."

"Wow," Hurley's eyes were thrilled, brown circles, "You have GOT to take me there when this is all over, seriously Richard."

He was also glad to tell them next about Iteration 2 of 5, the place from which the freighter people with the orange blood had found their way to them somehow.

"I'm convinced that connection is proof the Weather Vane can make mistakes," Richard said. "It's only supposed to search out places substantially like our own, but this one is nothing like here. The island has a heart, but it's not a good heart. The air's barely breathable: Those soldiers must have been half intoxicated, breathing ours. The people, well, suffice it to say they're not human in their customs or ethics, they're more…" he sought for something quickly relatable. "Think early Klingon, at best. Vogon at worst."

Hurley flinched.

"Even us, dude? Did you see any of us there?"

"Yes," Richard said. "Be glad you'll never meet them. As I say, a huge mistake. We sealed it off entirely, that connection is gone for good."

"You can do that?" Kate asked, a flicker of concern in her eyes that wasn't lost on either Hurley or Richard.

"Yes, but don't worry," Richard said, "I'm not suggesting doing that lightly. Especially because of what we found on 1 of 5 and 5 of 5." He looked down, then around the room as if looking for supporters for what he was about to say next. "And that information, I'd really like to tell only Hurley."

That's when all heck had broken loose, between Kate's exhaustion and all of their frayed nerves. Hurley watched them argue it out a few more seconds and realized this must be what it was like for a parent to watch two of their beloved children fighting: It was comical and a little heartbreaking at the same time. Then he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled so loudly he couldn't believe Vincent didn't come charging in the room.

"Okay, everyone count to five," he said, a laugh still in his voice, and Kate and Richard sat back in their chairs, both looking at the ground. "Richard, I'm guessing you want to tell me in private not to hide anything or because you don't trust Kate, but because you have information that you think I might want to keep from most everybody. Because maybe it suggests things about what we're about to be dealing with here on our island, right?

Hurley got a nod from him.

"Exactly right," Richard said.

"I appreciate you being careful" Hurley said, "But here's something you need to know: Since you left I've named my first two candidates, and they're Kate and her baby. So you and Ben are my second and third but she's totally in the circle of trust, man. Talking to her is talking to me."

"Oh," Richard looked surprised and, much to Kate's surprise, maybe a little happy to hear it. "Well that's different. I didn't know."

"And based on some flashes I've had from the island, I think I can almost guess where you're going, but tell us," Hurley sat back and Richard composed his thoughts.

"Islands 1 and 5," he said, "They're as identical to here as what Kate described, with one big exception in each case. On 1 of 5, Claire drowned shortly before rescue arrived. Desmond didn't get to her in time when the current dragged her out. On 5 of 5, Sawyer was never on the plane at all. He didn't get taken into police custody after that bar fight in Australia. He died in it."

"What do you think that means?" Kate asked. "How does it relate to us? Is there news about Claire?"

"No," Hurley said. "But there will be very soon. And Kate, the other thing I told you I'd wait on until Richard got here: It's about Sawyer."

"Oh no," Kate said, her eyes darkening. "What?"

She looked stunned but, Hurley thought as he started to tell her the bad news, it was like she already kind of knew- not so much in her consciousness as in her heart, another piece of which was visibly breaking in front of his eyes as he spoke.

Kate's House

Los Angeles

"We're like starfish in a tidal pool," Miles said, setting his suitcase just inside the front door, taking Evan's from him and setting it nearby. It was the first thing he'd said since they'd started getting ready to leave.

"How exactly," Evan was doing a circuit of the living room and kitchen, looking for anything he might have left behind. "Are we like star fish in a tidal pool?"

"We keep getting pushed away from each other by these huge forces of nature: Scattered all over the world, trying to keep our heads above the current so we don't suck in a lung full of water, no idea when we might get crushed between the rocks or eaten by a seagull. Then, there's a moment of peace. It's great, it's sunny, it's full of hope and that really yummy beach smell. And then, whoosh."

"Whoosh?" Evan asked, "What's the 'whoosh' about?"

"Who knows what it's about?" Miles asked, waving an arm in the air at fate as much as at him. "It's just this rush of energy that comes out of nowhere, man, and bam, we're all pulled back to that freaking island."

"Well technically, you're going back but I'm staying at the Lamp Post to help Eloise, " Evan said, "But I take your point. You have to admit, it, though, it beats being a sea cucumber."

"Why does it beat being a sea cucumber?"

"They just sit there, dug so far into their little rock homes that they never move. They get buffeted by the tide, scratched up by the starfish, eaten by the gulls just like us - and they're not even in the game, really, are they? " Evan said.

"I could live with being a sea cucumber." Miles said.

"Fine, you can be once you help Hurley save the island. Are we ready? I don't want to go wake up Joop until we're ready."

"Yeah, I'm set," Miles said. "Do I really have to take him with me through the Weather Vane?"

"Yes," Evan started toward his room to get him. "But you'll only need to be his caretaker for a grand total of about a minute and a half. Hurley texted me: He's putting Walter in charge of him for now, since Richard and he are done their inventory. "

"It's Walt," Miles said. "No one calls him Walter. Aren't you afraid of sending your ancient ape to a war zone?" Miles asked, not sure why he cared but finding he kind of did. "Could get nasty there soon."

"Yeah, but Walt will protect him," Evan came back out with a sleepy Joop on his hip, his head drooping over his shoulder. "And I believe he's definitely better off a starfish than the sea cucumber he's been the past thirty years."

Miles nodded, opened the door, stepped out with their suitcases and let loose with a yell so loud it nearly made Evan drop Joop.

"What the hell?" Evan asked, set him down, walked them both slowly outside to see Miles on his knees with his ear down near the ground right over Claire's nose and mouth looking for signs of life.

She was lying flat on her back, dressed in grey sweats with black piping looking like she'd just been out for a run. Her cheeks were pink, her hair combed and tied back neatly, and as Miles sat back on his heels, Evan could see her eyes trying to open, snapping closed again at the rush of light to her pupils. She was clearly out of it but looking better, really, than the day she'd disappeared.

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Evan asked.

"No," Miles pointed to the driveway. "Get Joop settled, and help me get her to the car. She's coming with us. Claire's going back too."