CHAPTER 4 THE TRUTH

He fell out of sleep as abruptly as he had fallen in. Hard and fast. And just as painful. He cried out and Gina was beside him in seconds, placing her hands onto his chest to quieten him and in his disorientation, he grabbed her wrists to pull her away, again exherting more strength than was necessary. It was her cry that woke him fully and he sat up, his hands still holding her wrists and this time he pulled on them gently, bringing her closer to him so that she had to sit down on the bed beside him.

"God, I'm so sorry Gina. I saw what happened, saw how I got here... crap... it's worse than I thought... you have no idea!"

Once again she seemed unable to pull her hands away from his. "Then tell me Colonel. You need to tell me more. It is unfair to expect me to put up with this.." She gave her hands a tug now to free them and held them out in front of her to show the reddened marks that were forming. "... when you won't tell me anything. I'm a forgiving sort of person Colonel, in fact I've put up with more than you can possibly know, but I'll not be taken advantage of. So tell me – now, or I'll be forced to make a phone call that you don't want me to make yet!"

Her voice was sharp and he dragged his eyes away from her wrists, then sat up properly to swing his legs over the bed, groaning just a little. Her eyes softened when she saw the pain he was still in and relented a little.

"Come and get something to eat Colonel. You can tell me over some food. I've made some sandwiches for lunch and organised some food for the picnic I'm expected to attend later today. You'll tell me once you've eaten."

She stood back and allowed him to stand, but stayed close enough in case he became dizzy again. The nap had done him some good and he stayed steady on his feet and she turned and moved into the kitchen, content to know that he could follow her unaided.

"Sit Colonel and eat. I'll get you another drink." He stood behind one of the chairs and looked down at the small kitchen table that held a plate laden with sandwiches and seeing his hesitation, she placed a hand at his waist and gave him an encouraging squeeze. "It's ok Colonel. I'm not attempting to poison the truth out of you, although I have to admit that the idea intrigues me just a little..."

He smiled a little at that, and sat down, but waited for her to join him before he took a sandwich. Once he began eating, his appetite returned in full force and it was several sandwiches later that he noticed the amused look on her face. "Fifty years and no eating Colonel, seems to me you have a lot of making up to do... and you've started well!"

"John... call me John. And yes, guess I was starting to get a little hungry... that was good – thank you." He sat back in his seat now and regarded her with his hazel green eyes, clear and slightly disconcerting. "You want the truth Gina? Classified or not, I will give you the abridged version and it's likely you'll believe little of it. Science fiction? Hell yes, to most that is what it will seem. But I'm living it, I need to get back to it... somehow."

Abruptly he pushed his chair back and stood and started pacing restlessly around the room. "In seven years man will walk on the moon – fact. I know this. In fifty years man will travel from one galaxy to another, via a stargate, a device that allows a wormhole to connect from one portal to another. In the blink of an eye, man can step through a stargate and be a million light years away. Scared yet Gina? Because you should be. It's very real, and it's happening right now, where and when I come from..."

He paused in his pacing to look at her face, seeing shock yes, and something else. A small smile, a hint of something devilish in those crystalline blue eyes and a nod. "I always knew John... one day, I always knew that there would be more for us. Out there... I wanted to join the airforce, but it is not acceptable for a woman to become a pilot. I wanted to join the space programme, I went to college, I have a degree in physics, again – not acceptable for a woman. But John... I knew...!"

Her eyes shining now, she pushed away from her own seat and came to stand in front of him, looking up into his face. "You've been there? To other worlds? Seen aliens? Travelled through space...? Oh, I so much wish I could belong in your time. For so long... you cannot understand... really." She paused again and whirled around to stand at the window. "You cannot understand. I want more, I always have. I have looked to the skies, and wanted... so damn much! But it is never there, never accessible..."

She turned away from the window, sensing that he had moved in behind her and this action brought her close to him, close enough to smell his very male smell and cause a small whisper of need to circle enticingly through her.

"And you stand here in front of me... with my holy grail. Proof that we make it to the stars, proof that there is more... " Tears stung her eyelids now and his hand came down to brush them away before they fell.

"I'm sorry Gina, I didn't mean to upset you. I thought you would find it impossible to understand, to believe, yet you accept just like that. There is so much I could tell you, but I have to be careful. There are parodoxes involved with time travel. I cannot interfere with anything here in case I cause ripples in time which will affect my present and your future. I must be very careful I don't disturb anything. Do you understand?"

She nodded, feeling his hand still resting against her cheek almost as though he had forgotten it was there.

"This stargate... is it something that the airforce discovers? Perhaps my father already knows of it. He works on many top secret missions."

"Yes, the airforce and a team of scientists discover and develop it, but it is not likely your father knows of it's existence. It was discovered in 1939 and work will not begin on it until 1969. But I didn't come through to your earth through this stargate Gina. I was on another planet with my team and I found another portal, although I did not realise what it was at the time. Obviously, given where I have ended up, it has acted like a time portal, and seems to transport the person or thing back in time to their world, not to the world where it is situated. There is a scientist on my team, a brilliant physicist... if he had come through with me, likely he would have worked it all out by now. But me, not so much... "

His hand slipped down from her cheek and came to rest at her waist. For some reason he felt the need to touch her. To keep her near him. "You've studied physics? Perhaps you can find some logical reasoning for what happened, certainly you can help find the portal this side. It can't be one sided, it needs to have a point of return."

"You are sure of this John?" His hand burned through her thin cotton dress and she was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.

"No Gina... not sure at all. But I need to believe that or I'm stuck here in a different time line, unless my team can discover what happened to me and find a way to get me back from there. But know this, I'll not sit around and do nothing..."