CHAPTER 12 NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

Something soft underneath him his time as he woke, a mattress, a pillow and a soft body at his side. Seems as though this time they had spent the night in a bed – her bed. That's two nights thought John. I was only supposed to give her one night, but two nights? Isn't that breaking some sort of rule? Yeah, it means that it's no longer a one night stand..." And as he looked down across her naked back as she sprawled comfortably on her stomach, dark hair spread in disarray he knew he had crossed a line. One night stand? Sure... Was never gonna happen.

She stirred and he crept quietly from the bed, edging out the door, grabbing the surfboard that he had left somewhat negligently against the wall of the house and looked down at himself in glee. Naked! Hell yeah! Surfing in 1962, on some remote Hawaiian island just as the sun was coming up. Naked. It didn't get any better than that.

The swells were pure virgins, unbroken, untamed and as he shot through one azure tunnel after another, he threw back his head and yelled in delight. And what a sight he was to Gina who now stood on the beach watching him. A man of stunning physique, standing proudly atop a surfboard, head held slightly back as his primal delight broke out. Naked.

She laughed then, the sound carrying out to him and feeling as though he could now face whatever this day would bring be paddled in, dropping the longboard on the sand and pushing his wet hair back from his face.

"I don't know about your time John, but here, it is customary to wear swimming trunks when you go out into the water." Her eyes sparkled as she said it and suddenly he was pulling her tshirt off in one fluid movement, picking her up and moving purposefully out into the water. And unceremoniously dumping her under.

She came up spluttering and laughing and something in his eyes changed, grew hot with need and she found herself back on the cooler wet sand, on her back with a dangerous looking Colonel entering her in one poweful thrust. She had to push back the thought that when he left, her heart would surely break.

Honolulu was different than he remembered. Very few tourists, and he had to remember that commercial air travel was still a fledging activity and would not take off for several more years yet. A lot of military presence, John saw navy, airforce, marine and army uniforms and recalled that Pearl Harbour was still a not so remote memory in the minds of these people.

"Are you ready for this John?" Gina tugged gently on his hand, and he in turn dropped a light kiss onto her mouth, needing to get that out of the way before they came under scrutiny from her father. "When I rang my father he was carefully vague on the phone, obviously concerned that the wrong people may be listening. If there is something to be found out, I guarantee my father will make it his mission to find it."

They were ushered into his office and the general rose from behind his desk to shake John's hand.

"Before we get started son, I need to ask you something. Do you have any connection at all with Hawaii, Honolulu and in particular this airforce base? There's a reason I'm asking."

"I know why you're asking General. I've asked myself the same question. Why was I sent here? To this time, to this place? It's not random, it can't be – and the very fact that my team and the scientists in Atlantis have not yet sent anyone else back yet is likely because the code that opens the portal is specific only to something in me... and I have a theory about that." He stopped talking and took a deep breath. "There's some other things you need to know and understand. When the people of Atlantis sunk their city and left 10,000 years ago, they scattered throughout the galaxies and many came to earth. Through the stargate."

He saw the gleam in the general's eye and felt Gina's hand grasp his under the cover of the desk. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze in return.

"They blended into the earth way of life, chosing mates from within the humans they bonded with and their gene, this special ancient gene we call ATA or Ancient Technology Activation gene became diluted and spread amongst humans. Many of us have it. It lies dormant mostly, but in the Pegasus galaxy it is used to power and operate much of the technology built by the ancient Lantiens. I have that gene and it is very strong. It allows me to operate most of the technology within the galaxy that was build by the ancients. I've had a little time to give this some thought and I've come up with a theory of sorts."

He paused again and leant back a little more in his seat. His thoughts still churned through his mind, but being out on the water this morning, he had been able to put some of them into clarity.

"The stone portal reacted quite specifically to me and likely to the strength of my ATA gene and sent me here for a reason. To stop something. You asked me, General, whether I had connections here in Hawaii? I was stationed here for a short time in the mid 1990's and I will give you a list of all the ranking military officers I had contact with. But... I don't think that's the connection. I suspect I am here to either stop something, or start something...an event that has far reaching implications into the future."

The general huffed a breath and closed his eyes briefly. "Colonel...my mind is feeling just a little dazed by all the information you have thrown at me. Yesterday I struggled with galaxies beyond ours, time travel and aliens that suck the life force from humans. Today? Today, I try and assimilate ancient genes and acknowledge that you came here by design and not by chance. Which effectively means that someone or something here at this very time is your reason for being here. We're talking a needle in a haystack son! A very big haystack!"

"I know that General – I also know I can't go back until I understand why I'm here." He felt the air move suddenly and knew that Gina was staring at him wide eyed.

"Do you believe in fate, John?"

"Maybe not fate Gina, but I believe the universe has a predestined grand design for us all – some call that fate perhaps? We're all here, not by chance but by purpose." Fingers of something restless began to settle over his skin. He needed to move soon.

"What if your team are successful in figuring out exactly as you have done – what then?" Gina had taken over the questioning from her father, while he sat, staring not at John now, but into space as though his own thoughts were just a little too much to process right now.

"If I figured it out Gina, it is more than likely that Rodney has also by now. I've never known him to fail at anything... except when he glew up that sun accidentally..." He saw the alarm come into the general's eyes and tried to play it down. He certainly didn't want him thinking that they were irresponsible in the future. And recalled riding a surfboard naked this morning and decided that irresponsibility was obviously in his genes. Whichever century he was in! He did however, attempt to put the General at ease.

"He'll have figured it out, but if I am right – he'll need to replicate the exact amount of gene I hold. As I said, I have the strongest ATA gene in the city, so whoever he sends through will need to be given an additional dose to simulate my personal degree of gene saturation, or the time line will be wrong. Rodney will be working right now to make sure the calculation is perfect. While he does that we need to find the connection here. Lists, people, events – everything that could be pertinent even marginally. And I need to think back in my history to find out what event was due to occur this year – is yet to occur this year. It may appear to be of little significance and it will have a far reaching and obviously dangerous effect in the future. Needle in a haystack General? More like a atom... there are so many variables, so many tiny events that could cause the ripple that someone from my present obviously wanted to stop..."

The magnitude of the task weighed down on him now and a part of him wished that he had not made any progress in figuring out the why of his being sent back here. No guarantees of course, that he was right, but the more the thoughts swirled in his head, the more he became convinced this was the reason he had ended up here, on earth, fifty years in the past. To stop something from happening. He attempted to drag his mind from his thoughts as Gina moved restlessly beside him and returned to her questions.

"This device John, who would have designed it? Someone from "now" who in the future realises that something is needed to be stopped? Time travel and paradoxes – if you think about ramifications, implications, theoretical possibilities – it's like going around in a dizzying circle and getting no where."

"My wager would be on the ancient Lantiens... they built fail safes all over the galaxy. This particular portal was put way off the beaten track on a planet no one ever went to. Hidden away and I'm guessing a little here, but I think it may have the ability to draw it's intended recipient – in this case me – using an energy spike. And I fell for it hook line and sinker."

The General slapped his hand on his desk and picked up his phone to call his secretary. "We need information Mavis, newspapers, books, articles, magazines – anything and everything about current events. All about what's happening here today, or events that are scheduled to happen. Have them brought to the conference room along with refreshments. We are not to be disturbed."

He rose from his chair after replacing his telephone and John and Gina both did the same. John sighed. "Internet... didn't think I would miss it so much..."

At their quizzical glances, John attempted a small smile. "Aaah... so many wonderful things coming, and you'll just have to discover them on your own. Let's just say that looking up information in the future is very very easy..."