CHAPTER 31 – HAWAII 1962
They had arrived at her side in seconds after she had crumpled to the ground, alarmed at how pale she appeared. It was only Callandra who saw John vanish into the flash of purple light, the time portal opening only wide enough to let him through before closing again, effectively sealing him from this time and the woman who lay on the ground. Callandra felt the shift in the time as the portal closed and felt the connections that he had left behind, strengthen and knew with a smile, that he had accomplished what he had been pulled back here to do. And more. Turning back her attention to the woman on the ground. So much more, than even she herself had foreseen.
It seems some things are not for all eyes Callandra. There are those higher up who chose for you not to witness this, and some of the other events to come. Because it is your family? Or because they know of what you have already attempted to change and do not approve. I need to recalculate some of the time fragments to make sure that all is still on track, and perhaps then I can discover the new threads. For I suspect there are many...
Callandra spoke now, calmly. "Bring her to my cottage Nate, Frank. She will be fine. She has had a shock, it has been more than time that was displaced this morning. Effectively by John leaving as he did, her emotions were partially severed – this is difficult to understand, but you have to remember that she had never met him before he arrived here a few days ago – he did not exist in this time, and cannot exist in this time. It is impossible to exist from the future in the past for more than a short period of time. You saw this Frank when you looked at John. You saw the blurring of the edges?" She watched as Frank nodded his head. "He had already been here too long – any longer and he would begin to lose integrity, substance here and there is the very real possibilty that he would have ceased to exist in either time. It is a delicate thing."
Her brother looked up at her sharply, having just lifted his daughter into his arms and was turning to leave the area. "Won't the same be true for Gina if she moves forward into his time?'
"No Nate, because she would no longer exist here anyway. She dies, as harsh as that sounds when I say it. If she did not die, then she could not move forward. You cannot exist in two time dimensions at once. That is the conundrum that affects time travel."
"Let's deal with this later Jennifer. I need to make sure she is all right. You said her emotions were partially severed. Does that mean she will not remember him?"
Callandra/Jennifer walked alongside her men. "She will remember him when she seems him again, but the connection has partially severed now also. He has begun to blur for her in her memory now, just as his physical form had begun to blur."
"Why is that not happening for us then? Why do we still remember him?" Frank shook his head as he tried to grapple with impossibly difficult concepts.
"You didn't share the connection that she did with him. It was strong – it is strong, incredibly so and this could also have problems I did not foresee. I knew that they would meet this way, encouraged it, so that he could take her back to Atlantis to continue her life line. I knew also, that when he left her behind here for a short time, that connection would weaken for the time they were apart. For her anyway. Not for John – his ancient gene is too strong for that, Gina does not carry the gene."
They had reached her cottage and Nate took her inside and lay her on Jennifer's bed. He still thought of this woman as his sister Jennifer, could not begin to think of her in any other terms, even when she spoke of things that he did not understand. She was just Jen, the girl he had grown up teasing, sometimes hating but always loving. Hard to comprehend that she hid another inside her, one that controlled her. One that changed her? He didn't want to think too much about that.
"What problems Jen... you need to come clean with us here. If we've got any hope of understanding what the hell is going on, and what the hell to expect – you need to tell us everything you know. Bits and pieces are not going to fill in the blanks. This storyline is already filled with more holes than swiss cheese. I need to know more."
Jennifer drew up a blanket up over her neice, touching her face gently as if registering the life signs in there. "I am worried a little Nate. I would prefer not to have told you this – you know I've tried to protect you all your life?" Jen was the older one, and she had been the one to protect him. From hurting himself, from getting into trouble with their father who had been a tough man to please, from his teacher when he constantly forgot to do his homework. She had been there, always watching his back and he assumed that's just what big sisters did.
"When he came, it was not without consequence."
"Explain Jen. In simple terms."
"Her dog is gone." Jennifer looked at him sharply to gauge his reaction.
"What dog? She never had a dog!"
"Yes she did Nate. She and her dog, Angel – they were inseparable, especially after the problems with the O'Neill boy. But after John arrived, the dog was suddenly gone. Erased from this time line. And you, Gina and everyone else who had known that dog, will now have no memory of it ever existing in her life."
"Damn Jen – that is not funny!"
"It's not a joke Nate. Frank? There are things called rifts in time – like a ocean rip, if you get caught in one it drags you out. A time rift is similar – a small doorway, usually very small where something can get through, from one time to the next. Only small things, and usually never noticed because they are often of little consequence and affect things seldomly in either the time they have left or the time they have arrived in. Gina's dog is gone. No doubt it is now in John's time line. Little consquence perhaps, except in this case, it signifies something more. Another connection lost. I told you she would be fine... now I am not so sure. There are other things at work here that I'm at a loss to understand. I need to recalculate, get things into perspective."
"Jen – if something happens to Gina – we've got little enough time left with her as it is! You told us the only way to save her mortal form was to send her back with John, just before her accident. And now you're saying she's no longer safe here? Just where the hell does that leave us? You need to contact Sheppard, get him back here. He'll sort it out."
Nate paced around the room angrily while Frank watched broodingly from the bedroom doorway. "Dad. I don't think Sheppard can come back. I doubt he would have been able to come back in three months as Aunt Jen had originally said. I think what she's trying to say, is that the rules have changed again. Am I right Aunt Jen?"
Jennifer sank down onto the bed beside her niece and running a hand softly over her face she felt something shift and saw the transclucent texture of her skin.
"The connection is weakening Frank – because part of her is already in Atlantis with John. He inadvertedly took her life thread back with him. It is unravelling. I don't understand the why or the how, I just know that it is."
"What can you do Jen. I won't sit here and watch her die through your meddling. You need to do something, and do it now!"
General Nathaniel Mitchell pulled himself up to his full height as he felt his own ancient genes begin to stir. "I'll take her there myself, and damn the consequences Jen. Damn them."