A/N: not a doctor..
"…His brain was swelling. Drastically. More than his head could handle. We had to perform a decompressive craniectomy. Basically, we cut out a piece of his skull, and the brain is allowed to expand outside of his head. We had to wait for the swelling to go down which it did and we closed up the skull but we are keeping a close eye on him. Once he's no longer critical we will move him back into the main infirmary" Elisabeth told Kate as she looked through the window of the surgical bay in the infirmary. There were five people in surgical wear milling around Malcolm's prone form.
She had woken up and Elisabeth had given her scrubs and a towel directing her to the nearest shower advising Kate would have to clean up before she could see Malcolm. So she did as ordered and scrubbed off the grime of 2150 and changed into the scrubs, tying her long towel dried hair into a bun. The clothes and shoes she had been wearing were placed in a bag ready to take home later. She had made a mental note to pick up her monkey friend before Haynes tried to steal him.
"Is he going to make it?" Kate asked flexing her fingers trying to stop the urge to touch the glass. He had tubes running out of his body and machines around his body. His head was directed away from the glass so she couldn't see the true extent of his injuries.
"He's in bad shape-"
"And you can't make any promises except you'll do the best you can. That we have to wait and see" Kate said, tears burning her eyes and pain twisting at her heart as she wanted to be inside the room.
"Come on, let's go inside" Elisabeth said gently as she gestured for Kate to follow her. Kate walked into the room with trepidation as she was afraid if she touched or broke something it might kill Malcolm.
She walked up to the bed and looked down at Malcolm, his complexion was incredibly pale and drawn as he laid there unconscious with tubes sticking out of him. The top half of his head was bandaged, the machines around him the only real signs he was still alive as the vitals monitor beeped and the respirator constantly moving to show he was breathing. Elisabeth talked Kate through what the machines were telling her that his condition was slowly stabilising, there were brain waves to suggest he wasn't brain dead etc. but it was all wasted on her.
"You can hold his hand and talk to him if you want. It won't hurt him" Elisabeth told her. Kate bit her bottom lip in a vain attempt to stop herself from crying but it was too late as the tears slipped from her eyes. She wiped the tears away quickly and looked around the room spotting a stool she picked it up and moved it to his side and sat down. She took Malcolm's limp hand in hers and held it carefully as he seemed so fragile.
"Doctor?" A nurse said from behind them. Kate looked briefly over her shoulder before turning her attention back to Malcolm.
"Yes?" Elisabeth said to the nurse.
"Commander Taylor has returned with the others" the nurse informed her.
"Ok, I'll be right there" Elisabeth said, she placed a gentle hand on Kate's shoulder "You have an hour, no more ok?" Elisabeth told her. Kate nodded as she didn't take her eyes off Malcolm.
"Doc, everything ok with Kate?" Taylor asked when Elisabeth emerged from the surgical bay in the back of the Infirmary. He had asked a nurse where Elisabeth was to be told she was with Kate infomring her about Malcolm's status. He was wondering if he should go check on Kate but new he still had to get past Elisabeth.
"As good as it can be. Only minor injuries, she'll be fine physically" Elisabeth told him.
"Wallace?" Taylor asked.
"Critical, I'll discuss with you in detail after I give everyone a clean bill of Health" Elisabeth said. Taylor nodded but he could tell from the doctor's expression it was not good.
A couple of hours later, Evan and the kids were clean and dressed in fresh clothing. Olivia had woken up from her nap a happy camper but it had lasted until the metabolic enzymes concoction had to be consumed. He was currently struggling to get the kids to drink said metabolic enzymes and protein extracts. He didn't blame their refusal to consume the goo as he had struggled to just get down half of his meal allotment. The second half was still rolling around in his stomach making him nauseous.
His sister was glowing with a smile as she watched his struggles. They had talked but it was all superficial conversation as they didn't have the close relationship they used to. Alicia told him about the colony and the lifestyle while peppering him with questions about the children and him. From what he had seen of the place it was heaven on earth to him and if the houses were like Kate's he knew he and the kids were going to be very happy.
"It will take 5 weeks for you to get housing" Alicia said, she was worried about Kate to a point she felt she should stay the night with her but knew Taylor was expecting her home. One of the drags of being married or at least in Alicia's opinion was she didn't like the pull of allegiances whereas when she was single she could pick and choose now she felt she had to show more preference to Taylor as he was her husband.
"That's not too bad, hopefully Kate won't mind us hanging out here until then" Evan said as he was still persevering with Olivia. Sean was too stubborn so he gave up on him for the moment deciding to tackle one stubborn child at a time.
"I'm sure if you chip in with the cleaning it'll be fine. Kate's a pretty easy going person to live with." Alicia stopped and smiled at her brother "I'm really glad you're here. I don't want to overstep myself but I hope we can have some sort of friendship and that we can all be a family again" she said.
"Me too, I missed you Sis" he said with a smile before looking down at Olivia who was being a fusspot and trying to attack the cup of metabolic enzymes. She probably hoped if it fell on the floor she would never have to drink it.
"You too, you know you look so much like dad" Alicia said making conversation.
"Yeah it's creepy looking in mirror sometimes. It's like seeing a ghost but a very handsome and youthful one" Evan joked. Alicia laughed.
"You know Grandpa?" Sean asked her, he was a chatterbox once he got past the shyness it just took him about 15 minutes to warm up to those around him. He spoke fondly of Kate and after seeing Olivia cling to her friend Alicia found herself a little bit jealous of Kate as she had spent less than 48 hours with her brother and his kids and appeared to have a closer relationship with them that Alicia desired greatly.
"Yeah he's my Dad and you are his namesake" Alicia told Sean.
"He had to go to heaven with everyone else" Sean said sadly. Alicia looked to Evan as she had never thought Evan would make his kids believe in Heaven or other mythical things. But then she would never have though Evan would have kids before he was 30.
"Pulmonary Edema, Mom died from heart failure a few months after. 3 years ago" Evan told her.
"I know, I got a message from BMD registries" Alicia said referring to 'Birth, Marriages and Death registries' . Evan nodded, so his sister got messages from future just not his. He knew Taylor had a hand in that but he was not going to start accusing his sister's commanding officer when he had no proof nor did have the motivation or want to go after Taylor. He just wanted his sister back in his life and Alicia genuinely wanted to be a family again and he had made his redemption it was time. Taylor could go to hell as Evan was not going to leave Alicia again. He wasn't the same man anymore and it was time he stopped punishing himself.
"Oh come on Olive eat just one bite for Daddy" he said changing his attention back to his daughter, the little girl pressed her lips together and shook her head. She even grabbed the spoon but Evan had a good grip on it. Sadly it didn't end well as Olivia managed to flick the spoon in her attempts to grab it flicking the contents onto Evan's face.
Alicia burst out laughing at the scene as Evan was thoroughly unimpressed. Even Sean giggled at the sight as Evan wiped his face with a tea towel.
"I see she learned her table manners from you" Alicia quipped before laughing as Evan made a face at her for her comment.
"You just wait until you have your own. How far along are you?" Evan asked her, he knew the answer but was making conversation because he wanted her to stay around.
"24 weeks, twin girls" She told him as she unconsciously rubbed a hand over her stomach.
"Congrats, you and your husband must be elated. When will I meet the unlucky man?" Evan asked in amused tone.
"You already have met him. It's Nathaniel Taylor" Alicia said proudly. Evan blinked at her stunned momentarily as he was not sure if he heard her correctly.
"Nathaniel Taylor as in Commander Nathaniel Taylor is your husband?" Evan asked completely thrown by the news. Taylor was Alicia's husband. He wanted to grimace as it was possibly the worst thing to happen. Taylor was a mean asshole and of course he had his reasons for cutting Evan out of Alicia's life and at the time Evan wouldn't disagree but now it changed things. He had changed and he knew with Taylor as Alicia's husband meant he could never reveal Taylor as the asshole he is as it would just hurt his sister and alienate her from him. The very last thing he wanted.
"Yeah didn't Kate tell you?" Alicia asked surprised.
"No, I wanted you to hear all this stuff from you. Congratulations" Evan said with a smile as he covered his anger and pretended to be overjoyed for his sister. At least she was in love and happy. That was all that mattered and he wasn't going to screw up again. He would have to learn to live with Taylor as a brother in law.
"Thanks" Alicia said glowing in the happiness of life.
The front door opened and they turned to see Kate walk in, she looked like hell as her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her face pale. It did not suit her new hair colour that washed her out further now she wasn't wearing any bronzer to darken her skin tone. Kate placed a bag on the ground at the door with the clothes she had been wearing before closing the door and she looked at them.
"Hey" Kate said in a calm and controlled manner as she walked to the kitchen. Alicia noted that Kate had the monkey on her arm. The little brown lump was not hard to miss as Kate went to pour out a glass of her own metabolic enzymes and protien extracts. Elisabeth prescribed it to everyone else in the party just to kill off any bad bugs that had gotten into their systems. While Evan and the kids had three days of it, Kate and the others only had to suffer through three glasses.
"Hey, you have your monkey" Alicia stated Kate looked at her upper arm where the monkey was currently attached to her sleeping.
"Yeah, I had to before Haynes got it in her head she could keep him" Kate said sardonically.
Evan looked around and noted the monkey as did Sean while Olivia was distracted with her mission of destroying her cup of metabolic enzymes. Evan of course held it out Olivia's range but it didn't stop the girl from trying.
"Monkey?" Evan asked.
"He's house trained and has no fleas" Kate told him.
"Ok" Evan said in a voice that only a parent worried about foreign animals harming their children could have.
"He stuck on Kate like white on rice. Don't worry he's completely docile" Alicia assured her brother. She didn't feel it necessary to say the monkey hated being in a cage and hated pianos as they wouldn't have to worry.
Kate looked at the happy family scene at the table and swallowed her sadness not wanting to bring down the mood. She moved to take a seat at the table with everyone else knowing it would be rude to shut herself away. "So what did I miss?" She asked before taking a sip of the enzymes.
"Olivia flicking her drink on Evan" Alicia told Kate with undisguised amusement. Kate smiled as she looked at the little girl trying to grab the cup out of her reach with a face of evil intent.
"Yucky" Olivia said just as Kate swallowed her first gulp of hers. She made a face of disgust and shuddered.
"I agree" Kate said, she set her glass down "May I?" she asked Evan gesturing to Olivia and Sean's full glasses.
"They aren't finished" he said as he thought she was going to throw it away.
"I know just trust me" Kate said, he waved a hand in surrender and Kate picked them up moving back to the kitchen. She pulled out blueberries and raspberries from the fridge and smashed them up and mixed them into the two glasses before bringing them back to the table. "Try it this" she said.
Sean looked at his glass suspiciously and watched as Evan tried to coax Olivia to take a spoonful. The girl was stubborn until Evan had some and looked pleasantly surprised by the change in the flavour after that Olivia ate through hers happily as did Sean who now believed it was safe to drink.
"That's cheating" Alicia told Kate.
"Technically the kid's stomachs are more adaptive than an adult's. The fruit doesn't destroy any of the benefits of the drink though I'm pretty sure if Evan had a whole glass like that he might be ill but not the munchkins" Kate said with a smile as she ruffled Sean's hair much to the kid's annoyance because once her hand left his head, his hands went to flattening his hair. She quickly downed her glass and shook her head in disgust at the flavour and texture.
"Thank you" Evan said in earnest as Olivia happily started consuming her drink as did Sean. He was glad the kids were finally consuming their allotment of metabolic Enzymes and protein extracts. They only had 8 more meals of it to go before real food but it was going to a lot easier now. He felt he would be forever grateful to Kate as she was going above and beyond.
"No problem, Alicia I'll help you take the food my fridge to yours it'll go rot in the next three days since none of us can eat it" Kate said to her friend, envious of the glow Alicia was exhibiting but also happy her friend could reunite with her brother and her niece and nephew in Terra Nova.
"We'll do it tomorrow, I should go home. Nathaniel is probably wondering where I am and I have to hand the Colony keys back over to him" Alicia said dramatically as she pushed up from the table.
"You want me to walk with you?" Kate asked as she got up and walked to the door to open it for Alicia. It was a habit of Kate's to see her guests out personally.
"No, I'll be fine you all get some rest ok? I'll come by in the morning after breakfast" Alicia said.
"Ok, we'll have a pot of tea before I go back to the Infirmary" Kate said, Alicia nodded.
"Done and if you need me just call me ok" Alicia told Kate. Kate nodded and they briefly hugged before Alicia stepped out of the house.
"Ok, take care of yourself" Kate told Alicia as she closed the door and moved back to the table and retook her seat.
"So this monkey?" Evan asked.
"He's sleeping but you guys can have a look. Just no poking, he can be a sooky la la when he doesn't get his 18 hours of sleep" Kate said with a chuckle as she moved back to the table welcoming the distraction Evan and his kids would give her.
The following morning Alicia pushed up from bed smelling the aroma of fresh pancakes. She got to her feet and pulled on her knickers and bra before sliding one of Kate's maxi dresses over her head. As she is officially off duty she didn't feel it necessary to don her uniform. She liked the ease of it as it took no time to get one and just glided over her curves and baby bump in comparison to her uniform that made her feel like she was forever squeezing herself into.
She walked out into the kitchen to find Taylor manning the stove making pancakes the table is set with orange juice and fruit salad to accompany the breakfast of pancakes. She noted Taylor was already dressed in his BDUs and ready to put on his boots and go.
"Hey you" Alicia said as she moved to his side. "Oh that smells delicious" she said as she placed a kiss on his neck.
"I thought I'd surprise you with Pancakes" he said as he turned over the pancake in the pan.
"But who am I going to share that stack of pancakes with if you are still on metabolic enzymes?" Alicia asked.
"You are eating for three" he said as he plated up the last pancake onto the stack and turned off the hot plates before turning to her to give her a proper greeting. He cupped her face with both hands and kissed her slow and deep. Alicia pulled him in as close as she could and took pleasure in the kiss as she knew he would pull away. He was still holding strong to his 'no sex' rule even though Alicia was practically crawling the walls.
"You should eat something" he said after he broke away from the kiss first. Annoyance gnawed at her as she had enjoyed the kiss but his words after left something to be desired. He picked up the plate of food and moved to the dining table and Alicia sighed as she felt like the baby incubator than his wife and a very desirable woman.
"I assume you are going over to Kate's after breakfast?" Taylor asked. Alicia piled on the fruit and pancakes on her plate and started to eat.
"Yeah, I have the time I might as well hang with my brother and get reacquainted and I'm worried about Kate. She is a wreck. I hope having Evan and the kids staying with her won't be too much" Alicia said, she waited for Taylor to offer up the idea that Evan could move in with them. They had two spare rooms and the kids could double up in one room but he didn't.
"I think it'll be good for her, your brother can keep an eye on her" Taylor commented as he took a sip of his drink and made a face at the taste.
"Kate isn't Evan's responsibility" Alicia stated before she ate another bite of her breakfast.
"She isn't yours either" Taylor countered.
"No but she's my friend who is going through a tough time. She needs as much support as she can get. Something I can give her now that I'm off duty for the next few months" Alicia said getting annoyed at Taylor and brusque manner.
"Just remember to take care of yourself first" Taylor said, last night over dinner they had discussed what happened with Taylor and his jaunt back to 2150 with the others. She in turn informed him about what happened in the colony while he was gone. The conversation then drifted her and the babies and how he missed them in the short time. It had been special to have his focus and attention on her but right now she fought the urge to roll her eyes as it was like he forgot she was a capable person.
"I know, you and the whole colony don't have to keep reminding me I'm pregnant. I'm the one carrying the two kids who can't fit into her old clothes and going through the growing pains. You'd think I left my brain in a box the way you all treat me" Alicia snapped before she took another pancake off the stack, placed it on her plate and attacked it with gusto.
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't be sorry. Treat me like you did when I wasn't knocked up within reason of course" Alicia told him. He gave a wry smile as he had been ready to point out she was nowhere near what she used to be and it wasn't a bad or good thing just different. He like her pregnant all soft round curves while her former self was a mix of lean muscles and curves. She still had muscle definition but it wasn't the same as pre pregnant body.
"I'll do my best" Taylor said as he finished his glass of metabolic enzymes. "I have to get to the Command Centre, Guzman will be taking over your duties while you're on Maternity. Though before you enjoy your break could you inform Kate and Evan that I want to see them at 11?" he asked.
"Yes sir" Alicia said with a mock salute. Taylor rose from his seat and kissed Alicia on the temple.
"I love you and will see you at dinner time" he told her, Alicia turned and grabbed his t shirt front pulling him down for a proper kiss goodbye with tongue. When she was satisfied with the kiss she released him and watched him leave the house enjoying the sight of him.
"Good Morning" Alicia said as she walked into Kate's house without even knocking. She looked to the dining table as Evan gave a distracted 'Good morning' in reply. She noticed he was watching something outside. Alicia followed his gaze and saw Kate in a yin yoga pose called sleeping swan on the back verandah.
"How long has she been like that?" Alicia asked as she sat down opposite him.
"The last 10 minutes, I was wondering if I should nudge her she may have fallen asleep" Evan said. Alicia looked around to see the kids were sitting at the coffee table playing with reptangles. Olivia looked up and Alicia gave a wave to the little girl, she gave a smile and tiny wave of her own before ducking getting to her feet and running to Evan.
"No she's meditating" Alicia informed him as he picked up Olivia and sat her on his lap with practised ease.
"She can't do it more comfortable position?" Evan asked he winced as Kate added on a spinal twist making her already uncomfortable position look more painful to the inflexible in the room.
"Apparently it's about focusing in the moment on yourself and your body. Acknowledging thoughts but letting them go blah blah" Alicia said with a dismissive wave of the hand.
"You weren't paying attention at all were you?" Evan asked in a mockingly innocent tone.
"Not even the slightest, I don't have the patience or the flexibility for that style of yoga" Alicia told him.
"Let me guess. Pilates" he said pointing at her.
"How did you know?" Alicia asked in mock surprise.
"Lena did Pilates, said it helped with aches and pains of being a baby grower" Evan said with a soft smile.
"Lena being your late wife?" Alicia asked.
"Yeah, sorry I'm still not out of the habit of talking about her as if she might walk through the door" he said with a grimace.
"It's ok, you can tell me all about her and the kids. I want to know everything I missed out on" Alicia told him.
Kate finished her practice annoyed she couldn't find the usual stillness of her mind as she kept thinking about Malcolm. She had been up for hours, she had tossed and turned for a few hours before giving up and going to the infirmary, she sat in a chair outside the operating room. There had been no change good or bad which was apparently a good thing.
The doctor had kicked her out telling her to come back in a few hours, he even gave her sleeping pills. She pocketed them and went for a long run instead. She was not going to take any drugs when Malcolm was in a critical state. When she finally exhausted herself and found her coughing annoying impeding her run she returned home and had a long hot shower before she started her yin yoga practice.
She transitioned out of her pose into corpse pose and rested for a couple of breaths before impatience finally got the best of her. She got to her feet and shook out her limbs and walked through the living room to the kitchen.
"Hey Kate, how are you?" Alicia asked in greeting. Kate noted Alicia's hair was down and she was wearing a maxi dress looking immeasurably relaxed than she did yesterday in her uniform.
"I'm ok and you?" Kate asked Alicia as she poured out a cup of metabolic enzymes and moved to the table.
"Yucky" Olivia said pointing at Kate's glass.
"Good morning to you too Miss Olive" Kate said to Olivia in good humour. She had spent most her night in tears and frustration at being helpless she refused to let that mood infect anyone else especially Evan and his kids.
"Oh the vocabulary of a two year old" Sean said dryly as Olivia wriggled and squirmed in his arms until he released her to the floor. Olivia moved to a chair next to Kate's and climbed up onto and looked at Kate with arms outstretched in a 'pick me up' motion.
"I could teach her to curse in a several different languages" Kate offered before she downed her glass of metabolic enzymes. She shuddered from the drink and shook her head making Olivia giggle at her facial expressions.
"Please don't" Evan said. Alicia chuckled as Kate lifted Olivia up and into her lap.
"Da-di-o" Kate said to Olivia as she pointed at Evan.
"Dada" Olivia said.
"Da-di-o" Kate told Olivia after a few tries Kate smiled as she pointed at Evan and Olivia smiled.
"Daddy-o" Olivia said it was still minced up in a way but it close enough it was going to stick. Evan ran a hand over his face and gave an exasperated sigh.
"No, I'm dad or daddy" Evan told Olivia.
"Daddy-o" Olivia said saying it clearer than the last time.
"Daddy" Evan said
"Daddy-o" Olivia said with a victorious smile. Evan shot Kate an unimpressed look.
"It took me hours just to get her to say 'dada' and in a space of minutes you get Daddy-o" Evan said.
"Kate's good with kids" Alicia told him matter of factorily.
"Hey, it's not a curse word" Kate said with an evil grin as she hugged the little girl and congratulated her on a good job. Kate then turned to Alicia and pointed. "A-lee-shah" Kate said sounding out simple phonetics.
Alicia smiled at Kate's never ending patience with the little girl who could not sound out her name. She couldn't help but note the dark circles under her friend's eyes and was concerned as to if the woman actually got any sleep. Though she told herself Kate was doing her best to cope, she was socialising she wasn't in bed staring at wall so it was good thing.
"I have to interrupt teaching hour but Taylor wants to do debrief of what happened the last two days in a meeting with you both at 11" Alicia said to them. Kate listened but still talked to Olivia in a low voice saying Alicia's name over and over to the little girl.
"That's only an hour and half away. What am I going to with my kids?" Evan asked.
"I'll look after them" Alicia offered.
"Are you sure?" Evan asked.
"Yeah of course"
"It'll be good practice" Kate said with a smile before she went back to trying to make Olivia say Alicia's name only the little girl could say was 'leesha' it was close enough.
"Anyway your meeting will only take an hour I've been in charge of hundreds of men and women I'm sure I can handle two kids for an hour" Alicia said.
"Leesha" Olivia said.
"We'll work on that one later" Kate said with a smile.
"Thanks Sis" Evan said to Alicia.
"Kate what did you do?" Taylor asked as he sat at the head of the conference table, Maddy, Jim, Mira and Guzman were at the table along with Evan and Kate. They had been in the meeting for about 15 minutes Taylor speaking mostly until he turned the question to Kate.
"You'll have to be a tad more specific" Kate said as she didn't appreciate the accusation even if it was well founded. Taylor was acting like he had a bindii stuck in his pants, she would have thought he'd be happy to be back home with a beautiful pregnant wife at home but apparently not.
"The power outage" Taylor said, he wanted to know what Kate had done to 2150.
"Simple the virus Maddy and I constructed corrupted the programs that regulate environmental controls and power systems forcing them to malfunction in the building first and as the virus spread to throughout one core it breach the fire walls to the other cores it was linked to. The power outage is temporary and Hospitals were the only places left with power" Kate said in a casual manner.
"How long?" Taylor asked.
"It'll take a couple of days for backup power systems to kick in for the city and then months maybe a year for them to clean up their computer systems as they would have to shut down the whole city to do a manual wipe of their systems in one go." Kate said with a shrug, if she was honest she had no idea and was lying through her teeth about that part. She knew the information about Terra Nova was completely destroyed but the other stuff she had no clue and frankly she didn't care.
"Something they definitely won't do" Evan said.
"When they get the core data servers running they will find all their data pertaining to Terra Nova, the fracture, all research on the temporal rifts and anomalous energy readings all it deleted or corrupted to the point it's irretrievable" Kate said
"So they'll have to start completely from scratch"
"Oh yeah and if they don't do the manual wipe for the virus it will eventually spread to any other servers connected to Chicago's" Kate said.
"You do you realise that you crippled the 22nd Century, condemning millions of people to die" Evan said as he wondered how her decisions sat with her.
"Millions of people who were already dying and before you ask I am arrogant enough to believe that it is my right to play god in this respect. We have to protect ourselves from that future and I will make the hard choices and do unthinkable things to preserve this colony and it's mission statement" Kate told him in a cold and firm tone, there was something almost mechanical like she was more machine than human. He had no doubt of it.
"I agree with Kate, the fracture to 2150 is dangerous and I would have done the same" Guzman said.
"Of course you would" Jim said with a chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Mira asked.
"It's not funny" Guzman said wishing he hadn't spoken up at all but he didn't want Kate to be the only one known to feel they were better off without 2150. "I was told Terra Nova's colonists would be used as an organ farm and the women for breeding"
"Breeding, you make it sound like we women are brood mares" Kate said.
"To Clayton Russell you are" Guzman said.
"And apparently you are the prized mare due to your genetics" Jim told Kate, Guzman shot Jim a dark look hoping he would not make a joke about the offer Guzman got from Clayton Russell.
"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult" Kate said making a face of disgust at the thought of being kept in a lab for breeding. "So can we destroy the fracture right? Because I have no desire to be knocked up by some random guy" Kate said dryly.
"It wouldn't be some random guy it would be a guy from here" Jim said.
"Can we get back to destroying the Fracture because I don't want to know what you're getting at Jim" Kate said shaking her head at him.
"Spoilsport, we can't blow it up I know that much" Jim said Guzman glad for the reprieve as he already felt uncomfortable with the conversation about breeding and Kate. Like he needed to be reminded of the repugnant offer he was given.
"If we build the terminus from the plans on the memory sticks we brought back. We could permanently tether the portal on our side and keep the fracture shut on this end" Evan said. Taylor looked at the man through narrow eyes as if assessing if he could trust him at his word.
"How long would it take?"
"Depends on what materials we have and if we have source them and I'll need to see all the data you have and any work Dr Taylor had on the fractures. If he is still alive he could be a great help in speeding up the work" Evan said.
"Lucas is alive but he is uncooperative" Kate said as she felt no need to keep the information from Evan.
"Uncooperative?" Evan asked.
"He's in the brig. Life sentence for treason" Taylor said uncomfortably as most men who were caught for treason would be executed. But Lucas was the special case. Evan noticed how uncomfortable the air at the table became as Kate shifted in her seat and the others didn't seem to approve of Taylor's punishment but didn't say anything.
"Ok, perhaps we can extend privileges to him in exchange for his help" Evan said as he didn't understand what he was walking into. In 2150, Lucas Taylor was a brilliant physicist with many published papers until he disappeared in Terra Nova. He somehow managed to temporarily make the portal go both ways and Evan even worked with the man once.
Evan thought Lucas as a bit on the odd side with a wild look in his eye but overall he worked hard and knew everything about the fracture. He didn't know what he did that would be considered treasonous but then Taylor was good at condemning people and serving out hard convictions for even the minor of offences.
"We shall see. I want it known that it was a freak accident we ended up in the future and returning. That it can't happen again. If anyone asks you don't know how you ended up here you just did" Taylor said.
"What does it matter?" Evan asked.
"I don't want anyone to know there is still a link to the future. It will cause more harm than good." Taylor told him, Evan gave a shrug as he didn't have anyone to share his story with and even then he really only wanted to focus on building his life and looking after his kids than messing in the politics of 2150 and the colony.
The meeting continued for another ten minutes before Taylor called an end to the meeting. They were all rising from their seats when Taylor asked Evan to remain. He sat back down in his chair and waited as the others left the room once they were gone Taylor closed the doors to the command centre.
TBC~ Cya all next week!