June 12, 1998

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.

Quinn was going back to Deadlight world.

He had a family there, built a company there.

I did recall his feelings were subdued in contrast to how Wade and Rembrandt felt about their homecoming.

Both the Oversight Commission and President Clinton approved.

His mother was here in the embarkation room in Yerba Buena. He must have had a long discussion with his mother over the past two weeks, even before attending the reception at the White House.

We could not slide him all the way to New York.

"We could at least send you to Reno," said Major Maggie Beckett.

"It'll only cut six hours from the train ride," replied Quinn. "I might as well board the train all the way back in San Francisco."

And soon, after confirming coordinates, it was time to open the vortex.

And I saw it open.

"I'm glad to have known you," said Rembrandt. "Feel free to check on my friends, tell them I'm okay."

Wade then hugged Quinn. "I'll miss you," she said.

"I know," he replied.

As the vortex swirled, Quinn looked at his mother.

"You do have to make your own life, even if it's in another dimension," said Elizabeth Mallory. "You are growing up."

"I know," said Quinn.

"And you have a father there, and a brother and sister to look out for you."

They embraced.

Major Beckett held a timer. "I have this set for two hours," she said. "Two hours to change your mind."

She entered the vortex to Deadlight world. Quinn looked back on all of us for a second, and followed her.

And then the vortex closed.

I decided to leave Yerba Buena for the day.

I later learned Beckett returned alone; Quinn finalized his decision to make his life in Deadlight world. As I write this, Quinn is probably sleeping in a sleeping car on a train traveling eastbound through the Great Basin region of the United States of America of Deadlight world.