Jack walked into the mess, his body feeling almost supernaturally calm. His pulse, his heartbeat, had slowed… amused, he pressed two fingers against his neck and began keeping count. “Forty-two… pretty amazing considering what I’m about to attempt,” he thought.
Richard’s briefing materials were still scattered about the floor and counter space, and Keys made short work of scooping them up and spreading them out on the main table. What he needed was here; it was just going to be a matter of time before he had it figured out. He tossed aside the data and pictures of the RGC; “Later,” he thought. Sifting through the next few sheets, he was reminded of the size of the force surrounding Earth, and once again he muttered a curse beneath his breath.
“I had better be right. I had better be damned right.”
Finally, as he reached the bottom of the material, he saw what he was looking for. Pushing everything else aside, he smoothed out the sheet in front of him, taking note of the time code, relative position of the sun’s light, and all of the other celestial objects he could see. Convinced he had everything he needed, he stood quickly, grabbed the data sheet, and exited quickly. Every minute counted now, and he needed to get the main computer servers working on this immediately.
Kate’s eyes flickered open, the light above her causing black spots to roll across her field of vision. “Ahh! Goddammit. Oww. Oww. Oww.”
“Easy,” Sarah said, using the gentlest tone she could produce. “Give your eyes time to adjust.”
Suddenly, Kate bolted upright in bed. “Where is he?!”
Sarah placed her hand her friend’s shoulder. “Easy, Kate. Breathe, take a moment to collect yourself. Everything is okay.”
Stinson’s head snapped towards Sarah, and before she could react, Kate had removed Sarah’s hand from her shoulder. “You’re my friend, Sarah, and I don’t want to damage that relationship. But I just woke up from a forced sleep- we’ll talk about Dr. Gray next- and I believe I came up a bit short in killing the man I tried to strangle. I’d like to get back to it. So don’t patronize me- I’m not in the mood. Just tell me where Ben is.”
Matto took a step backward from Kate’s bed, and the rapidly waking woman let go of her hand. “Okay, just listen, alright? One: Ben is in medlab, and not going anywhere. He can’t even really breathe on his own right now, and he’s being kept asleep. So unless you’re going to murder someone with that has no chance of defending themselves, I think you can stop worrying about him right now.” Sarah paused, waiting for a reaction, but Kate said nothing. “Two: Captain Morrison is dead.”
“What? How?”
“Jack shot him.”
Kate swung her legs up and around, sitting up and to the edge of the bed. “What happened? That why I’m awake? You need me to strangle your boyfriend, too?”
Sarah let out a short giggle. “No. Not yet, at least. No, there’s a long story, and I’ll fill you in on the way. I woke you up because Jack’s captain now, and he says he has a plan. One that requires you.”
“Oh, really?” Kate said, sounding wary.
“Yeah. Plus, we all kind of miss you.”
Stinson broke out laughing, Sarah joining her. “Ahh… good one. Do I have time for a shower? Scratch that- I need one. Clear the cobwebs out, that sort of thing. If we’ve got a mission, and Jack thinks I’m key, I’d better be in top-notch shape for it.”
“We’ve got a little time. Richard’s readying the tachyon scoop. Won’t be ready to go until that happens.”
Kate got up and began stretching. “Okay. Off to the shower I go. You hanging here or coming to help me soap those hard to reach places?”
“Smart ass. I think I’ll stay here- if I did that and things went too far, I might run the risk of strangulation when I least expect it.
“Touché.”
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