The Sands of Time 59

 

Joon was lying. 

He was sure of it. 

He knew Joon had changed. Losing Maia... that wasn't an easy thing. The things they'd asked him to do didn't help. That would change a man too. 

Jack watched as the object of his attention walked out of the lab. He liked keeping an eye on his people, it sometimes prevented nasty surprises down the road. Joon had just come out of his mindwipe. He hadn't been particularly enthusiastic about this one. Understandable. He'd grown attached to the woman he'd been placed with, liked the kids. Hard to let that go. 

Jack took a sip of tea and paused. It was easy to let the ends justify the means, to let events overwhelm you and deaden your sense of self. He had long ago made a promise to himself that he wouldn't forget the people. As team leader he owed it to them, the ones making sacrifices, to remember. And not to lose his humanity. 

He thought of Joon again, already heading somewhere to get some relief from his pounding headache, doubtless. They should give him some time. He'd been going nonstop lately. Why would he be lying about the Triassic base though? 

Unless...

He wouldn't. 

Playing both sides of the street. 

Could Stella be making a move? 

It was probably past due... he'd been careless. He often forgot that the passage of time was different for him now. He'd been gone for a while, but to Stella... she was probably still wondering why they hadn't heard back. 

He needed to get a team to the Triassic. 

*******

"What is our next move?"

Joon was standing on the beach, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun reflecting off the crashed ship. They'd taken to calling her Nellie for no good reason. Maia splashed him with her foot gently, standing in the surf. 

"We need to get out of here," offered Hillier. 

"Why?"

"They know we're here. Brassy enough to send someone to confront Joon. And it sounds like their weaponry is more advanced."

"I got the impression... that alt Joon may have been freelancing a bit."

"Yes but we can't rely on that."

"Right."

"He said something about not needing our Gate anymore?"

Joon nodded. 

"He mentioned a Gate network... being extensive. So they're moving around, and just... not coming back to Sanctuary." 

"But what could they be doing?"

"Well, he mentioned two other places. So they're later in the age of dinosaurs and, apparently, in the 25th century, if we can believe that." 

"Stella mentioned them having sent a team there, to the 25th century, when they first started time traveling. What if they... didn't stop going there?"

"He mentioned Faction, too. What if the Faction have established contact with the future, and Stella's waiting for a team to respond that has no intention of doing that?"

"So the Faction had infiltrated the team."

"Maybe not even that. Maybe there was no split then."

They pondered this. 

"We need to head back."