XX Chapter of the War on Whiskey

By Zachary Furr

Planet Gebra

Forty-nine years ago

A girl in a field of flowers ran about to and fro, collecting flowers that she knew smelled good and new ones that she had never seen before. She gathered them all and inhaled deeply, enjoying the rich scent of all the smells of the flowers.

Her grandfather had brought her and her brother out beyond the limits of the city for a picnic. She knew that it was a cover story, she knew that her parents were really going on a date. They were dressed in shiny clothes when her grandfather had come to pick her up. She had never seen clothes like what they were wearing, except in her parents wedding photos, her father had been wearing a chest piece that was polished to a shine. Whenever she looked at that photo she always felt that her father was a knight that had saved a princess and then married her.

It was as if she was part of the same fairy tale. She and her brother were the prince and princess of a king and queen. That was but a fantasy that she loved to slip into,  she felt joy every time she thought of that.

As she continued to gather flowers she looked up to view the city once again. She saw her home in the tallest skyscraper on the sixty-third floor. Her home was set far above and beyond others, but it was almost in the middle of the building. Her family lived on the entire floor like most other families. It was cozy but it did not really provide the running around room that she had wanted. That is why her grandfather brought her and her brother far out here, to play.

The city glistened in the shine of the noon day sun. The windows of the skyscraper could be seen from miles around. A shining example of…

A shadow descended from above and covered the shine of the city. Samantha watched as the warship hovered above her home. Her grandfather ran over to Jonathan and covered his head so as to protect him from the horror that was about to descend upon their home.

The warship unleashed a barrage of missiles, each one exploded near the outer edge of the city. Then as quickly as the missiles happened, a bright red laser was shot forth and sliced through many different buildings making them start exploding from the inside. 

Samantha stood there and watched with outstretched hands, as if she wanted to hold her parents hands one more time. She stood there watching as her home was destroyed.  Her grandfather had finally made it over to her and covered her head. 

Then came a quake as a building fell and heat came quickly and blasted quickly over the field. Samantha heard her grandfather cry out in pain as he protected his grandchildren. He fell over and continued to protect them as another quake and heat wave passed over them.

She did not move for several hours and her brother did not move either. Her grandfather had protected both of them with his life. When she did move, she found that her grandfather was lighter than she had remembered. By the time that she had gotten out from underneath him she could see that half of her grandfather had been burned away. 

She went to get Jonathan out from underneath their grandfather. They stood in the now burned field and watched the warship. It began to release smaller craft from its underbelly and they descended on the city. The one tall building was still standing, but the wind that blew around it made it visibly sway. She felt something wet on her cheeks and realized that she had been crying. She could not stop herself and it seemed to be catching because Jonathan had also started to cry.

The warship then did a most particular thing, it released small crafts toward the surface of the planet. One of the smaller ships came toward them. The craft landed right in front of both of the small children. A hatch opened up and a slender young woman stepped out and offered her hand to Samantha.

Samantha’s hand was shaking as she reached out to take the young woman’s hand.

Wrought’s Hammer 

Captain’s cabin

Present day

“Captain, sorry to interrupt your sleep, ma’am.” A voice over the intercom said “We have arrived at our destination.” That was Lieutenant Horace, the communications officer on Wrought’s Hammer.

Her arms were stiff with old age, but she would not let her admiral hear about it. Samantha was old now her years as a chrono trooper had been short and long forgotten about. She retained the title of being one of the first chrono troopers. But, for her, she had nearly forgotten what it had been to be young. 

She had aged well enough. When she got too old to work in Chrono Armor, she had gladly accepted the opportunity of a ship’s lieutenant. By starting off working on the Destroyer Wrought’s Hammer, she was trained in the communications center. Wrought’s Hammer had been in numerous battles, wounded and maimed and for the most part emptied of all of its ammunition. 

Samantha had been in the middle of all of it. And now at the end of her life she was now the captain of Wrought’s Hammer. She knew all the in’s and out’s of her ship and had been serving upon it for the better part of her adult life. 

She was not born to Whiskey. Samantha was part of the mishmash of the Nursery and had not had the extended life that most Whiskiens had. She had grown old and had a lot of the perks that had gone with it. Instead of some of her friends growing old with her, they instead remained young and vibrant. She had aged and grown slowly. 

Samantha had been most distraught when she had heard of the death of Jack Snap. Perhaps her first love had been at ground zero when the Nursery had finished off the pirate invasion. She had been told that Jack had been fatally wounded and had insisted that they fire on his signal to kill the invaders. She had believed that story and accepted Jack’s death.

She spent the next year training the new Whiskien Chrono Corps alongside Joe. By the end of that year she started to notice that there were adverse effects for going into Chrono Mode at an older age. The Whiskiens did not notice the effects because they stayed young until they reached their ninetieth year. They stayed young for almost one thousand of her years and she would most likely be born and dead within ten of their years. 

Jack was one of the few Whiskiens that had acknowledged and accepted her for not being a Whiskien, and she loved him for that.

But then something happened about a year ago, it had been rumored that Jack Snap had come back from the grave to seek vengeance for his family. Samantha had been talking to her brother and chief engineer when she heard that rumor. She had thought that it was a ridiculous rumor and nothing more. The Nursery had always feared Whiskey Base for their agelessness. And the idea that one of the leading families’ children had survived was nothing more than that of speculation.

The rumors started to flood in from both officers and from non commissioned officers as well as the lower ranks that there was talk of a rebellion somewhere along the outer edges of Nursery held space. Samantha was quick to disregard these rumors as she knew she should have thought the rumors were nothing more than an idea on her ship. She required unity for her ship to operate correctly. And rumors of rebellion did nothing but throw her ship into chaos.

Her arms ached, she was old and she knew it. Her bridge crew had the utmost respect for her and she often rewarded them for their respect. She often signed up for the steady patrols, circling star systems and checking up on the local populations. 

The locals had always welcomed her and her crew whenever they made landfall. The marines that accompanied Wrought’s Hammer would patrol the outer limits of cities and help the local law enforcement as needed. The ship’s engineers would help with the uplifting process and assist the local scientists. And of course everybody would enjoy a break from the routine aboard Wrought’s Hammer.

She had been asleep for nearly six hours. Awakening from a nightmare did not bode well with her. She sat up from her bed and her bare feet touched the cold floor. She knew that the floor had to be cold to assist with the waking up process. She had felt a small amount of joy when she remembered all the recruits and newcomers down in the barracks as they would try to adjust to the cold floor.

Samantha, feeling the cold of her room surrounding her old, frail body reminded her of how alone she felt. She had lived well beyond the childbearing age, and as long as she remained useful to the Nursery then she would not be condemned to working a farm for the rest of her life. 

She dressed and prepared herself for the eventual day. As she opened the door and walked into the hallway, Samantha recalled the reason that she had been sent to this quadrant of the galaxy. An exploration craft had been shot down, and the battle group that Wrought’s Hammer was in, had been called in. 

Wrought Hammer and The Punishment, two destroyers, and The Rock Hard, a small corvette, were all warships that consisted of the battle group. Nothing too large, but just enough if trouble should come. The ships were more or less ancient in form and weapons. Heavy kinetic cannons, small complement of missiles, auto guns for point defense, and the corvette had a large group of ground troops. 

None of the advancements of the Halk effect cannons. Or the super hardened hulls and speedy engines that allowed for melee combat. There was nothing quite like seeing capital ships collide and one flying away. No advancements like that but this was her ship and she was proud of that fact.

As she advanced down the corridor she passed a pair of techs that moved out her way and saluted. She stopped and greeted them. She liked to keep up with her crew and their doings to make sure that the ship was always in prime condition. This was after all just a normal patrol that would not cause too much alarm. 

Every member of her crew that she passed greeted her with a salute. Every time she stopped and greeted them. She was never a mother, but she liked to think of her crew as her children and everyone of them needed that reassuring approach of their captain. 

It took her a full hour to get to the command deck. She had received reports from all over the ship telling her that it was in top condition. The command deck was in a steady motion of business. Lieutenants checking over their junior officers, technicians bustling through service corridors looking to boost the efficiency of the controls. Samantha stood at the door, waiting to be announced, she did so like an elderly grandmother admiring her grandchildren busy at play. 

Lieutenant Horace noticed her at the door and announced in a clear commanding voice, “Attention on deck.” The command deck stopped whatever they were doing and stood at straight attention. 

Samantha strode onto the command deck as if she were twenty years younger and stood next to the command chair, “As you were.” The deck resumed their duties. Lieutenant Horace approached Samantha and handed her a data pad with relevant data on their current orders. 

“Captain, there have been reports of rebel forces in the asteroid field out here. The battle group is conducting an active search in finding them and silencing them.” 

Samantha skimmed the data, she saw that the rebels had several small corvettes and at least one known frigate, The Mastiff. These rebels would not be able to stand up to the battle group in a straight up fight. The corvettes were nothing more than a support ship for fighting small fighters, they posed no real threat to the corvettes and destroyers in the group.

A destroyer, even ones as dated as Wrought’s Hammer and The Punishment, could light up an entire asteroid field and make all the rock a lot smaller. Samantha hoped that it would not come to that, but her superiors had obviously hoped that they would, why else sent destroyers to this small sector with no warp. 

“Captain Hughes, we are in range of the potential target.” Lieutenant Homer reported from the operation station  “Shall we fire?”

“Hold that order, Lieutenant.” Captain Hughes said, “Send this out over all radio frequencies. To any and all forces in the area, this is the destroyer Wrought’s Hammer. Our battle group is here to quell your standoff and escort you back to Whiskey controlled space. Surrender now and I assure you that no harm will come to you if you come out slowly.”

“Message sent, Ma’am.” Horace reported. “How long shall we wait?”

“Five minutes. That is the standard time.”

“Ma’am, The Rock Hard is down under our port side, and The Punishment is just outside of our missile range, also on the port side. Standard formation.” Homer reported.

“Captain Sung reports that he will observe your seniority for the time being and get our back should something go wrong.” Horace reported. 

“Has there been any response on any frequencies?” Samantha asked.

“No ma’am.”

“Fine, broadcast this across all channels. The time has been given for surrender, but as you have decided to ignore this, we will fire upon you.” She cut her hand across her throat to signify that the channel should be cut. “Link up with The Punishment and fire sporadic missiles into the asteroids. Make the spread wide enough to cover the first bit of the field. Then move forward to decimate the field as we go. Until the rebels are destroyed.”

“Yes ma’am” Navigations and Weapons answered in unison.

“Tell the Rock Hard to stay behind our firing line and to watch our back.” 

“Yes ma’am” Horace said. 

A small boy brought Captain Hughes a steaming hot drink as she sat down in her chair. She thanked him and sent him back to the galley.

“Missiles away Captain.” The Lieutenant said. “The field should be cleaned in about two hours, ma’am.”

She sat back in her chair and overlooked the entire field. She was looking for some notion that some sort of ship was trying to flee. And that she wasn’t just wasting her ammo. The missiles were plentiful, but the time that was required was slightly annoying. 

“Ma’am, energy signatures in sector forty-five alpha.” Homer reported.

“Focus, fire in that area. Let’s get that ship running.” Samantha ordered.

Wrought’s Hammer  soared above the asteroids and let loose volley after volley of missiles in the designated area. The destruction was barely seen from the bridge, but down in the field explosions and rocks ran rampant. 

“Hold fire.” Samantha ordered over ship-to-ship intercom. The fire stopped. The field calmed, pockets of vacuum were shown more clearly.

In the rocks and asteroids, where the missiles had fallen, a small energy signature was seen going away from the trio. A small ship’s engine flared up for a moment disappearing farther into the field.

“Ping that location and set a marker, concentrate our fire in that area.” Samantha ordered.

The missile fire shifted towards the rebel ship. Streams of smoke and explosions of fire moved the giant rock sweeping them in the direction of the small craft. The large destroyer pushed the field toward the small craft.

As one of the missiles struck an asteroid the flare of engine light could be seen going deeper into the field.

Samantha pushed her and her crew and her ship deeper into the field eager to be rid of this nuisance. 

“Captain Hughes,” a garbled transmission came in through the radio’s command band. “Do not follow that ship. It is leading you into a trap. The field is highly mag—-” the transmission cut off as her ship drifted deeper toward the planet.

“Radio transmissions are dead.” Lieutenant Horace reported.

“Deeper in the field we go into the field chasing the ship the more magnetic interference we have.” Lieutenant Homer reported. “And the more we destroy the more the magnetic interference flares up.” 

“Hold fire and turn us around.” Samantha ordered. “Get us out of the field.” 

The lieutenants who usually snapped off with a quick affirmative, just simply looked at her. But she noticed that it was not her that was staring at, but something that was behind her. 

She turned to look behind her, and the creature that warnings all over AKEV had warned about, stood there. The Omni.

The thing was huge, very easily fifteen feet tall and eight hundred pounds, but her command deck was only twelve feet tall so he kinda stooped to enter. The giant in the small room almost made Samantha and her whole crew laugh out loud. 

A stifled laugh was heard from one of the crew men. The was instantly silenced by a stiff look from the Omni. The thing just appeared in the room without anyone noticing, at least a hint of respect was required.

“Samantha Hughes, Captain of  Wrought’s Hammer and former Chrono Trooper.” The Omni said this as if  announcing it to the whole crew, then seemed to look around the room staring at the empty faces of the crew and the frightened eyes of the Captain. “My, you have grown old. When I saw your name on AKEV in this ship’s registry, I thought that you might like to join me willingly, but now that I see that you are set in your ways I am not so convinced that you will come.”

“Who are you to make the judgment that I will not join you in whatever quest you may have in mind.” Samantha retorted.

“The complete obliteration of the Nursery and the influence that it has over Whiskey.” The Omni answered. “As for me I am Jack Snap, infused with Darrel Turco and Bill Ekin. We are what is known as an Omni powered by the pure Halk crystal. Our power knows no limit in this galaxy.” 

Most of the crew began to look at him in a new light perhaps fear or hope, Samantha could not be sure. 

“You say that you are Jack. But I see no evidence of him in you. The Jack I knew was kind, loyal, and determined. I see none of that in you. You seem more like a bully. Giving me a choice based on fear.”  

“Dear Sam, you really don’t understand. I am offering a Choice, period. You have had choices but they were always orders. The choice that you make for uplifting other planets, has become a steamy issue for most of the higher ranks. They don’t appreciate the idea that you are acting without orders.”

“I have been told differently, Omni. There have been others that appreciate my initiative to get smaller worlds to become greater than what they were.” 

“Are your supporters Grand Admiral Corbin or Captain Tobias Snap or Captain Vita of the Chrono Corps?” Jack asked. It really was a question that Jack would ask, a question that he had already known the answer to.

“Yes.” She answered a little more wearily.

“Those names are already being passed before a board of inquisition for treasonous acts. Counter-productive to the expansion of the Nursery. Because of this, those men have gone into hiding and have taken all of the men that would follow them. And a significant number of captains, majors, admirals and even generals have left to follow their call to freedom.

“So now I will ask you, will you join me by pledging your ship, your crew and your life?”

Samantha took a look at her crew, at her family and back, at what she had convinced her young self, her former lover. She considered everything that had happened in the past fifty years. She wanted nothing more than to galavant with Jack Snap. To roam the galaxy to go on adventures, like she had done before. But those were the dreams of a young girl. She looked at the Omni a bit longer to see if she could see any of the men she loved inside the face of the monster. She did not.

          “I fear I must decline your offer, Mister Omni. You may say that you are Jack Snap. But you may be using his name as a rallying cry. And so I must decline your offer.”

          “I thought that you would say that, I’d hoped you’d say differently.” Jack said in disappointment. “You are an old lady and set in your ways and have no family except for your crew. I pity your mind set by thinking of only your crew and nothing outside of it. Please don’t think ill of me for what I must do.”  And as he said this he began to charge the Halk crystal inside of his chest. He had positioned himself so that no one could leave out the door.

         “Will you not spare my crew?” Samantha cried out as the Halk field enveloped her command deck. Even as all of her young officers pushed and tried to get out the room. 

        “I am sparing them.” The voice was no longer that of the singular Jack Snap, but now hundreds of voices spoke out of his mouth. “I am sparing them from the life of pointlessly helping people.” And as he said this he opened up three warp gates and made them so that even a naked eye could see the gate. 

          There in the gates, three different cities of three different planets could be seen. These were planets that Wrought’s Hammer had visited before. And the cities were being set on fire and bombarded from above. The Nursery Pirates were destroying all that she had worked so hard to build. 

          A single tear went down her cheek.

         The voices spoke again: “You and your crew have been branded traitors along with the other ships in your task force. The next time you were to log onto AKEV your lives would be considered forfeit. We will save you from that evil.”

        And all at once the Halk field collapsed into the crystal in the Omni’s chest

        The Mind’s Eye

        Samantha stood in the midst of a vast cityscape. Skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes, All reaching high to the empty sky. 

She stood there on a sidewalk, and just stood there. She looked around at the people walking around, and in looking around she saw a park bench in front of her. She went and sat down. And as she did so, she no longer felt her old bones creak. She felt good, really good. She felt as if she was twenty years old again. And sitting there, she did a quick examination of herself. Her arms and hands were no longer thin and wrinkly. Her body and legs felt new and unused. She was young again. She felt a smile and a tear on her face. 

It was then that a man came and sat next to her. His lean body showed off his muscles in his chest and arms. He sat in a relaxed posture, his arms spread across the back of the bench. His arm was almost placed around her back. 

“So what do you think?” The man said. His voice was very familiar to Samantha’s ears.

She then looked at his face. And there she saw the face of the man that she had fought alongside so many years ago.

“Jack!” There was such an unknown surprise and astonishment in her voice that it surprised even her.

“Yes, I am here.” Jack said. “And here in my Mind’s Eye we are safe.”

“Mind’s Eye? What’s that?” Samantha asked as she continued to look around. 

“It is the place we are in. The inner sanctum of the Omni. Here millions of people live, work, and play.”

“But who are they? And how do they work?” Samantha asked, staring back into the eyes of Jack Snap. And in his eyes she saw pain intertwined with joy. 

“They are the victims of the Halk effect and the millions that it has killed. They work by providing mental and spiritual power to the Omni body. For they are legion. The more people that we collect the longer we will live and fight. For the Omni is a hive, a hive of the dead and condemned. And here among the millions, only three leaders may move the actual body at any given time. Myself, Turco, and the Legionnaire Bill.” 

“The Legion Corps is falling apart all because you took their second.”

“I took their second when it was supposed to be their first, however, Jacobs was turned into a hybred. Against his will mind you, to combat me, as I was a hybred. The compassion that Joe felt for me, stayed in his hand from a finishing blow. Alas, that is but the effect of two incompatible minds being forced together. That hybred tears at its minds trying to make sense of its world and failing all the time. Me and Turco are very compatible in our mindset, and Bill is compliant enough to work with us and not against us. for it is because of this unity that we are able to make the impact that we have.”

“What is the end game, though? I have heard your story of unity, but how do you three plan to dismantle thousands of worlds united against you?” Samantha asked. “Is your power so great that you can swallow whole worlds?”

“Surely you notice the pure Halk crystal in the physical chest. Once that thing obtains full energy it can swallow a whole planet. However, it can only be used three times. and even with all the souls that I have collected, it takes time to cultivate them to their highest potential. Even if they were at their highest, there is still not enough to swallow a planet. The cityscape sized orbs require at least an hour of prep time to fill, and about that much time to recover fully. But still we maintain a presence that most armies do not want to fight. It is through the Warp’s intellect and the Legionaries weapon generators, and the Chrono Troopers cannons that an ultimate weapon is born. A weapon born from the spiritual presence of everyone here. A pure halk effect that uses less energy but is three times as effective. We have the means to stop any army but we lack the multiple physical bodies. And so the souls stay and provide energy for warp gates and the Halk effect as well as chrono time.”

“Why tell me all this? Aren’t you afraid of a rebellion here?” She asked, thinking that she might find a way out.

“Are you sure that you want to leave? I have a solution for that.” Jack said.

All at once Samantha Hughes fell into a black hole surrounded by nothing. She felt nothing, saw nothing and began to lose her conscious thoughts. She felt like she was melting away into nothingness. Then all at once, again, she was back on the park bench.

“Where do you think you are? You are in my mind. Whatever you think are your private thoughts, they don’t exist here. I told you that I regretted having to do what I did. I tried to allow you to maintain your free will, and in your free choice you denied your own choice. Your soul is nothing more than a battery to me now. I hope in time that you will come to the understanding of life that you are presented with. For any soul that maintains thoughts of rebellion are thrown out with the next transference of energy. I hope that it will not come to that with you. For you were a love to me. But if any part of the mind does not work in conjunction with the others it is useless to me, and I do not tolerate rebellion in my own mind.”

And with that being his final words to her, Jack Snap left her on that bench to contemplate his words. 

After a while she got up and began to walk around, still afraid of what to think. The city blocks were a bustle with people. People that seemed to be oblivious to where they were. People that went to work and lunch. Then she wondered if the people even really needed to eat.

 She looked into the restaurants and saw people as normal as could be laughing and eating. She saw no worries on their faces, for they seemed to be content to simply be.

Another man approached her. This man though, she had never met before and he looked perfectly normal. 

“You must be one of the new arrivals.” He said to Samantha.

“Yes, I am. I’m Samantha Hughes.” She said to him,

“You looked confused to be here in this place. Were you not greeted?”

“I was, but I have a feeling that my greeter was not the kindest one.”

“Ah, then you must have been met by Jack Snap. He threatens you to work or be turned into nothingness, right?” 

“Yes, exactly. I am not precisely sure what I should be doing.” 

“Don’t worry about it for one. His threats are empty as a bucket in space in this place. Jack maintains a greater control of the physical combat than that of mental combat. The little time that Jack spends here is often devoted to meditation in a closed off place of his own.”

Samantha was still listening to him but her eyes were wrapped to the food being served. She could see the steam rising off of it, the forks clattering to get at it, and the drinks being poured to swallow it properly. 

“It does look good, doesn’t it?” He said to her, 

“But I don’t understand what I am looking at. If we are living in a paradise why do we need to eat?” 

“We eat because that is what we are intended to do. Whether we be physical bodies or spiritual beings. We eat to help replenish our energy, and it helps people to adjust to life here if they do something that they have always done. Bill thought that one up. He’s a good guy always thinking of ways to improve the synthesis around here. Of course he spends most of his time here rather than out there.” He looked at Samantha, she was still salivating at the food. “Would you like to go and eat something?”

“Would it do me any good?” She asked.

“It would, I believe.”

They found an empty table in the bistro, and before they knew what was happening steaming food and cold drinks were within their grasp. The food melted in her mouth and the drink washed it down. The food was beyond comparison and gone before she knew it. She was scraping the plate looking for more. 

“That good, huh?” Her companion asked her. “There is a limitless supply here. Eat to your heart’s content, or perhaps there are other ways to help you acclimatize?”

She looked at the food, then she looked outside. She heard the chattering of voices. The life that was outside the bistro.

“Where can we go?” She asked.

“Wherever you desire. We live inside a warp. the potential to go anywhere is unlimited.” He said.

“How do we go?”

“Just pick a memory of a place and imagine that you are making a doorway for yourself to walk through and get there.”

She imagined a beach house that was directly by the shore of a crystal blue ocean that was as close to paradise that she had ever seen. A hammock was set up between two palm trees and she went to lay in it. Gone was her captain’s uniform, Gone were her crew boots. She laid in the hammock under the blue sky and warm sun. Her retirement inside this false reality.

“I had such high hopes for her at one time.” Jack said to Bill. The two individuals sat on the porch of the beach house and watched as Samantha accepted her fate in such a short time. “I saw that hope once again when she felt threatened. But given the opportunity for peace and tranquility, these war weary souls give up so easily.”

“When most have been absorbed from battlefields, war weariness is a side-effect.” Bill counter.

“But she was supposed to be different. She showed defiance of orders. Disagreement among her peers. She had the profile to become one of the new Omnis. Defiant and loyal, are hard traits to come by. She had been like that so many years ago. I was hoping for that same shine to show even after the threat. So many have come here and so many have not tried to leave or insight a rebellion. In the end, most people just want to be content, nothing more.”

They both just sat and watched the ocean and contemplated the options. 

“Did Turco clean up the three planets that were on fire?” Bill asked.

“Yeah, Turco took a small fleet, and a couple dozen warps and denied the pirates access to the planets. Three more for the war effort. Tobias seems to be more impressed with access to more raw materials. Not to mention the many recruits that were willing to volunteer.” Jack responded. 

“Any potential within those planets?” 

“There are always people that are willing to rebel, but there are very few that will rebel against peace. Or the illusion of peace, such as this place is. The heroes that we need must be willing to see conflict even in peace. Must be willing to see the universe in constant conflict and never truly at peace.” 

Samantha got up from the hammock and went out to the ocean to swim around. 

“Peace time is a lonely time.” Bill stated as he looked on at her. “Here she is surrounded by millions and she has forgotten about where she is. She has assimilated perfectly with the Omni, just like all the others.” 

“Yes. Perhaps in time she will remember me and come back to me once again.” Jack said as he stood and left the Mind’s Eye.

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