deltaReality Productions
presents
a Solo Effort

Jason Low

DOOR Interlude: The Truth Is In Here

MALFARIN II PRISON WORLD
EARTH EQUIVALENT: 25 FEBRUARY 1997 0335hrs

 Kris Thunval turned in his seat and looked at the airlock door as it opened.
"Good morning, Jenna," he said to the person who came through.
 "Hi," she nodded. "Amy's coming in in about half an hour with one. She just
sent me ahead to wake you up."
 He rolled his eyes, sighing, "You're never gonna forgive me for that ONE time,
are you?"
 Jenna laughed and patted him on the shoulder as she walked by his station.
"Just kidding, Kris. Don't sweat it." She yawned, stretching her arms and back.
"I'm gonna go take a trip through the cells," she said.
 "A patrol? You guys NEVER do patrols. Something up?"
 "Nah.. like you said, we never do them, and I figured it's high time we
started. I'll be back in a sec."

 As she headed down the corridor to the cell block, Jenna looked over her
shoulder to see if Kris was looking her way. When she saw that he was not, she
breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad he hadn't pressed the issue, for she
might have been forced to tell him the truth--that the danger scanner picked up
a phenomenon in the unused portion of the cell block--and that she'd chosen to
investigate it alone, after discussing it with Amy.
 After buzzing herself through the set of quadruple-locked doors that led to
the cell block itself, she quickened her pace, passing rows upon rows of
criminals that she and Amy and the other Team members had apprehended over the
years. As of 01 January, 46,215,304 individuals were incarcerated in Malfarin
II's cells. Kris ran the prison like he wanted; the criminals were kept in
their cells all the time, and fed only the minimum required to survive. To
Kris, Malfarin was not just a place to store bad guys; it was to be a place of
punishment for crimes committed. There were no death sentences, as that would
be too good for the vermin, as he put it. They would live out the remainder of
their lives rotting on this airless rock of a planet.
 That was the other thing: Between the two doors that separated the cells from
the rest of the universe lay a time-dampening field constructed by some people
Jenna couldn't remember, although she felt like she should know them well. In
any case, it meant that time very nearly stopped once one passed into the cell
block. A second on the outside translated into about 6400 years in the cells.
(Or rather, from Jenna's perspective, no time at all would pass in the outside
world while she was patrolling the cell blocks.)
 In a few moments--her time--she came to the section she felt she'd find the
anomaly in. Sure enough, in a deserted side corridor, the sensory gear she'd
brought along indicated traces of a dimensional wormhole.
 She felt a chill run down her spine as she checked the prison census by
remote. The fact that all the prisoners were still reported as being present
didn't make her feel any better.
 Suddenly, a very quiet whistle came to her. It sounded like it was coming from
another side corridor nearby, but the most surprising thing to Jenna was that
she recognized it. She knew it to be code, designed to sound like a bird call,
but easily recognizable to those who were meant to hear it.
 She couldn't remember who had designed it, or how she remembered anything
about it. Still, she chose to head toward it.
 She crossed the corridor into the darkened one the whistle-call had come from,
then abruptly went into a pouch on her belt and produced her lamp, flooding the
entire area.
 A young Human male of about 25 years was standing right in front of her. He
looked vaguely familiar, as if he was someone from her past that she'd
forgotten about. He stood there unflinchingly, even as she drew her weapon on
him.
 She'd almost fired on him by instinct; the only non-criminals ever on Malfarin
were her and Amy, and Kris of course; there were no tours or special visits.
Instead of gunfire, though, she let loose with a verbal barrage: "Who the hell
are you?!"
 "Shh.. Jenna.. it's me," he said with a comforting, yet pained voice, almost
as if he was both happy and sad to see her. "You KNOW me, if you think hard
enough about it. Please try."
 She realized it in a moment. "You were one of the ones to bring in that boy
and his dog a couple months ago," she said plainly.
 He chuckled to himself and shrugged, as if he hadn't thought of that one.
"Yeah," he nodded, "but it goes back much farther than that. We've known each
other for many, MANY years. You can remember it if you just give it a chance."
 "What are you talking about?" she said to the stranger, obviously getting
irritated by his double-talk. She waved with the handgun. "Who are you?"
 "It's me," he said, as if that would explain everthing. "It's Jason Low."
 At first, the name meant nothing to her, like it always had. But slowly, as
she took a good look at his face, and remembered the things the stranger had
said the last time he was on Malfarin, a section of memory walled away by a
deltaReality shockwave burst back into her consciousness, all coming back as if
it was a torrent of water rushing out of a burst dam.
 "Oh m.." she said, stumbling over her words. Her eyes seemed to unfocus and
she dropped the gun.
 "..my God.."
 Jason was obviously very pained by her sudden remembrance; if so, why had he
provoked it?
 "Jason.." she said, truly recognizing him now. He could see tears on her face
in the backwash of her light.
 "It's okay, Jenna," he answered, comforting her with an embrace. "Nothing's
changed. You're okay."
 "Wh.. what happened?" she said, trying desperately not to cry, and failing.
 "A final, huge battle with an unseen force that was tearing our universe
apart," he said. "There were twenty-four of us including you, me, Amy, and
Brian,.. and twenty pilots under our command. The four of us were flying the
Nightmare Machine, and we came up with a plan to try to cancel out the
deltaReality waves bouncing around the galaxy by using our dimensional jump
drives as reflectors. Needless to say, it failed.. Brian and I were tossed into
a null-dimension, where Bell picked us up and put us into a wormhole which led
to another reality. And this reality here, it was rewritten so that we never
existed here."
 "So how.. how come I can remember you two, then?"
 He sighed. "To be honest, I don't know. I broke a lot of rules coming here,
and many more by telling you what I have so far--and will continue to. Not just
rules of my own making, either; I was afraid that I would cause some serious
dimensional screwups by making you remember us."
 "Why do it, then?"
 By this time, she'd calmed down, and Jay motioned for her to follow him to a
seated position on the floor. "I felt it had to be done," he said. "When I
found out that I could return here, those few months ago, the feeling I felt, I
..I can't describe it. It was as if something that had been out of my reach for
thousands of years, across all time, had just fallen into my lap. And now, I
wasn't.. WILLING.. to take hold of it."
 "What do you mean?"
 "Like I said, Bell put us in another dimension again. We.. well, we found some
new friends there. Female friends."
 "Oh," she said after a long pause. "Brian too?" 
 Jason nodded. "Anyway, something in me made me want to come back and talk to
you guys. Maybe it's what I saw when I brought Peachbody here. Your attitudes
certainly had changed from what they were when we were around.. Amy was just SO
suspicious of us. It just hurt me so bad to see you two not recognize me, so I
figured even if we can't come back, you have a right to know we're out there."
 "Who was the girl you were with back then? Your new, um, girlfriend?"
 He coughed. "Actually, Gina is Brian's new significant other."
 Again Jenna didn't answer for a long time. "Oh," she finally said.
 "But it took them a long time to get together," Jason told her. "It took him
forever to get over losing you."
 "Why can't you guys just come back to stay?" she wanted to know. "Besides your
new friends--couldn't you bring them along?"
 "I wish it were that simple," he sighed. "For one thing, this reality has been
altered; even though you now remember us, nobody else does, and things like The
Nightmare Machine aren't configured for a four-element team anymore." He paused
for a moment. "For another thing," he continued at long last, "when we made the
last involuntary jump, somehow all traces of the retrovirus were purged from
our systems."
 "You mean--"
 "I'm a three thousand year old man, in a normally aging twenty-five year old
body," he said. "For all intents and purposes, physically, Brian and I are as
old as we look. Chronologically and mentally, we still retain all the same
memories we had when we were Detian, but.." he trailed off, shrugging.
 "But you could take some of it from us and start over," she pointed out.
 He shook his head. "I don't want to try. Who knows if two infusions won't kill
us? I just don't want to take the chance. Believe me, though, if I thought it
was safe, I'd do it in a picosecond and return here."
 She nodded this time. "I wish you weren't always right," she said.
 "I sometimes wish that, too."
 "So.. what do you guys do for excitement now?"
 "Well.. the Earth we now inhabit is one I once knew as a fiction. Do you
remember the Indiana Jones stories?"
 "Yeah," she said. "Are you living in the 1930s?"
 "No," he laughed, "the present, the 1990s. Actually, we've met up with a trio
of sisters who do much the same thing as Indy did."
 "I think I remember you telling me about a comic book like that once," Jenna
said.
 "Exactly," Jason smiled. "In any case, that's what we do. Adventuring and
exploring, mostly. Occasionally it's a big treasure-hunt, but most of the time,
it's pure fun."
 "Is that who you were with when you came here last?"
 "Yes.. Gina Diggers is the eldest of the three sisters." Jason proceeded to
recount for Jenna the entire Origin Story of the Diggers Family, at length;
interspersed with side stories and questions from Jenna, they sat and talked
for hours.
 At one point, Jason sighed distantly and looked at Jenna. "Call it crazy, call
it maybe me considering that there might be a higher power in control here, but
sometimes I wonder if it's not just Brian and I that keep jumping."
 "Come again?"
 "Well, when Brian and I jump, we stay the same, mostly; we remember who we
are, who we were, and so on. On this last jump, though, we kind of took the
place of the Brian and Jason that already existed on that Earth, and we got a
few of 'their' memories, too. It got me thinking: What if you two jump, too,
you and Amy, but you end up changing identities every time?"
 "You think that's possible?"
 "At this point in my life, I'm ready to believe that anything's possible. I've
seen too many things, lived too many lives, to think any other way. I also
think it just might've already HAPPENED. What if, in some twisted way, you've
followed the two of us through life? I worked it out one night, thinking of all
the women Brian and I have lived our lives with. Maybe Mitch, Aileen Scott,
Kylie Spilogale, Amy Lorne, and Brianna Diggers are all the same person? And
maybe Jen Fokker, Keana Patiro, YOU, and Gina Diggers are all one too."
 She didn't say anything, so he continued. "I didn't really have a POINT in
coming up with that theory, it's just one of those 'what-ifs' I seem to find
myself dreaming up now and then. I guess maybe my subconscious thought that it
would make sense of my and Brian's lives--give them purpose--if something like
that were true."
 Jenna smiled at Jason. "I don't know whether or not it's true, your theory--
but let me confirm for you that your lives DO have purpose. Think of all that
you've done in your time. THAT'S what you were put here for."
 "Strange," Jay quipped. "I always thought that answer was 42."
 Jenna laughed good and loud for a moment or three on that one; finally, she
calmed down again and spoke. "God, now that I remember you, I've missed you
two."
 Jason felt a bit of apprehension and fear from that statement, knowing that
his actions caused her to feel that way. He chose not to dwell further on it
and instead said, "I know that you two will keep up the good work you've been
doing for the past few years by yourself, and a few years before that with us.
You're great at what you do."
 "We had excellent teachers," she chuckled, then fell silent once more. At
last, she said: "I just wish I could see Brian one last time."
 Jason seemed to ponder that for a moment. He then stood up and motioned for
Jenna to do the same.
 "Your wish is my command, Miss Gresko," he said, aiming what looked like a
remote control at a blank wall. Instantly, a swirling mass of color and just
plain blurry images grew into being.
 "What.." she stammered, raising her voice to be heard over the crackling and
popping sounds and the roar of an unseen wind.
 "Come back with me, briefly," Jason said, gesturing to the light-gate. "As you
said, for one last time."

SECONDS LATER
THE BAY OF TONKA 

 "Be very, VERY quiet," Jay whispered as quietly as he dared. "Bri' and Cheets
are very light sleepers and they'll probably wake up. Nobody knows I came to
see you; if I get caught, I'll be in some serious shit."
 "Okay," she nodded, and followed him to the living spaces. Being very early
morning, nobody was up; the lights were all off.
 "Fortunately, everyone except the two girls are all HEAVY sleepers," Jason
smiled. "That's Bri and Gina's room there."
 Jenna looked back at Jason with a grateful expression. "You don't mind?"
 "Hey. It's the LEAST I could do." He waved toward the door. "Go."
 She gingerly tiptoed through the open doorway, and Jason remained out in the
hallway, out of sight and earshot.

 Jenna's eyes got used to the darkness fairly easily; she could soon make out 
Brian lying in bed, well and truly unconscious.
 There beside him was a young blonde-haired woman, as well; Jenna recognized
her to be Gina, the girl that had accompanied Jason to Malfarin months before.
 For a few moments, she watched the two sleep contently in each other's arms.
She felt no ill will toward the eldest Diggers girl; instead, she found herself
feeling happy for both of them.
 Finally, she went to Brian's side of the bed and crouched down, her face less
than a meter from his. She watched him breathe for a moment, then smiled and
whispered, "Goodbye, Brian. Have a nice life."
 He did not awaken, but seemed to stir a bit and then smile.

 Jay looked up as Jenna came back out of the bedroom, tears in her eyes again.
They said nothing as they returned to Jason and Brianna's lab.
 Finally, as Jason was starting up the light-gate generator again, Jenna spoke.
"Do I have to do anything?"
 "Just step inside," he said. "You'll step out exactly where we left from."
 "Thank you," she said sincerely, hugging him again.
 "No problem," he answered. "Don't be a stranger, okay?"
 She stood back, looking at him questioningly.
 He held out the light-gate controller to her. "It's very simple to use. If you
..or Amy.. ever feel like stopping by.. don't hesitate."
 Jenna didn't know what to say.
 "Quick," Jason said, watching the screen of a computer nearby, "someone's
coming. Get outta here."
 She stepped into the portal, throwing a very grateful expression Jason's way.
He smiled and saluted, and then she and the light-gate were gone.
 Seconds later, Brian padded barefootedly into the lab. "Jason, it's four-a-
fuckin' clock in the morning. What're you doing in here?"
 "Sorry," Jason said, feigning embarrassment. "Just running some tests."
 "Keep it down, willya? Let me sleep in on my birthday. Please."
 "Sorry," he repeated. "And Happy Birthday."
 Brian plodded out again, and Jason sat back and smiled.

MALFARIN II RECEPTION AREA

 Kris again looked up, this time as Jenna came out of the cell block, less than
two seconds after she'd entered.
 "Everything okay in there?" he said.
 "Ohh, yeah," she smiled. "Better than you'd ever imagine."
 She sat around watching Kris do his work while she waited for Amy to arrive--
still a half-hour away. Kris asked more than once about the big grin on Jenna's
face, but she refused to answer.
 When Amy finally arrived and processed her prisoner, she came over to Jenna
and talked as they both went back into the hangar.
 "Did you find out what the abnormality was?" Amy asked Jenna.
 "Yup," Jenna smiled. She stuck her hands in her hip pockets.
 "What was it?"
 Jenna steered Amy to a nearby bench and sat her down. She extracted something
from her pocket and looked at it briefly before turning it around to face Amy.
It was a photograph that she'd stolen from the Bay of Tonka, of four people:
Brian, Gina, Jason, and Brianna.
 As Amy looked at the picture, showing the same vague signs of recognition as
Jenna first had, Jenna said, "We need to talk."

                                   THE END

    For Brian, and moreso for Jenna. I wish it had turned out differently.
                                     -J.

Jason Alexander Low
lowj@cadvision.com
1030hrs, 18 July 1997