Forge of War (Jack of Harts) (36 page)

Samantha shook her head in amusement and patted his arm.

Filled with the music, Jack took a long sliding step away from Samantha and held out one hand in a wordless request for a dance.  She answered in kind, taking his hand with a knowing smirk, and they followed the other students onto the dance floor.

A bonfire burned on a moonlit beach.  Stars twinkled in the firelight, and music echoed across the surface of Rainy Lake.  Old and new friends alike danced and sang and ate and swam and did all the other things that friends do when they get together.  Jack danced with Sarah and Kelly.  He took a break to arm wrestle with Big John and Chris.  He swam with Hillary and Betty.  He sparred with Jay and Tom and he sang with Taylor and Jennifer.  In the end, he sat down and drank with Charles and Samantha, crossing his legs and leaning back in a beach chair to relax.  After a time that felt forever and only a few moments at the same time, Betty and Kelly walked up to them.

Jack turned to Charles.  “Guess I’ll see you soon.”  Charles nodded and faded away, beach chair and all, leaving nothing but sand where he’d lain.  “And I’ll see
you
tonight
,” Jack said to Samantha and she leaned over to kiss his cheek before fading out.

“So what’s going on today, ladies?” he asked with a calm smile and came to his feet.  It wasn’t really them of course.  It never was.  Nobody here really was.  They were his imagination.  He knew that.  But Kelly and Betty didn’t always
feel
like that.  Sometimes they felt like somebody else, like their words came from someone
else’s
mind.  Or from a
really
strange corner of his own that he just didn’t recognize.

“Well, you’re obviously not going to stay today,” Kelly said with a regretful shake of her head.  “We could have so much fun here.”

Jack shook his head and watched all of his friends party.  It felt good to watch them have fun, so good.  “I’ve heard the sales pitch.  I’m not interested.”

“Not today at least.”  Kelly shrugged.  “But there’s always another day.”

Jack smiled at Betty.  “And that’s what
she’s
here for.  To help me on
those
days.”  He furrowed his brow at her.  “Whoever
you
are.”

Betty smiled back at him, looking totally innocent of not being who she appeared to be.  Jack shrugged.  Whoever she was, she’d never steered him wrong.  And he had to admit she’d picked a good face to wear.

“Ah,” Kelly whispered with a knowing look.  “This is one of your
paranoid
days when you think we’re somebody else.”  She sighed.  “You’re right.  I admit it.  Nobody lives forever, Jack.  One day, you will walk with me.”

Jack nodded and aimed a wry smile at her.  “And that day will be the best day of your life.”

Kelly laughed.  “Do you have any idea how many people I’ve taken to the other side?”

Jack shrugged.  “No idea.”  He focused and a white western suit appeared on his lanky body, a white cowboy hat on his head, and he tucked one thumb into a belt and the fingers of his other hand into a pocket.  “But I do know this.  You’ve ain’t
never
taken Captain Jack with you.  And the day you do will be a day you never forget.”

Kelly laughed again.  “You are so full of yourself.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Jack answered with a tip of his hat to her before turning to Betty and crooking an arm out for her to take.  “Shall we, my lady?”

Betty took his arm with a smile.  “We shall,” she said and they walked forward into the rainbow.

Jack shut his eyes against the light, opened them and looked into the early morning darkness.  He blinked, focused, and picked out the edges of the guest room he slept in.  A searching arm found an empty bed beside him, and a disappointed breath of air escaped his lips.

“Lights,” he called out and a soft diffuse light bathed the room.  He blinked against the sudden assault, realizing he should have told them to come up slowly, and felt his eyes adjust to the new light level.  He opened his eyes wide again and scanned the room.

On one wall, he saw the door he needed and whistled.  He peeled the blankets back, rolled off the bed onto his feet, and made his way into the guest bathroom to do his morning business.  A quick shower later, he toweled off, dropped it in the laundry chute, and stepped back out into the guest bedroom feeling refreshed and ready for another day.

He picked yesterday’s Dress Whites off the floor and pulled the rumpled uniform on with a frown.  Charles wouldn’t like that.  And to be honest, neither would he.  Coming back to work, after a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed, with a rumpled uniform just didn’t feel right.  He rubbed the uniform as straight as possible and stuffed his feet into the bright red guest slippers at the foot of the bed.  He shook his head, grabbed his cowboy hat, and turned away from the bed.

Jack opened the door, hat in hand, and stepped out into the hall to see Samantha’s father waiting for him.  Jack stopped in his tracks and swallowed, eyes scanning up and down the man.  A dark red robe covered a dress shirt and trousers, and a pair of matching fluffy red slippers that just looked wrong on a man that looked as serious as her father.

“Mister McEntyre,” he said, working hard to keep nervousness out of his tone.

Samantha’s father smiled at him in a knowing manner and scanned his uniform.  “Still not making use of the closet I see,” he said with a shake of his head.

Jack cleared his throat.  “No, Mister McEntyre.”

Samantha’s father nodded slowly, as if deep in thought.  “You should,” he finally said, clapped Jack firmly on the shoulder with one hand, and turned to walk away.  “Joining us for breakfast this morning, Jack?” he asked as he made his way towards the stairs.

Jack stood still for several moments, a chill running down his spine.  Most fathers didn’t do that.  The man had accepted him.  That was huge.  Jack cleared his throat and turned to follow Samantha’s father.  “Yes, Mister McEntyre.”

The breakfast turned out to be good, with bacon and sausage and eggs, along with something they called scones, and a black pudding.  There were also onions and tomatoes on the small table set for three, but really the most amazing part of the breakfast was when Samantha walked into the room in her emerald dressing gown.  Well, actually the
most
amazing part was when she kissed him on the cheek, in front of her father, before sitting down.  The rest of the breakfast pretty much paled in comparison to that moment.

After they were all done eating, Jack excused himself, kissed Samantha on the cheek, and made for the front door.  He kicked his slippers off and pulled his uniform boots on, feeling the uniform really set in at that moment.  Standing tall and proud, he placed the cowboy hat on his head, and pulled in a deep breath.  He let it out, pushed the door open, and stepped outside McEntyre House into the crisp morning air.

Jack sucked in a deep breath as he saw the first sun peaking between the trees and reached into his slightly rumpled uniform to pull his sunglasses out.  He slipped them on over his eyes and sighed in relief, then ambled down the steps and walked around the car to the driver’s side.

Jack opened the door and froze as he saw Samantha leaning against the doorframe.  Her emerald dressing gown and red hair flamed in the light of the rising sun and Jack smiled at her, took in another deep breath, and slipped into the car.  The door shut and he saw Jasmine sitting on the dashboard in her normal white tank top and blue jeans.

“Ready to go back to base?” Jack asked.

“Ready,” Jasmine answered and the car began to move away from McEntyre House.

Jack smiled at Jasmine.  “Did you have a good night?”

Jasmine sighed in pleasure.  “Oh yes. 
Very
good.  Norman is…well…how was
your
night?”

Jack chuckled at her redirect.  “
Very
good,” he returned and glanced at the empty seat next to him where Betty usually sat.  “Betty?”

“I’m still in privacy mode,” Betty answered.

Jasmine gasped.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered and flickered out, the hum of holoemitters fading away with her form.  “Me too.”

Jack glanced around the empty cabin of the car for a second before sighing.  “OK.  What’s up?”

Silence answered him for several seconds, an eternity of cyber time if Betty was actually considering what she was going to say.  “Those dreams you told Sam about,” she finally broke the silence with.  “The people you dream about…” she trailed off and silence reigned again.

Jack cleared his throat.  “Yes?” he prompted.

“Do you ever dream about
me
?”

Jack smiled, relaxed back into his seat, and sighed.  “Actually, the days I really don’t want to wake up?  Those are the days that
you
talk me into opening my eyes one more time.”

“Oh,” Betty whispered.  “How did you wake up
before
I was born?”

Jack smiled and shook his head.  “Well, I spent some time with Taylor and Jennifer before volunteering to join the military. 
They
wouldn’t let me sleep my life away
either
,” he said with a chuckle.

“I see.  And then it was your hate of the Shang that kept you waking up.”

Jack sighed.  “Yup.  I’ve got a better reason now.”  Jack pulled in long breath, let it go, and shook his head at the mild trepidation that filled him.  “You can tell yourself that,” he finally whispered, knowing there was no turning back from telling her that.

Silence reigned for several seconds again before Betty answered.  “Thank you, Jack.  Exiting privacy mode now.”

The hum of holoemitters returned and Betty and Jasmine flickered back into existence.  Jasmine glanced back and forth between them for a couple seconds before turning to her work of flying the car.  Betty smiled at her before turning her gaze to Jack.

“Thank you for telling me,” she whispered.

“Nothin’ but the truth,” Jack answered with a shrug.

“You
do
realize it’s not really me of course?” she asked with an upraised eyebrow.

Jack laughed.  “Oh yeah.  Just figments of my imagination telling me what I need to hear to keep moving.”  He cleared his throat and winced.  “Most of the time.”

Betty cocked her head to the side in concern.

Jack sighed.  “Look, you always want me to come back, even when you don’t say a thing.  Kelly always wants me to stay.”  Belly looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened in recognition.  “Yes. 
That
Kelly,” Jack said with chuckle.

“You
do
have a thing for redheads,” Betty whispered.

Jack put on an act of being insulted.  “Take that back!  I do
not
discriminate based on hair color.  Equal opportunity for
all
colors, that’s me.”

Betty giggled.  “Keep digging,” she shooed him on.

Jack shook his head and sighed.  “Thing is, sometimes it feels like I’m talking to someone else, not just a figment of my imagination.  Sometimes you two say things that just don’t feel like anything I’d ever say if that makes sense.”

Betty stopped giggling and gave him a very serious stare.  “Be careful, Jack.  That sounds like crazy talk.”

Jack nodded.  “Why do you think I don’t tell people that?”

Jasmine cleared her throat from the dashboard to get their attention.  “Drew used to say she saw flashes of the future in her dreams.  That she could sometimes tell people not to do things and if they listened, nothing would happen.  If they didn’t, something bad happened.”  Jasmine pulled in a deep breath and let it out again.  “I remember one morning after a really bad dream, tossing and turning.  She woke up and made me promise not to shut down if she died.”  Jasmine chewed on her lower lip.  “If I hadn’t listened to her, I never would have met Norman,” she finished with a sigh.

Jack smiled at the thought of the stuffy old cyber who ran McEntyre House getting that sigh out of Jasmine.  “He’s a very lucky guy,” Jack whispered.  “And I hope he knows it.”

“Oh, he’d
better
,” Jasmine growled, a red haze seeming to appear around her for a moment.

Jack suppressed a chuckle and looked at Betty who smiled back at him.  Jack relaxed back into his seat and laid his arm on the armrest between them, hand up.  She saw the hand, looked him in the eyes, and he nodded.  Her smile grew softer and she placed her hand on his.

They sat like that all the way back to base, the feathery touch of her holographic hand barely rippling across his real hand.  Jack chewed his lower lip, deep in thought.  Questions came and went out of his mind, dismissed almost as quickly as they came to mind.  Some questions could never be unasked after all.

Finally, the base came into view and the car nosed down towards the street in front of the gate.  Jasmine pulled it out of the dive and brought them to a slow roll through the opening before it closed again.  She pulled the car into a parking spot and Jack let out a long breath.  It was time to get back to work.  He pushed the door open and rolled out of the car, rising to his feet in a smooth motion.

He stepped away, smoothed out his uniform as much as possible, and began to walk towards the barracks.  Jasmine and Betty walked on either side of him in their own Dress Whites, and the holoemitters in his uniform hummed to life as they walked out of range of the car’s emitters.  To his practiced eye, their holoforms flickered during the shift, but he knew that most people couldn’t see it.