You don't know Jo

Chapter 17

by Pchefbeth

Carter walked down the hallway towards the infirmary a puzzled scowl arranged across his features. With the phones acting up he had spent the last few hours going from house to house in town looking for Allison's missing staff. Most were single but the few that had spouses were surprised that they hadn't arrived to work. He had traced one or two as far as Cafe Diem where Vincent remembered giving them breakfast or a to go order, but then nothing further. It was like they had vanished before reaching GD.

As he walked the hallways the back of his neck tingled and he rubbed rubbed at it. Something wasn't adding up but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was too wrapped up with worry about what was going on back at GD with Jo and unable still to reach anyone through the phones. With a quick sigh he turned down the hallway that led to the infirmary, wanting to get an update on what was happening. Never before had he missed having his PDA as much as he did now.

He stepped through the infirmary doors, his mind still half processing what was bothering him about all of the missing scientists, but those thoughts flew out the window when he spotted Jo, still lying unconscious in the infirmary bed. He stopped next to the bed, struck at how odd it was to see her so still. When she had the open heart surgery because of the bullet that had appeared in her chest he'd come in to see her in recovery, but he'd been so busy trying to stop the random wormholes. When he'd made time to get back she'd been awake and even from the bed trying to work. Seeing her so still for this long was simply unnerving. For the umpteenth time he wondered how the artifact had gotten into her hands. The tingling sensation reappeared on the back of his neck and he rubbed at it again and glanced up to find Grace watching him. She tried to smile and failed, the worry on her face still very evident.

"No change," he asked.

Grace shrugged and gestured to Jo, "No change in either direction, which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing. She hasn't morphed again to another memory, but we have no way of knowing what's going on with her right now. Agent Lattimer and his boss, that Agent Neilson are really concerned at what she might be facing in there right now, and we're helpless to know," she said as she threw her hands out in a helpless gesture.

Carter moved around to the other side of the bed and laid a comforting hand on Grace's shoulder, "It's going to be ok, She's tough, and if anyone can handle this..." but he trailed off as Grace shook her head.

"No, she may not be. Jo is in a really vulnerable place right now. I know that everyone thinks that she is this really tough soldier that can handle everything, but the memories that she's been living through, just the ones that we saw, they were all chosen by this- this thing to show us a part of Jo that many of us didn't know was there. In the past 24 hours she's had to relive her mother passing away, the anxiety of adolescence, and now we know that she's been going through the physical trauma of injuries as well as the emotional." Grace crossed her arms over her chest. "I designed this device," she said gesturing to the silver node behind Jo's ear, "for soldiers that had to deal with the trauma from PTSD coming back from a battle zone. What she's dealing with right now, reliving all of it, and on her own, unaware that we're here or that its not real." She tapered off and finished quietly, "Jack that would do anyone in. Jo's been reacting to everything that's happened since you all got back and found your world was different. She was already on emotionally boggy ground. I'm just worried that this may break her."

Carter stared down at Jo and nodded. "We just need to concentrate on getting her out safe and sound. We'll handle the rest when we have her back." He glanced up, noting the mostly empty room. Pete was off in a corner talking on his farnsworth but no one else was in. "Have we heard anything from the others?"

Grace shook her head. "Still no word on the phones. We can dial but they just ring or go to voicemail. No texts are getting through either. Henry is supposed to check in," she said as she craned her neck to look at a nearby clock, "in about a half hour. Allison was down here a little while ago checking on Jo." She scrunched her face up as though trying to remember. "Fargo went to Claudia to see, something about...goo, and they haven't been back. Any luck with finding any of Allison's staff?"

Carter shook his head, "It's weird. Its like they vanished. He scratched the back of his neck staring down at Jo, I just can't put my finger on it, but this all just feels..."

"Empty," Zane said as he walked over to them.

"Zane," Grace said in surprise, then looked around for her husband, "Where's Henry?"

Zane gestured back to the open door. "He's still in his lab running one last test. He sent me down to check in," then turning his attention back to Jo, asked, "How is she?

Grace shook her head slowly.

"What do you mean empty," Carter asked.

"I mean, this place is empty," Zane said. "I just came down the hallway and didn't see a single person. I know that whenever Mansfield comes into town everyone usually gets pretty quiet, but this place feels, I don't know empty."

"Maybe Parrish is drawing a crowd with his demonstration," Carter offered.

Behind them Pete hung up on his phone call with Artie and came over to join them.

"Anything," Grace asked.

Pete shook his head. "I told Artie about your idea," and he shook his head. "He's not really thrilled about it, but given the alternatives," he said trailing off with a meaningful look at Jo.

Carter and Zane were instantly alert, "What idea?"

Grace shook her head, "It's a long shot, but I wondered if we turned on the memory imager to display memories as well as receive them, then we might be able to get through to Jo's subconscious. We would be able to have a conversation with her. Best case scenario we could impress upon her what is really going on, and assess her mental condition."

"Worst case," Pete interjected, "the artifact speeds up or the other person brings Jo into a memory that can cause her harm and we can't stop it."

"So how would we do this," Carter asked.

The door to the infirmary opened and Fargo and Claudia rushed in, each holding purple IV bags. "Hold up, we may have an idea on how to weaken the artifact," Claudia told the group.

Fargo held up the bag to show to them. "Its a diffused version of the neutralizing solution," he told them as he handed one to Pete. "Since we can't get the artifact to the goo, we'll bring the goo to it," he said gesturing to Jo.

Pete nodded at the bag and handed one to Grace along with a pair of gloves. "Ok, let's hook it up to her and then fire up this imager of yours Doc."

As Grace worked Carter explained the plan to Fargo and Claudia. Fargo looked to each of them voicing the question that no one had yet, "So who is going to go in?"

Carter shrugged his shoulders and gestured to himself. "I think I should go. I've known Jo a long time and she'll trust me, which in this case is what we need."

Fargo looked as though he were going to argue, but held his tongue, and Zane merely put his hands in his pockets and stared down at the ground.

Grace gestured to a nearby infirmary bed and Carter sat down on it allowing Grace to place a silver node behind his ear, and then she gestured for him to lay back. Picking up a tablet she began the start up sequence, but nothing happened. With a quick glance at her screen she tried again, but still nothing.

"The system isn't responding," she said, her voice concerned.

Carter sat up and glanced at Jo. "She isn't...?"

"No," Grace said shaking her head in bewilderment, "there's been no change in Jo, but I hadn't counted on this." With a quick glance up at Zane, she returned her attention to the screen. "I can't establish a link because the neural system is only meant to support two people. The system is reading an already established link already...with Zane, and I can't shut it down."

The group turned to face Zane.

"When we gave you the connection earlier." Grace said quietly," it established a link, even though your neurotransmitter was only receiving images. You are the only one that would be able to communicate with Jo."

Zane shot a glance over at Jo and swallowed hard as his jaw worked furiously to contain his nerves.

Carter cleared his throat, "Fargo, why don't you and Claudia go and check with Pete for a minute, and Grace, check on the phones to see what's keeping Henry, would you?"

Needing no further excuse the group scattered to different corners while Carter stood and approached Zane.

Zane couldn't keep still, moving his hands from his pockets to crossing them in front of his chest as he shook his head. "I can't do it," he told Carter before he'd even spoken. "I can't. You said so yourself, Jo needs someone to trust right now, and she won't listen to me, and if I can't get her to listen to me...," he said trailing off and his jaw tightened again at the implication.

Carter placed a comforting hand on Zane's shoulder and spoke in a low voice. "Hey, listen to me. Jo is complicated, always has been. But you've managed to break through the barriers that she has put up," he told Zane confidently. "You did it once before, and I know that you can do it again. Take what you have seen so far and use it to help get her to trust you."

Zane stared down at Jo silently for a moment before nodding his agreement.

"Ok then," Carter said and gestured to the bed he had just relinquished.

Zane lay down and Grace approached with an additional silver node in her hand and placed it over the one already behind his ear. "By adding this neurotransmitter, you will now be able to see Jo's memories and project your own for Jo to see. It may be disorienting at first," she warned, "but you will need to pick a memory that you want to project and really concentrate on it."

Pete joined them with Artie on the farnsworth once again. "The artifact," Artie told them, "will be fighting for control, so you'll need to stay in control of your emotions. The artifact will sense you through the transmitter and may try to wrest control of your memories. Be ready for that," he finished.

Grace finished the device and it glowed blue around the edges. "One more thing," she told him. "Everything that you have seen so far has been as a third person, not actively participating in the memories. This," she said pointing to the device, "will have you appear in memories as yourself. When Henry and I used it, I was standing where he remembered me standing, but I heard the memory of what was said. Its a little strange at first, so if you want to break through to her you may find that you will have to talk over yourself."

"And whatever you do," Artie said once again, "don't think about any memories when she'd been injured."

"Right," Zane drawled sarcastically. "Piece of cake."

Grace picked up her tablet and looked over at Fargo and Claudia who were monitoring the IV of the diluted neutralizing agent, "Ready?"

They both glanced at each other and nodded, "Ready."

Grace glanced down at Zane once more and he nodded wordlessly and with a quick flick of her fingers, the device on Jo's neck glowed blue and Zane felt the now familiar pulling sensation as the world dissolved around him.

Carter and the others watched as Zane's eyes closed and the monitors above his bed began reading his vital signs. Grace watched impassively for a moment then let out a small sigh, "His BP's steady and his brain waves show an increased level of activity. So far its working".

Carter let out a breath in relief and then looked over at Grace. "Can we see what's happening," he asked her, but she shook her head.

"No, the device was designed to just share memories between two people. Once that connection has been made there is no way to add a third. I'm sorry Jack."

Carter nodded to himself, and said softly, "He'll do ok."

Pete closed his farnsworth and approached Carter. "I don't get it," he said. "He's a convicted felon, one who everyone agrees doesn't get along with Jo, and you just calmly sent him in to rescue her. Be honest, what kind of chance does he even have in there?"

Carter merely stared down at Jo and Zane and said nothing.

Upstairs in a lab, Henry was trying to complete his work on a set of computers that was tied to the phone system in Eureka. He was muttering under his breath as he worked, confused by what he saw in the code. "I don't understand it," he said again under his breath. "The system's active scanner should have seen this malfunction and automatically corrected it, or sent an alert to Security that someone was trying to tamper with the system."

He scrubbed his hands over his face, and stared back down at the board trying to see the connections in his mind. When he returned once again to the alert sequence he frowned. Everything that he had showed that an alert had been sent to Security and had more than 10 hours ago. "With Jo out that meant it should have gone to her second in command, and he..." Henry stared down at the board in disbelief. "No. That's not possible." He quickly turned to another machine and began to open a channel to the infirmary. It beeped but no one answered. "Come on," he said angrily, then turned the monitor on to record a message. "Jack," he began, "I've found something in the phone system. We have a serious problem here. The phone line appears to have been tampered with, internally. I think-" but then he stopped as he could hear footsteps approaching the lab. He turned away from the camera and stared in surprise at the person who walked in. "I thought that you were working on-" and then stopped short as he saw the barrel of the gun. He raised his hands in defense. "What's going on?"

Next chapter. Our villain is revealed and we see Zane and Jo in the last set of memories. Hold on folks, we're coming to the end of this beast!