The Anomaly

Journey

Gina nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It was painful, seeing Jack brought back to life like that ... Jack's body, I mean. I know you're nothing like him, yet in so many ways you are. Little things, gestures, the way your body moves."

Watching her as she spoke, Ernest felt incapable of interpreting the wash of emotions evident in her expression. What he did recognize was their intensity, and his own reaction to the undeniable beauty of a woman whose face was in such a predicament. He couldn't help but feel compassion – and yet this was a woman who had conspired to kidnap him. A part of him had wanted to deny her complicity, to place the blame squarely on The Capt'n. But how much, he wondered, could he trust someone who had consented, however tacitly, to have the body of someone she cared about paraded about before her, had agreed to her lover's shell being occupied by another man? How much, for that matter, could he trust his own responses to her?

"I think you better tell me how it happened."

Gina sniffed and nodded, composed herself. "It happened right here. On this ship." She paused a moment, as if gathering memories. "I first met Jack a long time ago. Before any of us knew anything about the Anomaly. Truth is, it was by working together that we found it, which makes it as much his discovery as mine. It's hard to explain, but perhaps you can imagine. Such an intoxicating time. Alien artefacts tend to be highly inscrutable, yet we had stumbled on a way to make sense of them. And there it was, the information just sitting there in plain sight. Like it had been put there for us to find. Surely that had to mean something?"

Ernest listened in silence, still trying to take in what he could from the delicate movements of her face. He'd asked her to tell him what happened, and she had interpreted the question as being about the death rather than the resurrection. He supposed that was only to be expected. And while learning the origins of his body had shed new light on the whole situation, it left him no better equipped to make sense of it all. He had agreed to go into the Anomaly; but that had only diminished, not eliminated, her need to play him along. He could still change his mind; she must be aware of that. This was something he had made clear when announcing his intentions. The two Ernests would enter the Anomaly, but whether they committed to completing the journey would depend on what they found once inside. Would depend on how they felt about the mission.

"He wasn't like anyone I'd ever met before." She dabbed at her face with a fingertip, wiping beneath the eyes. Ernest could see no evidence of actual tears. "There is an expression – an intense young man. It could have been coined just for him. He even quoted poetry at me once. Something about a flame that burns clear and smokeless, yet is all the hotter for it. He was talking about the allure of the unknown, but he could have been talking about himself." Her expression was wistful, an emotion that echoed in her words. "It was a peculiar courtship. At least it would have appeared that way to most people – perhaps not to you." As Gina raised her head Ernest met her gaze with a raised eyebrow, reacting for the moment as if back in his original body.

"You never met him, did you?" She continued, acknowledging his shake of the head. "He was very intent, very focused. And enthusiastic. Until we got here, the possibilities were wide open. We could speculate to our hearts' content. And we did."

She smiled at the memory, withdrawing into herself for a few seconds before resuming the story. "How The Capt'n got involved, I couldn't really say. It seemed like he was just there one day. Some prior acquaintance with Jack, I assumed."

"For all The Capt'n's many failings, he has a certain skill when it comes to putting a mission together. This ship for a start."

She smiled. "Yes. I can't fault him in that regard. It was just the three of us in the end. We wanted to move quickly. Before anyone else got the same idea. I hadn't published my findings – I didn't want to do that until I knew what if anything was out here – but there was always a risk that someone else might stumble across this place, recognize it for what it is. Back then we hadn't understood how difficult the Anomaly would be to enter, how it is blocking access to whatever is in there. If we had we might have been in less of a rush."