Jessica opened her eyes and looked around. Where am I? She knew that she was far from her hotel room in Atlanta and even farther from her home in DC. Yet, as she took in the room and wrapped herself in the blankets, she felt comfortable and safe in this strange bed. Jessica had slept deeply, expecting to wake up to the bright morning sun, but it was still dark. She got out of bed and walked over to the window. She opened it, breathing in cool air from a star-filled night sky. She felt more rested than she had in a long time.
Although Jessica couldn’t see the moon, it must have been a full one. Everything on the ground was illuminated. Her room had a perfect view of various trees planted in perfectly alternating rows that, from her view, formed a quarter of a circle. Jessica had a memory for each tree she recognized. The pomegranate trees were from her childhood in Arizona. The apple trees reminded her of time spent in New England, while the orange trees brought back a memory of the last time she spoke with her dad. He had been physically there, but his mind kept slipping away until it couldn’t find its way back. When he was there with her, he was there. He had always been the most present father. However, when his mind took flight… Jessica shook her head. A tactic she’d learned to fight off negative, unproductive thoughts. At least I had him when I did.
After three rows of trees, there was a path that led from the house and disappeared into the forest. Jessica saw something move on the path and froze, as if she was somewhere she shouldn’t be. Someone was walking toward the house from the forest. The person seemed small in stature, but that might have just been the distance. Jessica then saw two other people walking from the house to meet with the person: one was Vau, and the other was Evelyn. As the third person got closer, Jessica recognized it to be Jordan. She was Ori’s former right hand at the Singularity Group, and Jessica believed she was still supporting Leslie there in some way.
They stopped a ways away, but Jessica could still hear their conversation.
“How’d it go?” Evelyn asked.
“It went well. I delivered the box,” Jordan said. “He thought I was a boy.”
Vau laughed loudly. “I told you the hat and baggy clothes would be a good cover.”
“Whatever,” Jordan said. “Is Jessica here?”
“She’s upstairs in her room,” Evelyn said.
“Can I go see her?”
“Not yet,” Evelyn said. “You’ve got to debrief.”
“Besides,” Vau chimed in, “Jessica should be sleeping.”
“Pffft. She’s never slept through the night here,” Jordan said.
“Still, her mind has to adjust on its own. Ori must see her next. She’s his recruit,” Evelyn said.
“Fine,” Jordan said. “Where is Ori?”
“He and Tony are by the pond,” Evelyn said. “If you go now, you can catch them before they head back. Have Tony do a sweep.”
“You know,” Vau said, “just in case you left a trail.”
“I never leave a trail,” Jordan said as she turned to walk down a path headed back into the woods.
Ori? The pond? Jessica’s heart raced. She threw on her clothes, ran out of the room and down the stairs, and sprinted down the path in pursuit of Jordan. The woods were thick with large trees, but the moonlight provided enough light on the dirt trail for Jessica to see.
Jordan was out of sight, yet somehow Jessica’s legs knew where to take her. The trail opened to a grassy meadow. Jessica knew this place, and not from long before. She had been here recently. This is where she came the night of the incident at Zach’s house. She stopped and scanned the area. Jessica saw Jordan off to her right, just as she disappeared, walking down a slight hill. Jessica walked in the same direction. When she arrived at the top of the slope, she saw the outline of three bodies standing at the edge of the pond. Jessica knew who they were, but their forms appeared altered, more fluid somehow. Tony and Jordan walked off together along the other side of the pond. Ori saw Jessica and waited for her as she descended the hill. By the time she reached him, Jordan and Tony had vanished.
Ori was taller than usual and was more of an outline of himself. He had no defining features, and millions of tiny lights, like stars, had replaced his skin. She couldn’t have fathomed this a day prior, but at this moment, all felt normal and quite familiar. I’ve seen him this way before.
“Welcome back, Jessica,” Ori said.
“Am I dreaming?”
“No, you’re not. Here at the Point, we can be ourselves. I’m glad you made it safely. Sorry that I couldn’t bring you here. There are rules, one of which is that you only get an escort once. After that, you must be able to return here on your own. What are you doing out here?”
“I—I couldn’t sleep,”
“Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. That means your mind is trying to work something out. It’s sometimes easier to find answers when everyone else is asleep.”
“What are you doing out here?”
Ori studied the pond. Jessica followed his eyes to see a giant koi fish floating at the top. Its skin was opaque now, although Jessica could still see some of its internal system moving and working like she had the night of the incident at Zach’s. It was moving slower than the ones she’d seen before.
“Is it dead?” she asked.
“Not yet, but it’s in trouble.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
Ori inhaled deeply. “Many, many things,” he said as he exhaled. “But that’s not your worry, that’s mine. C’mon, let’s get you back.”
“I overheard Evelyn say that you wanted to see me first thing. Since I couldn’t sleep and knew that Jordan was coming to see you, I figured I’d see you now. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s all good,” Ori said. “I’m glad you saw the pond… again.” As they walked away from the pond, toward the house, Ori’s skin, features, and typical appearance returned. “I’m sorry that we had to bring you back here under these conditions, but I didn’t see any other way. The virus is growing out of control, and if a cure is to be discovered, we needed to get Gabriel’s blessing to bring you back here.”
“But,” Jessica thought back to the conversation at St. Regis in Atlanta, “I thought that your deal with Gabriel was to get Zach’s memory back.”
“It is that too. But, my primary objective was to get you here. Zach has an important role to play, especially when it comes to this virus. But your role, what you’ll do, what you’ve done, will buy humanity time.”
“I thought that the dire situation is this pandemic, which seems to drag on.”
“This pandemic is a challenge, one that you all could have solved by now if you were to get out of your own way. But that’s not what we were activated to help prevent. We’ve placed several solutions for the virus on Earth with people who have the background to bring them to reality. But there’s so much division and interference that it will be decades and millions of lives before you figure it out.”
Jessica felt guilty without knowing why.
“Don’t worry,” Ori said, “and don’t feel sad. People will learn to manage until they understand how to coexist.”
Jessica realized they had already walked back to the house.
“Get some rest now. Tomorrow morning you and I will talk more.”
Jessica walked toward the front door of the house.
“Wait,” Ori shouted from behind her.
Jessica turned and watched Ori walk to one of the orange trees. He picked a beautiful large orange and tossed it to Jessica.
“What is this for?” she asked.
“Proof,” he said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”