Hello, my name is Jack.  Sometimes I’ve wondered what that means.  Who am I?  I’ve never fully answered that question to myself, beyond the obvious answer of course.  I am who I choose to be.  I was born Jack, and I took to the name with a passion.  I was given the name Hart, and after some griping I chose to accept it.  I am Jack Hart.  People have taken to calling me Jack of Harts.

 

 

Jack

 

A chill east wind blew across the beach from Rainy Lake, cooling the heat of the sand that had been baked by the sun all day long.  Waves rippled across the lake, reflecting the light of a full moon across the beach and the double decker pontoon boat anchored a mere ten meters from shore.  A bonfire six meters high crackled on the beach, licking the sky with fire, warming the people dancing next to it, and bringing the smell of burning pinecones to their noses.  Another one snapped, crackled, and shot out of the fire, causing one young man to jump out of its way.

Jack frowned.  Maybe the pinecones hadn’t been the best idea he’d ever had.  They smelled good.  They sounded good too.  But they might not be entirely safe.

He shrugged and continued to blow into his harmonica, playing whatever notes sounded good with Jennifer’s guitar.  She sang a song about love and water as Taylor sang harmony, jingling her tambourine against a leg with one arm.  The other hand tapped her other leg in time with the music, and their friends danced next to the bonfire.

The song came to an end and it was time to go.  Jack wrapped the old harmonica up, slipped it in his pocket, and hugged Taylor and Jennifer.  Then he stepped away and walked towards beach.  He pulled his shirt off, wadded it up, and tossed it towards his lounge chair.

The harmonica safe, he waded out into the waves, splashing water at the boys and girls in the lake.  Well, mostly the girls.  They shrieked and splashed back at him and others, and soon everybody was splashing water at everybody.  An outraged female form pulled him down from behind, and Jack did not fight.  They slipped under the water and he struggled enough to keep her fighting for control, but not enough to escape her grasp.  He did manage to spin around to face her though, and quickly recognized Jenna.  The name was short for something, but he couldn’t remember what at the moment.

His back sank into the sand and he began to tickle her.  She writhed under the assault and he elbows and knees impacted all over his body until she laughed, expelling the air from her lungs.  She pushed hard against him, driving him deeper into the sand, and shot up to bring her face above water.  She planted her feet in his chest and stood up, forcing him to fight to keep the air in his lungs.

Well, he couldn’t allow that to stand.  He waited for Jenna to get one good breath before sweeping her legs out from under her.  She fell with an outraged shriek Jack could hear even under water as he maneuvered, pushing himself off the sandy bottom and bringing his feet under him.  His legs pushed against the soft ground and he rose up out of the water, arms reaching out to bringing a spluttering Jenna out with him.

A quick scan for open water near someone else in the water fight brought up three possibilities.  Jack smiled, hefted the shouting Jenna up into the air, and threw her out over the fight.  She splashed into the water, drenching his target that had so far avoided the fight to the bone, and came up spluttering for air and shouting scurrilous condemnations of his moral character.

“Oh if your mother could hear you talk!” Jack shouted towards her.  “She would tan your hide!”

She stomped her feet into the sand.  “Well that’s just fine, because you are never coming home to see my mother so she won’t have to hear it!” she shouted back.

He laughed at the verbal assault, brought a hand up to cover his heart, and fell back into the water as if mortally wounded.  Then under water, he swam back to the pontoon boat before surfacing to use its bulk as protection against anybody else coming up from behind him.

“Nice job,” a voice said and he looked up to see Kelly draped over the edge of the pontoon wearing a smile.  “Do you want protection from the fight?”

“I don’t know,” Jack answered with a smirk.  “Favors from you usually come with strings attached.”

She laughed and jumped to her feet.  Her arms spread out wide and she turned in a circle so he could see her every curve.  “Take a close look, Jack.  I don’t have a single string attached.”

Jack laughed and shook his head.  “I think you’re confusing strings with stitches.”

Kelly looked down at her body, cocked her head to the side in thought, and then shook her head.  “No, I’m pretty sure I mean strings.”

“I don’t know,” Jack said as he sent a wave of water into a man getting a little too close to him.  The man spluttered for breath and turned away.  “Can I trust you not to take advantage of me?”

“Today you can,” she returned with a waggle of her eyebrows.  “I like today.  I want to see how today works out.  Pinky promise,” she finished, going down on her knees to wiggle her pinkies in front of his face.

“Well, if it’s a pinky promise,” Jack said and turned to grab her pinkies.

She lifted him onto the pontoon without effort to deposit him on the deck in front of her, their noses nearly touching.  A number of partiers danced to the sound of the music from the beach around him, and he breathed in the scent of sweet jasmine.  She winked, knowing exactly what that smell meant to him.

“You really like this, don’t you?” he asked with a rueful shake of his head, releasing her hands.

“I love this!” she answered, jumping up and down and clapping her hands above her head.  “You put on the best parties!”

“Well, what else should I use my imagination for?” Jack whispered and stepped back to turn towards the beach where all of his friends from back home, and a few more from now, danced and had fun.  They really were all just a part of his imagination if he was right.  A way for him to cope with losing them.  But every time he met the Kelly and Betty who most assuredly were not the Kelly and Betty he knew he wondered just how much of it really was his imagination.

“Well you should exercise it more often,” Kelly whispered into his ear, dancing to the music close enough that the hairs on this back felt her.

He saw Betty sitting on the beach and sighed.  “Maybe next time,” he said to Kelly as Betty looked up from the magazine she was reading to stare at him.  “I think she’s waiting for me.”

Kelly sniffed in disapproval.

He aimed a raised eyebrow at her.  “Really?  Is that all you have?”

“Well, she’s always trying to hold you back.  The only reason you listen to her is because I picked the wrong look.”  She waved her hands at her body and sighed loud enough to make him laugh.  “And to think I had first choice.”

Jack laughed.  “You never could have pulled off Betty well enough to fool me,” he said before poking Kelly in the arm.  “But you almost had me.”

“We can fix that any day you want,” Kelly’s said with a sly smile.

Jack laughed again.  “I’ll pass for today.”

She leaned in close to him and he felt every curve of her body as she whispered into his ear.  “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

Jack smiled, pulled in a long breath, and realized he was completely at peace with his decision not to stay here, wherever here was, forever.  “I know.”  He leaned into her and whispered into her ear.  “But one day I think we’ll agree on my future,” he said with a poke of his finger into her the ribs.

Kelly squealed and spun away, waving her arms at him in disgust.  “Oh, you are impossible!” she shouted in an angry tone, but he could see the playfulness in her smile putting the lie to her act.  He had no idea who she was, but he was certain she wanted the best for him.  And one day he had a feeling they really would agree on what that was.  But not today.  It was far too early for either of them to budge a centimeter.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he answered, raised a finger to his temple in a mock salute, and dived off the pontoon into much shallower water than any expert ever recommended.  He arched his back, splayed his hands and feet out, and felt the water rush by as he sank towards the sand.  He finally pulled out of the dive, low enough in the water that he felt the hairs on his chest rubbing against the sand, and shot through the water fight.  He kicked his legs, keeping his speed up, and arched his body and arms to steer around the legs of the fighters splashing water on each other above the surface.

Two bodies fell into the water in front of him and he banked to the side, passing by their writhing forms with millimeters to spare.  A foot brushed the hair on his arm and he tucked it in close as he turned back towards the beach, legs driving him forward until the water was too shallow to swim in.  He raised himself to his feet then, pulled in a long breath, and walked out onto the sand.  He bent down and grabbed his shirt, shaking the sand out of it before slipping it on.  Then the lounge chair protested as he plopped down next to Betty.

Betty remained seated in her lounge chair, legs crossed and reading a magazine.  “You know, you really should wake up soon.”

Jack turned his head to her and just smiled.  “You think I’ve had enough of a rest?”

“I do,” she answered, exaggerating each word so he could not possibly mistake her meaning.

“You know time goes faster in dreamtime than in real life, right?” he answered with a playful smile.

Betty rolled her eyes.  “I’m aware.  And you’re stalling.”

Jack breathed in deep, considering her charge.  He really didn’t feel any worry about waking up anymore.  He knew what he wanted.  But he was worried about what he would find when he woke up today.  “Guilty.”

Her eyes softened at his admission.  “Are you afraid?”

Jack shook his head.  “Not really.”

Betty raised an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged, trying to come up with the best way to describe how he felt.  That was always the hard part.  Putting words to the feelings.  “Just…I don’t know.  I suppose now that it comes to it, I’m worried.”

Betty laughed at him, but it was one of the gentle ones he couldn’t possibly take the wrong way.  “So now that you’ve gone and done it, you’re afraid you’ve made the wrong decision?” she asked with a compassionate look.

Jack frowned.  “Not exactly.  Knowing what I know, I wouldn’t do anything different.  I’m just worried that they’re right and it won’t work out.”

Betty returned to reading her magazine and clicked her tongue several times, chiding him.  “They wouldn’t have agreed if they didn’t think it was worth a shot.”

Jack sighed.  “I know.”

“Have you thought of anything specific that would stop you?” she asked, still scanning her magazine.

Jack gave that question serious consideration, running it through all of his thoughts, everything that made him worried.  He finally shook his head.  “No.”

Betty looked up from the magazine and looked him directly in the eyes.  “And can you tell me that you have any feelings at all that tell you not to do it?”

Her gaze froze him for a second and he licked his lips.  He gauged his feelings, the ones that told him to run or fight when the time came, and shook his head.  “Nothing.”

Betty smiled and flipped another page.  “So it’s just nerves then?”

Jack grunted.  “I guess so.”  He pulled in a long, cleansing breath.

Betty shifted in her seat in a pleased manner.  “That’s settled then?”

Jack swung his feet off the lounge chair, leaned over, and kissed her cheek.  “Thank you.  Whoever you are.”  That said, he pushed himself up onto his feet and walked away.

“Jack?”  Her single word brought him to a stop and he turned to look at her.  “If you don’t know who I am, why do you listen to me?”

Jack let out a long breath as he considered his thoughts on that.  “A few months ago, I would have listened to her every time,” he began with a wave towards Kelly. “Who knows?  Maybe I was.”  Kelly turned to look at him with a smile that suggested she’d heard every word.  Jack shrugged towards her.  “But now I have something to do that is more important than all this party and fun,” he said with a wave towards the bonfire.  “And what you say feels right for that.”

“Just for that?” Betty asked with a knowing smile.

“That and so many other things,” Jack answered with a chuckle.  “See you tonight?”

Betty smiled.  “Where else would I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  I’m certain there’s all kinds of lost guys out there in need of a good conscience.”

Her smile softened.

“And I’m certain they have one.  Whether or not they choose to listen is the question.”

“And I suppose I’m one that listens?”

Betty released the magazine with one hand and held the hand a few centimeters above her chair, waving it back and forth.  “Fair to middling.”

“Oh.  That good?”

Betty gave him a long look.  “Yes.  And you are still stalling.”

Jack chewed his lip and sighed.  “Maybe.”

She put the magazine down and placed her hands in her lap.  “No maybe about it, Jack.  You.”  She pointed at him with one hand.  “Are.  Stalling.”

Jack licked his lips, blinked, and let out a long breath.  “Yes,” he whispered and just stared at her.

She caught his pensive mood and shifted, shifting her arms to cover herself up.  “What?”

“I’ll go in a bit.  But before I go, I wanted you to know that I understand why you picked the form you did.”  He waved at Kelly.  “And her too.”  The redhead aimed a quizzical eyebrow at him.  “I understand, but I think we can dispense with it.  We all know you aren’t who you appear to be.”  He looked back at Betty.  “I’d like to know who the real you is.”

Betty examined him for a long time before answering.  “And what if I’m one of the tentacled sea beasts of Ragoom III?”

Jack chuckled and waved at the party.  “Then all those schoolgirls will be rightfully afraid of losing their virtue.”

Betty laughed and shook her head.  “Jack, are you really ready for that?”

Jack shrugged.  “I have no idea, but when has that ever stopped me?”

He had the pleasure of seeing her eyes open wide in surprise for a moment, before squinting to examine him carefully.  “Very well.  I’ll keep it under advisement.”

“Thank you,” Jack whispered and turned to where Kelly sat.  She nodded, letting him know that she would too.

“Catch yah on the flip side,” Jack whispered and shut his eyes.

“Enjoy your Brave New World, Jack,” Betty’s voice echoed as the bonfire faded.

Jack’s eyes opened to the interior of his cabin on the Guardian Light.

“Hello, Jack,” a voice he recognized said in a calm but amused tone.

Jack scanned over to see…himself, sitting in the chair with a wry expression.  He pushed himself up off the bed and swung his legs over the edge to plant bare feet on the warm deck.  “Hello, Jack.  I gather it worked?”

The other Jack smiled and shrugged.  “As far as I can tell.”

Jack frowned and chewed his lip, wondering if the cyber sitting before him really was a true copy of himself or “good enough for government work” as the old saying went.  “So, are you really me?” he asked, one hand rubbing his chin.  “Or just some real good simulation?”

The other Jack laughed.  “Oh, that question is so far outside my pay grade.”

Jack frowned, clicked his tongue in thought, and considered another question.  It might work.  “You have my memories?”

“Oh yes,” the other Jack returned with a waggle of his eyebrows.  “And I love every moment of them.”

Jack chuckled.  “I do have some good ones don’t I.  Or is it more accurate to say we do now?”

“What am I?  An English major now?” the other Jack returned with a snort.

“True,” Jack said with a nod.  The other Jack seemed to have his mannerisms down very well.  Jack furrowed his brow in thought and considered the other Jack again, wondering if the man knew why he acted like that.  “Do you remember Kimberly, the pianist?”

The other Jack gave him a doubtful look and a raised eyebrow.  “You mean Katrina?  The gymnast?”

Jack smiled.  “Oops.  My bad.”

The cyber Jack aimed a knowing expression at him.  “Well, if we’re talking about those memories, what about Trina, the water ballerina?”

Jack laughed and shook his head, his mind twisting through memories to find the girl he was certain the cyber meant.  “Don’t recognize her.  But there was Trixie from water polo.”

“Ah yes.  Of course.  Silly me.”  The other Jack winked at him.

Jack sighed and nodded.  The other man seemed to have his memories and mannerisms.  That was good enough for him.  But would it be good enough for others?  “Betty?  Jasmine?”

Betty and Jasmine flickered into existence on either side of his bed.  “Yes, Jack?” they asked in unison.

Jack smirked at the other Jack, who quickly gave him an amused wink.

The other two cybers rolled their eyes.  “Really?” Betty asked.

Jack aimed an innocent shrug her way.  “I was just wondering what you thought.  I assume you’ve both talked with…um…me?”

The other Jack chuckled as Jasmine and Betty looked at each other before nodding.  “I couldn’t tell the difference,” Betty said.

“Me neither,” Jasmine added before looking at the other Jack.  “Put you in a cloned body and we wouldn’t be able to differentiate you.”

The other Jack smiled and spread his arms out wide.  “See Jack?  Now you’ve got some competition worth competing with.”

Jack snorted and shook his head.  “Bring it on, Mini Me.”

Betty sighed and rolled her eyes again.  “Oh Brave New World, that has such people in it,” she whispered, and Jack could have sworn he heard the echoes of the redhead that made him audition for a part in that Shakespearean play.  He looked at the cyber version of himself and the other man winked at him, obviously having made the same connection.  Good.