OS: 142.2. Quote: That's What Friends Are For
In good times and bad times,
I'll be on your side for ever more...
that's what friends are for. - Anon
She slipped into his hospital room like a ghost.
"SJ," Josh said weakly.
The figure froze then turned and came over to the bed. "Josh. I didn’t mean to wake you."
"You didn’t. I- this medication." he tried to sit up but was forestalled by a sudden wave of dizziness. "I think it’s wearing off."
"Do you want me to call a nurse?" She was still standing despite the chair by his bed. He suspected she hadn’t planned to stay.
"No, not yet. Is this it? Do you fade out of my life without even saying goodbye? Go off to the next item on your to-do list?"
"That’s up to you, Josh. The schism is over, and the White Chapter needs to find another path? Do you want me there, guiding the Order, shaping it in ways I can’t always explain to you? Or do you want to go back to the way things were before you found the Herald, with the Keeper in control?
Josh stared at her. He couldn’t believe she felt she had to ask. "What did you say on the Dauntless? That when my dad promised you one last grand adventure, he got it all right except for the part about it being the last. Let me take care of the Order. You’ve got more than enough on your plate. Saving humanity from an attic in Ealing. The Pearson-Smith Theorum." There had been other things mentioned that he couldn’t remember. He idly wondered if she had a to-do list written down somewhere, and then realised that the Book of Tomorrows was her to-do list. "Just keep in touch. The Orbus Postremo was created to help you."
She covered his hand with her own. "Are you sure? Faith will only take you so far."
"You’re doing something important, Sarah. You’re gonna need help. This isn’t just about faith. It’s about helping a friend." A wave of pain washed over him and when he picked up the thread, his voice was quieter. "I know you feel uncomfortable about giving orders instead of making requests, and that if we maintain ties, you and I, you will end up doing so. Just remember that I’m comfortable taking them. And we’re both human- I can’t see our working relationship being much different than when we we first met." He was gritting his teeth against the pain now, but he hoped she wouldn’t notice.
But how could one expect that of someone whose job it was to notice things. "I’m going to call the nurse now. Get some rest." She laid something on the table beside the bed. "Your first orders. A mobile number- the one I don’t share. An email address- ditto. Two other ways of contacting me that won’t be valid for a few years."
A moment later, she was gone.
The nurse came and gave him a sedative and Josh slept.
When he woke again, Nat was sitting beside his bed. "You’ve got a note from Sarah," she informed him.
"I know. I was awake when she brought it in. I think she would have preferred it if I hadn’t been, though." He found the button and raised the top of the bed so he could look at her. "Are you okay?"
"I think I was prepared for anything but Sarah coming down from that trip and saying that you were right." She turned her wheelchair so that she was facing him.
"She said that?"
"Mostly, she said it was complicated, but that you had been right about some task that only she could do. Or she and a few other people who weren’t available for obscure reasons. She lost me about halfway through the explanation," Nat replied. "If anything, I was expecting you to come back devastated and her to be, well, Sarah. I don’t know what to think now."
"Neither do I."
"But-"
"But what? My faith was proven true, except that the truth is a lot more complicated than I ever expected. It’s one thing for someone to say they write their own destiny, but I- up there she asked me for a pen and I watched her literally rewrite the Book of Tomorrows- or perhaps she wrote what happens next or something else entirely and I heard her refer to events in her future, like they were items she was ticking off a list."
Nat stared at him. "That doesn’t make any sense."
Josh might have shifted but his body was still felt raw. Second degree burns, the doctors had said. He mentally thanked whomever had dealt with his gunshot wounds, which seemed to have disappeared. He was in enough pain as it was. "She gave me a convoluted explanation about articles of temporal significance and a language that could rewrite time. Or tried to. I pointed out that it was a well known fact that any sufficiently advanced science was indistinguishable from magic."
That got a laugh out of Nat. "She told me recently that the world savers were gone and that she had moved up a rung," she said softly. "But I’ve seen the decisions she’s had to make and I’m still not comfortable with them. She promised me some space and said to let you know when I was ready. Does that mean what I think it means?"
"She needs help. That’s what the Order was created for. I see more of the big picture now. Not as much as she does, but enough to know that she needs us- and we need her." He trailed off. "I think she was trying to avoid letting me know too much, but she said something to the effect of ‘now that the schism is over the real work of the Orbus Postremo can begin’. And then she went on to talk about it never leaving the hands of the order, but that it will be in the Braxiatel Collection in the 27th century, whatever that is and then a few other places and names. And that the Book existed to keep history on course and the Order existed to keep the Book on course. Something about preventing a complex temporal knot from collapsing in on itself. Whatever that means."
"So Sarah does have a job to do, and you’ve appointed yourself her right hand man." Nat looked drained. "I can accept the theory - it’s the practice that I’m having trouble with. Too many people have died and I don’t know if I can live with that."
"Sarah doesn’t need a lieutenant, she needs friends. Someone to remind her that her life isn’t just a series of events."
"When did you get to be so wise?"
"I always was." Josh joked and then winced another wave of pain shooting through his body. "I didn’t tell her that. Staying in her life means she’ll use me just as hard as she does herself and she needed to hear that I could deal with that. But in the end, I’ll stay because she’s a friend. And you might want to consider that while you’re thinking."
"You’re in pain." She grabbed the call switch and pressed it. "Get some rest. I may be gone when you wake up, but I’ll be in touch. With you, anyway. I’m not ready for more."
The nurse appeared at that moment and bustled her out the door before giving Josh another shot. His last coherent thought before he fell asleep was that he had to get well soon. He had work to do.
Sarah Jane Smith
1253 words
I'll be on your side for ever more...
that's what friends are for. - Anon
She slipped into his hospital room like a ghost.
"SJ," Josh said weakly.
The figure froze then turned and came over to the bed. "Josh. I didn’t mean to wake you."
"You didn’t. I- this medication." he tried to sit up but was forestalled by a sudden wave of dizziness. "I think it’s wearing off."
"Do you want me to call a nurse?" She was still standing despite the chair by his bed. He suspected she hadn’t planned to stay.
"No, not yet. Is this it? Do you fade out of my life without even saying goodbye? Go off to the next item on your to-do list?"
"That’s up to you, Josh. The schism is over, and the White Chapter needs to find another path? Do you want me there, guiding the Order, shaping it in ways I can’t always explain to you? Or do you want to go back to the way things were before you found the Herald, with the Keeper in control?
Josh stared at her. He couldn’t believe she felt she had to ask. "What did you say on the Dauntless? That when my dad promised you one last grand adventure, he got it all right except for the part about it being the last. Let me take care of the Order. You’ve got more than enough on your plate. Saving humanity from an attic in Ealing. The Pearson-Smith Theorum." There had been other things mentioned that he couldn’t remember. He idly wondered if she had a to-do list written down somewhere, and then realised that the Book of Tomorrows was her to-do list. "Just keep in touch. The Orbus Postremo was created to help you."
She covered his hand with her own. "Are you sure? Faith will only take you so far."
"You’re doing something important, Sarah. You’re gonna need help. This isn’t just about faith. It’s about helping a friend." A wave of pain washed over him and when he picked up the thread, his voice was quieter. "I know you feel uncomfortable about giving orders instead of making requests, and that if we maintain ties, you and I, you will end up doing so. Just remember that I’m comfortable taking them. And we’re both human- I can’t see our working relationship being much different than when we we first met." He was gritting his teeth against the pain now, but he hoped she wouldn’t notice.
But how could one expect that of someone whose job it was to notice things. "I’m going to call the nurse now. Get some rest." She laid something on the table beside the bed. "Your first orders. A mobile number- the one I don’t share. An email address- ditto. Two other ways of contacting me that won’t be valid for a few years."
A moment later, she was gone.
The nurse came and gave him a sedative and Josh slept.
When he woke again, Nat was sitting beside his bed. "You’ve got a note from Sarah," she informed him.
"I know. I was awake when she brought it in. I think she would have preferred it if I hadn’t been, though." He found the button and raised the top of the bed so he could look at her. "Are you okay?"
"I think I was prepared for anything but Sarah coming down from that trip and saying that you were right." She turned her wheelchair so that she was facing him.
"She said that?"
"Mostly, she said it was complicated, but that you had been right about some task that only she could do. Or she and a few other people who weren’t available for obscure reasons. She lost me about halfway through the explanation," Nat replied. "If anything, I was expecting you to come back devastated and her to be, well, Sarah. I don’t know what to think now."
"Neither do I."
"But-"
"But what? My faith was proven true, except that the truth is a lot more complicated than I ever expected. It’s one thing for someone to say they write their own destiny, but I- up there she asked me for a pen and I watched her literally rewrite the Book of Tomorrows- or perhaps she wrote what happens next or something else entirely and I heard her refer to events in her future, like they were items she was ticking off a list."
Nat stared at him. "That doesn’t make any sense."
Josh might have shifted but his body was still felt raw. Second degree burns, the doctors had said. He mentally thanked whomever had dealt with his gunshot wounds, which seemed to have disappeared. He was in enough pain as it was. "She gave me a convoluted explanation about articles of temporal significance and a language that could rewrite time. Or tried to. I pointed out that it was a well known fact that any sufficiently advanced science was indistinguishable from magic."
That got a laugh out of Nat. "She told me recently that the world savers were gone and that she had moved up a rung," she said softly. "But I’ve seen the decisions she’s had to make and I’m still not comfortable with them. She promised me some space and said to let you know when I was ready. Does that mean what I think it means?"
"She needs help. That’s what the Order was created for. I see more of the big picture now. Not as much as she does, but enough to know that she needs us- and we need her." He trailed off. "I think she was trying to avoid letting me know too much, but she said something to the effect of ‘now that the schism is over the real work of the Orbus Postremo can begin’. And then she went on to talk about it never leaving the hands of the order, but that it will be in the Braxiatel Collection in the 27th century, whatever that is and then a few other places and names. And that the Book existed to keep history on course and the Order existed to keep the Book on course. Something about preventing a complex temporal knot from collapsing in on itself. Whatever that means."
"So Sarah does have a job to do, and you’ve appointed yourself her right hand man." Nat looked drained. "I can accept the theory - it’s the practice that I’m having trouble with. Too many people have died and I don’t know if I can live with that."
"Sarah doesn’t need a lieutenant, she needs friends. Someone to remind her that her life isn’t just a series of events."
"When did you get to be so wise?"
"I always was." Josh joked and then winced another wave of pain shooting through his body. "I didn’t tell her that. Staying in her life means she’ll use me just as hard as she does herself and she needed to hear that I could deal with that. But in the end, I’ll stay because she’s a friend. And you might want to consider that while you’re thinking."
"You’re in pain." She grabbed the call switch and pressed it. "Get some rest. I may be gone when you wake up, but I’ll be in touch. With you, anyway. I’m not ready for more."
The nurse appeared at that moment and bustled her out the door before giving Josh another shot. His last coherent thought before he fell asleep was that he had to get well soon. He had work to do.
Sarah Jane Smith
1253 words