Chapter 43

  It was the middle of the night and Freya and Reva were fast asleep beside Amos. Amos wanted some fresh air so he put on his black cargo pants and went walking down the empty corridor of the Ancient city. When he came to one of the open terraces on the west pier he saw Egeria sitting at an empty bench staring at the stars, alone.

  “Hey,” said Amos. “What are you doing up here by yourself?”

  “I couldn’t sleep so I just came out here to look at the stars,” she responded.

  The stars were radiant that night. Even though the city’s shields were up, one could still make out the various constellations hanging in the night sky.

  Egeria had her arms folded and her legs crossed sitting awkwardly on the terrace bench.

  “You ok?” said Amos.

  “Yeah, I’m just a little cold,” she said, fidgeting on the metal seat.

  Amos printed a large blanket with his wrist matter converters and laid it across he and Egeria, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

  “Feel better,” he asked.

  “Much better,” she said with a small grin warming on her face.

  “You know you don’t have to go to sleep alone tonight,” Amos said as he gently caressed her frigid body.

  Egeria looked at him, smiled, and laid her head on his shoulder.

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  “I know, but I think your other two companions would probably get upset,” she replied, trying to play hard to get.

  “Well I programmed them both to love anyone I bring in the bedroom so I don’t think they would mind,” said Amos.

  The two laughed at their bad attempts at humor and continued to look up at the stars.

  “You know when I heard your voice in that tank, I thought a miracle had happened,” said Egeria. “I’ve only heard the thoughts of someone I’ve blended with. Sharing one’s thoughts is an act of intimacy shared closely between the Tok'ra and their host. Now I’m in this body, and I’m all alone.”

  Amos reached out to Egeria with his thoughts and used his telepathy to enter into her mind. “How’s that? Does it feel like we are one again?” said Amos with his thoughts.

  She smiled, obviously enjoying him inside of her mind. “Yes, this is quite lovely, now all I need is something hot to drink and I’ll be –” Egeria stopped thinking mid sentence as Amos took his free arm from underneath the blanket and produced a hot cup of chocolate with marshmallows using his wrist matter converter.

  “Ok you’ve got to show me how you do that,” she thought.

  “I downloaded the knowledge of the Ancients,” he said, a little cockiness in his words.

  “Wow, are you serious? The one that kills people,” she thought as she repositioned herself to grab the hot chocolate.

  “Yeah, I have medical nanites inside of me that prevent me from dying, Sha’re and Karlan have the knowledge too – and Reva’s pretty much a robot so yeah, you already know,” he chuckled.

  Egeria took a long deep sip of her warm hot chocolate. “Was Reva telling the truth? Did you dream about me before you saw me? Or were you dreaming about Sha’re?”

  Amos watched his words carefully, he knew the next few years would hinge on this next moment. “Yeah, it was you. I can dream the future, and Reva and I can share dreams with our telepathy. We both saw a red headed woman who looked like Sha’re. We saw Freya too; but it was you we were concerned about the most because we thought you were really Sha’re. Then Reva pointed out that your sounded like a Tok'ra. One thing led to another, and now you’re here.”

  Egeria continued to drink her hot chocolate in silence then opened her mind and said. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been with anyone in over 3,000 years. Ra killed my wife and husband then made me his queen. After I spawned the Tok'ra movement I was immediately locked away in that jar for thousands of years only to be found and experimented on like an animal. Every day has been a literal hell for me. Now looking at all of this: this body all to myself, this city, even this drink, it all feels like –”

  “Heaven...” said Amos, his mind blending into her thoughts.

  “It feels like Heaven.”

  “...Yes.” she responded, finishing the last few sips of her chocolate drink.

  Egeria rested her head back on Amos’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

  Amos then took his free hand and guided her head up towards his face. Their eyes locked and no more words were shared telepathically, only emotions. The sudden sense of love flooded each other’s minds like an ocean flooding the shore in the middle of a storm. Then, in one gentle moment they kissed; underneath the stars of Alfheim they kissed. And after what felt like an eternity, Amos looked deep into Egeria’s mind and said one last time.

  “Welcome to heaven.”