Jack stood his turn at watch on the perimeter of the camp at the edge of the river. Flickering campfires crackled behind him and the occasional soft hush of conversation drifted on the wind through the trees. He watched across the moon lit river at the cliffs beyond. The moon offered just enough pale light to see the outline of the Desert Walkers still stomping around on the other side of the cliffs. Warrior wanted to recover any of the undamaged water barrels they’d laid out to stop the Desert Walkers if possible, but it might take a few days for the Desert Walkers to get bored and wander off. The camp behind him was the permanent camp of the Jacks and Tigers when they weren’t traveling among the worlds of the dead. Jack wasn’t certain how it worked, but somewhere beyond the fabric of reality, they could travel the Crystal Universe on the paths of the dead. An ancient city had been here once, maybe a thousand years ago, or maybe a million years ago, there was no way to tell, but now the trees had grown up around the vine-covered stone ruins of what was left. There were plenty of stone foundations to serve as the base for tents and shelters, and a few rare scattered stone buildings still standing to serve as storage rooms. It was a brilliant solution to avoid building a fortress. They had no tall walls to guard and maintain, and it wasn’t like anyone could charge through the trees to a central location, as there was none. An attacking army would have to stop every ten feet to climb over the maze of walls now only a waist high labyrinth of crumbling brick and stone, and behind each wall, a squad of Jacks and Tigers waiting in ambush. But, who would attack? There was nothing visible of value, it was just scattered tents and too many tigers patrolling around to make the effort profitable. Anyone raiding would be looking for food, and though the Jacks had plenty of that, often giving food to the less fortunate that were brave enough to enter Tiger Forest and ask, it was suicide to try to steal any of it. The Jacks were the strongest of the known factions of the Crystal Universe, and took their responsibility seriously. When they traveled, they all traveled together as one well organized convoy of 2000 Aeden super-soldiers, and their 2000 tiger companions. He heard soft footsteps in the sand of the river bank and turned to look. It was Scholar, the Company Commander of the Company Jack had been assigned. Water bugs skittered away across the puddles of water in the sand as Scholar approached. “Anything to report?” asked Scholar. “All’s quiet,” replied Jack. “You have another fifteen minutes on watch,” said Scholar. “I’ve been wanting to ask where we got cubs from?” asked Jack. Scholar chuckled. “Do you need ‘the talk’?” Jack rolled his eyes. He didn’t need the talk, he’d already devoured all the books in the Ruk Fleet Library about procreation when he’d turned fourteen and such things had become a curiosity. “Very funny, I’m serious. How do we have cubs in a population of all female tigers?” “We do have male tigers,” said Scholar. “Everything that dies in real space comes here. One of the first things we did was search out Mara’s people, and we found them here in this forest, but we haven’t found the Aeden, or the Ruk. They’re probably on another world of the dead we’ve yet to find.” Jack smacked his forehead. “I should have figured that out. So, where’s Dash’s father?” “He’s around, but male tigers aren’t very reliable when it comes to the daily chores of raising cubs, you will see them when they bring meat, so that helps, and they guard the camp when we’re away.” A movement caught Jack’s eye. He stared at the cliffs across the river, but didn’t see it again. “Did you see something?” whispered Scholar, following Jack’s eyes to the cliffs. “I don’t know, I thought I saw something move,” said Jack. “It was probably just a trick of the shadows.” “Never second guess yourself in this place,” said Scholar cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting. “Lean to, movement spotted on the cliffs!” The command was repeated and shouted to others until it had gone all the way around the perimeter of the camp. The ‘lean to’ command was only intended for those on guard to increase their vigilance, and for the quick reaction teams to gear up and get ready in case they were called to reinforce the perimeter. Jack continued to watch the cliffs with Scholar. A few minutes passed and he heard someone else walking across the sand from the trees. He looked back and saw Warrior, the leader of the Jacks. The big man stopped next to Jack and scanned the cliffs with his eyes. “What did you see?” asked Warrior. “I don’t know, maybe nothing,” said Jack. “The moon came out from behind the clouds for a moment and I thought I saw a shadow moving.” “Scholar?” asked Warrior. “I didn’t see it,” said Scholar. “Where exactly did you see it, Dreamer?” asked Warrior. Jack pointed. “See that tall point that looks a little like a tiger’s ear, it was just to the right of there and down about 100 feet.” “Delta ledge,” said Scholar. “What’s Delta ledge?” asked Jack. “The Ravens can’t actually fly, they use a glider-wing attached by a harness,” replied Scholar. “We’ve already calculated every possible glide-path from the cliffs. Delta ledge is the lowest point they could launch from and make it across the river.” Warrior walked to the edge of the river and stood staring across at the far bank. He watched silently for almost ten minutes before returning. “I’m a little surprised you didn’t catch it, Scholar, but then again we moved them before you arrived.” “Moved what?” asked Scholar. “Do you see those five small boulders on the other side of the river?” “Yes, I see them.” “There are no boulders on that side of the river,” said Warrior. “I had them all removed so there would be no cover for an attacking army. The Ravens are masters at making themselves look like the shadows of things. There are five Ravens hiding over there pretending to be small boulders.” “Holy Sky Gods, they got close without us even seeing them,” said Scholar. “What do you want to do?” “The standard Raven military unit is eighteen members consisting of eight teams of two and one Prime Team. I’d bet the Prime team is already here in the forest.” “We should call to arms,” said Jack. Warrior shook his head. “Not yet, we may still end this without violence.” Jack was a little surprised Warrior wanted to avoid a battle, he was the Warrior part of them and should have been the first to jump at the chance to fight. “I see that look, Dreamer,” said Warrior. “When you get older, you’ll understand the wisdom of restraint.” “What do you want to do?” asked Scholar. “I don’t want to chance losing lives when we’re so close to the end of this mess.” Warrior turned to the trees behind them and shouted. “You’re up there somewhere, come down on your own and I’ll let you go, this doesn’t need to end with war.” There was a pause before a voice shouted back from the tree tops, “Give us the last Jack and we’ll leave peacefully.” Warrior turned his head to the side and listened, trying to find the source of the voice. “That will not happen, this is not your fight and never was,” shouted Warrior. “We have your camp surrounded,” replied the voice. “Two-hundred Ravens will descend and you will know the cold embrace of death. Give us the last Jack.” Jack rolled his eyes. The Jacks already intimately knew the cold embrace of death, over and over again. Jack could see Warrior’s shoulders tense with anger. The Raven was probably bluffing, but threatening an Aeden was not a good idea. “Hollow threats from a bloated over-grown pigeon,” said Warrior. “You think because you’ve fought the Cettise that you know what it is to fight an Aeden. The Cettise are nothing but pale copies.” “And you are just an extinct species that hasn’t the grace to stay dead,” replied the voice. “The universe doesn’t want you.” “And yet all of your technology was salvaged from a derelict Aeden Dragon Ship,” said Warrior. “Your species is nothing but vultures feeding on the scraps of the Aeden.” “We are the most advanced species in the Universe,” retorted the voice. “Only in your imagination, you pathetic worm-infested buzzard. That space train you fly around in was built by the Aeden as a toy for tourists to pretend they’re explorers, and you haven’t a clue how it works. You probably don’t even know how to work the toilet. My guess is you perch on the bannister and poop over the side.” Jack suppressed a laugh. Warrior was sinking as low as he could go. “We don’t turn our living quarters into a rat infested flea nest,” said the voice. “If I have to come up there and get you, I’m going to smear cat nib on you and give you to the tigers to play with,” said Warrior. Jack grinned and leaned towards scholar. “This went downhill fast, maybe we should get Jack the Diplomat over here,” whispered Jack. Scholar whispered back. “There is no Jack the Diplomat, we don’t have a diplomatic bone in our body. I think he’s actually being unusually polite.” “Jack, you can stop this, tell them the truth.” “Aya? What truth?” Jack’s eyes flicked to Warrior, the insults continued to decline into a childish exchange of taunts and comebacks. But, that’s exactly what Warrior, and all the Jacks were. They were all as children castaway on a desert island with no one to help them finish growing up. There had been no parents or elders, no university or academy, no apprenticeship or trade school – just survival. And the only company they had were different parts of the same person, and half-wild tigers. His mind went back to Aya. What truth did she want him to tell them? He had a vague memory of something when he’d had heat exhaustion, but that had just been a hallucination. Aya was only a shadow in his mind, a residual memory interface waiting for the A.I. to come back online. Jack sighed in frustration. It had something to do with Mara, but what? After the first Jack had died, Aya had flown Mara into the rip in time-space and purposely fragmented her so she could be with us - was that important, did it mean something? "Aya, I’m not Detective Jack, I’m Dreamer Jack, give me a clue?” “I’m only a shadow memory of Aya” “Oh, I get it, I’m just talking to my subconscious. I know Aya would have had a plan, but I don’t know what it was, so I’m talking to myself to try and figure out what her plan was. Okay, well… umm… subconscious, give me a clue.” Jack tipped his head to the side hoping for an answer. “Nothing? Okay, so what do I know? I went through the rip in time-space. I went home. I got the expedition ready. I went back. I fought some creepy Eroden spiders, some dinosaurs, some Ravens, some Gunslingers, turned into a tiger and a phoenix, went to a storybook amusement park, ran across the desert, fought some walking skyscrapers. Ohhh, wait a minute… that’s what I did, but the other Jacks did other things that I don’t remember. So… the point of reset on the time-line is at the pyramid planet. And… none of that helps me. Dang it, what am I missing?” “Jack, you are a selfish, arrogant, self-centered, little boy.” “Okay, thanks, subconscious, that’s helpful. Wait… is that really what I think of myself? Wow, I need therapy. Well, yeah I definitely need help, I’ve got the worst multiple personality problem in the history of the Universe. Oh, of course, I left out Mara. Yeah, she went with me and has been very helpful. Wait a second! Mara went with me, she went with all of us, but…” Jack’s eyes widened as he realized he did know the truth. Aya had fragmented Mara after the first Jack died, and that meant…. Jack leaned close to Scholar and whispered. “Jon Black is wrong about this whole thing, and Warrior only has part of the answer.” Scholar studied Jack’s face. “If Jack the Dreamer has found another solution to escape, you better speak up quick. Warrior has shown about all the restraint he’s going to show, this is going to explode into full war.” Jack looked to Warrior, then at the trees and shouted. “I’m not the last Jack.” Warrior paused in his tirade of insults and turned his head to Jack. “What?” Two shadowy figures glided down from the trees and landed lightly on the beach between the three Jacks and the river. Now that Jack knew what he was looking for, he noticed that their wings didn’t move like natural wings – yes, they were just fancy gliders. One of the Ravens pulled back the hood of its cloak and smiled at Jack; it was the woman from the train. “Explain what you mean by that,” said Jasai. “Jon Black has it wrong, the time-line didn’t shatter, we did. We never had a chance at beating the Eroden because we're fragmented aspects of Jack.” “That is an interesting theory,” said Jasai. “It’s not a theory, and Warrior’s been trying to tell you for years,” said Jack. “I’m Dreamer, and that’s Warrior, and this is Scholar. We’re strong in our one aspect, but being fragmented, we’re too weak to fight the Eroden. Jack Aestar is unbelievably strong because he’s the sum of hundreds of thousands of years of genetic engineering, but he can’t beat the Eroden as a shadow of himself.” The woman turned her head. “Jon?” Jon Black appeared as if he’d just stepped out from behind a curtain. “It’s possible, but not likely,” said Jon Black. “Fragmented individuals are extremely rare. Either way, this is the last Jack, there are no more chances left.” “No, you’re wrong, there’s one more cycle to go,” said Jack. “Listen to me. The first fragmented Jack was Jack Humor. We should have known something was wrong when we wiggled our butt at Bowan. That’s not something we would do, the other aspects of Jack Aestar wouldn’t allow such a disturbing joke.” “That’s true,” said Warrior. “I would never have wiggled my butt.” Jack held up a hand to continue. “Jack Humor then met Mara, the un-fragmented Mara, but four days later Jack Humor was killed in battle. Aya, my A.I., figured it all out and realized we would go through all 2,347 Jacks, and they would all be killed because fragmented, we’re too weak. I’m the last fragmented Jack, and I’m going to get slaughtered when I fight the Eroden. Which really sucks, because I was hoping not to die, but I’m not the last Jack.” “Why do you believe you’re not the last Jack?” asked Jon Black. “Jack Humor was with the original un-fragmented Mara. She fragmented after he died. Mara is one cycle behind us. Do you understand? Mara still has one cycle to go, which means when the time-line resets for her, there isn’t any more fragmented Jacks, so the time-line has no choice but to put me back together. I’ll be whole, and able to fight the Eroden.” “If it is as you think, then there is no reason for you to hesitate,” replied Jon Black. “Complete this cycle and let the next Jack finish this.” “You still don’t understand,” shouted Jack, getting angry. “Whether Jack Aestar wins or not, Mara loses. Mara knew Aya’s plan was to give us a last cycle with Jack returned to his whole self. If Mara survives the last battle, there will be no time reset. Mara will remain as a shadow of herself, forever a broken shard of who she was, and if she dies, there still isn’t a time-reset, because there isn’t any more fragmented Jack’s or Mara’s to reset the time-line. Mara sacrificed herself for everyone – for me, for you, for the entire universe.” Jack was panting now and tears streamed down his face. “We should go then,” said Jasai. “This is what Mara wanted. Do your duty and let the last cycle come so we can finish this.” Jack lunged at Jasai with murder in his eyes. Warrior caught and held him. “How dare you speak her name you filthy murderer,” screamed Jack as he flayed his arms trying to get at the Raven he saw as nothing but pure uncaring evil. “You’ve sent over two thousand Jacks to their deaths to save yourself, nothing more. I’m Jack the Dreamer, and I dream of a possibility where Mara isn’t the sacrifice to save your skin. I’m not going anywhere until I figure out how to save Mara.” “This changes nothing,” said Jasai. “You need to finish this cycle and let the final cycle come.” Two thousand tigers that had been silently assembling in the forest now emerged shoulder to shoulder from the trees along the river bank, and behind them two thousand Jacks. It was an army of Maras’ that loved Jack, and an army of Jacks’ that loved Mara. Even Dash and the other cubs followed behind, growling their anger at the Raven that threatened their mothers. “Leave now and never return, Raven, or I’ll let them tear you apart,” said Warrior. Jasai began backing into the river as the advancing tigers stalked across the sand. “Jon Black, do something!” shouted Jasai. Jon Black waved a hand and an apeirogon door opened. A very startled Toran’Sar tumbled out onto the river bank. “Jack, if you won’t take my help, or the Ravens, then at least take the help of the man that sacrificed everything for you.” Jon Black snapped his fingers and a silver badge appeared in his hand. He tossed the badge to Toran’Sar. “Toran’Sar, I have done a grave injustice to you, and for that I apologize and reinstate you as a Gunslinger.” Toran’Sar caught the badge and stared at it. “This is a Marshal’s Badge,” said Toran’Sar. “You put everything on the line to help a boy you didn’t know, and in doing so you lost everything, yet you never once waivered from your course. You saved the boy, and me, from a terrible mistake. You were right from the beginning, prepare them for the final battles, Marshal Toran’Sar.” Jon Black turned away and walked through the apeirogon door Toran’Sar had come from. He turned around and glanced at Jack, then Toran’Sar. “I would send Marshal Cyness to help you, but Jack and Colt got off on the wrong foot. Jack doesn’t understand yet that duplicity in battle can be a useful tactic.” Jon Black flicked a hand and the apeirogon door vanished. “I knew we couldn’t trust that traitorous murdering Jon Black,” screamed Jasai. “We won’t forget this, we’ll hunt you and all your Gunslingers to the ends of the universe.” Toran’Sar stood and pinned the badge to his shirt, then faced Jasai as she stood in the river looking like a half-drowned bird with broken wings. “Well, kiddo, you found one, I’m right here.” Jasai’s eyes blazed with anger, then turned and fled across the river. Toran’Sar turned around and walked to the line of tigers and knelt. “Hello, mother, it is so good to see all of you.” The tigers purred and nuzzled against Toran’Sar. Scholar glanced to Warrior. “Do you trust him?” “Mara does, and that’s good enough for me,” said Warrior. “Scholar, we came here as wet-behind-the-ears boys with no true battle experience, and we all failed, even me. We would be foolish to reject the experience of an honorable warrior like Toran’Sar. He can stay.” Warrior released Jack and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well done, Dreamer, but you’ve only solved part of our problem. We still have to find a way to save Mara, and defeat the Eroden. It’s still 2 warships against a million, and even for Jack Aestar, that’s going to take a miracle to pull off.” Jack grinned. “That’s easy, I already know how to do it.” “Oh? Do tell, dream me the solution, Dreamer,” said Warrior. “The reset point is in the pyramid before we came back to get the expedition ready. We just need to convince the Ruk to fight,” said Jack. Warrior pursed his lips. “Hmm… the RS-40 isn’t ready yet, so that would be 75 World Class Ships carrying 50,000 warships each. We would outnumber the Eroden 2 to 1.” “More like 6 to 1,” said Scholar. “It was three weeks from the time we got back from the first expedition to the launch of the second expedition. We’ll have more than enough time to jump the entire Aeden and Ruk Fleet to the pyramid planet, now that we know what happened.” Toran’Sar had come over and was listening. “Gentleman, you’re grossly underestimating what it takes to move Fleets of that size around, and you’re forgetting a crucial detail.” “What?” asked Scholar. “None of you retained any memories of the previous resets, and we need to assume the last Jack won’t either,” said Toran’Sar. “That little detail will be a fairly big hurtle to get past.”