Remember More

Chapter 10

REMEMBER MORE

CHAPTER 10

"Wow, sir, that's your second steak."

John smiled at Yan in between shoving fork-fuls of meat into his mouth. "Irmuhmphy…"

"What's that, sir?"

John swallowed hard. Taking the glass of wine by his side, he took a swig and swallowed again. "I said, I'm hungry." He wiped off his mouth.

Yan shook her head. "Me, I could never eat on a plane."

The two were in John's private jet, whizzing through the air, trying to get to Giza, Egypt as quickly as human technology could carry them.

Yan frowned. "Pardon me, sir, but I still don't really understand. You're so very sure about Egypt because now you remember going there?"

John shook his head. He finished off his last piece of steak and washed it down with a gulp of water. Placing his knife and fork down, he turned so he faced her fully. He wiped his mouth. "Okay. Let me start again. The second I woke up after working on the Gate of Metal…"

"…doing what I told you specifically not to do…" Yan rolled her eyes.

"…and blowing the Gate wide open, mind you…" John reached back and patted himself on the back.

"…bleeding all over yourself and me and the floor…"

John sat up. "…do you want to know or not?!"

Yan stuck out her tongue. She clasped both hands on her mouth.

John shook his head. Sighing, he bent his eyes to look down at the floor. "When the Gate was finally opened, it seemed…I was flooded with a thousand new memories all at once. Much of it was still unclear, but the one thing that stood out among all the other thoughts bouncing around inside my head was that the Others had definitely gone to the Pyramids before and not just once. In fact, that's the first place they went to before anywhere else." He tilted his head up to Yan. "I am sure that what I'm going through right now, all of this—my memories, the qi, everything—is what Jonas must have already gone through well ahead of me, days ago. I am certain he must have remembered the same things as me. And thought the same things as me. If so, he should have already gone to Egypt and that's where I am going to find him."

Yan shrugged. "If he's still there."

John folded up his napkin and laid it down in his lap. He stared into it. He didn't say anything.

Yan turned to face the window. She peered outside at the clouds passing by. "I wonder why he doesn't just call. Doesn't he know we'd worry about him?"

John peered up at her and he saw a young woman, now fatigued from the last few days' travails. Her hair was still as ebony and shiny as ever but there was more haggard in her face. Her shoulders drooped. And when it came right down to it, she was a total stranger to them. She hardly knew the two men at all.

He wheeled himself over to her. She turned to look at him. Reaching out, he took her hands in his. "Yan…"

She smiled at him, though she frowned and looked a little puzzled.

John bent his head. He spoke into her hands. "…Yan, you're a good person. You're a good friend to Jonas and you are a good friend to me."

"Sir…" She squirmed a little.

"You know you don't have to be here…" He frowned and looked up at her. "…why are you here, anyway?"

"What?"