Welcome to Gaia! ::

She nodded, happy to hear that her Echo was indeed doing quite well. She had thought of him often and missed him dearly, as she had all the Echoes. "Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

"Masters. I finished up wiht my Masters in Biology and I'm currently about halfway towards my doctorate in Biomedical Studies. I'm hoping to finish that sometime next year." Then seh grinned, "So I'm not quite a 'Dr.' yet but I'm hoping to be real soon."

She stepped onto the Envision adn smiled, "Home sweet home." Then she looked at Jelena. "James has taken an interest in Echoes? How...sweet." Or a way for him to be close to Jelena all the time. It was sweet to think about though adn she herself found Project Echo to be extremely fascinating and couldn't imagine how anyone else couldn't.

Jacklyn picked up the phone in the den adn dialed a number she had long since memorized. As she waited for someoen to pick up she reached into her pocket and pulled out a PAID tag. Looking at it, she smiled and thought of how much trouble Lillia would be in for forgetting such an important piece. And it had been so simple to slip it right out of her bag too. Jacklyn knew one of her daughter's habits was to put all important things on the right side. She had done it with homework when seh was in school and now anythign that was important went in a right side pocket in her bags. It had been easy as pie to slip into her room adn take her PAID tag and authorization papers. She knew enough about the procedures and protocol to know that Lillia would cause quite a disruption once she got on board. She'd force her boss to get papers to her quickly to get her on board and probably get a lecture in the process. It set the groundwork nicely for when the article came out. She listened to the phone ring for the fourth time and then heard a male voice. "Daniel, it's Jacklyn. Did you do it?"

The sound of a car or train zooming by in the distance. The normal honking of vechicles and yelling of people. The steady hum of his mini fridge. This was all he heard, all he wanted to hear. DJ had sat in the corner of his room, knees tucked tightly against his chest, his head resting in his arms. Pitiful, he thought, How can I be like this, no... How could I have done that?

Feeling the tears well up in his eyes he was going to take another swig from his almost empty whisky bottle, when suddenly the phone rang, a sound that hadn't been heard for weeks it seemed. Steadily he got up but felt his legs give out and had to grab against the wall to steady himself.

"Hello?" The voice he heard sent chills down his spine. After a moment's hesitation he said, "Yeah... I did it. You happy? You happy you doomed your child's life and possibly mine?"

Jacklyn rolled her eyes at his words and the sound of his voice. "You're not still moping over this are you? I told you, it's for the best. Besides you miss her and if she's up in space you'll never get to see her. This will force her back to Earth and then you can win her back or whatever it is you intend to do." She studied her manicure thoughtfully and said, "How much did they pay you and when are they printing the article?" A pause and she added another question. "Did you use your real name or a pen name?"

Lillia nodded, "I understand. I heard about the contest but I never thought in my wildest dreams this outcome would be final. I am very happy for you though Jellie. You deserve a man who is willing to give you time to be with your Echoes and understands that they are important to you and you'll be good for James as well. I like him immensely and have since I first came."

She smiled sweetly, "Besides I think you two make a cute couple. Except James looks al ittle fierce sometimes. You should get him to smile more."

"He smiles plenty around me. And he's realyl jsut a big teddy bear...like Erik. Except if you get him upset I doubt he'll be any sort of cuddly thing then. I've seen him fuss out Catalyst several times." Good lord, weren't they acting just like teenagers too. All this talk of men.

"And let't level this playing field. What of this...writer...you were talking about? You seem quite taken with him."

"I'm glad you are what makes him smile. That means there's something very special there, Jellie. Hold onto it tightly, never know when it will try to slip away. Erik is most certainly a teddy bear. He's so cuddly even though he's so very big."

She flushed when she mentioned her writer. "He's so sweet and I really think I love him. We spent a lot of time together while I was on Earth and we really got to know each other. He and I, we're a lot alike. Struggling to make it, fresh out of college and no real opportunities ahead. Well, except this of course. But this is waht I wanted more than anything. He just hasn't got his big break yet." She paused and then said, "He told me before I left that he's got a great story that he's working on though so maybe this will be it for him. I hope so."

As soon as the reciever touched the phone, the wire had been ripped from it's jack and the phone broke into pieces across the room. "Holier than thou, ******** you!" The knees finally gave out and he crashed into the floor. I can't handle it anymore, all this guilt, all the blame, all the hate I'm going to get from one person! Its... I... I can't do it. I just want it to end! He let out a frusterating scream. Everything fell silent, nature itself seemed to stop and listen. DJ started to sob again, tears rolling down his cheek and absorbed into the carpet. After a few moments he had composed himself and slamed back into his dresser. A leather case fell and landed on his hand. It hurt, but it didn't register in his brain. Unconciously he grabbed it.

His was his knife. Something he had sharpened a long time ago to pass the time, before he went to the bar and met Lillia for the first time. He ran his finger along the blade to test it's sharpness, but as his soft skin passed over the edge, small traces of blood followed. No pain. No pain was caused when he cut himself.

No pain... no pain... no pain...

A small smile crossed his face. No pain...... no more....

It happened again, like it always did. She intended to sit down for an hour or two of alone time working on the update to her OODDS and she managed to fall asleep at her desk. Still sitting in her chair, leaned over the desk, head resting on a stack of files. In her hands were her OODDS as well as a circuit test pen. Next to her a few little microchips, and wiring, the guts of her OODDS. And she was rather blissfully unaware of it all too.

"Now...to be mean...or to not be mean...that is the question."