Jack's Righteous Gig

Little heads were lifting to look towards the new arrival. The children's hunger had abated, and they'd rested after their recent emotional upheaval, so they were mostly just curious.

"I know you think you have sufficient access to your emotions, but I need you to trust me on this one. Turn off your implant before you hold your children," Jack said gently.

"Turn off my implant?!?," she gasped.

Jack nodded. "It's an assist to your intellect, but I believe it dulls your ability to empathize. You need that for this. Trust me, please." Jack held up his hand to show the scratches, demonstrating what he'd endured.

Sahhahr looked frightened, but she nodded, trusting in her Shadeem. She took a deep breath and disabled her implant.

Jack saw her expression immediately change as the control on her emotions slipped. Good.

He smiled down at the children in his arms. Ten little faces turned to look up at him. "I'm your papa, and I love you very much." He leaned down and rubbed his face against theirs. He counted it as a victory when none of them bit him. When he pulled back, he saw their little eyes were bright, and several reached for his face again. He gave in and gave them another face rubbing, and this time they rubbed back. Jack's heart almost broke as it was so sweet. It made him think of the ones they'd lost.

When he was done, he smiled at them and spoke again. "This is your mama. She loves you so much too. Mama? Come a little closer. Right up against my knees. Let them cross over to you." Jack instructed, and she moved closer.

Slowly, the bravest of the children moved from Jack onto Sahhahr. It held up its tiny hands towards her face, and she glanced at Jack. He nodded, so she moved her face down and felt the child rubbing its face against hers. More children joined in, and Sahhahr began to cry. Soon all of the children were on their mother, who held them close and rubbed their faces with hers.

Jack saw Lorrem's and Dennesh's heads pop up over the top of the dune as they stared in shock at their Sultessa bonding with her children. Rikki had been keeping them in the loop on the goings-on until Jack let Rikki know they could come in without their spears.

"Sultessa? Are you well? I can't connect to your implant," Lorrem called out quietly.

Forcing back her tears, Sahhahr got control over her emotions once more. She cleared her throat and looked back at Lorrem. "Yes, I'm fine." She paused and examined her thoughts. It was true that she didn't feel as sharp and clear mentally, but her emotions felt richer than before. She couldn't recall ever feeling like this. It was as if she'd lived in a monochrome world and just discovered color.

She looked into Jack's eyes and saw him smile. He had some of their offspr- no, children in his lap. He looked like he was so happy, and she sucked in a breath as she realized she was too.

"I'm bringing them home," Sahhahr stated.

Lorrem frowned. "Sultessa! They need more-"

"Love, Lorrem. They need the love of their parents. They need their parents to guide them through the most confusing and scary time of life, childhood," Jack insisted.

The commander shook his head. "It's not how we do-"

"It's how we'll do things now," Sahhahr insisted quietly.

Jack caught Lorrem's attention once more. "Tomorrow, I'm going to speak to the people. I should have done this earlier, but it can't wait any longer. You came from a time of war, but that's long over. I'm not suggesting you disband your forces. Being prepared is good, but you need to learn how to live in peacetime as well. I hope I can help you with that."

Jack saw the uneasy expressions on the warrior's faces. What Jack was telling them wasn't sitting well with how their implants were designed to assist them. Maximum efficiency to achieve victory. Sentiment was counterproductive.

On their way to Callosephia, Rikki suggested to Jack that the Ishilon's reliance on their implant might have been responsible for their blind trust in their technology, which got them trapped in suspension for so long.

Jack recalled Sahhahr's confession that this same blind trust likely caused the creation of the Mahrell Drun.

With Sahhahr's dramatic response to her children once her implant was shut down, he was finally getting a picture of how much the implant affected the Ishilon's minds.

There was no denying they were technologically advanced, and Sahhahr once mentioned a period of very rapid advancement after the Mahrell Drun had been run off. The implant assisted their cognitive abilities. While it didn't prevent them from feeling emotions, it did seem to limit their ability to empathize. It explained their attitude towards the Tik. He wondered if it also played a part in their failure to stop the war with their neighbors.

Tomorrow, Jack was going to shake things up for the Ishilon. He was going to ask them to take the same leap of faith Sahhahr had. He had hope that, with the help of their Sultessa, he could help the Ishilon discover and appreciate what they were missing.

But that was tomorrow. Today, he had more urgent issues to deal with.

The Ishilon went silent as a deep rumble escaped from Jack's tummy. Eyes turned in his direction.

"I lost a lot of blood. Anyone got a cookie?"