Chapter 39: Time Has Stopped, Make the Most of It! Part 1

Time stopped, it didn't run, which gave Andrei the opportunity to get closer to Sharon. He still harbored certain negative feelings toward Sharon. During that time, Yamal gave Andrei psychological therapy to cope with his grief over losing his sister and to identify why he held so much resentment toward her when he believed her dead. Andrei performed very well as an internist, but Yamal, although he pursued medicine as part of his career, found medicine very difficult and was more skilled in psychiatry and psychology, which was what he had studied and what his vocation was. Out of an act of loyal love for Andrei, he decided to help him. Yamal is extremely compassionate and understanding, even though there is a lot of racial discrimination, since Yamal is a Black man and Andrei is white, blond, and blue-eyed. This is clear proof that Yamal longed to show true love despite the unjust discrimination against people of color. Andrei, after receiving Yamal's help, approaches Sharon. "What are you thinking about?" Andrei asked her.

_"Andrei! I... I... I don't know what to tell you," Sharon said, her face bowed. "Maybe I... I... I didn't study to be a doctor. You and Melanie took care of me even when we didn't know the truth, but now you know. It's hard for me to master and understand medicine, but... to accept that Jawara isn't my blood brother. In fact, knowing that Iris and Yadir are my blood brothers! My father! I'm talking about my biological father. I saw his picture! He looks just like me!"

Andrei and Sharon exchange feelings for each other like siblings. Andrei managed to find the cause of his hatred and resentment toward his sister "for abandoning them": a combination of the natural effects of losing a loved one and a mental trauma that he had to face with professional help. Both expressed their feelings to each other. Andrei openly spoke about the trauma of seeing his father suffer for having believed Sharon dead and his own pain of having lost her, and that for that reason he would be distant from her for a while. Sharon expressed her pain at knowing that Jawara is not her blood brother, but that she feels happy to know that he has a family, although it is difficult for her to assimilate this truth in her own way, but she fights hard to accept her true origins. Meanwhile, Iris is unable to fully assimilate that she is the biological daughter of another family, although she decides to take the opportunity to get closer to Andrei, both of different skin color, but children of the same parents. "It's so impressive that he has skin color like Yadir and yet we're still your siblings!" Iris said to Andrei.

_"What I don't understand is how you kept your name, the one my father gave you. Iris. My father gave you that name for a powerful reason: my uncle, his brother, his name is Idris, in fact, he has skin color like you; you look very similar. They had a very close relationship as full siblings, closer than you can imagine! And that's why when you were born, to never forget that brotherly bond they had, he named you Iris. He just wanted to drop the letter d, so the name would sound similar. Your middle name is Tessa."

The two siblings continued to share their lost time with each other. Meanwhile, at the Sentinel Legion base, an old friend came to visit them.

_"Don't ask me what happened," said Johari, a Sentinel and sister of Agnar (Earth 02), "but because time stopped on Earth, because the Earth stopped rotating, the wormhole was able to reopen, and my husband is here!"

Dae-Hyun looks around in surprise.

_"O'Connel! William O'Connel. Always providing unconditional help," said Dae-Hyun gratefully.

_"MI6 has stopped operating for now on our Earth with the cataclysm that has struck the United States. They do it to empathize, being together the Anglo-American world power. But now that I'm here, which by the way, I'm impressed to see up close and personal what science is! I need a space-geological scan to be able to interpret the state of the world."

_"All the technology is at your disposal, my old friend!" Cameron said.

Meanwhile, Armin Blake was preparing to organize the Warshapian troops. He was waiting for Margaret's call. Margaret never lied to him about the information she gave him about Earth, but she knew what confidential information about Earth and also about FIREFLY was. His father, William Blake, uses the Communi-Warrior to speak to his son.

_"You wouldn't be where you are if you hadn't lived your grief properly."

_"Father, you know very well that, given Warshapian customs, a War-Magnetar must take the lead in honoring them by respecting the laws and directives of INFINITY. It is a duty to do so."

_"Listen to me, my son! Do you understand how much strength it gives me to know what a great man you have become? But now you know very well that lives are at stake on Earth."

_ It's never the time to appeal to emotions, much less now, Father.

_ The Earth, son, is where the graves of my granddaughter Kesil are, whom you named after the constellation, which is Orion, but whose real name is Khione, and of my daughter-in-law, and from what I see, you haven't grieved the death of your best friend, our best commander we've ever had, I'm talking about Cameron.

_ Father, I appeal to you, please, not to resort to emotional stimulation; this is not the time...

_ It is the time! Time has stopped on Earth, but time is relative, and now I have a revelation to you that will change your life: Christopher is not your full brother.

Armin turns around partially.

_ What are you talking about?

_ Christopher is not my biological son; he's my son of the heart, but he's not my biological son, so logically, he's not your full brother. But what is true is that he will continue to be your beloved brother, your brother of the heart.

_Father! Tell me you didn't hide this from me my whole life! - Armin puts his hand to his face and bows his head, feeling guilty for expressing emotion and feeling betrayed.

_Son! It's normal for you to feel this way in the face of such a revelation. You should also know that Christopher knows, but it was me who was supposed to tell you the truth, not him.

Moment of silence

_It's time to remind you of something I always told you when you were a child: "A true leader is not born from lies, and if he was born with lies, he must accept the truth, but the absolute truth." Always remember that! You know very well that truth, honesty, and integrity are fundamental values ​​of a Warshapian, and appealing to the fact that you are too rigorous in honoring our customs, traditions, our culture, our way of life, our virtues, qualities, values, and abilities, always, my son... never accept a half-truth. Half-truths don't exist. You either tell the truth or you lie.

_ And why are there truths, Father... that must be hidden or appear as if they were half-truths?

_ I repeat, dear son: there are no half-truths. Either what you say is true or it is a lie. And as for your doubt about hidden truths, there are truths, my dear Armin, that hurt, but a lie is the strongest prison and pain that exist. There are truths that must come to light in due time, there are truths that must be revealed gradually. And you, Armin, who are the leader and creator of Infinity, must always remember this: "A true leader is not born from lies, and if they grew up with lies, they must accept the absolute truth."

An INFINITY member approaches Armin.

_"Admiral! Sir, we have records that a human who converted was deported to Warhap; she stole a relic! She looked incredibly similar to your deceased wife!"

Armin stares at him.

_"I apologize, sir! I didn't mean to name your..."

_"Okay, Soren! Thank you for informing me. I must attend to this matter, Father!" "Thank-war" (Warhapian, a word that means thank you) for this conversation. Excuse me."

Jawara was on the ship, trying to calm the passengers, giving them words of encouragement and speeches that would motivate them to endure. Afterwards, she wanted to take a break.

_"I'm tired!" Jawara said. "I think I've done enough."

Yadir stares at him.

_"I don't have enough memories, but together we manage to remember... you must sleep, you must be rested to continue the mission of saving as many as we can. In the meantime... I'll stay watch, if we need you, I'll wake you up."

_"No need!"

_"Do it, friend. You're exhausted, do it."

Moment of silence

_"If we manage to survive, and there's nothing left on Earth after this cataclysm, how am I going to take care of my family? What will happen to you, who love you so much? What will happen to the people?"

Jawara gets up from the cockpit very quickly, looking very distressed and worried. Yadir stops him.

_"Hey! Have confidence! We're in this together." Look Jawara, I have never felt capable of being a good leader like you are, but I want to tell you this: as you can see, you, me, those we love, our dear friends who are already part of the family have traumas that they lived in the past, so you are not alone....you are not the only one, the reality is that I had focused so much on my anguish of wanting to assimilate that the one I called father all my life was not the one who gave me life and the mother whom I lost and miss so much also did not give me life, that Yamal is not my full brother, and am......(Yadir was thinking about whether or not to tell him about Sharon) but despite all that, I did not see your pain, and more now that you have to see that woman who far from having taken care of you abandoned you, but you continue here forward, despite the adversities you lived in childhood and those you have lived until now... you continue forward! You sincerely care about For the people, for everyone! You are so impartial. You even know that even those labeled as "weak" should also be helped: children, the elderly. I've never seen such kindness and gentleness! You have all of that and more. You taught me that there are things you can learn to do even in times of high tension, skills to acquire despite so much stress, like when the first black hole pulled us into space and I had to learn how to fly the Airspace Wanderer at that moment. You had faith in me, and that's something I'll be grateful for. You are a true leader. A leader doesn't just focus on leading and bringing out the best in others; they also focus on the needs of everyone they lead, regardless of how the world views them: "weak or strong." And that's you, my dear friend Jawara. Don't forget that. Those of us who love you are with you.

Jawara's throat tightens, tears welling up in her eyes. Her voice cracking, she says to Yadir:

_"Thank you! I needed to hear that more than ever." They then hug each other tightly.

_"Come on! I'll take you somewhere you can rest. I'll bring your wife to be with you," Yadir said later.

At the Sentinel Legion base, after the geospatial scan.

_"There are five minutes left here until the Earth rotates again, but two hours on Earth will bring more gigantic disasters," Dae-Hyun said.

_"Anything new, doctor?" a Sentinel asked William.

_"We expect tsunamis to make permanent landfall on all continents. Russia will be hit in approximately six hours. The electromagnetic fields caused the poles to reverse."

_"So the North Pole is now at the South Pole?" Blake asked.

_"That's right," William replied. "All the laws of physics, which governed both on Earth and in my theory, and also in outer space, have already been permanently lost. It would take scientists thousands of years to create new ones with the impending catastrophe, and in the universe, millions of years."

_"Wait!" Diana said. "One of our ships has returned."

_"Margaret," Cameron said with a sigh.

The ship belonged to Margaret, who was carrying Fiorella, who had been kidnapped by Warshapians.

_"Did they see you?" Dae-Hyun asked Fiorella.

_"I hope not. I left in a hurry... and I had to bring this with me," Fiorella said, showing the photo of Armin and his deceased wife.

_"Good heavens!" Blake said. "Now we're really in trouble with the Warshapians!"

_"What worries me most now is whether they saw you too," Cameron told Margaret.

_"Don't worry, my dear father," Margaret said. "They were able to detect Agent McGregor's prescience, but they didn't notice mine. As you know, I hide so well that I can outwit even the Warshapians. What matters now is finding a way to save more people from this terrible cataclysm."

_"That's what we'll do, Margaret," Dae-Hyun said. "And I am eternally grateful for your collaboration with us. You're a great help. Even though sometimes I think or feel you're not."

_"Why do you say that?" Margaret asked.

_"I've suffered powerful prejudices because I'm a spy, and well, I lead an organization of super spies, a very dangerous job, and I'm a doctor at the same time."

_"What I knew about my sister-in-law Lydia," Allister said, joining the conversation, "is that she saw the good in the underprivileged, and although I didn't particularly like my brother-in-law Yoann, the truth is that something he really liked was that even in things that seemed ordinary to us, he always sought out the extraordinary, in his own way, but Yoann did. Because in reality, that personality lies much, much more in Antoinette, the Fire Cat."

_"I took psychology classes in medical school," Dae-Hyun said, "and although I continue to update myself in medicine as best I can, psychology is something I have a hard time mastering."

_"Nobody is good at everything," Cameron said. "Although it is possible to learn everything, in the shortness of life it's impossible. But what we can do is know how to use our current gifts."

_"Even though it's hard to admit it sometimes, I appreciate you sharing your wisdom, Cameron," Diana said. "You know?" A thought quickly occurred to me: let's think about Yoann McGregor's psychology, and only Fiorella can tell us that.

_"What does Yoann McGregor have to do with Armin Blake and all those aliens?" asked Jackeline.

_"Yoann McGregor is Armin Blake's doppelganger... Fiorella, over this time we've formed a beautiful friendship, and you told me about the young woman, the girl who kept him strong during such tragic times for your husband!"

_"I can sense what you're talking about," Fiorella said. "Rachel may now be the key to avoiding unnecessary confrontations, unnecessary enemies that could arise not only for us, but also for Jawara and his people for FIREFLY, for Earth! Now I see why this organization is called the Sentinel Legion. I'm going to bring her in!

_ I wasn't talking about Rachel, I was talking about The Fire Cat, Antoinette Patterson.

_ But now she's trapped in a mysterious black hole, like our friend and colleague, Jonathan. We must prioritize how and when we're going to get Jonathan out of that hole, but since we know he can take care of himself, I'm sure Jonathan and his daughter will be fine, as will Antoinette.

_ Why are you so sure of that?_ Fiorella asked.

_ They're very strong, stronger than you imagine, and they can see,_ Dae-Hyun answered Fiorella,_ and so can Antoinette. So we'll use Rachel Townsend while Antoinette returns.

At that moment, a wormhole opens: Saito Watanabe (MI6 director of Japanese descent, Earth O2) and Agnar Ackermann (Earth O1) also arrived with them!

_"Saito!" exclaimed Dae-Hyun.

_"After being a constant pain in the ass (referring to Jonathan McMahon)... Mr. Park... I'm here to help."

_"I don't know if I can help much," said William.

_"Maybe not right now, but you'll need me!" said Saito in a joking tone with a hint of sarcasm.

_"This isn't the time for jokes!" said Agnar, somewhat angrily. "I know I don't like that man, but this isn't the time for sarcasm."

_"Agnar Ackermann," Diana said, "former FBI director, one of the most powerful billionaire tycoons in existence. His daughter, Heather Ackermann—well, Heather McGregor, now married—was an excellent FBI director. I'm so sorry for your loss!"

_"I'm not here for your condolences!" Agnar exclaimed, filled with anger and pain. "I've never had any trust in you, and even less so now!"

_"Let yourself be comforted, brother," said Johari, who appeared on the scene and looked at him with a tender gaze. "Comfort comes where you least expect it."

_"Let yourself be comforted, brother," Idris said. "Your pain is my pain. When a brother suffers, one suffers too."

_"It's easy for you to say, Idris," Agnar said in a serious tone. "You have two children alive. I lost my little girl forever!"

_"And we lost a beloved niece!" Johari exclaimed. "One of the greatest gifts a brother can give us is a nephew. I loved Heather, as much as I love Andrei, Yadir, and Iris (Ice Cat), who came back to you, Josephine, Jaidev… Joseph is gone forever too!" Johari's voice cracked. "Our older brother who always made us laugh! Bethany is gone too, Evelyn, Aaron, but Idris, Cecille, we're here with you!"

_"Uncle Agnar?" Rachel, who was brought for the mission, said. She approached and gave him a big hug. "We're here for you, family, and well, your wife is here too, and this is the legacy I leave behind: 'You can find family where you least expect it, and besides giving you love, you can also be a true comfort to that person.'"

_"I have to see her!" said Agnar, who left determined to see her again.