Collision Course

Sydney coughed suddenly, and Vaughn reached out to her. Sark backed up, a smug smile
on his face.

"Thanks," said Vaughn, his tone only slightly less cold towards Sark than
normal.

"You're welcome," said Sark, surprised. "I didn't think you had it in you,
Agent Vaughn-
thanking me, I mean."

Vaughn shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see that I had much choice."

"Your sentiment is positively heartwarming," replied Sark sarcastically.

"What- what happened?" Sydney stammered, finally coming to and becoming aware of
the
conversation Sark and Vaughn were having.

"We crashed," said Vaughn, as Sark laughed.

"Still have a habit of stating the obvious, I see," he said with a laugh.
Vaughn shot Sark a
nasty look, but Sark dismissed him with a charismatic smile.

Vaughn turned back to Sydney, holding her with his good arm. "We hit
turbulence," he
explained, looking into her eyes. "We almost lost you. Sark had to perform
CPR."

Sydney's look turned from confusion to shock to disgust, as she pulled herself
into a
sitting position and wiped her lips on her sleeve.

"You're welcome too, Agent Bristow," said Sark in response to her obvious
disgust. "And
just so you know, that was no ordinary turbulence."

Sydney and vaughn stared at Sark, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't,
Vaughn
sighed and said, "Ok, Sark just tell us what you know. What the hell was that?"

Sark grinned. He loved knowing more than the CIA, but in this case, he knew he
needed
to tell them- so he could gain access to Sydney's son.

"The prophecies," he said cryptically. " 'The proximity of the Chosen One to
her destined
offspring shall bring forth natural and unnatural calamity.' "

Sydney and Vaughn stopped for a moment, and stared first at Sark, then at each
other.
Sydney should have known it would have something to do with Rambaldi.
Everything
always inevitably did in her life. She sighed, and looked back at Sark. "So
how do we do
this then? I can't save him if I can't get close to him."

Sark shook his head. "There's more to that part of the prophecy," he said
smiling. " 'The
Chosen One shall fight to overcome the calamity, forming an unbreakable bond
between
her and her child.' " Sark paused, then looked at them both.

"So by saving Jan, you stop all this," said Vaughn, putting the pieces together.


"Exactly," said Sark, smiling.

"The question is, what calamity will come next?" Sydney asked, hoping whatever
it was,
she's to be able to overcome it. She and Vaughn both looked at Sark.

"Well, Rambaldi didn't have all the answers, and neither do I. That's something
we'll just
have to figure out on our own," he replied.

"Great," said Sydney, removing her jacket and tying it around Vaughn's broken
arm in a
makeshift sling. "Let's get going, so we can get him out of there and get this
over with."
She looked around. "If I were to venture a guess, I'd say we crashed right in
between
Madrid and the coordinates you mentioned, Sark."

Sark nodded. "It would seem that calamity worked in our favor," he commented.

"Let's hope the next one does," said Vaughn, as they started walking in the
direction of
Mallory's base of ops.

*******************END PART 10*************************************