Life, the Universe and Everything?

"So…"

"Yeah."

"Superstring theory?"

"I know."

"Of course you do."

Sam and Jack were back in his truck, heading back to the Springs.

After the revelation everyone decided to pack it up and call it a day. Mason had taken it upon himself to alert the world about the latest development concerning his 'hero', phoning his publisher, several scientist magazines and the local newspaper within the hour. He quickly filled his organiser for the following week arranging interview after interview on how the 'resurrector of string theory' was discovered as a fake. Jack however was rather quiet, telling no one that it was from him that Ford took the very idea that made him famous.

Once all the cadets had filed out, each giving Ford a glare and beaming a smile to the Colonel and Major who provided such a show for a would-be boring afternoon, Jack headed straight for the exit with Sam following quickly behind.

She watched as he relaxed visibly with the familiarity of his truck surrounding him. Removing his tie, casting it into the back seat before starting the journey back home.

"Sir, this isn't the way back to the mountain."

"I know, I need a drink especially if we're going to be discussing techno-babble."

She smiled in reply.

oOo

"So…"

"Yeah."

"Superstring theory."

"It was kind of an accident really."

They sat in the corner of a small smoky pub. Sam had a diet soda despite Jack's efforts to persuade her to have something stronger. Jack went straight for the Guiness now nearing completion of his first bottle.

"How?" she asked curiously.

"I fell asleep," he said before taking a swig of his beer.

"You fell asleep?"

Now she was completely confused.

"Let me finish, I fell asleep and when I woke up, the book which I used as my pillow was opened on the initial string theory, and some how during the night the metric tensor managed to find it's way next to it."

"So you put the two together?" she asked wondering if it was that simple, that the man before her falling asleep was what changed the course of physics and set it years ahead of the maths that was needed to understand it.

"No, I ran like a bat out of hell to my quantum theory lecture that I'd missed half of, then when I came back to my dorm, I put the two together."

He downed the rest of the beer setting it down carefully on the table, before he began to play with the label.

"Months of work, absolute tons of it. I didn't have anyone to help me: my mom and dad were on the other side of the country. I had no friends because I was older than the other people in my class, not to mention being the top student. It's strange how akin to 5 year olds university students can be. Can you imagine it though? It would take me a week, working six hours a day, to get through one calculation. Checking every sign and symbol three times over well into the night to make sure what I had was right. On top of that I had lectures and studying. My final thesis was the best goddamn thing I'd ever done and I handed it over him to be marked. Thing is he never handed it back. Months of work that I put in, he took it all for his own, all the studying, preparation, late nights all laid to waste."

All throughout his words, his voice was bitter and still the only thing he appeared to concentrate on was his beer bottle.

"I'm going for another drink." He said moving to stand.

"Jack." Said Sam, grabbing his attention instantly with the use of his first name.

He sat back down almost stunned, holding her gaze as she continued.

"It's yours; you can take it back now."

He seemed to think about this for a moment before replying.

"I'm just glad it's out of his hands now," he said truthfully before smiling, "I quite like the idea of it being the product of some anonymous genius. I never really wanted that interview with Oprah anyway."

She grinned remembering back to one of their earliest missions.

"And it's grown to be so much more than I imagined, the people being inspired by it and adding their own thoughts and ideas." Shrugging he continued; "Too bad their all going in the wrong direction."

He went to the bar for another bottle while leaving Sam confused, thinking over his words.

When he returned she was still thinking, her eyes focusing on the middle distance, barely aware of his return.

When her eyes focused they fell on him questioningly.

"The theory of life, the universe and everything." He said grinning while he answered her silent question.

"Are you telling me that you've figured it out? The problem that is supposed to drive physicists and mathematicians crazy, the problem that we're not supposed to be able to solve for a hundred years?"

He smiled and replied.

"It's just a question of being able to understand the information that you have." Taking another drink he continued cryptically, "Or rather the information I had."

Then pausing.

"Once, when legs were cozars and addresses had eight symbols."

THE END