"Uh..." He was no raconteur. These two beings had lived much, much longer than he had, and had seen far more. They knew far more. What could he possibly say to interest them? Zamara already knew him practically down to the cells of the marrow of his bones. "I...really don't have a story. I'm just a digger in the dirt, honestly." Jake shrugged, slightly embarrassed.

"How did you come to find our friend Zamara, Jacob?" Zeratul asked. He had turned his full attention on Jake, and that intense regard was unsettling. "You are far away from the worlds of your people for one who is a mere digger in the dirt. Zamara crafted a puzzle that most protoss might not have been able to decipher, let alone terrans. How is it you were there to solve that puzzle? I am intrigued."

Jake knew that this was a key moment. He knew he was being analyzed by one of the shrewdest minds he had ever stumbled across. The members of the nominating committee for the Flinders Petrie Award for Archaeological Distinction had nothing on this guy. He suspected Valerian might—the young Heir Apparent was extremely intelligent and very canny—but even then, Jake would put his money on the dark templar prelate. Zamara's respect for him rivaled that which she had felt toward Adun and Tassadar.

He and Zamara had to get this guy on their side. Had to convince him to lend his aid, to get back in the game, to stop sitting here on this out-of-the-way planet nursing his pain. Zamara had hooked him, by playing to that most protoss of traits, a deep curiosity and a desire to know. It was up to Jake to reel him in, as it were, though it was nothing so manipulative as that. Zeratul might be persuaded to help Zamara. But Jake realized the dark templar also needed to be persuaded to help Jake. And therefore, Jake needed to be worthy inthose glowing eyes that had seen so much.

"Okay, then. I'll tell you about how I got to Nemaka and found Zamara. It's pretty boring," he warned.

"That is for me to determine," Zeratul replied, reinforcing Jake's supposition that this was about a thousand times more important than any interview he'd ever had. Even the one with Valerian.

Jake sighed. Here goes nothing, he thought to Zamara, and began.

He spoke briefly about his career as an archaeologist under first the Confederacy and then the Dominion, letting a little pride creep into his thoughts and voice as he mentioned his work on Pegasus. "Unfortunately funding ran out before I could find anything to prove my theories that there was something more to the place besides what was immediately apparent, but it was those theories that started attracting attention—both good and bad. Lots of people started calling me a crackpot, but it was my work there and my publication of those theories that attracted the attention of Valerian Mengsk."

"Mengsk?" He had Zeratul's attention now, for sure.

"Yes. Emperor Arcturus's son. He sent me an invitation to work for him while I was on Gelgaris. Full funding, state-of-the-art equipment, and a promise of a great intellectual challenge—a very nice offer."

"I see," said Zeratul. "So the heir to the Terran Dominion plucks you out of obscurity with no warning. How very boring this story is." Sarcasm, it seemed, was something terrans and protoss both understood.

Jake continued, warming to the tale. He described his encounter with Valerian, the youth's passion and curiosity about ancient civilizations, the promise of a glorious and comfortable excavation. "It was only later that I found out that I wasn't Valerian's first choice. There had been other teams there already. Seems there was a hollow area in the temple, a chamber, that Valerian desperately wanted to get into. None of the other teams had figured it out. I did.. .but I started down that path by sheer luck, by quite literally falling on my ass.

Zeratul blinked.. .and then laughed with more warmth than Jake had yet seen from him. Jake grinned crookedly and chuckled slightly himself.

"Happy accidents have been responsible for more glorious discoveries than you can imagine, Jacob," Zamara told him. "And you achieved more than.. .falling on your ass."

Jake nodded. "That's how I found the doorway. Completely by accident. Fell through two tunnels and landed right at the door." Jake sobered slightly, remembering. "I saw the writing in blood. That's when I knew I was on to something. I realized that while I might not be the first to know about the chamber and try to break into it, I was the first to get a real crack at solving this puzzle."

"Zamara did not make it easy," Zeratul said.

"Indeed I did not. I assumed that only a protoss who was profoundly knowledgeable and spiritual would comprehend the message I had left. And yet, even though he could not read it, Jacob was able to open the door."

"I figured out that in the end, it wasn't about thinking like a human, or even like a protoss, that would get me anywhere. It was about thinking on a grander, more universal scale. And when I saw the spiral in the fossil, it came to me. Rosemary and I went through, found the wrecked ship and...Zamara."

He fell silent. "So...I guess that's it."

"What of the female?"

"Rosemary? She went through the gate before we did. She went with the other protoss to Shakuras. When we tried to get through, we found that we were redirected. Zamara guessed you might be here, and so here we are."

Zeratul's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps the female is responsible for your being unable to reach Shakuras."

"No," said Zamara. Jake was grateful, and surprised, at the rapidity with which Zamara came to Rosemary's defense. Then again, she had always maintained that the assassin would be useful to them, and she had been right. Still, he appreciated it. "Rosemary Dahl is not a traitor. Not all terran females are like Sarah Kerrigan, Zeratul. I would think you would know that. The dark templar have ever deemed females the equal to males. Was not your own leader a female? Matriarch Raszagal?"

"Raszagal!" Jake stared at Zeratul. "I know her! I mean...I saw her. In the memories. She was a rather lively girl. She's your leader? That's—"

The words died in his throat at Zeratul's reaction to Zamara's words. He had gone very, very still, and then suddenly leaped to his feet.

"Do not mention her name to me!" he cried. Jake gasped with pain at the power of the mental voice. At that instant, perhaps triggered by Zeratul's inexplicable outburst, perhaps just a horrible coincidence, Jake's world went white with agony and went away for a moment. Every muscle in his body tensed and when at last the torment began to fade, he gulped in air and found he was damp not with spray from the waterfall, but with cold sweat. He also found himself being supported by a pair of strong, sinewy arms that ended in hands with two fingers and two thumbs.

"This, then, is what you suffer from your joining with Zamara," Zeratul said. There was no pity in his mental voice, just an assessment of the facts. Jake started to nod, but that seemed to invite the pain to return, so he spoke instead.

"Yeah. Sometimes it's like this; most of the time it's just a dull ache." Jake was proud his voice didn't shake.

Zeratul released him. Jake could tell he was still angry for whatever reason, but Jake's episode had distracted him somewhat. Still not thinking clearly in the aftermath of the pain, Jake said, "Like I said, I know Raszagal. I'm sure she's an excellent leader."

Zeratul turned away, and this time, Jake saw him wince. "What is it?"

Zamara knew, but she remained oddly silent.

"Raszagal... was an excellent leader," Zeratul replied. The heaviness and pain that laced the mental words was almost physical.

"Was?" Jake said, picking up on the past tense. "I'm sorry.... What happened to her?"

Zeratul did not answer. At last, he turned to face Jake and straightened, slowly.