And a little Blish in the pay-off. ;) There were bits of Utopia that made me think of his Cities in Flight books, which is pretty much what sparked this off, along with Jack's "I could still be out there" comment.
I'm not going to FoB route because a) the "fixed-point" explanation is much more interesting, presented far more convincingly, and has far more scope for storytelling, b) the FoB always looked so bloody helpless and miserable, but mostly c) I've had experience of people close to me becoming permanently (if, mercifully, briefly) bedridden and there's nothing quite like having to deal with the physical and emotional realities of that to really make you not want to visit it on anyone you actually like.
On the immortality!angst front, I think that what was getting Jack down was the lack of understanding of what had happened to him. He needed answers and, now that he has them, he can get on with restructuring his life with a more positive outlook. It's about acceptance and looking forward rather than back. And if any character should be able to deal with that, it's Jack! Yes, people die... but they're also born and there will always be others for him to connect with. He'll live and love and move on and maybe forget the details in time, but I strongly doubt that he'll ever be truly alone unless he wants to be.
no subject
I'm not going to FoB route because a) the "fixed-point" explanation is much more interesting, presented far more convincingly, and has far more scope for storytelling, b) the FoB always looked so bloody helpless and miserable, but mostly c) I've had experience of people close to me becoming permanently (if, mercifully, briefly) bedridden and there's nothing quite like having to deal with the physical and emotional realities of that to really make you not want to visit it on anyone you actually like.
On the immortality!angst front, I think that what was getting Jack down was the lack of understanding of what had happened to him. He needed answers and, now that he has them, he can get on with restructuring his life with a more positive outlook. It's about acceptance and looking forward rather than back. And if any character should be able to deal with that, it's Jack! Yes, people die... but they're also born and there will always be others for him to connect with. He'll live and love and move on and maybe forget the details in time, but I strongly doubt that he'll ever be truly alone unless he wants to be.
Glad you enjoyed the fic. :)