Help From Arzt
Arzt is in his classroom grading papers. Ben asks if he has a minute and Arzt says he does.
"You're pretty good with computers, aren't you?"

"Something tells me you wouldn't even be standing here if you didn't already know that I was."

"Could you, hypothetically, access someone's email account without their knowledge?"

"I guess, depends on the account."

"Say a faculty account, hypothetically."

"Whose?"

"Nurse Kondracki."

"Kim? Why, you got the hots for her?"

"No. I'm curious about some of her correspondence."

"With whom?"

Ben doesn't say anything and Arzt gets mad. He picks up his things and says, "Okay, I didn't come to see you, you came to see me. I don't have time to play twenty questions. Now either you can tell me what it is that you're doing, or you can let me finish grading my papers in peace."

"Alright, alright," Ben says. "I have reason to believe that she might be engaged in inappropriate personal relations with Principal Reynolds."

"You're making a play. You're going after the big job, aren't you?"

"Are you going to help me?"

"I want a good spot."

"I'm sorry?"

"I want Lamore's spot in the main parking lot, the one next to the maple tree. Not the one under the maple tree, next to the maple tree. That way I get the shade from the maple tree but not all that tree crap all over my car. I want lots of aprons and I want some lab equipment in here that was built in this decade. Is that a deal?"

"Deal."

"You know, you really had me fooled with that sweater vest. Linus, you're a real killer."

Let's Talk
Ben continues to dig his grave.

At the Black Rock, Richard goes inside and looks around. He looks at the chains. Jack walks in and says, "Been here before?"

"Yes. And in all the time that I've spent on this island, today's the first time I've ever come back."

From outside Hurley yells, "Jack, dude, where are you?"

"In here," Jack says. Hurley comes in.

Richard opens a box of dynamite. Hurley sees and says, "Do not open that, there's dynamite in there. It's mega unstable."

"I know," Richard says.

"So did Dr. Arzt and I was wiping him out of my shirt two days later." To Jack he says, "Dude, it's time to go."

"No, not yet," Jack says.

"He's opening up a crate of dynamite and he said he wants to kill himself."

"I can't kill myself," Richard says as he prepares a stick of dynamite.

"What?" Jack says.

"Even if I wanted to, and trust me, I do. I can't kill myself. Which is why I want you to do it for me."

"What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about, Jack, is that Jacob touched me. And when Jacob touches you, it's considered a gift.

Except, it's not a gift at all, it's a curse." He throws the stick down, but there is no explosion.

Hurley yells, "Dude, seriously, let's go now!"

Jack says, "Why do you want to die?"

"I devoted my life, longer than you can possibly imagine, in service of a man who told me that everything was happening for a reason. That he had a plan. A plan that I was a part of and when the time was right that he'd share it with me and now that man's gone. So, why do I want die? I just found out my entire life had no purpose. Now, if I light this myself, it won't work, but you can light it for me, Jack. I made the fuse long enough so you'll have time to get out."

Hurley says, "Jack, please tell me you're not actually considering this."

"If he wants to die, there's nothing we can do to stop him."

Jack goes over to light the fuse. Richard says thank you and sits. Jack lights the fuse on the lantern and then sits across from Richard. "Now, let's talk."

Hurley says, "Jack, dude, we've got to go. The guy's crazy and I know crazy."

"Hurley, go ahead, we'll be alright," Jack says.

"Dude, you're going to blow up!"

"I've got to talk to him, Hurley, just go."

"No, I'm not going without you."

"Hurley, I'll be fine."

Richard watches the flame get closer to the dynamite. Hurley says, "If you change your mind, I'll be like a mile away." He runs off.

"You should go with him, Jack," Richard says.

"No, Richard, no I shouldn't."

"You're going to die."

Jack chuckles. "Actually, I don't think either one of us is going to die."

"What makes you think that?"

"I just came from a lighthouse where my name was etched in wood on a dial that turned a mirror that somehow reflected the image of the house where I grew up. Jacob's lighthouse. He got Hurley to bring me out there because he wanted me to see what was reflected in that mirror. For some reason, he wanted me to know that he had been watching me ever since I was a kid."

"Why?"

"I have no idea why, but I'm willing to bet you that if Jacob went to that trouble, that if he brought me to the island for a reason, that it's not to blow up sitting here with you right now."

Richard looks at the flame. "That's a pretty big risk you're taking right now, Jack."

"Yes."

"What if you're wrong?"

"I'm not."

The flame gets right to the end of the fuse and then fizzles out. Richard stares at the fuse. Jack laughs and says, "Want to try another stick?"

"Alright, Jack, you seem to have all the answers. So now what?"

"We go back to where we started."