He sighed when he finished, then set the sheet down on top of the dresser. He turned to us, then took a seat at the foot of the bed.
“Two years ago, we had brought aboard two members of the Secret Service. Through these two women, we learned that the Secret Service had placed spies in dozens of dance clubs across the nation in the hopes that two of them could get abducted. It worked! We abducted two of them,” he said, nodding toward us, “I’d noticed that neither of you were distraught in the gymnasium earlier. That was the first sign. Couldn’t you have pretended to be upset?”
“We’re not with the Secret Service. Do I look old enough to be a spy?” I asked.
He grinned at me, then held out his hand, “Where’s the gun?”
“We don’t have any guns!” Mercy growled.
“In the note. You were planning to put a gun to my head. You did the same thing in an alley. Hand it over,” he said, still holding out his hand.
“Search us and search the room! There’s no gun!” I said, holding my hands in the air, “Again, do we look like spies or Secret Service to you? We were talking hypothetical, you morons.”
The captain laughed as he rose from the bed. He then gestured toward the two of us.
“Very well, we’re searching this entire room while you two come with me. I have some stuff I want to show you,” he said.
Mercy and I got up from the bed and just before we headed for the door, the men stopped us and began patting us down a little too aggressively. I could tell that Mercy was close to unleashing her weapons on them, so I shook my head.
“They’re clean, Captain,” one said.
“Good, allow them to stay dressed,” he replied.
“As opposed to?” Mercy said, approaching the captain much quicker than I was comfortable with.
“If I didn’t trust you, you’d be wearing underwear for the duration of your stay. You see, it’s not easy to hide a gun or a knife on you while wearing panties and a bra,” he said, “Follow me, ladies.”
Sixteen
He led us up two flights of stairs, then he escorted us onto what I could only assume was the bridge of the ship. There were no windows and there wasn’t a giant screen at the front of the room like on Star Trek. Instead, we were faced with a curved workstation that sat three people. All three seemed to be busy at what might have been very complicated computer terminals.
In front of that curved workstation was another smaller one up against the wall where two individuals sat. Captain Toth moved to the right side of the room where I noticed a small workstation for one person. He gestured toward it. We both looked at the unfamiliar unit. He then tapped a few keys, then the computer screen lit up and switched over to the face of digital woman.
“How may I assist you today, Captain,” the lady said in a somewhat robotic tone.
“I, Captain Hiram Toth, hereby authorize these two lovely ladies to have access to even the most secret of our data logs. Authorization code 334yya87p.”
“Authorization authenticated. What would you two like to know?”
The captain looked at us. I turned to Mercy. The captain raised his eyebrows, waiting to see what we would say. Mercy finally sat down at the terminal and cleared her throat.
“When the captain learned of the two Secret Service agents on the ship two years ago, what did he do to them?” Mercy asked.
“Authorization revoked!” the captain spat, with a glare of hatred, “334yya87p!”
“A false gesture of ‘I’ve got nothing to hide’ won’t get you anywhere with us, Captain,” Mercy said, “Now would you like to try again?”
“You know what? Those two women never saw Cancri because they were aggressive and dangerous to a race that’s just now starting over on another planet. We cannot afford to have aggressive and dangerous people on our new home. What sort of people are you?” he asked.
“Are they dead?” I asked.
He looked at me, then nodded, “Yes, there was no other way. I’d really like it if we didn’t have a repeat of that day. Now, how about you tell me your names and the truth of why you’re here? We can go from there.”
He leaned against the terminal as he looked at us.
“My name is Hunter Ray and she is Mercy Wright. The two of us hail from the 21st century. It’s because we attempted suicide that we were brought to the… well, I guess it’s the 29th century now. Your people claimed that there’s no way to go back in time, yet they’re doing it all the time back there on Earth, kidnapping people who attempt suicide in the past.”
His eyebrows creased in concentration as he looked from me to Mercy.
“We’re not Secret Service, but we are from something called the Chronocidal Guard. We were intentionally placed amongst the models at the fashion show because you originally abducted a hundred and nine people. Now, you have a hundred and eleven because we were deposited back to just before the abduction. We were sent because we don’t fear death like the rest of the cowards on Earth do in this generation.”
“You two aren’t even lying!” he laughed, “You’re seriously sent here to a dying Earth from the 21st century?”
“How do you know we’re not lying?” I asked.
He gestured toward the computer monitor at his terminal. There was a voice monitoring lie detector opened up on the screen.
“Yeah, well, the people of Earth don’t know or remember your ship apparently. They think it’s been aliens abducting their people. So they sent us to find out what’s going on and to bring the ship back to Earth,” Mercy said.
“You? Can you even fly a ship?” he chuckled.
“No, but if everything you say is true, we don’t need to anyway. Why go back to Earth if it’s going to be destroyed?”
“We haven’t lied to you, but now I can understand why they keep wanting to send spies or disruptors like yourself. If we were aliens, then I can imagine the concern,” he said, “But seriously, how were you, a couple of dolls, supposed to disrupt this journey and rescue those women?”
Mercy shrugged, “I guess we were just supposed to find a way somehow. Keep in mind that no one has ever returned from an abduction, so they honestly didn’t know what we were up against or what’s even going on.”
“But, if you went back right now and used their time travel technologies, you could probably go back three hundred years and convince these people to start leaving Earth,” I offered.
He pointed to me and nodded, “A good concept, but right now we’re getting down to the beginning of the end. I’d never put this ship even on the outer reaches of a black hole and that’s just about what’s going to be happening soon.”
“Go back and just drop off me and Mercy,” I said, “Have us go back in time and do some convincing.”
“Instead of bringing you to our paradise? What’s so messed up in your head that you’d pick going back over escaping to a new world?” he chuckled.
“Our redeeming quality, supposedly, is that we’re suicidal,” Mercy said, with a shrug, “Come on, you heard those women crying in the gymnasium. You just tore them away from their spouses, children, parents, and friends. You just ripped them from the ones they love. How can you not go back and change the past so this doesn’t happen?”
“Well, I’m not suicidal and I’m not taking this ship into the Solar System ever again. What do you have to say about that?” he asked.
“What can we say?” I asked.
“Seriously, turn back and drop us off!” Mercy insisted, “Let us save the world, save the heartache, and save your own planet at the same time!”
“It’s a risk I’m not willing to take. This ship cannot survive a black hole. Now, if you’d-”
“If we stay, you’ll have to keep an eye on us non-stop because you don’t fully trust us. If we stay, we could be a danger to this ship and to you, at least as far as you’re concerned,” Mercy interrupted, “Take us back and let us find a way to change some minds back there. Let us save the torment and heartache brought on by all
these kidnappings that you’d been doing over the years.”
He grinned at her while shaking his head. I crossed my arms, feigning confidence in our firm stance.
“What’ve you got? Seriously,” he said, stepping back and gesturing as though he were offering us the stage, “You two were sent here because you have the ability to take over this ship. I believe that to be true and I believe you’re hiding something.”
“So, you admit then that you’d be frightened if we stayed. You’d be watching us all the time. Don’t keep us. Let us do some good,” I offered.
“I’ll turn this ship around and drop you back off at the place where these time travelers do their deeds, but only if you show me. Show me how two dolls would have killed the aliens,” he said with a condescending smirk.
I hated that smirk and I hated his perfect beard. I hated that perfect hair and those penetrating eyes. Perhaps that’s why I looked at my left arm and thought of those three words I’d learned. One moment he was looking at me with a smirk, and the next, he had three barrels extended and pressed against his forehead. My arm had transformed and I wasn’t holding back. I even engaged the weapon.
His jaw dropped and I wouldn’t have been surprised had he wet himself. He stepped back with both hands in the air, the arrogant smirk no longer in existence. As if that weren’t enough, Mercy had her right arm transformed into the cannon and it was aimed at his abdomen.
“I-I don’t even… how is that possible? W-what is-”
“Take us back and you’ll never see such an anomaly again,” Mercy said.
He immediately spun around and issued the command to return to Earth. Mercy and I would only get to spend another thirty minutes inside the USS Maelstrom. Then we’d never see it or Captain Toth again.
Seventeen
It was Stormer himself, not his holographic avatar, who would unwittingly welcome us back to that orbital station. I didn’t understand the science or the technology involved in making Mercy and I disappear from the gymnasium and reappear in the corridor outside of our original berthing on the orbital station. All I knew was that one moment we were standing in the gym of the Maelstrom, and the next, we were in the corridor facing Stormer.
“What are you doing here?” he blared.
I held out a sheet of paper with dates, times, data, and calculations scribbled on it. Stormer snatched it from me and looked at it, all the while shaking his head.
“Is this supposed to mean something to me?” he asked.
“That ship wasn’t alien. It was sent from Earth over three hundred years ago. It’s been working alone to save as many people as it could from the impending destruction of the Earth,” I said a little too rapidly, “They mostly rescue women and children because Cancri has a population that is nearly 75% male. They don’t know why, but for three hundred years now, males are born 68% of the time. They need women if they’re to grow and succeed.”
“It means that you need to send us back to the mid 2500’s. Right now, the Earth is in the path of a rogue black hole called the Maelstrom. This will all be destroyed before you ever see the year 2900. It’s a fact. And even so, the other planet where mankind currently exists will be devoid of human life in another thousand years if the birth rates stay the same. Abducting women won’t be possible anymore, so soon, mankind will no longer be able to procreate,” Mercy added.
“Stop!” Stormer said, handing me back my sheet of important statistics, “Slow down and explain to me why you returned without delivering the ship to us.”
He guided us back to the miniature cafeteria where Eight had already been seated, apparently waiting for us. All the while, we explained our experience from the moment we arrived inside the gymnasium. Once we were seated at the table across from Stormer and Eight, we relayed the story the captain shared with everyone about the rogue black hole and the history of the USS Maelstrom.
“You can confirm the existence of this black hole using a wide range of methods, especially now that it’s already tearing into the Orion Arm of the galaxy. You may only have another year at the most,” I explained.
“Okay, assuming all this is true… why are you here and why aren’t we getting rescued onboard that ship?” Eight asked.
“We built you, invested in you, and created you to do something amazing. And you come here with the news that you failed to bring us the ship while at the same time informing us that we are all going to die?” Stormer seemed to growl.
“Listen, I don’t understand time travel and how it affects future generations. Like, if I go back and kill your mom, will you simply not exist and this conversation will have never even happened?” Mercy said, “I’m being serious because I don’t know. So we’re telling you that you need to send us back to 2555 because as near as we can tell, that’s about the time that the space program was abandoned. If we go back and change history at that point in time, you won’t be stuck on a space station in the path of a black hole in 2897. You won’t be frightened of death right now.”
“How can you be sure?” Eight asked.
I set out our sheet of scribbly paper, “After about twenty years of abductions, those people have gathered a lot about the history they knew very little about. They pieced enough together to figure out where and why the space program may have been abandoned. Most of what they know is really conjecture and theory, but one thing is certain. The person mentioned at the top of the page has to be killed. He is certainly the one who convinces the world that the Maelstrom is a hoax. He begins to do a lot of damage in 2555. That’s where Mercy and I need to go.”
Eight merely shook her head as she stared at the two of us from across the table. She breathed out audibly.
“And what about us?” Eight insisted, “I don’t want to die.”
“If we succeed, you won’t!” Mercy stated.
“No, you’re merely creating another timeline. Mine will still progress like it always would,” Stormer said, “We all still die.”
“Listen, I don’t have time for this crap! Captain Toth was anxious to leave this system. He didn’t even want to come to drop us off because he was so scared of the Maelstrom. I’m a little scared myself. So let me just say this. You are sending us back to 2555 one way or another. Do you two want to come with us? I’m alright with that. We can even share a home and look out for each other! I don’t care what you decide in regards to your lives and your ‘timelines’. What I do care about is that those guys who work all the time-travel stuff can drop me and Hunter off in 2555,” Mercy demanded.
“Can we count on you to get rid of us one last time?” I asked, pretending to be as tough as my partner.
“I’m going with you,” Eight said.
Stormer just sat there and shook his head. He clasped his hands on the table in front of him as he finally looked up at the two of us.
“I’m staying, no matter what is coming our way. But if you’re certain that 2555 is the destination that will save all of mankind, I’ll send you there. Eight might as well go if she wants,” he said.
“Then let’s do this. I don’t want to waste another minute!” Mercy said.
PART THREE
MAELSTROM
Eighteen
The three of us had to go through the uncomfortable part of stripping down, then getting packed into those weird silver coffins filled with gelatinous beads. I remembered nothing after the very moment where my flesh touched those slimy beads. It was as though they were laced with some quick-acting transdermal drug. One moment I was standing in that time-travelling spacecraft and the next, I was lying face-up on the floor of a shady forest.
It took me a moment to gather my wits. The sun peeked through the thick canopy above me, hinting at around noontime. I sat up quickly, discovering Eight kneeling in the thick pile of dead leaves next to Mercy.
“How will we know if we made it to the right time and place?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“You won’t. You simply trust our people to do their job,” Eight said, “But k
eep in mind that we pluck people out of midair during attempted suicides. We’re pretty good at pinpointing specific moments in history.”
Mercy sat up, then brushed the leaves off of Eight’s back, “You know you can’t keep your name, Eight. If you want to fit in, you’re going to need something other than ‘eight’ as your moniker.”
“Yeah, I thought about that. I was considering perhaps ‘Nautica’ simply because I was once an astronaut and now I’m a chrononaut. I’m a sailor of both space and time now,” she said.
One of the sunbeams highlighted her face, causing her to squint suddenly and shield her eyes with her hand.
“I like it,” I said, “Nautica.”
“Nautica it is. Now, please tell me you have the goods you promised,” Mercy said, holding out her hand.
Eight… well, actually Nautica stood up and then shoved her hands into her pockets. She then held out several golden nuggets in her left hand and some hazy white pebbles in her right.
“I thought you were bringing some diamonds as well,” I argued.
“Hello! That’s what these are,” she said, holding her right hand closer to me, “Uncut natural diamonds so it wouldn’t seem so suspicious when we try to sell them. Same goes for the golden nuggets. It’s called the universal currency of time travelers.”
“Oh, nice!” I chuckled, “Well then let’s go get us some cash so we can buy ourselves a place to hide out and gather up a plan.”
We got up and helped to brush each other off. It was clear that whomever had dressed us chose to keep us in conservative and neutral outfits. We each wore pants that were similar to jeans except they were black. We also each wore non-descript t-shirts without any writing on them at all. My shirt was blue while Mercy’s was red and Nautica’s pink. Nautica then handed each of us two gold nuggets and one of the diamonds just in case we somehow got split up and needed some cash. She kept a large portion of the loot in her own pockets.
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