by J.P Jackson
*
Taylor opened his eyes and sat up, hair dripping and nerves twitching.
Still in the interrogation room, collagen and blood mixed in his mouth. He spat while running a tentative hand through his hair, exhaling when he found a sticky mass of blood and sweat. No abscess, no paralyzing, mind sucking mite. He laughed, the sound loud in the empty room.
“I'm alive,” he cried, and laughed again.
The hatch in the corner lay ajar, and approaching footsteps on the other side forced Taylor to hide. He hunched beneath the table and was afraid that his second chance could be easily snatched away. The footsteps passed and he relaxed. More footsteps came and went, and curiosity drew Taylor out from under the table. On his side, he peeked through a gap left by the open hatch.
The corridor was long and wide, with light streaming up through holes in the metal flooring. A procession of lion warriors passed by. At the head of the queue, four Jackanine shared the weight of a wooden crate.
Taylor cursed himself as he watched the ark bound for Earth. He turned from the hatch and racked his brain for an answer.
"There's a way!” he hissed, slapping the sides of his head. “Think you bastard!”
Returning to the gap in the hatch, Taylor squinted through marching legs to a coffin coming towards him. His eyes lit up as the answer came to him. Taylor raised the torch to his face and peered at the interface. 2% left, enough to jump him through space, if not time.
As the coffin approached, Taylor worked frantically to input an astronomical calculation into the torch. He was after the precise number that would transport him from this room to the next, but with his current target moving, and the coffin already occupied, his math would have to be perfect.
Synapses firing on all cylinders, Taylor arrived at what he hoped would be the correct trajectory. He then tried to kick-start his engine with a sturdy punch to his chest.
"Come on!” he exclaimed, beating harder. “Activate!”
He coughed, grimaced and spluttered. “Start, motherfucker!”
A spark shot from his torch and rippled up his arm. He needed more than a spark however, he needed an inferno.
"Start! Start! Start!”
The coffin aligned adjacent to his position. Taylor thumped again, this time so hard that he cracked a rib. He yelped, but in that excruciating moment, and with his heart rate through the roof, he turned into light and vanished from interrogation.
The next moment, Taylor found himself pressed over the top of the mummified corpse of Aquinas. His nose was pressed against a silver amulet around the mummies neck, and he smiled through the pain and spasms caused by the jump. He sensed the movement of the coffin and exhaled through his fingers as his added weight went unnoticed by the strong Jackanine. It was now simply a matter of sitting tight as Apophis delivered him personally to the pyramid.