Immortal Suicide: A Fight Across Time And Space

by Simon Bown

  Lucy took a step back all the time studying this oddity.

  “Geneva. 2032. Well it looks like we have your destination.” Barton was out of hall before he had finished his sentence.

  Lucy hurried after him. “My first destination? I said I’d help but you didn’t say I’d come face to face with this Teafu.” She chased Barton through to the room that housed the emitter.

  “Nothing to worry about.” Barton replied. “You wouldn’t stand a chance if you actually met him, I just need a positive identification. Once we are sure it’s him I can move in and capture him.” His cheery manner did nothing to put Lucy at ease.

  “Where am I going exactly?”

  “As far as I can tell it is a particle accelerator outside Geneva on the border of France and Switzerland. It’s buried nearly one hundred yards underground.”

  “But that’s CERN! It’s roughly a twenty-mile circle. How am I going to find him? It’s so large.”

  “The coordinates are quite clear. I can place you within ten yards of his rift if I want to.”

  Lucy changed slowly into a dark top. Events had somewhat overtaken any influence she had on her circumstances and this moment of reflection was probably all that was available to her. All she had to do was conceal herself out of Teafu’s sight but get a good enough look to identify him. Barton’s astonishing holographic pictures of Teafu portrayed a crystal clear illustration of the man and she had no doubt she would know him if she saw him. What struck him the most was the ordinariness of Teafu, she had imagined a man with a distinct evil countenance or with an aura of wicked intent but he looked like a middle management official, dull and determinedly boring. Lucy did see something in him that was vaguely recognisable. She wondered if she had met Teafu before as he seemed so familiar. She couldn’t have but all the same the feeling was confusing. She left her room and made her way to join Barton at the gravity emitter.

  Barton smiled as Lucy entered. He picked up the remote and the reactor engaged automatically. “The rift will open fifty yards from Teafu’s and ten minutes before so you can secrete yourself somewhere.” He handed the remote to Lucy.

  It swam and glimmered in her hand. She studied it and looked back at Barton. “I don’t know how to operate this thing.”

  “The unit has a basic artificial intelligence linked with a bio-genic empathic simulator. When you want the rift to open the remote’s rudimentary awareness recognises that and activates the gravity emitter.” Barton turned and engaged the gravity generator, the rift opened with usual heavy bass tone.

  Cold air seeped through the rift into the room. Lucy shivered and clenched her fists. Pursuing violent people was something she had never thought she would do. At school she had been continuously bullied by classmates with only a fraction of her intellect. Finding ways to avoid them and not suffer the mindless violence had pushed her further and further into isolation which, in turn, probably cultivated her extremely introverted personality. She lost interest in school and consequently failed to take her exams. Mixing with large numbers at college was her idea of a nightmare and so she slipped between the cracks of the education system and lingered in her own mind. A terrible man must be stopped and she had been chosen to take part in the search, to find exactly the type of person she had for so long avoided. She stepped through the rift and turned to watch it close.

  The massive tunnel’s dull concrete walls impressed upon Lucy a bleak industrial feeling. Pipe work and ducting crawled around the lower parts of the passageway and reminded her of an oil refinery but the smell was too clean and somehow sterile. Intense electric lights combined with the cold to instil in Lucy a sense of foreboding. The particle accelerators’ large cylindrical pipeline came into view from the curve in the tunnel to her left and passed into a detector the size of a house on her right. She quickly searched her location and decided on hiding herself amongst a chaotic meeting of large pipe work. Teafu’s interest in CERN confused Lucy, the accelerator produced antimatter everyday but only a few million particles a second, even if he collected it all day it was not sufficient for a weapon. If Teafu was not using it for a weapon, then what would he need such a small amount for?

  She sat down and rested against the cold concrete. A sub bass tone filled the tunnel and Lucy tried to push herself even further into the mess of pipes. Her view of the area was too limited and reluctantly she lifted herself into a more exposed position. She felt the remote in her pocket move slightly as the emerging rift lit up the tunnel. A figure stepped through. Coldness emanated from Lucy’s bones and immersed her entire body in a heavy dull ache from the inside out. It was Teafu, Lucy had no doubt.

  Teafu walked a few paces, lifted his large remote and closed the rift. He waited in the centre of the open space making no attempt to check his surroundings.

  Lucy lifted herself further from her place of hiding for a better view. She watched as Teafu closed his eyes and turned his head. A startling shock of fear struck her with an almost physical blow as Teafu stopped his movement facing her direction. The piping allowed her little more room to hide but still she pushed to try and disappear amongst it. Through a tiny gap she saw Teafu open his eyes and look directly at her hiding place. For an instant a confused expression crossed his features but the moment passed and Teafu crossed to the large detector. Lucy’s view suffered and she moved to the edge of the pipe work.

  Teafu climbed a steel stairway and attached a small device to the equipment where the accelerator’s conduit connected to the detector housing. The antimatter accumulation cycle on the fine stage collector initiated a class one hoard and protection protocol. He turned suddenly to look in Lucy’s direction as if something had caught his attention. The stairs clanked as Teafu descended them to the concrete floor. He stared intensely and examined the make up of Lucy’s dubious concealment.

  Lucy didn’t dare move and draw even more interest in her location. Barton had told her she would be alright, that Teafu could not notice her because of her lack of telepathy but it was not true. Teafu had been alerted by something and it must have been Lucy. She closed her eyes and hoped that Teafu’s curiosity would be brief but he made his way to Lucy’s location. The approaching footsteps resounded off the walls and Lucy dropped to her knees in the hope she could manage just a little more cover. She curled up and hugged her legs. With her eyes tight shut she waited as Teafu drew nearer. The footsteps stopped on the other side of the pipe work, for a moment the silence was too calm and Lucy held her breath waiting in fearful anticipation. A powerful hand seized her shoulder and lifted her from her feeble hiding place.

  Teafu pulled her close and gazed into her eyes, his expression changed from anger to confusion. An intensity overcame Teafu’s temper, he touched his forehead to Lucy’s and locked his eyes in position.

  Lucy waited but nothing happened. A dull headache developed and she realised Teafu was trying to connect telepathically and having no success.

  Teafu appeared suddenly worried, he strengthened his grip on Lucy’s clothing and stared more intently into her eyes.

  The headache grew in depth and severity but still it was not unbearable. She noticed that even though Teafu was desperate in his visual intensity his eyes had glazed over as if he was daydreaming. Finally, he let her go.

  “Who are you?” Teafu asked.

  Lucy could hardly speak, even though Teafu’s telepathic ability had totally failed in harming him she was still fearful. Only a weak voice came from her lips. “I work here, I’m just an assistant.”

  Teafu sneered and shook his head. “You’re lying.” He lifted his hands and assaulted Lucy’s mind with an internal telekinetic pulse.

  Lucy fell forward and cried out as Teafu repeated his attack again and again striking her mind in what was a sweeping violent attack. She had no opportunity to defend herself and was sure death was upon her but without warning the attack stopped. She was then aware of a powerful subsonic bass sound and opened her eyes to see a rift develop. The fissure in space time o
pened with finesse. It’s clean edges and lack of brutal flashes implied a technology far in advance of Lucy’s or even Barton’s.

  Teafu kicked Lucy. “You’re a spy.” He shouted.

  Lucy rolled onto her front and made an effort to run away from Teafu. Her shoes slipped on the smooth concrete floor as she struggled to lift herself from this prone position.

  Two glowing, liquid metallic spheres exited the new rift and hung motionless three feet above the floor. Their surfaces rippled in unison, each movement an exact copy of the other.

  Lucy experienced an abrupt unsteadiness and her perception altered slightly. She felt as if she was trapped in some heavy liquid, within seconds movement had become impossible. An understanding touched her mind for the briefest instant, it was so quick and slight but not so that she did not comprehend the message. She had been instructed not to move.

  Teafu fought off the confinement with ease.

  The Mezzyima exterior refocused as they closed on Teafu and for just an instant their appearance was identical to the remote in Lucy’s pocket.

  Teafu smiled as he became mobile. “Do you never learn?” He asked.

  The Mezzyima shimmered and moved closer to him. A plasma bolt struck him from behind and he was thrown across the floor by the force. The attack was an obvious surprise to him and as he struggled to his feet he glared at Lucy. He looked through the second rift and saw Jenson Sollers seated and in a heavy meditation. It was clear the last time he had battled Jenson the defeat was a deception to plant Brightwell Baldwin in his custody. The combined telepathic energy directed at Teafu was the largest ever mounted against him by an enemy, but his superior skills still could easily best their effort.

  The Mezzyima confined him with a linked telekinetic field, the embrace was weaker than before but harder to fight against. The web of energy acted as a net and held him in a lose imprisonment, he could push and pull but it would not give way.

  Another plasma bolt struck him but this time he was prepared and it glanced off and dissipated in the air. He lifted his clumsy remote and opened a rift. Two more plasma bolts struck with great force and he rolled onto his back. The telekinetic web constricted and he dropped his remote. The Mezzyima moved forward and were almost upon him. He closed his eyes and collected all his energy. He attacked them with a massive psychic pulse. After only a very short time he was released and inundated his alien enemy with a considerable cascade of static force.

  The Mezzyima ceased all movement and for a second Lucy thought the battle was over and the Mezzyima were successful. But they twisted and lost cohesion, their glowing energy diminished and as they dissipated she felt free of her confinement.

  Several plasma bolts struck Teafu from the open rifts but to no effect. He got to his feet and quickly studied the two open Mezzyima rifts before quickly disappearing into his own.

  Lucy, now free of her mental bonds, quickly pulled her remote from her pocket and opened a rift. Without stopping she scooped up Teafu’s remote and leapt through into Barton’s base.

  MOVE TO HARAS

  Weedon was getting impatient with Teafu's eternal procrastination. The reactor had been tested and so had the graviton generator but Teafu would not stop messing with the tedious minutia. Why couldn’t he just activate the generator and get them home? Anti-matter harvested from the particle accelerator gave them enough fuel to travel any distance in time and space. There was even enough to use as a reactive mass in Sutton’s warhead. It had taken him a small amount of time to prepare and commission the weapon compared to Teafu’s eternal fussing.

  The Mezzyima had appeared unexpectedly at the particle accelerator which proved they had the time rift technology, so why was Teafu acting so blasé?

  Weedon assumed the first port of call would be Strocir to warn their earlier selves of the Mezzyima attack. Their quick exit from that doomed base would save them enormous time, effort, despair and of course it would stop Sutton from suffering a pointless death. Every minute seemed to pass more slowly than the last and he had become nervous. “Are we ready? It seems to me you are taking far too much time.”

  “This is a delicate task and I am determined to make sure there are no mistakes. The distances in time and space we need to travel are great and I have to be sure the calculations are perfect.” He said looking up at Weedon.

  “Ah, so are we returning to Strocir Sumae? We can warn our previous selves of the Mezzyima attack and save Sutton in the process.”

  The idea of returning to warn themselves was just absurd and Teafu was surprised at Weedon’s naiveté. “Return to warn ourselves? Do you have any concept of temporal theory whatsoever?”

  Weedon wrestled with his rising irritation and tried to remain coherent and not just explode at Teafu and his all too relaxed conceit. “I know there may be some problem with this but it is so obvious what we have to do. Save ourselves and save Sutton. If we can do anything to stop this whole situation we now find ourselves in, then we must do it.”

  “Did we arrive through a time rift and warn ourselves before we left Strocir?”

  “No, but…”

  Teafu interrupted quickly. “Then we don’t do it. Sutton is gone and you have to deal with it. This space time technology will give us the edge to finally destroy the Mezzyima. If we warn ourselves on Strocir then that will set off a chain of events that will stop me ever developing this technology.”

  Weedon was confused. “But you did say we would have to travel a great distance.”

  “Yes, we have to attack the Mezzyima at the one place they are most vulnerable.”

  “And where is this?”

  “There is a planet at the edge of our universe where the Mezzyima need to initiate crossing from their dimension to ours. The fabric of space time there is breaking down and no longer holds a strong grasp on our reality. If we can destroy the crossing point they will be stranded and once cut off from Harmony. Their telepathic energy will be vastly decreased and they will be easy to defeat.”

  “How do you know of this place?” Weedon was becoming worried, to travel so far out of known space was unheard of and he worried for his safety.

  “Through battling telepathically with the Mezzyima. At times the connection was very strong and revealing. I could glimpse into their depths and acquire information they might have preferred remained hidden. But there was always something that was heavily guarded, it was in the background of their thoughts but too carefully protected to be insignificant. It has only been in the course of meditating over the last few days that I have worked through what I had sensed to find out their secret.”

  A silence fell over the room. Weedon had taken it for granted that they would rescue Sutton but now he had spoken to Teafu he knew it could not be done. Walking on a planet at the centre of Mezzyima power chilled Weedon and excited him at the same time. He expected Teafu’s calculations would be correct and the timing of their emergence from the rift would give them an extraordinary view of a landscape the Mezzyima had never wanted them to see.

  “We will take the antimatter warhead to the trans dimensional vortex, the detonation will close it permanently. The remaining Mezzyima will be stranded and cut off from Harmony.”

  Weedon picked up the small warhead mechanism and placed it carefully in his bag. “Is this planet terra formed?”

  “No. You will need an environment suit.”

  “And you?”

  “I will not need one.”

  “I’m not doing this by myself. I need you to come with me and protect me from the Mezzyima.”

  “I’m sorry Weedon you don’t understand. I’m surprised you haven’t worked it out yet. I am immortal, I don’t need a suit.”

  Weedon was quietly stunned by this information. He had thought it a possibility that Teafu was immortal but he had put the idea out of his mind and not thought much more about it. Now it was understood and Teafu had given away a very private but ultimately obvious aspect of himself. “I can’t say I’m surprised, I did think
about it. I just didn’t think I would ever meet an immortal.” He was left unable to find anything else to say and stood opposite Teafu in an awkward silence.

  Teafu decided to change the subject. “We are ready to go now. I suggest you get changed. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” He turned to the reactor and jabbed his finger on the input terminal. The system reported a clean operational state.

  Weedon entered the space plane and opened the locker. He paused, Sutton’s suit still hung next to his on the rail. With a sigh he picked up one of the arms of her suit and looked closely at it. The material was cold and coarse, he thought of the times they had argued and he smiled. After his wife and daughter had died he thought he had become unable to feel for anybody again. Fear of losing Sutton had prevented him from really allowing her into his heart, but despite trying to keep her at arm’s length she had somehow carved a niche for herself in his affections. He wondered if she was as fond of him as he was of her and if he had not continued with his constant teasing they might have had a more meaningful relationship together. It was too late. She had died because of the Mezzyima just as his wife had. A fury came to him quickly and he changed into the suit imagining the destruction of the Mezzyima trans universal gateway. He stepped out of the space plane and returned to the cavern noticing little of the cold as he went. Moon dust marked a trail behind him and dirtied the pristine Antarctic frost.

  Weedon entered the room and did nothing to hide his new found anger. He knew Teafu would sense his bristling temper anyway. He threw a bag full of equipment at Teafu and picked up his own. He checked the warhead parts to be sure they were all there. “I’m ready. Are we going now?” He asked.

  Teafu nodded. “When we emerge from the rift we will have to make our way to the edge of the vortex. We can place the warhead there and leave it set to go off just after we return.” The cavern resounded with the sound of the matter-antimatter reaction as the software brought the power source up to optimum. The emitter projected the intense focus of the gravity beam on a tiny spot just a few feet from Weedon and Teafu. They watched somehow now indifferent as it cut a hole in the fabric of space-time.