The Third Corridor

by The third corridor (NCP) (lit)

  Clay took Sera by the upper arm and steered her toward the shuttle’s entrance. She froze when she saw the name painted on the side.

  Starbird.

  The lettering was written in English, and just below it, the Greek symbols and translation--Ptino asteri.

  Clay smiled at the surprised look on her face.

  "Prophetic, isn’t it?" Clay placed a hand on Sera’s shoulder blade and guided her inside.

  Clay spent thirty minutes engaged in safety checks and status reports, while Sera sat buckled in the co-pilot’s seat. She concentrated on humming the music from the spectrocorde, hoping she wasn’t tone deaf. The spectrocorde was the Key to Orion’s belt. It had to be the answer.

  Launch sequencing complete. A voice came over the intercom. Assume launch position.

  Clay rolled the shuttle to the runway and maneuvered it into position.

  Clear to launch.

  With inherent expertise, Clay controlled the shuttle and they lifted off. Within ten minutes they broke through the earth’s atmosphere and were in orbit. They experienced a brief moment of weightlessness until Clay flipped on the gravity simulator. Under normal circumstances Sera would have been thrilled, this being her first time in space, but this was most certainly not a normal situation. Her anxiety was causing her stomach to flip all over the place.

  Clay switched off the video recorder.

  …There appears to a problem with your video feed, Major…

  "I’ll check into it," he responded, but remained in his seat.

  …Your shuttle is off course, Major…

  "I’m taking care of it."

  Sera nibbled her lip. She could hear the buzzing of voices in the background as the controller spoke to them. They were concerned, but not yet suspicious.

  "There it is Sera." Clay gaze was fixed forward, concentrating on his target.

  Sera peered through the shuttle’s window to view the object spinning within the Earth’s orbit. "What is it?"

  "The Egyptian satellite." Clay manipulated the controls in front of him.

  Sera watched as the satellite tipped and turned.

  "I just aimed it directly toward the pyramids."

  …Major, why are you tampering with the Egyptian satellite?

  "Sing, Sera. I am going to convert the musical sounds to transmittable waves and direct it toward the satellite. The signal will be sent to Giza. Keep your fingers crossed."

  Sera opened her mouth and crooned the tune she knew so well. Clay converted the signal and transmitted it.

  …Major, is someone singing up there?

  Clay turned off the radio transmitter, but left the receiver on. A number of frantic sounding voices were exchanging conversation in the background.

  …We lost transmission with the shuttle, sir.

  "Nothing’s happening, Sera. The signal is not working."

  Sera’s anxiety rose to monstrous proportions. She felt like she was going to faint. She unbuckled herself from her seat and started to pace. She was missing something. The spectrocorde had to be the answer.

  It just had to be.

  "The lights, the colors." She abruptly stopped her pacing. "The sculpture emitted a spectrum of colored lights when it played."

  …Major, we seemed to have lost contact…Do you copy? …I’m getting no response…

  "Do you know the sequence?"

  "I think so."

  …Major, let us speak to your co-pilot…

  "You better know so. This is our only chance." He ignored command control’s request.

  Sera gave him the color sequences. He converted them into wavelengths and transmitted them in combination with the musical sounds.

  …Major, would you mind telling us why we just found your co-pilot drugged and tied up in a broom closet?

  "Damn! They’re onto us. Think Sera! The combination is not working either!"

  …Major Jackson, you are ordered to turn your craft around. Return to home base…

  "Oh god! Clay!" Sera searched the deepest corners of her mind, reviewing her memories for every little detail.

  …Why are there weapons on your shuttle Major?

  "Oh shit, Sera! They’ve scanned the ship. Damn your brother!"

  Sera’s heart was frantically thumping against her chest. She was terrified.

  We are activating the destruct mechanism, Major. Turn your ship around or you will be destroyed…I’m getting no response from the shuttle, sir…

  "What’s going on, Clay?" Sera shuddered.

  "They think we’re terrorists. They are going to destroy the shuttle."

  "Can they do that?"

  "Without a doubt. There is a destruct mechanism on every shuttle. It can be engaged by the crew or by command control."

  Clay, this is Commander Militello. Are you being held hostage? …I’m not getting anything.

  "Can’t you turn it off?"

  Clay shook his head. "Not when Command Control has activated it. Only they can abort."

  Sera squeezed her palms against her temples. If only she had gotten those damn coordinates! They were running out of time.

  …Three minutes to destruct…Major Jackson, surrender your ship…

  Sera started pacing again. "Think, Sera," she commanded herself out loud, once again searching the crevices in her mind. The spectrocorde, the lights and the music, she was sure she had gotten them right. This was supposed to work. She and Garret traveled from Protogio to Earth. There had to be a way back. Was there a clue in the castle’s mural? She had studied that piece of art time and time again. Orion’s Belt, the stars, the rising moving counterclockwise through the sky--something about them was perturbing.

  One minute to destruct…

  A light dawned on Sera, brighter than any star in the universe.

  "Clay!" Sera flew to his side. "Bring up a view of Orion’s belt."

  He did as she instructed. Sera studied the image.

  This is your final warning…

  "Hurry, Sera. We are about to be turned into space junk." Clay gritted anxiously, through clenched teeth.

  Thirty seconds…

  "Oh my god! That’s it! Reverse the signals!" Sera moved quickly to the co-pilot’s chair and buckled in.

  "You better be right about this." Clay reversed the transmission and sent it to the Egyptian satellite.

  Ten seconds…

  The shuttle violently tipped from side to side until the vessel inverted, righted, and then flew into a roll. The entire ship rattled, alarms shrieked out their warning as the shell of the shuttle came dangerously close to fracturing. Sera squeezed her eyes shut, terror gripping every nerve in her body. Then a dreamy wave encompassed her and when she opened her eyes again. The stars were sliding past them.

  "What happened?" Sera’s entire body was fitfully trembling.

  Clay leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his jacket sleeve. "It worked. We are in the temporal fold."

  Clay switched off the engines allowing the porthole to guide them. He would ignite them when they came out on the other side.

  "Would you mind telling me what that was all about?"

  Relief gushed through Sera and she started bawling like a baby. Clay frowned, unbuckled his belt and went to her. He knelt by the side of her chair and drew her head to his chest to comfort her. Sera pulled back from his embrace.

  "When the spectrocorde was played, it must have opened the temporal fold and directed a signal from Protogio toward Orion’s belt, and from there to Earth." She took a deep breath and swiped at her tears.

  "A one way transmission? How did you come up with that?"

  "Orion’s constellation, the rising and setting of the sun…everything on Protogio was moving counterclockwise through the skies. That means the planet was rotating clockwise, doesn’t it?"

  Clay nodded. "The opposite of Earth. I noticed that when I was on Protogio, but it never occurred to me that it would later prove significant. I didn’t even include
that fact in my documentation."

  "It suddenly hit me. If the music from the spectrocorde opened a pathway from Protogio to Earth, it only made sense that reversing the signal would open the porthole in the other direction."

  Clay blew out a gust of air. "Well thank god or the cosmos for that. We nearly bit the stardust back there."

  Sera closed her eyes. The pain in her womb was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Garret almost spit out his coffee when he overheard the conversation in the booth behind him.

  "I just got off the phone with the IASA. Seems the shuttle they launched today was hijacked."

  "No kidding."

  "Yah, they messed with the Egyptian satellite. Command control was alerted that something was wrong, so they scanned the ship. Apparently there were weapons aboard."

  "Good lord, a terrorist attempt?"

  "That’s what they suspected. The co-pilot was drugged and tied up. They found him in a closet. Command control tried to destroy the bird but, and you’re not going to believe this one, the damn shuttle suddenly disappeared."

  "No shit. Did it blow up?"

  "Nope. Satellite picked up a clear image. The thing just vanished into thin air, or should I say thin space."

  Son of a bitch! Garret rose from his seat and hurried from the mess hall.

  …There will be two in number, separated by past and present…They will face and exterminate thine enemy…

  Sera stared in awe as the small planet of Protogio came into view. It was a beautiful and welcoming sight. The temporal fold seemed to be purposefully directing the shuttle, guiding them to the circular pattern of the planet’s orbit. Protogio was half the size of Earth and was covered mostly in water. There were a number of tiny islands dotting the globe and one large land mass in its upper hemisphere.

  The Zones.

  Clay re-ignited the shuttle’s engines and assumed control of the craft. The land slowly drew closer as they descended. Details of terrain below became clearer. They crossed a ravine so deep Sera could not see its bottom. Eksaf ‘anise came into view. Through the shuttle’s windows they could clearly see the war raging below. Hundreds of warriors clashed in battle as the Starbird cut through the skies. Sera strained for recognition of the combatants, searching for Jerad, but they were moving too fast. She wondered how the warriors might be reacting to the mighty flying craft passing over them. The shuttle had to be creating an ear-shattering sound.

  "I’m circling around. We can land there." Clay pointed to a large flatland beyond Eksaf. "It’s awfully close to the battleground, but we should be safe inside of the shuttle."

  Sera braced herself as the ground drew up beneath them. They landed with a harsh thump, bounced mercilessly along the uneven ground and then came to a jerking halt.

  Clay reached forward and shut down the engines. His shoulders slumped as he sank into the back of his chair. They both sat immobile for long moments, rapt in the acumen of an alternate reality, stunned that they defied an entire nation, crossed a universe in a matter of minutes to chase the thread of a dream they shared.

  They could scarcely believe that they made it.

  Sera moved first. She picked up a pair of binoculars from a supply bin and studied the terrain. Glide flyers soared in the distance and there were explosions from what Sera assumed to be shatter arrows. Then, she caught a glimpse of Aryan running across one of the hills. In her excitement, Sera could not contain herself. She bounded from where she stood and released the mechanism sealing the shuttle’s hatch. A retracted ladder unfolded from a compartment on the outside of the shuttle.

  "Wait Sera! You can’t go out there. It’s too dangerous!"

  Sera did not wait for him, she needed to find Jerad. She scurried down the ladder and dashed across the field, heading toward the hill. She was met head on by a Nyx warrior, who jumped from behind the brush. He was coming at her with his sword held out at his side. Sera dug in her heals to stop her forward progress, realizing belatedly that she should have broken into the crates to retrieve one of Garret’s weapons before she left the shuttle.

  She started backing away from him and he followed her step for step. Sera looked around for something--anything that could be used to defend herself, but the nearest thing Sera could find was a three-foot high plant stalk topped with a lily shaped flower. She grabbed the long stem and yanked it from the ground. The warriors eyes darted to her inefficient weapon and a feral snicker escaped his lips. Sera did not hesitate. She whipped the rooted end of the plant toward his face, hoping against odds that the dirt that clung to the roots would at least blind him temporarily--but there was no root. There was only a large white bulb--a crukis bulb. It burst against his cheek. Within seconds, he was yowling as the splattered crukis gel peeled the flesh from his face. The angry, injured warrior rushed toward her.

  Sera screamed.

  He reached for her but suddenly halted. Both their gazes flicked to his belly. The point of a sword protruded through it and then retracted. He had been skewered from behind. Sera jumped out of the way as the warrior took one faltered step and fell forward. Aryan stood behind him, bloody sword in hand.

  "Welcome home, Ptino asteri,"

  "Thanks, Aryan." She grimaced at the dead warrior on the ground. "I think."

  She walked to Aryan’s side and shook her head. "I didn’t care much for the idea of becoming an acid wipe."

  Aryan scanned the hillside, stiffening as he watched his men attempting to stave off the advancing Nyx warriors.

  "Where’s Jerad?" Sera looked at him hopefully.

  Aryan waved his hand in the air. "He is about somewhere."

  Jerad was still alive.

  Relief filled Sera but immediately evaporated when she spied a Nyx warrior raise a shatter arrow in their direction and release it. She leapt sideways, and with lightening speed her hand flew out and closed around the shaft of the shatter arrow. It skidded along the flesh of her palm, ripping it open, stopping just inches from Aryan’s chest.

  "Ouch!" She yelped and opened her hand to release it. Aryan snatched it out of the air before it hit the ground. He threw it like a spear and it exploded a safe distance away, taking two Nyx warriors with it.

  Sera clenched her teeth, vigorously shaking her hand against the burning tear in her skin.

  "Nai, such talent my wife possesses."

  Sera stilled at the sound of the familiar voice. Her heart thumped with joy.

  Pain forgotten, she spun around. "Jerad!"

  Sera ran and jumped into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

  Jerad held her tightly. "I have sorely missed you, woman."

  Sera tipped her head back to look at him and he tenderly kissed her mouth.

  "Do I get welcome kiss too?"

  "Argilos!" Jerad released Sera as Clay approached.

  "Look at you." Clay patted Jerad’s shoulders. "All grown up."

  "And married too." Jerad looked at Sera endearingly and slipped his arm around her.

  At the mention of her marriage, Sera opened her left hand and beamed happily when she discovered the Marks of Permanence brilliantly displayed on her palm.

  "Ah Argilos, you are speaking my language well."

  "I had twelve term cycles to learn it my friend."

  The two men embraced and laughed.

  "It dismays me to break up this festive reunion," Aryan interrupted, "but it would befit us much to find safer ground."

  The clashing of swords drew their attention to the plain. The battle was moving dangerously close to where they stood.

  "I would ask you to fight at my side, Argilos, but my wife’s safety is of first importance."

  "I will get her back to the shuttle."

  "Ochi! We all saw the great bird fly over. The Nyx warriors will seek to capture it."

  "We can’t let them, Jerad." Sera placed her hands on his chest. "There are terrible weapons inside."

  "Worse than sha
tter arrows?"

  "Much, much worse--powerful enough to destroy the Corridors."

  "I have a band of warriors just over the ridge. I will gather them and signal the glide flyers. We will protect the bird," Aryan suggested.

  Jerad nodded. He, Sera and Clay hurried toward the shuttle. Once safely inside, Clay sealed the hatch. Jerad examined the interior of the craft, amazed by the complexities of the equipment it contained, momentarily forgetting the war outside.

  A shatter arrow hit the outside of the shuttle and exploded.

  "We have to stop them," Clay asserted. "They can’t do much damage to the shuttle’s shell, but if they hit the fuel chamber we’ll be blown to kingdom come."

  "Can we stop them with the weapons you brought?"

  "Not unless you want to risk losing some of your own men." Clay turned to Sera and handed her a wireless transmitter. "I have a better idea."

  "What’s this for?"

  "I’ll amplify your voice and you can order them to stop."

  "Why would they listen to me?"

  Jerad flashed Clay a wry smile. "You are the Ptino asteri, Sera. Why would they not?"

  A resolute look crossed her face.

  "I’m going on top," Sera opened the shuttle hatch and reached for the ladder.

  Jerad caught her by the arm. "Not without me, wife."

  They climbed the ladder and came to stand on top of the shuttle. Sera forced out as loud a voice as she could muster, but with the clatter and yelling among the combatants, her voice was ignored.

  Clay realized what was happening and hit a switch. A shrilling alarm boomed out over the battlefield. He laughed at the wincing faces, as warrior after warrior pressed their hands to their ears. Many dropped to their knees, as well. The battle came to an abrupt halt.

  "For the love of the Origins, my ears are splitting!" Jerad yelled, but Sera could not hear what he said. She was protecting her own ears.

  Clay switched off the alarm and the blood curdling siren ceased. All eyes were fixed on Sera.