The Universe Parallel

by Traci Harding

  Amie looked to Taren, her eyes appealing for mercy that she was not going to get. ‘No.’ She hoped to downplay the truth.

  Lucian looked back to Taren.

  ‘Lie,’ she announced loudly and made Amie squirm. ‘What she means to say is that one of her lovers you do not know personally.’

  Lucian’s frown deepened as he looked back to Amie. ‘There is more than one! And you are the leak to the MSS.’ Lucian wanted to kill her.

  ‘My work here is done.’ Taren threw both hands up to bow out. ‘I’ll be more than happy to clarify any of the gory details later.’

  Lucian nodded to grant Taren leave. ‘You are no longer confined to quarters, Dr Lennox, and you have my infinite gratitude and respect.’

  Taren was inwardly elated that the tide of their friendship had taken a positive turn. ‘Although I am very sorry to have been the bearer of bad news for you, Lucian, exposing the traitor on this project was my pleasure entirely.’ She served Amie the evil eye, before looking back to Lucian with a smile of reassurance as she left him to deal with his wife.

  Taren headed straight down to Kassa’s medical chambers to see how Leal was doing, and found Zeven pacing around in the waiting room. ‘Heard anything?’

  Zeven shook his head. ‘It doesn’t look good.’

  The news weighed heavily on Taren’s conscience. ‘Leal can’t die! He and Kassa are supposed to fall in love and be infinitely happy —’

  ‘I know that!’ Zeven was stressing too. ‘I healed Kalayna that time, but I think that was mainly due to the fact that I was the one who caused her disease in the first place.’

  Taren shrugged. ‘I’m not much of a healer —’ She gasped and startled Zeven into having the same realisation as her.

  ‘Ringbalin!’ they both cried at once.

  ‘But he doesn’t know that we know what we know about him,’ Zeven outlined their problem. ‘And he barely knows either of us at this stage of the game. I doubt he’ll be willing to expose himself to a couple of strangers.’

  ‘But in the larger scheme of things, he’s part of our soul group and therefore he shall always be disposed towards us,’ Taren hoped out loud.

  ‘And he does admire your research.’ Zeven recalled Ringbalin saying so several times.

  ‘Meet you there,’ Taren prompted. ‘Make sure he sees you appear.’

  ‘That means exposing our Powers to him.’ Zeven wasn’t sure about that.

  ‘We are asking him to do no less,’ Taren explained.

  ‘Gotcha,’ Zeven confirmed as she vanished ahead of him. ‘Wait up!’

  When Taren arrived in the huge greenhouse that was Module C — Ringbalin’s little natural paradise in space — she found the botanist down on one knee, fully focused on planting a plot of seedlings.

  ‘Ringbalin?’ Taren requested his attention and startled the poor man out of his wits.

  ‘Where did you come from?’ He smiled as he recognised her and stood, whereupon he was startled again when Zeven manifested beside her. ‘Gudrun?’

  ‘Malachi.’ Zeven greeted him with a smile.

  Ringbalin was obviously a little discomforted, but Taren’s presence stopped him from completely freaking out. ‘You are Dr Lennox?’

  ‘I am.’ Taren went to shake his hand, but as usual Ringbalin folded his arms and did not take her hand to greet her. ‘I know why you hesitate,’ she told him as gently as she knew how, ‘because I am a pre-cog and spent time with you in a possible future, where I learnt certain secrets about you.’

  Ringbalin backed up a step, looking very concerned suddenly. ‘Are you MSS?’

  ‘No way,’ Zeven uttered in a whisper, ‘quite the contrary.’

  ‘We have just prevented what might have been a disastrous event, which would have led to AMIE’s demise as a project and much worse,’ Taren explained, ‘but in the process of doing this our co-pilot was badly injured —’

  ‘Leal Polson?’ Ringbalin gasped as he was thrown into inner turmoil.

  ‘We have exposed our Powers to you,’ Taren ventured, ‘in the hope that you might —’

  ‘Where is he?’ Ringbalin knew what they were asking.

  ‘May I?’ Taren asked permission to take hold of his arm.

  Ringbalin took a deep breath to calm himself from the shock. ‘I’m good.’ He gave the nod for her to take hold, whereupon she teleported them both back to Kassa’s waiting room, followed by Zeven.

  When they arrived, Ringbalin was a little unsteady on his feet, so Taren did not let him go right away — she could feel the exhilaration surging through him, as she aided him to find his balance. ‘Are you all right now?’

  ‘I have no idea.’ He decided to take a seat as Zeven manifested. ‘I must say you are more than I expected,’ Ringbalin referred to both the near-strangers in his company.

  ‘I’ve had a few breakthroughs in my research lately.’ Taren smiled down at her old friend, who seemed rather relaxed, considering.

  ‘I would dearly love to know more.’ The botanist had found Taren’s inventions and research most helpful to his own.

  ‘We’ll do lunch.’ She winked, and her serious face returned as she looked to the surgery. ‘But first things first.’

  The surgery door was still displaying its engaged light, so Taren used the intercom. ‘Kassa, I have someone here I think may be able to help Leal.’

  There was a long silence, but Taren waited patiently as all hands in the surgery might have been tied up at present.

  ‘No one can help him now, I’m afraid,’ Kassa responded through the intercom and gasped to control her emotions.

  Taren felt a knife plunge into her heart; she could barely believe she had lost one of her would-be close circle of friends.

  ‘Leal’s dead?’ Zeven went into shock as the fact sank in and he slouched onto a seat, utterly devastated.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Ringbalin sympathised, ‘but I cannot do anything once a spirit has flown.’

  ‘I know,’ Taren uttered, looking back to the intercom. She wished she’d had time to build the rapport she’d once had with Kassa, so that she could be there for her now. ‘I know this is not a good time, Doctor, but it is imperative that I speak with you.’

  After a moment, the surgery light switched off. ‘Come through.’

  ‘Wait here,’ Taren advised Zeven, who nodded with a curious look upon his face, as she entered the surgery.

  Kassa had covered the body of her dead patient, and splattered with his blood she appeared harrowed and drained of emotion.

  ‘Sorry to pry, but I must ask,’ Taren got straight to the point. ‘Before Leal passed out, it seemed as though he might have sent you a telepathic message … if it was personal, then —’

  ‘It wasn’t,’ Kassa admitted dryly, probably wishing his last words to her had been of an intimate nature. ‘He said, it’s a decoy.’

  ‘What is a decoy?’ Taren queried.

  Kassa’s eyes fell to the covered body on her surgery table. ‘I’m afraid I have no idea.’

  Taren ached as she observed her old friend; she wanted to tell Kassa how much Leal had loved her, but the fact would only add to her heartache now.

  ‘If there is nothing else you wish to know, I should really prepare his body for the memorial.’ Kassa’s voice was hoarse with hurt.

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Taren retreated to the door. ‘Thank you for speaking with me.’

  Kassa nodded and forced a smile.

  As Taren left the room, her mind turned to what Leal had meant by ‘it’s a decoy’. She recalled Colbers mentioning something about a decoy to Amie, when Zeven and she had first spotted Leal’s murderers in the launch bay.

  In the waiting room Taren took a seat. Strangely, there were no tears forthcoming, just a vast emptiness inside that came from knowing her mission had now cost the future happiness of two dear friends.

  ‘We are responsible.’ Zeven looked to Taren. ‘This didn’t happen last time around.’

  ‘Zeven, non
e of this happened last time around! We are in uncharted territory and have been ever since I warned Lucian what was to come.’

  ‘I’m going back to stop this,’ Zeven announced.

  Taren was reluctant, as she would have to go back to her last unconscious state, which was when she was still confined to quarters and out of Lucian’s favour. ‘Zeven, we can’t just keep doing this over until it comes out perfectly —’

  ‘Why not?’ He stood to challenge her.

  ‘What if we lose the sample this time?’ Taren asked. ‘Or —’

  ‘Aw, you’re just afraid to lose Lucian’s favour again,’ he accused. ‘This is Leal and Kassa’s future happiness we’re talking about,’ he whispered his argument so that Kassa would not overhear him. ‘The last time I saw them, Kassa was setting up a practice on Sermetica and Leal was doing joy flights over the city. They were planning their wedding!’

  ‘Okay,’ Taren caved — it was the right thing to do. ‘When did you last awaken?’

  ‘Sevenish, last night,’ Zeven estimated.

  ‘I didn’t wake until much later, around midnight maybe?’ Taren winced and looked at her watch. ‘It’s now eight in the morning.’

  ‘Eight hours to turn this around, then?’ Zeven considered it was good odds for success. ‘And I have an extra six up my sleeve … maybe I’ll persuade Leal and the captain to cancel the mission to Oceane … that would solve the entire problem.’

  Taren nodded to agree that it would. ‘There is another concern.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Zeven wondered.

  If Taren’s memory served, Leal had attempted to call out a warning after Lucian asked Amie for the sample. ‘I believe the sample of gas Amie had in her possession was a decoy,’ she said.

  ‘A decoy for what?’ Zeven asked.

  ‘That’s the concern,’ Taren admitted, ‘I don’t know … but Leal tried to warn us with his dying breath that sample was a decoy for something.’

  ‘Then I shall find out when I go back to yesterday and resurrect him,’ Zeven vowed.

  ‘You sound like a couple of reality architects,’ commented Ringbalin, from where he was slouched against a wall listening to everything they said. ‘Why do I get the impression that you know how to alter the past? That’s a little bit of a stretch for your average pre-cog?’ Ringbalin pointed out that they had not been entirely honest with him.

  ‘Reality Architect, I like that,’ Zeven decided, ‘sounds much better than Time Spy or —’

  ‘I just hope you all know what you’re doing.’ Ringbalin decided it was time to retreat. ‘May I go back to my greenhouse and await the final result?’

  Taren nodded. ‘Thanks anyway, Balin.’

  He waved, a perplexed look on his face, as he exited the waiting room.

  ‘Ah!’ Taren collapsed, holding her head in her hands and shaking it in protest, before she looked up to Zeven again. ‘If I have to go through this one more time I’m going to shoot myself!’

  Zeven smiled, proud that she was willing to endure it yet again. ‘This time, I promise you, we’ll get it right.’

  Taren took a deep breath to fully resign herself and nodded. ‘I’ll see you back there.’ She waved, pouting, as Zeven vanished back to last night.

  Still, as Taren took a moment to pine over the relationship she’d nearly established with Lucian, her communicator alerted her to his call. ‘Yes, Captain?’ she responded all too quickly.

  ‘Could I please see you for a moment, in my office?’ Lucian asked politely, sounding surprisingly upbeat.

  Now Taren knew she had no need to go as she was about to go back and change everything, but at the same time the past wasn’t going anywhere. ‘On my way,’ she replied with a grin.

  Aurora was hovering around her desk, waiting to show Taren into Lucian’s office. ‘I’d say good morning, but it doesn’t really seem appropriate.’ She forced a smile and let her in. ‘Dr Lennox,’ she advised the captain, who was observing the vast view of space beyond his windows.

  ‘Thank you, Aurora,’ he dismissed her. ‘Hold all my calls.’

  Aurora was horrified, considering all that was going down in the world of AMIE this morning. ‘But I’ve got all —’

  ‘I’m not contactable until further notice,’ he said more firmly.

  ‘Okay, I’ll handle it.’ She threw her hands up and left, closing the door in her wake.

  ‘I’m so sorry about Leal Polson, Captain,’ Taren began, ‘he was a good friend to me once upon a time.’

  ‘I am pained by his loss.’ Lucian’s jaw clenched as he looked to the ground. ‘And my wife’s betrayal.’

  ‘You were meant to find her out at this time,’ Taren neared to reassure him. ‘Last time around it was Amie who was murdered and not Leal, which I don’t feel too good about, as Leal was just about to fall in love.’

  ‘With you?’ Lucian tried not to sound panicked.

  Taren looked surprised at Lucian. ‘Is that really your best guess?’

  Lucian thought about this and with a vague smile he shook his head. ‘Actually, no, my best guess would be Kassa.’

  ‘And you’d be right,’ Taren said, not as sad as she would have been if she couldn’t have changed the event.

  ‘That is sad,’ he considered, ‘but you cannot blame yourself, you did not pull the trigger.’

  Taren forced a smile — that was a debate she would rather avoid.

  ‘You claim to know a lot about everyone’s future on board this craft,’ Lucian stated, a little awkwardly.

  Taren could see where the conversation was headed and was wary. ‘Do you really want to go there, with all that has already happened to you this day?’

  Lucian raised both brows to concede. ‘Yes, my world has spun around more than once today, but I’ve been trying to figure out your motive for warning me.’ A smile threatened to form on his lips, and as much as Taren wanted to pour out the truth to him, what was the point?

  ‘It doesn’t really matter why I did it … as I must now go back to yesterday, where none of this will have come to pass.’

  ‘No.’ Lucian was bemused. ‘Why?’

  ‘To prevent Leal’s death.’ She backed away a few steps. ‘Zeven has already gone.’

  ‘But what if I don’t want to go back to yesterday?’ Lucian was mortified by the notion.

  ‘I shouldn’t have come to see you, I should have gone straight back with Zeven.’ Taren backed away as Lucian moved towards her. ‘I’m so sorry —’

  ‘No.’ Lucian grabbed her hand and softened his stance and tone. ‘I’m glad you came.’

  Taren calmed and was content to linger. ‘I will make you aware yesterday, just as I did today.’

  ‘But why are you putting yourself through this?’ Lucian asked, sincerely interested. ‘What’s in all this for you?’

  Taren opened her mouth to answer, but what was she to say?

  ‘When all this is done and forgotten.’ Lucian could see he’d put Taren on the spot. ‘Do I find love with someone else?’

  Taren suppressed a gasp and nodded, as her eyes moistened with tears. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Was that someone you?’ he asked hopefully.

  ‘That is not for me to say,’ Taren’s voice went hoarse as Lucian kissed her, his feelings on the matter made plain in the heated exchange.

  ‘Must you go?’ he asked and rested his forehead against hers.

  Taren nodded. ‘We never seem to get a break, you and I.’ The fact brought a tear to her eye and she felt pressed to make a move before the moment got really out of hand.

  ‘So, what happens to me?’ Lucian pulled back to ask. ‘I wake tomorrow with no idea I am with the wrong woman?’

  ‘This has never happened, but perhaps it is a dream you had before waking today?’

  Lucian, despite his despair, had to grin, as he recalled waking this morning feeling mysteriously well-disposed towards Dr Lennox. ‘It may well have been.’

  19

  THE DECOY

&nbs
p; When Zeven awoke he headed straight for the bridge, where he found Colbers keeping an eye on things.

  Zeven wasn’t wary of the technician as the man was a sleeper agent and not a threat unless activated. In fact, in his normal waking state Colbers was far more disposed towards Zeven than just about anyone else on AMIE.

  ‘Where is Leal?’ Zeven really didn’t have to ask.

  ‘He’s not here.’ Colbers stated the obvious.

  ‘So where will I find him?’

  ‘Classified,’ the tech replied, pointing to the ocean planet out front.

  ‘Shit!’ Zeven cursed.

  ‘I don’t know what you are so pissed about, Leal said you refused to go.’

  ‘I refused for a reason!’ Zeven said. ‘How long until he’s back?’

  ‘Fifteen minutes?’ Colbers estimated, whereby Zeven left the bridge. What to do? There was really nothing he could do now, besides wait for Leal to return and events to unfold as they may.

  With a huge gasp, Taren was startled awake and was trembling like someone who had been on the verge of sleep several times and been deprived time after time. Her body felt weighted and completely exhausted, and when she looked to the clock beside her bed she was startled to find she had awoken only minutes after she had gone to sleep the night before. ‘It’s only six-ten?’

  She looked down at herself, still dressed in her crew suit; she could have used a shower, as she’d been too emotionally exhausted before she’d collapsed to be bothered. Still, even though she had arrived early, she felt she should use every second to their advantage. ‘I should find Zeven.’

  Eyes closed, his image formed in her mind and she shifted to his location.

  Hot water began teeming down upon Taren’s head, which was a pleasant shock, until she cleared the water from her eyes to find Zeven, naked in the shower tube with her.

  ‘Hello there.’ He grinned, not in the least bit shy to place his hands on her thighs. ‘I wasn’t expecting you this soon.’

  Taren gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘Well, I didn’t expect to find you in the shower, I thought you’d be on the case already … my mistake.’ She removed his hands and moved for the door, which Zeven blocked.