‘The Queen of the Dead?’ Lucian wanted to be sure he was hearing correctly.
‘You let Zeven venture into the Underworld alone?’ Taren was astounded.
‘No,’ Rhun assured her, then added more tentatively. ‘Nergal accompanied him.’
‘Nergal!’ Taren freaked, knowing he was one of the most troublesome among the Nefilim that the Chosen had been forced to deal with in the past.
‘Who is Nergal?’ Lucian appealed to be enlightened.
The doors Taren had been staring at finally opened and Kassa stood in the doorway to announce. ‘All back and accounted for.’ She stepped aside so that all in the waiting room could see that Noah, Telmo and Zeven were sitting upright and stripping sensors from their bodies.
This event brought sighs of relief from everyone, but they refrained from entering the chamber to give the occupants time to collect themselves and comprehend their present place in space and time.
Telmo and Zeven were having words with one another, having returned to consciousness arguing. Noah waved them both off and raised himself to come and brief Taren and the others waiting expectantly outside the doors.
When Zeven noticed this, he stripped the last of the sensors from his form and followed suit. ‘Why would I apologise when I didn’t do anything wrong?’
‘Just admit you should have recruited me in the first place,’ Telmo replied, bringing up the rear.
‘I did admit it!’ Zeven argued back.
‘Does it matter?’ Noah turned back to them as they entered the waiting room. ‘We succeeded, that’s all that counts.’
‘You succeeded?’ Taren noted, fit to burst with relief.
‘Of course!’ both Telmo and Zeven chimed in to boast at once.
‘The virus, the seals?’ She quantified their claim to success.
‘All returned to the dark universe, courtesy of Ereshkigal.’ Zeven put her mind to rest and Taren was compelled to hug him.
‘I was so worried!’ She pulled back to express how concerned she’d been for them all.
‘Well, thanks for the vote of confidence.’ Zeven was underwhelmed by her reaction.
‘I was worried for you, not the mission,’ she clarified, as the rest of the crew congratulated each other on their success. ‘Rhun said you were dealing with Nergal again, and the last time you faced off with him, you wound up in a pit fighting a mutant!’
‘But he didn’t have me there at that time, to save his arse,’ Telmo stated in a grandiloquent manner.
‘No, I handled it on my own. Much like this instance,’ Zeven scoffed. ‘You didn’t venture into the Underworld!’
‘I didn’t need to, when I set you up perfectly for success,’ contested Telmo.
‘Jeez, they are worse than us!’ Avery commented to Rhun, who nodded to agree.
‘I say we debate the matter over food,’ Leal said, throwing an arm around his wife, and grabbing his stomach with his free hand. ‘We may have only been gone a couple of minutes, but I feel like I haven’t eaten in an age!’
‘Hear, hear,’ Jazmay agreed. ‘We’re not Grigorian now.’
‘Thank goodness for that,’ Leal concurred. ‘Saying yes to Tiamat is the best decision we ever made,’ he looked to the captain as he said this and then kissed Kassa, because he could.
Lucian frowned, frustrated. ‘Who is Tiamat?’
‘Someone we made a promise to once,’ Zeven filled him in.
‘A promise that has now been executed in full,’ Noah pointed out, which inspired a round of applause from the other timekeepers.
‘Provided what we’ve done hasn’t drastically affected history in some unforeseeable manner.’ Avery was wary not to count their chickens just yet.
‘We were very careful not to change anything besides what we went to alter,’ Zeven was more confident. ‘The big question now is … where to from here?’
Taren, Jazmay, Noah, Rhun and Avery nodded as they considered the query.
‘Well, I don’t know about you guys but my next stop is the mess,’ Leal commented on his way out the door. ‘And then I’m back to the flight deck, as per usual.’
‘Thank goodness for small mercies.’ Kassa was clearly relieved to have the ordeal over.
‘Thanks for your contribution,’ Zeven acknowledged them both, placing his hands together to emphasise how grateful he was. ‘It was most appreciated.’
‘Not what I was expecting to be doing today, but it was very educational nonetheless. And now I have a new skill,’ Leal warranted it was worth the effort and risk. ‘I hope it works out for us in the end.’ He waved, as did Kassa, as they headed out to resume their regular routine.
‘Well, I guess that’s a wrap everyone, good job.’ Lucian looked to their three inter-universal guests. ‘You’d best return to the conference room, we’ll meet you there to discuss your next destination.’
‘I’ll round up some food for the troops,’ Jazmay volunteered as the team from Kila vanished as requested.
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Taren moved to follow her, but the captain waylaid her.
‘Zeven and Telmo can assist,’ Lucian suggested. The men in question realised that their absence was being requested, and they both moved to make their exit with Jazmay.
‘See you both there,’ Zeven commented, serving Taren a look of sympathy — he knew she was in trouble and so did she.
‘Okay, what have I done now?’ Taren folded her arms, and prepared to be lectured on the extravagance of her problem solving means.
‘You tell me,’ Lucian challenged. ‘What is it that you’re not telling me?’
Damn it. Her husband knew her way too well; there was no point denying that there was information she was withholding. ‘We screwed up.’
‘We?’ Lucian raised a brow intrigued.
Taren nodded to confirm, and her pending confession caused an ironic smile to form on her lips. ‘We fell in love, when we weren’t supposed to.’
Lucian grinned at this. ‘So what’s new?’
‘I got pregnant,’ she announced and watched the gamut of emotions unfurl across her lover’s face, before landing him with the bad news. ‘That issue was a huge impediment to me being able to return here, for there is no safe way to deliver a child from that universe into this one. I would have had to stay and raise the child on Kila.’
Lucian’s amazement was replaced by a daze of devastation. He gripped his head with all ten of his fingertips in an attempt to fathom the complications and ramifications of the news. ‘Yet you’re here now?’ He was perplexed by that fact. ‘Where is our child?’
‘In the limbo between rearranging timelines, I expect,’ she said, but the dark look Lucian served her implied he was not as detached from the outcome.
‘You left our child in another timeline?’ He stood again, and she could not recall ever seeing him so angry.
‘I was but a couple of weeks pregnant and the lives of our entire crew were in jeopardy. I had to get them out of there, and they would not leave without me.’ She defended her decision. ‘What would you have done?’
‘Thought of something else!’ He backed off a little, but his aversion was still plain.
‘I know how dearly you want a child,’ Taren’s tough exterior began to dissolve. ‘But I couldn’t stand to see another one of us slaughtered,’ her tears of horror spilt down her face, ‘not after you.’
Despite how mad he was, Lucian hugged her close to him, and allowed a moment for them both to calm down. ‘So that is it then, there is nothing to be done?’
The short embrace did wonders, it felt good to have cleared her conscience and Taren pulled herself together and withdrew from him to confess the rest. ‘I will return to ancient Zhou and ensure we do not wed, which is what history dictated.’
‘So our child will never be?’ Lucian clearly resented the desired outcome.
‘That child was never meant to be,’ Taren concluded. ‘It is not of this universe, and we no longer belong to the time zone, pla
net or the universe where it rightfully should have been born! In the reality of that world, both of its parents were dead.’
‘I want to remember,’ Lucian decided.
‘And you shall —’
‘Not if you go back and change everything,’ Lucian was sure of that much.
‘Can you not just trust that I have got this —’
‘After what you have just told me?’ Lucian posed, indignant.
It hurt that he considered she’d done the wrong thing by them, when she knew in her heart that she had not.
‘Damn.’ Lucian looked to the floor and swallowed hard as he digested the facts. ‘I wish I could be as detached from outcomes as you are. I almost wish I hadn’t asked.’
‘Repeated tragedy has a way of numbing the senses,’ she explained her indifference, which Lucian was finding so very unbecoming. Still, this was her self-defence mechanism for dealing with the grief, and she would not lower that guard now, not before her mission was done, or she would collapse into an emotional heap and be useless to everyone. ‘Today is the first real victory we’ve seen in some time.’
Lucian looked to her, and astounded by her view, he shook his head. ‘I’m afraid I cannot see it that way.’
‘Then we must agree to disagree,’ Taren concluded, unhappily, and made a move towards the door to leave it at that.
‘Did I even know back then?’ Lucian queried. ‘Or did you hide the fact from me then also?’
‘You knew,’ she turned back to state coolly. ‘You wanted to make it work, regardless of the risk that posed to everyone else. I resigned myself to your wishes.’ She gritted her teeth to endure the ire she felt in this moment. ‘But, over your dead body, I relented.’ Taren left his presence before she lost control and her psychokinesis started flinging inanimate objects at him.
‘Taren!’ Lucian called as he came after her, and although his tone was more sympathetic, she needed a moment to decompress, and so teleported herself to the one place in AMIE that always made her feel calm — Module C.
Upon arrival in the greenhouse contained within Module C, Taren breathed deeply in an attempt to allay her surging emotions; her anger turned to guilt and self doubt, and she broke down and wept. ‘Damn it,’ she scolded herself. ‘Don’t do this now.’ She struggled to draw deep breaths to counter the massive anxiety attack welling within her. The weight and magnitude of the risks they were taking bore down heavily upon her conscience, and she gripped the Juju stone fixed to her left upper arm to seek its guidance. ‘Send me a sign. Tell me I’m not wrong about this!’
‘You’re never wrong.’
Taren looked aside to see Ringbalin a short distance up the pathway from her, planting saplings.
He brushed the dirt from his hands and stood. ‘Yet, clearly there is something amiss with you … can I be of assistance?’
As with his Zhou incarnation Fen Gong, Ringbalin was a calming force; Taren was breathing easier just upon seeing him. In this life he was fair of skin, golden haired and blue eyed, like Armaros, but he had Fen Gong’s nature through and through.
Taren shook her head, both to disagree with their horticulturalist’s summation of her actions and to decline his aid. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she sniffed back her emotion. ‘I just need a stroll through your garden.’
‘Would you like company?’
‘I always welcome your company —’ She had to stop herself from calling him little brother.
‘Would you like tea with that?’ he suggested with an expectant grin, which Taren returned, realising Ringbalin also knew her very well.
‘Do you even have to ask?’ She smiled sincerely to accept.
The mug of warm tea was a great comfort to cling to, as they did the rounds of the gardens within the greenhouse; hearing Ringbalin discuss his passion was a pleasing distraction from the strife and stress.
‘As riveting as my work is,’ Ringbalin posed sarcastically, ‘I feel you have other more pressing concerns.’
‘I do.’ Taren breathed a heavy sigh, reluctant to leave this peaceful pause in the chaos.
‘I sense there are strange things afoot today,’ he voiced his observation. ‘Anything I can be of help with?’
The offer made Taren smile, as she considered that his past life incarnation of Noah was awaiting her presence in the conference room as they spoke. ‘You already are helping,’ she emphasised, and handing him back his cup, Taren gripped his wrist to get one last shot of his calming energy.
‘It was just a cup of tea.’ He downplayed his part.
‘And a damn fine one at that,’ she awarded, feeling much better.
‘I thought I’d find you here.’ Zeven appeared and startled them both. ‘The captain is looking for you.’
‘I know.’ Taren let Ringbalin go. ‘I’m coming now.’
‘He’s not happy,’ Zeven added in warning.
‘I am the one who made him so,’ Taren regretted to inform. ‘But there is nothing to be done about it now.’
‘He knows then?’ Zeven guessed, without giving away the cause.
Taren nodded and forced a smile. ‘But the reprise will play out as it always should have, only then will the issue truly be set to rights.’
Zeven nodded, for he agreed it was for the best; still, it was not his child they were discussing. ‘He will forget all this,’ Zeven tried to be supportive.
But Taren knew better. ‘Ji Dan will forget, sure enough. But when we return here … Lucian will remember.’
‘Maybe by then, he will understand your choices?’ Zeven put forward, hating to see their leader doubting herself.
Taren forced a smile and nodded. ‘We can hope.’
When Taren entered the conference room, you could have cut the tension between her and the captain with a knife; fortunately the crew had eaten and were ready to get down to business.
‘Could I speak with you in my office?’ Lucian requested.
‘Afterwards,’ Taren suggested. ‘I’m sure our friends from Kila are eager to get moving.’
‘Our discussion could have some bearing on this meeting,’ Lucian resented her attempt to put him off.
‘No,’ Taren insisted, ‘it cannot.’ She could feel Lucian quietly fuming at her back, as she approached the rest of the timekeepers seated at the table to propose. ‘The way I see it, there is little point in us returning to Kila before we gauge what effect our actions have had on the situation in ancient Zhou.’
‘I second that motion,’ Zeven stated.
‘Makes sense,’ Jazmay agreed.
‘We must return to our rightful universe via the Otherworld,’ Avery pointed out.
‘We can summon you forth when we get to ancient Zhou,’ Zeven theorised.
‘And what am I to do in Zhou?’ Noah asked, ‘I already have an incarnation there.’
‘I can bring you back to Kila with me on the chariot,’ said Rhun.
‘But the chariot won’t be there, will it?’ Noah answered. ‘Not unless you drop by Kila and take it back there, as you did originally?’
‘Depending on when we go back, I could already be there and so would the chariot?’ Rhun countered.
‘But then you’d have to leave your body here and jump into the one that is there.’ Avery confused the issue further, as Jazmay groaned and gripped her aching head.
‘All I know is that I have an incarnation in Zhou, so I have somewhere to go.’ She held up her hands to relinquish responsibility for putting any further thought into the matter. ‘If I go back to just before I died then I won’t have the opportunity to screw history up too much, before Rhun comes to collect me. Done.’
‘Same here,’ Zeven seconded her plan.
‘Ditto,’ Taren agreed, still mulling over the paradox. ‘Noah could wait the incident out in the Otherworld, and can return to Kila when you do, Avery.’
‘I can summon you back to Kila once we are done in Zhou,’ Rhun suggested.
‘Um,’ Noah hated to put a spanner in the works, ‘but wo
n’t I already be on Kila, as technically I would never have left?’
‘Damn it!’ Taren cussed under her breath, they’d created a hell of a paradox for themselves.
‘I thought this would be the easy part of the mission,’ Zeven owned up to his shortcomings, ‘but it looks like I’ve just quantum jumped us out of the frying pan and into the fire.’
‘No, you’ve done well,’ Taren awarded, ‘there has to be a way around this.’
‘Even if one of the timekeepers attempted to go back to when we left, it will most likely be an entirely different situation that greets us there.’ Zeven saw the problem now.
Taren thought harder on it. ‘We need someone who is there on Kila already who can summon Rhun, Avery and Noah back, as we timekeepers may or may not have returned there after the mission to ancient Zhou this time around.’
‘Jahan!’ Jazmay proffered. He’d been Ji Shi — her partner in ancient Zhou — and that same soul-mind was also her partner, Yasper, here on AMIE. ‘Jahan is on Kila. We could train Yasper up, and he could go back and summon them forth?’
Taren’s eyes lit up. ‘That might just work.’
‘You want to involve another member of this crew in this?’ Lucian was inclined to disagree.
‘There is little risk involved,’ Taren turned to appeal their case to the captain, despite his aversion to her at present. ‘If Yasper can return to his incarnation of Jahan on Kila and summon the Kila contingent back to their rightful place, Noah’s paradox is sorted and Yasper can return straight here. Rhun can take the chariot back to Zhou, then summon Avery, whilst the rest of us return to Zhou directly.’
Lucian, perturbed, looked to the rest of the team to find them all smiling in accord with her plan, except for Telmo.
‘I don’t think that is going to work either,’ Telmo offered up his expert advice, having been something of a time lord in the last universe.
‘How so?’ Taren’s head was starting to hurt.
‘If the timelines have changed,’ Telmo suggested, ‘chances are that Rhun and Noah never left Kila, and if they return there —’
‘There is going to be two of them,’ Taren realised where he was going with this.
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