by Glover, Nhys
They moved along the brightly lit corridors with speed. Faith knew exactly where she was going, and was very much at home in the building. In a matter of minutes, they had entered another large room where reclining chairs, which reminded him of barber’s chairs, sat along one wall.
Several people were already sitting in the chairs with a wire nets covering their heads. Faith motioned for him to sit in the chair closest to them, and he did so without caution. He trusted Faith implicitly. Whatever was going to happen to him would not hurt or damage him in any way. Faith would not allow it. It felt good to trust someone like that. There had only been members of his unit that he had trusted in that way. And his mother. He pushed the memory of her away.
Faith put the wire net over his head. It reminded him of those hair nets some women liked to wear. But this one was all shiny metal.
‘Now this net directs the information into the right parts of the brain. You will feel nothing while it is happening. In fact, you can talk to me, if you want. You will not know anything has happened until you call up the information. Then it will be your job to sort it into meaningful subsets, so you can draw on it to learn.’
He relaxed into the chair as she pressed a series of buttons on the panel on the wall behind him. This one wasn’t connected to her brain waves, he realised. Would they give him one of those tablets? It would be quite something to have information at your fingertip like that.
Faith came back, and perched on the edge of the chair, taking his hands in hers. His heart swelled with possessive delight. This was his woman. This beautiful, serene creature, who could drive him crazy in bed, was looking at him like he was something extra special. How many people had ever seen him as anything special? Other than his recruiting officer. His mother came to mind again. Damn, why did she have to be in his head so much lately? It hurt to think of her.
Sooner than he expected, Faith got up and took the net off his head. He felt no different. There was no sudden influx of information to overwhelm him.
‘Okay, now think about martial arts training.’ Faith directed.
He thought about it. Suddenly he was inundated with names and the description of the type of martial arts form it was. He just knew Aikido used an opponent’s momentum and strength against them, redirecting their force. He knew Judo was closer to wrestling, and that there were no punches or kicks involved, only throws.
Ju-Jitsu was more about grappling and ground fighting, where the object was to get your opponent into joint locks. Then there was Karate, which usually incorporated weapons training, but empty hand Karate used punches and kicks, and required serious toughening of the entire body. Kendo was sword/stick fighting. Tae Kwon Do used about 80% kicking to 20% hand techniques, and was often taught in conjunction with another Korean martial art called Hapkido, which used small joint manipulation and submission tactics.
Lastly there was Kung Fu/Tai Chi which, when done slowly, was a form of relaxation and focus. It could then be speeded up for self-defence.
He looked at Faith in shocked delight. This was amazing. All he had to do was select a technique, and he would see in his head how a move was accomplished. He enjoyed the quick look he had at Hapkido. There were so many ways he could use those moves to incapacitate an opponent.
‘I can see you are lost to me already. Do you want to skip our meal, so you can go and practise?’
He couldn’t tell if she was offering him a genuine alternative, or if it was a test. Choose the fighting over time with her, and he was in trouble. The thing was, he didn’t care if it was a test, because he wanted to eat with her. And then he wanted her back in his room, under him. Fighting could wait.
‘Let’s eat. I’m so hungry a horse would look good right now!’
Faith laughed as she obviously remembered their first conversation when he woke up. ‘Still no horse on the menu, I am afraid.’
‘I’ll have to settle for steak then. It is real steak, right, from a cow?’
Faith pulled a guilty face and shrugged. ‘Actually no. We do not raise animals to eat any longer. But our vegetarian substitutes are indistinguishable from the real thing.’
He frowned, trying to remember what chicken and steak had tasted like since his arrival. Much the same as always. Maybe a little better. So it was fake! Would these people ever cease to amaze him?
‘Well, let’s go get us a vegetarian horse burger. I’m famished!’
Arm in arm they left the Knowledge Centre and made their way to the social precinct.
Chapter Fifteen
‘I don’t like it. He can provide the know-how from this side. But I do not want him on the Jump.’ Jac pushed back from the table and started to pace the conference room like a caged, white tiger.
‘We need his help. He is not going to do anything to sabotage us. He sees the importance of what we are doing.’ Faith leaned in, and placed her hands flat on the table, her temper rising to match Jac’s.
The room held twenty members of the two Retrieval teams. This was the first time they had brought everyone in on the discussions.
‘He does have expertise we don’t have, Jac. He put together a workable plan with Faith in a matter of minutes. He came up with ideas we hadn’t considered. He has experience uncoupling a train in motion. None of us have, or can get, that type of experience.’ Cara sat back in her chair, and studied her man through narrowed eyes. Faith’s heart lifted at the unexpected support.
‘I can study the schematics. I am capable of uncoupling the carriages.’ Jac huffed as he turned his cold, blue eyes on his lover.
‘I know you could. But you are better off talking the women and children through what will happen. Your best skills are people skills. Luke’s are not.’ Cara came back at him gently with a note of humorous derision directed at Luke obvious in her tone.
The suggestion at this stage was that it would be Luke and Jac who would join the last carriage, when it turned the bend after leaving the station. Luke would move to uncouple the carriages, while Jac talked to the Jews inside the carriage in Czech, German and Polish. It would have been better if it had been a woman talking to them. But it was agreed that racing to catch a train, and then climbing up onto the roof, might be better left to a large male.
They had found a suitable tranquilizer that could be fired into a target’s flesh, and would dissolve on contact, leaving no trace. The target would feel a slight sting, as if bitten by a bug, and then begin to feel tired. They would have time to get comfortable before the drug took effect. It would wear off in half an hour, not long before they reached Belzac.
Jane and Millie had volunteered to act as snipers. The tiny airguns they would use were soundless and easily disguised as lipsticks and compacts before assembly. No Old Timers had volunteered for that job. Faith found that an interesting phenomenon. It was as if women like her were programmed to find weapons abhorrent. But Newcomers, even gentle women like Millie, thought nothing of learning how to handle a weapon. Jane’s involvement was unexpected, and Faith thought Julio seemed agitated by the idea that his partner was going into danger. But, as he was also going along as backup, dressed as a Gestapo Officer of some rank, he was reconciled to the idea.
Cara, Faith, and the rest of the team were going to be moving backward and forward through the Portal at the extraction point. They would form a guard on either side of the door of the train and would gently guide the women and children up the slight incline to the open Portal.
Because of his size, Jac would hang back, as would Luke. But they would make sure everyone was out of the carriage, and safely through the Portal. Jac would be last through, and it would then be closed.
They had considered the possibilities for the least traumatic arrival in New Atlantis, and had opted again for Faith and Luke’s suggestion of darkening the cavern, leaving only enough lights to mark a path. That way, the transition from the darkness of the night in 1942 to daylight in 2332 would be less dramatic. Everyone on the floor of the Start Point Cavern would be e
nlisted to give quiet reassurances, and direct the children forward to the lifts.
There would be a momentary delay as the lifts came and went to the surface, but the cavern was so immense that one hundred and fifty extra bodies in it wouldn’t cause problems.
On the surface, a welcome team would be waiting, all speaking German, Czech and Polish. Food, drink, and medicines would be distributed as names, ages, and family members were recorded. It was expected that many of the children would be accompanied by their mothers. But they expected a lot of orphans, or children separated from their parents, too. They planned to house all of them together in a large dormitory, and integrate them slowly into their new world.
‘I do not trust him,’ Jac finally said, as he sat down once more. Cara smiled, knowing she had won.
‘You don’t have to. You can watch him like a hawk. If he steps out of line, you can deal with it.’ Cara smiled her encouragement.
‘How do I deal with it, Cara? Shoot him? I certainly couldn’t beat him in hand to hand combat.’
‘It will not come to that,’ Faith spoke up. ‘He would not compromise this mission. He knows how crucial it is. The only risk is after the children are through. I cannot believe he would do it, but he might take off into the forest. He was on a mission of his own when he saved me. Only a day will have elapsed. He might decide to continue with his mission. If you and I are last through, we can make sure he does not try anything. After all, he did go MIA on August 10.’
Jac frowned and tapped the table in front of him. He looked at the leader of the Adult Retrieval Program, a small Asian Old Timer called Chen. The man frowned, and then nodded.
‘I agree that Luke Bedford should be used in-situ. He has the skills we need. And I agree that he is unlikely to risk our mission. But if he tries to escape, back into his time, then he will have to be stopped. Are you capable of terminating him, Jac?’
Faith let out a soft gasp, and turned to Cara. They weren’t considering killing Luke where they? That was the worst possible outcome. She would rather he be forced to stay on this side, if there was any risk to his life.
‘I would prefer not to take the risk, but if the teams decide Luke is necessary to the successful outcome of this mission then, yes, I will terminate him if his actions threaten to cause temporal displacement.’ Faith watched Jac closely. His jaw clamped tight on his emotions, and the colour had left his already pale cheeks. To be willing to kill was the most extreme position anyone could be placed in. She didn’t know how Jac could do it. And to be willing to kill someone he knew, someone who had become important to people he cared about, was unimaginable.
Cara must have been feeling the same horror, because she rose from her side of the table, and came around to stand behind Jac, placing her hands on his broad shoulders. Her touch seemed to take some of the tension out of him, and he relaxed his jaw.
As much as she wanted Luke to have the opportunity to be part of this mission, the risk to him, and to Jac’s emotional wellbeing was too great. She could not imagine what pain Jac would experience if he was forced to kill.
‘I would like to suggest that this mission be put on hold until Luke can be integrated more fully into this time. He has only been here for a month. His old life is still fresh for him, and his duty to that world still strong. If we postpone this mission for a year, say, we can be assured Luke will feel his loyalties are to us. There will be less risk.’ It took everything Faith had, to offer this solution. This was her life’s work, and she wanted to see it achieved. Postponing it felt like a betrayal of the children, even though it would make no difference to them whatsoever.
‘I agree with Faith,’ Cara said as she squeezed Jac’s shoulders. ‘If we postpone, there will be time to prepare more fully on this side. The extent of the emotional trauma experienced by these women and children may be greater than we anticipate. We need to trawl the Newcomers to see if any are trained in trauma counselling. If not, then we need to train such people up. It is long overdue. If nothing else, these people will experience Survivor Guilt when they realise what has happened to the rest of the train.’
Jac looked from Faith to Cara, and the relief on his face was obvious. The atmosphere in the room relaxed. No one wanted to consider the possibility of termination. It happened, and there was a team who provided that solution for those who had a psychotic break after coming to New Atlantis. But such people were usually in a bad way by that stage, and ending their trauma could be seen as a kindness. Ending Luke’s life with a gun could not.
Faith couldn’t regret her decision.
‘I think Luke needs to be brought in to co-ordinate some of the larger Retrievals we have been flagging lately,’ Cara went on, as she resumed her seat, and smiled across at her Bonded. ‘If he experiences time as we do, he will be less willing to attempt to interfere with it when the time comes. Most Newcomers have faced the temptation of interacting with their own time-line. I know I have. The more chances Luke has of testing his resolve, the more we can trust him when we put him back into his own time-line.’
‘I was unaware that larger missions were being considered.’ Chen’s chin came up, and his dark eyes flashed.
‘Since Faith flagged this mission, we have been widening the parameters of the searches to include multiple missing persons, adults and children.’ Cara turned to smile at Chen, and he immediately calmed. Cara had that way about her. ‘Nothing has been done about these cases, because we were waiting to see how this one worked out. But it might be advisable to start small, and work up.’
‘And you plan to use this Luke Bedford, a World War Two Commando on these Retrievals?’ Chen asked mildly.
‘His ability to infiltrate hostile environments and orchestrate complex and dangerous assignments was his speciality, so his records indicate. He was considered the best of the best. He knew how to follow orders, but he was also an excellent leader, and could think on his feet. We need those skills and traits, if we are to undertake large scale ‘rescue’ missions.’
‘Why call them rescue missions rather than Retrievals?’ Chen looked curious now, his interest piqued.
‘Because there will be no involvement with Targets before their Retrieval. The situations will be dangerous and extreme, and if they are forewarned, it is likely they will disrupt the time-line. We have found this an effective method with children. And Jane’s case,’ Jac nodded in the red head’s direction, ‘has shown that lack of forewarning can prove advantageous with adults, too.’
‘How does the Committee feel about large scale intakes?’
‘They approve, as long as the Targets are checked out beforehand. But our usual screening process is not perfect, as Zygmunt and Jane have shown us. Some Targets prove unsuitable candidates, once they take up residence here, others would have been passed over, if the criteria were adhered to. We need to allow for more diversity within our population. The children are showing us that.’
‘What Jac is getting at is that, with larger scale Retrievals from dangerous situations, the individuals will be mixed. Some would be perfect candidates for Retrieval, others less so. But these days, we cannot discount the less than optimal additions, because experience has taught us that there are gems amongst the rough,’ Cara explained, looking over at Julio who was nodding silently, his eyes alight with passion as he turned to look at his lover.
Everyone there knew how Julio had gone out on a limb and broken Protocol to Retrieve Jane. She had then gone on to integrate into a body, not her own, proving that Jac was not the exception to the rule, and had since proved herself to be an intelligent and productive member of their society.
‘So, can I assume there is no disagreement to the suggestion of postponing the Belzac mission, and in the interim, involving Newcomer Luke Bedford in multi-person ‘Rescues’?’ Jac asked, looking around the room.
Everyone nodded their agreement, and Faith breathed a sigh of relief. Luke had a stay of execution, and she possibly had as much as a year to convince him that his
own mission was over, and that his life could be just as productive and exciting here.
Her mission, she decided anxiously, could prove as challenging as any the Jumpers undertook.
Chapter Sixteen
Luke reclined on his sofa, feet up over one armrest, his new Tablet in his hands. It was proving more difficult to operate than he’d been led to believe. Sure, all he had to do was make sure his eyes were aligned with the sensor on the top of the gadget, then think clearly, in words or images, what he wanted to see, and it would appear on the screen. But if his thoughts drifted away from his subject, suddenly he could find something unexpected appearing on the Tablet.
At least it had been a valuable way to find out more about Faith. Because his thoughts often drifted to her, the machine regularly flashed up data on her years assisting Karl in the Research Centre, her pre-plague life, or data on her sexual partners. Was there nothing private in this world?
It was somewhat disconcerting to see himself listed as the most recent sexual partner of Faith Lincolnshire. But it appealed to him to find that her last partner had been over a hundred years ago and that each partner had lasted only a week or two. He was already past that limit, and was well on the way to substantially exceeding it, if his feelings for Faith were any guide. The more he saw of her, the more he wanted her. Sometimes he felt an ache in his chest from her absence, even if she was gone for no more than a few hours.
But his fits of jealousy were ridiculously inappropriate. Seeing Faith with another man, even Bonded males like Julio and Jac, would send his pulse racing and the adrenalin surging. When did he get so insecure about his ability to keep a woman? Maybe he had always been this way, but had never cared that much for any woman to worry about competition. He didn’t like feeling this needy.
When he thought about himself, while looking at the Tablet, a screed of information would scroll across the screen. His birthdate, parents, school history, all his army records, even accounts of his secret missions that should have remained classified, would appear. Faith had told him that it became common practice to disclose classified materials once the ‘critical impact’ of such a disclosure was deemed passed. It was still hard to come to terms with the fact that his missions were nearly four hundred years in the past. There’d been a lot of water under the bridge since then.