Edge of Time

by Susan M. MacDonald

  Darius’ voice grew bleaker. “That’s all they do, you see? Introduce the resistor gene, train those who acquire it to resist the Others’ mind control, and if that works, eliminate any witnesses. They don’t actually fight anyone themselves. Sometimes, they just pick up the Potentials and leave. Like here.” Darius shifted and pulled Riley closer until her head was resting under his chin.

  “What do you mean, eliminate witnesses?”

  “We’re actually not supposed to be doing this at all.” He sighed. “It’s a long story.”

  “It’s a long night.”

  “Fair enough.” She heard the smile in his voice. “Okay. The prime mandate of the Intergalactic Council is to permit the growth and natural evolution of all cultures, so attacking one group of beings just because they are overly aggressive was politically unpalatable. There’s a lot of jockeying for power and control on the Council, as you might imagine, and some pretty powerful lobbies made it clear that the Others were to be ignored. So some members of the Council secretly formed the Tyon Collective and sent them out to do what, legally, they couldn’t.”

  “Sneaky.”

  “Hmm. The trouble of course is that the Collective has been doing the Council’s dirty work illegally for so long now that the secret is pretty much out. There has been pressure for the Collective to be dissolved. Of course, all this is pretty high-level stuff. I’m not supposed to even know about it.”

  “So, how do you?” Riley asked with a good idea of the answer.

  “Anna told me.” Darius paused and Riley worried for a moment if he was going to cry or something. She was relieved when he started to speak again. “Anna was second in command at Home Base and privy to a lot of what was going on because of her relationship with Logan.”

  “What relationship? I thought she was your girlfriend?”

  “She was to be partnered with Logan after they were retired from the Collective. Pair bonds are often pre-arranged by the Council in order to ensure maximum continuation of the genetic Tyon ability.”

  “She agreed to an arranged marriage to Logan?” Riley sat up. “But she loved you.”

  “Love is a pretty strong word, Riley. I’m not sure if Anna actually knew what that meant or if she felt it. Attraction, yes; desire, yes; willingness to break rules on my behalf, maybe. But love? She isn’t like us, Riley. Orions are raised in a world where emotions are dangerous to their survival. I loved her. But did she love me? I don’t know.”

  Riley thought it over. Heaven knows the woman was strong enough with Tyon power, and her skill combined with Dean’s would probably have been more than enough to kill the three of them. But she hadn’t. She’d literally kept her orb at her side and had let Dean’s killing force bounce back towards her. What else, other than love for Darius, could have caused her to do that?

  For a long time neither spoke. Riley was caught up in the thoughts swirling like a vortex around her mind. The mandate of the Collective, the danger they were in, Darius’ love for Anna. She thought about Darius growing up amongst the Collective, his need to love and be loved not understood or sanctioned and resulting, she realized with sudden insight, into a need to flirt and provoke everyone around him, just to be acknowledged.

  “Are you sorry?” Darius’ voice startled her.

  “Sorry for what?”

  “Sorry you’re involved. That we ever met.”

  Was she? Days ago the answer would have been an unqualified “yes.” But now, she wasn’t quite so sure. If Darius hadn’t invited her for coffee in order to separate her from the crowd, if those Emissaries hadn’t tried to kill her, if she hadn’t the gift the Tyons were looking for, then what? Right now she’d probably be in Vancouver, at Deborah’s, dealing with her hysterical, incapable older sister while the world fell apart around her and she would have been helpless to do anything. Not only helpless, but ignorant.

  Here, now, she had a fighting chance to make a difference. There was power inside her that might make Rhozan sit up and pay attention. She was going to be of help.

  “No,” she answered.

  “That’s my girl.”

  Off to their right, several streets away, a flash of light lit the darkness. The echoing recoil of sound bouncing between the buildings indicated the tank was momentarily in operation. Alec didn’t move beside them.

  “He’s really exhausted,” Riley noted with worry.

  “And today is going to be a hell of a day,” Darius sighed.

  40

  They got up as the first faint rays of light slid over the rooftop. Alec was sore all over from a combination of a miserable night of nightmares and sleeping with his neck in an awkward position. They kept mostly to the shadows as they jogged towards the high-rises in the distance. An uncomfortable sensation built inside Alec’s stomach with every step closer to his home and what waited for him there. He couldn’t stop the worrying thoughts that spun around in his brain: his mom, Peter, zombies, Rhozan, the list was endless. How on earth would he fix the mess he’d started?

  Darius spotted a convenience store that hadn’t been looted and called a temporary halt mid-morning. Between them they pried the locks off the doors and raised the metal shutters. Darius pulled the glass doors open and they advanced into the gloom. The power was still off, but otherwise the store looked and smelled normal. There were three small aisles loaded with snack foods and a bank of refrigerated coolers along the back wall.

  “Grab something healthy,” Darius reminded them as Alec reached for a bag of chips.

  Alec dropped the bag back onto the rack and surreptitiously grabbed a chocolate bar, shoving the whole thing in his mouth before Darius could notice. Alec gave the magazine rack an interested look, his eyes straying to the girlie magazines on the top shelf. No one would know if he …

  “You don’t need those either.” Darius’ voice came from the other end of the store.

  Rolling his eyes, Alec wandered down the aisle.

  “Do you like chocolate chips?” Riley was looking at something on a lower shelf.

  “Cover slugs with chocolate and I’ll eat them. That and carbonated liquids were the things I missed the most while I was off planet.” Darius reached down and pulled up a box. “Grab a bag, Alec,” he instructed.

  Alec sighed and turned around to head for the cashier desk. He circled it, and reached under the counter for a stack of neatly folded plastic bags. Then his heart stopped.

  Sparkles.

  “They’re still cold. Do you want chocolate milk or regular?” Darius shouted to him from the back of the store.

  Alec couldn’t answer. The sparkles were an inch from his hand. If they moved …

  “Alec?”

  Goosebumps rose all over his body. Alec pulled his hand back carefully and looked around, terrified. Sure enough, there, by his feet. Between him and safety.

  “Darius,” Alec said softly, almost afraid the rips could hear him and would zero in on him once they did. “I can’t move.”

  Darius didn’t hear because his head was inside the cooler, but Riley did. Her arms were filled with milk cartons and granola bar boxes. She walked up to the cashier and looked down her nose. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked, her mouth full of granola.

  “Watch where you’re walking. This place is filled with rips.”

  Riley blanched. She peered over the cartons at her shoes. “Are you sure?”

  “There are two right here,” Alec whispered. “I can’t move.”

  Riley dumped the milk onto the counter. “I’ll get Dare.” She headed towards the cooler, watching her feet with every step.

  A carton of granola bars slid off the counter. Alec watched in horrified fascination, only stopping his automatic urge to grab it in time. The box fell straight into the sparkles. It vanished. Alec’s guts clenched. Just like Peter. He forced himself to take a long, deep breath, trying to keep his eyes on the sparkles at his feet and those by his hip at the same time.

  Darius was suddenly at the counter. �
�Where?” he demanded.

  Alec pointed.

  “You’re going to have to jump over them. How’re your high jump skills?”

  “Normally, I get a bit of a run first,” Alec said. If Riley could fake nonchalance in the face of danger, so could he.

  “Yeah, well, sorry.” Darius leaned over the counter. “Could you climb over the register instead?”

  Alec twisted around. The cash register was huge and the flimsy shelves might not hold his weight. “Looks okay.”

  Darius kept one hand hovering over his pocket but didn’t actually touch his orb. “Go for it.”

  Alec pivoted carefully. Then, reaching up with one foot to balance on the thin shelf, he grabbed Darius’ outstretched hand. He pulled himself up.

  He was halfway there, poised over the cash register, one leg lifting up to step onto the narrow space on the counter, when the shelf broke. Darius yanked. Alec fell over the counter, knocking Darius backwards onto the floor. The cash register fell beside them with a crash. He landed on top of Darius with a grunt. He was just about to apologize when he saw them. Sparkles. Less than a hand-span away from Darius’ right ear. And moving.

  Without thinking, he leapt to his feet, pulling Darius’ hand as hard as he could, hauling him upright. “Look out!” he yelled.

  Almost immediately Darius shouted, “Don’t move.”

  Riley halted in mid-step towards them. She looked down at her feet and then nervously around the room. She opened her mouth to speak, but Darius laid a finger across his lips and shook his head slightly. He pointed to the closed-circuit camera system over the cash counter. Its red light was on. Slowly the camera tracked in their direction.

  A decidedly clammy sensation ran down Alec’s spine. No one was watching that camera. No one alive, that was. He turned to keep the closest cluster of hovering sparkles in sight while he kept one eye on the moving camera. They had drifted a few inches closer and now were still just above the dirty floor, next to a display of motor oil. In the bright light from the overhead fluorescents, they were almost impossible to see. How many more were there?

  Riley screamed. Alec whirled around.

  Just like a scene from a movie, anything not tied down became airborne. Cans, bags of chips, greeting cards: everything sailed through the air directly at them. A can of ravioli hit Alec squarely in the middle of the forehead. He staggered, and would have stepped right back into the rip had Darius not grabbed him.

  “Get out of here,” Darius yelled.

  Hands around their heads to protect from the sharpest of items, they ran to the door. Darius reached it first. There were sparkles hovering over the door handle. Darius braced his hands on the glass to stop from falling into the rip as Riley and Alec barrelled into him.

  “Oof,” Alec grunted, as his chin made painful contact with Darius’ shoulder blade.

  Darius shoved them both backwards. A hail of canned goods hit the door and smashed the glass. Riley cried out in pain.

  “Get your orb out, Riley. See if you can put up a shield,” Darius shouted.

  “I can do it,” Alec gasped as he fended off a flying bottle of cola.

  “No.” Darius’ tone brooked no argument.

  Riley struggled to reach her orb. She grasped it and held it out towards the store, eyes shut tight with concentration. Alec tried to shelter her. Darius turned back to the door. He kicked at the glass several times, but despite the multiple cracks, the door seemed to have a mind of its own and refused to open.

  Another onslaught of cans and bottles headed their way, sailing through the air as if thrown. A bottle of orange soda hit Alec on the side of his head as he ducked to miss several cans of soup.

  “Get the barrier up,” Alec yelled at Riley.

  Tears streaming down her cheek, Riley shook her head mutely.

  Darius hit the glass again. It bulged outwards, the thin wire mesh inside the glass holding it in place. He reached for his orb.

  Alec looked up just in time to see the heavy glass doors of the wall coolers pull off their hinges and start to fly towards him. Thoughts flew even faster. Darius wasn’t looking; he was focused on the door. Riley wasn’t looking; her attention was on the orb. The barrier wasn’t up. Those doors were heavy and would kill them if they struck them.

  There was only one thing to do.

  Alec reached out, grabbed Riley’s hand around her orb and yelled at the top of his lungs.

  “Stop.”

  41

  The power came alive the instant Alec’s fingers touched Riley’s orb. In him, through him, around him.

  The barrier Riley’d been trying so infuriatingly hard to put in place winked into existence the very second Alec willed it so. A wave of satisfaction flooded him. This was what he was made for. The door bounced off the invisible barrier and fell with a resounding clatter to the floor. The second and third door did the same.

  “Good job,” Darius cheered as he turned around for a moment to look. “Alec, no!” he shouted as he took in who exactly was protecting them. “Let go,” he ordered.

  “Get the door open first,” Alec panted. His eyes were blazing and a thin beading of sweat lined his upper lip. Rhozan was throwing more things at them and the power, which initially had come so easily, was now starting to tire him. At the back of his mind a strange touching sensation was oozing in.

  Alec saw Darius’ fury for only a second until he turned, and, with renewed purpose, smashed open the door with a well-aimed kick. The door swung open, protesting on its hinges. Alec focused on the hordes of things still flying at them: the shelving, the ceiling tiles, the cash register, the safe. Wait a minute. The safe?

  He doubled his effort.

  “Alec, get out of here,” Riley yelled as Darius eased around the rip and ran outside.

  The safe hit the barrier and fell with a heavy thud to the floor at his feet, cracking the linoleum.

  Alec dropped his arm, let go of the orb and ran out the door in one smooth move, just remembering in time to avoid the rip. He pushed at the foreign presence inside his mind and it dissolved the second his fingers left the orb’s crystal surface. He couldn’t help but grin despite his exhaustion. That had been so cool.

  Alec’s pleasure turned to dust the moment he was outside. Darius was waiting for them in the middle of the street and he looked furious. Before either of them could speak, the sound of a truck engine revving shattered the silence. Several blocks down the street, a heavy army transport turned onto the road and began to advance.

  No one needed any orders. Darius led them down the sidewalk as fast as they could go, towards a narrow opening between two demolished storefronts. They rounded the corner, feet pounding into puddles and garbage alike, down the rank alley and out into the wide secondary street behind. All three skidded to a stop.

  “Get your hands up.”

  A small squad of soldiers, their truck nowhere to be seen, stood together in a tight formation, their rifles raised and levelled directly at them. Their uniforms were filthy and bloodstained, their faces coldly pale and grimly determined.

  For a second no one moved. Then Riley stumbled against Darius, grabbed him around the waist and wailed loudly, “No, no, don’t let them hurt me.” She buried her face against his chest. Her muffled sobs could be heard in the next street.

  All the soldiers visibly tensed. Alec’s heart zoomed up into his throat. What the hell was she doing?

  That was before he noticed her hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as one small hand surreptitiously reached into Darius’ pocket. He tensed all over, trying to keep his facial expression neutral.

  “Stand back from him, or I’ll shoot,” yelled a rapidly blinking soldier, hefting his gun directly at Riley.

  With remarkable speed, Riley pulled out Darius’ orb and thrust it upwards into his hand. Darius grabbed it and held on with her. A bright flash of light emanated from the orb towards the soldiers. Instantly they fell to the ground. There was a stunned moment of silence.
/>   “Guess that’s one time you wanted me to read your mind,” Darius said.

  “Guess so,” Riley replied shakily. She walked over to the soldiers who had collapsed into an ungainly heap. “I hate guns.” Riley yanked the rifle from the limp fingers of the closest soldier. “I can’t stand them. Especially when someone is pointing one at me.” She whirled around to face Alec, the weapon still dangling dangerously from her trembling fingers.

  Darius was at her side in an instant. He deftly pulled out the magazine clip and threw it away in a display that would have garnered him an award in the baseball hall of fame. “Well done,” he praised her.

  She flushed. “I won awards for drama at school.”

  “Darius.” Alec ground his teeth together. “I really need an orb. I could have saved the both of you, right then. Riley took a huge chance. Someone might have shot her for the over-acting alone.”

  “Piss off,” muttered Riley.

  “No orb.” Darius’s expression hardened. “That’s final. I’m not taking a chance on you hurting anyone with it. Riley, that means under no circumstances do you ever give an orb to Alec, again. Ever. No matter what.”

  “You’d both be dead if I hadn’t helped,” Alec hotly protested. Was a simple “thank you” too much to ask?

  “Did I tell you not to touch an orb, Alec?” Darius began. Fury stained his cheeks. “Did I?”

  “Yeah, but–”

  Darius advanced quickly towards him. “Nothing, no excuses. If we die, we die. You cannot touch one again, do you hear me?”

  “Nothing happened.” Alec barely resisted the desire to stamp his foot in rage. “He can’t control me.”

  “And you’re an expert on Rhozan, are you?” Darius leaned in. He was only a foot away and the laser blue of his eyes was razor sharp. “Know exactly when he’s with you and when he’s not, do you? Keeping track, are you?”