Vortex of Evil

by S D Taylor

  The two girls ran faster than Ying and arrived together, stopping a couple of feet away from Tom and Megan.

  Katelyn did the talking. “Hi. I am Katelyn and this is Alannah. You guys look just like our mom and dad. You must be Aunt Megan and Uncle Tom.”

  Tom stepped forward and hugged Katelyn without a second thought. “Hi, Kate. You’re correct, but I don’t know how you know that unless you have been talking to Doug. I am Tom and this is Megan. Hi, Alannah. I am very pleased to meet the two of you.”

  Megan was speechless, so she was glad Tom took the initiative. She hugged each girl in turn and hoped that her weak “Hi” and smile was enough to get by this initial meeting. The girls looked at her and Tom as if they were looking at ghosts. But they hugged her like she was a long lost friend. Or their mother.

  “Where is your mom?” Megan thought it was best to clear up that question immediately.

  “From what Daddy told us, ah, I mean Doug, the future people took her. Just like the Erin from this time.” Katelyn hoped she had it right. She had no idea that she would actually meet these two people. Her mom had told her they disappeared before she was born and were never heard from again.

  Tom turned to Megan. “We have to get them back somehow. If for no other reason than to see the two of them having a conversation.” Megan’s look indicated she was less amused by the prospect than he was.

  “I have to quit asking if this can get any stranger.” Megan put her arms around Alannah and Katelyn. “Let’s go see your ‘dad’ and see how he is doing. At least this younger version of your dad.”

  Katelyn sighed. “This is the only version of our dad we have left. In our time, he died two years ago.”

  Megan didn’t know why but when she heard that news she started to cry. By the time they got to the tent, all three women had tear-stained faces. Ying and Tom brought up the rear of the group, displaying more emotional control.

  Doug saw them all enter his tent and laughed. “I guess you all got a chance to get acquainted. I am sorry it isn’t going better.”

  Alannah answered him. “It is going just fine, Daddy. We are just feeling sad about the time you died.”

  Chapter 16

  Erin felt a sense of complete hopelessness as she sat by the railing of the future people’s boat and looked back at the island. It seemed like she would never be able to return to it. Dara had explained the two insurmountable facts of the situation. The people that gave the orders, the Yir-Lak Command, believed that the only way to save their future world was to pursue this murderous temporal cleansing policy. And Dara and her team, as well as the other teams, were going to follow those orders without question or any moral concerns. Erin’s only hope was to escape or overpower her captors, neither of which seemed even remotely possible with the security technology they employed.

  “When do we leave for your world?” Erin wanted as much information as possible.

  “Soon. We will go as soon as the hover vehicle returns. Somebody fired a missile at it today and we need to return home for better weapons to fend off this new threat.”

  “How do you go home? What happens?”

  Dara stood up and motioned for Erin to do the same. “It is quite simple. We take a heading at half speed, open a vortex in front of the boat, and simply move through it. The return to our world only takes a few seconds.”

  “And you can return here if you choose to? To this exact time and place?” Erin took one last look at the island and said a silent goodbye to Doug. She wondered if it would be possible to get out of this one.

  “Yes. In fact, after we get the weapons upgrade we will be back here to pick up the rest of your party. Or kill them in place. We won’t have too much time for capture.”

  “Why can’t you just capture all of us and take us back to your world? Once we were there, we couldn’t cause any more problems.”

  Dara looked at Erin and shook her head. “Begging for your life is unseemly. Just accept your fate with grace and goodwill.”

  “Would you do that? If you were scheduled for execution, would you be all grace and goodwill?” Erin wasn’t expecting the answer she received.

  Dara smiled. “Yes, I would. I am scheduled for execution in thirteen months. In our world, we all have fixed limits on how long we can live. Like most people in my world, I am allowed thirty six years.”

  Erin suddenly felt something akin to sympathy for Dara, even though she could not understand why. The thought of living in a world where you had your life’s ending scheduled like a dental appointment was almost too horrible to imagine.

  “Why? Why is it done that way? Does everyone have those rules?”

  Dara for once looked wistful. “It was implemented about a hundred years ago, when it was clear that the earth could no longer support growth in the number of people. The Yir-Lak Geostability Council ruled that there would be mandatory limits of thirty six years for all midlevel functionaries who had no negative life credits.”

  “What is a negative life credit?” Erin had a pretty good idea, but she wanted to learn more about this world that Dara came from.

  “They are any negative findings against you after the age of twelve. Each negative finding results in a six month reduction in life. If you receive more than ten, you are considered for immediate termination. There are a number of criminal offences that carry more than ten negative life credits. We have no prisons since it is pointless to house deviants when there are already too few resources to support the population.”

  “So that would explain why you wouldn’t want to take us back to your world to live permanently. We would simply be more mouths to feed.” Erin could begin to see Dara’s logic on this, from the future world perspective. What a horrible place to live.

  “Exactly. You understand now that we must all do our part. And for the two of us, our part is to die gracefully when we are asked to do so. Neither of us has much time left. Of course, there is a possible loophole. Recently, there are discussions that the thirty six year limit should be elapsed time in our world, rather than age. If that ruling sticks, you will have thirty six years from the time you arrive to live. So you will grow older than the rest of us.”

  “How can that be fair to you? Your world seems to be controlled by people with strange perspectives on life and the fundamental rights that people should enjoy.”

  “We enjoy the time we are allowed. We make the most of our time. Whatever your lifespan, it is finite and you have to make the best use of the time you have.”

  Dara had a point. Erin hoped that she could continue the discussions with her to better understand what she was getting into. But she realized that these chats with Dara were for understanding only. Dara had no more ability to control the outcome than she did. And even if Erin could point out some possibilities that Dara may not have considered, it was unlikely she could convince Dara to change her mind.

  “You said that this boat’s vortex capability can take you to any time and place, correct?”

  “Within limits. We have to have a temporal signature as a target. Why do you ask?” Dara looked intently at Erin, wondering where she was going with this question.

  “If you can go to any time where you can identify a target, you could take all of us to somewhere that it would not cause you any problems in your time. And we could all survive to live on in a new world.”

  Dara laughed. “You are certainly the most clever lab rat I have ever had. I believe we could do what you ask, but why would we want to do that? How would that benefit us in any way?”

  “It would let you sleep at night, Dara. Somewhere inside you must have a conscience that tells you what you are doing to me and my friends is wrong. Very wrong. And completely unnecessary. You can save resources and effort by simply depositing us in the distant past. How could you argue against that?”

  “I don’t have to argue and I don’t have to agree. I am only required to follow orders.”

  “Then you should ask for those orders to be cha
nged.” Erin wished she had one of those high priced lawyers she worked with to help her with this closing argument.

  Dara laughed again. “I have never asked for an order to be changed. You don’t know the people I work for.”

  “Then you should quit commenting about lab rats. You are no better if you silently go to your fate and don’t even try to save yourself. You know, instead of taking us to the future, you could just stay here with us.”

  “That point was not lost on me. What you don’t realize is that the people in the Yir-Lak Command can track these temporal visits and they would simply come get us. We would only delay the inevitable. Our world is much different than yours.”

  “Not so different as you think. We all end up dead in the end. I think that is the point you were making a minute ago.” Erin could only hope her comments had registered with Dara. Planted a seed of possibilities.

  Dara laughed. “You are correct. I cannot argue with that. I am glad we had this talk. I hope you can die more comfortably now when your time comes.”

  Chapter 17

  On the second day after the future people captured Erin, Peter and Gaby, Doug began to regain the feeling in his legs. The temporary paralysis that resulted from the energy pulse was receding. Doug assumed that Insect Man used the pulse to disable prey or opponents that he planned to capture or at least keep alive for later. If he ever ran into him again, he would have to be a lot quicker on the draw. Or figure out some defense against their weapon. Anything short of some insulated armor seemed unlikely to work.

  Tom sat on the floor of the tent and fiddled with the laces on his boots. “So the effects last for about twenty-four hours? Have you felt much pain?”

  Doug was flexing his arms and making a fist with each hand then releasing it. “No pain. Just complete lack of feeling. Then it starts to wake up, but no pins and needles. The numbness just fades away.”

  “We need to find a safer place to camp than this. I realize we have a nice arrangement here, but as long as the people that took Erin are nearby, we are sitting ducks.”

  Doug was frustrated by being unable to get up and go. “I can see how you felt when you were all banged up and blind last week. This helpless thing is intolerable.” He sat on the edge of the cot and lifted his right leg a few inches off the floor. “I should be ready to travel in a few hours. Where could we go that would be any safer?”

  “We saw the Viking ship to the north. They have a camp on a small island there, but it is pretty exposed. The Haida headed off to the south to their homeland. They didn’t want to come back here after seeing the hover vehicle attack us. Megan and I had to swim to shore after we dove out of the canoe.”

  Doug laughed. “You guys could win a swimming contest with the amount of swimming you are doing. What happened that you ended up in the canoe?”

  “Flying Raven rescued us after our zodiac was destroyed. We fired one of the missiles at the flying saucer, but it didn’t do much to them. Caused it to wobble. Then they fired that orange ball at us and we had to jump out of the boat to survive. I think our missile surprised them since they headed back to their boat right afterwards. If we could hit them with two missiles at the same time, we just might be able to shoot them down.” Tom finished lacing his boots and stood up.

  “And you saw a boat to the west? Where the hover vehicle is based?” Doug continued to lift one leg, then the other. Gradually making progress.

  “Yes. Erin has to be on that boat with everyone else. And if they were able to come here from the future, then they might be able to go back at any time. We need to get on that boat before they decide to go. If we don’t, we won’t see our friends and the girls won’t see their mother ever again.”

  Doug wondered why the future people were even there. They seemed to be collecting samples, but they were not shy about dealing out the death and destruction if anyone got in their way. He had a deep hatred of them for what they did to Erin and the others. But especially for their kidnapping Erin. He would personally kill every future person he could until she was back with him. At least that was what he was feeling inside. To him they were not people. They were just targets.

  “So we have two zodiacs left. Can we mount an attack on their boat?” Doug had his intense look.

  “Only if we can shoot down their air support. If we go up against that thing, we won’t last two minutes. And they seem to have sensors that can locate us, either by our heat or some other way to identify us. The way they turned around and blasted us was pretty impressive.”

  “We could pull it off if we had a diversion. Something to keep them looking at more than one target. We have three missiles left, correct?”

  Tom was getting interested in this discussion, but also worried about the risk that was involved. If they failed, they would all pay the price and maybe die immediately. “Yes, we have three missiles. And a few rocket-propelled grenades. But before we try anything, we should get Megan, Ying and the girls away from here to somewhere safer. Any ideas?”

  “That camp where Peter and John stayed, the one that the girls have been using, is a safer location than here. We should try to get them there before we attack that boat.”

  “I don’t think they are going to want to leave you. Not after they ‘found’ you again, back from beyond the grave.”

  “I know, but in the circumstances, we are trying to save them from falling into the hands of people who might want to use them for medical experiments. Or food. Or some other horrible purpose. God knows what kidnappers who show up in flying saucers have in mind. We need to keep them safe before we start trouble. That goes for Megan as well.

  “Hey, I can take care of myself.” Megan had just entered the tent and was carrying two cups of something that approximated coffee. “I hate to ask, but what are the two of you planning? We haven’t attacked or been attacked for a few hours now, so it must be time to start a war or something similar.”

  Tom and Doug looked at each other and smiled. “We were considering some attacking, but first we need to get you and the girls, and Ying, to a safer place. If they come back here with that flying saucer, we are toast.”

  “The girls said we could be back to their place in four hours, give or take. Why don’t we go there first thing in the morning.” Megan and Katelyn had come up with a similar plan to what Doug and Tom were proposing.

  Doug reached out his hand to Tom and grabbed his arm. He slowly struggled to his feet and balanced awkwardly like a new fawn trying its first steps. “I am ready to hit the road.”

  Tom laughed. “More like ready to fall flat on your face. Maybe you should take it easy for a day and let us go try to rescue Erin.” Tom might have poured ice cold water over Doug given the reaction he got.

  Doug firmly grabbed Tom by the arm. “Anybody forms a rescue party, it better include me.” On sheer strength of will, he walked stiffly across the tent, slid past Megan and went outside. Then his legs gave out and he fell flat on his face.

  Chapter 18

  Tom started up the zodiac and pulled slowly away from the shore. Against his better judgment, he and Doug were heading out for an early morning reconnaissance mission while Megan and the rest of their “team” headed back to the camp where Doug’s temporal daughters lived.

  She was not wild about them splitting up, but she agreed it made no sense to get the girls involved in any fighting. And fighting usually followed Doug around, especially when anyone was trying to do something bad to someone he cared about. She knew that Tom was going to think about her the entire time until they were back together.

  Doug was a little shaky, but he was able to walk and the tension of watching him recover in camp was far greater for Tom to bear than the tension of going on a mission with him at less than one hundred percent. They had two of the small antiaircraft missiles, two rocket-propelled grenades and a nice selection of rifles and pistols for this effort to rescue Erin, Peter and Gaby. And the girl’s mother Erin, although neither Tom nor Doug was sure what to call he
r. Megan had taken the other missile after a quick tutorial on how to fire it. Tom hoped that it would not be necessary of her to be shooting at things in the sky. Megan, the girls and Ying were armed to the teeth and carrying as much extra food and ammunition as was practical. They buried the rest for future recovery.

  Tom piloted the zodiac south along the eastern shore, feeling the cool sea breeze against his face. In another month there would be periodic storms to think about and he hoped that they would be long gone by then. Or in a better, more sheltered accommodation than a tent.

  “How are you feeling?” Tom turned to look at Doug who had settled in at the rear of the zodiac and was scanning the horizon in front of them with his binoculars.

  “I don’t feel too bad, but the whole experience has left me a little weak. They have designed the weapon to be a very effective, non-lethal way to put someone out of commission for a couple of days. It must be designed for crowd control. I imagine in the future they may have population issues with overcrowding and scarce resources. Unless they got a lot smarter in the years after our time. They seem to have made great strides in the art of flying.”

  Tom kept his focus on the south end of the island as they were about to pass through the channel between the main island and a small, rocky island just to the south that served as another well-populated bird sanctuary. “I guess my real question is whether I can count on you if we run into a spot of trouble. I don’t want us both to die because you are overoptimistic about your physical condition.”

  “I thought about that. You know me. But I really am ok. We aren’t walking ten miles up a mountainside and if we were I would probably drop out. But for this mission, I have to go. I want to see if Erin is still in there on the boat and if we can somehow either rescue her or get taken prisoner with her.”