by S D Taylor
She nodded with a slight smile and stared at Doug with an intensity he had never seen from her before. Her strength in all this continued to amaze him. “Shouldn’t we be leaving?”
After the distraction of the near miss, Doug returned his attention to getting them out of there. He stared forward to be sure they had a clear path and pushed the throttle to the maximum. Erin had a hard time keeping her balance as the boat suddenly lunged away from the dock. Their forward speed quickly increased and Doug picked lucky address seven on the dial and pushed it. He held his breath that it would work the way Dara described it and that their destination would be a friendly place.
Erin managed to move forward as she regained her balance. Standing next to Doug, she put her arm around him and kissed him on the cheek. “You can have as long as you want to pay me back for saving you. As long as it takes.”
The seconds passed slowly until they began to see the bright glow ahead of the boat as the vortex opened completely. The boat was doing ten knots and in a few seconds would pass through the vortex. Another missile struck the compound just as the vortex was closing. It did no harm to them but they could hear the explosion and feel the boat vibrate from the shockwave.
Then they were through the vortex and floating on calm seas with a bright blue sky overhead. Doug and Erin looked around in all directions, but there was no evidence that Selenton or Anchorage had ever existed. The mountains were similar, but they were slightly smaller and more rounded than Erin remembered. “Where are we?”
Doug laughed. “When are we might be a better question. Look. There to the west.”
There was a plume of smoke in the far distance that rose several miles into the air. “It must be a volcano erupting. It could be one of the island volcanoes in this area.”
Dara groaned slightly and lifted her head. “You may be surprised by the answers to your questions about where we are.”
Doug turned to her. “Why? Do you know something you haven’t told us?”
The words came slowly as Dara struggled with the pain of speaking through her badly swollen lips. “No, but my colleagues followed the temporal spawn wherever and whenever the locator searches took them. And they warned me of terrors they barely escaped. Things beyond their ability to handle.”
Erin was staring intently out the window, looking for some clue about their whereabouts. She was relieved they had escaped from the missile attack but she wondered whether this placid scene of blue sky and calm seas was masking hidden danger. Then she saw it. A large dark shape flying low and fast just above the horizon, going from left to right across their heading.
“What is that, Doug? There to the left?”
Doug strained to see the distant object. “I can’t tell from this distance but it is moving very fast and heading towards that plume of smoke.”
Dara groaned. “Quickly, reset the time/space locator and start the sequence. We have very little time if we want to survive. Maybe only a few seconds.”
Erin and Doug both turned to look at her. “Survive what?”
“Survive a war that is a lot worse than the one we just escaped from.”
Doug turned and looked at the dark flying object. It was making a wide turn to the north and heading in their direction. He gave the time/space locator dial a random turn and pushed the button. The boat was moving at ten knots so he didn’t have to speed up but he thought the seconds until the vortex opened were going by at a snail’s pace.
“We might want to get out of here, Doug. They seem to be heading our way. And really fast.” Erin unconsciously took hold of his arm. The object was closing on them quickly and was now identifiable as a black triangle, probably a type of delta wing military aircraft.
“I don’t like the looks of this. Is there a defensive shield on this boat? Dara! Can you hear me?”
Data blinked and opened her eyes wide. The blood stained her white skin and matted her blonde hair, and her face was bruised and swollen. “We don’t have any shields that can stop their weapons. Leaving through the vortex is the only thing that will save us.”
Doug turned to look at the approaching threat. A few more seconds and the vortex would form and they would be safe.
"Dara. Is there any way to launch the hover vehicle remotely?"
Dara struggled to point to the console near Erin. "There is a control stick there. Push the green button to launch. The stick controls direction and the button on the stick controls the speed. Hurry, your idea might work." Dara had figured out Doug's strategy for a diversion to buy them time.
Erin was closer to the stick and she understood what Doug was thinking. If they could launch the hover vehicle and fly it towards the oncoming aircraft, they might get them to blink and take evasive maneuvers. It would buy them the few seconds they needed. "I will launch it, Doug. Straight at them, right?"
"Yes, and as soon as they turn, try to turn it around and bring it through the vortex with us."
Erin laughed as she pulled back on the stick and squeezed the trigger. "I'll be lucky if I don't crash it into the boat and kill us all."
The hover vehicle rose from its pad and flew straight ahead of the boat, climbing quickly on a collision course with the approaching craft just as the vortex started to open.
The black aircraft saw it immediately and banked hard to the side, gaining altitude for a possible dog fight with this sudden threat from below. At that second, the vortex opened fully and the Skimmer class boat began to enter it. Erin pushed the stick hard to the right and turned the hover vehicle in a wide arc, trying to line it up with the vortex.
"Push the auto recover button, and let go of the stick." Dara used her last ounce of energy to say that as she finally passed out from the pain and fatigue.
Erin looked quickly around the console, but it was Doug that reached across and pushed the button. Erin let go of the stick and it returned to its upright position. The boat completed the transit of the vortex and the hover vehicle just made it through the vortex as it closed. They could feel the slight bump as it landed and docked.
Erin turned to Doug and hugged him. "That was way too close."
"Nice job flying that thing. I am glad we thought of it." Doug smiled at her, but quickly turned to Dara who was even paler than usual and barely breathing.
Erin looked to see where they ended up. The sky was still bright blue and the ocean was slightly choppy from a light wind. And in the distance, Erin again saw an object flying in their general direction. "Doug! Something is heading this way! You better take a look."
"Actually, you may want to look behind us before you get too excited. It's probably not an attack aircraft."
Erin whirled around and looked back, gasping in surprise at what she saw. There was Anchorage. Just like the pictures she had seen. The Anchorage where she and Doug were headed when this adventure began. "Well it sure took a lot more effort to get here than I expected."
Doug laughed. "And it’s really too bad we can't stay." He unstrapped Dara and picked up her battered body as carefully as possible to avoid causing her any more pain. "We need to take her below and see what we can do to help her."
"Is the boat ok right here? Should I move it somewhere?"
"Yes, we need to find a spot nearer to shore. Let’s try to look inconspicuous while we see what we can do to help Dara."
Erin laughed. "I better put a tarp over the flying saucer."
Doug smiled and nodded. "Good idea. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention. Way too much to explain. Hey, can you help me get this door open."
Erin pulled open the door to the bridge and Doug struggled past her, giving her a smile as he passed by. Erin smiled back and stared after him as he carried the badly injured woman below where he hoped his medical experience and the boat's high tech medical gear might be enough to save her. After everything that had happened, they were seemingly back to their own time and struggling to save a woman who both of them had desperately wanted to kill only a few days earlier.
> "A darn strange journey this has been." Erin thought as she followed Doug below to look for a tarp. "I wonder when and where it will end."
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