by Adair Hart
“So it would seem. Where is the Torvatta?” asked Evaran.
V’s lights glowed. “It is hovering in the rear corner of the room near the ceiling.”
“Okay. Go ahead and bring it down.”
“Acknowledged,” said V.
As they waited for V, Dr. Snowden’s attention was diverted to a commotion across the room near another corridor entrance. Several judicators entered the room, followed by Billozein and some regular Voss. They were firing into the hallway. Dr. Snowden’s pulse jumped when Billozein spotted them.
“You did this! You killed my son!” said Billozein in a voice that echoed throughout the bay. He tapped at something on his wrist.
Dr. Snowden flinched when a humming sound shot out across the bay.
Jane glanced up at semitransparent circles that had formed on the ceiling. “Uh-oh. What’s that?”
Dr. Snowden scrutinized the circles. “I don’t know, but V needs to hur—”
Judicators fell through the semitransparent circles onto the ground.
Dr. Snowden’s eyes widened. “That doesn’t look good …”
Evaran clenched his jaw for a moment. He tapped at his ARI. “V is going to take the Torvatta out of stealth mode and place it between us and the bulk of those judicators. We need to hold this entrance until then. Shields up.” He placed his left arm in front of him and crouched.
Dr. Snowden, Jane, and Emily knelt next to Evaran with their shields out.
Dr. Snowden squinted at the orange glow as both small and large beams blasted at them.
Jane tumbled back due to the force of the blasts.
Emily slid over and covered her spot. She glanced at Dr. Snowden and nudged her head backward. “Go.”
Dr. Snowden peeled away and rushed over to Jane. “Are you okay?”
Jane scrunched her face while rubbing her shoulder. “I wasn’t expecting that much force.”
Evaran turned his head to the side. “The Torvatta has landed in the closest open area. We need to move!”
Dr. Snowden helped Jane up to a crouching position.
“Follow me!” said Evaran as he charged out.
Dr. Snowden, Jane, and Emily followed Evaran as he weaved between large metallic containers.
As they were nearing the Torvatta, the sound of something slamming into the ground to Dr. Snowden’s left and right caught his attention. A pit formed in his stomach as he looked to the left and saw one of the judicators. He positioned his shield instinctively.
An orange beam shot out at him.
He stopped and braced for the impact and was able to stand his ground. Looking to his right, he saw that Jane had turned to her right.
Time seemed to slow down.
His heartbeat went apocalyptic as he watched her hitting her belt. That would have been where her shield toggle was on her old suit.
An orange beam hit Jane in the side, sending her tumbling forward.
Dr. Snowden bolted in front of Jane and angled his shield so that it covered both him and Jane. “Evaran!”
Evaran wheeled around and changed his utility handle so that it was a baton with a glowing yellow end. He shot it at Jane and pulled her limp body toward him.
“Get her to the Torvatta!” said Dr. Snowden. He could feel his nanobots tingling in a way he had only felt once or twice before. A wave crashed through him but steadied itself. Looking at the beams hitting his shield, he could see the trajectory, and what would be needed to reflect it. He adjusted the angle of his shield.
The judicators paused firing as their shields dissipated from their crossfire.
The vibrations of Evaran running up to him washed over Dr. Snowden. He turned his head and saw Emily had picked up Jane and was running toward the Torvatta. Evaran had his shield out and was moving fast toward him.
When Evaran arrived, he shot a stun beam at both judicators, causing blue arcs to dance around them before they tipped over with a whirring sound. “Go!”
Dr. Snowden jumped up and spun around, then took off like a lightning bolt. Movement was effortless. He felt like he could fly if he had wings.
After a few moments, they were on the Torvatta’s ramp.
Dr. Snowden saw that Billozein had already left. He glanced at Evaran and thought he could see a light aura about him.
“Are you okay?” asked Evaran, using his ring to scan Dr. Snowden.
“I … think so.”
“Jane is alive. She has healing nanobots in her.”
Dr. Snowden looked at the Torvatta’s shielding and scrunched his face. It reminded him of swirling light, similar to the light aura he saw around Evaran. For a brief moment, he thought he could see the shielding as being much bigger than it actually was, like looking into the abyss of another dimension.
Evaran stood just inside the Torvatta. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
Dr. Snowden pivoted and observed that the light aura around Evaran had tendrils to the shielding. Evaran was like a Tesla coil. It made it seem like Evaran was more connected to the Torvatta than Evaran probably even realized. Dr. Snowden wrinkled his eyebrows. “I’m … okay. Let’s check on Jane.” He continued up the ramp.
Jane cracked her eyes open. The bright light caused her to shut them again. After a few minutes of fluttering her eyes, she was able to adjust to the light. She swallowed and noticed her throat was dry. Looking to her left, she saw Dr. Snowden napping in a chair next to her. His glasses had slid down his nose, and his head had tilted to the right. He looked so peaceful. She chuckled, then winced as she rubbed her side.
Dr. Snowden jerked his head up and focused on Jane. “You’re awake!” He adjusted his glasses and jumped out of his chair and while facing the entrance and said, “She’s awake!”
After a moment, Evaran, Emily, and V in orb mode came into the room.
Dr. Snowden laid a hand on her arm. “How are you feeling?”
Jane sat up on her elbows. “Fine … I think. What happened?”
Evaran tossed out an orb. He interacted with his ARI. “This was taken from the Torvatta.”
A projection shot up showing two judicators landing.
Jane remembered seeing the one on the right. What surprised her was how quickly Dr. Snowden responded to the one on his left. She grimaced when it showed the orange beam hitting her side and causing her to fall. Seeing Dr. Snowden rush over and place himself between her and the judicator fire caused her heart to warm. He had placed himself in danger without even a thought. She chuckled when it showed Evaran grabbing her with the grappling beam. The projection ended with Emily carrying her to the medical lab and giving her a shot from a syringe device.
“That’s pretty wild, huh?” asked Emily.
“It looked like it. What’d you inject me with?”
“Healing nanobots. V said you had some broken ribs.”
Jane ran her hand over her tender side. “They seem to work wonders.” She glanced at Dr. Snowden. “My old suit couldn’t have taken a shot like that.”
“I’m glad you had on the survival suit then,” said Dr. Snowden.
Jane eased up and slipped her legs off the side of the slab. “It looks like old habits die hard. I’m not sure why I tried to use my old suit’s shield toggle. Anyways … how long have I been out?”
“Analysis. Two hours and thirty-three minutes. It is currently seven ten p.m. eastern standard time relative to Earth.”
“Oh,” said Jane. “I’m guessing we’re somewhere safe then?”
“We are. Billozein caused another timeline change, but we are stealthed in space for the moment,” said Evaran.
Jane got off the slab and reflexively bent over while laying a hand on her side. She inhaled sharply. “What’s our next step?”
“For you and the others, dinner and some rest. I will need some time to go over the data I received from the quantum beacon. It seems it stayed on for quite a while before it stopped transmitting. We can reconvene at nine tomorrow morning.”
“Well, I look forward to hearing abou
t it,” said Jane.
Dr. Snowden gestured toward the medical lab entrance. “Let’s get some food.”
After ten minutes, Jane had replicated a bowl of chocolate ice cream and taken a seat at the conference room table. Dr. Snowden and Emily sat across from her with dishes of their own. “So … can I look forward to any nonviolent adventures?”
Dr. Snowden snorted. “I think after this one, we’ll probably do that. I’d like to go somewhere like where we were before we came here.”
“Kamala, that resort planet you mentioned that had a thriving scientific community,” said Jane.
“You got it.”
Emily half smiled. “Swimsuits and all that, huh?”
Dr. Snowden’s face turned red. “What?”
Jane chuckled, then grimaced. “Even laughing hurts.” She enjoyed the light conversation over the rest of dinner. Her eyelids drooped once or twice, and the yawns came fast and furious. After dinner, she excused herself to her room. Her clothes and suit came off in record time, and once in bed, she stared up at the ceiling.
She did not want to admit to the others that she was unsure of her performance. In the last situation, she got knocked out. Several times she had hesitated. Maybe it was something that would go away with more traveling time. Being able to react as quickly as Dr. Snowden or Emily was out of reach for her, unless she took on the same nanobots they had, if that was even possible. She drifted off to sleep.
Her PSD woke her the next morning. Checking it, she saw it was 8:00 a.m. The communications icon was blinking, and after she clicked it, a projection of Dr. Snowden appeared.
“I’m getting breakfast now. Are you coming?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“I need to get cleaned up first.”
“All right.”
The projection dissipated.
Jane yawned as she checked her side. The tenderness was gone. She would need to take a look at those healing nanobots, they worked fast. After climbing out of bed, she got cleaned up and put on her survival suit. Although the thought of wearing something else crossed her mind, the survival suit had a nice fit, and since it had saved her life, she did not mind having it on. She entered the conference room with twenty minutes to spare before Evaran arrived.
Dr. Snowden already had his breakfast, and Emily was sipping on a drink.
“V and I missed you at training,” said Emily.
Jane tapped her side. “These may be healed and the pain gone, but I’m going to play it safe for a bit.”
“It’s cool,” said Emily.
Jane grabbed a vitastick from the replicator and took her seat.
“Still have your suit on, I see,” said Dr. Snowden.
“It’s comfortable,” said Jane. “After yesterday, it won the job of being my new suit. I need to get used to using the shield better.” She glanced at Emily. “I might have to get Evaran to upgrade it, though. That camouflage aspect was handy.”
Evaran walked into the room and took his seat at the head of the table. Everyone looked at him. He glanced around. “Please continue with your breakfast. I did not mean to interrupt. I decided to come early.”
Dr. Snowden waved his hand in the air. “We’re all here, so can start anytime.”
Evaran glanced at Jane and Emily, who both nodded.
“Very well,” said Evaran. He tapped at the table console. A projection shot up a galactic map. A green line weaved around it, with little yellow dots at various planets and stellar objects. “This is the path Billozein took through time.” He pointed at one end of the yellow line. “This is where he jumped to.” He pointed at the other end. “This is where the quantum beacon stopped transmitting. I am guessing he became aware of it at that time. If you notice, he has avoided this region of space completely and headed off in another direction.”
Dr. Snowden smirked. “Guess he didn’t want to take any chances of being discovered before he’s ready to show himself.”
Jane pointed at the first dot Evaran had pointed to. “So where, or rather, when did Billozein go back to?”
“He went back to 3019, eighty-five years ago.”
Jane wrinkled her eyebrows. “Billozein could be anywhere then.”
“Yes, but we are not going to hunt him in this time period. We are going to head to where he jumped and investigate.”
Jane scrutinized the map. “That looks like it is five or so light-years from Roeth. No wonder Roeth always seemed to be involved somehow.”
“That is my hypothesis as well,” said Evaran. “However, I do not know where or when he jumped in the other timeline changes, but we have this at least. If we can stop him there, then the timeline should stay true to what it was supposed to be.”
“And another version of me and others,” said Jane, looking down. Her last discussion with her other self had been illuminating. She wondered if this timeline version had a life with Chris and kids as well.
“Most likely.”
“How are we going to stop him?” asked Emily.
“I am not sure yet. I know it is his ship, similar to the Torvatta, that allows him to do this. I am unclear how his rift technology is involved yet. We will need to determine a plan to remove Billozein’s ship from him somewhere around that point in time and space, before he influences the timeline. The rift technology will prevent an interface beam from working.”
“If the Torvatta had lasers, you could shoot it. I don’t think he would be missed,” said Emily.
“The Torvatta will not allow lethal weaponry to be added,” said Evaran.
Jane knew that the PSDs only had nonlethal means. She figured Evaran could have added lethal aspects to it, but he did not. And now she knew the Torvatta had no lethal weapons. It reminded her of a diplomat’s ship, except they usually had light weaponry, which may as well be a stun beam to most ships.
Evaran raised a finger. “The Torvatta has not detected a timeline change in this region of space, so it would seem that he did not tie the discovery of the quantum beacon to us. More than likely, he would not know what it is. However, we should head out now just in case.”
“That sounds good to me,” said Dr. Snowden.
Jane was still trying to understand all the temporal ideas she heard. It made sense that Billozein could have flown somewhere far away, and time jumped. If he had not done it here, then if they stopped him now, there would be one final timeline change. Maybe since he had not interfered with this region, it would not change much from what was on Roeth currently. She followed the others to the command area.
Evaran tapped at his chair console. “V, take us to the quantum beacon coordinates, but five minutes early. Engage stealth mode after the time jump and prior to entering the portal.”
“Acknowledged,” said V. His extended arms flew across the front console.
The outside of the Torvatta faded away and then eased back in. The Torvatta shot out a gold beam, and a silver-ringed portal with a light-blue rippling surface appeared.
“Torvatta stealth mode engaged,” said V.
The Torvatta flew through the portal.
Dr. Snowden surveyed the patch of empty space before them. He gestured at the screen while looking at Evaran. “So … is Billozein’s ship going to appear, or you think a portal or something will pop up?”
“I do not know,” said Evaran. “However, we will know in five minutes.”
Dr. Snowden scooted to the edge of his chair.
“Are you nervous?” asked Jane.
“Me? Oh no … I’m just excited. This is something unknown and new and gets us one step closer to nailing Billozein.”
“It’s hard to believe my investigation into illegal augments led me this far. Filing a report will take ages.”
Dr. Snowden harrumphed. He glanced at Evaran. “That reminds me … if we do capture Billozein, are we going to check on the timeline afterward? Maybe visit Andrew and all that?”
Evaran rubbed his chin. “I intend to visit Andrew and give him a tour of the Torvatta once I am sure
Billozein is no longer a threat to the timeline. I gave him my word.”
Several minutes later, the left screen showed a green gaseous-like rift appear. Billozein’s ship came flying out of it, leaving wispy trails of the rift behind it.
Emily pointed at the screen. “There he is, but … what’s that green thing?”
“A space-time rift,” said Evaran. “Interesting.” He interacted with his chair console. “V, take us into the rift.”
Dr. Snowden perked up. “So this is what a rift looks like?”
“This specific type looks like that. Like the Torvatta’s portals, rift colors can vary depending on the type.”
“So the one from our abduction looked like this then,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Correct.”
Jane gestured at the screen. “Aren’t we going after Billozein?”
“Not yet. Now that I know this is a space-time rift, we can see where he is coming from. We can always come back to this point since we know he has not changed the timeline again … yet.”
“Oh,” said Jane.
“V, take us into the rift.”
“Acknowledged.”
The Torvatta flew into the rift.
Dr. Snowden looked around the winding circular tunnel they were in. The sides were semitransparent, but outside was pure darkness. Streaks of dark-green light zipped by them. The occasional clump of some green mass on the walls caught his attention. “This is … stunning.”
“This is the physical manifestation of the rift as perceived by the Torvatta. It is actually much smaller than what the visual shows,” said Evaran.
About five minutes into their flight, the front console lit up.
“Analysis. Another space-time rift detected.”
Evaran tapped at his chair console. “Rifts should never cross, and if they do, they need to be separated.” He scooted to the edge of his seat “Take us to it.”
“Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden noted that Evaran seemed more attentive than usual. Dr. Snowden had become accustomed to the various emotion indicators for Evaran. If Evaran slid to the edge of his seat, that meant his curiosity and attention had been piqued. Dr. Snowden was trying to process the idea of space-time rifts intersecting. When he and Emily were abducted, the Krotovore used a space-time rift to jump from the Milky Way galaxy to the Andromeda galaxy, and one year into the future. He shot a look over at Emily, who had pulled her lips flat. She was probably remembering that situation too.