by Adair Hart
V’s lights glowed a bit brighter.
Evaran gestured at a tree in the distance. “Come, we are close.”
They arrived at a large, slightly glowing tree that stood out among the surrounding forest.
Evaran scanned it with his ring, causing portions of the hologram to fade. A four-foot cylinder sat on top of a base behind the hologram. He approached it and reached through the hologram.
A rustling sound shot around them.
Dr. Snowden rubbed the goose bumps on his arm as a slight breeze wafted past them.
Evaran snapped his head to follow the trajectory of a medium-sized man falling from the tree. The dark-skinned man had on black pants and a black vest. The vest was lightly padded and segmented into rubberlike sections. A black cape fluttered behind him with a silver line indented around the edges. On his forearms were bronze metallic structures that wrapped around. A ridge ran the length of them. His profile stood in contrast to the light from the hologram. Straight silver hair flowed to the sides, and his silver eyes glistened.
The man turned his head slightly as he surveyed them. “Evaran?”
Evaran nodded. “Yes. You must be Lord Vygon.”
Lord Vygon’s eyes misted. He shook his head. “You’re impossible. You know that?” He rushed forward and hugged a startled Evaran.
Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, who shrugged.
Lord Vygon laughed as he stepped back. “Time travel is truly bizarre.” He extended a hand toward Dr. Snowden. “An honor to see you again, as always.”
Dr. Snowden wrinkled his eyebrows and shook Lord Vygon’s hand.
Lord Vygon bowed his head slightly as he extended a hand toward Emily. “You look well.”
“Thanks,” said Emily with a smile. She shook Lord Vygon’s hand.
Lord Vygon jerked his head back. He narrowed his eyes and raised a finger. “Okay … something’s off here.”
“Meeting others out of sequence at this point in my personal timeline is not uncommon, especially for an area where I spend some time, such as Earth. It is inevitable I will meet others who have met a future version of me, Dr. Snowden, or Emily,” said Evaran.
“Right … so … this is your first time meeting me then, I’m gathering.”
Dr. Snowden found this aspect of time travel fascinating. It highlighted the difference between a personal timeline and universal timeline. In the universal timeline, sometime in the past, Lord Vygon met Evaran, and by extension him and Emily, for the first time. That would be how Lord Vygon knows them now in the present. However, for Evaran, in his personal timeline, that event in the past has not occurred yet, so he would not know Lord Vygon. Dr. Snowden remembered Evaran had said that the future already exists. That must apply to both personal and universal timelines, regardless of scope.
“Yes,” said Evaran. “This is our first meeting.”
Lord Vygon nodded. “Well then … not sure what brought you out here, but my base is nearby.”
“We could talk on the Torvatta,” said Evaran.
Lord Vygon shook his head. “No temporal shielding for me.”
“Very well.”
Lord Vygon waved forward. “Follow me.”
They followed Lord Vygon as he wound through the forest. After several minutes, they came upon a large rocky structure with a cave opening. Evaran launched his illumination orbs as they neared it.
“You won’t need those,” said Lord Vygon. “The cave is lit inside.”
Evaran snapped his head around. “We are not alone.”
Lord Vygon flung his arms to his sides as he stood beside Evaran. Blunted blades extended above his forearms and wrapped around to the front of his fists. The bases of the blades were anchored to the forearm guards’ ridges. “I hear them too.”
Evaran gestured for Dr. Snowden and Emily to move to the cave entrance as bald, black-clothed male humanoids swarmed the area. They wore padded boots and a covering over the lower half of their faces. A small circular crystal was embedded in their foreheads. Red triangles surrounded their eyes. They wielded metal staffs with a glowing crystal embedded on one end, while curved daggers hung off their belts. A barrage of beams shot out. Lord Vygon ran behind Evaran as the beams hit Evaran’s shield.
“They are shooting mass teleport beams,” said Evaran, studying his ARI. He extended his utility handle into a baton and aimed at several of the humanoids. Boom! White concentric circles shot out, sending several of the humanoids flying. Those not hit moved behind the trees.
“That won’t work well here. Too many obstructions,” said Lord Vygon. “You can’t be teleported, so draw their fire. They also shoot bolts, those will be the ones to block. I’ll hit the perimeter. I could use V’s help with distraction. Just like old times.”
Evaran tilted his head. He sidestepped one of the humanoids that had charged forward and batted him away. “Are you sure?”
Lord Vygon ducked as a beam shot over his head. “Of course. Don’t worry, I won’t kill. My blades are blunted.”
Evaran narrowed his eyes and nodded. “V, assist Lord Vygon.”
“Acknowledged,” said V. He flew high into the air, dodging beams as Lord Vygon shot out into the forest.
Evaran hunkered down, letting the beams hit his shield, and switched to his ranged stun beam. He took potshots, but the amount of bolts trying to hit him caused him to focus on moving his shield around. As Lord Vygon and V went around the perimeter, the amount of bolts began to decrease.
Dr. Snowden’s breathing went haphazard as he watched the fight. Lord Vygon was a blur, and the bodies being tossed into the air were the only way for Dr. Snowden to track him. V flew around casting multiple copies of Lord Vygon, which seemed to confuse the attackers. Dr. Snowden faced Emily and gestured to move farther into the cave.
“Uncle Albert?” asked Emily as she grabbed Dr. Snowden’s arm.
Dr. Snowden spun around as one of the humanoids dropped to the ground in front of them. Dr. Snowden barreled forward, yanking Emily to the ground in the process. His eyes raged as he bowled the man over. Dr. Snowden scowled as his fists went into a fury of strikes. He pummeled the man until he was barely moving.
“Uncle Albert!” said Emily as two others dropped to the ground.
Dr. Snowden jumped up and tackled one of the humanoids. The other took a step back and shot a beam at Emily. She cried out as she vanished in a bright flash of light.
“Emily!” said Dr. Snowden as he wrestled the staff away from the one he knocked down. He swung at the second humanoid, causing him to fly out of the cave entrance and over Evaran. He felt a sharp pain in his side as the humanoid he took the staff from shot him with a bolt. He wheeled around and cracked the man over the head with the staff. The man faltered for a moment, then stopped moving. With a toss of the staff, he dropped to the ground on all fours. He crawled over to where Emily had vanished and frantically searched the ground. “Emily!”
Evaran, with shield raised, walked backward to where Dr. Snowden was. When he got there, he pulled Dr. Snowden back into the cave and out of sight.
“Where … where is she?” said Dr. Snowden as his voice cracked.
“I … do not know,” said Evaran with wrinkled eyebrows. “We will scan the area when the rest of the attackers are gone.” He proceeded to peep out, shooting his stun beam. After a few minutes, a silence washed over the area.
Lord Vygon and V joined Evaran and Dr. Snowden. “They’re leaving. That was a small group. We were lucky.” He scanned the surroundings. With a tilted head, he said, “Oh … this is not good …”
“Where is she!” said Dr. Snowden. He burst forward to where Emily had vanished and kicked the dirt and leaves around.
“We will find her. You need to stay calm,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden shook his head violently. “Calm? Emily’s g—” He put a hand on his chest as a jolt of pain shot through him, causing him to grunt and fall to the ground. His breathing slowed, and his vision dimmed as he saw Evaran and Lord Vygon r
ush toward him. Everything went black.
Dr. Snowden inhaled deeply as he opened his eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust, and when they did, he scanned the room he was in. The rocky floor and walls indicated to him that he was in a room somewhere in the cave. The wooden bed he was on had a thick blanket of furs as a mattress.
A torch flickered on the wall, causing shadows in the room to jump.
He removed the thin cloth blanket over him and swung his legs over the side. Emily jumped into his mind. She was gone. The pit in his stomach deepened as he stood and stretched. He could hear voices farther in the cave. Running a hand over his chest, he remembered the pain he had felt earlier. It seemed to be gone. He shook his head. Another mystery. Great, just what he needed. He took a deep breath and exited the room.
Evaran and Lord Vygon sat around a pit fire in a large room. Like the room Dr. Snowden was just in, it had a rocky floor and walls. Various openings led off to other areas.
“You are up. How are you feeling?” asked Evaran, gesturing for Dr. Snowden to join him and Lord Vygon on a series of crude wooden benches around the pit fire.
Dr. Snowden ambled up to one of the benches and sat across from Lord Vygon and Evaran. “Pain’s gone … what happened?”
“You flew into a blind rage and your nanobots shut your body down to protect you,” said Evaran. “They were also trying to deal with the poison from the bolts, and your anger was exacerbating the situation.”
Dr. Snowden chewed on Evaran’s words. He thought his reaction was normal, given the circumstances. “Well … I had just seen Emily disappear …”
Lord Vygon raised a finger. “I can shed some light on that. We’ve examined one of the sentinel’s staffs. Evaran was right … again. It’s a teleportation weapon. Fire … and whatever it hits gets sent away.”
“Where?” asked Dr. Snowden with narrowed eyes.
Lord Vygon bobbed his head. “We did a test using one of Evaran’s quantum beacons, and shot it with the weapon. It terminated after arrival a few minutes later, so we suspect it was destroyed. Apparently, they are sending people to what you would know as Egypt.”
“Egypt? What the heck is in Egypt?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“I do not know,” said Evaran. “We will find out, though. I do not suspect Emily is harmed. If they had meant to kill, they would not bother with teleportation.”
Dr. Snowden exhaled from his nose and closed his eyes for moment. He opened them and looked at Lord Vygon. “You called them sentinels?”
“Yes,” said Lord Vygon. “These humans are the scouts of an unknown organization. They’re intelligent and trained for reconnaissance. I’ve heard reports from other nonhumans that they’ve been targeted by these sentinels. They seem to ignore humans, and for the most part, humans avoid them. One of my human friends actually talked to one and gathered some information for me a while back. Didn’t catch the organization’s name, but I know that they fight for human purity.”
“Sounds like the Purifiers,” said Dr. Snowden. Ring Commander Sheel flashed in his mind. “This is one human they better not try to talk to.” His blood began to boil.
Lord Vygon tilted his head. “Purifiers?”
“A human supremacist group led by an overlord,” said Evaran. “Their goal is nothing less than the dominance of humanity, and the purification of everything nonhuman.”
“That would validate what I know of them,” said Lord Vygon. “The fact you are here means you must have met them in the future and come back to this point. Am I right?”
Evaran tilted his head and eyed Lord Vygon. “Yes … I suspect these sentinels are just the vanguard, removing what they can while remaining hidden in the shadows.”
“Well, if these are the vanguard, I’d hate to see what comes next.”
“We need to find them. Make them wish they never set foot on Earth!” said Dr. Snowden as he stood with fire raging in his eyes.
Evaran extended a hand toward Dr. Snowden. “Relax.”
Dr. Snowden snorted and shook his head. “I just don’t need this right now.”
“We will find Emily and figure out what is going on with your anger.”
“How about this time you tell me when you find something out instead of waiting.”
Evaran paused as he studied Dr. Snowden. “You have my word. Now that you are up, we were going to question one of the sentinels.”
“All right then,” said Dr. Snowden. His eyes softened. “You caught one?”
“Yes. After we got you inside, we went back and caught them trying to take their fallen away. We let them go, except for one. Lord Vygon … convinced him to come with us.”
Dr. Snowden cocked his head.
“You shall see.”
“Good. Maybe I can convince this sentinel to bring back Emily.”
Evaran eyed Dr. Snowden. “Perhaps I should do the questioning.”
Dr. Snowden sighed.
They stood and exited the large room and walked through numerous hallways lit by torches anchored on the walls. After fifteen minutes, they arrived at a room with a makeshift wooden slab.
On the slab rested a strapped-down unconscious sentinel. The black clothing was gone, leaving a minimally clothed body. He wore sandals on his feet and had a leather loincloth. Leather straps crisscrossed his chest, and a segmented metal guard was around his neck. His clothing and weapons lay on the ground.
V hovered nearby. “Dr. Snowden. We will find Emily.”
Dr. Snowden swallowed hard and nodded.
“It would seem these sentinels have a small crystal implanted in their head,” said Evaran. “I cannot scan it or use my UIC on it, which is unusual. I do not know what its purpose is, other than it has tendrils that connect to the brain.”
“Okay … that doesn’t sound good.”
Evaran raised a finger. “It is not. Another thing that is odd is that I could not activate the staff. Lord Vygon had to instruct the sentinel to fire it at the beacon for us. I suspect the crystals have some type of bond I am unaware of.”
“Instruct?”
Lord Vygon smirked. “My hypnotic gaze. Ready to see it in action?”
Dr. Snowden shrugged. “Sure.”
Lord Vygon extended the man’s arm, and then bit into his wrist.
Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows.
After a moment, the sentinel’s eyes opened. He looked at Lord Vygon. “Filthy nonhuman. What are you doing?” He scanned Dr. Snowden, Evaran, and V. “You’re all going to die.”
Dr. Snowden scowled. “Yeah … keep talking …”
Lord Vygon put both hands on the side of the sentinel’s head, then gazed into his eyes. “You are under my command now. You will answer every question posed to you with as much information as you know. Do you understand?”
The sentinel’s face went blank. “Yes, my master, I understand.”
Dr. Snowden studied the sentinel. That hypnotic gaze was quite a powerful ability. He wondered if all vampires had it or if it was just an ancient vampire thing.
Lord Vygon stood back and gestured at Evaran. “Have at it.”
Evaran approached the slab and stood next to the sentinel. “Where are you sending the nonhumans you are targeting?”
The sentinel cocked his head. “Prison.”
Dr. Snowden swallowed hard. “What do you mean by that?”
The sentinel looked at Dr. Snowden. “Nonhuman filth is sent to prison.”
“Emily’s not filth! Where’d you send her?” said Dr. Snowden as his face turned red.
“Prison.”
Dr. Snowden’s eyes raged as he stepped toward the sentinel.
Evaran moved between Dr. Snowden and the sentinel. He placed a hand on Dr. Snowden’s shoulder. “Relax. Let me and Lord Vygon do the questioning.”
Dr. Snowden eyes smoldered. He leaned against one of the walls and crossed his arms.
Lord Vygon narrowed his eyes. “We know where you are sending nonhumans. Is that where the prison is?”
&nb
sp; The sentinel pivoted his head toward Lord Vygon. “No.”
“How many sentinels are on Earth?”
“One hundred twelve.”
Lord Vygon’s eyes widened. “It’s worse than I thought.”
“I concur,” said Evaran. He faced the sentinel again. “What is the goal after all nonhumans have been eliminated?”
“Assimilation.”
Dr. Snowden smirked. “Well, that’s not happening.”
Evaran looked at Dr. Snowden.
Dr. Snowden looked away.
“How many have been sent to prison so far?” asked Lord Vygon.
The sentinel’s head wobbled for a moment. “Twenty-one.”
Lord Vygon glanced at Evaran.
The sentinel shook violently.
Evaran scanned the sentinel. “The activity around the crystal tendrils has increased significantly.”
“I’m guessing that crystal is trying to fight off the effects of my gaze. We should probably make him unconscious again.”
Evaran nodded as he pulled out his utility handle and extended it into a baton. He tapped the sentinel with the blue end of the baton, causing the sentinel to shudder for a moment, then go limp.
Dr. Snowden sighed. “So … Egypt?”
Evaran nodded. “Yes. We can head there now.”
“I’ll need to get a few things before we go,” said Lord Vygon.
“You wish to come with us?”
Lord Vygon smirked. “Of course. Someone has to watch out for you.” He looked at V and Dr. Snowden. “Nothing against either of you.”
Dr. Snowden shrugged and glanced at V, whose lights pulsed for a moment.
“Very well,” said Evaran. “You mentioned before that you did not want any temporal shielding.”
“Yeah … but now I know we’re fixing something that happened in the future. From my perspective anyways. If we were going to the past, that would be a problem. I wouldn’t want to be shielded if you fixed something in the past and then I met my double. Besides, my base is compromised now. I can’t stay here.”
“You know a great deal about time travel.”
Lord Vygon smiled. “I had a good teacher.”