Dark Beyond the Stars

by Patrice Fitzgerald

  I just stare at him for a moment. “What about the one you said I knew, the one I called by name? He was short, right? Shorter than I am?”

  He’s looking at me like I’m a little crazy. “No. None of them were short.”

  “You said I called him by name, though…”

  “Yeah. But I didn’t have a helmet, so I was just hearing the gobbledy-gook noises. I understood Lor and then you said something… like… Dweevok?”

  I have to make him repeat it, because the system keeps translating the word. When I’m certain, my breath whooshes out in relief. “Bastards.”

  “Beg pardon?”

  “Not a name. I said Lor bastards.”

  “Oh.” Matias gives me a confused smile, clearly not understanding why this makes me happy.

  “It’s nothing,” I tell him. “I’ve just realized that maybe there are a few more people we can trust.”

  Which is a roundabout way of saying I’m glad that the other version of me, the one in another time stream who is probably dead by now, didn’t lie to him. That even as I was going down, I let the boy make an honest decision based on the facts at hand.

  Chapter 6

  Approaching Elisi Outpost Five

  Date: 9023.29.19

  “We don’t have any choice but to trust him,” Matias says. “And yeah. I like the other plan better, too, but… we have to work with what we have.”

  Sim-Ryn agrees. “Babe, your other plan would be perfect if we were landing on Elisi. But as it stands, trusting Baydel is our best bet. Unless someone just happens to have a space cruiser in the bay and one of you is suddenly gifted with the ability to not only steal it, but to fly it two parsecs with half the Elisi fleet on your tail, and maybe the Lor as well…”

  The perfect plan would keep everyone else out of this. I’ve already recorded a message to myself about the war that’s coming and I’ve given it to Matias. Ryn and I also know the perfect time and place where he could intercept us prior to the Lor invasion of the Owani sector. We could go to Baydel, in the past, and convince him that the peace treaty with the Lor is a ruse. I’ve compiled a full dossier of information on what will happen. I think we could convince Baydel to at least start an investigation. If he sent a cruiser, even at that early date, they’d uncover evidence that the Lor are talking peace at the same time they’re building up an arsenal that can only be intended for war.

  There’s just one problem with the perfect plan, but it’s a big one. In fact, it’s looming outside the shuttle window at this very minute. We’ll be landing momentarily on Outpost Five, not on Elisi. Outpost Five didn’t even exist prior to the war, and it’s located two parsecs from the house on Elisi Major that Ryn and I lived in back then.

  Once we land inside and the hatch opens, I won’t be able to keep Matias’s fate in my hands. I may not know when his time travel occurs and what he’s being asked to change. He won’t understand anything that’s happening. I trust that Baydel wouldn’t hurt me. Not directly. But I don’t think he’ll have as much concern for this alien boy. He might not be as worried about returning Matias to Earth when this is all over, and he might try coercing him into changing a few more things, for good measure. Especially if he thinks it’s best for the Elisi Alliance as a whole.

  The reservations I have about Baydel go triple for the other members of the Voshti. Quadruple for Vosht Wirth.

  I feel the gentle bump, bump as we touch down inside the dock, and I turn toward Ryn. Sim-Ryn, I remind myself.

  “Time to go, babe.” He gives me a sad smile, and I’d almost swear there are tears in his eyes. He knows what I’m about to do. “Love you.”

  “Love you, too.” Deep, shaky breath, and then, “Alta 493. End simulation. Delete simulation.”

  If the reviewers dig through the logs, they’ll probably find the record, but I won’t make it easy on them. No sense in waving my crutch in the air for all to see. Have to show that I can stand alone, on my own two feet. That I’m not frightened to face my life without Ryn.

  Frightened.

  “Matias?”

  He raises one of the dark hairy lines above his eyes. I’ve discovered he does this when he’s curious, or sometimes when he’s doubtful.

  “You’re frightened, right?” I ask.

  “Well… yeah. Somewhat.”

  “No, no, listen. You’re very frightened. So frightened you can’t make that key thing work. You’re only able to keep calm when I’m in the room.”

  Matias looks skeptical.

  “You said you were able to pretend with that professor. And in the hearing. I need you to do it again, okay? I need you to pretend. Hard.”

  “Ham it up,” he replies. That translation seems off to me, but he’s nodding. “Sure. I can do that.”

  “Refuse to talk to them, refuse to do anything they say unless I’m there. They may threaten to hurt you for not complying, but they won’t do it. They need you. They’re going to take you for a medical scan, decontamination, and so forth. If they start trying to make you talk, just keep saying my name.”

  “Got it. Miranda rules. Lips zipped unless my mouthpiece is in the room. Name, rank, and serial number, nothing more.”

  I nod, even though I have no idea what he’s talking about aside from got it.

  When the hatch goes up, Matias transforms. He still has to crouch down as we exit, but it’s almost as though he shrinks. His confidence seems to vanish, and he clings to my arm, looking around at the docking area and jumping at every sound.

  The guys in the zip-suits come in through the door to take him, and he cries out, “Mila! No!” and refuses to let go of my sleeve.

  He keeps yelling. Now that we’re out of the shuttle I can’t understand anything but my name, but his tone is piteous. My first thought is that he might be overdoing a bit, but hey—none of these guys have seen anyone from XE7 before.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I tell Matias. “They won’t hurt you.”

  Once he’s gone, I head for another decon unit. Once I’m clean and cleared for contact with others on the base—something that takes three times longer than it ever has before—I head to Baydel’s office.

  The adjutant at the desk makes me wait again. Apparently, Baydel is in a meeting that’s more important than a time device that could stop the war before it starts. I excuse myself and go off in search of some real food.

  I’m back in the waiting room, and three bites into a hot sandwich, which is the best thing I’ve eaten in over a month, when Baydel’s door opens. I take a few more bites and then shove the sandwich back into its bag before following him into the office.

  I’m surprised to see Vosht Wirth sitting at Baydel’s conference table. She doesn’t travel much, preferring to stay on Elisi Major. This is the first time I’ve seen her in person. I find her unnerving. Her nostrils are always tight, like she smells something foul.

  “So… do you have it?” Baydel asks, closing the door behind me.

  I nod reluctantly and pull the metal circle from my pocket. It’s an odd brown shade, and the shape in the middle reminds me of a letter from our alphabet. Matias said it represents an hourglass, an old Earth method of keeping time.

  Baydel holds out his hand, and I reluctantly put the disc on his palm.

  “Did the tech crew check it out?” he asks, turning the thing over and then face up again.

  “They did. While I was in decon. They laughed and gave it back to me. Told me it’s not emitting a chronotron pulse. And they’re right. But if you put that thing into the hands of the boy, you’ll detect a faint signal. The surges I picked up were because he’d been using it. Not to change anything. Just to demonstrate it. He says it’s activated by the presence of a gene in his body.”

  “And you believe him?” Wirth asks.

  “I don’t have much choice, Vosht Wirth. He couldn’t have known the things he knew unless he’d spoken with me. I can’t prove what he said happened in that lab, but his description of the Lor was pretty accurate.”r />
  I decide to omit the part where I assumed the lab was attacked by troops under her command. For one thing, I’m not entirely sure Stoll would have acted differently if he’d reached the lab before the Lor team arrived. He’d have used force to obtain the device, with little concern for the people nearby. Maybe he wouldn’t have shot me, but I don’t think there’s any guarantee even on that count if he thought I was interfering with his mission.

  Wirth holds out her hand to examine the medallion. Baydel ignores her, putting the device on his desk.

  “Vosht Wirth tells me the med team that examined the alien believes he may be… deficient. Or, at a minimum, emotionally unstable.”

  “With all due respect to the med team, that’s garbage. He’s intelligent, Baydel. He’s just young. And he’s frightened. Who wouldn’t be? But he trusts me. Or at least he did before he was yanked away.”

  Baydel nods absently. “We could have the med team draw blood. Maybe they can analyze the gene, replicate it. But from what I’m seeing on the daily reports, and from what Vosht Wirth has just told me, we don’t have the luxury of waiting. By the time they figure out what makes the alien and this little device tick, let alone how to make it tick for one of our own, the Lor will have taken Elisi, and quite possibly this outpost, too. So using the alien as a messenger may well be our only option.”

  “I just need you to guarantee that if we use Matias to change the timeline, this is a one-shot deal. Matias wants to return to XE7. He has family there. And if he manages to end this war, or even gives us a fighting chance at winning it, I think he deserves that much.”

  Vosht Wirth flashes me a smile so brief that it may have been a facial tic. “We’ll certainly take your thoughts on the matter into consideration, Proctor Alta. But this is a matter for the Voshti—and the military—to decide.”

  I know better than to plead my case to her. I turn back to Baydel and place my recorder on his desk, next to the medallion. “I’ve recorded a message. Once we’re back on Elisi Major, Matias can take this back to me, along with your warning about the Lor.”

  “Again, Proctor Alta, you are inserting yourself into matters that really do not pertain to you.”

  Baydel says, “I think Mila has earned a bit of latitude here, Veda. She did, after all, retrieve the device and the alien. But,” he says, looking back at me, “I’m not clear why the boy should take the message back to you rather than one of—”

  “He trusts me.” Baydel’s eyes flash a warning when I interrupt him, but he lets me continue. “Matias won’t feel comfortable approaching anyone else. He and I have already gone through this once. He convinced me last time, and if he uses that same information, there’s no reason I wouldn’t believe him again. But if you’d like to be there, I’ll get the adjutant to compare our calendars. I’m sure I can find at least a few occasions when we were at the same event.”

  “My concern,” Wirth says to Baydel, “is that we may need to deliver information that is beyond Proctor Alta’s security level.”

  “Then encrypt the message that’s delivered to you and Baydel,” I tell her. “Consider Matias and my earlier self as a conduit for delivering that message—whatever message you want to send. My only requirement is that my recording to myself is included, so that I know what has been promised to Matias. He has no advocate for his interests here.”

  Baydel chuckles softly. “I think he has one advocate, and you’ve made a compelling case. I’m pretty sure Vosht Wirth and I can work within those constraints.”

  While I believe Baydel to be a man of his word, I want to make sure that I have that word, explicitly. “So once your message is delivered, you promise to put the two of us on the fastest transport back to XE7?” I actually hope he’ll be putting three of us on that transport, that the next trip to XE7 will be with the real Ryn instead of his simulated counterpart, but I stick to the main point.

  “Yes.”

  I push it one step further. “With the device, right? Because I think Matias may find himself in some difficulty should he return without it.”

  Baydel nods, staring at the disc. “Absolutely. I don’t want the responsibility that would come with keeping it on Elisi. We use it one time. A single message. Are we agreed, Veda?”

  Wirth nods. “Agreed.”

  “Then we return the alien and his time disturber to XE7,” Baydel continues. “And I’d recommend banning any further trips to the planet, if any of their leaders are actually considering using the thing again.”

  As I’m about to leave, Wirth adds, “He’ll need a portable translation device when he jumps back—if you’re going to understand each other.”

  “That’s true,” I tell her. It’s actually something I hadn’t considered.

  Wirth gives me a smile, probably the warmest one I’ve seen on her face. “I’ll have the tech crew adjust one of the Lor translators for his use.”

  The adjutant and I then compare my calendar with Baydel’s for the time period Baydel and Wirth have pinpointed as most advantageous for delivering a warning. The best match seems to be a party following the commitment ceremony for Baydel’s youngest daughter.

  I remember the day well. It was just before my mother died, one of the last public events we attended together. It’s perfect for our purposes, not just because Baydel and I are both in the same location, but also because Ryn and I arrived late. We’d stopped after the ceremony to pick up my mother, and we had a bit of difficulty getting her portable chair into our transport. My mother kept fretting about the time, and how late we were going to be, so I know exactly when we arrive in front of Baydel’s home.

  The adjutant jots down the information to pass along to Baydel, and I go to the med unit to find Matias. They have him in an isolated area, probably still worried about germs and infections, but they agree to let me talk to him as long as I stay in the little booth that adjoins the room.

  “Mila!” Matias smiles and presses his hands to the window when he sees me. “I was so scared they wouldn’t let me see you again. They keep poking me. Taking my blood! And they’re asking questions, but I told them I’ll only talk to you.”

  Matias is overplaying his role again. The performance is wasted anyway, since the med tech is barely paying attention and exits before Matias reaches the end of his lament.

  The boy flips back to his usual tone of voice once the door is closed. “So, do we have a deal?”

  “We do. You and I will be on the next cruiser to Elisi Major. Baydel and Wirth are recording messages… encrypted to ensure I don’t hear anything not meant for civilian ears. But my message will be on the recorder, too. I believed you the first time. If you get that message to me, I’ll believe you again. And once we’ve delivered the message, you’ll jump back to this date. Not to this location—with any luck, Outpost Five will never be built—but to the same location where you’ll deliver the message. I have Baydel’s word that he’ll put us on the next available transport to get you and the device home.”

  Matias makes a face. “I know I have to take it back. There’ll be hell to pay if I don’t. But there’s a part of me that would much rather leave it here.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t want it either.”

  We spend the next few minutes going over the plan that I worked out with Baydel’s adjutant, a plan that we’ll be going over several more times during the next few cycles until we arrive on Elisi Major. Matias will have a portable translator, but he’s still going to be several heads taller than any of Baydel’s other guests.

  “But that should be okay,” I say to Matias. “We arrived late. Everyone was already inside. Just come over to the transport—it will take us a bit to get mother’s chair out. Tell me what you said last time and show me the recording. If you can’t get me to listen, tell me the bit about Briarche.”

  I should probably reverse that, and get him to mention Briarche first. But this time I have to assume Ryn will be listening. I don’t know why I shared such a personal memory with this boy. May
be it was because I’d been cooped up with Sim-Ryn for several cycles and it was fresh on my mind. Whatever the reason, I’d just as soon Ryn didn’t know I’ve let someone else touch that memory.

  “Okay,” Matias says. “Sounds doable. I guess. Only… you’re sure you can trust this Baydel guy?”

  I pause for a moment, and then say, “As sure as I can be.”

  Matias does the lifting thing with his brow again. I think he’s picked up on my wording.

  “There’s a lot on the line here, Matias. I’m not entirely certain I can trust Baydel, but the precautions we’ve taken—my message on the recorder, being sure you contact me first—these mean that I’m as sure as I can be.”

  Chapter 7

  Elisi Major

  Wylen Province, Ward Three

  Date: 9019.10.23

  Ryn navigates to the entrance, and we reverse the process we just went through at my mother’s house. Her new portable chair is considerably larger than the last one, and getting it through the door of our small transport is a bit of a challenge. Once I’ve managed to free it, Ryn reaches inside to lift Mother out.

  “We’re late,” she says, her voice even weaker than it was the last time I saw her. “Everyone has already arrived.”

  Mother was never worried about punctuality when she was younger. In fact, I think she preferred arriving late, because that way everyone turns around to look, and she was never one to shy away from a bit of extra attention. But she’s self-conscious now. She doesn’t want people turning to look at the old woman in the automatic chair.

  “We’ll be fine,” Ryn says. He’s good with her when she’s in these whiny moods. Better than I am.

  As he and Mother start toward the main entrance, one of the men who’s always on security detail outside Baydel’s house hurries over to assist them.

  “Babe,” Ryn calls back. “Did you get their gift? It’s in the back.”

  I didn’t, so I turn around to retrieve it.