Aeon Legion: Labyrinth

by Beaubien, J. P.

Hannah passed by, holding a book.

  Val turned to Hannah. “Hey, Hannah. Look at dirt girl here. She still likes to play in the mud.”

  Hannah stopped and glared at Val. “You're stupid, Val. A girl with a nice dress shouldn't be mean to someone who can sling mud.”

  Val scowled while Hannah walked away.

  Terra winced. That would put Val in an even worse mood.

  Val turned to Henry. “Henry!”

  On cue Henry shoved Terra down again.

  Val and her gang laughed.

  Terra began sniffling.

  Val's smile returned. “Oh look. Dirt girl is in the dirt again.”

  Terra's sniffled turned into a sob as she began crying. She knew that she couldn't just lay there in the dirt. She had to keep standing. If she stayed down, it would never end. Val continued to laugh even after Terra stood again and felt something in her hand. She looked to see a small stone. As Henry moved to push Terra down again, Terra stared at the small stone. It was a bit of Haematite; an iron ore.

  Terra realized she was alone. No one was going to help her. No one was going to save her and it would never end. Only she could stop it.

  She gripped the stone in her fist and narrowed her eyes at Val. Terra knew who the real problem was. Terra lifted her hand and cast the stone at Val, forever shattering the name Dirt Girl and replacing it with Terra the Terror.

  ∞

  Terra sat in the seat, swinging her feet in the air since she wasn't tall enough to reach the floor. She waited just outside the principle’s office which was right next to the school nurse.

  Val walked out of the nurse's room with a small bandage on the side of her forehead. She recoiled upon seeing Terra.

  The nurse stepped out behind and patted Val on the head. “Don't worry dear. We won't let her hurt you anymore.”

  Val kept the nurse between her and Terra. Just before Val left the office waiting room, she shot Terra an ugly scowl that said this wasn't over.

  Terra continued to stare at the floor.

  Principle Overton stepped out of his office and looked down at Terra. “Well, your parents are on their way.”

  Terra ignored the middle aged, balding man.

  Overton waited for a response. When none came he sighed. “Why is it always from the ones you least expect?”

  Beth and Fred soon arrived.

  Overton nodded to them. “Mr. and Mrs. Mason. Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please join me in my office. Terra, you too.”

  They entered the office and sat across the desk from Overton. Terra noticed her parents remained silent while Overton kept a grave expression. He cleared his throat. “I am sorry to call you all here so suddenly, but I felt this needed to be addressed immediately.”

  Beth frowned. “Could you explain the situation? Terra's teacher was near hysterical over the phone.”

  Overton sighed. “To put it bluntly, Terra attacked and injured a fellow student.”

  Fred and Beth both looked at Terra with raised brows.

  Overton held up a hand. “The school nurse said it was just a small cut. She won't even need stitches and there doesn't seem to be any serious trauma.”

  Beth narrowed her gaze. “I don't understand. Terra has never been violent at home. Stubborn yes, but she never acted in anger or rage.”

  Fred rubbed his forehead. “We had no problems last year. Was she provoked?”

  Overton leaned back in his chair. “It doesn't matter if she was provoked. She needs to understand how to resolve her problems without violence.”

  Beth turned to Terra. “Well, young lady? Explain yourself.”

  Terra looked up at her parents. “She called me dirt girl.”

  Fred raised an eyebrow. “That's it? That's not even clever. Could you at least have waited for her call you a curse word or something?”

  Beth pursed her lips before turning to Fred. “Don't encourage her.”

  Terra crossed her arms. “She had everyone calling me that.”

  Overton shook his head. “You can't just ac–”

  Terra stood. “They do it every day!”

  Overton spoke in an even tone. “They are just words.”

  Terra glared at Overton. “She had a boy keep pushing me down.”

  Overton gestured to Terra. “Then you should have gone to a teacher for help.”

  Terra clinched her fists to her side. “Val would have just gotten another boy to push me. She's the real problem. The teacher likes her more than me so the teacher won't help.”

  Overton's eyebrows drew together. “Is that why you attacked Valerie? I don't understand. Her teacher adores her.”

  Terra glowered. Teary eyed, Terra folded her arms and sank into her seat, remaining silent.

  Overton sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Mr. and Mrs. Mason, the truth is that I called you here for more than this incident. Has she been giving you trouble at home?”

  Fred and Beth shared a look. Fred finally spoke. “Not really. We have a little trouble getting her to do her chores.”

  Beth rolled her eyes. “And good luck getting her to stay clean. She is always playing in the dirt and tracks mud in the house constantly.”

  Overton shook his head. “Not that. Behavioral problems regarding social skills. Does she play well with other children?”

  Fred and Beth were silent for a moment. Fred then spoke. “Well, she doesn't play with other children. No other children live near us.”

  Overton nodded. “I see. I am concerned. Her teacher has brought to my attention that Terra has difficulty making friends. Even before she started throwing rocks at people.”

  Beth looked at Terra. “Is this true?”

  Terra glared at Beth. “They all hate me because they think I'm strange. Because I don't like the things they like.” Terra looked away. “They like boring things. I like stones. Stones are interesting. I found some dolomite today. Yesterday I found magnetite which can be used to make iron. That iron can have carbon added to it to cast pig iron. That pig iron can then be refined into steel.”

  Overton stared at Terra for a long moment. “That is... interesting. You have a lot of knowledge on metallurgy, but maybe you could make more friends if you tried some different things? People can be interesting too. How can a stone be better than a person?”

  Terra looked Overton straight in the eyes. “Stones don't hurt my feelings.”

  ∞

  Beth and Fred had Terra sit in the kitchen. Terra could tell this would not be pleasant from the silent car ride home.

  Beth faced Fred after putting down her pocket book. “Will you be okay with your boss?”

  Fred sighed, opening up the cabinet. “It'll be fine. I just have to work another shift this Sunday to make up for it.”

  Beth sighed. “As if we didn't see each other enough already.”

  Fred shrugged while rummaging through the cabinet. “It'll be okay. They can't keep you down forever at the office.”

  Beth rubbed her forehead. “I don't know. This damn glass ceiling. And now this at the school! And with the mortgage...”

  “It will be okay,” Fred added. He took out a sizable whiskey bottle from the cabinet.

  Beth turned to Terra. “Terra, you need to at least try to get along with the other children.”

  Terra stared at Beth without a change in expression.

  Beth grimaced. “Don't be like that. Me and your father do not have time to keep you out of trouble at school on top of all our other problems.”

  Terra continue to stare.

  Beth shook her head. “Listen he–”

  The phone rang. Fred moved to get it.

  Beth stared at Fred, her face pale.

  Fred hung up the phone. “Collection agency.”

  Beth put her hand over her mouth. “God. I don't know how much longer I can do this.”

  Fred poured himself a glass of whiskey with shaky hands. “I got a few things I can sell to make the next payment.”

  Beth folded her a
rms. “What about the one after that!”

  Fred slammed the whiskey bottle on the table. “Damn it! I don't know!”

  Terra shrank back in her seat, tears forming in her eyes.

  Fred frowned, one of the few times Terra had ever see him frown or angry. “I am doing everything I can! I'm pushing seventy two hours a week as it is. At least you get air conditioning!”

  Beth put her hands on her hips. “You think it's easy for me? They pay me a pittance to babysit corporate officers who take credit for my leadership!”

  Terra started crying.

  Beth turned to Terra. “Stop crying! Crying never helps! It only makes things worse!”

  It was too much. Bullies could push her down, but seeing her parents like this. Her instincts took over and Terra ran out the front door to the one place she felt safe. With tears in her eyes, Terra kept running until she came to the quarry. There she climbed down onto the first tier and curled up amongst stone.

  Terra liked the cold stone. Stone didn't feel, it didn't cry. She stared at the stone for what felt like a long time. What if she could be like the stone? Unfeeling, cold, and impervious. That was what she wanted to be right now.

  Terra stopped crying. Stones don't cry. She let the feelings bleed out of her until only her will remained. From now on, she would be stone.

  “Terra!” Beth cried in the distance.

  “Terra!” came Fred's voice nearby.

  After a moment Terra saw the shadow of someone peering over the edge of the quarry.

  “I found her!” Fred yelled. He climbed down and tried to pick up Terra.

  Terra shook her head. “I want to stay here.”

  “Is she okay?” Beth asked, peeking over the quarry.

  Fred sat next to Terra. “She's fine.”

  Beth climbed down and embraced Terra. “I am so sorry! I didn't mean to yell at you. We are all just having a really bad day. That's all.”

  Terra looked up at her parents. “It's okay. I won't cry ever again.”

  Fred and Beth stared at Terra.

  Terra cast her gaze upon the cold stone. “Stones don't cry. Stones can be fine when they are alone. I want to be as strong as stone. Unfeeling stone.”

  Chapter XIX

  Evasion

  Remember that each tiro captured grants a week of both extra rations and leave, but keep your guard up. They can and will kill you and your team if you are not careful. Bear in mind that they are recruits, but recruits who have already been through three weeks of Kali cursed nightmarish training. In addition, watch out for local wildlife. Don't neglect terrain. Don your masks and good hunting.”

  -Message from Central Command to all pursuit forces

  Terra woke, expecting a hard day at school. Instead she remembered where she was and wished she could trade it for a hard day at school.

  Hikari was up, but moving slowly while trying to stifle a yawn. Her once smooth hair was now twisted in a mass, while a black smudge covered much of her face. Hikari's bloodshot eyes looked up at the sky at the sound of a passing jet. Terra paid it no mind at first.

  “What is that sound?” Hikari asked as she grew alert.

  “Just an aircraft, probably a jet. Wait...” Terra stopped when she remembered she was in the cretaceous.

  They both took cover nearby. When the sound passed they relaxed.

  “A timeship from Saturn City?” Terra asked as she scanned the sky.

  Hikari remained alert and still. “Better to not take chances. Just like those soldiers in black.”

  “Wait,” Terra said, turning to Hikari. “Soldiers in dark uniforms? You saw them too?”

  Hikari nodded. “A few days ago. They attempted to track me. I evaded them. I assume they are a part of the test.”

  Terra frowned. That would be just like Lycus to throw them an unexpected twist in the middle of the training.

  Terra and Hikari grabbed what they could and set out for the tall mountain to the east. Hikari's protests against finding the rest of the team now vanished.

  They walked forward, both careful to cover their tracks and passed two camps on their travels. One was occupied by a group of tirones from another team. Terra recognized Tacitus in the camp. They had built a small fort.

  “Show offs,” Terra said in a low tone. They both moved on not wishing to draw attention. Thankfully, his strike team appeared watchful for another enemy. With their focus elsewhere, Hikari and Terra sneaked by without trouble.

  They passed an abandoned second camp. Boot prints covered the ground while the blasted stumps of trees still smoldered.

  “What manner of weapon did this?” Hikari asked, inspecting a scorched tree.

  Terra inspected the burnt debris. “I wondered if someone smuggled in some big guns?”

  Hikari shook her head. “I do not like this. We need to find the others now.”

  Terra shifted uncomfortably at seeing Hikari worried. Hikari turned to face movement nearby. With a flash of motion, she jumped into a nearby cluster of brush and threw another tiro into the open.

  Terra gritted her teeth and moved to defend herself, but sighed in relief when she recognized Zaid.

  ∞

  Hikari did not apologize for attacking Zaid. She did, however, return with him and Terra to his camp without protest. Zaid explained that he had visited the abandoned camp after he heard a commotion the night before. Other camps had been attacked as well.

  With the strike team assembled they pooled resources over the next few days. Terra gave Zaid and the others a brief lesson on dinosaurs. Zaid shared obsidian daggers with the rest of the team. One teammate had made water skins while another had made a bow. Even Hikari helped by showing everyone how to build a smokeless fire pit in the evening.

  A tiro looked to a nearby herd of dinosaurs in the distance. The herd was barely visible in the fading light. “So you say these giant chickens–”

  “Dinosaurs,” Terra corrected.

  “Dino-things,” the tiro continued, “are monsters that died out a long time ago? How could something so big die out?”

  Terra raised an eyebrow. “Haven't you taken Temporal Biology yet?”

  The tiro shook his head. “They have me in something they call remedial courses. Apparently, I'm not well educated compared to people from other times. Gladiator school means little here.”

  Zaid nodded. “I was exempt from such classes since I was already a scholar. They put me in the advanced courses.”

  Terra's brow knitted when she realized, she was in the advanced courses as well. Her education, as miserable as it was, had been something she had taken for granted. Maybe she wasn't as far behind as she thought.

  It was then she heard the jet again followed by a distant rumble. A flash lit up in the distance.

  “Thunder?” Another tiro asked as he gazed at the distant lights.

  Terra shook her head. “Weapons. I think that's Tacitus's camp.”

  “I see them!” Hikari said pointing.

  The others looked, but Terra did not see them at first. A line of figures in black moved towards their camp. She counted at least a dozen in a loose line formation. Terra could just make out the glow of laser pointers from their weapons.

  With a single gesture, Zaid's team scattered with everyone grabbing what they could from the camp.

  A tiro shook her head. “They are moving in too fast. We need to slow them down.”

  Hikari lit the end of a branch in the fire.

  Zaid looked at Hikari. “What are you doing?”

  Hikari dabbed the burning stick into the dry foliage, setting the area around the camp ablaze. The fire spread fast towards the pursuers who stopped to pull back as the blaze turned into a firestorm.

  Zaid motioned for his team to retreat.

  They fled to the edge of a gully while the pursuers moved around the blaze. By the time the pursuers had navigated around the fires, Zaid and his team had moved a fair distance away. Zaid slowed their pace after a fast march and once night had
settled to give them cover. It was when they were passing by a river bank that Terra saw something.

  Terra pointed at Zaid's shieldwatch face that flickered before turning blue. “Hey Zaid.”

  Zaid glanced to his shieldwatch and tapped the face. He then pointed to Terra's shieldwatch which did the same. Within seconds, everyone's shieldwatch had reactivated. Terra basked in her returning connection with time. She felt whole again.

  Hikari drew her aeon edge. She loaded a stasis cell clip and the blue edge formed.

  Zaid looked at his shieldwatch. “Minerva, what's going on?”

  “Error,” came Minerva's voice from Zaid's shieldwatch. “I am disconnected from Saturn City. A backup has activated. I do not have access to my full capabilities until my connection is restored.”

  Terra rubbed her forehead. “What do you mean you are disconnected?”

  “This disconnect is consistent with old temporal jamming signals,” Minerva said. “Though I can't be sure without access to the processing power in Saturn City. I know that cross time communication has been cut off and time travel is currently impossible. However, local shieldwatch and aeon edge functions have been restored.”

  Zaid thought. “Jamming. That's a military term from the future right? It's a way of stopping the enemy's messengers.”

  Terra nodded.

  “Why did Lycus cut off communication with us?” Hikari asked.

  Terra scanned her surroundings with a wary gaze. “Maybe it wasn't them. Didn't Centurion Shani say the Legion has a lot of enemies?”

  An aircraft roared across the sky. Terra looked up to see search lights from the aerial vehicle moving towards their location.

  Zaid motioned for his strike team to hide. They all blended into the shadows cast by a nearby forest.

  Terra got a good look at the aircraft when it drew near. It was black and sleek with orange stripes and highlights, like an attack helicopter though without the blades. Instead it had two large engines on either side of its wings that pivoted and moved to keep it hovering in the air. As for its purpose, Terra could guess that by the missiles and guns on it. As its searchlights swept the area, Terra knew it was a gunship on the hunt.