Terra stared at Roland, her brow raised. “Why didn't you betray us? Wouldn't it be easier to switch sides and help them?”
Roland shrugged. “They can't give me immortality. Besides, I won't work with torturers.”
The captured soldier gave in easily to threats. He opened several blast doors, clearing the way to a small area below the facility. Now they ran alongside a shallow river away from the facility. It wasn't long before they heard the shouts of pursuers.
Shots hit around them as the tirones returned fire with stolen weapons. They still couldn't move fast and everyone's shieldwatch had not yet recharged. They kept running. A forest was ahead. If they could run to that, they could hide long enough to recharge their shieldwatch and then time travel back to Saturn City for help.
An explosion hit near them, throwing several to the ground. One didn't get back up. The others didn't notice. No one was going to help him.
Terra gritted her teeth. Once again, no one did the right thing. She ran over to the tiro who lay face down in the mud. Terra rolled him over. She then paused when she saw who it was. Roland.
Terra glanced up again. Several soldiers closed in on her position. She glanced back to Roland.
I could just leave him, Terra thought. He deserves it, having cheated his way past everything. He has everyone fooled but me. I should leave him. Then Terra thought about how horrible the past few days were. No. She wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, even Roland.
Roland stirred. Terra leaned down and after struggling, lifted him up. She ran, trailing behind the others and after a moment another tiro fell back to help Terra and Roland. They were close now, so close. Terra allowed herself a single fleeting hope, a hope that a figure she saw ahead crushed.
Terra turned pale when she saw him again even though the others stood confident against a single foe without a shieldwatch. Terra knew better. She knew the Captain could beat a shieldwatch user.
Hikari approached the Captain. “Out of the way.”
“Wait!” Terra yelled.
Hikari halted.
Terra shook her head. “He can beat shieldwatch user. Don't underestimate him.”
Hikari paused and stared at Terra with a doubtful expression. After a moment though she allowed the others to surround the Captain.
It would have been a good tactic if the Captain had held still. Without a shieldwatch, or even a weapon, the Captain waded into the tirones, slinging them around like they were toy soldiers. Panic spread when the Captain disabled Hikari's shieldwatch before breaking her arm.
Zaid forced himself to stand. “What kind of monster is he?”
Terra handed Roland to another tiro before turning to Zaid. “Run. Take everyone and run! I'll buy us time.”
Zaid scowled, taking a step towards Terra.
Terra grabbed an aeon edge left on the ground by a fallen tiro before turning to Zaid. “We can't escape unless someone stays behind to stall him.”
Zaid paused, then nodded.
The other tirones began to recover the fallen and retreat.
Terra's fight with the Captain stalled him only seconds, but it was enough for the others to get a lead on him.
The Captain kicked Terra to the ground. “It appears the others were willing to sacrifice you. Are you ready to die then?”
Terra groaned as the Captain lifted her by the neck. “Well... not... really...” she said between gasps.
The Captain threw her to the ground. “Do they really mean that much to you?”
Terra coughed, but forced herself to stand. “No one is going to save me, but at least I get to save someone else.”
The Captain nodded. “Very well. You have earned your freedom.”
Terra stared at the Captain confused. Then the salient wall dissipated. After Terra's eyes adjusted, she had a hard time believing where they were. She looked up to see the titanic hands of Saturn City, looming overhead. The rest of the tirones stared confused as well before Terra and the Captain joined them.
The Captain took of his mask. “We will divvy up points later tonight,” Lycus said, putting the Captain's mask under his arm. “Well done. It has been a while since a group performed that good.”
Zaid stared, wide eyed at Lycus. “You tortured us!”
Lycus didn't even spare Zaid a glance. “Yes, we did. If any of you had given away information, you would have been dusted.” Lycus then turned to address the tirones. “Those who captured you were Kavachain military regulars. The Kavachains are descended from the Kalians and they are our allies now. They train their soldiers by capturing tirones for this test. After your capture, we transferred you back to Saturn City for the next part of the test. All the soldiers who took part of the interrogations were Academy staff and instructors. Everything was planned and controlled. Your performance will be evaluated and reviewed tonight. By morning, the scores will be posted on the holoface in the central courtyard. Congratulations on making it this far. Now that we know you are worth our time, we will push you twice as hard.”
After a moment Terra collected herself. She then turned to Lycus. “Praetor? Could they have really gotten into the city using the shieldwatch?”
Lycus shook his head. “No. The Sybil would have precogged it and the Legion would have intercepted them.”
Terra thought for a moment. “What if they used a salient? I traveled using a salient to get into the city.”
“It leads to the timeport where security is heavy.”
“But what about the salients in the Academy?”
“They are modified to only pull time into it. To alter one of the Academy's salients to become a two way portal would require a mechanical genius.”
Chapter XXI
Tartarus
Him do I hate even as the gates of hell who says one thing while he hides another in his heart.
-From Homer's The Iliad, translation by Samuel Butler
Hanns shut the case over the wires and stood, wiping the grime off his hands with a rag. “It should be repaired now.”
The silver haired man activated the holographic projector. It displayed a 3D map of Tartarus, Saturn City's prison facility.
“Good job, Hanns,” Karim said. He wore the standard armor of the Aeon Legion, but the infinity emblem was not present on his uniform and instead displayed a shield icon. Karim was an ex-legionnaire, though he had been unwilling to discuss the details with Hanns.
Hanns thought Karim a decent enough fellow, though he still did not understand the silver hair thing. Most of the other guards had one or two locks of silver hair while a few had none. The prisoners all kept their natural hair color. Karim had explained to Hanns that most of the guards were dust outs of the Aeon Legion training program. Many had taken jobs as prison guards to remain in the city. The city natives considered such tasks beneath them.
Hanns smiled and turned to Karim. “That should fix it. I still don't understand why you do not just use your time machines to restore it?”
Karim shook his head. “This is singularity tech, Hanns. You can't Restore it with a temporal state.”
Hanns looked at the holographic projection. “So what does this device do then?”
Karim gestured to the holo map. “This is Legacy Library recovered tech. This map can scan and project all data within Tartarus. We can keep track of every prisoner here and even see what they are carrying with them. We can even see the fillings in your teeth.”
Hanns looked at the lower part of the 3D map that displayed scrambled static. The other levels of Tartarus appeared in perfect detail. Hanns pointed. “What about that part?”
Karim frowned. “That is level twelve. There is singularity tech down there that scrambles sensors. Only Prometheus ever goes there, and he hasn’t visited it in centuries.”
Hanns turned to Karim. “What do you think is down there?”
Karim rolled his eyes. “Some people say treasure, but what crashing idiot puts treasure in a prison full of thieves? Who knows what's down there. Probab
ly stuff too horrible to kill so they lock it down there and throw away the key. Considering the nasty things we have on level ten and eleven, I would hate to imagine what's in twelve. It's why we have an emergency ejection system.”
Hanns raised an eyebrow. “Emergency ejection system?”
“Yeah,” Karim said, gesturing to the map. “We can eject the entire sector from Saturn City in the event of a containment breach or escape attempt. With the nasty things we keep on the lower levels, it's better to jettison the whole thing than risk contamination of the city.”
Hanns looked back to the map. He had been on level ten once to help repair some singularity technology that held in place the things imprisoned there. Each had a number and containment procedure. All of them on level ten were particularly nasty. Hanns himself was a level three prisoner, a level reserved for temporal criminals with sentences less than a lifetime. Most level three prisoners had a high chance of parole for good behavior.
Karim smiled. “Regardless, thanks for the help, Hanns. I'll put in a good word with Warden Shamira. With any luck, we can have your sentence reduced to ten years. Crashing End. At the rate you're going, I may have to give you a job.”
Hanns returned a smile. “It's no trouble at all, Karim. I enjoy working with this wonderful technology. I like to put my talent to use.”
“I don't know how you do it. I have never seen someone so naturally skilled with singularity tech. It's kind of scary actually. I am glad you are so good-natured.”
Hanns continued to smile. He was happy to find a place where his charm worked. It had allowed him to gather a lot of intelligence. In fact, he had discovered nearly all he was after, but now he needed three things. One was a way to transport all the knowledge in the Archives back with him to Germany. The second was a way to get to the Academy from here. Finally he needed to discover just how the Legion detected his attempts to change time and counter it.
∞
Hanns joined Emmerich who leaned on the pearl colored walls that surrounded the prison yard. Other prisoners strolled the yard. None had a standard prison uniform. Tartarus made everyone keep their old clothes for easy identification. Hanns had decided for both him and Emmerich to discard their arm bands. People seemed to dislike it and Hanns found it easier to make friends without the arm band. Now both he and Emmerich wore field uniforms and the cuff devices attached to their wrists and ankles which all prisoners had.
Those devices looked like a smaller shieldwatch though the design was closer to a wrist watch with a glass orb at the face. Hans had seen these devices attached to the matching pair on the other wrist or ankle like handcuffs. The guards used these when prisoners stepped out of line.
He and the other prisoners also had a small pair of devices that fit in their ears called a sonic cipher. This sonic cipher acted as a translator. Hanns hoped he would be able to take samples of all these devices back with him to Germany when he escaped.
Emmerich glowered at Hanns as usual.
Hanns smiled. “Afternoon, Emmerich.”
“Shut up, Hanns. Why are you so happy to be here?”
“I keep telling you, Emmerich. I am where I want to be right now.”
“That's good for you, but why did you have to drag me down with you?”
“I tried to talk you out of it, Emmerich. I warned you not to underestimate Silverwind.”
“Well if you are so smart, then why you are in here with me?”
Hanns sighed. “I told you already. This is exactly where I want to be.”
Emmerich opened his mouth to protest when a large holoface appeared in the center of the prison yard. All the prisoners turned to watch. Hanns and Emmerich joined the growing crowd.
“Attention all level three through six prisoners,” came a loud voice from the speakers. “The Labyrinth will be opened again within a few months. The Aeon Legion is asking for volunteers to help with its preparation and implementation. If you are interested, please notify Tartarus administration. Those who participate may receive a reduction in sentence. End of announcement.”
Hanns's eyes narrowed. “Labyrinth?”
“It's a training course for the Aeon Legion,” came a woman's voice from behind Hanns.
Hanns turned to see a woman in her mid thirties. She wore a desert camouflaged field uniform though she had no insignia or badges. Like the other prisoners a pair of shieldwatch like devices were attached to her wrists and ankles. He guessed she was from a paramilitary unit given her more casual stance. “Training course?”
Emmerich scowled after seeing the woman's face. He walked off without a word.
“Yes,” she said, folding her arms. “It's a final exam for the Aeon Legion. Basically a death trap. They have prisoners from Tartarus fill it with all kinds of nasty stuff. Monsters, traps, psychotic killers, that kind of thing. They also give prisoners the option to fight the recruits.”
“They let the prisoners attack Legion recruits? Wouldn't they lose a lot of recruits that way?”
“A lot of the first year prisoners jump at the opportunity. They think it's a good chance for revenge. Those recruits though? Bunch of hardened commandos. I don't know what they go through before that, but they are untouchable. I just watched my first year. Glad I did. Those recruits are like the Sayeret Matkal.”
“Interesting,” Hanns said in a genuine tone. He would have to ask what this Sayeret Matkal was, but he had more important questions first. “Where is the Labyrinth? I didn't see it when they brought me into Tartarus.”
“It's in another zone. Under that Academy where the Aeon Legion trains its recruits.”
Hanns nodded. “Ah. That would make sense. I take it security is heavy there?”
“Not really. Most of the prisoners they pick are the ones who have a good chance at parole or are at the end of their sentence. Most wouldn't risk escape. Even the dangerous ones have no where to escape to.”
Hanns curled a finger to his chin. His plan was coming together. Two details remained. “Thank you. What's your name?”
“Chava,” she said.
“Ah,” Hanns said, now realizing why Emmerich disliked her so much. He could see it now in her facial features. “Well thank you very much, Chava. You seem like a nice lady. Why are you here?”
“Attempted murder,” Chava said, her tone impassive. “I was part of a military unit trying to finish up what the Forgotten Guns started. There were certain... individuals we were trying track down.”
“Who?” Hanns asked.
Chava tilted her head. “So what are you two here for?”
Hanns grinned. “Two counts of attempting to remove unauthorized class two objects from time, one count of attempting to alter history, unregistered time travel, and willful disregard for the Temporal Accords.”
Chava rolled her eyes. “That would be more impressive if I were new to time travel. What are you really here for?”
“I tried to borrow a book.”
“History book right?”
Hanns sighed. “I didn't think they would notice such a small thing.”
“They tracked you using the Sybil.”
“The ones that have the strange headpieces covering their eyes?”
“They are like an oracle or prophet. They can see changes in time. If someone tries to alter time, they see it and tell the Aeon Legion. They can't track you as well in the Edge though. A lot of illegal time travelers try to operate solely in the Edge. Most of the Edge is well patrolled by the Aeon Legion's timeship fleet though so others operate in the Bleak. Something about the End of Time blinds them.”
Hanns remained quiet for a moment, trying to process this new information. He had seen a Sybil at his trial. One option for his defense was to submit to a Sybil reading. They explained that a Sybil could pour through memories to prove guilt or innocence. He had almost thought about trying it, not because it would have proved him innocent, but he wanted to see how it worked. He had decided it was too risky. It might reveal his real plan. Instead he used
a plea bargain. “That makes sense. They never moved against me until I started to alter things.”
Chava tapped her finger on her arm. “So what time are you from? I thought I might have recognized that uniform of yours.”
“Me?” Hanns said. “I am from the year 1940.”
Chava nodded to Emmerich who stood nearby. “And your friend. Is his name Emmerich Klein?”
Hanns brow knitted. “Um. Yes actually.”
Chava's fingernails dug into her arm. “From the SS right? He ran a camp?”
Hanns nodded. “SS yes. I don't think he runs a camp though. You know your German history. What time are you from?”
Chava walked away.
Hanns frowned, wondering if he had said something to offend her?
Emmerich approached Hanns. “Monstrous Jew,” he spat after Chava was out of earshot.
Hanns turned to Emmerich. “Now Emmerich, you need to get better at making friends.”
Emmerich turned to Hanns. “She's Jewish.”
Hanns sighed. He never understood why so many of his fellow countrymen hated the Jews. Hanns didn't care for Jewish culture, but hate them? A waste of energy. “Emmerich. We have more important things to concern ourselves with. Besides she didn't seem so bad to–”
Hanns fell backwards as Chava wrapped a chain around his throat. She tripped Emmerich and pinned him to the ground with her foot before turning back to Hanns and tightening the chain around his neck.
Hanns gasped for air while pulling at the chain.
“I will enjoy this you monsters!” Chava said before clinching her teeth and pulling harder. “First you, then Emmerich. Emmerich I'll kill slowly after he watches you die!”
Hanns almost passed out before the chain fell away when Karim tackled Chava. Another guard helped Hanns and Emmerich. Chava struggled against him until he touched his shieldwatch's holoface. The glass orbs of the devices at her wrists and ankles glowed before they moved to meet each other. The devices snapped her wrists and ankles together as though bound by cuffs.
Aeon Legion: Labyrinth Page 27