The Door (Part Two)

by Lizzy Ford

  “Assuming the removal of the machines did not wipe out the knowledge needed to populate our planets,” Teyan said.

  “Which was the biggest obstacle, even before Nidiani decided to break the rules of the Discovery,” Hiko said. “If we destroy the machines, we wipe out the need for human survivors to find new planets to live on and quite possibly, prevent the Five Peoples and other planets from ever existing.”

  “The Nidiani have further complicated matters by kidnapping all the Caretakers. There’s no chance of the knowledge being passed down if the Caretakers and their Council have all been removed from your planet,” Teyan said grimly. “There is no one to warn humanity of what comes and to ensure our planets are populated.”

  It was a lot to take in, more so when I barely had a grip on the portal system let alone this level of advanced science. That there was a door connecting the past and future, and these people were far flung children of my planet … Something else clicked for me.

  “You’re saying I’ve been dead for a million years,” I voiced hoarsely, gazing up at Teyan. “And you knew this all along.”

  “I did,” he said.

  My heart felt like it was breaking. “My people are about to be slaughtered by machines, and you said nothing, Teyan,” I said. “What happened to there being no secrets between us?” My eyes were watering despite the gel covers, this time from emotion.

  “Gianna, I –” He reached out to touch me.

  I moved away. “So you what? Decided to have a fling with someone you were going to watch die?” I snapped, too angry and hurt to care if I hurt him, too.

  “I searched for you for ten years, Gianna. You are not a fling,” he whispered. “It is not just your people on the brink of extinction. At the Discovery, we were sworn to secrecy, to protecting your people while also protecting ours.”

  “Then why are you here? Why do you care about the Caretakers, about me, when we’re all dead already?” Hot tears were on my face. “I’m already … dead!” Whirling away, unable to accept the idea I’d been dead a million years already, I stumbled and then walked away.

  “Gianna –”

  “Leave me alone!” I snapped and began marching in the direction we were headed.

  “Let her go, Tili,” Hiko said gruffly from behind me.

  I yanked my cloak up over my head and hugged myself, crying too hard to see but not caring if more robots came to get me. My mom, her family, everyone I’d ever known – they were not only gone, but likely wiped out during our lifetimes by machines.

  How could any of the visitors believe concealing this secret to be wise? How could they come to my time and planet, knowing we were all going to die, and not tell us?

  And Teyan? What was he thinking in wanting anything to do with me, when he, too, knew I’d be dead when I returned to my time? We weren’t just from two different planets; we were born a million years apart!

  His words, and the picture they created in my head, horrified me on a level I didn’t think possible. Seven billion lives … and all of them doomed.

  It was unbearable – and absolutely beyond my ability to imagine.

  But it wasn’t just this. I hurt for a different reason. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a vise.

  There was never a chance for Teyan and me. It wasn’t just his deception. No matter how I’d been drawn to him from the moment we met, I was fated to die in a war on my planet a million years before he was born.

  My stomach twisted, and I gasped aloud, suffering as much from knowing Teyan and I were never meant to be as from the idea everyone I loved would soon be dead.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Everyone left me alone, except for Tomtom, who felt my pain and stayed at my side. I walked blindly towards the melted, deserted cities without registering the heat, my surroundings or even if anyone followed. I didn’t care. All I could think about was saving my mom and then wondering how I was going to look at her knowing we were headed to our own deaths once we returned home. I had never experienced a full-blown existential crisis, but I was going through one now. Nothing I did here mattered, and I had nothing to look forward to.

  Tomtom nudged me occasionally, guiding me around the next, smaller city we crossed. I didn’t resist his guidance and plodded on.

  Gradually, my shock wore off, and my emotions slid into numbness. Hot and thirsty, I didn’t yet feel able to face any of the men with me and waited for the suns to set.

  We had passed three cities and one little town, all destroyed, when the suns finally relented and sank towards the horizon. My mouth was dry, and I was light headed and hungry. Of everything in my mind, I kept returning to Teyan and how betrayed I felt. This was worse than physical pain. I wanted to leave him here, now, forever and simultaneously yearned to be in his arms.

  I had never thought I would love anyone in my life after the incident, but I began to believe I loved him. In some way, falling for him followed the pattern of absolute misery my life had taken when my father died.

  I was so angry, so hurt, and yet, whenever I looked back on all he had done, I wanted to cry. Teyan didn’t have to be here with me, didn’t have to put his life in danger. He did it for me.

  But why couldn’t he have told me the truth?

  “Gianna,” Hiko called sometime later.

  Blinking out of my dazed thoughts, I realized the suns had set. The orange glow on the horizon was all that remained of daylight. I turned and saw the others had stopped and were making camp. I avoided looking at Teyan and retreated towards them, pausing far enough away that I didn’t have to talk to anyone. Only then did I remove my backpack and pull out my water canteens. I drank one of them completely and sighed.

  “If you leave your canteens in the moonlight, they’ll refill.” Teyan’s voice was tight and quiet. He moved to stand near me.

  I nodded without looking up and set them both out. Feeling his gaze, I dug my hands into Tomtom’s fur and tried to focus on not crying.

  Teyan moved away, trailed by his cat. Only when I was certain he was gone did I twist to watch him stride in the direction we were headed. He angled his walk towards the side of the dune range and soon disappeared out of sight.

  My heart jolted in my chest at the thought I would never see him again. For a moment, I debated running after him. What would I say if I did? How did I reconcile what I loved about him with what was causing me pain?

  “He’s taking the first watch tonight,” Hiko said.

  My gaze lingered in the direction Teyan had gone. He had his cat, and the beasts seemed to be experts at killing robots. He would also have a shield or two, I imagined. He was probably safer than the rest of us.

  “Hungry?” Hiko asked.

  I released a breath and nodded, crossing to the small fire his injured soldier had started.

  They passed out what appeared to be flat bread but tasted like meat. I shared mine with Tomtom and then sat and gazed into the fire.

  The able bodied Bikitomani warrior ate and then trotted in the direction we had come, disappearing behind the dune to stand guard. The wounded soldier moved away and stretched out on his back.

  “You have a right to be upset,” Hiko said quietly.

  I glanced up from the flames. His features were drawn.

  “At one point, when the Five Peoples were a coalition, we were working on a plan to undo what the monsters had done,” he continued. “War strained our efforts, as did so many winds of adversity. But we did have a plan.”

  “What was it?” My voice was scratchy after a day in the hot sun without speaking.

  “The Caretakers were going to help us prevent the worst from happening and help us find the portal that might take us to our own distant past to ensure we existed, after we stopped the war on your planet.” He shook his head. “Basically, we wanted to disrupt the time loop, if it does indeed exist. By stopping the monsters from being created, or if that wasn’t possible, stopping them from passing into your world, we’d do that, in theory.” />
  “How do you know for sure my planet has to be destroyed for your people to exist?” I demanded in some frustration.

  “We don’t, but the oral legends from each culture tell of how a war caused their ancestors to flee to new worlds.”

  It did seem to go hand in hand. “It’s not right that either my planet survives or yours do,” I whispered. “There has to be some other way.”

  “We thought the same,” he agreed. “Portals are unpredictable. Those leading from our time to yours have been open for an unusually long period of time. The Five Peoples have records of portals being open off and on, for differing amounts of times, for a million years. In no one’s history has a portal been this stable for this long.”

  I rested my chin on my knee. “This is your one chance to save your worlds.”

  “We believe so,” Hiko said firmly. “But perhaps, we should have given your people the benefit of entrusting you to help.” He was quiet for a moment. “It takes one person doing something different at the right place and time to change a time loop. Unfortunately, we don’t know what that entails.”

  “One person can never make a difference,” I murmured, thoughts on my disaster of a life.

  “For all we know, that decision has already been made, and the time loop will not become a self-fulfilling prophecy this time.”

  I shook my head, exhausted by the mess. I couldn’t help thinking, if I were the person meant to make a difference, I’d probably be the one who caused the time loop to continue happening.

  “That person would have to know they’re special, wouldn’t they?” I asked.

  “Not necessarily.”

  It definitely wasn’t me.

  “Do not blame the Tili warrior for keeping this secret,” Hiko’s voice softened.

  It wasn’t just him hiding a secret that bothered me. It was the idea we never had a chance to be together and how much I wished we did. How could there be no future for us when I was already dead in his time? How did I let myself believe we had a chance at anything, when there was so much stacked against us?

  “Were you serious when you said sometimes a Caretaker falls in love with one of the Five Peoples?” I whispered.

  “It happens more often than you would think,” Hiko said, amused.

  “But how does that work? If we’re a million years apart, where do they live?”

  “It depends on the couple. Some stay on your planet. Some choose to go to one of ours.”

  Teyan’s people needed him too much for him to come with me. The idea of spending my lifetime on Tili sent my head spinning. What about my mom? Our family? Modern conveniences I kind of liked?

  I was dead anyway in this time. I couldn’t get over this fact.

  “So there are fifty doors in my time and they all lead to this … time,” I said, needing to refocus my mind.

  “Yes. Fifty portals that leave you vulnerable at fifty points to the monsters, if they should find out they exist.”

  Exhausted after the long day, I settled onto my stomach beside Tomtom.

  My mind went to Jiod. “The Nidiani. What are they doing? I know you said trying to establish peace, but is there more?”

  “None of us really know that either,” he admitted. “Their official claim was that they opened peace negotiations with the monsters.”

  One of my instincts tingled at this, but I was too tired to understand it. My eyelids were growing heavy, and in all honesty, I didn’t really care to fight sleep. At least if I were asleep, I wouldn’t have to suffer beneath the weight of knowing my planet’s demise was likely to occur soon.

  “Get some rest,” Hiko said. “We will likely have a long day tomorrow. If you have any notion of ending your lover’s spat, it’d be helpful. I need the Tili focused on doing what Tili do best – killing their enemies.”

  I rolled onto my back, ignoring him. It was warm enough I didn’t think I’d need my sleeping bag, so I used it as a pillow and then shifted closer to Tomtom.

  The sky was as clear as it had been in Arizona. I gazed at the stars without knowing anything about the constellations but wishing I did, so I could appreciate how different they were from those of my world.

  Fifty portals. Jiod. Caretakers. One million years.

  Teyan.

  My mind was exhausted from trying to understand everything I’d learned and my emotions drained. It wasn’t the first time I had the feeling I was missing something. I experienced the sense when I spoke to Carey, and I did again now.

  “Then was I meant to lock the door?” I asked sleepily. “If this is a time loop?”

  “It’s possible you were destined to, yes,” Hiko answered. “It’s possible locking the portals at the right moment, the very second the monsters intended to invade your planet or ours, would break the loop. Or it’s possible we’ve tried that every other time and failed.”

  My dread grew at these words. “Is it possible me locking the door caused all this horrible stuff to happen?” I whispered.

  “Anything is possible, Caretaker,” he said. “What we have struggled to determine is which possibility is the key to breaking the time loop, which action or decision or choice or moment must be changed this time around.”

  “That could be anything.”

  “Exactly. It could. With Nidiani no longer focused on trying to break the loop, our coalition disintegrated, and our people and resources taxed by war, we don’t have the ability to determine what the key is.” His voice was quiet.

  Warmth trickled through me. This time, it wasn’t anger or frustration but understanding.

  I was facing the fact my planet was going to be destroyed, and so was the man seated across the fire from me. We may have been born a million years apart, but our existences, and potential annihilations, were linked.

  I fell asleep trying to figure out how, when I found my mom, I was going to tell her any of this.

  Sometime later, Tomtom’s roar jarred me out of dreamless slumber. I sat up before my eyes were able to make out what was happening. The sound of metal on metal came from behind me. I twisted to see what was happening.

  Moonlight made the sand glow. More of the weird robots were attacking from the direction the Bikitomani soldier had gone. Tomtom tackled one, while the two Bikitomani warriors fought another. Hiko ran forward and dropped to his knees, then smashed the defensive shield against his sword and ducked his head.

  The pulse of electricity was as much of a shock from this distance as it had been up close yesterday. A visible wave causing a ripple in the air swept by me, sending my hair into the air as it did.

  The three robots collapsed in place.

  My heart hammering, I gathered up the two canteens and shoved them into my backpack.

  “Tili!” Hiko bellowed. “Come on, Caretaker. We have to go!” Without waiting for me to stand on my own, he snatched my arm and hauled me up then stuffed my bag into my chest. He returned to gather his belongings.

  I fumbled to pull on my backpack then began running, without thinking, towards the direction Teyan had gone. The sound of fighting came from his direction, too. Any anger I had melted away when I thought of Teyan in danger. Sensing my worry, Tomtom loped ahead.

  A flicker of moonlight off metal from my right drew my glance. I didn’t have time to change direction before something hard smashed into my midsection and drove me to the ground. I rolled and panicked at the looming tower of metal scales standing over me.

  Tomtom! I cried internally.

  The robot’s tail had smacked into me. It snaked around my midsection, squeezing painfully, and yanked me off the ground. I reached for the defensive shield at my waist before recalling Hiko had it. I stared at the metal figure dragging me towards it and shoved at the cold, smooth metal around my stomach.

  When it hauled me close enough, I interlaced my hands and smashed them into its face, hoping to reach the human beneath the scales. The monster took a step back – and then squeezed hard enough for me to cry out. Two more raced from a va
lley to join it.

  “Gianna!” Teyan’s shout was accompanied by his sword smashing through the tail.

  I dropped to the ground.

  Teyan moved between us, and I struggled out of the monsters lifeless grip, eyes flying from my predicament to Teyan’s. I could hear the cats fighting off others but was too afraid of my own danger to look. Teyan’s swords whirled and flashed in the moonlight as he fought the three attackers at once. His movement was as unnatural as their shape shifting, and I watched, stunned by the inhuman battle going on before me.

  The monsters contorted and twisted as they attempted to counter Teyan’s incredible skill. His strikes were combined with agility and the occasional blue flash when the tip of his swords unleashed some kind of blast that drove back whichever attacker it hit.

  “Caretaker!” Hiko shouted from somewhere beyond the battle.

  A familiar baton sailed through the air over the four before me and landed a short distance away. Prying the last of the metal scales from me, I scrambled to my feet and ran for the defensive shield device. Stumbling back towards Teyan, I was temporarily mesmerized once more watching him but quickly pulled myself out of it.

  Going as near as I dared without fear of the fluid battle shifting too close to me, I dropped onto my knees and smashed the blue end of the baton into the sand as hard as I could.

  The wave of energy shoved me back and made my ears ring as it blasted past me. Seconds later, the three robots dropped to the ground. Breathless, I shook my head to clear it and shivered as the last of the energy released its hold on my hair.