Black: Sometimes, not following the rules is the right thing to do … (Rule Number 3 Book 2)

by Teya Tapler

“I’ll think of something,” he patted her back reassuringly. ”It’s going to be okay.” He talked mechanically as he looked inside the dishwasher identifying what could be done. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. Where are the knives?” He got up.

  “Ple-ease, help me pull it out,” Evan started to panic.

  “Trust me. It’s going to be okay,” Zander hectically pulled out kitchen drawers and opened cabinets. It was hard to keep his voice calm. They were running out of time and all he could see were empty cracker boxes and plastic cups.

  He thought of his transcaster gun. The last time it was in his hands, he was reloading it. He was in the apartment hallway, and then he dropped it when he turned and saw that the black-hooded man had caught Evan. Zander had to forget about his gun for Emil had picked up the weapon during the sweep. Calling someone to help was not an option either - it was going to endanger more people. Zander felt his thoughts going in circles. His movements became more nervous as he wasn’t finding anything useful in the kitchen. They were running out of time. He had to help Evan get out. He wasn’t going to lose her like that. His hands kept on opening and closing drawers and doors. A few drawers later he found a butcher's knife among some plastic cutlery and picked it up.

  “Don't move!” He said and swung the knife. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the kitchen. Evan screamed and before her tears could roll down her cheeks, Zander pulled her out of the dishwasher and they ran down the stairs. He kicked the front door open and yanked Evan out of the house. Outside, he looked for Brittany who was waiting for them on the sidewalk, leaning on the neighbor's car watching the house with wide opened eyes. She was not sure if that was a dream or a reality.

  The moment Evan and Zander ran in the front yard the house exploded behind them. Flying shingles, flaming chunks of wood, pieces of broken windows and parts of the furniture headed in all directions. Evan and Zander made it to the sidewalk and Zander pulled the dazed Brittany behind one of the cars as the three of them moved at a safer distance to the other side of the street.

  “I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for what happened.” Zander started as he and Evan stepped further away from Brittany. ”I hope I have a chance to explain it to you some day.”

  The sharp pain in his left cheek reminded him that she was not ready to listen to him yet.

  “Why did you do this? Why?” Among the residual explosions, Evan shouted at him. She was about to run away crying when Zander caught her arms with both hands= and looked her in the eye. She seemed so fragile in her green pajama shorts and cropped top with blue flowers and - a dry coffee stain. Different span, about ear’s length strands of hair were falling freely around her face giving her a mischievous look. Her face was whiter than usual, her plump lips had lost color and only her dark eyes stood out in the middle of her beautiful and delicate face. She was looking furiously at him through the tears stuck on her clumped eyelashes. She was breathing heavily exhausted from the midnight fight.

  “Hey, hey, calm down, everything’s all right. Everyone’s safe and sound.” Zander started talking quietly loosening his grip and turning it into a hug. She slowly surrendered and put her head on his chest. Her breathing normalized. She closed her eyes then all of a sudden tried to push Zander and run back into the house.

  “Andy’s still there. We have to go back for him. We have to save Andy.” Evan started to shout.

  “Sh-sh! He's safe. Don't worry.” Zander whispered strengthening his hug to keep her with him. He pushed his back against the wall and they both sat down on the sidewalk. Windows began opening as people woke up from the explosion, police and firemen were called and soon arrived. The street was becoming busier than it had ever been.

  Everyone was looking at the place where the two-story house stood before. Embers burned scattered in the area that used to be the front and back yard. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the explosion site. No one paid attention to the two people hugging each other behind the cars on the other side of the street.

  “Did you do it?” Evan asked quietly remembering the explosion of the small cape in Hamptonville.

  “No.” Zander whispered.

  “Those black-hooded men, did they do that? Where did they come from?” Evan said softly. She had started to tremble as her adrenaline levels decreased.

  “They were after, Andy.” Zander whispered. ”You know, you shouldn't talk to anyone about that.”

  “I know,” Evan faced him, ”what's a reader maker?”

  “Promise me. Don't talk about that to anyone, ple-ease.” Zander held her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I don't want anything bad to happen to you.”

  “I promise, if you tell me about that reader maker.” Evan said stubbornly.

  “You promise?” Zander whispered.

  “If you tell me first,” Evan said softly and tilted her head.

  “Oh, okay.” Zander sighed and started talking quietly. ”On one of our missions, Andy took it from them. They never stopped looking for him. I, we thought he'd be safe here until he recovered completely. No one expected them to find him. Here it is. Now you know. Now promise me.”

  “I -” Evan started.

  “Excuse me? Do you live here?” A policeman interrupted them.

  “Ye-yes.” Evan looked to her left and got up taking the policeman’s hand.

  “I might have a few questions for you. Are you all right?” The policeman said.

  “Ye-yes, I am.” Evan said and looked towards Zander. He was gone.

  She put her hand on the big blue bead she was wearing.

  I promise not to tell anyone about what happened here tonight. She swore in her thoughts.

  “Do you know if everyone else could be in there? Have you seen Mr. Woodsworth. Your neighbors said he was wheelchair bound.” The policeman asked her.

  “I don't know. I haven't seen Andy, Mr. Woodswort today.” She said. ”I remember smelling gas and pulling Brittany out of her bed. Everything happened so fast.”

  Tears showed in her eyes. The reality of seeing Zander again and then losing him so quickly dawned over her. There wasn’t enough time and they didn't talk much... They didn't even kiss. He came and left. It was as if he was never there.

  Chapter 10

  In 2424 the Anaconda team was waiting for Emil’s return. His mission was to return to the past, infiltrate the 906 Inquisitors gang and bring back any relevant materials that could help destroy the pearls. It was a desperate, and pretty much a suicidal endeavor. The time travelers never went on a retrieval mission alone but after the scientists declared their inability to destroy the pearls, Field had reluctantly approved the idea. That was followed by Peter spending several days researching the historical files to come up with a cover story for Emil, believable and impactful enough from a criminal point of view. They had chased criminals many times before, but they’ve never presented themselves as such. Emil was going to have, for a lack of better words, a very interesting experience.

  That morning he had dressed up according to the time he was going to visit and had transcated himself in the past. Zander, Peter and Mary had come to the newly created scientific department in the Galactic Committee Headquarters, where Emil was expected to bring back his findings in a few hours. Professor Brianna Wilderness, head scientist of the department had greeted them in the reception area and had lead them to the transcaster room where a colorful group of politicians and scientists had started to gather.

  Zander looked around. The room they were in was two stories high and had a perfect round shape. The lower level, where he was, had three doors and no windows. The doors led to an adjacent control room, to a small closet with spare parts and to the outside corridor. A powerful transcaster was located in the middle of the room. It looked like a huge, one layer, round cake covered with white frosting. Only the control lights encircling the base and the matching group on the ceiling indicated what the device was.

  Five scientists were hovering around the transcaster. Wearing unbuttoned, lon
g, white lab coats they were calibrating the device and hypothesizing about the materials Emil was expected to obtain. Zander wondered why such an outfit would be needed when there were no chemicals or dirt around the computer hive in the small room and the transcaster was away from them. In a strange way, the scientists reminded him of professor Shtuttgart. The visibly absent minded professor of archeology, who had discovered the five pearls in 2003, without the help of any sophisticated instruments or devices. His elder daughter, Evan … Zander closed his eyes and sighed quietly. His life was becoming more complicated every day. Last year, before the pearl retrieval mission, he was only worried about his father, the reader maker locket and the fact that he was the one who missed the 906 Inquisitors leader. Since then he had added the thoughts for Evan. Actually, she was at the top of his list. Everything that was happening around Zander had started to remind him of her. He realized that she had never been to the 25th century, that she had never been into the Galactic Committee building, or into their team base, and yet, he couldn’t take her out of his mind. The very fact, that they were about to destroy the pearls today, had jump started his day with thought about her. The aroma of the morning coffee, Mary’s quick and loud chatter at the breakfast table and the calm tone of Emil’s voice when he was explaining the rationale behind the lonely mission he had to embark on, for an unknown reason reminded Zander of Evan.

  He combed his hair with two hands and closed his eyes for a long second. With the hope to push all those thoughts away and focus on the present he started browsing around the room, trying to find something, anything, that would anchor him there, in the present. His eyes moved from the scientists back to the transcaster and then continued to the left. There was nothing else in that room. There were no tables, no chairs. Following the plan to stay focused on the present he tried to remember if there were any chairs in the corridor or the adjacent rooms he visited that morning. He remembered entering the building, going down five floors with the green elevator, entering a reception area with a smiling clerk behind a glass desk. There were chairs in that reception area where they met with Brianna, Zander remembered, half a mile down the corridor.

  In need for more distraction Zander looked at Peter and Mary. They were sitting quietly on the floor, just like him, leaning against the wall. Zander’s friends were wearing their usual dark colored clothes. Mary had chosen dark green cargo pants and dark brown T-shirt while Peter was wearing all black like Zander.

  Zander’s eyes moved up the wall ahead of him. The politicians were behind the protective windows at the upper level of the room. They looked agitated; their lips were moving quickly and they gestured a lot. All dressed up in suits or formal outfits customary for their positions and ranks, they were either lobbying or debating something. They were clean and neat in their crisp, pressed shirts and carefully dry cleaned expensive outfits.

  The three groups of people were not only dressed differently, they usually were acting differently during their daily activities too; the scientists would analyze and test before they did anything full scale and life size; the politicians never did anything full scale, they would just talk about it forever; while the Anaconda team almost never had enough time to think or prepare but had to act and do everything full scale and life size. Just like last week when they had to pull his father, the reader maker locket and … Evan from the house in Cambridge. Zander’s experiment to trick his mind not to think about Evan failed once more.

  “Emil’s back!” A voice came from the corridor and soon Emil himself entered through the door. He looked exhausted, as if he had just finished the Eastern City Annual Marathon. His face had a worried and sad expression but his eyes were glowing. He must have brought back something really valuable.

  The scientists, politicians and the members of the Anaconda team greeted him with smiles and a big question in their eyes. Without letting them speak, he pulled a medium size red notebook from the inside pocket of his red jacket and gave it to professor Wilderness. Brianna nodded in approval and quickly assembled her team to read, analyze and discuss the finding. Her hair bounced gently as she walked gracefully to the other room.

  Emil tossed the red winter jacket on the floor and his red pullover soon followed it.

  “You can change in here.” Mary pushed him into the adjacent closet. “You are making the politicians uncomfortable.” She said shoving a pair of black cotton clothes in his hands. As soon as he entered the closet she closed the door behind him. That was followed by a loud rumble and a not so quiet swears.

  “Oh, forgot the light. Sorry! “Mary smiled silly at the door, as if Emil was standing in front of her, and flipped the switch at the right.

  Zander and Peter came to her.

  “The white coats are already analyzing the content of that notebook,” Zander said, “I over’eard them saying something about the people most emotionally connected with the pearls and those who have last been in contact with them.”

  “If this turned out to be the Shtuttgarts, we might have to participate in the arrangement.” Mary said quickly.

  “Analyzing anything takes time,” Peter said, ”on the other hand talking is easy. It is too easy for some people,” he nodded towards the politicians. ”I’ve been reading their lips for a while. They’ve been worrying since we came here this morning. Initially they didn’t believe that Emil’s single person undercover mission will succeed and now they are debating the quality of the information. The usual talking for hours about whether they’d even consider doing anything.”

  The click of a door being closed made the three of them look towards the sound. Emil’s face looked a little bit relaxed. He seemed to be recovering quickly, feeling comfortable, back in his own clothes.

  “The notebook’s the one Mort carried with him all the time.” Emil said. ”I got it after the third use of the pearls, when all the details were written down. The scientists are right. The person most emotionally connected with the pearls, before each use, has to be the one who positions them the next time. I overheard a conversation between Zull and Ranshen about that.”

  Bringing Ranshen’s name made the Anaconda team shiver. He was the leader of the 906 Inquisitors, the elder brother, Ranshen Mort. He and his younger brother, Zull Mort, had invented the pearls of destruction many cycles ago. Traveling through time and space had made the Anaconda team experience many awkward moments like that one. From Emil’s point of view, that conversation had taken place no later than a few months ago. For his teammates though, Ranshen Mort was dead and Zull Mort was in the prison with a broken left wrist. To an inexperienced time traveler or to an outsider those conversations sounded unrealistic. For that team, they were part of their regular day.

  “We need your help one more time,“ the velvety voice of professor Wilderness interrupted their conversation. Her hazel eyes were not focused on anyone in particular. She had simply scanned the team. It meant that they all were needed. “You’re the last people to touch these pearls hence the once most emotionally connected with them, relative to the rest of us here.“ She continued calmly as before, “As you have already guessed this requires that you’re the ones to position them for annihilation.”

  Everyone took a pearl and put it on the transcaster. The annihilation procedure was going to be a combination of the pearls’ power and the transcaster technology. The pearls were to be activated and when their power array started to sweep the room, they were to be transcasted over and over to the same time and space location where and when their array had been activated.

  There were five pearls and only four Anaconda team members. The fifth pearl was still in its crate.

  “You’ve to position that one,” Emil looked at Zander. “The touch and the emotions can transition from one person to another and you were the last one to say good bye to the Shtuttgarts.”

  In Zander’s thoughts Evan’s sad eyes looked at him and he couldn’t easily toss that memory away. It was the worst time to stroll down memory lane. He had to force himsel
f to focus on the present once more. What could he do? How could he hide the fact that he was thinking about her, again?

  Zander smiled sheepishly and took the pearl out with bare hands. He looked at professor Wilderness and asked her, “When’ll the pearls activate?”

  “We’ll wait for all of you to go to a safe location before we drop the initiation rod,” she replied.

  Zander walked slowly, pearl in hands, and looked around. The politicians upstairs had their faces stuck on the protective glass; the scientists were fiddling with the settings in the adjacent control room; his team members were waiting in front of the exit door. Everyone was looking at him. Everyone was waiting for him … just like when they transcasted from the Shtuttgarts basement.

  He reached the transcaster and saw the four pearls arranged like a cross. He turned to professor Wilderness and shouted, “How d’you want me to position the last one?”

  From the control’s room she gestured him that the fifth pearl has to be positioned vertically in the middle, on top of the other four.

  “Right in the middle,” she replied watching his every move. ”That’s great! Thank you guys, you can now all go upstairs.” She added and one of her team closed the control room door.

  As Zander walked towards the rest of the Anaconda team he heard a sizzling sound behind his back and turned facing the pearls. All five pearls glowed and the intensity of the light became brighter and brighter. The color changed from red, through yellow, green, blue and purple, and then went back to red through blue, green and yellow. Before anything could have been done a bright ray of white light came from between the four pearls, beneath the fifth one Zander had just placed there, and hit him in the chest. The ray reflected back, hit the pile and disappeared between the now dark pearls. The glow stopped as Zander fell on the floor and hit his head.

  The politicians crammed closer to the protective glass upstairs and started making frantic phone calls to the scientific team in the control room, who was busy trying to identify what went wrong.