Lost Time (The Bridge Sequence Book Two)

by Nathan Hystad

  Hunter finished his drink. Tomorrow, he was going to meet Rex Walker and his young apprentice outside of Brian Hardy’s apartment and set it all in motion. The Bridge would be his. Hunter Madison was going to save humanity from the clutches of his own race.

  6

  This dream didn’t dissolve as the one the night before had. Hunter… He was sending me a message from the past. I was sure of it.

  “And he used the names Zalt and Rodax?” Dirk trudged on, hiking the slight incline. We’d made great distance over the last couple days, and I thought we might be there nearly a full day ahead of schedule. Clayton and Dirk must have taken their time the first go around.

  “That’s what he thought. It was so bizarre.” I closed my eyes, feeling what it was like to be in Hunter’s skin. I sensed his pain from the cancer, the drowsiness of the alcohol mixing with the volatile medication.

  “This is a good thing,” Veronica said.

  “How so?” It was already hot, and my back was sweating through my shirt where the pack sat against the clothing.

  “It sounds like the Zalt are the Unknowns, doesn’t it?”

  Dirk and I nodded.

  “They’re coming to Earth, and if Hunter was working with someone named Mezpa, that means there are cracks in their foundation. The Zalt are at odds with one another. If a faction has veered off, trying to stop the invasion, we have a chance to breach them. To turn the tides in our favor.” Veronica smiled despite the terrible odds.

  “How do we achieve that?” Dirk wiped his brow, taking a sip of water as he searched for a path over the pile of rocks.

  “Hunter wanted to come here. To bring help. Well, we’re going to do just that. Maybe these Rodax will know what we’re dealing with.” Veronica took the lead, testing a boulder, and she disappeared down the far side.

  The final destination was five miles from here. The peaks were dark with tree cover, and I used my hand as a visor as I watched the clouds roll against the mountain backdrop.

  Dirk picked up his pace. “We have to hurry. If Hunter linked to you last night, things are moving ahead. He’s trying to make you understand.”

  “Why me?” The fact that the man was dead, and he’d still sent me a communication sent shivers down my spine.

  “Because you have the gift. Apparently, I did too. I bet there are a lot of people on Earth this very moment experiencing similar dream walks, but they have no idea what it means. Most will disregard them and continue on with their days,” Dirk said.

  We finally passed the barrier, and the ground leveled off, making the next couple of miles much easier to navigate. We continually ascended toward the target, and my legs burned with effort after the sun had begun lowering.

  “If we push it, we’ll make it before it’s too dark.” Dirk set the tempo, moving faster. I could tell he was exhausted, but he tried not to show it. Veronica wore a scowl as we traversed the last stretch. We were behind Dirk, and slowing. He was a man on a mission.

  “Look.” Veronica stared at the sky, and I saw the birds. It was difficult to judge wingspan from the ground, but they were bigger than anything I’d ever seen in person. One of them circled, screeching a warning.

  “It’s easy to forget we’re not on Earth,” I said. I’d even grown used to the odd scent and the slight variation from our gravity.

  “Hard to believe we can even breathe the air. There’s a lot we don’t understand.” She puffed out her cheeks and let it go. “Next time, can we bring a helicopter?”

  “Sure, we’ll do that.” We were stopped, mesmerized by the bird’s flight pattern through the sky. It vanished into the clouds before its head poked through, once again becoming visible. “We’ll have the answers soon.”

  Veronica smiled as she observed the dancing creature. “All I ever wanted was to find my father. I thought I could distract myself with speed and adrenaline-inducing adventures, but it always came back to wanting to solve my father’s mystery. I feel like doing this is my duty as his daughter. Someone broke into his mind and killed him. That’s what they did. And I want revenge.”

  “Revenge isn’t a good motivation,” I tried to tell her.

  “But have you ever heard of a better reason to fight?”

  “How about survival? Need?” I smirked, taking a risk despite the fact that Dirk was only a short distance ahead. “Love?”

  “Stop that.” She let go, walking away.

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  I jogged after her, my legs protesting the movement. “Veronica... All we’ve been through together? What’s the matter with—”

  “I can’t watch someone else die!” The last word echoed down the valley, and Dirk stopped ahead, turning to face in our direction. He was out of earshot.

  And I finally understood. “I won’t leave you.”

  “He did, and then my mom made me leave home, and I’ve never let anyone in. I can’t afford to, not when our future is so dire,” she explained.

  “When I look at you, I see a funny, charming, adventurously beautiful woman. I’m unsure what we have, but it’s real, and I’m not giving up on it. Not even for some damned alien invasion.”

  She laughed at this, her smile giving me strength. “You’re a real piece of work, Rex Walker.”

  “I know.” We started to walk forward, neither of us wanting to discuss our relationship. It was part of our story, and we had to accept it. We weren’t in control any longer. I’d chanced the word love, and she’d come around eventually. I was sure of it.

  The sun was setting when we crested the final incline, and Dirk waited at the edge of the summit, hands on his hips like a superhero appraising a job well done. “It took us three days to find it before. You should have seen us. We were so filthy and tired.”

  I patted my sweaty chest. “You mean like this?”

  “Its location is a lot easier when you know where to look.”

  The opening to the cavern was a hundred yards away, and suddenly, I didn’t want to enter. “What if we were wrong, and there’s no one there? Or worse, they aren’t willing to help?”

  “That’s the burden we must bear.” Dirk went first, and I reached into my pocket, pulling the seventh Token free. It had taken a lot of work to obtain and had cost Saul his life.

  Dirk dropped his pack and took a gun from it, jamming it through his belt. He took a couple of protein bars and stuck them into his pants pockets. “Just in case.”

  “Sure. Let’s show up at another alien world with guns and bland food. What can go wrong?” Veronica asked, but she did the same thing, tossing her hoodie on.

  I shook out my jacket and threw it over my warm shoulders. It was already cooling as the sun hid behind the giant peak beside us. “This is for our people back home.” I remembered my dream of Jessica, and hoped Marcus was safe with Beverly, Edith, and Carson.

  We entered the cavern opening individually, with me in the front. The second Bridge. I saw the drawing of the sun etched into the wall, and noted the other symbols carved around the cavern.

  The Token was heavy in my palm, and I carried it to the podium. A layer of moss had grown over, but Dirk was already working on removing it. Beneath the layer of green vegetation sat a round, metallic slot.

  “Is everyone ready?” I asked, and Veronica and Dirk both nodded in unison. “Here goes nothing.”

  I dropped the Token, not wanting to give us a second chance to rethink things.

  For a moment, I didn’t think anything was going to happen. Then it all exploded in light.

  ____________

  I blinked rapidly and pressed my ears with my fingers, attempting to stop the ringing. “Veronica? Dad?”

  “Over here.” Veronica spoke, but I couldn’t find her. I was blind.

  “Can you see?”

  “No.”

  I bumped into a wall and stayed put. The scent of Rimia was gone, replaced by something different. Metal, maybe. “Don’t move.” My vision began to return,
and I closed my eyes tightly, trying to relax. When I opened them, I saw the rough outline of a figure on the floor. I knelt at it, finding Dirk unconscious on the white shiny tile. He appeared to be breathing.

  He inhaled a burst of air and sat up, eyes wide. “Where…”

  “Your sight will come back.” Veronica helped me assist him to his feet, and we took stock of the room. My vision was fuzzy but constantly improving. Veronica was the first to notice that the barrier across from us was really a window.

  I walked over, but my eyes still burned. A few minutes passed before I made out the shape of the planet below.

  “We’re in space,” Veronica whispered. All three of us huddled near the window, watching the world like it might evaporate if we looked away. It was orange-hued, perhaps desert-covered, with no visible signs of water.

  “It’s a space station.” Dirk jabbed a finger at the corner of the window, toward a side section of the pod we sat in. It connected to a hub, with a hundred or so other appendages jutting out and forming the rough shape of a sphere.

  The entire structure was silver-gray, and from here, it appeared like the rest of the pods were dark, uninhabited. “We’re alone. There’s no one here.” Dirk’s shoulders slumped and he fell to the ground, sitting against the window, not willing to look at the planet beyond.

  Veronica leaned on the wall, cheeks flushed with anger. “They’re gone too.”

  I was devastated. All the years, all the work, only to find our deliverance was once again thwarted. None of us spoke for some time. I was too worried that I might break the spell.

  I had kept standing and felt a resurgence of hope as a light blinked into existence near the planet’s surface. It grew larger. “There’s someone coming.”

  It took the vessel ten minutes to arrive, darting quickly between the atmosphere and the space station residing within. The ship was encompassed in a bright light, and when it dimmed, I saw it was sleekly elongated and light gray in color. It moved toward the sphere of pods, and I lost sight of it momentarily until it settled near the central hub of the station we were attached to. I began to understand how large the structure was when the ship landed, sticking to the hub’s hull. The newly arrived vessel was about a quarter of the length of the docking bar.

  The light faded.

  “Do you think these are the Rodax?” Veronica asked me quietly.

  With my vision fully returned, I surveyed the pod. It was bigger than I’d initially thought. As I walked over to a door slab, it slid open. Motion sensor. Another room was there, with six bunks sunken into the walls. They were each made with unspoiled white sheets. The tile gleamed brightly, and when I stepped in, my boot squeaked. I felt too dirty to enter, but did so out of curiosity. The wall on my left held a window, showcasing the planet.

  “These rooms. What if they’re all Bridge entrances?” Dirk was looking up through the clear ceiling. Another pod faced us from about twenty yards away.

  His comment took a moment to sink in. “That would mean…”

  Veronica finished my thought. “There are at least a hundred worlds with access to the Rodax.”

  We didn’t have to wait long to contemplate the vastness of the comment. Each arm of the sphere station had an attachment near the hub, and ours began to glow as it slid in our direction.

  I considered bringing my gun out, but if these beings meant us harm, there was nothing we could do to retaliate. They held all the cards. I glanced at the first room, wondering if it was possible to return to Rimia before they entered the pod, but that would defeat our entire purpose for making this trek.

  We stood in the bunk room, nervously anticipating the incoming hosts. I shifted on my feet, finding it impossible to stand still. The trolley slid across the arm slower than I would have liked. I wanted to know if they could help us or not.

  I’d spent my whole life studying ancient cultures on Earth, hoping to catch a glimpse of our inception and maybe where we were heading, but this was far from that scope. Alien worlds. Advanced technology, including teleportation. Space travel. Astral projection. There were so many things we didn’t understand, but perhaps that would change today.

  The entire pod shook gently as the newcomers arrived, their transport clicking to the exterior wall. We couldn’t quite see them from here, and they approached the final door across from us. I didn’t dare move. I barely breathed as we waited for them.

  Dirk clenched his fists and opened them to keep the blood pumping. Veronica had gone pale, her dyed hair a stark contrast. I was simultaneously scared and eager. Worried yet excited.

  Light cascaded under the door, and my stomach lurched inside me. Before anyone entered, a voice carried through speakers in the walls.

  “Do not fear us,” it said in English. “We are here for you.”

  Dirk and I glanced at one another, and the door spread open.

  7

  They entered the pod, standing proud.

  Somehow I managed to muster the courage to speak. “We need your help.”

  There were three of them, and they resembled humans. “We know, Children.” The front one was male, his speech low and precise. “We’ve been expecting you for some time.”

  They walked closer, and I found myself striding to meet them in the middle. They stood over six and a half feet tall, with finer features, longer earlobes, larger eyes, broader noses. But they could have been a distant relation to us.

  “My name’s Rex. Rexford Walker.” I put a hand to my chest. “This is Veronica Jones, and Dirk Walker.” I indicated my accomplices. Veronica was beside me, holding on to my arm.

  “I am Gren. These are Lewen and Baska.” The other two nodded politely. Lewen was a woman with striking lavender eyes, and Baska was thicker, a dark-skinned male.

  “You said you’ve been expecting us?” I asked.

  Gren spoke for them. He looked relaxed but a glint of excitement exuded from his expression. “We’re always expecting our Children. You see, we lay the seeds, and eventually, they come home.”

  “This isn’t our home,” Dirk said sourly. “We need your help on Earth.”

  “What is it? Star dying? Civil war? Asteroid?” Baska asked, his voice deep.

  “We’re under attack. We think they’re called the Zalt,” I told them, and everything changed.

  “The Zalt?” Lewen asked, her calm demeanor gone. Her brows furrowed as she nervously glanced at her companions. “Are you certain?”

  “They’re coming to Earth in their ships as we speak. We have precious few days before they attack,” Dirk said. “I was on Rimia for years, trying to return home. But you never came.”

  “Yes, Rimia.” Gren smiled as if remembering a fond memory. “We evacuated ages ago.”

  “So you didn’t leave the Wanderers?” Dirk asked.

  “Who? They must have been our Children. The Zalt found out about the world, and we helped the race before their arrival. You must understand, there is a structure of the galaxy. The Zalt are not easily defeated.” Gren clenched his jaw, his thin lips losing their smile.

  “We came here to seek your assistance. Earth is doomed if you don’t come with us,” I told them.

  “You are already home. We can show you—”

  Dirk moved fast and grabbed Gren by the jumpsuit collar. He dragged our host back, leaving the other two dumbfounded. “You will not convince us to ignore what is happening on our planet.”

  Gren remained calm, and Dirk was flung from him without so much as a twitch of Gren’s finger. My dad held his temples like his head was going to explode.

  “Stop it!” I ran to him, and his breathing eased.

  Gren straightened his clothing. “You would do well to keep your hands to yourself, Child.”

  “How can you speak our language?” Veronica asked, cutting the tension building in the pod.

  Gren grinned at the comment. “We read it from inside you.”

  “You read our minds?” I helped Dirk to his feet and stayed between my dad an
d the being across the room.

  “That’s correct.”

  “Are you going to help us?” Veronica asked. “If you can read my thoughts, then you know what’s happening. You can see how time is of the essence.”

  “You will come with us. We will discuss the course of action.” Gren turned, appearing to speak to his friends without moving his lips.

  “Go with you? Where?” I followed their gaze toward the planet. “We’re in a bit of a rush. We urgently need to return. Someone’s waiting for us near the Bridge.”

  “Do not fret, Child. You will understand soon enough. Come.” Lewen’s voice was soothing, and she was the first to exit the pod, heading for the transport.

  “What do we do?” Veronica whispered.

  “We go with them,” I said hesitantly.

  Dirk walked after them. “It’s our only option.”

  The next room was a smaller space, and they waited until we were all inside before closing the doors. The walls had screens with unfamiliar symbols rolling across them, and Gren stared at one, sections of the text glowing as if he’d used a highlighter. Air hissed into the space. A decontamination chamber, maybe?

  The far exit door opened, and Gren waited for us to enter the transport first. It was white inside, with soft lights reflecting from the shiny surfaces. There were no benches, so we all stood, cramped. It reminded me of a gondola ride to the top of a mountain when I was a kid. We’d walked around the top of the peak, eating lunch outside at the restaurant afterward, and I’d been so excited to view the world from a different perspective. I never thought I’d live to see an entirely new planet. The feeling was disturbing, like a disruption to the senses. I was full of trepidation and fear, but hope was trickling in among the earlier emotions.

  I could smell us, a mixture of smoke and body odor after our trek through Rimia. We were dirty, our hair messy, our clothing soiled. They must have thought we were animals.

  The transport began running down the appendage of the sphere station, sliding for the central hub where their spacecraft awaited us.