Timeless (The Cartographer Book 3)

by Craig Gaydas

  “Now you are just patronizing me,” I snapped.

  Grillick's expression hardened. “I am not here to guide you through life like some kind of life coach. You will need to make your own decisions and live your own life.”

  I felt a little embarrassed by my outburst. Grillick wasn't my father and I should not have treated him as such. I should have realized The Timeless would move on after this war was over. It wasn't as if they had a personal interest in running the Consortium or anything. They just wanted to maintain balance in the universe.

  “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, but the stress of everything is testing my limits.” I moved toward the door. “Shouldn't we be joining Sam or something? I want to be there when he returns so I can…,” I tossed Grillick a sour look before continuing, “you know…so I'm there at the end of the battle, when nothing of importance is going on.”

  “Humans are one of the most frustrating species in the universe to deal with,” he grumbled. “When you get to Caelum, be sure you wield your banner of exasperation on behalf of your kind.”

  I smiled despite everything that had just transpired. “Thanks Grandpa, I will be sure to do that.”

  A smile poked out from the edge of his beard. “Come on, let's go.”

  *

  I noticed we had landed on the same field as last time, not far from Quark Mountain. That was not the name for the mountains, but the true name was totally unpronounceable so I just made something up. Urlan, leader of the Quark, stood near the landing area with a small contingency ready to greet us. The cargo bay was crowded with Mortem, twenty of his soldiers, Sam, Ibune, Grillick and Embeth. The smell inside the room reminded me of rotting cabbage. With the exception of Mortem, the others kept their distance from his minions. I looked on with horror when I noticed Bella standing in the corner. With the exception of her red eyes and the gaping wound in her chest, she appeared almost…alive. Mortem smiled when he observed my revulsion.

  We exited the cargo bay where I noticed Urlan and his people standing further from the landing area than what would be considered a normal reception. I knew the Quark were distrustful of technology, but they had been aboard our ships before and should have been used to seeing them. That was when I noticed several of them looking suspiciously toward a circular object floating in the middle of the nearby field. The circle was filled with a shimmering light which looked eerily like water. It was as if someone turned a pool sideways and left it floating in midair. The waves ebbed and flowed in such a way it was almost hypnotic. The longer I stared at it, the more I found myself mesmerized by it. Sam came up to me with an almost apologetic look on his face.

  “Sorry Nathan, I heard the news,” Sam said as he struggled with a grenade belt, which hung loosely across his chest. “I will be back as soon as I can to get you.”

  I frowned and motioned toward the belt. “Is that really necessary?”

  Sam fastened it and shrugged. “I like to err on the side of caution. We have a scout ship in GX-100 monitoring the situation on the ground on Caelum. So far, everything seems to be normal, but we won't know until we get boots on the ground what the actual situation is.”

  I cast a sideways glance at Mortem's army. “Good luck with that.”

  Sam glanced over at them and curled his lips into a humorless smile. “They aren't the prettiest bunch, but they will be effective.”

  “Let's hope.”

  Sam chuckled. “Yeah right,” he replied before turning his attention toward Mortem. “Ok, this is how we are going to do this. We will link up by holding hands and daisy chain our way through. I will go in first, followed by Ibune then Embeth and Mortem. This way Mortem will lead his people through, because frankly, I won't touch any of them with a forty foot cattle prod.” He looked at each of them. “Are you ready?”

  They all nodded their affirmation and linked hands. Mortem's soldiers did so in such a slow and lethargic way that I questioned if they would be effective in battle until I remembered the way they handled themselves. They would be fine.

  Embeth was armed with a rifle strapped across his chest and several frag grenades. Ibune had something resembling golden brass knuckles strapped to her waist. Mortem carried an odd staff, with a pumpkin-shaped object at the tip, that dangled loosely by a slim chain, which glowed with an eerie orange light. He placed it into a harness on his back before grabbing the hand of one of his soldiers.

  “This has to be the world's worst conga line,” I remarked.

  Sam chuckled and stuck up two fingers in a V gesture. “Peace out man!” After pushing a button on the Oculus, he looked back at us one last time. “I will be back as soon as I can.”

  With those words, he stepped through the shimmering water circle, followed by his conga line of followers. Once the last of Mortem's minions shambled through the portal, everything fell quiet. Urlan and his people remained cautiously away from the circle, for fear it might suck them through into the nethervoid. Urlan's steely gaze was fixed to the circle as if he prepared to flee from it at any minute.

  Cantrell and Hiro emerged from the ship and wandered over to where Grillick and I stood. They were both armed for battle and carried their helmets under their arms. Hiro stood next to us, as Cantrell moved toward the watery portal and examined it.

  “Interesting,” he grumbled.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He turned to me before donning his helmet. “If we are gonna go with you, I'd at least like to know more about this wormhole thing of yours.” He grabbed the helmet with both hands and adjusted it so it fit snugly. “The last thing I need is to come out the other side and my head is where my ass used to be, or vice versa.”

  “Sometimes I wonder if that isn't already the case,” remarked Hiro. “Have you heard some of the crap that comes out of your mouth?”

  “You just shut your hole,” Cantrell snapped. “You're lucky I even agreed to bring you in on this little expedition.”

  “Oh yeah, I'm lucky.” Hiro rolled his eyes and shoved his helmet on.

  “Wait a minute, what are you two babbling about?” I asked.

  “Oh Sam didn't tell you?” Cantrell commented sarcastically. “When he comes back to pick you up, we are tagging along as your personal bodyguards.”

  “I don't need any bodyguards. I can take care of myself.”

  Cantrell shrugged. “Maybe you can, maybe you can't. It doesn't matter though 'cuz we are still coming along.”

  Before I could respond, a loud humming came from the portal. It was as if the largest bee in the universe was trying to shove its way through. Urlan and his men took to the sky in an effort to get further away from it. Cantrell jumped back and grabbed his rifle, while Hiro grabbed his, and took a defensive stance beside him.

  “Oh my,” Grillick squeaked as a shadow emerged within the watery portal. Something or someone was about to step through.

  My hand fell to the butt of my weapon. I breathed a sigh of relief when Sam stepped through. He tripped on his way out and fell to the ground, out of breath, with a harried expression on his face and my relief vanished. I rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. As he dusted himself off, I saw the blood on his face.

  His cheeks flushed a deep scarlet as he struggled to catch his breath. For a moment, my concern was in the fact he would start hyperventilating at any moment. “Sam, are you okay?”

  He waved me off. “Ambush…,” he said and sucked in a breath. “Calypso was waiting for us.”

  “That's impossible,” blurted Cantrell. “How the hell did he know?”

  “What is the situation?” Grillick asked, his face a grim mask of concern.

  “The situation is this: Get your shit and get ready, we are going now,” Sam growled. “Even though they were waiting, they were not expecting Mortem's forces. Ibune and Embeth have taken the lead and are holding them off for now.”

  “What the hell are the four of us gonna do when we get there?” Cantrell scoffed. “Maybe, if we are lucky, they will
slip and fall on our blood, breaking their heads open in the process.”

  “Let's go,” I grumbled. “There is no sense sitting here whining about it.” I grabbed Sam's hand with my left and held out my right.

  Cantrell laughed. “Well, it seems you finally grew some balls.” He grabbed my hand and Hiro's. “Let's go before I change my mind.”

  Sam was still struggling to catch his breath. I nudged him. “Are you sure you will be alright? You look as pale as a ghost.”

  He nodded. “Don't worry I'm not going to throw up on your boots or anything. Wormhole travel takes a lot out of a person.” He stepped up to the portal and looked back at us. “You guys ready?” He waited for everyone to acknowledge before continuing. “Okay, on the count of three we are going through. No matter what happens, do not let go until your feet touch the ground.”

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  We stepped through the portal. The first sensation that came to me was as if a giant vacuum was trying to suck my face right off the skull. All my breath was sucked from me and the only thing I could see or feel was Sam's hand. Nothing, but complete blackness surrounded us, like I stepped into the darkest recess of hell itself. Neither a speck of light nor a whisper of sound could be heard. I tried to turn my head to see if Hiro and Cantrell were still behind me, but found it extremely difficult to turn my head. The moisture in my eyes dried and it felt like I had contacts made of sandpaper pasted to my eyeballs. I closed them and screamed, but no sound came from my mouth. Before my sanity snapped like a rotten twig, I landed violently on solid ground. As I attempted to stand, Cantrell and Hiro bowled me over and we went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

  Sam hauled me to my feet seconds before several bullets ricocheted off the ground next to me. “LET'S GO!” He shouted.

  I could barely gather my thoughts before I found myself following Sam with Cantrell and Hiro hot on our heels. All around us was a scene straight out of a war movie. Mortem's forces were locked in melee combat with Calypso's forces. I caught a glimpse of Varooq, with a curved glaive in his hands, chop the head off of one of the minions. To my revulsion, the minion continued fighting for about a minute before dropping to the ground in a heap.

  Sam landed us about three hundred yards from the main courtyard of the Akropolis. Zytran loomed before the door like Smaug guarding a wealth of treasure. As we cautiously passed it by, I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized the statue remained inactive. I just hoped it remained inactive long enough for us to complete our mission.

  Several corpses lay near the front entrance. Most of them were Calypso's forces, some were Mortem's. Mortem was nowhere to be seen, but Ibune was nearby, fumbling at a control panel next to the main doors. We rushed over to her.

  “What are you doing?” Sam asked.

  “Trying to get this damn door open,” she hissed through clenched teeth. The panel hung from the wall with several wires protruding from it, like a spilled plate of spaghetti. She was poking and prodding each wire with an object that looked like a microphone.

  Cantrell cocked his rifle and pointed it at the door. “We ain't got that kind of time.”

  She looked up with a horrified look on her face. “NO!”

  He fired before she could stop him. The bullet bounced off the door like it was made of rubber. I felt a breeze near my right ear and it wasn't until the bullet fragment struck the statue behind us, that I realized it almost hit me.

  “What the hell?” he blurted.

  “Do…not…do…that…again,” Ibune uttered each word individually, generously laced with venom. She turned her attention to the gutted control panel.

  “How did it do that?” I asked.

  “The door is protected by an energy field,” she explained. “I thought that would have been obvious since I was working on the control panel rather than bashing the door down.” She cast an angry glare toward Cantrell.

  Cantrell shrugged. “Sorry.”

  She passed the microphone-looking thing over the wires one final time before shoving it into a bag she had strapped to her back. She removed a long, slender blade from an ankle holster and held it up to a dull gray wire. “According to the scans, this should be the one,” she muttered.

  With a flick of her wrist, she severed the wire, which caused a loud thud from the door, as if someone dropped a heavy book on the other side. She stood up and removed one of the brass knuckles from her waistband. As soon as she slipped her fingers through the loops, a curved blade of blue energy shot out from both sides, giving the weapon a shape similar to a crescent moon.

  She tapped the end of the blade against the door several times. “It appears we are good to go.” She grabbed the handle and flung open the door.

  Ibune removed the other brass knuckle from her waistband and stood in the doorway with her two crescent-moon shaped blades lighting the darkened hall.

  Cantrell slid in formation beside me with his weapon trained on the doorway. Hiro moved beside him. Sam stopped me before I stepped forward.

  “We are badly outnumbered. I am going to go back through the wormhole and see if I can bring back some reinforcements.”

  “You better hurry then,” Cantrell grumbled. “We are gonna go from 'badly outnumbered' to 'laughable' any minute now.”

  “Who's laughing?” Hiro asked sourly as Sam ran toward the wormhole.

  “It won't be us unless we get to Calypso fast,” complained Cantrell.

  As we stepped into the hall, we froze when the lights overhead switched on. After several tense moments passed, we realized it was simply motion controlled sensors that caused them to go on. The lights reflected off the walls and ceiling, which gave us a good view of our surroundings. The halls were painted in a way that made it seem like we were underneath a giant Persian rug. A kaleidoscope of colors formed into various moon and star shapes, bathing the walls and ceiling in their elegance. Golden columns, adorned with symbols, lined the right and left sides of the massive hallway. As I approached one of the columns, my jaw fell open when I got a closer look at one of the symbols. An ankh. I couldn't believe my eyes. There was more to the history of the Consortium than Calypso had told me and I found myself questioning the history of mankind. I passed my hand over it and admired the smoothness of the texture and its icy touch.

  “Hey, you can sightsee later!” shouted Cantrell. He motioned me forward with the barrel of his rifle.

  We moved through the halls slowly and cautiously. Ibune took the lead and held both of her crescent blades in front of her body in a defensive posture. Cantrell and Hiro swept the area behind the columns, ensuring no assassins hid in the shadows. Several smaller halls broke off near the end of the main corridor and at the end, stood a large metal door emblazoned with the image of a large feline with fire coming from its head.

  “What in the world is that?” I asked, pointing at the door.

  “The main chamber,” Ibune whispered. “Behind that door lies the throne of the High Prince.” She turned to me with an icy stare. “Within, lies the heart of the Consortium.”

  “I don't like this,” remarked Hiro. “No guards? No defenses of any kind?”

  Ibune stopped, tapped her blades together and furrowed her brow. She appeared deep in thought, perhaps pondering the implication of Hiro's words. Where were all the defenses? It was a stark contrast to the forces that met us outside these walls. Did Calypso underestimate us, believing we had no chance of entering the Akropolis, or was there something more ominous lying in wait for us?

  “I don't like this either,” agreed Cantrell. “I don't spook easily, but I hate to admit…this is a bit concerning.”

  For a long time, Ibune said nothing. She simply stared at the door, tapping her damned blades together. On the annoyance scale, the sound they made ranked somewhere between nails on a chalkboard and a screaming banshee. Eventually, she stopped tapping and approached the door cautiously.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” asked an alarmed Cantrell />
  “Going inside, what does it look like I'm doing?” she snapped.

  What is her deal? She seemed a bit too eager and lacked caution. This whole thing had been a trap to start with. Forces waited for us upon our arrival, Zytran remained oddly quiet, and we had little trouble entering the main control center for the entire Consortium. My internal alarm system was going off like fireworks. I feared an army waited for us on the other side.

  My fears proved unfounded when Ibune opened the door to an empty throne room. The room itself held no furnishings of any kind, with the exception of six bronze-inlaid stairs and a golden throne. On each side of the throne were golden statues of giant cats, similar to panthers, with jaws wide and paws outstretched. A long, rectangular pane of stained glass overlooked the rear of the throne. The light, which wafted through the window, created a rainbow of colors to fall upon the back of the throne. A single blood-red carpet led down the stairs, all the way to the door. The carpet had been adorned with the same symbols that marked the columns in the hall. Ibune whirled around and addressed Cantrell and Hiro.

  “You two stand guard outside and make sure no one comes in behind us. Nathan and I will search in here.”

  Cantrell nodded and stepped outside with Hiro. Ibune closed the door behind them.

  “Why are you closing the door?” I asked. “I'd prefer it open to see if any enemies approached.”

  “Extra precaution,” she explained. “If soldiers do come bursting into the hall, I would like to buy us a little time to forge an escape route, don't you agree?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I agreed, although I hated leaving Hiro and Cantrell exposed and vulnerable out there.

  “It is good to see you again,” a voice called from the shadows.

  I swept the room with my weapon. Ibune lifted her weapons defensively and her head swiveled back and forth as she scanned the room.

  Calypso stepped from the shadows and approached the throne with a broad smile plastered to his face. “I knew you would come.”

  I stepped forward with my finger lightly caressing the trigger. “It's over Calypso.”