Connor nodded. “As long as she follows orders.”
Ben snorted. “You realize this is Liv we’re talking about, right? She can recite the whole protocol manual word for word.”
“Right.” Connor smiled. “Then I won’t worry.”
“I think I’m done too.” Jordan stood and followed Liv.
He knocked on her office door and let himself in when there was no answer. Liv sat at her desk, staring at nothing.
“You okay?” Jordan asked.
“Oh yeah, totally fine.” Liv’s voice was jagged, higher pitched than normal.
Jordan went to the desk and sat down on the corner of it, facing her. “You got him, you know. Woolfe is dead.”
She sighed. “No he isn’t. I thought he was, but here he is again. Doing the same things again. I shouldn’t have been caught off-guard by this. I should have realized that most worlds would have a Woolfe. I mean, since I found out about Travel, I’ve thought of the worlds as the multiverse, not just our single Home World, you know?”
Jordan nodded. He did know. Becoming a Traveler radically altered your worldview. He secretly envied Liv; she’d had Ben to help her through that alienating transformation of reality. When Jordan had turned ten and suddenly found himself in some other world for the first time, he’d gone through it alone. He hadn’t known any other Travelers, and while his parents were good people, they would have had him drooling in a straightjacket after multiple shock treatments if he’d mentioned the places he went or the things he saw. Maybe that’s why he’d got on so well with the Muruwari: they believed in mystical things as a matter of everyday life.
Liv said, “It’s just so much worse that he’s from Hell. I thought the Wolf was the worst thing out there, but this one’s got to be ten times worse than ours was.”
Jordan put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. “Liv.” He stopped, looking for the right words. She looked up at him, her eyes pools of melting chocolate, and the expression on her face made him want to cradle her forever against any harm. He settled for kissing the top of her head. “Maybe you think he has some sort of connection to you after what happened here, but remember, this guy doesn’t know you from Eve. He’s somebody else. None of that happened in his life.”
“I know. But it helps to hear it from someone other than me. Thanks.”
“Anytime.” He held her a little longer, trying to be content with what she was willing to give. He could be patient. When she sat up again, he reluctantly stood, gave her a smile that she returned, and silently left.
* * *
Liv didn’t realize until after he left that she hadn’t once thought of anything that had happened last night while Jordan was here. He’d just been her friend Jordan, the guy who always made her feel better. Safe.
She wanted to think that it would be different, that this could actually work. He’s not Nathan. But all she could think was how much it would hurt to lose him when it finally ended.
Because he wasn’t Nathan. He wasn’t an asshole pretending to be a great guy who would eventually revert to a woman-hating asshole.
Jordan was in reality what Nathan had only convincingly pretended to be.
She wanted to stop while there was still time to get out clean, but she wondered if it was already too late. Certainly, for her it was. But maybe there was a chance Jordan would let her walk away. They could still be what they had been to each other and there would be no more complications.
She would just have to forget that there had been something more and go back to being his friend and partner. It was better than losing him altogether, right?
Right?
She sighed. She’d tell him tonight.
Her phone rang. “Greenwood.”
“Hey Liv.” It was Jordan. “We’re needed in the briefing to learn how to be King’s Advisors.”
“Right. I’ll be there in a second.”
She’d tell him tomorrow. They needed to get through this mission first, surely. She stood up and subconsciously straightened her spine. On a personal level, she’d just avoid him as much as possible. Professionally, she had to go see him right now.
She tried to ignore the lightness that brought to her heart, but she couldn’t ignore her feelings or shove them down into the dark the way she had before last night. Jordan had broken something loose inside of her, it seemed.
Well, fix it.
She would. She’d fix all of it. Tomorrow.
She locked her office behind her and headed to the briefing, a slight bounce in her step despite all she could do to stop it.
Wednesday. Previously explored allied parallel world, DEPOT designation X-1763Z, codename Trench World, corresponding California.
Chapter 17
Liv materialized between Ben and Jordan, the rest of the team loosely clustered around them. They took stock of their surroundings—First Rule of Travel—and found that they were right on target, standing on the dew-soaked berm of a cobblestone road leading into King’s City.
Trent peered at his locator map and pointed left. “This way.”
They followed him directly to the palace. They greeted the first few travelers they met, but abandoned such niceties as the deserted road became more crowded. As they neared the center of the city, they were forced to weave through the crush of early morning traffic: pedestrians, horses, and all manner of carts and buggies pulled by oxen, horses, mules, and donkeys. Despite the difficulty of finding a path through the throng, Liv tried to admire the old-world European architecture and elaborately carved stone buildings.
It was better than looking at Jordan, who walked next to her, apparently completely at ease. Although she tried to stop herself from thinking about him, she couldn’t stop the ache in her stomach. Her anxiety over what she would say to Jordan was compounded by the fact that today she might see the Wolf for the first time since she’d watched his execution. Her stomach flopped wretchedly before she could force the thought away.
Connor halted them at the palace’s wrought iron gates and gave fast instructions.
“Ben, Gin, there’s your rooftop.” He pointed to the building to the right. “Study your angles. We all saw the blueprints; you know the layout. Make sure you have sightlines to the meeting chamber, the hallways outside of it, and at least one of you have a lock on the main entrance as well.”
Ben and Gin both nodded.
“Liv, you and Jordan will report to the Head of State to get instructions. You’ll be minor diplomats, scientific experts, which shouldn’t be too hard. Keep your ears open.”
“Roger,” Jordan said.
Liv’s stomach was now trying to do backflips into her throat.
“Trent and I will be right behind you. We’ll report to the Head of Security for bodyguard detail. If anyone gets into trouble, try to radio alert, two clicks only. Don’t speak, for God’s sake. If you can’t alert, get the hell out. Liv and Jordan, one click, Ben and Gin, three clicks, every fifteen minutes except when we’re within earshot of demons. Clear?”
“Clear.”
Liv watched Gin and Ben trot to the tall building flanking the palace grounds, each assembling a sniper rifle made specially for Travel. A normal rifle was too big to Travel, but this one broke down into small pieces that could be taken along. Because they had to stow all of the parts, they couldn’t carry as much standard gear and weapons, but Liv felt better knowing backup would be covering them every second through a sniper scope while they were mingling with demons.
And the Wolf.
Liv turned away from Ben and Gin and followed the others to the entrance hall of the palace. At the end of a hallway marked by incomprehensible signs—Trench Worlders spoke English, but used a different alphabet—Jordan pointed Connor and Trent right, and signaled Liv to follow him left.
They picked up their advisor’s robes, threw them over their clothes and weapons, and joined the other advisors in the hallway. Liv tried to swallow the swooping nausea and stared out the window for any si
gn of arriving demons.
* * *
Jordan stood next to Liv, watching the crowd milling in the grand entrance foyer. She was unusually on edge. Obviously, she was afraid the Wolf would show up today. He was a little apprehensive as well; this was something he couldn’t protect her from.
A collective gasp went up from outside the huge double doors that stood open to the outside. Liv went rigid next to him. Moments later, a group of about twenty demons stalked into the palace, led by a wide-eyed aide who was nearly running to keep ahead of their gigantic strides.
The smell of rotting meat flooded the building like a herald, and Jordan swallowed his gorge. Next to him, he saw Liv do the same. However, as the group passed them by without a glance, she relaxed.
No Woolfe.
They followed the rest of the crowd up a wide plushly carpeted staircase to a slightly smaller but still richly furnished hall.
Several of the demons followed the aide through the door into the meeting hall. Jordan and Liv pressed back against the wall as the King’s retinue, which included Connor and Trent as honor guard, filed past.
Benches lined a few of the walls, and Jordan and Liv sat, squashed in with many of the other Advisors. The demons milled in the center of the hallway, wings too broad to allow them near the walls.
Two demons stopped in front of them. Jordan stared fixedly at their backs, concentrating on their words while being extremely careful to appear not to listen. He was pretty sure they were paying no attention to the humans in their midst, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
“Woolfe promised,” one said to the other in their squealing-grunting bastardized version of Latin. “If we close this deal, we go after the DEPOT.”
Jordan touched Liv’s wrist in warning, making it look like an absent gesture, and continued to stare out the window. She didn’t understand the language, but she’d tensed at the word ‘DEPOT.’ He felt her relax back into a bored slump and felt a surge of pride. He didn’t know anyone stronger or more able.
“They’re just humans,” the other said. “Is it even worth it?”
“Their world has technology he wants. Of course, we have a presence there already, but without the DEPOT’s interference, we won’t have to skulk and hide anymore. And I want payback. One of those hairless monkeys shot Kilon’s eye out. It didn’t regenerate.”
“Who’s Kilon?”
“My whelp-mate.”
“Why doesn’t he get his own payback?”
The demon made a weird gesture like a snake swaying its head. “He won’t go near them again. Doesn’t want to lose the other eye.”
Both demons laughed, nails-on-a-chalkboard squeals.
* * *
Hours later, the demons had fallen silent, standing around like rotting gargoyles. Jordan raised his head when the meeting room doors finally opened and six demons trooped out. The demons in the hallway fell into line behind them, marching down the stairs and out of sight. Jordan went to a window to watch as they swarmed out of the Palace and dissolved out of the world.
Jordan returned to Liv as the king entered the hall, surrounded by a few advisors including Trent and Connor. The king paused when he reached Jordan and Liv. He looked exhausted.
“Thank you for being here,” he said to Connor. “I could hardly have sat in the room with them did I not know you were at my back.”
Connor waved a hand. “It helped us too. We have new information. Hopefully, there’s a way to stop this.”
“I hope so too, for I may as well have just signed my people into slavery.”
Jordan said, “You did what you had to do to keep them safe.”
The king looked unconvinced.
Connor gave them the signal to move out, and Jordan and Liv followed him out of the palace. At the gates, they met Ben and Gin, who had presumably seen them leaving the palace through their sniper scopes.
“What’s the word?” Ben asked as they left the city’s cobbled streets and walked into the dirt roads and relative open of the surrounding country.
“We’ll tell you when we get back,” Connor said.
“Fair enough.”
“Then we’ll tell you what we have when we get back,” Gin said.
Liv gave her a skeptical look, but Jordan knew she wasn’t bluffing. What could they have heard on an isolated rooftop that Connor and Trent or Jordan and Liv hadn’t?
Connor answered, “Fair enough. Home World on mark.”
Jordan exhaled, reached for the space between worlds, and dissolved.
Chapter 18
“What?” General Mace looked stunned.
They sat in the debriefing room an hour after they’d returned from Trench World, and Jordan had just recounted the conversation he’d overheard in the hallway.
Gin said, “An independent source corroborates it.”
Liv turned to her. It was about time they finally heard her secret information.
“Up on the roof. I saw two kids, obviously Home Worlders. They were wearing Discount Mart jeans,” she explained when General Mace sent her a questioning look. “They said they’d seen demons in Blue Beach. They heard the demons say that they were going to take down the king’s resistance and then the Wolf was going to let them have a chance at the DEPOT world. The only king they knew of was in Trench World, so they went there to watch for the demons to arrive.”
“Is there any chance they didn’t mean this world?” the general asked.
Liv sat up. “There are several other worlds with organizations like ours, but I’ve never heard another called DEPOT.”
She looked to Trent for corroboration. “There’s a PWDF, a TTF, and a POTA. No other DEPOT that I know of,” Trent confirmed.
“Actually, I think we can be sure it’s us they mean,” Jordan said. “I doubt there’s another world with Travel teams that keep encountering the demons, or fighting with them. They want us to keep our interfering noses out of their business, so they’re coming after us. They actually said some of them were already here.”
“If they’re here,” General Mace said, “where are they? We’ve had no reports of demons.”
Liv said, “They’re obviously keeping a low profile. Somewhere underground, or remote.”
“Lots of places to hide,” Trent added.
“They’d have to be working with someone here,” Connor said. “They can’t steal technology without someone telling them how it works and how to make it for themselves.”
“Yeah, but who?” Trent asked.
Ben said, “Who wouldn’t help an eight-foot-tall bat-winged demon when it showed up demanding support?”
General Mace turned to Jordan. “Could they manufacture our technology?”
“I think they already are,” Jordan said.
“Blue Beach,” Trent agreed. “They used explosives there. They’ve stolen from other worlds too.”
“Yeah,” Liv said. “Directly, in the case of Demon Rift. They may have artificially advanced far beyond their manufacturing capabilities.”
Connor’s expression was grim. “After hearing the ‘negotiations’ today, I’m inclined to think the demons are on the war-path. That wasn’t a negotiation so much as a contract to enter into medieval serfdom. Trench Worlders are now their slaves, and Trench World belongs to the demons.”
“Woolfe is expanding his domain.” Trent scowled at the table.
General Mace turned to Connor. “What would you suggest, Commander?”
“I suggest we take the fight to them. It’s only a matter of time before they come after us. The longer we wait, the more technology they’ll have to use against us. We’re still more advanced, but for how much longer?”
“Demons are invincible,” the general argued. “It would be suicide.”
“Then consider this,” Connor said. “Vicious aliens appear on the streets of New York City in the middle of crowds of civilians commuting to work. They kill some, maim others, and threaten total destruction if we don’t give them what they want. C
ivilians find out that we covered up the Travel program, the existence of demons, and their plan to invade Home World. The President will be lucky to escape a lynching.”
General Mace rested his fierce gaze on each of them in turn. “And your sacrificing your lives won’t change that.”
“Sir,” Ben argued, “we only need to take out Woolfe.”
“He’s behind the push for demon exploration,” Connor said.
“Push is exactly right.” General Mace turned to Liv. “Does your device work?”
Liv tried not to growl as she answered. Her earlier failures still rankled. “No sir. But I haven’t had time to integrate the data from our most recent encounter with Elachai. I think those scans may be key.”
General Mace nodded. “If you can get the machine working, and prove that it works on demons, you can go to Hell.”
Ben laughed at the general’s choice of words. “Awesome.”
“Is there anything else?” General Mace asked.
There wasn’t.
“Dismissed.”
Liv sighed. “I guess I’d better get to work.”
* * *
Liv went to work. She barricaded herself in her office, wracking her brain, going over their test results again and again, trying to fit the pieces together to get her machine to replicate what Elachai was doing.
The problem was, she needed a tremendous amount of energy focused very specifically on a certain function in the brain. And she somehow needed to code the weapon for the kind of command she was giving.
That wouldn’t be too hard, she supposed. She could just set some kind of dial on the side to target a specific function.
But how did the machine focus only on those cells performing that function at that time? Cells and functions in the brain were diffuse, spread out, and cells performed multiple functions and worked in parallel. There was no cell that worked exclusively at one function, and there wasn’t a way to differentiate them in the first place. She’d have to get it to recognize a particular mix of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides used or produced in only those functions.
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