“H-hey, what?” She stammered sleepily.
“You know more than you told me. What do you mean you’ll die trying to get me through?” He demanded, sitting up. She smiled.
“Ingrid didn’t tell you everything then.” He waited for her to continue, and she did. “Okay. I’ve met Ingrid before. The first time she came through, all those years ago. She couldn’t resist meeting me.”
Branton sat quietly and let her go on. He started piling a list of questions in his head, some he was afraid to even know the answer to.
“I had to keep my distance this whole time, but I found it very hard considering my feelings for you. When she came back, she told me what would happen. The first time around, you don’t make it because of me. The Captain will take me and hide me or kill me, I’m not sure which. And you will spend your life hunting for me, but you’ll never find me. In that reality, the Captain wins and the world as we know it becomes a very different place, but in a worse state than we are now.” She told him.
“Ingrid… do you know who she is?” He asked her.
“I do. But please, let me finish. There’s another future where this galaxy exists and is just as perfect as she described it. The difference is, before entering the portal, you see me die. I die… to get you through the portal.”
“No, that’s not possible. There has to be another way, Sayer. There must be!” He got up and had become very angry. Sayer remained sitting down, and stared up at him. Branton tried to wrap his head around everything she was saying. There’s two possible scenarios, neither one being good enough for him.
“I won’t lose you.”
“Jaxx, there’s no other way. This thing that’s happening, it’s bigger than all of us. It’s bigger than our wants and needs. It’s for the good of all humanity, and we can’t be selfish here. Not now.” She explained. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. I couldn’t tell you last night how much I love you back, because I didn’t want to. I don’t want us to be in love. Going into this knowing it’s real… I need to be able to let this all happen the way it was intended to happen. I will never in my lifetime love someone as much as I love you, so I must make this ultimate sacrifice. For you, and for the good of mankind.”
Branton could feel his stomach knot up. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. He thought back to all the moments they’d had together. When her parents had died in a military incident, he stayed by her side while she fought through the pain. All of the times he was there for her, she was paying back to him tenfold. “No,” he thought to himself, “I won’t let this happen. She doesn’t need to know what I’m planning, but I will find a way to save her AND get the portal open”.
For now, Branton needed to let her think he was going with her plan. “I will do this. For humanity.” He assured.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she began. “You need to get Uranium and Plutonium from the lower level, and a few other things that Cap keeps locked in his chambers. By the looks of the cameras I’ve rigged up, that’s a job and a half. I’ll distract them, and do my best to stay alive in the process. I can’t die until the right time.”
Branton got angry. “How can you be so calm about this? You’re walking into your death with eyes wide open, and welcoming it!? You could have your whole life ahead of you!” So much for his plan to play it cool. Branton was even more angry than he was upset. He was desperate to find a way to save her, and resolved that he needed to be selfish right now, too. He needed her, and he was sure there was another way. Ingrid could help if only he could find her.
“Ingrid…” He murmured.
“You need to find Ingrid, she’s so critical that you can’t lose her. You need her to help you open the portal again. Find her, and you will succeed.”
“Who is she, Sayer? Tell me who she is!” He grabbed her arms and held tightly, his piercing eyes almost looking through her.
“Jaxx, she’s your daughter.”
End of Book 1
*********************
Author and Publisher’s Note: Thank you so much for reading Book 1 of this story! If you would like a sequel to this book (a Book 2), please write a review and state that you would like Book 2 to be written. We would love to proceed on with this story if there is enough interest!
Kindest Regards,
Lilly Babineau and Lormor Internet Ventures Publishing
Military / Time Travel Romance: The Stranger In Sector 27 - A Post Apocalypse Love Story (Book 1) Page 4