by Per Holbo
Chapter 14: Endgame
What neither the kids or Loki had noticed was that Freya had sneaked after them to the bridge and followed them inside just before the door closed. She had squeezed completely flat on the floor behind a console by the door and from there she had heard the entire conversation. She still did not trust Loki and was determined to expose him as the traitor, he was. By order of the Odin ..? Ha! She wasn´t going to fall for that one. Just the fact that he did not tell the kids the whole story, was proof enough of his bad character! He was to pay for his betrayal, he was, but it had to be done by the book. She needed evidence first and she just might be able to obtain them by talking to him. She had already enabled her communication device and set it to record everything that was said At the bridge for the next few hours. But she had to wait a bit. The kids had to be out of the way first. She would not risk putting their lives in danger and when Loki found out that he had been caught, she wasn´t sure what he would do. Take them hostage? Shoot them so he could escape while she was busy trying to save their lives?
So, instead of giving in to her impatience, she lay quietly and waited for the children to leave the bridge leaving her and Loki alone. As the sound of the door´s swooshing sound announced that the children were out of danger, she got to her feet. There was no reason to jump up like a jack-in-the-box as she had set the door in advance to a lock down the instant it closed behind the kids preventing him from getting away. The door could only be unlocked, if she used her personal security code.
”Right, Freya,” Loki said, turning to her, ”I do believe we have some unfinished business to take care of before Thor wakes up? Then we can get the kids off to safety.”
”The only thing we need to fix right now is to get you put behind lock and key,” she replied coldly and trembling with anger, ”you betrayed us, Loki. But even worse: you used innocent children and in your treachery you risked their lives!”
”Yes, Freya, that´s exactly my point,” he simply said, without showing any kind of emotion. As if he had just given her the recipe for a cake she liked. She was seething with rage at his indifference and fought the urge inside her to shoot him on the spot.
As Loki turned to the console she raised her rifle and pointed it directly at him. He stopped his motion for a moment and held his hands where she could see them.
”I just need to show you something from the computer,” he said, ”but you could download it yourself if it´ll make you less nervous.”
Freya´s mind worked so hard that it was almost audible. What was he up to? He was shrewd enough to lay a trap for her making the console exploding in her face as soon as she touched it. On the other hand, he might have predicted this to be her conclusion and instead laid a trap, where the console killed the one who stood by when he opened the computer? And then again, he could also have foreseen that she would think that he had foreseen it and deviced yet another trap? What should she do? Open the computer herself? Let Loki open it?
Loki made a small motion with his hands as if to say: now what?
”Have you decided?” He asked, and she could have sworn that he was laughing inside, ”who do you want to operate it?” Then he took a deep breath.
”Well, Thor did say you would most likely make this more complicated, than it has to be...”
The fact that Loki would even mention Thor, only made matters worse and her blood was boiling with anger.
”No matter, though, he deviced a brilliant solution, of course,” Loki went on and leaned slightly toward the console.
”Freya calling Thor,” he said. And before she could react Thor´s face tuned up on the big screen. He smiled and his scar on the cheek was wrinkled by age.
”Hi Freya,” he said, ”I'm sorry for all the hassle, but I don´t believe there was any other way to do this. No other way I could think of, at least. ”Freya was just about to say something when it dawned on her that it was a recording. Then she shut up and listened.
”What I am about to tell you, will be a bit difficult to comprehend,” the old Thor on the screen continued, ”but the fact is that I am now an old man and I´m speaking to you from so far away, that you no longer exist. Well, I actually don´t, to be more precise. I can only come for a visit. I´m probably not making much sense, am I? It happens quite often with old men. So before I start telling funny anecdotes from my youth, I had better explain to you what is going on, as briefly as I can. You see, a few weeks before Sif and I took the fight to the Skrymer and his glove, Loki here was ordered by Odin to change some basic codes in Alfheim´s programming making the shield break down for a split second. This was meant to put the Yetten in a position to transport Tjalfe and Roeskva onto Brimir, which was at the time inside Skrymers Glove. Don´t ask me why Odin made that decision. I simply don´t know. I have often asked him about it, but he never wants to talk about it. In any case, I managed to find a way so that I can travel in time to a degree that none of us have ever understood before. I cannot give you the details, because it will bring about such a vast number of opportunities for time paradoxes that I get headaches just thinking about it.
But whatever Odin´s reasons, none of this is Loki´s and he did not know the children would be jeopardized. In fact, he did not even know the children would be inside Fyrkat that day. He was himself taken by the Yetten and transported to Brimir, right after we rescued the children at Fyrkat and he had no way of knowing what was going to happen after that.
Knowing you, Freya, I´m sure you have a hard time buying this explanation and that you are probably ready to dismiss it as a setup using video technology to fake the recording you´re listening to right now. That´s why I´ve prepared a little something for you to prove the validity of the recording. But first, I´ll give you a little time to think.”
The recording tinted away again and Freya stared at Loki her eyes narrowed in deep wonder.
”Anyone could cheat with that recording,” she finally said.
”Yes,” Loki agreed.
Silence...
”How can I be sure it is not a fake?”
”Thor will prove it to you if you grab the envelope located in your left pocket at the thigh.”
Freya looked startled, but drove her hand slowly down to the left thigh pocket and fished out an envelope. It was an old-fashioned envelope of the type only used for messages so secret that the Aseir security would not leave the Yetten any chance to intercept them. This way they had to catch the messenger to get the information inside. She opened the envelope and pulled out a little yellow slip.
”Open it up and read,” Loki asked.
”What does it say?” She asked. She still was not sure if Loki had placed a bomb or maybe something toxic in the leaflet.
”I don´t know. I am just as curious as you are.”
”I´m record everything that happens in here right now,” she warned him, ”The system is connected to my vitals, and if anything happens to me, the recording will be sent out through the speakers and everyone aboard the ship will hear it.”
Loki nodded resignedly and took a deep breath.
”Just open it, Freya...”
Freya opened the leaflet carefully while keeping her upper body slightly bent over backwards, giving her a change to avoid being hit if suddenly something dangerous was to spray out from it. Nothing happened. Then she read the message. Surprise was painted in her eyes ... Sentence by sentence and word by word, her eyes first looked puzzled, then they seemed to ease up a bit and gradually, as she read, she relaxed more and more. Finally she reached the end and sat down on the nearest chair with the rifle hanging loosely by her side.
She shook her head confused and puzzled over and over, while Loki was getting increasingly restless.
”What does it say?” He finally asked as he was fairly sure she would no longer try to kill him on the spot.
She said nothing as she handed over the slip of paper. He took it and read the first few sentences:
Loki: ”Open it up and read,”
>
Freya: ”What does it say?”
Loki: ”What does it say?””I don´t know. I am just as curious as you are.”
Freya: ”I´m record everything that happens in here right now. The system is connected to my vitals, and if anything happens to me, the recording...”
Loki stopped reading and looked at Freya.
”Okay? This is ehm...”
”Yeah,” she said quietly, ”It's everything we've just done and said. There is a note at the bottom too. ”
Loki read the note: ”More in the envelope, located in Loki's pocket.”
He grabbed his leg and brought out an envelope identical to the first. Inside was a note with the rest of their conversation until now. Word for word it said exactly what they both had said. He handed the note to Freya, but she just shook her head.
”No, thanks,” she said, ”I'm too tired and I can´t cope with it.” She looked up at Loki and forced a smile.
”Sorry, I didn´t believe you.”
Loki smiled back.
”It's okay, Freya ... I wouldn´t have done it any different, had I been in your shoes... ”
Tired and weary Freya got up from the chair and took a deep breath.
”I´m going to bed,” she said, ”maybe we can talk about it tomorrow?”
”Sure,” nodded Loki.
When Freya was out the door, the old man´s version of Thor tuned in on the screen again.
”Sorry about all the trouble I´ve caused, my friend, but I saw no other way.”
”It´s okay, Thor,” Loki sighed, ”We´re okay. After all, that´s how war is - sometimes...”
”Yes,” said Thor, ”That is how war is... but it shouldn´t be what friendship is... ”
Loki was somewhat surprised as he noticed how the answer from the recording was so spot on, but then he remembered that the whole thing was probably based on Freya´s recording of it all. Then he remembered the question he needed to ask Thor and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Thor´s face faded away...