“Yes, you told me,” Kaylan said, starting to cry herself. “And I should have told you that in order to save me you killed your brother. I also should have told you that once I found out who he was, I tried to get your brother to bring me back to TPC so I can reunite you two. He was fine with that, but first he was going to make me watch while he killed my mother.”
“So?”
“It was my mother, Jess—”
Jessica smacked the bars in front of Kaylan with her purifier.
“You asked me about my life,” Kaylan continued. “I had a great one. Got married. I got to spend the days with my friend. Well, an older version of my friend, but it was good. This plan—to help my friends here fight the Guardians—it was always on my mind. On the day I left, the older version of you asked why I wouldn’t live out my life where I was? The answer was simple. I had to try to help my friends. I couldn’t leave you here, with them, alone.”
“I wasn’t alone,” Jessica said.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know that, did I? So if you’re going to shoot me, do it now, and aim right here.” She pounded her chest. “Because, Jess, you’re my friend until the day I die. Nothing is going to change that.”
Jessica paced around the room. Grunting, then screaming. At one point, she aimed her purifier at Kaylan.
Then she felt sick for doing so.
Finally she unlocked the cell.
“You have your forces, I have mine.” Jessica shrugged. “Doesn’t matter in the end. There are just too many lizards. We’re going to lose.”
“No, we’re not,” Kaylan said, smiling. “As it so happens, I met someone in my travels. Someone who lived on an Earth that beat back the Guardian invasion.”
Jessica looked at her, and they shared a smile.
“I have a plan,” Kaylan said.
EPILOGUE
1
I t was an embarrassment. An embarrassment and unheard of. In all the stories and legends handed down through the Slaxxian generations, no one—no race, no alliance of races, nobody—had been able to achieve the victory these humans achieved today.
Walking down a large hallway in the midsection of his starship, which was currently hovering over the colony the humans called “Denver,” Slaxxian Commander Rothvess contemplated ordering his pilot to chart a course to the western coast of this continent, where he could remove the thorn in his side. But then he remembered the report from his reconnaissance team.
Somehow, the humans were able to disable and destroy the ship Slithendor commanded.
Not to mention slaughter Slithendor—one of the finest warriors he had ever known—and a contingent of more than one hundred clutch brothers.
Rothvess shook his scaly reptile head slowly. It was inconceivable.
And now this: a report that the Mulvari were chanting something.
Typically it would not be his place to question why the Mulvari were doing that—doing anything their divine presence desired, really. But after the events of today...Rothvess’s mind flashed on what would happen if he failed to cleanse this planet of the human vermin. Nothing could be left to chance.
He approached an ornate silver door—the pure color of the Mulvari—set in a polished black wall at the end of the hallway. Rothvess whispered an ancient sacred prayer and entered the room.
The seven Mulvari blinked in and out of this moment in time inside the room. Rothvess had encountered some of the insect life when he first arrived here. “Fireflies” the humans called them. During the night cycle, these creatures could light their bodies, turn the illumination off and on at will. He was seeing a similar effect here, not so much light as simple appearance. Here, then not, here, then not...
Rothvess almost bent himself in half bowing. “Sacred Mulvari, please forgive this intrusion, but I’ve been told—”
[She is the One. The One is here. She is the One. The One is here. She is the One. The One is here.]
As one, the Mulvari turned their translucent bodies toward Rothvess. Their face antennae fluttered through the air.
[And she will set things right.]
Rothvess continued to bow and backed out of the room. His massive green-scaled body shivered. He was embarrassed.
Now he was scared.
2
The fact Kildere made it back to Denver was nothing short of a miracle, although Miss Waters’s U-Board was of immense help. The scanning feature alone enabled Kildere to stay hidden among the Guardians. After all, they were expunging masses of humanity. What’s one older man among the masses? Still, Kildere was sure they would get around to sweeping up the remnants soon enough. He didn’t have much time.
TPC had many safe houses around the Denver area, but only one room designated as TPC’s “fallout shelter.” It was where all of the board was supposed to retreat to if the leaders of Worldwide Produce Manufacturing ever got the bright idea they wanted to take over everything. The fallout shelter was underground, shielded by lead walls ten feet thick, stocked with enough provisions to last a year, and set up with a permanent U-Link to TPC’s stealth communications satellites, which he hoped the Guardians hadn’t destroyed.
The entrance to the shelter was ten blocks east of Jumpin’ Jack Flash. He made it there just past sundown, three days after he left Waters and Stern.
He punched in the code, which still worked, thank God, and descended the steps to the inner door.
Halfway down he saw light streaming out from the small triple-paned window. There shouldn’t have been any light. Did someone else from the board seek shelter here? Was it possible? Or was it just a Guardian, lying in wait to blast hope from any humans who made it down here.
The latter seemed too cruel, even for the Guardians, so Kildere kept going.
He opened the door a crack and yelled, “Thomas Kildere, TPC employee 000185. If you’re armed, please don’t shoot.”
“Of course I won’t shoot you, Kildere. Get your ass in here.”
It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.
Kildere opened the door. There, standing in front of a bank of monitors at the far wall of the room, stood Damien Thorpe.
Alive.
“How...how did you evade the Guardians when you arrived at Massadona?”
“Is that a joke, Kildere?” Thorpe sneered. “I never went to Massadona. I knew the Waters girl would give me false information. I didn’t want to die; she let me go. I came here. Come join us.”
Kildere noticed Mrs. Pembroke, a board member who was almost as tall as a Guardian and just as old as both men, sitting and drinking a protein mix.
“It’s just us three then?” Kildere asked.
Thorpe nodded. “The rest of the board members are, sadly, dead. But from small beginnings...”
Kildere took a seat. “Small beginnings? Damien, look on those screens. The Guardians are well into their Purge. They’re going to kill everyone.”
Thorpe shook his head. “My daughter and that resourceful Waters girl will make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Damien, Kaylan is lost in time. When I left Miss Waters, she was about to get blown to kingdom come. I don’t think they’re in any position to stop this.”
Thorpe smiled. “I have faith,” he said.
“OK, then even if they do, TPC is dead. There’s no going back—”
“Not back, Kildere. Forward.” Thorpe took three glasses from a shelf and poured champagne from a bottle Kildere was pretty sure wasn’t supposed to be stocked in this room.
After handing Mrs. Pembroke and Kildere each a glass, Thorpe exclaimed, “Raise your glass, my friends. TriPharmaCorp is dead. Long live the coalition.”
THIS IS THE END OF
MINUTEMEN:
PARALLEL LIVES
THE WAR FOR SURVIVAL HAS BEGUN, AND WILL CONTINUE IN BOOK FIVE, AVAILIBLE WINTER 2020:
MINUTEMEN:
THE ARMY OF KAYLAN
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OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR:
The Guardians of Time Series:
Minutemen
Minutemen: World When We Live
Minutemen: The Multiverse Bomb
The Nathanial Darkmane Series:
Lye Lake
One Fine Day (coming Summer, 2020)
Stand Alone Novels:
Lights
Chameleon
Short Story Collections:
The People You Meet
Minutemen: From Now Until Then
Collected Works:
The Guardians of Time Omnibus One
The Guardians of Time Omnibus One: Special Edition.
You can find information on all of the books above, including summaries, at: https://www.daviddanforth.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Danforth was born in Cleveland, where he spent his childhood without benefit of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or Progressive Field. But he did have a Father who read Dr. Seuss to him each night before bedtime, and a Mother who let him watch Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot every afternoon after elementary school. In the space of two years David moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, saw Star Wars, read Stephen King’s The Stand, and discovered Comic Books. David’s journey to the Dark Side was complete.
David’s website: www.daviddanforth.com
Minutemen- Parallel Lives Page 16