Authors: S D Taylor
Gaby gave her answer by putting her hand on Peter’s neck and pulling his face to hers for a long kiss.
Erin kept discussing fishing with Dara, but she caught sight of her two fellow prisoners kissing. “I am on my own” she thought to herself. “I am the only one of us who wants to escape and return to where we came from.”
The boat was being controlled by a virtual harbor pilot that acquired their signal as they passed under the archway. There was an intricate ballet being staged in the harbor by large and small vessels maneuvering around each other, going into or out of the many berths that lined the waterfront and the marina. Their boat was headed past the main part of the city and up a wide channel that led to the northeast. About a half mile past the last pier on the waterfront there was a gate that swung open slowly to permit their boat, which Dara told Erin was named the “Skimmer 6,” to enter. It closed behind them as they pulled forward to dock beside two other identical boats, numbers 1 and 3 of the Skimmer series.
Erin stood on the deck and looked around the base that housed the people who had taken her. This was the home of the enemy and she knew she had to take note of everything she saw, just the way Doug would. Learning all the details and looking for weakness or opportunities to escape.
There were three large buildings in the compound, each about four stories high. They were wonders of flowing artistic design with curves and peaks much like the rest of Selenton. There were no visible windows but Erin assumed that there would be some viewing ports that were controlled electronically.
“This is quite a facility. Is this a navy base?” Peter was assessing the scene with the eye of a military man.
Dara walked over to join him. “This port facility is for my organization only. The Yir-Lak Retrieval and Resolution Group. We are an arm of the Yir-Lak Command. The headquarters is beneath this compound. About eight stories down to the first level.”
“Are all your boats involved in rounding up the temporal anomalies? I believe the temporal spawn is what you called us?” Erin noticed how the boats were all identically equipped and each had a hover vehicle.
Dara turned toward Erin. “We have many different missions. Some of them involve this reality. But our focus for the past two years is an expedited approach to finding and removing the temporal infection.”
Erin perked up at that word. Infection. Dara hadn’t used that phrase before but it perfectly explained how her world viewed people like Erin who had been shifted in time and space by the temporal distortions. From the perspective of the Yir-Lak Command, anyone who wasn’t still living in their original reality was part of the “infection” that they were committed to wiping out.
“I have never been considered an infection before. Thanks for sharing that revealing bit of information. I was almost beginning to believe your whole story about the freedom we would have to explore and learn about your world.” Erin turned and walked away from her as she said it.
“Well you might be surprised by what is ahead for the three of you. Perhaps you should reserve judgment. Come along, it is time to disembark.” Dara signaled for them to follow her and the Insect Man brought up the rear to ensure that everyone got off the boat in good order.
Erin turned to him and risked a mild electric shock by saying, “Be sure to arrange for my luggage transfer, please. I would give you a tip if I had any of your money.”
“It’s ok, when you get your credits later, you can tip me with those.” Erin spun around when he said that, shocked by the fact he had said something, that is was almost a joke and he was smiling at her. “And you should call me Jelk. That is my name. I realize your habit of calling me Insect Man enhances the sense of drama, but it has grown a bit wearisome. I saved your hat for you, so perhaps you could return the favor and just call me by my name.”
Erin stopped and looked up at this thing she had considered a monster or a machine. Never a man. Certainly not someone who you could chat with or joke with. She felt strangely guilty and yet she couldn’t quite bring herself to put aside the horrible things he had done to Doug and the rest of them. “Ok, Jelk. But it is going to be difficult for me to warm up to you.”
“I understand. My role in all this doesn’t lend itself to warm relations, but I hope you understand it is simply my assignment. And I try my best to do a good job. I am truly sorry that all of you could be terminated soon.” He seemed sincere and spoke very calmly as they walked down the ramp to the pier. He seemed surefooted on the damp surface and when there was an extra high step down he extended his metallic arm to Erin in an unexpected gesture of courtesy.
“Thank you, Jelk.” Erin felt surprised that she could say those words. She took his cold metallic hand briefly and stepped down. She said nothing more as she walked quickly forward to catch Peter and Gaby as they were preparing to go through the door that had suddenly appeared in the side of the main building. She wondered what life was like for Jelk. There had to be a great deal of challenge living as a human/machine hybrid. She decided that some of her pre-termination research should include learning more about the Hybroman. She wondered if there were Hybrowomen. Or would it be Hybroman Female?
Inside the door, Dara showed them to a small room with ten white plastic chairs built into the wall. It was obviously a waiting room of some kind and it wasn’t designed for comfort. Erin could see that Jelk continued down the hallway to the left as Dara motioned them to sit down. She turned and prepared to leave. “You will wait here for now. Best wishes. I hope you enjoy your stay in our world.”
“Why? Where are you going? Will we see you again?” Gaby spoke up as she took her seat.
“It is unlikely. I have several more trips cleaning up the temporal mess you have caused and by the time I get back it will almost be time for my termination. I doubt you will be here by then. Good bye.”
Erin took a few steps towards her. She had a feeling of impending doom. “You never said where you are going.”
“I think you know. Did you want me to give him a message before we terminate him?”
Even with adrenalin jolts fueled by blind anger, Erin only managed two steps towards Dara before the stunpulse hit her and sent her into unconsciousness. But there was just enough time for her intense hatred for Dara to once again fill her heart. There would be payback she thought just as she blacked out. Somehow. Somewhere. There would be payback.
Chapter 25
Tom flipped back the entrance to the tent after announcing his presence. Megan walked across to meet him with a hug and a kiss. “We began to wonder if the pirates came back and took you. Where’s Doug?” She spoke softly in case there was bad news.
“Nothing to worry about. We climbed up the ridge to take a look around. Doug decided to stay there for a while and keep watch.” Tom said it so everyone could hear.
Rin was dishing up some oatmeal for everyone’s breakfast. “Didn’t he want something to eat?”
“We can run something up to him later. He had some snacks to munch on. He is going to camp there awhile and keep watch. If and when they come back, he wants to be ready for them.”
Rin shook her head. “I doubt there is much you can do to stop them. Unless you can shoot down that saucer they fly around in. When Peter tried to attack one of them on the boat, there was a shock that knocked him unconscious and paralyzed him for a day. It was automatic and tied to some sensor. Make a threatening move and zap. Dara told us it would kill you if you were hit too many times.”
“Who is Dara, Mom?” Alannah looked up from her oatmeal with a curious look. “Was she the one who took you prisoner?”
“In a way, yes. She had a guy helping her that actually did the kidnapping, but she was clearly in charge. They were from several hundred years in the future.” Rin thought how glad she was to be back with her girls. She used to be bothered by all the questions they would ask, but now she was happy to answer.
“Why did they let you go?” Katelyn was the most worried. She was sure that they would be coming back for all of them. “Once they had you, I would have thought they would have kept you or killed you. Isn’t that what they plan for all of us?”
“Now, Katy, don’t get so down about it. It is always a challenge living here and this is just one more thing we have to deal with. And now we have all these friends and relatives to help us.” Rin glanced at Ying with her pirate uniform. She hoped that they were right to trust her. So far she seemed to be everything she purported to be. Bright, hardworking and not afraid to share responsibilities for the tasks that had to be done to survive. And very bright. She had a professor’s grasp of physics, but knew a great deal about math, history and politics. It was great to have her there for the girls to talk to. They would learn a lot from her and it would come from a much different perspective than she and Doug had provided. An alternative, global perspective that would help the girls better understand the variety of people and opinions they would find in the world. Now if they could just get her something else to wear, it might change her image.
“Tom, I will save a bowl of oatmeal for Doug. I will run it up to him in a few minutes.” Rin didn’t feel right leaving Doug up there for the day with nothing to eat besides the few snacks he kept in his pocket. She had finely honed the role of mother in this wild and sometimes hostile place. And when it came to nutrition and sensible eating, she felt she had to set the example for the family. Katelyn glanced at Alannah with a knowing look and a wink.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Mom. We don’t want to lose you again. Let somebody else do it.” Katelyn was trying to protect Rin now that they had her back. “Or we could go with you to provide protection.”
“Listen, of all the people here, I am the most expendable. But if you are so worried, come on along.”
“We will both go. It’s settled.” Alannah piped up and agreed that it made sense for her and her sister to be the bodyguards for their Mom. “Now that we are together, we want to stay close for a while.”
“Fine, but don’t think that we are going to be joined at the hip from now on. I want us all to get back to normal as soon as possible. There won’t always be people waiting to kidnap me. Besides, this bunch literally threw me back like a fish they didn’t mean to catch.”
Tom laughed at that comment. “Maybe this time of year there is a one Erin limit.” He looked around but nobody was laughing with him. He decided jokes that involved fishing limits, kidnapping and torture didn’t play well with this crowd. He and Megan took their food and sat near the entrance. Tom hadn’t realized how hungry he had become during the morning of hiking around the island.
“This tastes pretty good.” Tom smiled at Megan.
“You must be really hungry to say that. It is ok, but I would have preferred some bacon and eggs. I guess we will need to get more sophisticated about our approach to subsistence living. It would be good to occasionally have more than plain basic food that is only designed to keep us alive. You know, find natural spices and some variations on the basics we have been eating. Once the supplies from the Rasputin run out we will be on our own.”
“Rin has had many years of cooking here. Maybe she can give us some tips.” Tom took another big scoop of the oatmeal. He figured it would stick to his ribs. It seemed to be sticking to everything else on the way down.
“She told me about wild onions and how much they helped the flavor of the food. But they wouldn’t do much for oatmeal. It isn’t too bad and I am not being ungrateful, but some honey or sugar would help the flavor a bit. The girls were telling me that they brought some berry plants back from a trip to the mainland and they are trying to get them to grow here. Maybe this year we will have berries to go on our oatmeal.”
“If it works out, we can plant some down by our cabin we are going to build.” Tom reached out and took her hand. “I hope we can get back to that dream before too much time goes by.”
“I do to. It kind of got lost in the past day with all the things going on but I haven’t stopped thinking about it. From what Rin has been saying, the future people are out to round up all of us and terminate us. They think that is the only way to save their world. We have to make sure they don’t find us.”
Tom could see the worried look on her face. He wanted to tell her it was all going to be ok, but he didn’t have anything to offer up to support that statement. First they had to survive one day at a time. “I wonder how they track us. How they knew to come to this place and time. We are in a different time from where we started and yet they could find us. Maybe they can track our quantum signature in some way.”
“Did you read that in a science fiction novel?”
Tom laughed. “I think it was a TV show. Can’t remember for sure. But I remember something about everyone being linked to their own reality by their quantum signature. If our quantum signature was out of sync, such as it would be in this reality, it might be something they can track. I can’t imagine what technology it would take to make that possible, but somehow they found us. We can’t take anything for granted. Hiding from them may not be possible. Unless we are in a deep cave that might block their sensors.”
“Rin said that Dara told her we are now in the year 1790. So yes, they must have a way to track us to an exact time. We either need to get hold of that technology, or figure out how to jam it.”