Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (20 page)

HMSS Ingeniur – November 2184

Luke

Mark looked as stunned as I felt. My throat tried to summon words to comfort him:
It’ll be okay, buddy.
But I couldn’t make myself talk. Didn’t trust my voice. Instead, I sat there like a rock.

It didn’t seem like there was anything left for us to do but wait. Anton unbuckled his belt and stumbled toward Tamer’s seat. The ship tossed him toward the wall, but he grabbed the back of the chair and pulled himself into a sitting position.

“Are you ready Anthe?” he asked as he buckled up.

“Affirmative,” she replied.

He smiled, but didn’t look up as he worked the console in front of him. “Such a simple answer for such a sacrifice,” he said gently. “Thank you.” The ship decelerated and began to climb. “I have navigation; go ahead when you’re ready.”
Was Liz finally coming back to us?
The thought made my head spin. I didn’t want her to come back, not to this wounded, hobbling ship that smelled of ash and burned wires. Not to such a hopeless situation. At the same time, there was nothing I wanted more than to talk to her again. I wanted to tell her…

Guilt ate at my stomach as I contemplated what I wanted to say. She deserved to know how angry I was. To see in my eyes that I blamed her for putting us in this situation. If she’d only listened to me…

Anthe lifted her head from her console and turned back toward us with a smile. Her words cut through my rage. “Be gentle with her,” she said.
Was she talking to me?
“This ship has been through a lot without you manhandling her.”

Anton grinned. “Will do,” he said. Anthe began her spell.

Elizabeth

My blistered lips moved gingerly to the words of my return spell. Already fading vision darkened further and the tall ori around me transformed into dark shadows.
Was I bleeding out right there on the forest floor?
My arms and legs couldn’t move. A heavy downpour of wet snow had started to drench through my clothes and soak into my already frigid skin. All my senses numbed except the searing pain that burst through my skull and the tingly feeling between my skin and my bones as they peeled away from my soul, transforming into a cold, limp corpse.

Then the second phase of the spell began. At first, I was lost in darkness. Then my senses started to return. I could smell burning metal and ash. My flesh was consumed by pins and needles and my lungs longed for air. But I couldn’t move yet, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t cry, couldn’t flex a single muscle. My heart wasn’t beating, blood didn’t flow.
Had Anthe left this body too soon?
But just as before, I felt my heart start to thump. My chest blazed; it made me want air. My mind struggled for a breath, but the spell would not be rushed. Then finally, after an eternity of fear, I was able to open my mouth. My lungs filled with the smoke-seared atmosphere. I inhaled too fast and my body launched into a fit of coughs.

“Easy, easy. You’re okay,” I heard a voice say from behind me. I opened my eyes and with dazed vision saw that I’d been hanging off a seat belt. The room lurched. After a moment of panic, I realized that I was in a spaceship. My body continued to cough while my head swam in circles.

“Sorry, I’m trying to hold her as steady as I can,” Anton said. It was nice to have him near again.

“That’s okay,” I replied. My voice sounded strange to me. Perhaps it was the fact that my throat wasn’t parched dry. Freezing wind and ice had been replaced by acrid smelling smoke and pounding heat. My hair and clothes were drenched with sweat. It felt good for about a second before the stifling air became overbearing.

I lifted my head upright, despite the dizziness, and surveyed the scene around me. The projectors around the room seemed to show debris everywhere, stretching for miles.
It couldn’t all be us.
But I knew from Anthe’s memories that it was. Unlike when I’d accessed Ketya’s mind, Anthe’s thoughts had presented themselves to me easily. She had been happy to leave. After her extended duty, she was eager to reunite with her son.

I reached down to my hip, where a hidden pocket was sewn into the uniform and felt the reassuring bump of a turtle’s shell. I had brought her back with me as part of the spell that returned me to my body. Then I turned to look behind me at Luke, Mark, and Anton.

“Liz, we need to tell you―” Mark started. He had a hollow, scared look in his eyes. His voice was weak, like a child’s.

“I know,” I cut him off. All the humor and energy I’d come to expect from Mark was drained. “So you guys want to find out who’s trying to blow us out of the sky?” I asked.

“What good would that do?” Luke replied, the edge of defeat in his words cut through me like a knife. I closed my eyes and gathered my strength for a moment.

“Alright guys,” I said. “A few things about what I do. One, just because I’m beat doesn’t mean I give up. Two, always smile.” I shot Anton a playful wink. “And one that I just learned, you never know what you’re going to be able to talk your way out of until you try.”

I spun in my chair and tapped the black screen in front of me. Anthe’s navigational controls appeared before me. Five of our eight thrusters were down. On the right was a panel of red warnings showing critical damage areas around the ship. At a glance, I saw that our weapons stores were exhausted, the engine was over-heated, and life-support struggled on its last leg to clear the smoke and dust that had gathered around the ship and to maintain survivable temperatures in the crew accessible areas. I wiped all the information away with a single brush of my hand and brought up Communications. Time to ring up the egg-ship.

Our own vessel started shaking like a Ford Explorer with bad shocks on rocky terrain. I gripped the console with my left hand while my right continued to manipulate my screen. The sound of glass and metal clanking rang through the ship. “What’s going on Anton?” I asked.

“We just lost gravitational pads in the kitchen and dining hall,” Anton replied. My heart skipped a beat. The gravitational pads were not a vital part of ship functions, but I couldn’t believe damage that severe had struck so close to the bridge. The destruction was closing in on us.

“Well then I hope no one was hungry,” I replied. “Looks like our friends just picked up their phone.” I tapped the button and their commander appeared before us on the front screen.

“Rothin,” I whispered under my breath. He was much older than Ketya remembered. His short hair had turned white and he had wrinkles and dark blemishes all over his pale face. But there was no mistaking him.

Surprise registered on Rothin’s face. “I guess I don’t need to introduce myself,” he replied. “And you are?” Anton threw the ship into a spin. My fingers grabbed for the table’s edge as the sudden acceleration pushed me over.

“Someone who would appreciate it if you would stop firing at us,” I replied. “Is a civilized conversation too much to ask for?”

An amused smile graced Rothin’s face. He held up his hand to someone off screen. “Well, since I am curious how you learned my name, I will,” he said.

HMSS Ingeniur – November 2184

Elizabeth

“They ceased fire,” Anton replied. Our ship leveled out.
Thank heavens.

“I know a lot of things,” I said. Perhaps dredging up his past would help me appeal to his kindness. “You cared for Ketya. You tried to help her and her child.”

Rothin’s face darkened. “Once maybe,” he replied. “She paid me back by burning down my home. My oldest sister, my father, my friends, all died because I wanted to show Ketya a bit of mercy.” The way he said her name, he practically spit it. The kitchen alarm that had been sounding steadily since I’d arrived wailed one last time and then died out. It was the most merciful technical failure we’d endured so far.

“It wasn’t her,” I said. Ketya would have desperately wanted him to know. “Anthe, Brovkyl’s mother, destroyed your town.”

Rothin’s yellow eyes gleamed with venomous hatred. “Anthe gave the order, but she did it to save Ketya’s daughter. And me, I devoted my life to making sure Anthe’s plan failed.” A wicked smile blossomed on his face. “And I think perhaps my chance to avenge my father and my friends might just be at hand.”

His voice echoed through the part of me that still carried Ketya’s memories. It would have broken her heart to hear Rothin say those words. She had loved him too. “Maybe. But you can’t be Rothin,” I replied. “It’s been over 7,000 years.” Perhaps it was wishful thinking. Could the Rothin who had protected Ketya and supported her when her mother and brother were killed, really have turned into this nasty thug? There was a thick layer of hatred in his old eyes.

Rothin snarled. I swear, a real, certified snarl. “I used Anthe’s trick: Stasis.”

“What brought you out?” Anton asked. “Eln?” A section of the screen started to buzz, distorting the right half of Rothin’s face. This ship was crumbling all around us.

“After Centream was destroyed, I started an organization,” Rothin explained. “We gathered the strongest and brightest wizards, and we infiltrated Anthe’s underground movement. I knew what she planned to do. After that, it was simple. All we had to do was make sure no powerless boy lived to puberty.”

I searched his wrinkled features for any signs of the compassion he’d shown Ketya. I was met with a hard, cold face. Looking at Rothin now, I wondered if Anthe had gone too far when she destroyed his town. Every move of his lips, his eyes―every hand motion dripped with vile loathing. War was always gruesome and always an ugly choice between the lesser of great atrocities. There was a fine line between measures that defeat the enemy and those that bred more for the future.

Oblivious to my probing eyes, Rothin continued. “My group vowed to enforce the law. The special operatives with me here are my whole army. Every one of us has trained day and night. We secluded ourselves from the rest of wizard-kind so that we could be ready when, inevitably, someone would try to escape. And whenever they did, I was woken up.” The sound of groaning metal swelled up from the vessel’s interior. It tickled a villainous smile out of Rothin. “You’re ship doesn’t sound too well,” he said.

“How many times?” I asked, setting aside my own concerns about our ride. This man looked familiar, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. The way his soul leered out of his eyes unsettled me.

Rothin straightened up when he heard the question. His voice exuded pride. “Over two dozen boys,” he boasted. “Eln won’t be any different.”

“You’re lying,” I accused. “You’re not Rothin.” Somehow, deep down, I knew it.

“Close enough,” he replied. “I have his memories.”

“You learned how to perform Anthe’s spell?” Anton inquired.

“Every time Rothin woke up, he found himself more and more behind on knowledge and technology. Wizard-kind as a whole was falling behind. So we used Anthe’s maneuver: put one man in stasis to convey a message and another surrenders his body. I’m what they brought back.” Rothin’s wicked grin returned. “The wizards of my time are more advanced, more knowledgeable than anyone in your time. I trained these men and we built this ship. No one can beat us.”

One of the malfunctioning screens above us suddenly burst. I ducked as hot shards rained down from above. “Ouch!” Mark exclaimed from behind me. My instinct was to turn and help him.
Please don’t be injured
. But I couldn’t let myself get distracted now. The sounds of explosions elsewhere on the ship where closing in. Fortunately, the fire suppression system was still active.

I waved away the particles that landed on me and looked back at the screen. “I‘ve already beaten you,” I said, as white powder sprayed the area. “You know we have, Eln. And now, we have Naimi, too.”

“Brovkyl’s pet?” Rothin asked.

“No, Ketya’s daughter,” I responded. “I brought her back and sent her somewhere safe. You will never find her.” Rothin’s expression darkened again.

What are you doing?
Anton asked me telepathically.

“The only way to get to her is to make a personal sacrifice,” I said out loud. “You lack the courage it would take.” Rothin’s body stiffened.

Telepathically, I answered Anton’s question.
What if I can get him to bring a different soul into his body, perhaps I can intercept the signal. Perhaps I can be that soul. We’ll have the timing, I have his DNA―

You do?
Anton asked.

“What do you know about me, you vile, contemptible wench.” Rothin’s tone was edged with a new kind of disgust. His eyes absorbed my every feature and then his words spit them back out at me.

Anton unbuckled his belt and rose to his feet. He walked around the console and took a few steps toward me so he would be in range of our camera. I felt his eyes look past me and focus with razor sharp intent on Rothin. His protective gesture did not go unappreciated.

I didn’t turn to look at him, but telepathically I explained what I knew.
Rothin checked Ketya’s fetus against his DNA once to see if it matched. The spell didn’t mean much to her, but she remembered it. To me…

It means you have his DNA,
Anton finished.
Okay, then what?

First things first,
I suggested. Then out loud, “this is your chance, Rothin,” I said. “You have a chance to defeat Anthe and Ketya. They keep great security logs in the future and I’m sure that after I left, your people would have come back and traced my teleport. And Naimi’s. The database will tell you exactly where she is… Too bad it’s information out of your reach,” I taunted.

“You think I wouldn’t give myself up?” Rothin barked. His anger was visible in the angular curl of his lips.

“Go search the records then. Bring that information back, might even stop me from ever getting Naimi in the first place,” I countered. Loud bangs and groaning metal echoed around the ship. I had to raise my voice to be heard.

You can’t.
Anton exclaimed in my mind.
You’ll create a time paradox, we’ll be trapped.

Not if I can stop the soul transfer and prevent everyone on that ship from talking about what they’ve learned today,
I replied.
Including their messenger in stasis.

Anton gave me a meaningful look. I didn’t like what I was about to try any more than he did.
It’s us or them
, I said.

“So Rothin,” Anton teased, “Are you game for a little bet? My wager: you don’t have the guts.” The acrid smell of the ship’s burning interior intensified. A visible cloud of smoke filled the bridge from a fire nearby, unquenched by the suppression system.

The wizard didn’t say a word. With a final tap on my console, Rothin’s face was replaced by the dark view of space.

Anton bounded past me to the adjacent console to see if they would fire again. When he nodded the “all clear” I unbuckled my belt and turned my chair to face Luke and Mark. However, Anton stopped me midspin.
So what happens to you if we do this?
he asked.

Then I’m on his ship
, I replied. A playful grin teased my lips.

Anton did not return the smile.
And in his body,
he said.
Forever?

“I hate when they do this,” Mark said.

“You’re not the only one,” Luke replied. Apparently, my brothers were not big fans of telepathy.

I ignored them.
No, not how you think,
I told Anton.
I can split myself in two, right? And now, Anthe has taught me how to do these soul transfers.

You want to combine the spells?
Anton asked.
Make your soul inhabit two bodies at the same time? Liz, it might be theoretically possible, but it would take months of research to get it right. Maybe years.

This conversation was wasting too much time.
Rothin might have already started his transfer. We start with a field test,
I countered. My boyfriend’s eyes grew fierce. I remembered the hologram that had stayed with me in the Ori forest. My hand reached for his and imparted an understanding squeeze.

You know how many things could go wrong,
Anton persisted.
The chances of this working from the first try are…

But there’s a chance,
I interrupted.
I know this is hard for you…

The fierceness melted away from his face.
Anton always knew what the right call was.
An empty console at the front of the room exploded, reminding us just how serious the damage to our ship was. Sparks fountained around the area, and powder sprayed down again. A soft smile lurked on my boyfriend’s lips as he reached out and stroked my cheek.
I hate you sometimes,
he said.

Right back at you,
I replied. Then I turned to my brothers.

“Guys, I have a plan. Anton, you made the right call before. But this time, if something goes wrong…”

“That army will follow us,” he said. Actually, it was almost a yell. It was a challenge to hear each other over the sound of the ship falling to pieces.

“Well, then they follow you,” I acquiesced. “You stay as long as you can, but if worse comes to worst, you teleport out of here. All of you.” I gave Mark and Luke a significant glance.

“We wouldn’t leave you behind,” Mark said. The hurt and loyalty in his voice were unmistakable.

“I’m not giving you a choice,” I said.
Did I sound too harsh?
There wasn’t time to be kind.

“Liz, enough of this,” Luke barked. “Let’s go home. Right now.”

“I can’t,” I replied. “We would lead them back to Earth. Look, Anton wanted to respect your rights before. Fortunately, for me, we’re family and that means I don’t give a damn about your rights. Not when weighed against your life. If the time comes, you guys go.”

I pulled Naimi out of my pocket and showed her to Anton.

“You turned Ketya’s daughter into a turtle?” Anton asked with raised eyebrows.

I shrugged. “She was more portable that way.” I replaced her and then took a deep breath. “Here goes…”
This spell had better work.