Timeless

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Book excerpt

Return to Basics

The boarding ramp extended toward the ship. Once it locked into place, the dock doors of the Astral Spirit lowered. The interior lights from the ship illuminated the outline of a lone figure in the doorway. Hark-Kalech stood ready, prepared to greet him. It had been a long time since Calypso stepped foot aboard the Consortium flag ship and he smiled when he glanced at his former Council of Five colleague.

“Welcome aboard,” Hark-Kalech beamed. “It has been a long time.”

Calypso reached out and shook his hand. “Indeed, my old friend. I assume by your warm reception that the task is done?”

“Yes,” Hark-Kalech let go of his hand and his smile faded when he saw the look of unease on Calypso's face. “Is something wrong?”

Calypso ran a hand through his flowing red hair and frowned when it came back moist with cold sweat. “It's the Insurgents. It seems they are not as disorganized as I had originally suspected. They seem to have a few tricks up their sleeves.”

Hark-Kalech narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Calypso opened his mouth to respond but heard a noise coming from the bridge between the two ships. It sounded like someone dropped a coin on a metal surface. He looked back toward the darkness and saw nothing except an empty corridor. The dimly lit hall was illuminated by the light coming from the open doors of their two ships, but it was faint at best. It would be difficult to see an army crossing the shadows.

“Calypso?” Hark-Kalech was looking at him with concern.

“Sorry my nerves must be fried,” he replied. “What I meant was that they seemed to have found new allies. The forces of Xajax have joined the decimated ranks of what was left of Embeth's loyalists among the Defense Fleet. I assume after Corvus' failure on Vaire that the Hydrophants will not be far behind.”

Hark-Kalech shrugged. “Once we merge the Consortium's forces with the Ascended, Nathan can rally an entire galaxy to his cause and it will not make a difference.”

“Perhaps you're right, but I prefer to take no chances,” Calypso replied. He started down the hall but stopped when the hairs on his neck stood at attention. He suddenly felt colder for no reason at all. The temperature was a bit cool, but nothing like the iciness that wrapped around him like a shroud. An overwhelming feeling of being watched overtook him, despite the fact they were alone in the hallway. He found his gaze drifting toward the bridge, but the gloomy corridor remained empty. He shrugged it off as simple nerves.

“Shall we adjourn to the meeting room to discuss our next move?” Calypso asked.

Hark-Kalech swept his hand in an arc, motioning for Calypso to follow him. They entered an elevator that stood at the end of the hall. When Calypso turned around to wait for the elevator doors to close, he saw the docking bridge in the distance. A shadow passed before the open doorway and he froze. Squinting, he struggled to make out a shape in the gloom, but the only thing he observed was the light wafting in from his ship. After several seconds passed, he chalked it up to the light playing tricks on him.

When the elevator doors closed, the shadowy figure dropped from the roof of the corridor. He landed softly, almost cat-like. His wings folded tightly against his back attracting the surrounding shadow to him like a magnet while he surveyed his surroundings. He crept toward the hallway while the shadows followed him as if they were his children. As he moved through the empty halls, he marveled at his luck. No crowds made it easier for him to work. His primary objective was discretion. His mission was simple; get in and get out unseen. Calypso's skittish behavior amused him. The shadowy figure had been well briefed on Calypso's ability to sway his enemies with hypnotic charm, and he took great joy in unnerving him.

He reached behind him and removed an eight-inch jagged steel blade out of the sheath. Its hilt had been carved into the shape of a scorpion, a gift from the desert nomads of Verillion 5. The blade was black, like the shadows. The little bit of light which did manage to penetrate the gloom reflected the deadliness of the ebony blade. It was coated with the essence of Moonweed, the most poisonous plant growing in the badlands of Epsilon Prime. His blade had one purpose and one purpose only—assassination. He was an artist. His art was murder.

Moro smiled and drifted toward the elevator.

Time Travel for Dummies

Observation Room- Gordian Knot-Earth Date July 13th, 2014

Sam entered the room and dropped the book on the table. The thud sounded more like a gunshot. The book was thick and as heavy as it looked.

“So are you going to tell me what's going on?” I asked.

Sam tugged at his earring and chuckled dryly. “I assumed you were as confused as you appeared.”

I seated myself at the table. “You could say that.”

Sam seated himself across from me. “I guess I should start from the beginning.” He opened the book and started fingering through the pages. “This is Kell's journal. Anything anyone ever wanted to know about time travel, wormholes, and the universe in general is contained in this book.”

“How did you get it?” I asked with a hint of suspicion. “Did you just happen to find it at the local library?”

Sam smiled. “I am beginning to pick up your skepticism.”

“Good because I was trying to lay it on pretty thick,” I replied.

Sam laughed. “To answer your question, I will have to revisit our time in that cave in New Mexico. Your life wasn't the only one changed that day.”

“What do you mean?”

Sam ran his hand over his face and sighed deeply. It only took one look at his weary face to understand that his story would be a long one. “After the rope went slack, I became concerned,” he explained. “Of course, like an idiot, I ran into the cave without a flashlight, expecting the rope to guide me to you. I smashed my head on a low hanging rock, knocking myself out.”

I knew the story. Satou explained it to me shortly, not long after I was abducted from New Mexico. I remember laughing about it at the time, but judging by the serious look on Sam's face, I decided to bite my tongue for now.

“I don't remember how long I was out. What I do remember was waking up outside the cave,” he continued. “I ran home and called the police. My mother was pissed because I was supposed to have been home three hours prior.” He looked at me and smiled. “Don't worry, when I told her something bad happened to you she forgot about our scheduled grocery store trip, so she wasn't so angry in the end.”

“Gee, that makes my heart all aflutter,” I quipped.

Sam ignored my verbal jab. “Anyway, the police investigation determined you had died in a cave collapse.”

“What?” I cried. “That's ridiculous!”

Sam held up his hand. “It's not so ridiculous when you analyze the facts. The cops found your end of the rope buried underneath a collapsed wall.”

“But that's impossible,” I interrupted. “There was a doorway in the wall. Didn't they see it?”

Sam fixed me with a stern look. “Are you going to let me finish or are you going to keep interrupting?” When he saw I wouldn't offer a retort, he nodded. “Good. I didn't buy their conclusion for two reasons. Number one was the fact that the rope went slack, but when they found your end of the rope, it was located in the center of the collapse, as tight as can be. Number two: Someone dragged me out of that cave. I certainly didn't walk out of there in an unconscious daze.”

“You're right,” I agreed.

Sam looked confused. “You knew, didn't you?”

I looked at the floor and nodded. “His name was Madoc. He was the Explorer's League Medical Officer. He told me the story not long after they took me aboard their ship.”

“I went back to the cave the next day, hoping to find something the police didn't.” Sam closed the book and tapped the cover with his index finger, deep in thought. “Every day I went back until school started.” He stood up and walked to the window. With his back to me, he continued. “I had no idea what I expected to find. Perhaps I expected to find you crawling out of the cave, coughing up dirt balls and begging for water. Maybe I expected your ghost to spring from the cave and tell me how terrible I was at jungling in League of Legends.” He lowered his head. “I made it a point to visit the cave every chance I got but, of course, nothing changed. No Nathan phantoms floated from the caves. Hell, not one stone in the collapse was out of place. It was like the place had been frozen in time ever since that day.”

“I'm sorry Sam,” I offered weakly.

He held up his hand and waved it dismissively without even bothering to turn around. “Don't apologize for my ADHD because eventually it panned out. About six months after you had been declared dead, I took a stroll down to the cave after school. I was chipping away at the collapsed wall with nothing more than a flashlight and a thick wood walking stick, thinking about how badly you wanted to break through. You had a rock hammer, I had a walking stick. I figured it would take me twenty years to bust through the wall, but I didn't care. The cave was the only thing tying me to your memory.”

“But something happened,” I interjected.

Sam nodded and turned his head. He stared at me from the corner of his eye with a smile on his face. “You could say that.” He turned and looked at me. He ran his hand through his goatee before continuing. “This trip to the cave was different. One of the stones in the wall looked as if it had been tampered with. I chipped at it with my stick and it broke off, causing a book to fall from the hole.” He cast a glance at the book. “When I opened it, a note fell out.”

“A note?” I asked.

Sam approached the table and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He placed it on the table and slid it across to me. It had yellowed with age and was torn at the corners. I unfolded it and read its contents.

Sam,

I have been keeping my eye on you since Nathan's disappearance. Your relentless poking of the security barrier is quite literally the most maddening thing I have seen in a long time. I have left clues for you all over the place, but you seemed focused on a rock wall for some ungodly reason. I am not sure what you hope to accomplish. Perhaps you think you can beat the wall to death with a stick? It is because of your maddening behavior that I hid my journal in the wall. I am personally running short on time and if I waited for you, we would experience another Big Bang before you discovered it. The Explorer's League has forced my hand. You must follow my instructions to the letter, Sam Wells. The fate of the universe may depend on it. Several years from now, the Earth will face a war unlike any it has experienced before. We must stop it at all costs. Grillick is on his way. He will meet you at this very spot in two weeks. Bring the book. All will be explained.

-Kell

I folded the note and passed it back. “Kell was a big ray of sunshine, huh?”

Sam chuckled. “At the time I happened to agree with you. Until I met him, that is.”

My eyes widened. “You met Kell?”

“Several years later, but that's another story for another time.” He took the note and slipped it in his pocket. “To make a long story short, I went back to the cave two weeks later.”

“And Grillick was there?” I was so engrossed in the tale that I didn't realize I spoke out loud. It wasn't until Sam frowned that I knew I had interrupted him again. I tossed him an apologetic smile.

“Yes and no,” he responded. When a confused look crossed my face, he clarified his remark. “When I showed up, there was a mailbox staked in the ground in front of the cave with a sign that read: 'Please deposit any journals in here'. So I did what the sign said and deposited the book.”

“Yeah that sounds like Grillick,” I grumbled. “What happened next?”

“Well that's the thing,” Sam explained. “I didn't know what to do next so I waited.” When I looked at him like he sprouted a second head he held up his hands. “What else was I supposed to do? The note said 'all will be explained'. A mysterious mailbox erected in a remote cave didn't explain a damn thing.”

“Good point,” I conceded.

“I was there about fifteen minutes before a voice came from the cave. I followed it to the collapsed wall. Waiting there for me was a…” he paused and looked at me. “Well I guess I don't have to explain what Grillick looks like. Anyway, he was sitting on a rock tapping his foot impatiently. After scolding me for standing outside, waiting like an idiot instead of entering the cave, he finally explained things.”

After several minutes passed without clarification, I held up my hands. “And what were these 'things' he explained? Don't keep me in suspense like that!”

He turned to the window and drew in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “Prepare to have your mind blown.”