Time's End: A Future Chron Novel (Future Chron Universe Book 34)

by D. W. Patterson

  It wasn't long until he realized he and his new bride would soon be obliterated. He had to do something to save them.

  It was then that Pearce remembered Dave's idea for using a bubble for cloaking. If it worked it would not only mean that whatever was underneath that bubble would be hidden to visible light it would also be hidden to all other frequencies and energies and this would include a spin-two derived fast-time bubble.

  Pearce configured the generator and put a bubble above their location. It had the effect of distorting what could be seen on the wallscreen. Pearce could no longer see exactly what was happening but could hear and feel the destruction. He had to maintain the bubble as long as he suspected the attack continued.

  It was a half-hour before Pearce realized the attack might be over. Leaving Anais to maintain the generator he worked his way above ground. Coming up the ramp from the underground lab he could feel the negative energy bubble above him. A kind of prickling of the skin told him it was there and he was immersed in its outer fringes. It wasn't until that feeling receded that he could look around without the light distortion of the bubble.

  Everywhere there was nothing. Rubble and dust, small fires and smoke. The base at Opheim simply did not exist anymore. Where the underground facilities had been there was a kind of honeycomb effect as the fast-time bubbles had gnawed their way through the earth.

  Pearce was numb. He turned back to the lab. All he could think of was getting Anais to safety.

  “What's it like?” asked Anais as he reentered the lab.

  “It's like a desert. Nothing remains. We've got to get out of here. We need to download all our files to a datacube. Scrounge what food we can find and leave.”

  “I can load the datacube,” she volunteered.

  Pearce looked at her in her torn wedding dress. She seemed more normal than he felt.

  “I know you can dear. I know you can do anything. I love you.”

  He paused without moving.

  “I'll find what food I can while you backup the files. Then we'll change into our lab clothes and head out.”

  They had finished their preparations and were changing into their work clothes.

  “I'm sorry,” he said.

  “About what dear?”

  “You're honeymoon.”

  “It was yours as well.”

  “Yeah I know.”

  “I guess this is our honeymoon now,” she said as she finished changing.

  “We'll have another,” he said, “I promise.”

  “I know dear,” she said giving him a light kiss. “Now where are we going?”

  “There's a farm overseer's place just down the highway. We'll go ask him for help.”

  Pearce picked up a backpack with the little food and water he had found.

  “I guess we should turn off the spin-two,” he said.

  He powered down the device. As it spun down into silence he said, “I wonder if we will ever hear that sound again.”

  “Of course, we will,” she said. “As soon as we find the resources.”

  Pearce shook his head affirmative as they headed out of the lab.

  Even though the farm was relatively close it was still a two-hour walk. They arrived at the residence and Pearce went up to the door while Anais waited in the yard. He knocked. Hearing no movement he knocked again. He moved to one side to peer into a window when the door swung open violently and a shotgun was thrust into his ribs.

  “Ouch, what are you doing?”

  “Who are you and what do you want?” said the man holding the gun.

  Pearce introduced himself and Anais and explained that they were from the military base up the road. The man seemed curious.

  “What were you doing to make all that noise this morning? It sounded like World War 4.”

  Pearce explained how the base had been destroyed.

  “Who did it?” asked the man.

  “I suppose it was a joint operation by some of the other territories that didn't like what we were doing.”

  “What were you doing?” asked the man, still holding the gun on Pearce but not poking his ribs anymore.

  “Well sir that is probably a military secret but seeing as how I need your help I'm going to take a chance and tell you. We, that is me, my wife here, and several others were trying to develop a defense for the temporal weapon used by the other territories. You've heard about the Infinity Weapon?”

  “I've read some about it. You saying they used it against the military base? What about all the explosions I heard?”

  “They used both. Explosive ordnance against above-ground buildings and the temporal weapon to destroy underground installations. They pretty much obliterated the base. If you hadn't known it was there you wouldn't know.”

  The man allowed the gun to lower.

  “They destroyed the military base?”

  “That's right.”

  “That base was Northwest Territory property. I don't like what you told me.”

  The man dropped the gun completely and motioned at the door.

  “You and your wife come inside. I'll get you something to eat.”

  CHAPTER 26

  The man served up a pretty good breakfast. Pearce and Anais ate quickly because of their hunger. The man was quiet until they were almost finished.

  “You said you wanted my help,” said the man. “What is it that you want?”

  “We need a way to get to Billings as soon as possible.”

  “Billings? That's over three hundred miles away. You ain't going to walk it, that's for sure.”

  “That's why I was hoping you would have some transportation we could borrow.”

  The man rubbed his chin.

  “I don't know,” he said. “Everything around here belongs to the corporation. It's not mine to give.”

  “I'm sure we could get the military to return the vehicle once we get there.”

  “The military? You going to see the military.”

  “Yes, we have to get the research program started again. Somewhere that it can't be interrupted. Otherwise we are all going to live under the shadow of the Core planets for the rest of our lives.”

  “Yeah, I don't like what them Core folk are doing.”

  He paused a moment, thinking.

  “Okay I'll let you borrow an electric bike. It's fast enough to get you to Billings in five or six hours though I have no idea what condition the roads are in between here and there so it might take longer.”

  “That's great,” said Pearce. “If we could start soon we might be there by evening.”

  “Okay you two fix you up a snack to take along if you want. I'll go out to the barn and get the bike.”

  Pearce and Anais had prepared their “snack” and were waiting out front for the man to bring up the bike. He soon arrived.

  “Here it is,” he said. “It's all charged up so you shouldn't have any problem with range. Sorry I only got the one helmet.”

  The bike was a three-wheel version with a saddle seat upfront and another cup seat in back. The two wheels on the front axle were powered.

  “Good luck,” said the man as he got off the bike.

  “Thank you,” said Pearce and Anais as they climbed on. Pearce in front and Anais in the back. Pearce made sure that Anais had the helmet on then he started the bike and they were away.

  It was three hours later as they were climbing a slight rise with hills on both sides that Pearce turned his head to ask Anais if she wanted to stop and have a snack. Just as he was turning back around he noticed something in the road. It was too late to swerve. The bike hit the object and was launched into the air. Pearce held on to the handlebars but Anais was launched over his head and hit the side of the road bouncing like a rag doll.

  Pearce and the bike ended up on the opposite side of the road down an embankment. The bike stopped abruptly as its front wheels buried into some loose earth. That's when Pearce went flying over the handlebars and rolled to a stop face down on the grassy bank.
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  He was still conscious though he was unsure if he could move. He slowly rolled over on his back. Blood trickled into his mouth from his nose. He remembered Anais.

  Pearce sat up quickly. His head hurt, his side hurt. He rose slowly to his feet and stood swaying. He didn't know where Anais was.

  “Anais! Anais!”

  There was no answer so he headed up the embankment eventually crawling onto the road. Looking down and then back up the road he finally noticed something in the grass on the other side. He ran to the spot. It was Anais, unconscious.

  Pearce wasn't sure what to do, then he saw the vehicle approaching. It stopped and half a dozen young men climbed out.

  “What happened Mister?” said one of the boys.

  “My bike hit something and my wife was thrown from her seat.”

  “Ah, that's too bad. Is she dead?”

  “No, she isn't. Can we use your vehicle to get her to a doctor?”

  “Sure Mister sure.”

  He turned to address the other boys, “Jack, Billy get that tabletop out of the back and bring it here. We'll put the lady on it for transport.”

  The two boys took off for the vehicle and brought the tabletop and set it down beside Anais.

  “Okay now Mister let's put her on the tabletop.”

  Pearce helped two of the boys move Anais onto the table. They left her helmet on.

  “Okay Jack, Billy, Junior, let's get her in the four-wheel. Lester, you and Bobby get me the bags off the bike and then stay here and clear up this mess and get the man's bike out of the ditch.”

  Pearce and the boys put Anais in the back of the vehicle. Lester and Bobby brought the bags. Pearce climbed in to be with Anais. The first boy moved behind the wheel and they were gone.

  Lester and Bobby watched them leave.

  “Well Lester let's get this mess cleaned up like Earl told us.”

  “You can but I'm not. I'm heading for Grassley. He ain't my boss no more.”

  Bobby watched Lester a moment before yelling after him, “Hey Lester wait up.”

  After fifteen minutes the vehicle stopped in front of what looked like a rundown building. Earl went around and opened the back door of the vehicle.

  “Is this the doctors?” asked Pearce.

  “Of course not Mister. We'll call the doctor and he will come here to see your wife. Now let's get her inside and we can clean her and you up some while we wait for the doctor.”

  Inside the building, which looked like it might have been a barn at one time, was a makeshift labyrinth of rooms made by partitions. There was no ceiling on any of the “rooms”.

  They transferred Anais to a cot-like bed and then Earl told one of the boys to bring some water and washcloths. Pearce carefully removed Anais's helmet and began using the water and washcloth to clean her enough to see the severity of her wounds.

  Where she was still bleeding he held the wet washcloth against the scraped area. Almost all her injuries were scrapes caused by the pavement. Pearce had been cleaning for several minutes when he looked around. The boys were standing in one corner whispering.

  “Did you call the doctor?” asked Pearce.

  “Yeah, he'll be here shortly Mister,” said Earl. “Meanwhile I'd like to ask you some questions.”

  Pearce turned back to attend Anais before he said, “What do you want to know?”

  “Well I was wondering if you had any credits on you. You see we're short of funds and the 4-wheel needs fuel and as you can see we need a few things around here. Particularly food.”

  Pearce stopped working on Anais and said, “Did you get my bags?”

  “Yeah we got them.”

  “Okay bring me the gray one.”

  One of the boys fetched the bag. Pearce took his Emmie out and unfolded it.

  “You got your Emmie?”

  “Yeah,” said Earl.

  “Power it up.”

  When Earl's Emmie was online the two paired.

  “Okay how much you need?”

  “We're going to need all your credits,” said Earl.

  “All of them?”

  “Yeah, you can get more once the doctor fixes up your wife and gets you to Billings, can't you? After all we may have saved your lives.”

  Pearce looked at Earl a minute and then looked around.

  “Okay, I guess I owe you.”

  Pearce instructed his Emmie and the transfer was made.

  Earl looked at his Emmie.

  “A thousand credits,” he said as he showed it to the other boys. “Thanks Mister.”

  “There's just one more thing we need.”

  “What's that,” said Pearce who had returned to attending Anais.

  “Well me and the boys have been talking and you're wife is awful pretty and we thought we might take turns,” Earl stopped seemingly embarrassed. “You know.”

  Pearce stopped what he was doing and looked straight at Earl.

  “The answer is hell no, if I know what you are asking.”

  “Why not? She's asleep Mister, she'll never know. It's just a way for her to thank us for saving her life.”

  Earl had started moving slowly towards Pearce as he talked. The other boys followed. Pearce rose to meet them. He was terribly outnumbered which was bad enough but he was also weak from his injuries and his own loss of blood.

  “If either one of you touches my wife I'll see you spend the rest of your lives in jail.”

  “Now Mister that's no way to talk to someone that saved your life.”

  Then Earl lunged at Pearce. Pearce caught him on the side of his head with a solid right and Earl went down. Two of the other boys were then on Pearce before he could recover his balance. Each grabbed an arm while the fourth boy advanced. Pearce delivered a kick to the advancing boy and tore loose from one of the boys holding him. He turned to attend to the other one when he was hit in the back of the head and went to the floor unconscious. Earl had picked up a piece of wood used to level a table and broke it across Pearce's head.

  When he was sure Pearce wouldn't be getting up he looked at the other boys and said, “Now we can decide who gets to go first and I think I should.”

  But the other boys began to argue.

  Pearce woke. He wasn't sure where he was but it wasn't the boy's building. Soon he saw a nurse. When she saw that he was awake she called the desk.

  “He's awake Colonel.”

  She turned to Pearce, “The Colonel will answer any questions you have.”

  A man in uniform entered the room.

  “Dr. Rawlings I'm Colonel Jake Masters of Northwest Military Intelligence. I'll try to answer any questions you might have.”

  “Colonel how's my wife.”

  “She's doing good Dr. Rawlings. Actually somewhat better than you. She's been awake for a couple of days. The doctors have kept you comatose because of the swelling from the blow to your head. It gave the nano-swarm time to make repairs and relieve the pressure on your brain. Yours and your wife's prognosis is complete recovery.”

  “Colonel there's one thing. When I was knocked out those boys were . . . well they were intent on violating my wife. Do you know?”

  “It's my understanding that when we forcibly entered the building all the boys were at the window and none were near your wife. I think we got there soon after you were knocked out. But I will ask the doctors for confirmation. Anything else?”

  “Yes, how did you find us?”

  “The farmer you borrowed the bike from tipped us off when we interviewed him. He said you hadn't been gone more than a couple of hours and he knew you were headed for Billings. So we started scouting the likely route you would take. We also got a bit of luck when a local cop was tipped off by a couple of boys. He headed out to check their story and found a log blocking one lane of the road, just like they had said. He stopped to clear it away and also saw your bike down the embankment and took pictures.

  “Our AI was monitoring and compared it to the farmer's pics and made an ID so we knew
you were close by. We contacted the local police and the same cop led us to the building. He always suspected those boys would pull something like this.”

  “I'd like to thank him.”

  “I'll get his name for you. Now is there anything else?”

  “Yeah, I guess you know what I was doing at Opheim?”

  “I do.”

  “Then who do I talk to about restarting that work?”

  The Colonel looked pleased and said, “Me.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Pearce and Anais were able to take a week to rest courtesy of the Northwest Territory. While they were staying at the Billings Tower Complex getting back their health and peace of mind Pearce was able to catch up on the news and of course, read.

  “By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his were the Martians ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain.”

  The Northwest Territory had filed a complaint with the Terran Federation concerning the destruction of the Opheim base. Besides several settlements in the Solar System, Earth and Mars were the primary supporters of the Federation. Pearce wasn't sure what the Federation could do now that the Core worlds were dominating Earth but perhaps it was only a formality to establish priority.

  He was relieved to find that a general war had not broken out. Pearce had no reason to believe that the Northwest could prevail, not until they had a way to defend themselves which he was hoping he and Anais could provide. Even then it would be a losing battle unless they could enlist support from some other territory.

  All over the world governments were taking advantage of the Core's “offer” seemingly without much resistance. The greatest resistance coming from those governments that were on the fringe of respectability, that somehow had not been integrated as tightly into the global system. Pearce thought of the global governing elite as the new royalty. The kings and queens running the nations and territories throughout the world knew each other and thought alike. There was likely to be a sameness in their response to any situation.