by Simon Bown
The shuttle increased speed and disappeared into the rift as the two explosive rockets impacted the surface of the planet in a shocking detonation.
The rift winked shut leaving the shuttle drifting in open space. Directly ahead a star blazed in the distance, too far to be truly blinding but too near to be easily ignored. The telepathic suppressor generated an energised shield around the shuttle totally concealing the vessel’s features and presenting an egg shaped dull metallic orb.
Lucy dropped herself into the navigator’s seat next to Barton. “Where are we?” She asked.
“We are on the edge of what we consider normal space.” Barton pointed out of the window to their left. “If we were to travel in that direction for more than a week the basic quantum substructure of this universe begins to break down. Well not really break down as what happens is absolutely natural. It merely leads to another form of existence. But it would mean certain death for you and a very unpleasant time for me.”
“And where is the Mezzyima world?”
“It is in orbit around the bright star directly ahead of us.” Barton tapped some commands into his terminal. A large number of icons of various colours and sizes filled the three dimensional holographic display. “I was afraid of that.”
Lucy studied the shimmering presentation as sets of numbers appeared next to the many icons. “Afraid of what?”
“Every single icon you see here is a Mezzyima ship.”
“There must be hundreds of them.”
“If not a few thousand. The question is, what are they doing?” Barton typed in a command and the display zoomed in to show the planet Haras. The large number of Mezzyima craft was quite intimidating. He stared at the slow moving icons and rubbed his chin. “This may be normal. They might always have this number of ships here.”
“Can’t you just investigate telepathically?”
“No. I can’t risk exposing myself. This telepathic shield is working at only fifty percent, to be totally effective it needs to be projecting a series of pre-recorded sensory images to confuse any telepathic intrusion. We are only using the shield section not the projector.”
“When will Teafu be here?”
“In a few hours.”
“Can you protect us until then?”
“Yes. It is time to move forward.”
Lucy had noticed a change in Barton’s attitude, he had seemed increasingly anxious as they moved closer to Teafu. Now there was a clarity of purpose that showed an intense desire to be finished with his search. But this was always underlined with a certain finality almost as if Barton considered this to be the last thing he would do. This brought about a certain apprehension in Lucy, it was not clear what the fight with Teafu would entail and she could not help but be unprepared. If she was caught up in the capture of Teafu she didn’t know if she would survive. There was also the massive Mezzyima presence. How would they react to Teafu’s arrival?
Powerful gravity impellers pushed the space plane forward and accelerated the craft to several light minutes per hour. As they moved closer to the massive Mezzyima armada Barton programmed in a complex series of movements designed to avoid the bulk of the ships. “I must meditate and set up a psychic shield to ensure we pass unnoticed.” Barton put his hand on Lucy’s arm and looked directly into her eyes. “You must not disturb me except in the deadliest circumstance.” He got up out of the pilot seat and sat cross legged in the small space by the galley dispenser.
Lucy watched him as he passed into a deep meditative state and soon found herself feeling somewhat alone. She straightened herself in the navigator’s seat and gazed out of the window. A star up to her left disappeared from view and then reappeared. Something was out there. She looked again and studied the stars. Nothing unusual presented itself and she continued to stare, trying to collect every scrap of light with her eyes. Shortly she found the need to blink overwhelming and she closed her eyelids for a moment. As they opened another star blinked out of view. She looked over her shoulder at Barton and then out of the window, several more stars disappeared and reappeared. It was then she made out the faint outline of a number of dark shapes moving on a parallel course to theirs. The space plane started shaking slightly and a red light illuminated under the heading ‘magnetic field’. Lucy realised her throat was feeling very dry. She grabbed her armrests and pushed the back of her head into the chair. The buffeting decreased and the light turned to green.
Lucy could only glimpse the planet Haras through the mass of black Mezzyima craft. The journey had been relatively uneventful once she had learned to calm down every time she saw a group of the dark vessels passing close to her. It was true enough that Barton’s seemingly unlimited telepathic skill could shield them from the most careful examination. She could only assume the Mezzyima guarded the planet quite closely considering it was their one access point between this universe and their own. The density of the Mezzyima armada had increased the closer they got to the planet. At times individual alien ships took up half of the sky, a size she had not expected or a sight she had enjoyed. They moved as a mass together, sometimes reminding Lucy of a school of fish, changing course together randomly but spontaneously. The planet surface was not dissimilar to Earth, oceans and large continents made up the globe in the indiscriminate distribution much loved by mother nature. Weather systems produced the same cloud formations as seen in Earth’s sky and the sight produced a feeling of familiarity in Lucy that helped her relax a little more. At the centre of the largest continent a startling crimson light cut through the atmosphere with an astonishing brilliance. The luminosity was so powerful it was impossible to look directly at it.
Barton sighed. He moved his legs and exhaled a long slow breath. “Well Lucy that was more difficult than I had hoped but we are here and in one piece.” He got to his feet and reached inside the galley dispenser for a glass of water.
Lucy was somewhat worried that Barton had dropped his protection now that they had arrived at the centre of the Mezzyima focus. “Should you not continue with your telepathic shield?”
“I have sensed a collapse in the ether, all spectrums of universal energy are being redefined by the Mezzyima trans-dimensional vortex. As we get closer I may become as telepathically incapable as yourself.”
“And where will that leave us? They will be able to find us very easily.” Lucy was quite angry that Barton would leave them so exposed after so much effort.
“The Mezzyima will be similarly deprived. Unless they search for us with their eyes, assuming they have eyes, we will be able to do as we please. They don’t even know we are here so why would they search for us?” Barton sat in the pilot seat and took control of the craft.
The blinding crimson light revealed the heart of the vortex. It was situated at the top of a small volcano on an island at the centre of a large crater blown out of the ground by a colossal meteor strike. Water had filled up the space over many years to leave just the central column of the shattered landscape above the surface. The island had been repopulated with indigenous plant life and now had a thriving forest circling the trans-dimensional anomaly.
The shuttle cut into the atmosphere and turned a long curve through the cloud banks toward the crater. A trail of vapour left by the super-heated shuttle’s fuselage snaked out behind them and marked their course to the surface. The telepathic suppressor failed as the shuttle slowed to a reasonable in atmosphere speed.
Barton jabbed at the controls. “We’ve lost the suppressor. Every one of my psychic senses is leaving me, I believe Teafu will be more or less helpless when we find him.”
“More or less?” Lucy asked.
“He will have as much chance of defending himself as you or I here, he will have to rely on his muscles.” Barton brought the space plane close to the island and circled it looking for a suitable landing space. He followed a small river into the trees and settled the craft down onto the rocky bank. After typing in several commands the engines shut down and slowly whined their way to a
standstill. He checked the clock. “We must move there is not much time.”
Lucy struggled with her environment suit until Barton helped her with the finer points of the elaborate mechanisms. Once it was sealed Lucy looked at Barton and waited for him to put on his own protection.
As if suddenly realising the reason for Lucy’s reticence Barton smiled. “I don’t need a suit.” He said.
“Oh yes, of course.” Lucy stepped into the airlock and watched while Barton operated the cycling system. The shuttle’s internal air was pumped back into the craft until the small space was just a vacuum. It then pumped the outside atmosphere into the airlock, once the pressure was equalised the exterior door opened. The two of them descended the short staircase to the wet rocky river bank.
“Can you hear me?” Barton asked.
“Yes, you’re a little muffled by the suit helmet but I can hear you OK.” Lucy looked around at the tall trees. A rush of excitement came over her. The landscape was both boringly familiar and electrifyingly alien. Plant life was not something she had ever taken any notice of but she felt she could spend hours gazing at the peculiar colourful flowers growing here in abundance.
The suit was surprisingly comfortable and lightweight. The gravity was slightly less than Earth’s which gave her a feeling of strength she should likely be wary of. She couldn’t be too confident if she was to help apprehend Teafu.
“We have to get close to where Teafu will open his rift, the co-ordinates I picked out of his remote will place him up there right on the edge of the vortex.” Barton looked up the slope to the lip of the volcano.
“How much oxygen do I have?” Lucy asked.
“Enough for three days, maybe four. Shall we?” Barton walked into the trees with a surprising speed.
The way through the forest was difficult, branches from densely packed bushes together with tall fern like plants blocked the way as effectively as any wall. The constant changes in direction slowed their progress and Lucy was becoming increasingly worried they would not be there to meet Teafu. Once or twice she saw an animal similar to a large cat moving through the brushwood.
The powerful glow emitted from the vortex cast a crimson ruddiness over everything in the forest. The densely packed plant life petered out as the pair ascended. Powerful energy fields caressed the landscape in waves of exotic influence that denied anything the chance to grow near to the quantum aberration. With the terrain so clear the going was easier and the two of them made a much better pace to the area where Teafu would emerge.
Finally, Barton located the exact position of his rift. A pair of footprints marked a course across the odd volcanic dust and up in the direction of the summit. “We’ve missed them.”
IMMORTAL SUICIDE
Above Weedon the energy storm of the vortex leapt skyward in a stunning fountain of silent light. Every glance at the raging torrent both frightened and amazed him. More than anything else the detail that worried him the most was the absence of sound. An outpouring of cosmic force on a truly unfathomable level was rushing between this dimension and the next and it made no noise.
The slope rising to the lip of the trans-dimensional volcano had slowly increased into a more severe incline. He paused and shifted his bag onto his back.
Teafu stopped and looked back at him. “We can’t stop now,” he said.
Weedon accessed his suit’s environment control and reduced the temperature. “I’m sorry, I don’t have an immortal body.”
A distant rumbling caused Weedon and Teafu to stop their conversation. Both men turned to look down the slope. A space plane moved over the forest and settled down in the trees.
“Can you sense anything?” Weedon asked.
“No. Nothing. We had better move forward and place the warhead.” Teafu turned and set off.
With the gradient at more than forty-five degrees the rocks had entirely disappeared from the slope and going was very tough. The dust gave way to every footstep and it was taking Weedon several strides just to rise a few feet. He stopped and sucked a mouthful of water from a tube inside his helmet. “How much further?” He asked.
Teafu gazed upwards and slowly shook his head. “If I had any of my telepathic ability left I could tell you for sure. I would say only another ten or fifteen minutes.”
Weedon sat and looked down at the forest. He peered more intently as he spotted two distant figures en route for the site of their rift. “There’s somebody down there.”
Teafu turned and fixed his eyes on the two men. “I can’t make them out from this distance.”
“Mezzyima agents?” Weedon suggested.
“I don’t think so. They would have sent a greater number. Whoever they are, they are definitely looking for us.”
“We should get on with it.” Weedon scrambled up the incline, his sore muscles complained at the increased effort. A tired body was the least of his problems. He could rest later when the vortex was destroyed. At last he reached the top and rolled himself over on to the flat summit. He got to his feet and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the astounding dynamic fountain before him. It blossomed as a magnificent colourful wall of startling energy. Overwhelming it stood as a perfect indication of how small and insignificant Weedon and Teafu were in the universe. “Are you sure this warhead will be enough?” He asked.
“Yes. The amount of antimatter we are using will produce a detonation that will rip through this vortex. It will close it forever.” Teafu smiled and took his bag off his shoulder.
Weedon took the parts of the warhead from his bag and placed them carefully on the ground. He walked to the edge of the summit and looked down. Far below the two figures moved up the slope at an impressive pace. One of them was dressed in an environment suit, the other was not. A chill caressed Weedon’s body as he realised the unsuited man must be an immortal. “You had better take a look at this.”
Teafu joined him at the lip. “An immortal?”
Weedon could see he was worried. “How could they know we would be here now?”
“There was a woman in CERN she totally lacked any telepathic ability. I thought she was a local but now I am not so sure.”
The construction of the warhead was easy but had to be done perfectly. Weedon carefully connected the two halves of the magnetic containment chamber and sealed them in the titanium casing. He then attached the mix release valve and the timer.
Teafu input the security code into the confinement apparatus to release the antimatter. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Weedon held out a section of the small warhead in Teafu’s direction. “The magnetics are activated, you can connect them now.” He secured the link and started the flow. He became increasingly worried concerning the two strangers nearing the edge of the summit. Whoever they were they could not be friendly. He gazed at the equipment trying to will the dangerous substance to flow faster. “Teafu can you not find some telekinetic energy to increase the flow?”
“I’ve tried Weedon. I can’t do it.”
Weedon looked at the warhead, the antimatter was flowing at a frustrating pace. He could not risk moving until the transfer was complete.
Lucy climbed the last difficult hundred feet with an awful feeling of finality. Barton climbed next to her and showed none of the weariness that permeated Lucy’s body. Each time she pushed upward on the dreadful dusty slope she grimaced at the pain of her sore muscles. But she had to continue, the thought of Teafu escaping and carrying on with his killing was not an option. At the top of the rise the energy surged skyward at an incredible speed. The blinding sight was so overpowering Lucy fought to keep her eyes focussed on the climb and not let them be drawn to the cosmic intensity. And what she was going to do when they had reached the summit was also a concern. She had not discussed this with Barton at all. Was she supposed to help him throw Teafu into the raging fountain of energy? To kill a man? Even if Teafu was responsible for such terrible crimes was she capable of such a thing? A murder?
Barton took h
old of Lucy’s forearm and stopped her. He whispered close to her faceplate. “We are close to the top. When we lift ourselves over onto the summit platform we will find two people. One of them is Teafu and the other is his comrade Weedon Bec. You must subdue Weedon while I deal with Teafu myself.”
“Subdue Weedon Bec? For how long?” Lucy almost shouted at Barton in dismay. She was not at all confident in facing a known killer.
“I intend to rush Teafu and push him into the vortex very quickly. With a bit of luck you won’t even have time to fight Weedon.”
The last of the few feet to the summit took Lucy and Barton only minutes to cover and they stopped at the edge to rest a moment and gain some energy.
Finally Barton turned to face the slope and looked at Lucy. “It is time.” He said with quiet determination.
They launched themselves over the edge of the summit. Lucy saw Teafu and Weedon kneeling, facing each other with a peculiar device between them.
Weedon looked up with a mixed expression of anger and shock. He looked down at the device and placed it carefully on the odd volcanic dust.
Teafu got to his feet just in time to counter Barton’s determined attack. He caught the charging man and used his speed and weight to throw him sideways onto the ground. Barton rolled and raised himself quickly to his feet.
Lucy reached Weedon as he braced himself for Lucy’s clumsy assault. She grabbed Weedon by the neck of his suit as Weedon held Lucy’s forearms. They tumbled over and rolled together each trying desperately to gain the advantage.
Teafu moved forward rapidly to attack the older man but stopped and gazed at him. “Who are you?” He asked.
“My name is Barton Hartshorn. I have returned from the distant future to prevent you from continuing with your murderous mission to repel the Mezzyima.” He spat the words with a rage that surprised even himself.
“You can’t be.” Teafu laughed. But even as the sound was dying in his throat he was realising the truth. “You can’t be.” He whispered this time, the full gravity of the situation upon him. “Why?” He asked, totally dumbfounded.
