He punched him several times in the face, and then Balta grabbed his arm and twisted it. Jeff turned around and belted him hard across the jaw. He shook his head, as red blood dripped from the bottom of his mask.
"You surprise me, Walker," he jested. "Looks like you've working out on that little island of yours!"
"Yea, for the day that I kick your ass!" Jeff yelled as he came at the cyclopic monster. Balta traded a few punches of his own, as Angelica ran down the stairs in their direction.
Jeff fell to his knees in pain, and Balta kicked him in the side. As the human writhed on the floor in pain, Angelica tried to grab the mask off Balta's face. He backhanded her to the floor.
"I do not wish to hurt you, sister, but if you get in my way," Balta said.
He grabbed Jeff by his neck and hit him in the face several times until he was having difficulty moving. Balta dropped him to the floor, his face bloodied with a swollen black eye. Angelica ran toward him again, grabbed the knife from Balta's belt, and pushed it towards his throat.
"Finish me," he smiled, as he was pressed against the wall. "Or I'll surely kill you."
She dropped the knife on the floor, finding herself unable to do it.
"No, I can't," she said, and let go of him. "I'm not an animal like you."
"Funny choice of words," he said, as he watched Jeff squirm to get up. "Aren't humans only more intelligent animals themselves? Take Walker, all I have to do with him is push the right buttons, and he'll come running for his dinner, just like a dog!"
"I'm gonna fuckin' kill you when I get up," Jeff gasped.
"I don't think you will," Balta sneered. "You're in no shape to do anything, but crawl like a slave." Balta put his foot over the knife on the floor, and pulled it toward him, as Angelica had his back to him. He then grabbed the knife, threw his left arm around her neck tightly, and pointed at her. "You have been a nuisance to me, little girl, and now you're going to die very painfully."
"Let her go, Balta," a voice said out of the darkness. A figure emerged from a dark doorway, a five feet guest with black hair and brown eyes-Cely. "Let her go."
"Ah, you're just in time to do my dirty work for me, Cely," he said. "Kill her!" Cely started to walk toward the three of them slowly. When he was in front of Balta and Angelica, he stopped. Balta let go of her. "You heard what I said, kill her!"
"I'm not programmed to follow your orders anymore," he said.
"Well," he said, grabbed Angelica's arm, and put he knife to her throat again. "I guess I'll have to do it myself then."
He backed up, as Cely came forward toward him. When he was backed against the wall, he began to slide the blade across her neck, which drew a thin trail of blood that dripped down her neck to her chest.
Cely reached out as quick as he could, grabbed Balta by the neck, then disarmed him. When he did, the Tolarion let go of the woman, she moved out of the way, and grabbed her neck in pain. She turned, and Cely's electrical charge emitted an energy field stronger than any she had ever seen. She backed up to help Jeff, who was struggling to get to his feet. "Cely, no!" she yelled, as the android held Balta for several minutes, incinerating him from the inside out. The smell of burnt simian fur and flesh permeated through the air. Balta fell to the floor, finally dead.
Cely turned to his master. "Are you all right, Ms, Avery," he asked her.
"Yes, I'm fine. He just knicked me." she said. "How about you, Walker."
He rose, limping. "I've been better," he said. "I guess I'm not in as good shape as I thought I was. We better get out of here, before the whole place explodes."
"That would be an advisable idea," Cely said.
"Cely, this is Jeff Walker," Angelica said.
"Ah yes, the one Balta spoke so highly of. Pleased to meet you."
"Pleasure's mine."
They ran out to the escape tunnel, and found Rollings resting about halfway.
"Are you gonna make it?" Angelica asked him, out of breath.
"Yes," he gasped, and got up.
They noticed that without Balta or Akira, most of the guards just fled where ever they could to be safe. The rendezvous point was just up around the bend thirty or forty feet. The cavern behind them exploded, sending dust around them as they ran toward it, and up the stairway.
They jumped out of the altar where Lori, Carver, and Batar were waiting. Carver was on the floor of the room, barely alive. Angelica and Rollings emerged behind Jeff, Angelica stared at Batar with familiarity, while Jeff knelt down to his friend.
"How is he?" Jeff asked Lori, also next to him holding a cloth over the wound.
"He's lost a lot of blood," Lori told him. "He won't make it to the ship."
"Hey, old man," Jeff said, smiling at him.
"Hey, buddy," he answered.
"How you holding up?"
"Not so good. A Tolarion got me. Well, at least now I won't have to worry about a disease slowly killing me." Lori looked at Jeff, confused at this news. "Sorry Lori, I should have told you, but I didn't want you to worry."
"Damn Tolarions!" Jeff growled. Carver smiled, as he held his stomach in pain.
"What about Balta?"
"He's dead." Carver nodded to him. "Not me. The robot killed him."
Cely rolled his eyes at the human's mechanical reference.
"At least it's finished," Carver said. "Lori, take care of him, will you? Keep him out of trouble."
"That's not as easy as you think," she jested, and touched his shoulder.
"Goodbye, friend," he said, as he closed his eyes for the last time.
"Goodbye, friend," Jeff said, and bowed his head in silent prayer.
Batar came over to the two of them, and touched them on the shoulder.
"We need to go," he said. "We haven't much time."
They nodded, and rose from the cavern floor. They started down the tunnel to the way out. Angelica approached the Andronian.
"Varloo?" she asked.
"No," he said. "My name is Batar. I see you have a close connection to my adversary."
"Adversary?" she asked.
"Yes, Varloo is the reason that there are Tolarions to begin with," Jeff said.
Angelica, once again, was confused.
"What?"
"Varloo has somehow gone back in the past and changed things," Jeff told her.
"It's impossible to go back in the past," she stated.
"Well, somehow he has," Batar said. "And we'll have to stop him before he does it again."
The troop headed back towards the ship, and as they emerged from the subterranean tunnel, they watched in the distance the rest of Balta's empire begin to crumble. The door opened, Wilson and the lingworts exited, and gave Lori and Jeff a big hug.
"Where's Carver?" Wilson asked.
"He gave his life for us," Jeff stated, as she buried her head in Jeff's chest in tears. Wilson, Dormiton, and Milgic, this is Angelica, her android, Cely, and Steve Rollings."
"You're Steve Rollings?" Lori asked.
"Yes."
"George Thompson spoke highly of you," Lori said.
"You know George?"
"Yes," Jeff answered. "He lives on the island with us."
"George is a good man," Rollings stated. "And you are a good man, Jeff. I'm sorry I acted the way I did. Thank you for bringing Angelica back to me safely."
"Just a day's work," he said, as they entered the ship, the massive door closing behind them. "Let's get out of here before this whole damn place turns into toast!"
"Toast?" Dormiton asked. "I thought that had to do with drinking wine?"
They laughed at the amphibian's misunderstanding of the word, and they entered the bridge. The two Zacharians operated the helm, as they lifted from the ground, and headed quickly in the sky. When they reached the edge of the atmosphere, Jeff opened communications to the fleet.
"This is Major Jeff Walker," he announced. "We have planted the fusion bombs, and they are ready to detonate in forty five minutes. Please clear this sec
tor of space. If you can read me, please respond."
"This is the admiral," a voice announced. "What happened to Carver?"
"I'm afraid he was killed," Jeff said. "I'm in charge now. The fusion bombs are planted, but we need to be at least a couple million miles away from the explosion."
"Very well," he answered. "Once we're at a safe distance, Balar would like to speak with you. He's on board."
"Roger that," Jeff said, and turned to the helmsman. "Take us out of here, Speed of Light factor one." The helmsman responded, and the ship began to leave the hostile world behind. As they did, a large ship, about the size of their own, flew quickly by them. "What was that?"
"Sensors indicate it is Andronian," Batar said.
"Varloo!" Angelica exclaimed.
"We have to stop him before he creates a wormhole," Batar said. "If he goes through it, all history will be changed, and it will start over again."
"Factor three," Jeff ordered, as they took off after it. They were behind it about one million miles, when Jeff waved to the helmsman. "Lock on fusion torpedoes!"
They propelled towards the ship, a wormhole appeared, and the smaller ship entered.
"Fire!" Jeff yelled, and the torpedoes left the weapons bay, but it was in vain. Varloo had escaped them, and the wormhole closed up immediately.
"Where did they go?" Rollings asked.
"To the past," Batar answered. "And the alteration of our future."
"Damn it!" Jeff yelled. "Well, there's nothing we can do now. Unless, you know how we can get back to the past?"
"I'm afraid not," Batar said. "I don't know how he is able to do it."
"Well," Jeff said. "We better get to the rendezvous point."
Angelica turned toward Cely, as they traveled to meet the fleet.
"How on Earth did you regain your original program back?" she asked him.
"It was your friend Varloo. He reprogrammed me. He also wanted to give you this." He handed her a slide with a drop of blood in it.
"It's the slides I made," she said, bewildered. "What about all that information that was integrated into your system?"
"Varloo wiped it clean."
"But probably not without copying it, if I know Varloo," Batar said.
"Capt. Carver also had your disease, although I'm not sure how he got it," Jeff said. "If we were only able to save him, we might have been able to cure him as well." Lori, and Wilson hung their heads in sorrow at their lifelong friend.
The viewing screen came on, as they were receiving a message from one of the battle cruisers. "Major Walker," Balar said. "Welcome, and congratulations. I see you have completed the mission, and the Tolarion-Garlician threat has been eliminated. I'm very sorry about Captain Carver. The short time he served for us, he was a brave and heroic man."
"Save the speech for the diplomats," Jeff jested. "We've got a new problem. An Andronian named Varloo has traveled back in time through a wormhole somehow, and is going to change the past. This whole mess could start over again, unless we go after him."
"You know wormhole travel is not permitted anymore." Balar said. "And even if you could, it's not possible to go back in time."
"There is one race of beings I know who have the knowledge, and one old friend who will help us," Jeff said. "But he's in the other universe. My old universe."
"The Talokians?"
"The Talokians."
"Well, under the circumstances, I see no choice but to allow it," Balar said,
"I have one more request," Jeff said. "I have three passengers who have some catching up to do. Do you mind escorting them to the nearest star base? I'll send them over in one of the scout ships."
"Not at all," Balar said. "That will be fine. Good luck, my friend, and hope to see you return."
"I'll be back," Jeff said. "You can count on that."
He turned off the viewing screen, and turned toward their passengers.
"There is a star base close by, you can stay there until you decide where you want to relocate," Jeff said.
"We're not relocating anywhere!" insisted Angelica. "We're going with you."
"You can't go where we're going," Batar told her. "If I'm right about what has taken place, your being with us can only complicate things."
"Batar's right," Jeff said. "You can't go with us."
"Where will we go? What will we do?" she asked.
"You're a beautiful, intelligent young woman," Jeff said. "You'll figure it out. And Rollings will be right by your side, right?"
"Right!" Rollings said. "You and your android will make a fine addition to the Republic."
"I'll have to think about that one," she sighed. "I'm more a scientist than a soldier."
"Seems to me you're a little of both," Rollings said.
"Well, I'll let Wilson escort you both down to the landing bay." Jeff said.
"Goodbye, Mr. Walker," Rollings said, as he shook Jeff's hand.
Jeff then reached his hand out to the android, and Cely shook his hand as well.
"What you did back there wasn't exactly what I'd expect from a robot, or even an android," Jeff said. "It was an almost a human reaction when Balta was going to kill her and you stopped him."
"I'm programmed to protect her," he replied. "It's my job."
"Yea, right," Jeff said, not convinced. "Well, good luck to you anyway. Take care of these two, okay?"
"Thank you, Jeff Walker," Cely said. "I will."
"I wish we had more time to talk," Jeff told Angelica, as Lori grabbed him around the waste. "We have to even cancel our own honeymoon to go chasing after your friend Varloo."
"I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "Well, good luck, and thank you all for what you've done."
"Your welcome," Lori said, smiled at her, and then looked at Jeff. "I think I'd like a daughter someday, even if it's not my own."
"Adopt?" Jeff asked. "At our age. We'll be 65 by the time they're 20." She gave him a look, and he smiled. "Of course, whatever you want. Goodbye Angelica."
She gave them each a hug, left the room, and headed towards the landing bay. She reached down to Rollings' hand and grabbed it, as Cely followed behind.
"Well, what's next for us now?" Rollings asked.
"Maybe a job in a lab somewhere, on another distant planet," she said. "But at least we won't have to worry about Tolarions or Garlicians."
"I'm not sure that's what I want. I was in intelligence before, and I'd like to go back to that type of work."
"Once we get to the station, does that mean we won't see each other again?"
"No," he said, as they entered the landing bay area. "I think I might be able to influence a few people into letting us work at the same place."
"Thank you, Rollings," she said, and gave him a kiss on the lips.
"You can call me Steve. That's my first name."
"Steve," she said. "I like that. And you can call me Angel."
APPENDIX
Lingwort Language
Aduko corlea-ceremony blessing Pora-with
Co- It Proxitu spiritual well being
Cola-harm Redari-pair, two, couple
Verarti-welcome Reduku-god or gods
Dalada-keep from Talas-power
Fala-protect Tarma-begin
Fortata-forever Torka-life
Garla-May Ula-is
Hawa-and Varlu-bless
Hawar-your Vartu-celebration
Irla-the/this Vol-let
Jabula-journey or path. Vorta-bond
Lamika-all
Morta-done
Garlician Language
Ach tuko-fellow, friends Lika-vessel, craft, ship
Alaki-must Marka-let
Aremas-mistake or error Nince-twelve
Arta-be Norta-name
At- him Or-are
Caka-request or ask Orla-permission
Corka-shows Selima-to be satisfied
Cala-finish Ta-on
Calimba-A crowd Talika- freight ship
Corat-your Talimas-system
<
br /> Darlak Tuk-Hello, Old Friend Talis Discussion
Dor-in Tarma-What
Fortu-first Tarnot-land, settle
Garok-supplies Taruku-begin
Glika-glich Tu-off
Gala Tu -now you die Valama-show, to show
Hallou-hunger Vantu-carry, to carry
Harclou- Advanced Training Varmoc-welcome
Kala-bay, surface Vartula-the games
Kar-We, us
Karita- a type of menstrual cycle
Ki-at
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicholas T. Davis lives in East Syracuse, NY, has been writing since he was 12 years old, and was motivated by his seventh grade teacher. He has been married to his wife, Nancy, for 13 years, and has a daughter, Kelly, from a previous marriage. His father was a protestant minister and maintenance worker for Syracuse University and his mother was a homemaker, and he is one of eight children.
He has worked as a cleaner for a psychiatric hospital for 26 years and writes in his spare time. He also oil paints, and is a part time musician. Dimension Lapse II: Return To Doomsday is the second installment of his Dimension Lapse science fiction series. For more information on what his next project will be, please visit his blog or Facebook page.
WHERE TO FIND NICHOLAS T. DAVIS
BLOG: ntdavis18dotcom.wordpress.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/NTDAVIS
DIMENSIONLAPSE
Email: [email protected]
Dimension Lapse II: Return to Doomsday (Dimension Lapse Series Book 2) Page 25
