by Glover, Nhys
So, to say he was a ‘warrior by choice’ was a pretty accurate summation of his life’s work. And that ‘warrior’ was starting to feel deeply suspicious about his current situation. Now the idea that he was dead had been dismissed, other possibilities were becoming clearer. That he had somehow travelled nearly four hundred years into the future, was not one of them. It was far more likely that he was the subject of a sophisticated German mind game designed to elicit information by trickery, rather than torture.
But imagining his angel as a member of the SS was impossible. Could she be a British agent caught and tricked into believing this wacky story? The backbone she had demonstrated with Jac certainly gave credence to such a possibility.
‘Lukas? Are you well?’
Jerked back to the present by her question, he saw that the bowl was now empty and sitting back on the tray, and Faith was studying him closely, her head on an angle.
‘I’m dandy, Angel, just dandy. Why don’t you tell me more about this three hundred year old leader of yours.’
‘You make it sound like his age is significant. It is not. We are all old here. Because Jac has been time travelling for the last sixty years, he has aged faster than the rest of us. But we do have several citizens who are well into their eighth century. They have lived whole lifetimes in-situ. That means within a time-line other than our own.’
‘Ah huh, so the rest of you, how old? You look about twenty two to me.’ He mimicked her tilted head, and studied her face until she blushed like a school girl. She was such a delight, as fresh and innocent as a daisy.
‘I am two hundred and thirty two years old. This body is a cloned version of me, and I have had it for five years. That is why I look young.’
He couldn’t help laughing. The absurdity of what she was telling him was so extreme, there was no other reaction possible. That she seemed to believe everything she was telling him, was the most worrying thing about it. She frowned at him as he laughed.
Holding his chest as the movement tore at his injury, he tried to be serious. ‘You do know how crazy that sounds to me, don’t you?’
‘I do. And I am possibly not the best person to help orientate you. All of this is natural to me. I have trouble identifying what is outrageous to you. Certainly I have experienced your time, and I know, theoretically, what your mind set is – how your people perceived the world – but I am a laboratory assistant, not a historian or cultural expert. I am out of my depth. Possibly Millie would be better as your guide. She was an American nurse during World War Two.’
‘So this Millie is what, four hundred years old?’
‘Oh no, Millie is a Newcomer. She was in her seventies when she was Retrieved in the 1970s. She has been here only a year or two. So, from an Old Timers point of view, she is a youngster. And to you, she will look to be my age or a little younger. All Newcomers get cloned versions of themselves shortly after they join us. These clones are grown to maturation in a little under a month, and look to be about twenty years old.’
Luke was finding the nonsense she was spinning him more and more unbelievable. Surely they could have come up with a more realistic scenario.
‘If I talk to this Millie, will that mean I lose you as my Liaison?’ The last thing he wanted was to lose this lovely english rose from his life, even if she was looney tunes. But it might be useful to talk to someone else about this fake future, to see if their information tallied with each other. If he could identify any inconsistencies he could … at this point he wasn’t sure what he could do, flat on his back in a hospital bed. But if he had a clearer sense of what was happening, he could make plans for escape.
‘Oh no, Millie is extremely busy with the school. I imagine she would only be able to find you an hour or so. But it might help. Her old life is still so fresh to her. I imagine she still feels the dislocation that you are feeling now.’
‘Dislocation? I guess you could call it that, Angel. I call it Wacky World.’
He let his head drop back onto the pillow as a wave of tiredness hit him. No matter what mind game they were playing, his injury was real. And from the nagging pain, there was quite a ways to go before he would be battle-ready again. Until then, he would let them play with him. It was a hell of a better option than torture.
Faith stood just inside the door of the school classroom. It always lifted her spirits to come here, and see the young ones playing. They were the life’s blood for their world now. Still less than forty in number, since the inception of the program 18 months ago, they represented growth and new life for their sterile, unchanging world. Up until the initiation of the Child Retrieval Program, there hadn’t been children anywhere on the planet since the Last Great Plague of 2120.
That plague had left the survivors sterile. And the cloned bodies they used to extend their lives were also sterile. The only way they had found to increase their population, from those few hundred thousand survivors, had been to Retrieve them from other times. But these Newcomers were also sterilized by the very means that brought them to this world.
So, to protect themselves from the pain of confronting their childless state, the government of the Gaian Confederacy had forbidden the Retrieval of children. Until Cara Westchester had presented a case for their Retrieval, and Jac had proven that the premise of a maximum nine lifetimes, from which they had operated for hundreds of years, was faulty.
They now knew that a Soul, or Consciousness, might lose the will to go on after nine lives. But it did have the ability to continue, if the will to live was strong enough. Jac had proven to have that will to survive – to be with Cara.
And, they now postulated, Consciousness had no desire to go on, if all potential for growth had been exhausted. An unchanging, perfect world did not allow the challenges necessary for growth. The introduction of children was designed to bring change and growth back into their lives, so humanity could live on beyond the nine lives they had previously been granted.
Challenging? Definitely. Worthwhile? All you had to do was look at the happy, young faces, and their adoring, adult carers, to know that it was more than worthwhile.
‘Faith, lovely to see you!’ called Cara, from the other side of the room. The attractive Bonded mate of Jac Ulster came toward her from the other side of the crowded room. Like everyone else, she wore the ubiquitous white tunic, which only served to highlight her white-blonde hair and golden skin.
Several curious little faces turned in Faith’s direction, and smiled. She grinned back, giving a little wave.
Faith wanted to see those Jewish children smiling like that. Even after the disaster of this recent Jump, now the shock had worn off, the imperative was stronger than ever. No matter what, she would fill this school with children meant for that death camp. They would know a life of safety and wellbeing they couldn’t even begin to imagine back in August 1942.
‘I heard Zygmunt died In-Situ. I am so sorry. You must be traumatised.’ Cara embraced her gently, her spontaneous warmth a balm to Faith’s jangled nerves.
‘It was awful. I still have to debrief, and I’m not looking forward to it. But I have another problem, at the moment. I Retrieved a soldier who was shot trying to save me. And Jac is unhappy that I did.’
‘Like so many of you, he still chaffs at change, even after all the times we’ve broken Protocol in the last few years. Don’t worry too much about it. He’ll come around. But this man you Retrieved, he’s a paratrooper, I hear.’
‘Yes, and probably a lot more. I am still gathering data on him, but, at the moment, it seems as if he went MIA on the day he saved me. I think he deserves a life with us, but I am afraid I do not have the mindset to convince him. His world is so alien to me, Cara. You have no idea what it is like. I do not know what is going on in his head. Every time I try to tell him something about our world, he laughs at me. I thought Millie might be better at explaining things. She lived through that war, after all.’
‘Sounds like a sound plan. I’ll ask Millie to go down and see
him after the children go home for the day. And I think you would do well to get your debriefing over. You’ll feel better for it.’ Cara placed a comforting hand on her arm, and Faith smiled her appreciation.
‘Yes, I will. Like most things one postpones, it only becomes worse with the waiting.’
Chapter Six
Later that day, Millie Solarno sent a message to Faith to meet her in the medical centre’s waiting room. After talking to Sgt Daniels for more than an hour, she was deeply concerned. Her first thought was to go to Jac. But she knew Jac’s habit of knee-jerk reactions to the first scent of a threat to his world. Such a reaction could prove dangerous for the soldier. She was loath to be responsible for any harm coming to the commando.
As she waited for Faith to arrive, she fiddled with the edge of her soft gown. The ubiquitous white tunics, modelled on the original Atlantean costume, were a pleasure to wear. Made of hardy, crease and dirt resistant fabric, it was not only comfortable, but practical. It felt like the finest silk, and fell in elegant folds, complemented any body shape that wore it.
Compared to the various styles of clothing she had worn during her lifetime, this was by far the best. As was the life she now lived. It felt like the crowning glory of her eventful existence.
‘Millie, is there something wrong? I came as soon as I received your message.’ Faith entered the waiting room in a graceful hurry, and sat down across from her on one the comfortable sofas.
‘No, nothing’s wrong, exactly. Our young soldier thinks we are Nazis using mind altering drugs to convince him to reveal his contacts and mission. And the trouble is, I can understand just why he could see it that way. If you didn’t know the Nazi’s limits, it would be easy to see all this as some elaborate ploy.’ Millie gestured to encompass the medical centre.
‘But, when he sees this world, he will have to believe it is more than a drug induced delusion.’ Faith sat forward on the sofa, and wrung her hands together. The surest way to Crash and Burn, or to have a nervous breakdown, was to be unwilling to accept the reality presented to you.
When the new reality was vastly different from someone’s personal paradigm, the new stimulus could cause a psychotic break. If that happened, the Retrieved individual was terminated. New Atlantis had no time for those with severe mental illness, who might take years, if ever, to recover.
‘Not necessarily. I have tried to imagine what my reaction would have been to this world, back then. I would not have believed it. There was too much going on to allow for the level of reflection such an experience would have required. In later life, I was much more open to other possibilities like time travel, aliens and ghosts. The thought of them tickled my fancy, then. But not during the war. There was no time for fancy. The harshness of death was the only reality.’ She brushed a strand of dark hair back from her face. It still shocked her to see it sometimes. In her mind, she still saw herself as an old lady. The youthful version of her was hard to get used to, even after nearly two years.
‘So what do you suggest?’
‘Introduce him to this world slowly, and never ask him about his life or his mission. He will interpret any such interest as interrogation. Eventually, maybe, this reality will become part of his paradigm. If he is mentally flexible enough to allow for it.’
Faith nodded thoughtfully. ‘Thank you Millie, I appreciate you taking time to see him.’
‘No problem. I hope he recovers. He’s a handsome young man.’
Watching Faith blush gave her the answer she was looking for. This soldier was of more than a passing interest to the young woman. And she had noted the same warmth and proprietary concern from Luke when he’d spoken of Faith.
She wished them both well. But in her heart she knew that for love to have any chance of blooming between these two, Luke would have to make some significant, mental changes. At the moment, he was little more than a bull in a china shop. And if he wasn’t careful, he would wreak havoc, not only on their world, but on the vulnerable heart of this girl.
Only time would tell if Faith’s gentleness could sooth the savage beast that lurked behind the insolent, wise-cracking facade. She hoped it would.
As Faith walked down the corridor toward Lukas’ room, she couldn’t help feeling troubled. Debriefing was complete, and she was better for it. But the decision on the status of the mission would have to wait until the committee convened. Until then, she was to continue acting as Lukas’ guide and watchdog.
It seemed the latter was going to be much more the case, if Millie was right. How did she convince Lukas he wasn’t being tricked? How did she make believable a world that seemed so utterly unbelievable to him? And once believed, how did she get him to accept his new life? It seemed an enormous task.
As she entered Lukas’ room, she was amazed to see him sitting up and eating a hamburger with considerable relish. When he saw her, he grinned and looked a little chagrined.
‘Millie let me have real food.’ The wicked twinkle in his eye made Faith’s foreboding lighten somewhat. He did have a playful side, and that might be her way in. As Jane had said, he was a warm blooded male, not just a cold, killing machine. If she could build up one, maybe the other would fade away, over time.
‘If you are sick, be it on your own head.’ Her tone was playfully stern.
‘For a burger like this I’d suffer for a week! How’d you get something like this here?’ Having gained her guarded approval, he took another huge bite of the burger, and munched happily.
‘We have most types of food available to us. It is pre-packaged for longevity, and stored until we need it. Then, when we want to eat it, we place the chosen pack into a Kitchen Chef, a special ‘cooker’ I think you call them. Although it doesn’t cook, it just restores the food to its prepared state. I do not know the ‘how’ of it.’ Faith sat down on the chair beside the bed and watched him eat.
How could something so ordinary be so erotic? The way he took those hungry mouthfuls reminded her of the devouring kiss. Something like hunger began to stir deep inside her. She looked away quickly.
‘Sorry, I’m too hungry to have table manners. I’ll try to be less like a pig at a trough.’ His misinterpretation of her action was not something she could correct, so she simply looked back at him and smiled.
‘I know what it feels like to be hungry like that. Every time I Jump to 1942 I cannot eat. So, by the time I get back, I am starving. Eat as you need to eat. Do not worry about me.’
‘Jump, that’s your word for this time travel business, right?’
She nodded cautiously. His tone conveyed his cynicism, and she wasn’t sure how she would handle his ongoing doubts. Lying was not a trait exhibited by the citizens of New Atlantis. The need for lying wasn’t there anymore, and so it had faded away. It hurt to have this man think her a liar.
‘So you Jump to 1942 in Poland, on and off. For what? A sightseeing holiday? There are better places and times than that to go for.’
‘We do not Jump for pleasure or distraction. We Jump for research and to Retrieve people whose time in their own time-line has run out. It is our method of repopulating our world, as we can no longer procreate.’
Luke’s handsome face became closed and his eyes cold. ‘Millie said something like that. You call it Retrieval, I call it kidnapping.’
Faith hated that look. It was the killing machine, the part she needed to suppress, if he had any chance of a life in New Atlantis.
‘What you call kidnapping I call rescuing, or saving lives. You would be dead, Lukas, if I had not Retrieved you. You were mortally wounded. Even if there had been a hospital nearby, and you had been found and taken to it, the kind of surgery you underwent would not have been possible in your time. You were as good as dead.’ Her own tone was cool, and she tried to keep the hurt she felt out of it.
‘So why Jump to 1942? And why there?’ He sounded like an old time lawyer interrogating a witness.
‘On August 11 1942 five hundred women and children from the Jewish Gh
etto in Zomasc were loaded onto a train heading for Belzec, a Nazi Extermination Camp, eighteen miles away. One hundred and fifty did not arrive. An abandoned car was later discovered close to where we were attacked, but those travelling in the carriage were never found. It was a great mystery mentioned in the commandant’s letters to his family.’
‘Nazi Extermination Camp?’ Luke had become utterly still, his face even more closed than before.
‘You do not know it yet, but two million Jews, Communists, Disabled and Gypsies were ‘cleansed’ from Europe at that time. Your people will not know the level of atrocity until 1945, when they free survivors from concentration camps such as Auschwitz.’
‘Crap! Two million people just wiped out, without anyone knowing? What do you take me for, sister, a fool?’ He was angry now and his blue gaze drilled into her, daring her to go on.
‘I can show you film footage, if you need validation. But what I am telling you is fact. It is a historical period called the Holocaust, and it led to the rebuilding of Israel, for the Jewish people who survived.’
‘Who won the war? And when?
‘Your side. World War Two ended in Europe on May 8th 1945. It ended, finally, on August 9th 1945 when Japan surrendered after America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.’
Faith could see him trying to assimilate this information. She couldn’t imagine what he was thinking. In moments like this, she just wanted to yell at him to forget it all. It was ancient history. Just live in the beautiful, perfect present – or future, for him. But from his expression, she could tell that he wouldn’t take such advice easily.
‘Atomic bombs? What kind of bomb is that?’
‘A hydrogen bomb. Your scientists learned how to split the atom. By doing that, it created a massive explosion. I mean one bomb wiped out a whole city. It was the most frightening invention since making fire. It led to the arms race and eventually the Second Dark Age. But it did end World War Two for your side.’
