by Adair Hart
Dr. Snowden’s heartbeat was flying all over the place. These strangers had risked their lives for this rescue. What was so important that they needed to do that? It was apparent to Dr. Snowden now that Evaran could have taken the guards during their capture. Dr. Snowden figured Evaran did not because of the possible collateral damage. Sometimes he felt like he and Emily were a liability. Then again, they had saved Evaran once before. Maybe it was that balance that Evaran was okay with. Dr. Snowden shook his head as the Torvatta emerged through the portal and outside a large ship.
The Torvatta landed inside a hangar bay with John’s ship parked off to the side.
Dr. Snowden looked around outside through the transparent front screen. The hangar bay was large, and several other ships were nearby. Various people ran around in brown one-piece suits with gadgets in their hands. He could tell they were all nonhumans. It made sense that if the Purifiers were exterminating all nonhumans, then the nonhumans would band together and try to survive.
“Come, let us find out what is going on,” said Evaran, waving toward the Torvatta entrance.
Dr. Snowden nodded. “This new timeline has been … interesting to say the least.”
“Yeah … sucks so far,” said Emily.
They exited the Torvatta. Miles ran out of John’s ship with Shandra in his arms followed by Dizz and Cantol carrying Brills on a stretcher of some type. They disappeared into a large hallway. John and Hermes approached Evaran.
Dr. Snowden noted that Hermes looked a lot different than what he had imagined. A part of him expected to see some type of ancient Greek clothing and armor. Instead, Hermes wore a lightly armored gold-and-white suit over his thin build. It made sense given the time period they were in.
“Evaran … you crafty dog!” said Hermes with a wide smile and both hands flashed out to the side. When he was near Evaran, he extended his arm.
Evaran exchanged a forearm grab and shake with Hermes. “You are still alive. Impressive.”
“Well … can’t kill what they can’t catch.”
“Fair enough,” said Evaran. He turned toward John. “Let Miles and the others know that no medical intervention is needed for Brills and Shandra. The healing nanobots will stabilize their condition. If anything, they just need a place to lie down and recover.”
John nodded and relayed Evaran’s message.
Hermes extended a hand toward Dr. Snowden. “Dr. Snowden, glad to meet you. I’m sure Evaran has mentioned me to you a lot.”
Dr. Snowden shook Hermes’s hand. “We … have heard of you.”
“All good, I hope,” said Hermes. He held out a hand toward Emily, palm up.
Emily glanced at Evaran. She raised her eyebrows as she put her hand in Hermes’s hand.
Hermes bent forward and kissed Emily’s hand. “You would make Aphrodite jealous.”
Evaran eyed Hermes. “Hermes …”
Emily’s face turned a shade of red as she pulled her hand back.
Hermes pointed a finger at Evaran. “Right!” He grinned and winked his right eye. “Old habits die hard.”
“We have heard a lot about you and Emily,” said John.
Dr. Snowden shook John’s hand as did Emily when John offered it.
“We have a lot to discuss. Let’s go the command center so I can get you up to speed,” said John.
Evaran gestured forward. “Lead on.”
They exited the docking bay and entered a large hallway.
As they walked, John pointed around. “This is the Gallant, the Earth Guard’s mobile command base. We had to position it way out here because … well, the Purifiers are everywhere else.”
They turned a corner onto a slightly angled ramp that went on for a bit.
“What is the Earth Guard exactly?” asked Emily.
Hermes slid over to Emily and smiled. “Well … originally we defended Earth from all threats.” He crooked a thumb at Evaran. “He wasn’t always around, so someone had to do it.”
John nodded. “Yes, what Hermes says is true. However, as time went on and the Purifiers gained dominance over Earth, we had to flee. Our mission changed per Lord Vygon.”
“Lord Vygon … an ancient vampire,” said Evaran. “I have heard of him.”
“An ancient one? How’s that different from a regular one?” asked Emily.
John chuckled. “They are a different vampire strain and tend to be a lot older, stronger, and faster, for one.” He grinned at Emily. “You have nothing to fear from us. No vampire would ever bite you.”
Hermes raised a finger. “Now those Greek gods on the other hand …”
Emily chuckled.
“Why would a vampire never bite Emily?” asked Dr. Snowden with wrinkled eyebrows.
They hit the top of the ramp and turned into another hallway.
“She’s protected, as you are,” said John.
“I guess that goes without saying,” said Emily, tossing a quick grin at Evaran.
John glanced sidelong at Hermes. “That’s not what I meant. You have nanobots.” Before a puzzled Dr. Snowden could respond, John waved them into a room. “We’re here.”
Dr. Snowden wondered why nanobots would prevent a vampire from biting them. Maybe John knew something even Evaran did not. He had seen Brills and Shandra get an injection of nanobots, so he did not think that they were toxic to nonhumans. The ones in him and Emily were different than the healing nanobots. Maybe they were lethal to anyone else. He surveyed the room as they entered it. The room was rectangular for the most part, except the end, which was a half circle. The rounded part of the room had a large screen covering the wall, with a podium-like structure to the side. In the rectangular part of the room were three long tables placed in a U formation, with the open area pointing toward the rounded part of the room.
John indicated for Evaran, Dr. Snowden, and Emily to sit at the leftmost table. Hermes sat on the edge of the table opposite them. John went up to the podium and tapped at its slanted surface. After a moment, the large screen lit up blue. “Give me one moment …”
Hermes smiled. “He has to configure what can and can’t be said.”
“Why?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“Oh, you know … which Evaran shows up … what companions are present … has Evaran met Lord Vygon …”
“I see,” said Evaran. “This briefing is intended to avoid mentioning anything in particular about my personal future.”
Hermes sucked his lips in and raised his eyebrows as he nodded.
Dr. Snowden looked at Emily, who shrugged. In their previous adventure, they had come across someone who had met a future Evaran in the past and would not say anything about that meeting.
“Before we begin, I just wanted to say how impressed I was back at the station,” said John. “It took a group of us to fight one exterminator, and you handled a group by yourself.”
“That’s Evaran. Always beating one group down or another,” said Hermes with a smile.
Evaran narrowed his eyes. “I avoid violence if at all possible.”
Hermes laughed. “I know … but you’re like a violence magnet!”
Evaran looked down.
Dr. Snowden studied Hermes and Evaran’s interaction. It was true that violence always seemed to find Evaran. Maybe that was the price paid for standing up against injustice. Given the types of people Evaran ran across, it made sense to Dr. Snowden that violence would be inevitable, even if it was just self-defense.
“Okay, I think we’re ready,” said John, clearing his throat. He tapped at the podium console, and the screen changed to a horizontal timeline. He pointed to the first dot on the far left. “This is 2635 BC. Starting then and roughly one hundred years forward, nonhumans disappeared. Talking pantheon Outsiders … ancient vampires … Wildborn … and the like.”
“What is known of the disappearances?” asked Evaran.
John gestured toward Hermes.
“Ahh … yeah … was a pretty rough time. There was no trace of someone once they
were gone. Literally, none. Some guys in black clothing always seemed to be around when it occurred, so we think they are related, but we had no hard proof.”
“Did your pantheon survive this?” asked Evaran.
“We did … but almost everyone left back through our portal and sealed it off. Obviously, some of us decided to stay.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” said Evaran. He nodded at John. “Go on.”
The screen changed to a global map with large red circles appearing across it.
“The red circles represent areas where Lord Vygon could not sense any nonhuman presence,” said John. “When he presented this to the Helians, they didn’t believe him. These Purifiers then announced themselves by destroying Atlantis, and with that, any resistance the Helians might have done was gone. Most pantheons left Earth around this time, leaving most of us other nonhumans to fend for ourselves.”
“Did you say Atlantis? The mythical city in the sea?” asked Dr. Snowden.
Hermes snorted. “Not mythical at all. It was the home base of the Helians. They didn’t share technology and hoarded it. Didn’t do ’em much good in the end.”
“Yeah,” said John. The screen changed back to the timeline. “By 1100 BC, the Purifiers had, for the most part, conquered Earth. Every nonhuman at this point was off the planet somewhere in space, hiding on the planet, or back in the original pocket universe they came from.” He pointed at Evaran. “Lord Vygon believed that you would come and that you would not allow this to occur.”
“I am curious. Why did he believe this?”
“He was temporally aware and said he knew the future that would come was not the one unfolding before him.”
“He had seen the future then.”
“Yeah … I can’t say how, though.”
Emily chuckled. “Let me guess, Evaran’s rules.”
John bobbed his head. “Yeah … You’ve run across them before, I take it?”
“Not too long ago actually. How widespread are the Purifiers now?” asked Emily.
John nodded and pointed at AD 100 on the timeline. “Well, by here, they had conquered the solar system.” He pointed to AD 500. “By here, they had defeated the Seceltor Empire. The thing that really marked their purpose came out then. They exterminated every alien they found. Genocide.”
“Wow … these are some deranged people. Surely the Kreagan Star Empire stood up to them,” said Dr. Snowden.
John shook his head as he pointed to AD 1500. “This was when the Kreagan Star Empire ceded almost eighty percent of their territory after the Battle of Kreagus. The emperor had been killed and the Kreagans were fleeing en masse. To be fair, they fought hard, but they couldn’t keep pace with the Purifier technology. It seemed to jump much faster than the Kreagans could respond, and they never found where it came from.”
Emily looked at Evaran. “So our adventure with the Fredorians …”
Evaran nodded. “Never happened in this new timeline.”
“Oh … ,” said Emily, glancing at Dr. Snowden.
“Is anyone providing resistance to them other than yourselves?” asked Evaran.
John pointed at Dr. Snowden. “You mentioned Seeros earlier. He heads up a small group of civilizations that use floating cities to harass and defend their territory. He’s actually won a few battles. The weird thing is, Seeros fights not to liberate, but because he was offended at the Purifiers’ Evaran Protocol.”
Dr. Snowden shook his head. “He’s crazy in any timeline, it seems.”
Hermes chuckled. “Maybe so, but he singlehandedly destroyed a platoon of exterminators without a weapon. There is a rumor that he squared off with the overlord himself, and made the overlord retreat. I think the Purifiers fear him. They even have a Seeros protocol.”
Emily looked at Evaran. “What about Max, or the great selector? Wouldn’t they get involved?”
Evaran shook his head. “Most likely not. They may be aware of it, but would not interfere. Otherwise, this would have been over long ago.”
John tilted his head. “Max?”
“A powerful being we met a while back. He would be under guard still, though,” said Evaran.
“Well, I think it’s clear what needs to happen then,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Yes. We will head to 2635 BC.”
John raised a finger. “You can start by looking for Atlantis. They should know where Lord Vygon is.”
“He doesn’t know where he was back then?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“When he changed the mission of the Earth Guard to deliver this information, it had been over three hundred years by then,” said John.
“Point taken,” said Dr. Snowden.
Hermes smiled. “I do have a question before you go.” He glanced at John, then at Evaran. “It would settle a debate.”
“Go ahead.”
“If you correct the timeline, we won’t exist anymore, at least in this state,” said Hermes. “Traveling in your ship is known to have a temporary temporal shielding effect. So the question is … assuming you’re successful and change the past and me and John have this shielded effect, would we experience the rest of our lives in this timeline, or would we pop into the old timeline due to our temporal shielding?”
Evaran smiled. “It depends. The temporal shielding effect has a lifespan of several days. It is independent of any universal timeline and is tied to the Torvatta’s timing. If a timeline change occurs within that window, you pop into the new timeline at the point you got the temporal shielding. If it has dissipated, you live out your life in the old timeline. For example, if you both had the effect now, and we successfully changed the past in one day relative to the Torvatta, you would pop into the new timeline. If it took us five days, you would still reside in this timeline and disappear with it.”
Hermes jumped up. “Hah! We’re both right.”
John smirked. “At least we now know.”
“What’s the Earth Guard gonna do now?” asked Emily.
John studied Emily and gave Hermes a sidelong glance. “The Gallant is a colony ship. We’re leaving to another part of this galaxy. I guess in the end, it won’t matter since I’m guessing Evaran will change the timeline. If we’re to experience the rest of our lives, though, better to do it in peace than in a war we can’t win.”
Evaran nodded. “I agree with your assessment and wish you the best of luck.” He stood and looked at Emily. “It appears your wish to see the past has been granted.”
After spending the next day on the Gallant, they assembled in the Torvatta’s command area the following morning. Evaran sat in his command chair while V fidgeted with the command console. Dr. Snowden and Emily took their usual seats.
Dr. Snowden reflected on his time on the Gallant. He had enjoyed his conversations with Hermes. They were enthralled by Hermes’s stories of how pantheons worked, where they fit into the nonhuman power structure, how they got to Earth, and the various politics involved. Dr. Snowden chuckled at how excited Emily had been, not that it was a surprise to him. Being a history major, she would have naturally gobbled all that up. Of course, Hermes more than enjoyed talking to Emily, with a few raised eyebrows from time to time from Dr. Snowden.
They had visited the medical center and checked on Brills and Shandra. Both were doing fine, as expected, with a recovery time of a few days. Shandra filled them in on the Everoak lineage and tree-shifter history. Miles, Dizz, and Cantol had a bevy of questions for Evaran. Miles in particular wanted to know exactly how strong Evaran was, which led to an awkward pushing contest. Evaran won with ease. Dizz and Cantol exchanged fighting techniques with Evaran.
Dr. Snowden also enjoyed his conversations with John. It was apparent John was a great leader. He kept the Earth Guard organized, and Dr. Snowden noted that John seemed relieved that the Gallant could finally leave. Dr. Snowden spent quite a bit of time digging into the vampire hierarchy, history, and politics. What surprised him was how well-known Evaran was to the ancient vampires. Even more surprising
was how many types of vampires there were, each with their own organizational structure. John had mentioned that he, Dizz, and Cantol were not ancient vampires but chose to be turned by Lord Vygon. As such, they served under him in House Vygon. They were all that was left of it.
Dr. Snowden studied the front right screen, which showed the Gallant growing smaller. He wished they could come, but Evaran had said that they belonged to this timeline. He glanced at Evaran. “So … to 2635 BC then?”
Evaran nodded.
Dr. Snowden walked up to the guardrail around the front of the ship. Emily joined him. He always loved watching the stars disappear and reappear during time travel.
The stars outside the Torvatta shimmered briefly before fading to pure black. After a moment, they eased back into view with a slight shimmer effect.
“Analysis. We have arrived at June 3, 2635 BC, at nine a.m.”
Emily looked at V. “That’s a pretty specific date, and I don’t think it was called June back then.”
V tilted his head at Emily. “The universal translator converts universal time into a time reference you would understand.”
“Oh … ,” said Emily.
Evaran glanced at her. “It is the same time translation that takes place on your PSD. You can configure it to show multiple time references. However, they are based off a universal time system independent of any interpretation.”
“Gotcha,” said Emily.
“V, take us to Earth and extend the utility rods,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged,” said V. The front right screen showed a shot of the sides of the Torvatta. Two black rods extended out with an orange tip. “Utility rods extended beyond shielding.”
A gold beam shot out from the Torvatta, opening a portal. The Torvatta flew through it and exited above Earth.
“Scan for communications,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged.”
V’s hands flew across the front console. “Communications beacon detected. Scanning for matching protocol.” The front right screen showed a rapid dissemination of code before a segment highlighted. “Protocol found. Relaying.”
