To See the Sky

by L. M. Brown

  “There are always other options.”

  “Sure, I can starve to death or take up thieving.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  AJ pulled away and turned his back on Ryder. “I’m not trying to be funny. I’m telling you my options and they aren’t pretty.”

  “Living as a whore isn’t pretty either. I won’t let you do it.”

  AJ stiffened. “You don’t own me,” he snapped. “No more than Blake does.”

  “Don’t you dare compare me to Blake,” Ryder barked back at him. “I know you belong to no one but yourself. But AJ, I want a future with you, and I don’t see one for us at all if you make your credits by spreading your legs for other men.”

  “No man is going to fuck me again. I told you that. From now on I make the decisions and that’s going to be my first rule.”

  “That’s not the point,” Ryder snapped. “I don’t want you doing anything with other men. I don’t want you fucking them, sucking them or even letting them touch you.”

  “If that’s the only way I can make credits, you’ll have to put up with it.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  “You say you don’t want me to compare you to Blake, then stop speaking like you can control what I do with my life.”

  “I’m not trying to control you, but if you insist on doing this, I don’t see a future for us. I won’t be able to stand by and wonder what you are doing when you take another man to your bed.”

  “I never asked you to.”

  “If you want to see me again after this week, and at the same time continue to make a living as a whore, then that’s exactly what you’re asking. Can you at least try to find other work?”

  “Do you think I haven’t looked for other ways to earn credits?”

  “I don’t know! It’s not like you confide in me. It’s not like you trust me.”

  AJ turned to face Ryder before he spoke again. “Is that what this is about? Because I won’t let you fuck me?”

  “No, it wasn’t, but since you brought it up, yes it hurts me when you make it clear you’ll never trust me enough to offer yourself to me in that way.”

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I know you say it doesn’t have to hurt, but I can still feel Blake in me, even now.”

  Ryder rubbed AJ’s shoulder affectionately. “I would never hurt you like he has.”

  “You wouldn’t mean to.”

  “Can you at least trust me enough to try it once?” Ryder asked. “I don’t mean right now, just when you’re ready.”

  “What if I’m never ready?”

  “It’s not a question of you being ready or not. It’s whether you trust me enough to think about it. Do you trust me?”

  AJ nodded. “Yes.”

  Ryder wrapped his arms round AJ’s waist and rested his chin on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

  Their main problem, of how AJ would earn his living, had not been resolved. The discussion would come to the fore again. AJ hoped when it did a solution would present itself, else he feared the arguments would tear him and Ryder apart forever.

  * * * *

  As nice as it would have been to stay in the sleeping chamber all day, Ryder was determined not to let the entire day slip away from them.

  “Come on, I want to go back to the archives.”

  AJ groaned and buried his head under the pillow. “What for?” he mumbled.

  “I want to know why Blake tore up the book about his ancestor. It’s a little extreme, even for him. He’s hiding something and I want to know what.”

  “Why does it matter?” AJ asked. “Everyone has some secret or another.”

  “Maybe it’s of no consequence, but it’s bothering me and I want to know. Come with me?”

  AJ tossed the pillow to one side. “It’s not like I’ll be any help there,” he pointed out.

  “I’d rather have you there with me than worry about you being here without me when Blake gets back.”

  AJ sat up and sighed. “Well, when you put it like that…”

  The rest of the staff agreed to cover for them and they made their way back to the archives, this time taking the journal of Blake’s great-grandfather with them.

  The woman at the checkout desk was far from happy to hear about the destruction of the book Ryder had borrowed, but when he paid for the damage—clearing out most of his credits in the process—and promised not to take any further books out for the time being she agreed to let them through. It didn’t take long for Ryder to find a second copy of the book Blake had torn up.

  They found a table and Ryder quickly skimmed through the two books side by side, comparing the journal of the scientist with the biography of his life written during his last few years.

  “Here it is,” Ryder whispered. “According to the biography the time travel experiment was a failure and no stable wormhole was ever established.”

  “Wormhole?”

  “A portal or doorway into the past,” Ryder explained.

  “Sounds like a great achievement, if it had worked.”

  “According to the journal, it did. There’s talk of unstable portals, just as the biography says, but there’s also mention of successes. According to the journal at least three people managed to travel into the past and return here, one of them being Blake’s great-grandfather.”

  “Then why does the biography say the experiment was a failure? Surely something so good would have been shouted from the top of the towers?”

  “You’d have thought so, but if this journal is correct everything was all hushed up.”

  “It sounds rather dodgy if you ask me.”

  “Me too. There must be a reason for the cover-up.”

  “Credits,” AJ said.

  “I don’t see how they can make credits from this. They would surely have made more by going public with their success.”

  “It’s the only answer,” AJ insisted. “I’m telling you, behind this, someone—probably Blake if his temper tantrum is anything to go by—is making a nice little profit.”

  “I wonder…”

  AJ looked at Ryder who had a faraway look on his face. “What is it?”

  “If Blake has the power to travel though time he could send us back to the past to start a new life together.”

  “And why would he do that? Out of the goodness of his heart?” AJ shook his head at the preposterous idea.

  “I’m afraid my thinking runs more along the lines of blackmail,” Ryder replied. “He obviously doesn’t want anyone to know about this. It’s in his interests to keep us quiet and if we’re in the past we have no way of blowing the whistle on him.”

  Could Ryder’s plan be possible? AJ looked at the two books Ryder held before him. He was too uneducated to read the complicated scientific words the volumes contained. He didn’t understand how time travel worked and had no idea whether Blake would let Ryder blackmail him. One thing he did know was that the spark of excitement in Ryder’s eyes was contagious and he found himself hoping they might get their chance at a new life together. One away from both the labyrinth and Blake, in a past where the world didn’t consist of underground caverns and a person could walk on the surface of the planet without choking to death on poisonous gases. Could such a life really be within their grasp?

  * * * *

  They returned to the tower with a lot on their minds. Ryder was firmly convinced this was the answer to their problem. AJ, despite Ryder’s enthusiasm, wasn’t so sure. He didn’t trust Blake and saw no reason why he would agree to go along with Ryder’s plan.

  They discussed the possibilities in the privacy of the sleeping chamber until Jessiah risked Ryder’s wrath to poke his head round the door and tell them Blake had returned from work. It seemed their time alone was up.

  “Just remember, you only have to get through one more day,” Ryder reminded him with a quick kiss on the lips.

  “I know. I’m counting the minutes.”

  “And don’t let him make you do anything y
ou don’t want to,” Ryder added. “He has no right to hit you, not with his hand or anything else.”

  “He’s getting impatient out there,” Jessiah called through the door. “You’d better hurry and see what he wants.”

  AJ dressed as quickly as he could and rushed to see what Blake wanted from him tonight.

  “Where have you been?” Blake asked when AJ halted before him.

  “I was asleep.”

  Blake gave him a nasty smile. “Building up your energy for what I have planned tonight, or is that a euphemism for letting Ryder fuck you?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” AJ lied easily.

  “Of course you don’t.” The sarcasm practically oozed from every word out of Blake’s mouth. “Tell me, whore, what does my servant have that I don’t? What can he offer you that I can’t?”

  “Love.”

  “There’s no such thing.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “Believe what you like. Love is a myth and even if it were real, Ryder doesn’t love you. He doesn’t even know you. Has he said he loves you?”

  “No. He doesn’t have to.”

  “He hasn’t said the words because he knows they aren’t true.”

  AJ didn’t want to argue about whether or not Ryder loved him or not. He might not have said the words, but AJ could see his affection in every glance and feel the depth of his feeling in every touch.

  “What has Ryder offered you?” Blake asked. “What makes his offer so much more attractive than mine? Tell me, whore, what is your dearest wish in all the world? Tell me what you desire, and if it’s in my power to grant it, then it’ll be yours.”

  AJ had no doubt at all Blake didn’t care about granting his wish as much as he wanted to outdo anything Ryder did for him. AJ felt sad when he realised Blake simply couldn’t understand the concept of love. AJ looked past Blake and out of the dark window at the polluted night sky. Was Ryder correct about the time travel experiment? Did Blake really possess the power to send them to another time? “You can’t give me what I want.”

  “Try me?”

  “I want to see the sky, blue and clear as it was long ago,” AJ replied. “That is my dearest wish, so tell me, can you grant it?”

  Blake went still in his seat. “What has Ryder been telling you?”

  “I already told you, he hasn’t said he loves me yet.”

  “I’m not talking about soppy declarations of love. What has he been telling you about the portal?” It appeared as though Ryder had been right all along. AJ couldn’t hide his growing fear as Blake’s temper and voice rose.

  “You asked what I wanted and I told you. I picked something I knew you couldn’t give me.”

  “Ryder!” Blake shouted at the top of his voice. “Get in here now.”

  Ryder appeared a moment later. His appearance was so prompt AJ suspected he had been listening at the door.

  “What have you been snooping into now?” Blake shouted as he rose to his feet.

  “I’ve been doing a bit of reading. It’s amazing how the history books get things wrong.” Ryder sat down on the sofa and crossed one leg over the other casually. “Seems as though your great-grandfather never got the credit he deserved for some of his achievements.”

  “Who else have you told about the portal?”

  “No one. Yet.”

  Blake took a seat opposite Ryder, leaving AJ hovering between them. “What is it you want?”

  “A new life in the past with AJ,” Ryder said simply. “You send us back in time and we take your secret with us.”

  “How do I know you haven’t already told someone about this?”

  “You don’t. But what choice do you have except to trust we haven’t?”

  “Is that all you want?”

  “Your word we won’t be followed and the supplies to survive in the past until we get on our feet would be nice.”

  “It would, wouldn’t it?” Blake sneered. “Is there any time in particular you want to suggest or do I get to choose for you?”

  “Early twenty-first century,” Ryder said. “Far enough before the war for us to be long dead before it occurs, but not so far in the past that we’d struggle to survive.”

  “You’ve put some thought into this, haven’t you?”

  “Just a bit.”

  “Anything else?”

  “The rest of the staff gets to choose if they come with us.”

  “And what do I do with no staff?”

  “Make do. Hire more.”

  Blake shook his head firmly. “No deal. They don’t know anything about the portal, unless you’re lying about telling them. I’d rather keep it that way.”

  AJ turned to look at the kitchen door and saw it was securely closed. The rest of the staff seemed mostly content with their lives here. It wasn’t as though they went without and despite his temper Blake did seem to take care of them. AJ had no idea what they might find in the past, assuming Blake agreed to Ryder’s terms. Perhaps the others were better off here, at least for now.

  Blake stood up and stalked towards the door leading out of the apartment. “Come with me, both of you.”

  AJ looked at Ryder who appeared as startled as he was. Did Blake intend to give them what they wanted so easily? Blake didn’t wait to see if they followed and they had to hurry to catch him up.

  AJ soon recognised the route as the one he had taken with Blake on the first morning when he’d taken him to work with him. Sure enough, they soon arrived at the laboratory, which was empty of everyone now that the working day had ended.

  “You want to see blue skies?” Blake snarled. “You think life was so bloody marvellous back then? You’re in for a nasty shock, both of you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ryder asked. “How bad can the past be compared to a world mankind has destroyed?” AJ silently agreed. Anything had to be better than the labyrinth.

  AJ inched closer to Ryder as Blake pushed one button after another on the console in front him. The dim laboratory lit up with a silvery white light that shimmered along the length of the opposite wall. AJ had never seen anything like it. The sight was both beautiful and terrifying.

  “Is that what I think it is?” AJ whispered.

  “It looks like a portal to me,” Ryder replied.

  “One portal to the twenty-first century,” Blake declared with a wave of his hand towards the light. “You want to see the blue skies over your heads, then here’s your chance. All you have to do is walk through the portal and you get your wish. Just remember what they say about being careful what you wish for.”

  “How have you kept this a secret?” Ryder asked. “The power this must be consuming has to show up on the records somewhere.”

  “It’s not as big a secret as you think,” Blake replied. “The science teams know about the portals and have used them frequently to bring in supplies to support our world, including electric generators. Each team concentrates on a particular product and monopolises the market by buying in bulk in the past and selling at a profit here in the future.”

  “Why not just let everyone travel to the past instead?”

  “Because back there we’re no one. Here we have control and we intend to keep it.”

  “Why don’t you bring back enough food and goods to support everyone?” AJ asked. “There are thousands of people starving in the labyrinth.”

  Blake snorted with contempt. “If you want to save the world, why not go through the portal and start by trying to prevent a few wars? There were plenty of them back then.”

  “Maybe we should stay here and expose Blake and the rest of the scientists?” AJ suggested to Ryder. “They’re taking advantage of the portals to get rich.”

  “Do you really think a whoring lab rat and an unemployed servant can change things?” Blake pulled out a stun gun and turned it on the two of them. “Walk through the portal or I’ll stun you both and push you through the damn thing myself.”

  Ryder took AJ’s h
and and guided him towards the portal.

  “We can’t let him get away with this,” AJ whispered.

  “We have no choice right now,” Ryder replied. “Just go with it and we’ll think of something later.”

  “What later? We’ll be in the past.”

  Blake coughed to get their attention and silently reminded them of the stun gun he held.

  Ryder nodded and pulled AJ into the portal with him.

  Chapter Eleven

  The laboratory disappeared from sight as they stepped through the portal. AJ felt a cold breeze wash over him and he broke out in goose bumps. Despite the bright light the wormhole gave off, AJ could see nothing until they tumbled out the other side a moment later. Their arrival in the past was pretty uneventful, apart from AJ promptly falling into the small stream they appeared at the edge of. Thankfully the water was shallow and all he suffered was some wet clothes and a few more bruises on his already battered arse. Ryder reached down and pulled him up.

  They took stock of their surroundings, or at least as much as they could since they had arrived in the middle of the night and a thick fog surrounded them.

  “How do we know Blake won’t double-cross us?” AJ asked.

  “We don’t. Come on, let’s get out of here and see if we can find shelter for the night.”

  “Which way?”

  Ryder shrugged. “Let’s follow the stream. Villages and towns were often built next to water sources.”

  It seemed as good a plan as any and they set off along a path running parallel to the stream. The ground felt strange under AJ’s feet. It was softer than anything he had walked on before and he said as much to Ryder.

  “It’s grass,” Ryder explained.

  AJ crouched down on the floor to touch the strange substance. The greenery he had longed to see was right beneath his feet. Only the darkness of the night prevented him seeing the fragile blades.

  “Do you think the ocean might be close by?” he asked, having been fascinated with the great body of water since his visit to the archives.

  “I don’t know,” Ryder admitted. “You’re supposed to be able to smell the sea in the air when you’re nearby.”