by Drew Wagar
The older Zerz was grinning. “It’s been a long chase, but this is the end of your story.”
Rebecca and Jim saw their counterparts grasp hold of each other’s hands. The older Zerz squeezed the gun’s trigger and they fell backwards into the sphere. The gun hadn’t fired.
“Damn them!” the younger Zerz said. “Where did they go?”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen… ” the older Zerz said, confused. “I remember seeing them killed when I was you!”
“Now!” Jim snapped under his breath. They both leapt out of their hiding place.
Zerz was knocked flying by a blow from Rebecca, who leapt at him from behind. Jim likewise, ran from the opposite side, knocking down the older Zerz. Both were taken by complete surprise.
The older Zerz went down like a canister in a high grav field, his weapon skittering across the glowing surface, stopping a scant half metre from the spinning globe.
The younger Zerz got to his feet first, and scrambled towards the weapon. Rebecca tackled him by his legs, bringing him back down to the ground. Zerz kicked out with his feet, half stunning her. Her head spun as she tried to regain his senses.
Meanwhile, Jim had knocked the older Zerz out cold. He scrambled to his feet, ready to launch himself across at the gun.
The younger Zerz stepped across and picked it up. Jim froze.
“A good try,” he said, training it on Jim. “But to no avail. Curiously, the fact that you were warned about me implies that I have been successful in using Raxxla already. I was also warned about your own counterparts from the future! This time their intervention will fail. I shall be successful again!”
“Give it up, Zerz!” Jim shouted. “It’s too dangerous! We don’t know what we’re dealing with!”
“Galcop must survive,” Zerz grated out. “Galcop WILL survive! If I dispose of you now, you will be unable to come back and interfere again.”
“Zerz, Listen! Our older-selves didn’t tell us much, but they did say at a crisis develops in the future,” Jim said, trying to reason with him.
“ The Selezen crisis, I know about that. The wormholes collapse, Jim! Galcop is finished. Our President signs a humiliating resignation and rescinds our consti tution in 3174. This much I already know. It will not allow it happen!”
Jim’s mind was racing. He saw Rebecca sidle slightly closer to Zerz, trying to move behind him.
Keep him distracted! Eight channels. Eight streams of witchspace energy. All being generated from a single source. What does it mean?
“They said it was your fault! You cause it!”
“I have done nothing but try to preserve Galcop. It is your interference which has prevented me from succeeding!”
“Zerz you know as well as I that time travel has to be the most dangerous tool imaginable, how can we predict all the consequences of our actions… ”
“Enough!” Zerz was clearly past the point of reason, a man obsessed. “I have been to the future, and I will go again. Technology will save Galcop. We will retain our premier position. You will not stop me! This is over for both of you!”
“Zerz, wait!” Jim shouted.
He raised the gun, glaring at Jim. “You first!”
“Don’t fire! You don’t know… !”
Rebecca launched herself towards Zerz with a cry of anger. Her foot swept out in a high kick at his arm.
Zerz was knocked off balance as he fired the weapon at Jim. Jim had seen it coming, and leapt out of the way across one of the channels. He misjudged the jump in his haste, not running quickly enough to gain the other side. He slammed into the opposite side with a crushing blow and slid back downwards. He struggled for grip and was left hanging precariously over the edge, just above the whirling torrent of energy.
The gun spiralled through the air, dropping into the energy channel near Jim.
Zerz struck back at Rebecca. But she moved back in time, regaining her balance. She held out the knife.
“Just you and me, Furvel,” she said coldly. “No shields, no tech. Let’s see what you’re really made of.”
Zerz drew himself up to his full height, he was over a foot taller than her. He cast his cloak aside.
“I should warn you that I am schooled in many off-world forms of hand to hand combat,” he said dismissively. “You would do well to give up now. I’ll make it quick for you.”
“I’m the one with the knife!”
“Very well. Let us proceed with this foolishness.”
She feinted with the knife, Zerz retreated. She stabbed forward. Zerz retreated again.
Rebecca swiped at Zerz and then reversed the direction of her thrust, catching Zerz on the arm. He jumped back, nursing a long cut just above his wrist.
“ You continue to surprise me, fâché,” Zerz admitted. “You fight as you fly. The mistress of feinting.”
Jim was struggling to climb up the smooth sides of the channel. He could get no purchase with his feet. His struggling was making the situation worse as his grip on the edge was tenuous at best. He was slowly slipping backwards. From his vantage point he could see Zerz and Rebecca circling each other.
He was also conscious of a strange hum that was growing in strength from somewhere nearby. Looking down he could see the gun that had dropped into the channel. It was lying in the midst of the energy stream. It was beginning to glow. He didn’t like the look of it.
I need to get out of here!
Rebecca had inflicted two more wounds on Zerz. One across the chest and one on his other arm. He charged her, striking out with his fists. Rebecca danced away. He staggered momentarily.
“Not so confident now?” she mocked.
In an instant he turned, sweeping his leg out. It struck Rebecca at the ankles and she went down. She was back on her feet in an instant, but not before Zerz had grabbed her by the wrist.
“Your confidence is your weakness,” he whispered, squeezing his grip tighter. “You have still not learnt your place.”
Rebecca gasped in pain as his fingers dug into her wrist. Blood welled up as his nails punctured her skin. The knife tumbled from her grip. Zerz dealt her a backhand swipe across the face and she was flung to the floor.
Zerz picked up the knife, advancing on Rebecca. Rebecca retreated, scrambling backwards. Zerz held out the knife in front of him.
“I will be rid of you!” he snarled at her with almost animal-like vehemence, passing the knife from hand to hand. “I am going to take you apart! One slice at a time! Break every bone in your body! Eviscerate you in front of your eyes!”
The hum below Jim had increased to a shriek of noise. It was the gun, overloading. Jim was expecting it to explode any second. Desperately, he struggled. More by panic than good sense he managed to get a leg up onto the edge of the channel and pulled himself up and over.
“Zerz! No! Leave her alone!”
Zerz reached out and grabbed Rebecca’s ankle. He pulled her towards him with one arm and whipped the knife across with the other. Rebecca screamed as he slashed the skin on her outstretched leg. He raised his arm for another swipe.
The gun exploded, the ground shuddering violently.
The energy stream reacted violently, spewing out tendrils of energy which struck out, shorting back along the path of the energy channels, striking back into the spinning globe immediately behind Zerz. More tendrils flickered around them.
Jim, Zerz and Rebecca flinched and desperately tried to avoid being hit. Jim was hurled aside, Rebecca screamed as a tendril flickered across her body. Zerz’ outstretched arm was also hit. He yelled in pain and the knife went flying.
If one of the channels is disrupted… .
In a split second the globe contracted, replaced by an impossibly bright point of light, like a miniature supernova. For a moment everything became still.
Rebecca rolled over and saw the knife had landed nearby. She grabbed it, but not before Zerz secured his grip on her ankle again. Jim slowly got to his feet, stunned by his fall. He was too far a
way.
A rippling wave of blue actinic light, framed by lightning, began expanding from the point of light, like a miniature slow-motion Q-Bomb.
Rebecca stared in dread, shock and surprise. She pointing behind Zerz. “Behind… ”
Zerz looked amused. “Foolish girl, you can’t possibly think… ”
Zerz half turned, sensing movement and then looked, seeing nothing but a blue wall of energy, expanding towards him. He became conscious of a screeching sound, a high pitched tone signifying imminent danger, and a tremor running through the ground.
“No… !”
He tried to move, but the expanding sphere had already made contact with him. He shrieked as the energy effect began dissolving his body.
“If I die, you’re coming with me!” he cried, yanking Rebecca towards him. “I swear it! I’ve never broken my word!”
Rebecca desperately scrabbled for grip on the smooth floor. Her fingernails scratched on the surface.
She twisted around; the knife was still in her hand.
She stabbed upwards. The knife went straight into Zerz’ unprotected chest.
“There’s a first time for everything!” she snarled, twisting the knife viciously. “ROT IN HELL!”
Zerz let out a short gasp, his expression turning vacant. With shocking suddenness his head and torso were swallowed by the blue energy sphere. The grip on her ankle loosened and she back-pedalled away as Zerz’ arms disappeared.
The blue energy field was expanding just a little faster than walking speed, a slow but inexorable widening of its diameter, within it the white material that had formed the ground was melting away like dry ice in a hot blast of air.
Rebecca saw it touch the form of the older Zerz, and saw his body disintegrate in a flash of scintillating energy. It was just a few metres away from her. She was paralysed with shock, she idly watched the blood dripping out of the slash on her leg.
“Rebecca!” Jim shouted, throwing himself towards her. “Get out of there!”
The blue flickering energy field was growing faster now, expanding from where the globe had been, subsuming it, smothering it. Rebecca managed to get to her feet and was slowly backing away as if in a daze. The energy field quickly reached the edge of the stepped area and kept moving. Rebecca limped away, tripping over her own feet and falling onto her back.
“Move!” Jim cried out. He finally reached her, grabbed her arm and bodily dragged her backwards. The edge of the blue energy field was only centimetres away by the time she regained her footing.
They scrambled up to the edge of the amphitheatre, sparing a glance backwards. The column of light had now taken on a distinct blue and violet tinge. A wind was rising, blowing backwards towards the energy field, growing swiftly in strength. Around them was a scream of noise, a pulsing cacophony of tortured reality.
“Look!” Rebecca shouted in dismay, pointing upwards.
Overhead in the far distance, where the column of light presumably met the top of the space they were enclosed in, something was happening. The whiteness was rolling back, revealing a gaping hole, through which stars were beginning to shine through.
“The whole place is disappearing!” he yelled over the deafening thrumming around them, “We’ve got to get out of here!”
With no further hesitation they turned and ran towards the Eclipse, the whiteness unravelling and disappearing behind them. They were conscious of the air rushing past them with increasing vigour, everything around them was beginning to disintegrate. The temperature was dropping sharply, thin wisps of moisture were whipping past, coating them in chilling moisture.
They staggered on, almost bent double against the wind. Rebecca reached the airlock first, struggling against the buffeting of the airflow. It was almost like getting caught in a decompression, so violent was the flow of air. There was a wind-shear around the edge of the Eclipse’s flank, gusting fiercely.
Conversation was impossible. Rebecca grabbed hold of an exposed handle and gestured for Jim to grab on to her, her hair whipping around her face. He was a few metres behind her.
Hurry, Jim!
It was getting hard to breathe. The air pressure was dropping fast. They would be in a vacuum before long! The cold wind and freezing liquid was leaching the heat out of her hands, she could see the tips of her fingers were going blue. Frost was forming on them. The thin dress she was wearing was no defence against the merciless battering.
So cold…
She couldn’t hold on. Slowly by degrees, she lost feeling in her hands. Her grip faltered and she fell to the ground.
She started sliding backwards along the ground, She desperately tried to stop her movement, but she was helplessly skidding towards the energy field which seemed to be drawing everything towards it. She shouted, but her voice was swept away in the gale.
No!
Jim lunged out and simultaneously caught her hand and the exposed handle. With agonising slowness, he pulled her towards him. He looked into her eyes.
Don’t you dare let go!
He could feel her hand slipping through his. He could see she was in a bad way, her strength failing. He could feel his arms going into spasm as he struggled to pull her back. His arms shuddering involuntarily.
Just a bit further…
Despite excruciating pain he managed to pull her to him, shielding her as best he could from the ravages of the freezing wind. She was almost limp in his grasp. Together they both managed to pull themselves into the airlock. Jim hit the emergency close and the door rolled shut. Moments later blessed air poured into the room and they drew huge shuddering gulps into their lungs, lying on the floor, panting hard and shivering violently.
“We’ve… g-got … to … k-keep… m-moving… ” Rebecca gasped through chattering teeth, trying but failing to stagger to her feet. She was almost frozen, her lips blue and her body being racked by uncontrollable shudders.
Jim pulled off his jacket, and wrapped it around her, pulling her against him. Her body felt like ice.
“You’re… b-being… .v-very… ..af-af-affect… tionate,” she gasped, trying to smile.
“Body heat,” he replied, holding her tightly. “If cold blood from your arms and legs hits your heart you could have a heart attack… ”
“Th-thanks… f-for… ..that.”
Lights inside the airlock flickered for a moment, and then came on, power seemed to be flooding back into the ship. The airlock snapped closed and the hum of the on-board computers and life management systems reassuringly filled the air. Hot air blasted into the airlock, reviving them.
Rebecca’s shuddering eased, and she relaxed in his embrace. “I’m o… okay. Thanks.”
“Do you think you can make it to the bridge?” Jim asked.
“I think so,” she said uncertainly. “We’d better hurry!”
The made their way back up through the ship as fast as they could. Jim headed for the co-pilot’s seat as the instruments began to come back to life.
“No time for pre-flight,” Rebecca said, making a quick scan of the readouts. “Let’s hope nothing too serious is broken!”
She fired up the engines and activated the view screen. Many of the status indicators showed red.
The rippling wall of energy was still expanding towards them. The Eclipse lurched, and began to move, buffeted by the extreme winds outside. It was snowing now with almost blizzard conditions, the moisture condensing out of the rapidly cooling air. Stars were visible through the swirls.
Snow? In space? Bizarre!
Quickly she corrected using the attitude adjusters and the Eclipse steadied. The engines were still running up to operating condition.
“Come on baby, do this for me,” Rebecca pleaded with the ship. “Give me everything you’ve got left.”
“Look!” Jim shouted, pointing at the starboard viewer.
The energy wall had reached the Falchion. The Imperial Courier tilted as the whiteness beneath it evaporated. For a moment it lolled drunkenly, before i
t slowly began to cartwheel end over end, sucked in towards the intense light at the centre. They saw it enter the energy field. Flashes of light crackled up and down its hull, panels exploding outwards, conduits burning away. One of the nacelles completely detached, exploding silently, the debris instantly sucked away. The energy wall was only a few tens of metres from the Eclipse, closing rapidly. It was moving faster now, an exponential increase in its rate of expansion.
“Get us out of here!” Jim yelled.
“Here goes nothing… ”
Rebecca needed little encouragement, she fired up the thrusters, yawed the ship around and punched the engines up to full power, heading towards the least turbulent area she could see, clearly showing the stars. The Eclipse, still suffering from damage the Falchion had inflicted, limped slowly away.
“I’m over-burning the coils,” she said over the rising roar of the engines. “If they let go before we can get away… ”
The blue energy field closed relentlessly, devouring the space behind them. The rear viewer showing nothing but a chaotic turbulent blueness.
“We’re not going to make it!” Rebecca cried, looking in horror the astrogation scanner. “We don’t have enough speed!”
Chased by a blue wave of death again! My luck stinks!
The Eclipse began to shudder and vibrate around them. Rebecca and Jim braced themselves for oblivion once again.
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
The Eclipse was silhouetted, framed in a glowing blue discharge. Its engines howled, straining desperately, as the ship tried to outrun the leading edge of the expanding energy field.
In front of them, clear space beckoned. Rebecca had overloaded the engines in a do or die attempt to escape. The engines were ripping themselves to shreds, there was nothing to be gained in sparing them now.
Before them, the ‘inside’ of the sphere they had been enclosed in seemed to be getting closer. It was still impossible to judge its distance or composition. It suddenly flashed past them with virtually no transition. It was as if the sphere had no thickness at all. The stars awaited them.
The final energy bank drained away, the engines spluttered as they lost power. Plasma and quirium fuel was streaming from multiple rents in their internal mechanisms. The blue fire surged up behind them, mercilessly pursuing them right to the egress.
