The Shores Beyond Time

by Kevin Emerson

  “She’s leaving!” Liam shouted.

  Barrie pulled the metal suit from its hanger and began clamping it around himself. “I’m going with her, as far as I can.”

  “You’ll die!”

  Captain Barrie paused, the helmet in his hands. It almost looked like he was smiling. “Everyone dies, if you tell the story long enough!” He glanced out at the nebula as great plumes of fire arced up from the black hole beneath them. “I have to know,” he said, and slid the heavy helmet over his head.

  Phoebe grabbed Liam’s arm. “Come on!”

  Liam hesitated for another second, saw Barrie lumbering toward the spheres in the metal suit, and followed her out.

  They caught up to the team on the landing platform. The energy field wobbled unsteadily overhead, throwing off sparks.

  “Great,” said Phoebe. “I’d really like to avoid another visit to the vacuum of space!”

  “We’ll make it!” Liam shouted.

  Another grinding screech, the gravity lightening beneath their feet. Great arcs of energy spun all around Dark Star, like solar flares. Beyond the edge of the station, Liam could see the edges of the black hole expanding beneath them. The flares curled overhead and were immediately sucked into it. Above them, the great arms of the station were beginning to curl in on themselves. It looked for a moment like they were collapsing, but they were in fact moving purposefully, reshaping the machine into something more sleek. Something ready to travel.

  The energy field flashed as the Styrlax ship arrived. The cargo door had already begun to yawn open and Ariana stood there, motioning them on board. One of the sample team members paused, looking back at Mom and Dad like he was questioning whether this was a good idea, but Dad just shoved him forward.

  Liam and Phoebe were ten meters away when gravity failed completely. Liam’s last step sent him flying, not quite on line with the cargo door. Phoebe grabbed his arm, reached out for the door, but sailing off course—

  Ariana caught Phoebe’s outstretched hand. Liam’s mom was holding on to her. Faces straining, they pulled one another in, and everyone stumbled into the gravity field of the Styrlax ship.

  Liam put his hands on his knees, catching his breath as the cargo door slowly closed. The ship began to lift off. The cargo door was halfway shut when he caught a glimpse of sparkling light from the landing platform. There, standing in the gathering storm of debris, was the glimmering form of Iris, face made of light.

  She raised a hand and waved to him.

  Liam waved back, feeling a lump in his throat. No one else saw her. He watched her until the door had sealed shut.

  “Everyone’s in, Tarra,” Ariana said into her link. “Go.”

  The Styrlax ship lunged away from Dark Star with such force that Liam was nearly shoved to the floor. As the ship rose, they made their way up the stairs, through the main cabin area where Paolo and two other Telphons stood with their hands on the large, buzzing orange crystal that hovered in the center of the room, and to the cockpit, where Barro and Tarra sat at the controls.

  “Liam!” Mina called over his link. “We’re almost to the portal! Are you guys coming?”

  “We’re on our way!” Liam shouted back. “Don’t wait for us!”

  Ahead, in the direction they were now accelerating, the Artemis sped directly into the center of the portal home. Its front array hit the shimmering green surface and in a blinding wave of light, the great ship flashed out of sight.

  “I’m lining us up,” said Barro. “Get ready to increase thrust.”

  The portal shuddered and sparks burst from its sides. The metal began to warp and buckle, the trapezoid caving in on itself in lurching motions.

  “Faster,” said Ariana.

  “Here we go,” said Barro.

  They rocketed ahead with incredible speed. Liam was pushed against the wall, his head splitting with pain, and a second later he felt a wicked shimmy and heard a whine of metal.

  “What’s happening?” Ariana shouted.

  “We’re catching a heavy gravity well from that black hole,” said Tarra, her fingers dancing over the controls.

  “Can we outrun it?” said Mom.

  “I’m working on it,” said Barro.

  Liam leaned against the side of the cockpit window and craned his neck to see behind them. Dark Star had folded in on itself completely, becoming a compressed black sphere, like a giant marble. Sliding into the black hole, its shape becoming a wild blur, lightning dancing around it in all directions only to be sucked right back into the darkness.

  The Styrlax ship shuddered again, and somewhere, there was a sharp popping sound like a small explosion.

  “Give it everything we have!” shouted Tarra.

  “I’m trying! That gravity well is getting awfully deep!”

  The portal’s sides kept crushing inward, their exit window growing more and more narrow by the second. The bright green light of its surface momentarily sputtered, bloomed, sputtered again.

  “Come on . . . ,” said Barro.

  The Styrlax ship lurched and accelerated, shuddering against the pull of the black hole. Liam felt like he was being crushed, like he could barely breathe. Something touched his arm. . . . Phoebe, laboring to grasp his hand. Their fingers found each other.

  “Almost there . . . ,” Barro said through gritted teeth.

  The portal opening was barely bigger than the ship itself, the sides erupting in bursts of fire, fragments peeling off and hurtling toward the black hole, glancing off the Styrlax ship.

  “Watch out for that shrapnel!” Tarra called.

  “No time for maneuvers—we make it or we don’t.”

  Spots in Liam’s eyes, his heart pounding—he remembered racing toward the surface through the lava tube back on Mars, the fireball of the exploding turbines chasing him down . . . running from the debris pulses that Tarra and Barro, the very two people he was now trusting with his life, had fired at him . . . darting through the firefight at Centauri, desperate to get to Phoebe before it was too late. . . .

  Please, he thought, let us make it, just one more time. Could he slide forward and see what was about to happen? But instead he gripped Phoebe’s hand.

  “Thrust is increasing!” Barro shouted. “We’re pulling free!”

  The portal nearly too small—

  The Styrlax ship dove into the undulating green ripples of the portal, the space so narrow that they slammed the walls on two sides.

  Time and space warped and Liam felt himself being pulled in all directions at once, saw that strange branching of himself, old and young in a blur, not peaceful as it had been in Dark Star, but violent, threatening to tear him apart. He squeezed his eyes shut against it—

  “We’re through!” Barro shouted.

  All at once, there was darkness. The brilliant light of the portal, the green glow of the nebula, replaced by only the faint glow of distant stars. The massive machinery of Dark Star replaced by only the Artemis, a few hundred kilometers away. Far off, the magenta and yellow folds of the Centauri supernova aftermath, like someone had spilled paint.

  Liam blinked, breathed.

  Everyone in the cabin exhaled and sighed, and Liam turned and hugged Phoebe as tightly as he could, and then shared a smile with his parents, nearby.

  “Nice flying,” Dad said to Barro. Their gazes met, though neither of them smiled.

  Mom reached over and touched Liam’s shoulder. Almost hesitantly. “You did it again, didn’t you? Saved us all.”

  Liam looked at the floor, his face flushed. “I had help,” he said, glancing at Phoebe.

  “You two . . . ,” Ariana began, and Liam tensed at what she might say next. “Have made us all proud.”

  Liam shared a brief smile with Phoebe. Then he looked back out the cockpit. Here in the familiar starry dark of their own universe, he felt that dizzy sense return, the lack of up or down, the impossible size and distance. So much space, so far from anything, all that uncertainty . . . Had he really just give
n up his chance to make that feeling go away?

  “Bring us around,” said Tarra.

  The ship rotated and there was the portal, or what was left of it. Its once towering sides had crumpled in on themselves, a few last sparks jetting out from the roiling inky blackness. It crushed down into a lump of twisted metal, then smaller still, and with one last glint it vanished completely.

  21

  DISTANCE TO AARU-5: 10.6 LIGHT-YEARS

  They flew in silence toward the Artemis. For a few minutes, no one moved or even spoke. Everyone just stared silently at the starliner, or into the vast, empty space. Liam heard his mother sigh. Saw Ariana rub Phoebe’s arm.

  “Thank you,” Mom said quietly, “for rescuing all of us.”

  Ariana nodded slightly.

  Liam’s link crackled to life. “You guys made it!” Mina shouted. “Everyone all right?”

  Something burst inside Liam, and he nearly started to cry, but he steeled himself. “Yeah, we’re all here. Except for Captain Barrie. He stayed behind.”

  There was a pause. “Kyla says the Saga will be here in just over five hours. Are you coming aboard, or . . .”

  “Um . . .” Liam looked from one adult to another. No one was quite meeting one another’s eyes. “We’ll get right back to you.”

  Another silent moment passed over them.

  “What now?” Mom finally said.

  Ariana glanced at Tarra, then at Paolo. Liam’s parents eyed each other.

  “It seems that we will no longer have this universe to ourselves,” said Ariana.

  “Then we’re back where we started,” said Tarra.

  “No,” said Ariana. “Not where we started.” She looked at Phoebe, at Liam, then to Tarra. Something seemed to pass between them. Then she turned to Liam’s mom. “No more fighting.”

  Mom bit her lip. “Maybe there is a way to coexist on Aaru—Telos, sorry. Maybe some part of the planet can be adapted to—”

  Ariana was already shaking her head. “It’s still impossible. That part hasn’t changed. With our past . . . And besides, we are different beings. We’re not meant to live in the same world.”

  “Then what do we do?” said Dad.

  Tarra held out the slim silver data key with the Phase Two data. “Go to Telos. There is nothing for us there. You have a crippled starliner, and now the passengers of the Artemis, and an entire fleet. It is your best chance. We have this ship. We can find a new home.”

  “What about what you said before?” said Mom. “About how we’re a danger?”

  Tarra looked away. “Our new home will be very far from here. We will be sure of that.”

  Mom took the key in her hand, a shadow crossing her face. Liam glanced at Phoebe and felt an ache, but maybe Ariana was right. Seeing the data key reminded him of the cairns they’d built on Mars, of Barro’s face in the Cosmic Cruiser’s window, of the moment when the Telphons had put him in a stasis pod on the Scorpius, intent on leaving him to die. His sister’s tears over Arlo, Phoebe’s tears over her brother, her grandparents. . . . Maybe their past was too much to get beyond.

  “But won’t you need the data?” said Mom. “In case you need to adapt a new planet for your needs?”

  Tarra smiled thinly. “Of course we made a copy.”

  “Thank you,” said Dad. “There’s still no way I can express the regret we feel for what—”

  “We know,” said Ariana.

  Mom turned the key over between her fingers. Her eyes passed over Liam and Phoebe. “Perhaps we should keep a line of communication open between us. After what we just saw . . . we don’t know what else is out there. We might find ourselves on the same side again, someday.”

  “Agreed. And if you can’t make Telos work, we would like to know where you are headed next.”

  Mom turned to Dad. “Is there a way?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “You guys could take the long-range comms unit from the Artemis,” Jordy piped up. “It’s already on that Cosmic Cruiser we used to contact the fleet.”

  “That could work,” said Tarra. “When we find a new planet, we could radio you the coordinates. And yes, keep the channel open. For the future.”

  “Everyone good over there?” Mina asked over Liam’s link.

  “We’re okay,” said Liam. “You?”

  “Yup. Hey, um, Kyla wants to talk to you.” There was a shuffling sound.

  “This is Kyla. We just received updated orders from the Starliner Saga. They, um . . .” She trailed off.

  The adults shared a look. “What is it, K?” Jordy asked.

  “Listen, you Telphons saved the lives of our entire crew by coming back for us. I know a lot’s happened out in the world since we were lost, but none of that changes what you just did.”

  “What is your point?” asked Tarra.

  They heard Kyla sigh. “Colonial command ordered us to commandeer your ship. They said its technology is vital to the success of the human mission.” She paused. “They also ordered us to eliminate the enemy combatants on board.”

  Barro hissed to himself. Tarra shook her head.

  Liam felt a sinking feeling inside. He looked to Phoebe, but she was staring at the floor.

  “Kyla,” said Jordy, “we can’t—”

  “We’re not going to. I’m just telling you so you know where things stand. You have my word that nothing will happen when you drop off our people, and we will let you go unharmed. We’re working on a way to bypass our camera systems in the forward hangar. Our official story will be that you dropped our people in stasis pods, and we had to retrieve them. I, um, I’m really sorry.”

  “So there will be no communication in the future after all,” said Tarra. “I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised.”

  Mom shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Well then,” said Tarra, “the sooner we get you to your ship, the sooner we can get to safety.” She tapped Barro’s shoulder. “Take us to the starliner.”

  Liam’s heart had started to pound, his breaths short, constricted. They were almost to the end, again, only this good-bye would really be forever. . . .

  He tapped Phoebe’s arm, and when she looked up, he motioned with his eyes and started out of the cockpit. He was pretty sure Mom had seen him, but whatever. Phoebe followed him through the main cabin, past the glowing navigation crystal, and back down the stairs to the cargo hold.

  Liam sat on the bottom step and Phoebe sat beside him, their knees and shoulders touching. “Sounds like we only have a few more minutes,” he said.

  Phoebe nodded, her eyes glistening.

  Liam pulled the one remaining chronologist’s watch from his pocket and turned it over in his fingers.

  “Where do you want to go?” Phoebe said.

  “How about Lunch Rocks,” said Liam. “Not that last time when it almost killed us. Maybe when we were there two weeks before that? Do you remember? If we go, and wait until our old selves leave . . .”

  “Sounds good,” said Phoebe.

  But when Liam turned the dial, nothing happened. He clicked it back, tried it again.

  “It’s dead,” he said heavily. “Iris said that would happen.” He felt a tightness in his throat. A stinging in his eyes. “Not a bad souvenir, I guess.”

  Phoebe blinked and a tear fell. “I can’t really feel it anymore.”

  “What?”

  “My future, past, any of it. The way I was able to. It’s like it’s almost there . . . but only a blur. Can you still feel yours?”

  Liam tried pushing out of the moment. He could still see it, the stream of his life, and yet there was a foggy aspect to it now. The moments of his past and future remained visible, but he had completely lost the possibilities around each moment that had briefly been so clear inside Dark Star. He strained to look toward the future. All those moments on new Earth, that Iris had created, had been replaced with long stretches of dim light—the many trips in stasis to come—with only short bright spots of activity here and t
here, but Liam didn’t quite feel the urge to visit them, to even know what they might be. He let himself slide back into the present.

  “It’s fading for me, too.”

  “Guess we’ll just have to go back to doing the whole ‘time’ thing the normal old way we used to,” said Phoebe. “Moving in one direction, at a constant speed, never sure what’s coming next.”

  “Maybe that’s not so bad,” said Liam.

  A humming sound vibrated the walls around them.

  “I think we’re in the Artemis airlock,” he said. It was easier to look at the wall than at Phoebe.

  “Everyone will be coming down soon,” she said. “I was just thinking—you’ve got over a hundred years in stasis before you get to Aaru. By the time you wake up, I’ll probably be dead.”

  “Stop.”

  “It’s true.” She put her hand on top of his and squeezed. “I’m gonna miss you.”

  Liam glanced at her, but she was looking right at him and his eyes hurried to the floor. “Me too.”

  “Also, I think we might have saved the universe, just now.”

  Liam smiled. “And ended a war.”

  “We’re a pretty good team.”

  “We were.” The lump in his throat grew. His fingers were clammy with sweat. He pressed the watch into her hand. “You should take it. To remember all this.”

  “Liam, I can’t—”

  “Please?” He reached to his collar beneath his silver sweatshirt. “I have the Dust Devils shirt. You need something.”

  She slipped the watch onto her wrist. “Thank you.” Now their eyes met . . .

  They kissed, and then Phoebe hugged him tight.

  Liam hugged her back, and behind his closed eyes he saw the lights of his timeline more brightly, as if their shared energy was making his ability stronger. But also, not too far off, he could see Phoebe’s timeline, too. If he stretched, he could reach it, follow it, even. . . .

  “Go,” Phoebe whispered.

  A moment later, Phoebe pulled away from him. Footsteps were approaching down the stairs.