by Adair Hart
“I see,” said V. He tilted his head. “So you are not bothered that Evaran put you and Emily in danger?”
Dr. Snowden shook his head. “He didn’t really. When he places those emergency beacons, he does it knowing that he will rescue us. It’s that whole … time loop thing.”
“Analysis. It appears you are part of a future event yet to occur that deals with the Hoxscarus. This may be a time loop inside a time loop.”
Dr. Snowden rubbed his temples. “That makes my head hurt.”
“I apologize,” said V.
Dr. Snowden chuckled. “You’re good.” He peeked out the window and saw that the others were headed back in. “Well, looks like it’s time to visit Earth.”
“Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden sat down, and when the others filtered in and took their seats, he looked around. Levaran was to his left along with Dr. Bryson. Dan and Sarah sat with Emily, while Edev floated next to V.
Evaran sat in the command chair, interacting with his chair console. “V, take us back in time, then portal us to Earth. Engage stealth mode prior to entering the portal.”
“Acknowledged.”
As the Torvatta rose, Dr. Bryson exhaled from his nose. “Albert … that was … amazing. An alien planet.”
Dr. Snowden nodded. “To the planet, you were the alien.”
Dr. Bryson eyed Dr. Snowden. “Good point. I’m just glad we could breathe out there.”
“The krall was happy,” said Levaran. She raised a finger. “She appeared to have bonded with Sarah and Emily.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” said Dr. Snowden.
Sarah wrinkled her eyebrows. “I felt like … she knew me.”
“Well, we can’t take her in,” said Dan, eying Sarah. “Imagine what the neighbors would say.”
Everyone chuckled as the Torvatta reached space.
Dr. Bryson’s breath staggered when the outside faded away, and eased back in. The Torvatta opened a portal.
“Torvatta stealth mode engaged,” said V.
Dr. Bryson sat back in his chair as the Torvatta flew through the portal and exited it above Earth. He faced Dr. Snowden and Emily. “This travel ability is … incredible. This must be routine for you two.”
Dr. Snowden nodded. “You get used to it.”
Levaran gestured to the conference room. “Dan, Sarah, and Dr. Bryson, I have some things to cover with you before we drop you off at your respective points. Please follow me. Edev, come.”
Dr. Snowden watched as Levaran led them to the conference room. Once they were inside, he said, “The whole keep-it-quiet and any-questions talk, huh?”
Evaran nodded. “Levaran has my experience with you and Emily to compare against.”
Emily wrinkled her eyebrows. “They doing the three-month thing too?”
“I do not know,” said Evaran. “It could be longer or shorter. Whatever it is, we can visit them once we are done with the Time Wardens.” He examined Emily for a moment. “Did you enjoy your time with Sarah?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I could see elements of myself in her, and I’m sure she could see parts of her in me.”
Dr. Snowden chuckled. “This Dan is every bit the Dan I knew. He may not have memories of Emily, but his personality is a match.”
She swallowed hard. “I … look forward to talking with him when this is all done.”
“And you will,” said Evaran. “Dan has brought it to my attention that we are to attend a cookout at some point.”
“Yeah … those are fun,” said Dr. Snowden. “Looking forward to it.”
After thirty minutes of light chat, Levaran exited the room with the others in tow.
The Torvatta had landed in Dr. Bryson’s backyard.
Dr. Snowden joined Evaran and Emily as they headed over to meet Levaran and the others at the Torvatta exit. It was time to say goodbye to them for now and begin the next step.
Dr. Bryson extended a hand to Dr. Snowden. “As always, it’s been interesting. Although I think this ranks right up there with absolutely crazy. However … it was good to see you, even if you are a parallel version.”
Dr. Snowden returned the handshake. “I’ll see you again here soon.”
Emily hugged Dr. Bryson. “Be safe.”
“I’ll try to,” said Dr. Bryson. He shook everyone else’s hand.
Dan gestured at Dr. Bryson. “You should come down and visit us. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Absolutely,” said Dr. Bryson. He laid a hand on V’s shoulder. “I enjoyed our conversations. You’re truly unique.”
V’s lights glowed a bit brighter. “I enjoyed them as well.”
Dr. Bryson high-fived Edev. “And I hope to have more conversations with you.”
“Likewise,” said Edev as her lights glowed brighter.
Dr. Bryson nodded at Evaran and Levaran. “Time to go.” He turned halfway around and waved as he exited the Torvatta.
“V, take us to Dan and Sarah’s house,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged,” said V as he headed to the command area.
“I guess this is goodbye for now,” said Dan, focusing on Dr. Snowden and Emily. “I fully expect you to join us for our cookout when you can.”
“You can bet on it,” said Dr. Snowden. He shook with one hand while leaning in to hug and slap Dan on the back with the other hand. “We’re not that easy to get rid of.”
“No … you’re not,” said Dan with a smile. He faced Emily. “I didn’t get to spend much time with you, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Emily’s eyes misted as she smiled and hugged Dan. “I am too.”
“To think that me and Sarah could have a daughter like you makes me proud,” said Dan.
Emily smiled as she swallowed hard.
Sarah hugged Emily. “I really enjoyed last night.”
Emily shuddered against Sarah.
Sarah stepped back and wiped a tear from Emily’s face. With a cracked voice, she said, “You know you’re always welcome in our home.”
Emily nodded as she gripped Dr. Snowden’s arm.
Sarah hugged Dr. Snowden. “Albert … the same goes for you.”
“What about outside of it?” asked Dr. Snowden with a smile.
Sarah stepped back and swatted Dr. Snowden’s arm. “That’s exactly what I would expect you to say.”
Dr. Snowden chuckled.
V had returned to the group. “We are in the backyard of Dan and Sarah’s house.”
Dan and Sarah shook hands with Evaran.
“I appreciate you helping Levaran and, by extension, us,” said Dan, facing Evaran.
“It was my privilege,” said Evaran.
“We got your back,” said V. He raised a hand in the air.
Dan and Sarah laughed as they high-fived V.
“Right on,” said Dan.
They hugged Levaran and high-fived Edev’s claw.
“Look forward to seeing you all again,” said Sarah. She latched on to Dan’s arm.
Dan did a two-finger salute to the group, and then he and Sarah exited the Torvatta.
Dr. Snowden’s throat constricted as he watched them leave. In the short amount of time he had been with them, they had grown on him. He knew they were not the versions he knew, but he found it hard to find much of a difference. The tightness of Emily’s grip did not surprise him. She was probably going through a hurricane of emotions. Hanging out with Dan was like old times, and he was looking forward to seeing them again.
“It is time to get Levaran’s Torvatta,” said Evaran, raising a finger.
Dr. Snowden nodded as he cleared his throat. “Let’s do it.” He hugged Emily as the others headed to the command area. “We’ll see them again.”
“I know. Maybe we can stay a while when we do,” said Emily.
Dr. Snowden tapped her hand. “You can count on it.”
After going through the portal to leave the timeline, Emily watched as the Torvatta approached Levaran’s Torvatta. Although sh
e had tried to be strong when Dan and the others had left, her emotions had been all over the place. Sarah staying the night had been fun, and they had roped the krall into staying over as well with some raw meat Emily replicated. The krall seemed to enjoy the attention she got. Although Emily did not get to spend much time with Dan, she was hoping to make up for it at the cookout.
Levaran’s Torvatta had changed significantly from the shell she remembered. The black mesh side panels, side door, and back end thruster panels were now visible. A light-yellow glow emanated from the shielding around it. It occurred to her that the actual development of the Torvatta was not hard; it was the gathering of the re-formation energy that powered it and having the environment to support that. She noticed Levaran had scooted to the edge of her seat.
“Careful. You might fly out of your chair,” said Dr. Snowden, patting Levaran’s arm.
“I’m okay,” said Levaran. “I can already feel my Torvatta. It’s … a unique experience, one I thought would never be available to me.”
Emily swiveled her head toward Evaran. “Did you feel that about this one?”
Evaran nodded. “I did.”
“Well, it looks great. Like an exact replica,” said Dr. Snowden.
“It should be,” said Evaran. “V, align with the ramp, and we can cross over.”
“Acknowledged.”
After V had parked the Torvatta next to Levaran’s Torvatta, everyone headed over to check it out.
Emily’s first impression when she walked in was the smell. It reminded her of a new car smell mixed with the sterile smell she was used to. The layout was slightly different. The six dimensional doors were the same as in Evaran’s Torvatta, but the elevator was essentially another door to the right of the conference room.
Gone was the entrance area with ramps and a walkway. The whole room was the command area, with Levaran’s command chair in the middle, a large seating area to the right comprised of several rows of seats, and a front console to the left of the command chair. The front half of the ship was transparent, except for the dimly lit and glowing lines that showed the shape of the ship.
“I like it,” said Emily. She cracked a smile as she watched Edev zoom around.
Levaran smiled. “I do too.”
“So … why is this layout different?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“It appears it conforms to the plane form’s preference,” said Levaran. “In this case, I like open spaces.”
“Makes sense,” said Emily. She strolled around and ran her hands across the U-shaped seating area. The seats seemed softer, and the cushions seemed larger. Compared to Evaran’s Torvatta, these were much more plush. She poked around the command chair and noticed it was a bit bigger than what she was used to. Edev’s console was larger as well. The large open front that constituted about forty percent of the layout stood out to her. It would definitely make looking around outside a lot easier. On Evaran’s Torvatta, she sometimes felt like she was floating.
“Now who’s thinking?” asked Dr. Snowden, slightly bumping into her.
“I really like this layout.”
“Me too,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Me three,” said V.
Everyone chuckled.
Levaran walked over to the dimensional rooms and peeked her head in each one. “I will need to do a survey of the ship and make sure everything is as it should be.”
“When you are ready, we can stealth and head to the coordinates for the Time Warden timeplex,” said Evaran.
Levaran faced Evaran, and then they nodded in sync.
Evaran gestured toward the Torvatta entrance. “Come, we shall leave Levaran and Edev to their Torvatta.”
Emily figured this was a bonding moment for them. It must be special for Levaran to have another plane form aboard for the first time. Emily followed Evaran along with the others back to Evaran’s Torvatta.
She spent the next few hours training with V while Dr. Snowden went to the planar cartography lab. Evaran had gone to the research lab and said he was going to look into some new data he got from the Krotovore ship. Her thoughts were still a bit scattered, and V let her know it when her guard went down. After their session, she got cleaned up and headed to the conference room where everyone was.
Evaran sat at the head of the table, with Levaran to his immediate left, followed by Edev. Dr. Snowden and V sat to Evaran’s right. She grabbed a drink and sat next to Edev.
“I am glad we are all here,” said Evaran. “Levaran has finished her inspection, and everything appears to be as it should be.”
Levaran nodded.
“Our next step is to scout out the Time Warden timeplex. I do not know if it is similar to the one I encountered, but based on the incidents we have had with them, it may be much larger,” said Evaran. He tapped at the table console. “This is a visual of the one I encountered.”
Emily studied the odd-shaped octagonal object that appeared above the table. Each panel had a solid border, with the internal sides shooting a beam at a circle in the middle that reminded her of a portal. There were some large entrances to the object that were scattered around.
“To give you a sense of the size of this, I am bringing up Earth’s moon,” said Evaran.
She raised her eyebrows as she saw that the timeplex was about a quarter larger than the moon.
Evaran pointed to one of the portals in the panels. “Those are rifts, kept anchored by their stations. This allows them to travel to fixed points. From there, they spread out, searching for other rifts and those who have traveled through them.”
“So … where is it?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“It is approximately two hundred million years after the creation of the timeline. It is at the earliest point in time that a rift can go. There is not much in the way of what you know as galaxies. From there, they can operate with relative impunity in the future. The timeplex must be destroyed.”
Emily wrinkled her eyebrows. “With two Torvattas, we could just smash it up, right? Like the anchor station?”
Levaran shook her head. “From what I experienced in our sync, those shields are much tougher.”
“How was it destroyed in our universe?” asked Emily.
Evaran drew his lips flat. “I disrupted the timeplex’s connection outside the timeline. The resulting explosion removed them from the timeline. However, this does not mean that the Time Wardens already scattered in the future from that point have been removed. The ones I did encounter have been, though.”
Levaran sighed. “I have my work cut out for me here.”
“With our aid, hopefully we can do this more efficiently,” said Evaran.
Emily bobbed her head. “How did you disrupt the timeplex connection in our universe? Sorry to ask so many questions.”
“You are fine,” said Evaran. “I went in with HA4, and together, we fought the Time Wardens to the control chamber. I took the command claw off the Time Warden commander and used it to destroy the magnetic shielding that held the connection in place. The connection is pure timeline energy and is what fuels the portals. There are buffers that dilute it. Once the shielding was gone, it interacted with matter in a pure state and not a diluted one. The resulting explosion took care of everything else.”
Emily nodded. She remembered that V had said Evaran lost HA4 in that event. “Well, we’re not losing V.”
V’s lights glowed a bit brighter.
“I believe I have an idea that will make this go a bit smoother,” said Evaran. He tapped at the table console, causing a large Time Warden with specialized segmented tentacles to appear. “I used brute force before, and although successful, I lost HA4. We will use guile for this approach. This is a Time Warden maintenance drone. It is rather large and can house all four of us. We just need to find one. They may be a bit different here, but we will find one with a similar role.”
“Like wearing a Time Warden skin,” said Dr. Snowden.
“It should get us where we need to go without too much su
spicion,” said Levaran. “V and Edev can secure the exit point when the time comes for us to leave.”
“Right,” said Evaran. “We will scan around while in stealth mode and find a suitable maintenance drone. Once we have that, we can pick an entry point and go from there.”
“That sounds pretty straightforward,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Perhaps, but there are still some unknowns. There is the possibility of new Time Warden types that I have not encountered before, such as the one you and Levaran faced. The timeplex could be a different shape, or have different technology. It may not even be where it was relative to our universe.”
“Couldn’t we have gotten that information from one of the Time Wardens we fought?” asked Emily.
Evaran shook his head. “Their information is tied to their form. When they exit the timeline, that information is purged.”
“Oh,” said Emily. “Whatever it takes, we can do it.”
Levaran smiled. “You humans are quite resilient. I like your spirit and look forward to seeing if Dan and the others wish to travel with me.”
“I’m sure they will,” said Dr. Snowden. “At least James will.”
“Dan will too, and Sarah by extension. He’s an adventurer, and this is right up his alley,” said Emily.
“Yep,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Then let us go,” said Evaran.
Emily’s heartbeat had increased at the thought of taking on the Time Wardens again, but with this group, it would be easier. Evaran’s plan eased her mind a bit, but the thought of just one predator taking her down gnawed at her. What if she encountered a pack of them? Hopefully Evaran had a counter for that. She exhaled as she stood and then exited the room with the others.
The stealthed Torvatta exited through the portal from outside the universe and back into the space outside the timeline, then into the timeline itself.
