“Sounds pretty awesome,” said Miz.
Tim shook his head. “Necessary. Far from ‘awesome’,” he said. “Eleven of us died that day, our energy spent. I alone survived to carry the burden of what we had done.”
“Saved the galaxy,” Cal said.
“Betrayed time itself,” Tim said, punctuating the sentence with a sob. “We went against all we are supposed to stand for. All we are supposed to be.”
He closed his eyes and turned his head away for a moment. When he turned back, there was a strength to his voice that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “But we stopped them. We damned the Four and their armies to exist in an eternal loop. Aware – endlessly aware – but trapped forever in the wrinkles of time.”
“Sounds firm but fair,” said Cal.
“We thought so,” Tim said. “The entire army – all those countless soldiers and ships – are now in a bubble the size of a pinhead, locked away in a vault on the prison moon of Ka’Reth, reliving the same second over and over and over again.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” said Mech, a frown troubling his brow. He ratcheted his dial around a notch or two, cranking up his brainpower. When he continued, his voice was half an octave higher. “So, let me get this straight. The human, who for want of another name we shall continue to refer to as ‘Dave’, attempted to free Geronimus Krone from the prison planet on which he was being held. Correct?”
He glanced impatiently at the others.
“Sounds about right,” Cal said. “So?”
“I’ll get to the ‘so’ momentarily,” Mech continued. “We also now know that the very same ‘Dave’ stripped this entire planet of its Quanturum. Enough Quanturum to – as the Time Titan himself puts it – ‘obliterate time itself’.”
“Still waiting on that ‘so’, big guy.”
“So as ‘Dave’ has already attempted one break-out, can we surmise that his motivation for obtaining this much Quanturum is so he may use it in another breakout attempt? Specifically, the breakout of ‘the Four’ from their makeshift prison within the folds of time.”
Cal blinked. “Was there a question in there? I kind of tuned out,” he admitted.
Loren leaned back in her chair, deep in thought. “He’s saying Dave wasn’t just looking to break out Geronimus Krone, he was going to break out his generals and his army, too.”
“Then it’s a good job we blew him up,” said Cal. “I’d actually been feeling kind of bad about that, so this has perked me right up. I mean, in a way, by blowing him up we actually saved the galaxy twice.”
“And you’re sure he’s dead?” Tim asked. “You saw his body?”
Cal nodded. “Yep. I mean, no, we didn’t see his body, because there was no body left to see. We blew up his ship, though, so that was pretty definitive. Then we caught Geronimo’s big ball thing before it could smash open, and we gave it to Zertex to look after.”
Tim nodded slowly. “Zertex being…?”
“The space government. Formerly evil space government. Well, the jury’s still out,” Cal explained.
“They’re not evil,” Loren chimed in. “Not anymore.”
“Like, how don’t you know what Zertex is?” Miz asked.
Tim shrugged. “Governments come and go. When you get to my age, you sort of lose track.”
“So… what are we saying here?” Cal asked, looking to the others. “Everything’s fine? That’s the conclusion? Dave’s dead, his evil plan is thwarted, and everything’s fine?”
He shrugged, forcing Splurt to cling onto his neck to avoid falling off. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love a happy ending, but it feels kind of anti-climactic, don’t you think?”
“I’m not complaining,” said Loren.
“Yeah. I guess not,” Cal said. He turned and headed back to his chair. He had almost reached it when he stopped. “Unless…”
He shook his head. “Nah.”
“Unless what?” Miz asked.
“Nothing. Doesn’t matter,” said Cal.
Mizette tutted. “Fine. It’s not like I even care.”
Cal turned. “Kevin?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You remember the clown planet, right?”
Silence.
“We landed on the platform and you had to wait up there while we went down to the surface in the big elevator thing.”
More silence.
“We almost got killed by clown robots. Whole planet turned out to be a giant prison. There was a big dinosaur thing? No? Any of this ringing any bells? It was, like, a week ago.”
“I vaguely recall something, sir,” Kevin told him. “Didn’t we arrive to find the planet had been destroyed?”
“No, that’s… that’s this planet,” Cal said, indicating the debris field outside. “That’s what’s happening now. The thing I’m talking about happened before. Like, you know, previously?”
“Oh, you mean Funworld. Yes! I recall it, sir. What of it?”
Cal somehow managed a smile. “Great! This kind of feels like a stupid question after the conversation we just had, but do you happen to remember if there were any other ships in the area around the time we were fighting Dave’s ship?”
“Oh yes, I remember, sir.”
They all waited.
Loren was the first to break.
“Then can you tell us?” she asked.
“Oh yes. Of course, ma’am. There were no other ships around.”
Cal let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. An itch somewhere near the center of his brain suddenly felt as if it had been scratched.
“OK, great. Thanks, Kevin,” he said, turning back to his chair.
“Well, basically none.”
Cal stopped.
Cal turned.
“Basically? What do you mean ‘basically’?”
“There had been another ship in the landing bay. A Funworld maintenance vessel. Nothing to write home about. It departed the docking platform shortly after the ship you engaged with did. Surprisingly nippy for such an old pile of junk.”
Cal sat down, his mind racing. There was something wrong. Something he couldn’t yet put his finger on.
“We blew up the ship. We caught the ball. We gave it to Zertex,” he whispered.
“Cal, what is it?” Loren asked.
Cal didn’t answer. “Even if it was the wrong ship, we still caught the ball. We gave it to Zertex. They locked it up.”
He knew the answer. He’d known it for several seconds now, but the part of his brain that wanted to spare him the worry was doing its best to protect him from it.
But it couldn’t hide the truth forever.
“We caught a ball,” he realized. “That fonking shizznod set us up!”
Miz scowled. “What are you talking about? Who set us up?”
“Dave!”
“The guy we killed?”
“The guy we thought we killed,” Cal corrected. “He’s alive, and he’s got Geronimo.”
“Geronimus,” Mech said.
“Jesus, OK, whatever his fonking name is! Dave has got him. They’re both out there.”
“But, like, we blew up their ship.”
“They weren’t on it. They were on the Funworld ship.”
Loren frowned. “So… if that’s true – if they’re both out there…” Her blue skin paled, just a fraction. “Then what did we deliver to Zertex?”
And with that, Cal’s brain let rip with the full terrible truth.
Of course. It all made sense. Somehow, against all odds, it was Cal who finally understood exactly what was going on.
Worse than that, he had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen next.
“Oh God,” he groaned. “Oh God, do we have a problem.”
NINETEEN
MIZ SIGHED. It was not one of her most emphatic sighs, but it was up there.
“So, like, is everyone else following this? Because I have zero idea what’s going on right now.”
“No tim
e. Explain later,” Cal said. He jabbed a finger to the screen. “Loren, call Zertex. Find a way to get in touch with President What’s-Her-Name.”
“Valtrax,” said Mech. He’d turned his dial back dead center, and was back to barking out his usual gruff tones. “And how the fonk are we supposed to get through to the damn president? Ain’t like we got a direct line.”
Loren gently cleared her throat. “I might have.”
“You do?” Cal asked. “How come? Since when?”
“Haska… President Valtrax, she gave it to me.”
Mech frowned. “Haska? You on first name terms now?”
“Look, do you want me to call her or not?” Loren asked.
“Do it,” Cal said.
Loren’s fingers flew across her controls. A moment later, the face of President Valtrax appeared in a window on screen. With her short white hair, scaly skin and complete lack of oily smarm, she was practically the diametric opposite of the previous Zertex president, Sinclair. Cal approved of this, what with Sinclair having been such a total shizznod.
“Teela. This is a surprise,” Valtrax said. “Are you calling to accept my offer?”
“No,” Loren blurted. “I mean, that’s not why I’m calling. We have a possible situation.” She turned in her chair and almost flinched when she saw the suspicion and betrayal in Cal’s eyes. “Cal? You want to fill her in?”
Cal blinked a few times, as if coming up from a hypnotic trance. “Uh, yeah. Yeah.” He raised his eyes to the screen. “That big ball we gave you. With the bad guy inside. Where is it?”
“It’s safe. As agreed,” the president replied. “Why do you ask?”
“We think it’s a bomb,” Cal said. “A very special kind of bomb. You need to tell us where it is.”
An expression of surprise flitted across Valtrax’s face, but was gone before anyone could register it. “It is stored in a vault that is quite blastproof. Even if it is a bomb, any explosion will be contained.”
“Not this one,” said Tim.
Valtrax gestured at the old man. “New recruit?”
“Just a friend,” said Cal. “Tim. He commands time. Long story.”
“Influences, not commands,” Tim corrected.
“Whatever. That ball you have locked away, it’s a Time Bomb.”
“What, with the clock on the front?”
“You’d think so, but no. It’ll literally destroy time.”
President Valtrax took a moment to get her head around this. “I don’t know what that would involve.”
“Fonked if I know, either,” Cal admitted. “But it’s bad. Universe destroying bad. So you have to tell us where it is.”
Valtrax’s gaze went to Loren. “Is this true, Teela?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, as far as we know,” Loren replied. “We really do need to know where it is.”
The president nodded curtly. “Very well. Please hold a moment while I find out.”
The face was replaced by the Zertex logo, and a silence descended over the bridge.
“This is awkward,” Kevin muttered.
“Her ‘offer’?” said Cal. “What offer?”
“Nothing, it’s…” Loren’s voice tailed off. She sighed, but kept facing front, unable to look at the others. Not yet. “She offered me… a position. Within Zertex.”
“She’s giving you your job back?” Cal gasped.
“Tell me you said yes,” Miz said, brightening and sitting upright in her chair.
“Not my old job. A new job,” Loren said. “I’d be working alongside her to make Zertex… better. To fix the problems Sinclair caused.”
“Wasn’t just Sinclair,” Mech pointed out. “That whole fonking organization is filled with bad dudes.”
“And I’d be helping clear them out,” Loren said. “I’d be doing a good thing.”
“And… what? You’d just go? Leave us?” He added the ‘Leave me?’ silently in his head. “You’re our pilot!”
“The ship doesn’t need a pilot. Kevin can fly it.”
“Yeah, but Kevin’s creepy and weird,” Cal said. “No offence, Kevin.”
“None taken, sir.”
“No-one flies like you do, Loren.”
Miz snorted. “You can say that again.”
“Unlike Miz, I meant that in a good way,” Cal said, shooting the wolf-woman daggers.
“We could all go,” Loren said, finally turning. “I could get us all jobs there.”
“I ain’t working for Zertex,” Mech said.
“We have no food!” Loren pointed out. “We have no money. We’re bouncing around in space doing… what, exactly?”
“We’re helping people,” Cal said.
“Who? We destroyed half a city yesterday. You were ready to shoot down the cops who – rightfully – came to arrest us for it. Who were we helping then, Cal?”
“OK, I’ll give you that one,” Cal said. He pointed to the screen. “But we’re stopping a Time Bomb.”
“A Time Bomb that we handed over in the first place,” Loren pointed out. “I love you guys – I mean, I don’t necessarily like any of you a lot of the time, but… I don’t know. We can’t go on like this. This isn’t a life. Not a real one.”
President Valtrax reappeared before anyone could answer. “Apologies for the delay,” she said. “I have the location of the… object you entrusted to us.”
Cal jumped in before she could continue.
“Prison moon of Ka’Reth.”
Valtrax looked momentarily taken aback. “Why, yes. Yes, how did you know?”
Tim took a stumbling step backwards and almost fell onto Miz. “Hey, watch it, you old weirdo.”
“Oh no,” the Time Titan whispered. “Oh no. What have they done?”
“Oh… shizz,” Loren whispered, as the penny finally dropped for everyone else on the bridge, with the exception of Miz. And possibly Splurt. “He played us. He knew we’d give you the bomb. He knew exactly where you’d put it.”
“He’s got Krone, and now he’s going to break out his whole fonking army,” Mech realized.
Cal stood up. “Pres, you want to prove Zertex are the good guys? Then you have to… You have to…”
He turned to Tim, his voice faltering. “What do we do? I don’t know what to do.”
Tim’s mouth sort of flapped open and closed in a way that suggested words should have been coming out, but weren’t. He shook his head. “I don’t… I’m not…”
Well, he was no fonking help.
Cal turned back to the screen. “We need to get that bomb as far away from that moon as possible,” he instructed. “Or a lot of people are going to be a lot of dead very quickly.”
“What is going on?” the president demanded.
“Look, you’re going to have to trust us on this,” Cal told her. “Get that bomb away from that moon.”
Valtrax tilted her head, just a fraction, but it was enough to put Cal on high-alert. “What is it? What aren’t you telling us?”
“We tried to contact the administration on Ka’Reth a moment ago. They have failed to respond.”
Cal shot a questioning look to Tim. “The bomb?”
“N-no.” The Time Titan shook his head. “I would have felt it.”
“OK, then we still have a chance,” Cal said. He pointed to the screen. “You. Start evacuation of any systems close to that prison. We need to get those people as far away as possible.”
“I’m sorry?” Valtrax said, her nostrils flaring in something not unlike amusement. “I’m the President of Zertex, Mr Carver. You cannot bark orders at me.”
“You want to prove your good enough for our friend to come work for you? Then do what I tell you,” Cal said. He grinned, and made it one of his better ones. “Please. Pretty please. Get those people to safety. You’re the only one who can.”
Valtrax seemed to chew over her response before letting it out. “It will take time.”
“Then you’d better get started,” Cal said.
�
�And what about Ka’Reth? What about your bomb?”
“We’ll deal with that,” Cal said. “I mean, I haven’t put it to a vote yet, but we’ve got nothing else planned for the afternoon. We might need back-up, though. Have some of those annoying little fighter ships of yours on standby, but make sure they keep their distance until we tell them to, or until the shizz has clearly hit the fan.”
This was a step too far for the president. Her scaly features pulled into a scowl of disapproval. “Who do you think you are, exactly, telling me what to do? I’m the president of half the galaxy.”
“We’re Space Team,” Cal retorted. “And if you still want there to be a galaxy to be president of, then you’d better get your fonking skates on.”
They held each other’s gaze across the vast chasm of space, neither one ready to back down. It was Tim who broke the deadlock.
“I believe your people know them as the Four Outrages,” he said. “They arrive upon great storm clouds to cleanse your world of everything innocent and pure. They take the children first, make their parents watch as they do… things. Such terrible things.”
President Valtrax’s face tightened. “What is he talking about?”
“That’s who’s coming,” Cal said. “That’s what’s going to happen when that bomb goes off. We can stop it. We can stop it happening. But we need your help.”
Valtrax’s eyes narrowed, and Cal could practically see her running through her options in her head. “We’ll begin the evacuation,” she said. “But you will keep me informed. I expect full transparency.”
“You got it, space pres. And have those ships ready. Screen off.”
There was an awkward pause.
“Sorry?” said Valtrax.
“Oh. I thought… That was supposed to be a signal for someone to end the call,” Cal explained.
“I see. Rather abrupt, wasn’t it?” Valtrax asked. “I mean, ‘goodbye’ would have been traditional.”
“OK, OK. Goodbye,” said Cal. “Jesus. Now can someone end the—”
The Zertex symbol appeared on screen, then the communications window disappeared. “Did she end the call? I wanted to end the call.”
“Does it matter?” Mech asked.
Space Team: The Time Titan of Tomorrow Page 21
