A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1)
Page 30
“Good guess!” Gin said brightly.
“And then,” Connor said, “let me further guess, it recorded data to tell you what world he lives in.”
“Something like that,” Gin smiled.
Trent looked impressed. “Wow, Gin, nice work!”
General Mace glowered at Gin. “Where did you get this piece of technology?”
“I made it myself,” she said defensively. “From parts I bought.”
“But he could be anywhere in that world,” Liv protested.
“But he’s not. I know exactly where he is.”
General Mace’s eyes lit up. Liv knew that at present, he was just going through the motions of being their military commander. “While I can’t control what you do on your own time, I would seriously discourage you from tracking known threats alone.”
Ben raised his hand as if they were at school. “She wasn’t exactly alone, sir…”
General Mace shook his head. “I should have known.”
“You two kept that quiet!” Trent said.
Ben shrugged. “We were going to bring it up as a future possible mission. Explore Paradise.”
“In any case,” General Mace said. “Regarding Nathan Blank, we have our orders. We’re to release him immediately.”
“It’ll only be slightly longer than that, sir,” Ben said. “We know exactly where Elachai lives, and I can have us there and back in twenty minutes. If I can have an SM.”
The general gave a sharp nod and stood. “You have your orders.”
Ben and Gin jumped to their feet and sped out of the room.
Connor yelled, “Wait!” and followed them out.
* * *
Less than half an hour later, Elachai entered the base.
He and the team grouped outside of the holding cell where Nathan Blank had been held for the last day and a half.
When Gin had explained to Elachai what Nathan had done, he had been furious.
He entered the cell and bowed slightly to Major Ellicott, the current guard.
Connor called, “It’s all right, Major. You can step back.”
Elachai stepped forward, until he stood directly in front of Nathan. His words had the weight of an incantation, hypnotizing. “Nathan Blank. You are forthwith banned from Travel with the intent to harm, or for any purpose that could result in the harm of any person or thing. You will not Travel for personal gain, other than gain of knowledge and experience, and you will not Travel to help others steal from or cause harm to any person or thing.”
With that, he turned and exited the room.
“What is this?” Nathan said, his scoffing tone not quite hiding the fear underneath.
“That’s it?” Connor asked.
“Yes,” Elachai said. “He will never again be able to Travel except for pure reasons.”
“You couldn’t just take it away altogether, like you did with Jordan?”
Elachai shook his head. “It is not right to remove any chance he may have at rehabilitation. If he Travels for no evil purpose, then I cannot bring myself to imprison him in this world.”
“Thank you very much for your help, Elachai,” Liv said as they shook hands.
“Thank you very much for my family’s safety,” Elachai replied.
Liv smiled. “Anytime.”
“Please feel free to visit my world, if you wish.”
“Thank you,” Connor said. “We will.”
Ben clapped Elachai on the shoulder. “I suppose we should get you back home.”
“Yes, please.”
“Anyone want to come for the ride?” Ben asked.
The team mumbled excuses:
“I’m going to go let the general know he can tell the Chief of Staff it’s safe to prosecute their prisoner now.”
Liv appraised Jordan admiringly. “Good idea!” She shook her head at Ben’s look. “Sorry, I’ve got to get back to the brain ray data.”
Gin said, “I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on. My ‘warning’ and all.”
Trent hurried off with a wave. “Sorry, I have to help R & D with the wildfyre.”
Connor apparently couldn’t think of an excuse. “Oh all right, I’ll keep you company.”
“Thanks, Frogman!”
“Don’t mention it, Flyboy.”
* * *
“Did you see the paper?”
Liv looked up to find Jordan in her office doorway. “No, why?”
“Nathan Blank was implicated in the collapse of the Innerstellar Technologies building early Saturday morning.”
“Really?”
“Mmmhmm. Nathan Blank, traitorous seller of top-secret defense research, was attacked by the very men he was supplying, and is implicated in the collapse of his building last night. He faces twenty-something counts of treason against the US government.”
“Good. I’m glad he’s finally going to pay for the crimes he’s been committing for years.”
“So, are we still on for tonight? Dinner?”
“At a real restaurant,” Liv warned. That meant Vegas, since The Little A’Le’Inn didn’t quite offer the type of atmosphere she wanted, and the only other thing around was the base and a gas station.
“You got it,” Jordan said with a smile. “I’ve got something great all set up.”
* * *
Liv was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when the base intercom squawked. “T36 to the briefing room. Repeat, T36 to the briefing room.”
“Now what?”
She was already wearing her dress, the black slinky one with the slit up the side. She looked down at her four-inch heels and decided she wasn’t changing yet. Maybe it was just an update or something they could handle remotely.
She clicked her way to the elevator and then to the briefing room on three. Everyone else was already in the briefing room, and when she walked in, dead silence fell.
Then she got three wolf whistles and applause. That was Ben, of course.
Jordan just stood there and stared.
She flashed him a smile. “What?”
He cleared his throat. “I thought my heart had stopped.”
Her heart melted into a puddle in her chest, but she forced a laugh.
General Mace walked in and did a double take. “What are you wearing, Dr. Greenwood?”
“A dress. I have a date.”
“Not anymore. I need you to make a run to R-397Q. They’ve discovered some kind of monolith, and they can’t make heads or tails of the language.”
“Well, that explains why you need Jordan, but why the rest of us?” Connor asked.
“There’s also some kind of weird energy reading, and T47 thinks there’s some sort of manual interface, but they can’t make it work.”
“Nice!” Gin said.
“And now they’re in a bit of a situation with the locals, who think the team is trying to desecrate their god’s work, so they need backup. You leave immediately.”
“Just another day on the job,” Ben said.
Liv sighed. “I’ll go change.”
Jordan caught her in the hall. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks. Too bad it was for nothing.”
“Not for nothing; at least I got to see you in it. It’ll fuel my fantasies for months.” When she didn’t smile, he frowned. “Really, Liv, no worries. Rain check.”
She glanced at him. “I just didn’t want to wait any longer.”
He smiled. “Me neither, but duty calls.”
She frowned.
“Don’t worry, we’ll plan dinner soon. Maybe on a better night. I said I love you and I meant it. I’m not going anywhere.”
She smiled, and everything inside loosened. “I love you too, Jordan. And I’m not going anywhere either.”
He kissed her as he walked at her side. With her shoes, they were practically the same height. “Now go get ready to back me up while I talk the natives down from the ledge and figure out a new form of writing while we try to break the computer code
of a heretofore unknown and lost advanced civilization in another world!”
She laughed. She had to admit, there must be worse ways to spend your first date. Still smiling, she kissed him again. “You got it.”
Epilogue
Nathan Blank sat silent, watching the bare wall through the bars of his cell, and beating his brain against another set of bars.
Travel! Why can’t I Travel? Travel, now!
All this takes is will. You can’t get through the door? Find another way.
He forced himself to remember exactly what that freak with the blue streaks in his hair had said to him. “You will not Travel for personal gain, other than gain of knowledge and experience, and you will not Travel to help others steal from or cause harm to any person or thing.”
He turned the puzzle over in his mind, again and again, looking at it from every angle.
A smirk spread across his face.
A second later, he swirled into a whirlwind of color and vanished.
The End of Book One
Don’t let this be the end!
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If you liked this story, check out others by Cassy Campbell:
Blood Moon Mansion: Short Tale of a Witch Hunt
Pandemonium Rain: A Short Accounting of the Zombie Apocalypse
Darkwalk
A Plague in Paradise: Travelers Book 2—coming soon!
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Want to know more about the various worlds, the history of the DEPOT, and the history of Home World? Check out the exclusive extras at cassycampbell.com/books
About the Author
Cassy Campbell grew up in the frozen tundra of the Far North. Perhaps not surprisingly, the long dark winters encouraged her love affair with stories from an early age, and one of her favorite things is still curling up under a blanket with a book. Once she realized that she loved to write stories as much as read them, she realized the world was hers (at least the ones in her books). She wrote a book, and the rest is history. She currently lives in the much balmier climate of the Not As Far North where she is, at this moment, likely daydreaming her way through her next story.
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