Unfathomable Chance

by K T Munson

  “I cannot let you pass,” the blue man answered firmly.

  “Then you leave me no choice,” Diana said with a frown. “You must know what comes next. I would warn you to move.”

  “Understood,” he replied, stricken.

  The screen went black, and after a short pause Dimar asked, “What is your plan exactly?”

  “Ruby, move the ship towards the rift,” Diana ordered, and the ship started forward.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Dimar demanded, taking hold of her arm.

  “Not at all. In all your studies of Earth, did you read about faith?” she asked, unfazed, as they continued forward.

  “Of course, your sense of hope is one of the only inspiring aspects of your species,” Dimar said. “Though you put your faith in superstitious stories about imagined beings when it should be in science.”

  “Stick close,” Diana retorted as she faced the rift. “I am taking a leap of faith.”

  The words had hardly escaped her lips when something struck their ship. Diana was instantly thrown, and Dimar grip’s on her arm was broken. Her head collided with the top of the ship as she heard a mechanical beep and yelling. Darkness swallowed her up.

  Chapter 18

  Diana opened her eyes and took in a startled breath. Lifting her head she saw that the front part of Dimar’s ship was in the rift. Around her, the front half the hull was caved in. Wiring and strange tubing hung from the ceiling. As she stood, her shoulder hit a piece of metal and it started to float away. The world around her was in frozen chaos. Her head didn’t hurt, so she must have passed out from the shock. Glancing down at the bracelet, she knew it had seen to her safety and had slowed time.

  Dimar had been thrown and was holding tight to the railing by the stairs. Ruby was shouting; her mouth was open wide and she was furiously trying hitting buttons on the controls to shift power and try to keep the ship together. Rocky was also yelling as he clung to the chair by some blinking lights on his control panel. Her gaze was drawn to the blackness of the wormhole that seemed to go to nowhere.

  The wormhole seemed to be bending the edge of the ship, as though she was looking at it through water. Hesitantly she walked up to the black substance and reached out her hand. When her fingers touched it, the liquid rippled really slowly yet it seemed faster in some places. She realized that time hadn’t slowed. The bracelet had just sped her up to such an extent as it appeared at first that time had been all but stopped.

  “Why?” she whispered, looking around.

  There had to be a reason that the bracelet had decided to mess with time. There must be something it wanted to do, but since it wasn’t exactly chatty, she was going to have to figure it out. Her mind spun as she studied the things that were breaking, and frowned. She might not have majored in spacecrafts in college, but she could tell the hull was compromised. Turning her attention to Dimar she frowned; he was looking at the spot she had been in.

  The bracelet suddenly felt warm. She lifted it up and snarled, “I get it. Save the demon lord.”

  Diana slowly undid his hold on the banister and he hovered. Artificial gravity seemed to have failed, and she had to catch his arm to keep him from floating away. Guiding him to the back, she suddenly heard a thunk and looked to see that his head had hit the wall while she wasn’t paying attention.

  She cringed. “Sorry!”

  Yanking him down, she put him in the sleeping pod but couldn’t close it from the outside. She reached around and pushed the button, and it started to close slowly. When it was halfway across, Diana suddenly heard something crack. The sound was slow and terrifying. She ran back to the others and tied Rocky and Ruby in. The window was cracking, and it wouldn’t take long before it would give way. When she returned, she found Dimar’s feet halfway to the ceiling like a lost balloon.

  She tugged him back down, frowning, when she heard another crack from the glass at the front. Without a moment’s hesitation, she crawled on top of him to hold him down, closed the sleeping pod the rest of the way, and whispered, “Now.”

  “My head!” he cried, and Diana cringed. Time had resumed—or she had.

  The ship’s alarms assaulted the air as they entered the temporal rift. Dimar yelled, startled, until he realized where he was. Diana floated to the top of the sleeping pod, suddenly aware of what she had done; she was straddling him inside a confined space. Her eyes went wide as he floated up with her and pressed her against the glass.

  “We’re almost through,” Diana yelled over the alarms. The barrier at the front of the ship began to shatter.

  His gaze turned smoldering as she pressed her back against the glass. He reached his hands up to on either side of her face. “Since I am about to die.”

  The sound of the vacuum of space pulling on everything suddenly wiped out every other noise, and her eyes grew wide. Dimar’s lips touched hers before she could react. She could smell all the spices of the world wash over her senses as her breath caught in her throat. He was sunshine and rainbows and a bloody bastard.

  Diana pushed him away as the black of the temporal rift appeared to their left, and her fist collided with the side of his jaw. Suffice it to say that as the black passed over them, her fist slowed and she was able to watch with satisfaction as she bloodied his lip in slow motion.

  Chapter 19

  “You just couldn’t help yourself,” Diana said as she glared death at Dimar.

  Dimar gave her a sheepish look as the ship limped towards her home. Apparently they were two star systems over and one super speed engine down. She sat cross-legged, hovering above the bed that had saved them. When they had passed through the wormhole, most of the damage had been to the front of the ship. Once they were all the way through, Ruby had been able to set up a sort of forcefield to keep the air from escaping. They still didn’t have artificial gravity, though, which was what Dimar was tinkering with.

  “It wouldn’t have happened if you had just used the bracelet,” he pointed out, unperturbed.

  “It also wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t lied,” she shot back.

  “I didn’t lie,” he insisted. “I just didn’t tell you everything.”

  “Omission is still a form of lying,” Diana countered, her teeth all but grinding together. “And if you keep omitting important information, I am going to use my bracelet to make you do the chicken dance.”

  “What exactly is a ‘chicken dance?’” Dimar asked, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

  “Embarrassing, but it will give me great amusement,” she explained vaguely, a corner of her lip turned up at the thought. “So don’t push me buddy.”

  “It sounds like a form of punishment,” he said, returning to his work. “Your world is so strange to give a punishment such a name.”

  Diana sucked her lips in to keep from laughing as gravity reestablished itself and she landed on the bed. She cringed from the impact but was mostly unharmed. Dimar landed gracefully—surprise, surprise! There was a whoop of joy from up front. Advanced robots did not appreciate the kinetics required to float around. Apparently their greatest fear was zero gravity.

  Ruby jumped down from the front and smiled. “Thanks for strapping us in. We would have floated off without you.”

  “See someone appreciates my efforts,” Diana pointed out. Dimar only shrugged.

  “It is important to remember that you were the one who placed us in that situation in the first place,” Roddy pointed out, unabashed. “I don’t see the point in appreciating your efforts, as they were only to rectify a previous mistake.”

  “Thank you, Roddy,” she said sarcastically. “You are so helpful.”

  “You’re welcome,” he retorted just as snobbishly.

  Despite the fact that Roddy was slightly annoying, she appreciated his gruff attitude. Honestly, he was a refreshing breath of air. Everyone else had treated her differently because of the bracelet around her wrist, but not the snarky robot. He knew what she was, and he still treated her exactly the
same. Part of her wanted to have him sucked out of the airlock, but a bigger part of her wanted to thank him. She would follow through with neither, but that was beside the point.

  “Roddy, lunch,” Dimar ordered with a reproachful stare before coming to stand across from her.

  He leaned on the other bed, crossed his arms, and studied her until she become uncomfortable. Shifting she demanded, “What?”

  “You could have gotten us killed,” Dimar said soberly.

  “Your androids can’t die,” Diana replied. “And nothing happened.”

  “The cold of space could have corrupted their memory chip—in effect, killed them,” Dimar said. “I need to know you aren’t going to be irrational again.”

  “Irrational?” she said, offended. “You really know nothing about Earth women and a little thing called estrogen, which powers irrational and rational emotions alike. I can’t always be using my rational emotions; they need a break sometimes.”

  “I am not talking about Earth women,” Dimar said seriously. “I am talking about you.”

  She glared at him. “Don’t even start. I’ve been handling this as best I can.”

  “You have been rejecting this gift since the moment you received it,” he countered.

  “It isn’t a gift,” she yelled, kicking her legs out and standing. “It is a curse!”

  “Why are you so angry?” he asked, his voice rising slightly.

  “Because if I’m not, I’ll fall apart!” she screamed, throwing her arms up in the air. “Anger is the only thing keeping me sane.”

  He leaned back and searched her face as she took deep breaths. Clenching her jaw to keep from crying, she tried to ignore the feeling of her heart falling out her toes whenever she thought of her family and what this “gift” had cost her. She could hear the voices of those that thought her unworthy—and worse, she agreed with them. Diana didn’t want this—she wanted to go home.

  “It has been rare that any homo sapiens travel the stars or see other planets,” Dimar said softly. “Most of your people believe you are alone as you search for life elsewhere, but there are other planets less advanced. At the end of the day, the bracelet chose you. The most powerful being in the known universe could have picked anyone, and it chose you.”

  “Then why did it hide?” Diana asked, her face scrunched in concentration. “Why now? Your mother at least seemed to have lived a life before it chose her, but I have carried it around since I was a little girl. It was always there, waiting.”

  Dimar seemed to consider her words before saying, “I don’t know.”

  “No one knows,” Diana said with a frown. “I have been across the universe and back. The only one who can give me answers is sitting silently on my wrist.”

  “We are approaching Earth,” Ruby said, her perfectly crafted breasts pressed together as she leaned forward. “We are nearly close enough to transport.”

  “Good,” Diana said before Dimar could say a word. “I am going to show you where to send me.”

  Dimar caught her arm before she could walk past him. “Where are you going?”

  “Normality doesn’t matter anymore,” she said, jerking her arm free. “Instead I am going to find some answers.”

  “Where to?” Ruby asked when Diana strolled into the control room.

  “Pevensey Castle, England,” Diana said. Leaning on the rail she gazed out the front window as they flew past a red planet. She vaguely wondered if it was Mars.

  Chapter 20

  “We’re lost?” Diana asked as they walked along the country road.

  “Because Earth is ground-bound, we have not mapped it out.” Dimar squinted against the sun.

  He appeared strangely human without his pointed ears and yet still otherworldly. Eyeing the golden necklace around his neck, like a pharaoh would wear, she wondered exactly how it worked. Something about filtering out his ears and filling in the space so it seemed like he didn’t have pointed ears. Glaring at the golden bling, she wondered if it was any better. They had been walking for hours, and Diana was starting to get impatient. It was ridiculous that men across all species could still refuse to ask for directions.

  “It looks like there is a town up ahead,” Diana said, admiring the landscape despite her pessimism.

  “I do love these little rural towns,” Rocky said, glancing around with his own set of matching bling. “So very unique.”

  “I am going to go ahead and try to get a faster form of transportation,” Dimar said and jogged off.

  Diana shook her head with her hands on her hips. “Alien men—can’t stand them, but can’t get anywhere without them.”

  Dimar turned back with his eyebrows raised. “Your tone indicates there is humor in your words, but I fail to see it.”

  “Screw you. I’m hilarious,” she yelled after him, wishing she had something to throw at him.

  “You and Master Dimar sure fight a lot for people who find each other attractive,” Rocky said, as though it was a strange and curious thing.

  “Me attracted to him?” Diana said harshly and hoped her look of disbelief was convincing.

  “My sensors never lie,” Rocky said. Diana glared at him.

  “Well, that is only because he is made of as much pheromones as I am made up of water,” Diana explained.

  “I don’t think that is—” Rocky started.

  Diana put a hand up. “No more, Rocky.”

  They continued on in silence until a good half hour later they stumbled wearily into town. It was a little bigger than she had first thought when they’d spotted it from a distance away, and more urbanized. Some people gave her strange looks, but most didn’t say anything. Suddenly, a short man with red hair and pointed ears appeared. Diana froze and stared at him; she was back on Earth, right?

  It looked at her and Rocky and then put its hand up. Immediately she knew it wasn’t a prank; it was clearly an alien. She gave a startled yelp when he fell to her feet, though it wasn’t far to fall.

  “Bearer,” he said, bowing his head to the ground.

  He had a little box that he set on the ground. When he opened it the box began to play a melody. He started to sing in a strange language. She could understand it and it was not something she was going to continue to listen to. He was clearly serenading her. Worse a crowd was gathering.

  “It’s a leprechaun,” Diana said to everyone and laughed.

  Some laughed with her, but many more just stared. She was making them nervous; heck, she was nervous. Rocky took hold of her arm and shook his head. They needed to get out of there.

  “Don’t call him that,” Rocky cautioned.

  “Why not?” she asked out of the corner of her mouth.

  “He is one of the most deadly assassins in the universe,” he explained through his teeth, which prompted her to give him a What the heck? glance.

  “Awkward,” she whispered, honeslty she really needed to work on who she made friends with. “Your song is beautiful,” she told him with a strained smile as she searched for the best escape route.

  He nodded and stood. “I, Jacrifcar of the house Grithli, offer my hand to you.”

  Diana’s eyes went wide, her mouth opened and closed once or twice before she managed, “Forgive me; I do not know the way to properly decline such an offer.”

  “I have shown my appreciation for you,” Jacrifcar said. “My candidacy remains in effect until you choose.”

  “Oh,” Diana said trying hard not to let her forced smile and polite laughter turn into tears. “Then I am honored.”

  “I will take you across the universe to my home,” he said, “so that you may know my people.”

  “As lovely as that sounds,” Diana replied, trying to remember the language of some Jane Austen films, “I have a prior engagement that requires my attention. Pardon me.”

  She hurried away from him and didn’t dare look back. When they rounded a corner she had to keep herself from running. Instead she took careful steps. Reminding herself that fine
ladies didn’t run.

  Rocky smiled. “You handled that very well.”

  “Did I?” Diana asked, trying to calm her racing heart. “I was terrified.”

  “It hardly showed,” he assured her.

  “And I thought Dimar was bad,” she said with a hand on her chest.

  “Do not judge him so harshly,” Rocky advised.

  Diana paused. “He only wants one thing. Right now that suits us both. Do not see something that isn’t there, Rocky.”

  Diana wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him or herself.

  Chapter 21

  “Where is he?” Diana asked thirty minutes later. The first castle had been the wrong one and Diana wanted the whole ordeal over with.

  “Likely lost,” Rocky said clearly amused.

  “Don’t sound so happy about it,” Diana grumbled.

  Diana heard someone whistle and immediately searched for the source of the sound. The culprit was a young punk standing outside a shop with a cocky grin. He couldn’t be that much younger than her. His attire reminded her of a wannabe punk rapper, with his bling, bagging shirt and pants, and single gold tooth that glinted when he smiled at her. She thought he might even have a do-rag on under his reversed snapback hat.

  “How’s it hanging, mami?” he asked.

  “Seriously,” Diana asked, rolling her eyes. “I even get it from my own species.”

  “Why so serious?” the punk asked and came towards her.

  “Should I take care of him?” Rocky asked.

  “No,” Diana said before adding loudly, “not interested.”

  “Just flirting here,” he said. “No harm.”

  Little did he know that she’d had it up to her eyeballs in flirting and was just sick of it! “I have literally been hit on by everything imaginable for the last couple of days,” Diana said slowly to emphasize her annoyance. “I suggest you don’t even try.”

  “Everything?” he asked, shuffling his feet