Skrymers Glove

by Per Holbo

  ***

  Thor kept as quiet as possible in the aisle as he listened to the dragging of feet and the sound of something heavy gliding along the hard floor in the corridor diagonally from where he was. He stretched his neck as far as he could and threw a look down the corridor. A slender figure was dragging a lifeless body in Thor´s direction. The person doing the dragging had its back turned to Thor, but he recognized Freya immediately. He had to fight his urge to get up and run to her. It would be way too risky storming toward her, as she was probably still in her fighting mind and would much likely kill him before he even got close enough for her to see, who he was. Instead he pointed his lips and let out a breeze of air.

  Hearing Thor whistling Freya stopped at once and let go of Loki - that´s who the lifeless body belonged to - and due to pure instinct she jumped to the side and squeezed herself flat on the wall. Then she realized who the sound she´d just heard, belonged to and whistled back. Thor whistled a predesignated response and she relaxed a bit, although still quite alert.

  “It´s me, Freya,” she heard him whisper and shortly after he stuck out his head and sent her a smile for greeting, “are you alone?”

  Freya stepped forward with her rifle ready just as a precaution.

  “Yeah, we are alone,” she answered with a low whisper, “And you?”

  “Well, there are no Yetten here, if that´s what you mean.”

  Thor had already stopped whispering, but he still spoke rather quietly. After all, he couldn´t be absolutely sure...

  “I wish I could say the same,” Freya said hinting at the motionless Loki at her feet, although Thor didn´t catch it. Instead he just approached her with his hand stretched out toward her. Finally they were able to greet each other in a civilized manner and let their guards down for a while.

  It wasn´t till Thor got up close to her, he realized, who the body on the floor belonged to.

  “Is he...?” Thor began with a concerned look on his face.

  “Oh, no, he´s quite alright,” Freya calmed his worries, “he´s just a little tired after all the hardships, the poor thing. Would you help me move him, please?”

  Though one of Loki´s best friends, Thor couldn´t help smiling at this well put taunting by her on the expense of Loki. He grabbed both arms and Freya took Loki´s legs and soon after, they´d moved him to the side of the corridor. Then they removed a panel in the wall and squeezed Loki in with all the now broken and inactive energy conductors, that hanged from somewhere high above inside the walls. He might be angry at them, when he woke up, being cramped inside the small compartment, but at least he wouldn´t be as vulnerable as if they´d let him lie in the middle of the aisle.

  As they put the panel back in its place, Freya updated Thor on the most recent events and told him about how they´d found Loki with the children and managed to escape by stealing a Farbauter. She had expected Thor to be astonished when she mentioned Loki being aboard the Brimir and she very surprised that it did not seem to be the case. In her usual manner, she controlled it and did not let anything in her voice or body language reveal her thoughts, but simply wrote a note to herself inside her head. She had to keep an eye on Loki and Thor in the future. If Loki was a traitor, as she still believed he was, maybe the Yetten had managed to somehow get to Thor as well. She then went on to talk about how they almost got away when they were suddenly transported onto the cruiser. Thor nodded and said ”hmm ..” and ”okay” where it seemed fitting to do so, but all times they both kept ears and eyes peeled and at the slightest sound Freya stopped in the middle of her sentences and they listened carefully to ensure themselves that everything was safe. When she finished her story, it was Thor´s turn. He explained everything as brief as he could, because they didn´t have much time.

  “Baldur found an alternative route inside the non gravity pocket inside the glove and Alfheim is right now hovering less than 10.000 kilometers away. As soon as we have found the others, all we need to do is send him a message and then we´ll leave as fast as possible,” he explained, “does Sif still have the mini scanner?”

  Freya nodded.

  “Yes, she has the scanner, but we got lost from each other when everything exploded around us. Loki and I were thrown through the door and landed pretty far down the corridor. But how did you manage to break through the shielding with the transporter?”

  For a split second, Thor considered brushing her off with an excuse about not having the time to explain, but decided against it. It would probably be better to explain it, so that she would find it easier to keep focus on the task at hand.

  “Well, the simple explanation is that I reprogrammed the transporter to create a double displacement,” he told her, “that is: I transported one person away from the cruiser and at the same moment transported myself onto the ship.”

  “Aaah... Nice,” she said praising him in a manner not very like her, “that does explain a lot. You transported yourself to the cruiser and at the same time transported Skrymer away from it, right?”

  “Hopefully, yeah, “ he answered in a concerned voice, “the process is very dangerous, though. It has the potential to destabilize time and space, so it really isn´t something you do lightly.”

  “And if the worst thing happens?”

  “Well, that´s quite difficult to predict. The most likely outcome is that the whole area would either explode or implode, but there is no way of knowing for sure. And the chance of transporting the right person out of a smaller group away from the target area is about 50/50... but yeah, I tried to get Skrymer off of the ship.”

  “Hmmm...” Freya muttered thoughtfully. Then she shook off the unpleasant thought with a shake of her head and took off the safety on her weapon.

  “Well,” she said in a cheerful mood eager to complete the mission, “I suppose there´s only one way to find out, isn´t there? Let´s go have a look, shall we?”

  “Certainly,” Thor answered, “Lead the way. I´ll be right behind you.” He waited for Freya to turn her back on him and then he pulled out a piece of old fashioned paper from his side pocket, pushed it under the panel where Loki was lying unaware of what was happening around him and followed her.

  With Freya in front and Thor closely behind, they walked cautiously down the corridor. Thor glanced at the flickering light panels in the ceiling, which made Freya´s shadow look like a monster from an old black and white horror movie. He didn´t like it. He didn´t like it at all. Even though everything else pointed to the double displacement having been successful, it could still have destabilized the energy crystals inside the cruiser and maybe this was what made the lights flicker like they did. And if this was the case, it could only be a matter of time, before the cruiser and everything in close proximity would change into a nightmare they would never wake up from.

  “Freya?” he almost whispered. She looked back over her shoulder and found his eyes.

  “I´ve noticed,” she responded, “I assume we´re in a hurry?”

  “I think so,” he whispered back, “we better find the others soon. In a moment or two, everything here...”

  He shook his head disheartedly. “Well, suffice to say that if I´m right, this place could soon begin to crack up. The time lags could go in all sorts of directions and we could have less than a few minutes before this entire ship is split in time and space - with us inside it...”

  Freya sped up a bit, but no more than she was still able to be alert. Although they hadn´t seen a single Yetten - at least not one that was still breathing - since the first explosion, they couldn´t be entirely sure the ship was empty. A few of them could have been abandoned and in hiding just waiting to jump out to attack them.

  As she approached the blasted in door on her left, she squeezed closer to the wall as a precaution and by the time she reached the opening she was almost an integrated part of the wall and with her back to the last few panels she kept her rifle close to her upper body, ready for combat, if it proved necessary. She stretched out her neck and p
eeked inside the room for a short look and she narrowly withdrew her head before a blast of a beam weapon passed her face tightly and went on making a hole in the opposite wall.

  “Whoa,” she said in surprise, “that was close!” She signaled Thor and with a quick jerk she swung herself across the opening and got to the other side of the door, while Thor took over the spot she´d just left. Blasts practically rained through the opening like heavy hail being blown sideways by a storm and she only just avoided being hit. Thor wasn´t as lucky. His cheek got a black and red stripe from his chin and all the way up to his ear and he had to pull all his mental strength not to scream out loud and reveal his precise position. He clinged to his weapon and grinded his teeth at the pain.

  “You´ll never get in here alive!” a familiar voice shouted from inside the room, “this ship is going to blow and you´ll never leave this place alive if you don´t make a run for it - NOW!”

  Thor and Freya looked at each other with a huge smile on their faces. Then they couldn´t help laughing out loud tears rolling down their cheeks.

  “Freya! Thor!”

  Roeskva was ecstatic with joy! She stormed away from Sif, who didn´t even think about reacting before she was way out of reach and ran toward her saving heroes.

  “Is Tjalfe with you?” she asked full of expectation, but soon her happy expression had to give room for a sad and worried look, as Thor and Freya shook their heads.

  “I´m sorry, Roeskva, he isn´t,” Thor said and crouched in front of her, “but we will find him! I promise!”

  Roeskva forced herself to smile and nodded. This is a time for being brave, she thought to herself. Tjalfe´s chances of being saved wouldn´t be the slightest better with her crying her eyes out and she decided to put her trust in her new found friends.

  Thor got to his feet and started ordering the others around.

  “Freya, take Loki and Roeskva and hurry to the escape pods as quickly as you can!”

  Freya nodded and soon she rushed out the door with Roeskva right behind her.

  “Sif, the mini scanner!”

  She fished out the scanner from her pocket and handed it to him.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, but he didn´t answer. He kept his eyes focused on the scanner´s screen while spinning around himself a couple of times.

  “No!” he cried, “No! Please, no!” He smashed the scanner into his hand a few times and then tried again. Still nothing. He looked up at Sif with a frightened look on his face. “He´s not here..!” he said his eyes distant and empty, “the scanner doesn´t show him anywhere. Apart from us, only Brimir shows signs of life. But only one Yetten - no human, no nothing... Tjalfe is.. He´s gone!”

  ***