“I don’t understand this,” Charles said. “I didn’t think we would find anyone on the ship.”
“We’ve stepped through a temporal rift,” Jonna said. “The instability of this wormhole must have generated an anomaly and brought us here.”
Connecting itself to the energy field around the Cosmos back on Shin’nor’ee,” Charles said.
“It’s the only explanation we have at the moment.”
“Even if it is a bit farfetched,” Charles replied.
“And if it’s true...”
Charles grimaced, and hypothesized, “Then are we here, or are we just witnessing the events as apparitions... will they see us...?”
“Captain...!” the first officer screamed. “We have intruders onboard.”
“Forget I asked,” Charles said grabbing hold of Jonna’s arm and pulling her close.
The deck plates underfoot shuttered and the engine’s roar filled the cabin. The ship listed to one side but quickly righted itself.
“What do you mean intruders? Bring them here.”
Suddenly, before any action could be taken the ship spiraled out of control. Charles and Jonna were thrown up against the bulkhead behind them – held there with tremendous pressure. Stars filled the front viewscreen for a brief second before the wormhole appeared again, then the stars, around the ship tumbled helplessly until only the unstable event horizon of the wormhole filled the front viewport.
Alarms clamored throughout the ship, A computer console sparked, and smoke poured from behind the panel.
Charles’ stomach lurched – it lodged in his throat and gagged him. He held on tight to Jonna. Screams from the crew followed. The glare from an intense light flooded the ship, the vessel melted before Charles’ eyes and then, on the verge of blacking out everything stopped.
Charles and Jonna dropped to the deck floor on their hands and knees. The alarms died and a wisp of smoke filled the deck. Outside the viewport, there was only black. The ship listed calmly and there was barely enough time to drawl a breath before the beginning of the next ordeal.
“Medical kit,” someone yelled.
The first officer sat on the floor. Scarlett gushing from her brow. Charles scrambled to his feet yanked a medical kit off the wall and rushed to the officer’s side. Jonna followed, her staff in hand. She knelt down and reached for the officer.
“She’s real cold professor,” Jonna said.
“She’s going into shock,” Charles said flipping open the lid of the medical kit. “We have to stop the bleeding... talk to her.”
“Stay calm, we are going to help you. I’m Jonna and this is Charles. What’s your name?”
“I’m Hanna,” the woman replied. Her eyes were glassy and her skin like dried clay.
Charles applied an antiseptic cream to the wound after cleaning it and layered the gash with an organic sealer. “There,” he said, offering a toothy smile. “Almost like new.”
The officer’s skin shaded pink and she offered a thin smile of her own.
“Who the hell are you...?” A voice towered over Charles. “And how did you get on my ship?”
The Prototype Vessel, Cosmos.
Deep Space
Earth Year: Unknown
Charles and Jonna stood to face the Captain. A wrathful glare shrouded her expression, and she stood with one hand on a sidearm and the other clenched into a fist. She wore a one-piece blue and green uniform – her rank crested on the shoulder. She had unmistakable characteristics and Charles didn’t need to read the name badge on her breast to know this was Rachel Tannador, the commander and pilot of the Cosmos, but more importantly, the ancestor of Da’Mira Tannador.
Rachel had short dark hair, her eyes were shaped like old American silver dollars, with tiny blue irises swimming in pools of white. Her face was perfectly oval with creamy colored skin – her lips were a bright peach. She looked more like a model than a ship’s captain. But even with her soft exterior, there was a grit to her, like a razors edge that would cut you if you handled it wrong.
“I’m leaving my weapon holstered and giving you the benefit of doubt. So, I’ll ask again. Who are you and why are you on my ship?”
Charles rubbed his chin, drew a breath and said, “That might be difficult... I’m not sure how to explain it.”
“We’ve traveled back in time some eight-thousand years,” Jonna said bluntly. “Professor Long and I come from a point, roughly two-hundred years after your launch. We arrived here by accident, while working on an archaeology find.”
Gobsmacked, the color raced from Rachel’s face and she allowed her hand to drop off the hilt of her pistol. Her fisted hand relaxed and she stood there as if searching for the right words.
“You could have shown a little decorum,” Charles said.
“There is no reason to dance around how we came here, any more than it is to hide the fact they’ve also traveled back in time,” Jonna said and turned her attention back to Rachel. “If you’ll check your instruments, you’ll discover what I said to be true.”
“There’s no need,” Rachel said. “When we passed into the wormhole my chronometer went haywire and began to dial backwards. I just didn’t believe it until now,” she said.
“I’m Professor Charles Long, and this is Jonna Grace, and from this point on, I think we should be careful in what we say.”
“Please Professor, if what you say is true and what my computer is telling me is right, polluting the timeline is the least of my worries,” Rachel said and paused, her head tilted sensing movement behind her, she spun around to face her crew.
Charles and Jonna shared a quiet glance and he pulled her aside and whispered, “You and I must’ve come here for a reason.”
“Why do you think that?” Jonna asked.
“If not, why are we here?” Charles replied.
“Professor, did it occur to you that it was an accident. That our being here has no reason at all, other than we are here.”
Charles thought about that for a moment. It wasn’t a pleasant thought that they played no part in the history of the Cosmos and their arrival was a mistake. “Is this the way we end then? Living out the remainder of our lives... insignificant...? What about what’s happening in our time. Uklavar must be stopped. Are we no longer to play a part in that?”
“I know it’s hard for you to believe...”
“Believe,” Charles said his voice raised. “I won’t even consider it.” He stepped away noticing the penetrative stares from the Cosmos crew.
Jonna followed and placed a hand on his arm and said, “I’m sorry if I’m so straight forward with you professor.”
Charles wheeled around ready to attack her, but when he saw the sorrowful expression in her eyes, his own hardened expression relaxed. In a few short weeks, Jonna went from a naïve fifteen-year-old girl to a wise woman. She had the collective history of the Cosmea in her now. Though he didn’t know what that meant. At first, he thought it might have been a weapon to use against Uklavar, but now perhaps Jonna was destined for something more.
Then it dawned on him, and he said, “Origin told us that when the crew of the Cosmos traveled in time, the transference altered them, giving them powers, necromancers, he said.”
“That is correct,” Jonna said.
“Well look at them, do any of them look like wizards to you?”
Jonna turned toward the crew who had huddled in a group at the center of the ship. “No, they don’t,” she replied.
“Then something else has to transpire for that to happen,” Charles said.
“Right, we agree then. Man, your stations,” Rachel stepped out of the circle, a determined look on her face. Her crew followed orders and returned to their consoles quickly feeding in computations into their computers. Even the injured first officer found some strength to get back in her chair, though she didn’t do much more than that.
Charles regarded Jonna for a brief second and stepped toward Rachel, asked, “Agreement for what?”
“Engine room reports we are fully functional, we are going back to Earth,” Rachel said sliding into her flight chair.
Charles followed Rachel around to her seat, leaned over her and said, “We’ve told you when you are, Captain. Even your instruments have told you, but...”
“I’d like to confirm it for myself,” Rachel said. “If we get to Earth, and it’s not the planet we left, then I will decide our next course.”
Charles withdrew. It was a prudent course of action, and he too would like to confirm it. Besides, to have a look at Earth eight-thousand years in the past would be an archaeologist’s dream.
“Both of you take a seat,” Rachel commanded.
Charles strapped into a seat next to Jonna and relaxed his head on the headrest behind him. His thoughts racing through different scenarios. If they were stuck in the past what did that mean for them? How would they function in a society not their own? He wondered if he would be able to exist without altering the timeline. He knew the future, probably better than anyone. Could he stop himself from fixing the future so mankind wouldn’t end up the way they are in his time? Knowing it was wrong to even think about, he wasn’t sure he had the willpower to stop himself.
“Are you alright professor?” Jonna asked.
Charles replied with a nod but kept his thoughts to himself. It was clear he would not be good living in the past. He’d rather dig it up, than live through it.
The ship’s engines hummed alive and the black in the front viewport began to spin past the ship. Even without using the wormhole engines, the vessel could still travel at tremendous speeds. Though it would be many hours before the ship reached Earth, and in that time, he would try and figure out what he would do.
“Professor, wake up.”
Charles staggered ahead in his seat, still harnessed in. he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Sleep consumed him without warning, and the long journey back to Earth had diminished from hours to seconds. His mothers used to tell him that sleep was like time travel. You close your eyes and the next thing you know you’re in the future.
Earth loomed in the ship’s main window. By appearance, it was clear they were in the past. The planet looked lush and green. There were no manmade satellites in orbit, and no gray splotches of smog anywhere on the planet. The world looked new, or at least new to the crew of the Cosmos.
“What do you say now Captain?” Charles asked.
Rachel slid out of her flight chair, looked at Charles, but didn’t reply. Instead she crossed the deck and leaned over her first officer. Charles struggled to hear their conversation but all he heard were inflections of voices – their words muffled.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Jonna asked.
Charles leaned forward in his seat, contemplating if he should unbuckle and join the conversation. But he was a stranger here. There was no reason for Rachel Tannador to trust him, and he didn’t blame her. “If I were in her position, I’d consider not staying here. If any one of this crew did anything, it could alter the future as we know it. She can’t take that chance.”
“So, what would you do?” Jonna asked.
“I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t...”
“We’re going back into the wormhole,” Rachel announced to the crew. “If our calculations are correct, we will travel back home, to our time.”
“They shouldn’t do that,” Charles said and spoke louder. “Captain, the chances of you re-creating the event that brought you here might get you all killed.”
“Better dead, then trapped thousands of years in the past,” Rachel said.
“You’re wrong,” Charles snapped back.
“Then I’ll be wrong,” Rachel replied.
Charles unstrapped from his chair, and rushed forward, preparing a speech with each passing step, but before he had the chance to use any of what he had in mind, Jonna blocked his way, exclaiming, “Professor, look. Look at my staff.”
Charles stumbled to a stop. His eyes followed the length of the staff until. The top of the rod steadily began to glow, with each passing second it grew brighter and brighter. Shielding his eyes with his hands, he glanced at Jonna.
“I think, it wants her to try, Professor,” Jonna said.
Charles was quick to admit he was out of his professional league. The staff was more than science, though he didn’t believe in magic, he’d seen enough in the last several months that his mind was changing. If there was one chance that he and Jonna could get home, he had to see it through. “I think you might be right, Jonna.”
“I don’t understand,” Rachel asked. “What is this staff?
“It might be best if you don’t ask Captain Tannador. Just follow your plan. I think things will sort themselves out if we allow it,” Charles said with a gulp. “I can’t believe I said that.”
“Alright, you two, strap back in,” Rachel said sitting back at her flight controls.
The Cosmos thrusted forward; the low bombastic hum of the engines grew increasingly louder by the second as the craft zoomed through space. Charles grabbed the arms of his chair and drew steady breaths, his skin crawled with anxiety, his mind raced with variable outcomes, the foremost was the destruction of the ship, the chances of returning home, destroyed with it.
Jonna’s staff expelled a soft white glow. The pure energy blanketed the control room, and when the wormhole formed in front of the ship, strands of pure white light folded from the tip of Jonna’s staff. The light ribbons streamed throughout the flight deck like living creatures. They lashed on to the ship’s systems causing them to become erratic, controls shutdown, artificial gravity stopped functioning and the Cosmos tumbled forward toward the opening of the wormhole.
“What’s happening?” Captain Tannador yelled.
Jonna screamed and threw the staff to the floor,” It was too hot to hold,” she yelled. Her hands blistered from the radiant heat and for the first time since she took up the ancient artifact, she looked less wise... more the Jonna that Charles remembered.
The staff spun in a circle. It pulsated a blinding aura and the wormhole outside the ship flashed in accordance and then everything went.... quiet.
Charles and Jonna were expelled from the Cosmos. They passed through the thin layer of energy that surrounded the ship inside the core of Shin’nor’ee. They landed with a solid thud on the hard surface of the cavern. A warm sensation came to the back of Charles’ head, as he lay motionless counting the places on his body that hurt. He opened his eyes to find Navaho Night looking at him.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice riddled with confusion. “You were gone only seconds.”
“She’s bleeding, bleeding in the gut,” Spencer exclaimed.
Charles pushed Navaho away from him and scurried to Jonna’s side. Her shirt was soaked in crimson, and she shivered. Her skin was icy, and like clay. He ran his hand over Jonna’s forehead, and said, “It’s the wound that...that killed her... she’s going to bleed out. MEDIC!”
Charles ripped off his shirt and shoved it under her head for a pillow. “Someone, help!”
Jonna spoke, but her words were dull and lifeless.
Charles begged everyone to be quiet and placed his ear close to her mouth.
Jonna spoke again, her words broken and forced, “I was just the custodian for the Cosmea. Their entire database, and history stored within me. You... you... said we were there on Cosmos for a reason. We were meant to be there, to start the cycle all over again. The Cosmea were needed in the past. But humanity must move forward on their own.”
Charles fought back tears, wiping them off her face, he couldn’t stop his body from shaking. “There will be others to help you Professor. Seek out the Shon’mirah. They will guide and council you.”
“The medics are coming, Jonna. Just hang on, hang on a few more minutes.”
“Don’t cry for me Charles, I got to live longer than I should have,” Jonna said in a weak voice. She reached up and pulled Ch
arles close to her and in her final seconds of life told him, “Walk the sands, walk the sands of Imperia...”
Jonna released her last breath, and she lay there, her eyes open to the ceiling and Charles sat back against the cold cavern wall, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking, his heart fluttered, and he just sat there staring at Jonna. “If I would have known, I wouldn’t have agreed to go in there,” he whispered.
Navaho sat down next to Charles, she folded her arm into his and held him tight.
Spencer laid his hand on Jonna’s face and closed her eyes.
Without warning the ground began to shake, shards of rock and debris began to rain down on the expedition team. The time for mourning had ended and Charles pulled Navaho to her feet. “Grab what you can,” Charles commanded. “Make for the exit, we’re returning to the surface.”
Chasms broke open in the ground, hot rushing steam poured from them and cut off some members of the team from escaping. “Skirt around the outside of the fissures... Spencer get some rope and help these people out of there.”
“What about Jonna?” Navaho asked.
“Leave her,” Charles said. “She would want to stay here... I know it.”
Another ground quake shook the cavern. Members of the expedition made their way through the tunnel leading back to the surface. Charles and Spencer guided the trapped members to safety, the ground becoming more brittle by the moment.
“Professor, look!” Navaho shouted, shoving her finger toward the Cosmos. The energy field around the ship flashed, the vessel faded.
“That’s not good,” Spencer yelled.
“No. No it’s not,” Charles said. Though Shin’nor’ee wasn’t a true Dyson Sphere, it did have some of the same qualities. “If the Cosmos vanishes, there might be a good chance this planet will implode around its vacancy. It’s hard to tell what that will do to the rest of the planet.”
“But you’re not certain,” Spencer said.
“Well of course I’m not certain. But would you rather stay on the planet to see if I’m right?”
Origin Equation Page 16
