The Valteran Ascension (A Paradox of Time Book 1)

by Mara Amberly

  “Let me know if you hear anything relevant. Oh, and use my secure comms – frequency 18.11.”

  “18.11,” Frank repeated.

  It was so Frank would speak to him, rather than his duplicate self who was still working in the city.

  “Where should I drop you?” Frank asked.

  “There’s a park down past Azure Towers. It’s as convenient a place as any.”

  Chapter 20

  December 2134 – Near the Relsar’o High Command, Relsar’o Zone 1, Valtera

  Cora looked lovely in her powder grey business suit; it was different, though she still favoured a longer skirt. Eric knew the translation device he’d given her would be tucked into her sleeve, on that same ribbon around her wrist. She blended in well with the professional populace of Zone 1. The Relsar’o High Command was a cluster of connected buildings built to massive proportions from red and black marble, shot through with silver.

  It cut an impressive sight and an intimidating one because it housed members of the Valteran council. Their decisions were law, and in light of what Eric knew, it was concerning, to say the least.

  “Heading to location one now,” Cora said.

  Eric heard her voice through an implant in his ear; no one else could overhear her.

  “Understood,” he replied matter-of-factly, speaking into his TSAI.

  Standing in the square where he was, it didn’t attract attention. He surveyed his surroundings from there and watched Cora from a distance.

  She walked casually toward the building and entered through the open gates.

  Eric felt a twinge of discomfort and doubt about whether he should’ve put her in this position. She was doing it for him, but he knew it was for the greater good of his people.

  There was a flowering bush close to the main door and Cora turned to look at one of the flowers. It was white and looked like a climbing rose. It was the first target they’d agreed on.

  She leaned down to smell it and Eric knew she would place a tiny sensor on the plant beneath it. He couldn’t tell from a distance, but then no one was supposed to see.

  He released a breath as she turned away from the plant and continued toward the door. That was until the large wooden door opened and a woman started toward her.

  Eric wanted to tell her to run, but it would’ve been suspicious.

  “Make an excuse and go,” he whispered to her through his TSAI.

  He knew she would hear it and no one else would.

  “This is government property. What is your business here?” the woman asked.

  They must’ve been watching outside, and paying attention to who was due at the building.

  “I wish to make my concerns known to the High Councillor,” she said.

  Eric had instructed her earlier about what to say and how to say it. He knew she’d be given the brush-off in that situation. They didn’t listen to the ‘little people’ unless they had a very good reason to.

  Even at a distance, Eric saw the woman’s jaw drop.

  “Please come in,” she said, holding the door open.

  Eric hadn’t expected that, and he found himself wishing Cora had left.

  Cora slipped her hand into her pocket, and he knew she was probably holding the other device.

  “Don’t try to place the device,” he whispered to her through her earpiece, and he saw her hand relax and slide from her pocket.

  “Thank you, madam, you’re very kind,” Cora replied, as she followed the woman back into the building.

  Cora was on her own and he had no idea what she was going to say. He was tempted to go in there and get her, but any excuse he could find sounded suspicious in his own thoughts. Maybe she’d be alright. He hoped so.

  “The High Councillor doesn’t accept unscheduled visitors,” the woman said.

  Eric couldn’t see into the building reception area, but he could hear their conversation.

  “I could schedule a visit then or speak with someone else?”

  No, Eric wanted to tell her. Don’t speak with someone else! Schedule an appointment and leave. There would’ve been no point saying it now.

  “I’m afraid that’s not an option either,” she said.

  The sound of sharp static shot through Eric’s implant, causing him to hastily silence the transmission. He would not cut it completely; not when Cora was there. He tried to increase the volume and got the same sharp static.

  “They don’t know anything,” he muttered to himself. “They can’t know anything.”

  Unless he’d been betrayed or they’d detected his hacking, but that shouldn’t have been possible.

  No one else knew he was staying in Michael’s building, other than Cora. If they interrogated her, sooner or later she’d break, but she didn’t know the address. She knew almost nothing of Valteran society. She knew where the ship was. She knew who was on the planet. She knew what he was planning in the broadest sense, and why.

  He thought about barging in and pulling her out, but they’d expect something like that.

  Could they go after his other self in an attempt to change the timeline? Should he contact himself? He hadn’t received a message like that before. What did that even mean?

  “Cora,” he groaned, rubbing his eyes as he watched the front of the building in the distance. Could they know he was watching? Was she still able to hear him?

  “Stay strong,” he told her. “I’ll come for you.”

  He glanced cautiously around him at the people in the square. A couple walked by; a woman carrying a small child. Several people dined at tables outside a restaurant, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.

  As he glanced at an older woman, she looked back, and then too quickly glanced away. She had something to hide, more than likely, but what?

  Eric pulled on his cap and walked into a store, which he knew had a door out the other side. They sold children’s clothes, which were of no use to him, but they wouldn’t expect him there. He hoped there wouldn’t be anyone waiting in the next street.

  Eric took a careful glance out through the glass door before he ventured outside again. There were no men with guns waiting that he could see, and no people hanging around. Eric walked at the quickest pace he could call casual, entering an adjoining street that would take him away from the area. He was near enough to the central city that there were pedestrians out. He didn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

  His heart ached for Cora. He would rescue her unless they realised she knew nothing and set her free. He couldn’t see that happening until they extracted every last drop of information from her. The High Command were known for their brutal tactics. He felt like a monster for sending Cora in there, unprotected, and walking away now. The only reason he sent her in was so they could both place devices and it wouldn’t appear as obvious as one person might.

  Now he wondered if she’d feel betrayed and think he put her at risk while he stayed in the shadows.

  I don’t know what to do. Who can I trust?

  Eric noticed a few people glancing his way, and he wondered about their motivations, but then he realised how angry and upset he must’ve looked. He tried to control his emotions as he walked on.

  If I return to Michael’s house they could be waiting for me there.

  His family was gone and some of his friends were off-world. His mentor was in the city, but he didn’t want to risk Viktor’s timeline; he sent him on this mission and gave him the ship. That only left one person he trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt, and who would have his best interests at heart – himself!

  The question was whether he should risk it, but he knew that sooner or later they’d come for the other Eric. When they caught up with him, it would damage the timeline. If his chronyon shielding was stripped away, he mightn’t meet Cora at all. All of his efforts might be in vain and that didn’t bode well for the Valteran people either. He couldn’t afford to fail.

  He turned up the volume on his implant but all he heard was static. The transmi
ssion was channelled through his TSAI. Maybe there was something he could do to clear it up or prevent them from jamming him.

  Eric stopped near the corner of a large office building and whispered.

  “TSAI, scan incoming frequency from Transmitter 1. Remove static.”

  “Scanning,” his TSAI replied in its pleasant female voice. “Jamming signal found. Attempting to bypass jamming.”

  The static remained but between the crackles of it, he heard snatches of Cora’s voice.

  “You can’t keep… here.”

  Eric stepped further from a passer-by and turned up the volume.

  “Haven’t… anything.”

  There were several more minutes of crackling static and breaks in between, where there was silence.

  “Come on, please,” Eric begged his TSAI.

  “You… cell… no!”

  Cora’s voice was heart-wrenching.

  Eric paused. Could there be a schematic of where the cells were?

  “TSAI, do you have a schematic of the High Command building.”

  “Schematic is inaccessible at current clearance level,” it replied. “Access attempts are recorded.”

  Eric wasn’t surprised, but he was grateful his TSAI had warned him. It was one of the tweaks he’d made in the settings early on; to keep him apprised of these things.

  Eric walked on, taking cautious glances around him while trying not to stand out. He spotted a building along the road that had a bench in its garden. It would give him some measure of cover and privacy to talk.

  Eric sat down there, angled toward the road so he could keep an eye out for threats.

  “TSAI, digitise my voice – disguise protocol 5. Then call my set home number. Use a secure, private line.”

  “Calling…” it said. A moment passed and a voice answered.

  “Hello. Eric speaking.”

  Eric cringed, questioning the wisdom of his actions. He genuinely didn’t know what else to do. At least the other Eric was at home.

  “Eric, please listen to me. As a consequence of your future time travel, some trouble might be headed your way now. Get out of there and stay aware of your surroundings. Someone may be coming to arrest you and believe me, you don’t want that. Don’t go to work. Call in sick if you have to.”

  “Who is this?” the younger Eric asked, his voice strained. “What do you mean they’re going to arrest me?”

  Eric was tempted to tell him, but he wasn’t sure what the consequences would be. They might be bad enough already.

  “Someone you know well,” Eric said, “and someone you can trust. It might not happen but I’m being cautious just in case.”

  “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” the other Eric asked.

  “I suppose you don’t,” he replied. “The future needs you and if you get arrested, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So make sure you don’t,” he said. “You can trust Viktor.”

  “Does he know something about this?” the other Eric asked.

  “Not yet,” he replied. “Possibly not ever. Just keep yourself out of trouble.”

  “What have you done to cause this?” the younger Eric asked.

  Eric quickly cut the call; he didn’t like leaving his younger self hanging, but it seemed safer not to answer his question. He wasn’t sure what would happen to his younger self, but he knew in that situation, he’d keep a cautious eye out and try to get to the bottom of why he might be in trouble.

  Eric listened to snatches of conversation from Cora over the next day and a half, all of which caused his heart to ache. He knew they were questioning her, and he’d heard her cry more than once. That truly wrenched his heart. She whispered to him at times. It gave Eric the best information he could hope for about where to find her: on the third floor, near a massive staircase. It was lucky they hadn’t found her communicator; though he wouldn’t have put it past them to leave her with it, in order to reel him in. Perhaps they counted on their jamming being good enough.

  There were plenty of reasons not to use the time capabilities of his wrist device on Valtera, but if he was to choose one place on the planet that was safest, it would be beneath the shield, and its centre was beneath the High Command building.

  Eric found a quiet spot near the square, as the hour was late and there were few people around. Eric dressed in a fine suit, and he’d prepared his badge before he left the Equinox. There was no way of changing his face, as Tom still had his Holographic Matrix Projector, but Eric hadn’t sought Tom out to get it back. He couldn’t take the risk right now.

  Eric tried to set coordinates for the third floor of the High Command building, but they were immediately locked out by his TSAI.

  “Coordinates disabled due to security protocols in effect. Please try again,” the pleasant female voice said.

  With a sigh, Eric tried again, keying them in manually.

  “Coordinates disabled due to security protocols in effect. Please try again,” it repeated in exactly the same tone.

  Scratching his head, Eric considered his options. “TSAI, same coordinates. Override code Blue Ultra.”

  “Override approved,” the TSAI replied.

  Eric didn’t expect that to work. He groaned because it would’ve saved him so much trouble earlier. He set the coordinates to the night before and tried to open the rift.

  “Please enter password,” his TSAI requested.

  He should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.

  Eric tried ‘Blue Ultra’ but it didn’t work. Even hyphenating it, the password was denied. That was when he remembered something Cora had told him about a code to open the door to Juliane’s son’s room. He didn’t expect it to work because it was a number, but Eric keyed in ‘1124’.

  “Password accepted,” the TSAI replied.

  Eric was stunned. Had the code always been intended for him, in order to help Cora? Or did it mean someone with Blue Ultra clearance was holding Tom and Juliane’s son, Damien, as well?

  The rift began to open in front of Eric, so he didn’t have time to think about it for the moment. He needed his wits about him, as he carefully smashed through space-time and crossed the short expanse to the other side.

  He pushed through the rift on the other side into a brightly-lit office and immediately ducked down behind the nearby desk. From there, he targeted a beam up at the rift to seal it. The damage to the environment was apparent with singed papers and the remnants of a computer scattered across the floor. Even worse, someone could’ve heard it.

  The rift was small so it should’ve sealed in a few moments, but it took longer, and Eric felt the damage must run deep. If it was this bad in the shielded area a year before the Event, the damage outside it must be catastrophic already.

  He managed to close the rift, and staying low to the ground, he took a careful look around. It was a huge open-plan office area and it appeared entirely empty of people. There were dozens of desks, some with view screens left on, but blank, while others had been turned off. The chairs were all the same make, with armrests too far down to effectively use.

  Once he was sure he was alone there, Eric tidied the floor so signs of his arrival wouldn’t be as easily noticed by security guards.

  He rose from behind the desk with the casual stance of someone who belonged where they were and clipped his badge on to his pocket so it was easily seen. He just hoped no one had been told to look out for him or had seen his unique form of entry into the building.

  There were a large number of rooms and corridors on this floor.

  He chose a direction and followed the corridor along, searching for signs of Cora or any kind of holding cells. None were immediately apparent. He assumed those in command didn’t want to make things too easy for visitors who shouldn’t be there.

  Ahead he noticed an elevator down, and then around a corner, a staircase. It didn’t look that big to him, but there was a large hollow at the centre of the building, with railings on three sides that looked down on to
the ground floor far below. That was probably what she meant, he decided.

  There wasn’t much he could do but follow the building along. Most of the rooms were offices; nothing resembling a jail, but perhaps they appeared different inside. Eric tried an unmarked office door, but it was locked. As he approached the corner of the building, he heard voices. He thought about going back but there was nowhere convenient to hide, so he attempted to look purposeful.

  He was surprised when they didn’t round the corner. Strangely, when he reached it there was only an empty corridor and he could no longer hear them. The corridor extended on for quite a distance, so they couldn’t have turned around and walked back. There were several doors branching off the corridor, but none were close.

  “TSAI, scan for life signs in the vicinity.”

  The AI answered in a pleasant female voice. “Query disabled due to security protocols in effect. Please try again.”

  “TSAI, same scan with Blue Ultra override.”

  “Request denied.”

  Realising that wasn’t going to work, Eric examined the walls and quickly found the outline of a set of double-doors that blended in seamlessly with the wall.

  “Very tricky indeed,” he said, smiling to himself. Eric glanced around then touched his hand to the nearest of the doors. It easily gave way beneath his fingers, opening.

  Eric moved into the corridor beyond, seeing two men in the distance who he’d likely overheard. He raised his head, carrying himself with an aloof, slightly arrogant attitude. He wanted to seem vaguely intimidating and hoped it would discourage people from questioning his right to be there.

  As he strode down the corridor, he noticed an alcove to the left side, where a man sat watching a large view screen. Eric couldn’t see what or rather who was on it, but he could guess. He also assumed this area was under surveillance, and he was truly sorry to his counterpart in this time frame, but he wasn’t going to leave Cora there.

  “Hello?” the guard asked, as he stopped Eric there.

  He looked in his fifties; his face appeared younger, but his grey hair gave him the impression of age.