Shifting Isles Box Set (Books 1-3): The Prisoner, S.P.I.R.I.T. Division, and Return to Tanas

by G. R. Lyons

  I'll find a way to you, she said. You'll remember at the sight of me…or him.

  “Wha–” he began to shout, trying to make sense of her words, then just as the officers fired their guns, Graeden felt another wave of energy shove against him, like an intense gust of air, and a bullet tore across his arm as he tumbled backward through the Gate.

  Chapter 30

  ZEVIC SPRINTED into the Gate chamber and lurched to a stop, waving his arms to keep his balance. He looked around frantically, and saw Dr. Keisen unconscious on the ground, being guarded by two officers, while Zhadeyn was struggling against two others, staring at the Gate for a moment before she lowered her head and cried in relief.

  Dr. Graeden was nowhere in sight.

  “No!” he shouted, storming toward Zhadeyn and backhanding her across the face. “What have you done!”

  Zhadeyn stopped struggling and straightened up as much as she could.

  “You can't touch him now,” she spat.

  “You stupid bitch!” he shouted, slapping her again. “What have you done?”

  “I got him back home!” she shouted back. “He's free of you!”

  “What is going on in here?” an elderly voice echoed around the chamber.

  All sound stopped as Zevic and the officers snapped to attention while Chairman Elder Lacnoshi strode slowly across the room.

  “Zevic?” the chairman asked. “Explain this.”

  Zevic clenched his hands into fists and kept his eyes averted.

  “It seems the Agori doctor has managed to escape,” he growled, darting a look at Zhadeyn.

  “Escape!” the chairman cried. “How is that possible? Zevic, I demand that you–”

  “These two helped him,” Zevic said, pointing accusing fingers at Zhadeyn and the unconscious doctor.

  “That is beside the point!” the old man growled. “This was your plan! Your responsibility! Now, what have you to say for yourself?”

  Zevic tightened his jaw while he tried to get control of his anger. “What would you have me do, my lord?”

  “Do? Do?” the old man spat, shaking with anger. “Go through the fucking Gate and bring him back! He's our property! Bring him back here!”

  Zevic's jaw dropped, and he actually turned and stared at the Elder before remembering himself and averting his eyes.

  “Go…th-through the Gate?” he stammered.

  “Yes! Right now! Move, gods damn it all!” The Elder yanked a gun out of the nearest officer's holster and tossed it to him. “Bring him back or kill him! But do something! This is on your head, Zevic!”

  Zevic stared down at the weapon in his hand, then up at the Gate. He took a hesitant step toward it, waiting for the Elder to change his mind, and slowly continued forward.

  He paused right before the glittering surface, swallowing heavily and taking a deep breath. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the Elder gesture violently at him to keep going. Holding his breath, Zevic straightened and stepped through.

  The gun almost slipped out of his hand as he reached the other side. The ground beneath his feet was a gleaming carpet of perfect marble, unblemished and clean, unlike the Council chambers. In the near distance, statues in the likenesses of the gods rose almost as high as the capitol building, the tallest structure on Tanas. Beyond the statues, elegant structures of steel and glass reached for the stars, the buildings covered over in flowers and vines.

  Everything around him looked clean and new, marvels beyond anything in his wildest dreams.

  He glanced up at the sky, and saw the Mother's moon just beginning to set in this part of the world, and even though that meant it was the early hours of morning, Zevic was amazed to see people casually strolling about, each wearing different clothes in an array of colors and styles, and everyone looked happy, smiling and laughing and moving about freely with their heads held high.

  There was not a guard in sight.

  Shaking himself, Zevic tucked the gun into his trousers where it couldn't be seen, and tried to keep his mind on his mission.

  Off to his right, he saw Dr. Graeden being carried, unconscious, by two men. The men skirted an enormous pool, bordered by benches and planter boxes, and continued on toward a strange, terraced building. Zevic followed them, keeping his head down and staying several steps behind, watching as they carried the doctor through a door labeled Emergency.

  Zevic looked around as he stepped inside the hospital, gaping at the clean, uncrowded space. A nurse rushed over with a rolling bed, and Dr. Graeden was carefully laid upon it while Zevic hung back, listening.

  “We don't know who he is,” one of the men said to the nurse. “We were walking through Divinity Square, and this fella just comes tumbling through the Tanasian Gate and hits the ground.”

  “Thank you, gentlemen,” the nurse said kindly.

  The two men nodded and left, and Zevic strolled along as the nurse moved Dr. Graeden, trying to keep out of sight as much as possible while he moved through the quiet hospital.

  “What do we have?” another nurse asked from the other end of the hallway.

  “Unconscious, gunshot wound to the arm, and–”

  The second nurse gasped. “That's Dr. Crawford!”

  The first nurse gave her a puzzled look. “The missing doctor who went to Agoran? Are you sure, Mari?”

  “Quite sure,” she said, taking over and moving the bed into a large exam room. “Page Dr. Ker, right now! Get him out of bed if you have to!”

  “Right away,” the first nurse said, running back down the hallway, not even noticing Zevic as she passed him, or at least not inclined to be suspicious of his presence.

  Zevic crept up to the doorway leading into the exam room and watched as the nurse, Mari, positioned the bed just so, then went to a glass screen in the midst of the wall behind the bed and touched a colored spot on it. The screen came to life, and Mari touched a few more colored spots and stepped aside.

  A bar of blue light tracked down the length of Dr. Graeden's body, from the top of his head to his toes, then blinked out. A second passed, and in the air, right above his body, a blue image of some sort appeared out of nowhere, matching the exact shape of the doctor.

  Zevic gaped in awe as the nurse studied the blue image, waving her hand to peel away different layers, then stopping when she came to a red spot on the image's arm.

  From another doorway, Dr. Jase came scrambling into the room.

  “GRAE!”

  He ran to the bed, then looked up at the blue image.

  “He's alive,” the nurse assured him. “Just a minor injury to the arm. But he's unconscious, and there's nothing in the scan to show any indication of brain trauma.”

  Dr. Jase, wearing a strange outfit of loose-fitting trousers and a shirt with short sleeves, studied the image for himself, then simply grabbed Dr. Graeden by the shoulders and shook him.

  “Gah, what?” Dr. Graeden gasped, putting his arms out defensively and blinking as he looked around.

  Dr. Jase yanked Dr. Graeden up into a sitting position and squeezed him before letting him back down.

  “Gods, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

  Dr. Graeden blinked up at him, a puzzled look on his face. Zevic glanced around, making sure he was unobserved, and reached for the gun hidden under his coat.

  “Where am I?” Dr. Graeden asked.

  “You're home, dude,” Dr. Jase said with a sigh of relief.

  “Where's that?”

  Zevic pulled back the hammer on the gun and got ready to raise it, moving as slowly as he could.

  Dr. Jase laughed. “Grae, come on. Don't be–”

  “Who's Grae?”

  Zevic froze, and saw Dr. Jase do the same.

  “Fuck, you've got to be kidding me,” Dr. Jase breathed. “Grae, please tell me your joking.”

  Dr. Graeden sat up and looked around. “What is this place? Where am I?”

  Zevic ducked out of sight as Dr. Jase whirled around, pressing a hand to hi
s forehead, then peeked back into the room as the doctor turned back to his friend and held out his hands.

  “I…I just…Fuck, I can't do this,” Dr. Jase muttered, shuffling over to a stool in the corner and sinking down onto it.

  “What is going on?” Dr. Graeden asked.

  The nurse, looking from one doctor to the other, turned on Dr. Graeden with a polite smile.

  “You are Dr. Graeden Crawford,” she said, patting his hand. “I'm Nurse Mari, and that's Dr. Jase Ker. You two have been friends for years, and we all work together here. University Hospital, in New Haven, on Agoran.”

  Dr. Graeden blinked at her. “What?”

  “You've been away on Tanas for the past six months or so,” she went on. “It was only supposed to be five, but they held you hostage, according to what Dr. Ker saw.”

  “Hostage…” Dr. Graeden breathed, shaking his head like he didn't quite believe any of it.

  “You don't remember anything?” she asked gently. “Anything at all?”

  Dr. Graeden frowned, shaking his head as he looked around the room.

  “Does the number 607 mean anything to you?” he suddenly asked.

  Nurse Mari frowned. “607?” She thought for a moment, shaking her head. “Could be a lot of things. Dr. Ker?”

  Dr. Jase looked up and shrugged. “I have no idea. A phone prefix? Passcode? I don't know. Grae?”

  Dr. Graeden shook his head. “That's it. There's nothing else.”

  “Fuck,” Dr. Jase groaned, hanging his head in his hands.

  “Dr. Ker,” Nurse Mari scolded.

  “I'm sorry,” he said, dropping his hands to his sides and leaning back against the wall. “It's just that I'm going to have to call his family, and his mother is going to kill me when I tell her what happened.”

  Dr. Jase stood, and Zevic darted away, not wanting to be recognized. He made his way back out of the hospital, marveling all the way at the glimmering surfaces, the clean, spacious rooms, the quick, confident strides of the doctors and nurses. He ran out the door, panting as he reached the street, and slowly returned to the Gate.

  He took the long way around, circling what the man had called Divinity Square, gaping at the craftsmanship of the statues, and the strong beauty of the buildings. As the suns rose in the distance, Zevic watched people walk in and out of shops, the windows boasting abundance that he'd never dreamed possible, and saw people trade small, shiny coins for clothing, cakes, jewels, and all manner of items to which he couldn't even begin to put a name.

  Zevic finally reached the row of Gates, stunned at the sight of them all in a row, trying to reconcile the Elders' claims that the only one left in existence was the one he'd come through. Zevic stood before the Tanasian Gate, putting his back to it as he watched the suns rise in glory over the prosperous, free city, and stepped back through to Tanas with his blood boiling in rage.

  The warm glow of rising sunslight disappeared, and Zevic found himself back in the dark, cold, aging chamber, the Elder and officers still right where they'd been when he left.

  “Well?” the chairman spat. “Where is he?”

  Zevic pulled the gun out from under his coat, tested its weight on the palm of his hand, and tossed it back to the officer it had been taken from.

  “He's dead,” Zevic announced, as evenly as he could.

  The chairman narrowed his eyes. “You're lying.”

  “Well, he's as good as dead, to us anyway,” Zevic spat. “Dr. Graeden has somehow managed to lose all his memory.” Zevic turned and glared at Zhadeyn. “I wonder how that could have possibly happened.”

  She glared back at him and lifted her chin.

  “So what do you propose we do now, Director?” the chairman spat. “Your entire scheme has fallen apart.”

  Zevic nodded. “You're right. It has.”

  Spinning around, Zevic whipped a truncheon out of the belt loop of the nearest officer, went around to the backside of the Gate, and swung as hard as he could.

  A crack appeared in the center of the Gate, radiating outward in spidery lines, the sound echoing throughout the chamber until the starglass crumbled into a thousand shards.

  “What have you done!” the chairman shouted.

  “Saved our people,” Zevic spat, tossing the truncheon aside. “You don't know what it's like over there. The things I saw…No one here should be allowed to see.”

  Because it would give them hope, Zevic thought. It would make them resentful, just as I now am.

  “Director Zevic,” the chairman fumed, “you will answer for this. You promised us treasures and now we have nothing!”

  Zevic turned his eyes on Zhadeyn.

  “No, not quite nothing,” he said. “I think there's still something we can get out of this.”

  He looked pointedly down at her belly, and saw the confidence finally drain from her expression as panic set in.

  “No! No!” she cried, struggling against the officers. “You can't have my child! I won't let you!”

  Zevic strode toward her and grinned.

  “I know just the place for you.” He turned back to the Elder. “Chairman, if I may…”

  The chairman waved him away. “Oh, be gone with you. Do whatever you like so long as you fix this mess of yours!”

  The Elder strode away, and two officers carried off Dr. Keisen while two others stood awkwardly at their old posts, now guarding nothing but an empty gold frame and a pile of shattered starglass on the floor.

  “You two,” Zevic ordered, snapping at the two officers holding Zhadeyn. “Come with me. We've got a bit of a journey ahead of us. Best get started.”

  “Zevic, you monster!” Zhadeyn shouted. “I'll kill you before I let you touch my baby!”

  Zevic rounded on her and sneered, “Well, we'll just see about that.”

  * * *

  GRAEDEN LAY very still while Dr. Ker stitched up the gash in his arm, not feeling a thing thanks to a local anesthetic. He looked around the room, trying to find anything that looked familiar, but even his own name didn't sound right to him.

  “Alright, that should do it,” Dr. Ker said, finishing with a bandage to cover the wound. “I must say, I don't think I've ever done surgery in my pajamas before.”

  Nurse Mari snorted. “Hardly surgery.” She gathered up bloody cloths and Dr. Ker's gloves and carefully disposed of them in a marked bin.

  “So,” Dr. Ker began, crossing his arms over his chest, “do you want to go home or would you rather hang out here until I can reach your folks?”

  Graeden looked around, absentmindedly picking at the frayed end of his sleeve, and asked, “Where's home?”

  “Top floor,” the doctor said, nodding upward.

  “I live in a hospital?”

  “Apartments,” Dr. Ker clarified. “It's a multipurpose building.”

  Graeden took another look around the room, then shrugged and hopped off the bed. Dr. Ker made a few notes on a wallscreen, then waved for Graeden to join him as he left the room.

  “Should probably get some breakfast here pretty soon,” Dr. Ker said as they reached an elevator. “Hungry?”

  “Uh.” Graeden thought. “No, not really.”

  “Well, come on.” The doctor stepped into the elevator and waited for Graeden to join him. “We'll stop by my place first. I have your suitcases.”

  “My what?”

  “Remember? They– Oh, right. Well, when we left Tanas, they held you back, but threw your suitcases through the Gate. Your apartment is locked to anyone but yourself, so I kept them until you got back.”

  Graeden gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything. They got out of the elevator, stopped at an apartment on the seventh floor, where the doctor stepped inside just long enough to retrieve two suitcases and come back out, then they got back in the elevator and rode it all the way to the top.

  “Alright,” the doctor said, stepping out of the elevator and coming to a stop. “Just so you know I'm telling you the truth…” He pointed down
the hallway. “Go walk toward that apartment there. The door will unlock once you're close enough.” Graeden looked at him, puzzled, and Dr. Ker added, “Biometric key.”

  Frowning, Graeden walked slowly toward the indicated apartment, and before he was within reach of the door handle, he heard the lock click, and the door opened on its own. Graeden looked back and saw the doctor give him a friendly smile as he came over and joined him.

  They went inside, and while the doctor set down the suitcases, Graeden surveyed the space.

  “It's so…empty.”

  “Yeah, well, that's how you always liked it. Clean and simple.”

  Graeden took a few steps forward, walking down into the sunken living room, and turned in a circle as he looked around.

  “It doesn't really feel like home.”

  “It will, once you get your memory back. Speaking of which.” Dr. Ker grimaced. “I'm gonna run home and call your folks. Tell 'em you're back. Gods know they'll want to see you. Your mom was pretty torn up when we all came back without you. Though, your grandfather was even worse. He wanted to go after you, but we convinced him it was too dangerous.”

  “Dangerous?”

  Dr. Ker opened his mouth to answer, then shook his head. “There'll be a lot to talk about. I'll go let them know you're back, though, so they can stop worrying. About that, at least.”

  He turned toward the door, and Graeden called out, “Dr. Ker?”

  “Jase, please,” the doctor said, turning to face him.

  “Jase,” Graeden repeated, feeling awkward at calling a doctor by his first name. “Is there any way to get my memory back?”

  Dr. Ker thought for a moment. “I really don't know. The scans showed nothing, which is odd. If there was brain trauma, that would be one thing, but I have no explanation for this.” He frowned, thinking, then brightened. “Your grandfather might be able to help. He's Tanasian, after all. Maybe he'll be able to see something we can't.”

  Before Graeden could ask what he meant, Dr. Ker raced out the door with an eager look on his face. The door shut quietly, leaving Graeden alone in the stark, lifeless space.