‘I can see,’ he said. ‘You’re uglier than ever.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Are you all right?’
I nodded.
‘Sorry that took a while,’ Chad said. ‘Ferdy and I got completely lost in the cyclone.’
‘It’s okay.’
I wiped blood from my face. At least I’d heal quickly.
Chad clapped my shoulder. ‘You’ll never win a beauty contest,’ he said. ‘But you never would anyway.’
Great. Things are back to normal.
Liber8tor was parked a short distance from us. Stumbling back to it, Chad and I settled into the pilot’s seats. We hadn’t eaten for some time, but fortunately, there were emergency rations—food bars—onboard the ship. These could sustain us for days.
Chewing thoughtfully on these, we overlooked the field where Chad had dispatched the robot. The whole area was a terrific mess. Other than his supernova blast, I’d uprooted trees and demolished miles of landscape. Gazing at it all made me feel vaguely depressed.
‘How are we going to get out of here?’ I asked. ‘The only door out leads to hundreds of years in the future.’
‘There might be another exit.’
There could be, but I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever find it. The whole region seemed vast. We’d tried breaching the underground factory and been well and truly repulsed. We’d only faced three robots, but there could be three hundred down there.
And even if there were another exit, we might never find it. We were only a couple of teenagers, and an alien intelligence thousands of years more advanced than us had constructed this place. If they wanted to keep someone locked in, they could probably do it without thinking twice about it.
We were like ants in someone else’s ant farm.
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘Do you have any ideas about how we can escape?’
‘Ferdy has been thinking about this,’ Ferdy said. ‘An examination of the outer boundaries of the hive has not revealed another exit.’
He stopped.
‘And?’ I said.
‘There is a way out of our current dilemma,’ Ferdy said. ‘But it is not without risk.’
Chad and I stopped chewing.
‘Risk is our middle name!’ Chad said.
‘We do not know our middle names,’ Ferdy pointed out.
‘I mean—well, what’s the plan?’
‘We may not survive the encounter, which is why Ferdy was reticent in suggesting it. In fact, there’s a chance we could completely upset the timeline.’
‘The timeline?’ I said. ‘Do you mean—’
‘Yes, friend Axel,’ Ferdy said. ‘Returning home would involve using Liber8tor as a time machine.’
Chapter Twenty-One
A time machine.
The words echoed in my head. They brought back memories, and a lot of them weren’t good. We’d time-traveled before using machines built in the future. It was dangerous because so many things could go wrong. Going into the past could disrupt the timeline. Seeing the future could show you things you didn’t want to see.
I glanced over at Chad, who was thoughtfully chewing his food bar. Traveling into the future had almost wrecked our friendship and my relationship with Brodie.
‘How can we use Liber8tor as a time machine?’ Chad asked. ‘We don’t have the equipment or know-how.’
‘Ferdy has been working on this for several weeks.’
Chad frowned. ‘Without telling us?’
‘Ferdy can operate independently,’ he said. ‘He doesn’t need your permission.’
That shut Chad up. ‘Okay.’
‘As you know,’ Ferdy continued, ‘this ship is an experimental Tagaar vessel. There were signs the Tagaar considered developing it for time travel, but did not have the necessary knowledge to do so.’
‘And now?’ I said.
‘Ferdy knew how to build a time machine from our previous adventure.’ Ferdy paused. ‘The necessary modifications have already been made.’
‘Didn’t we need…’ I tried to remember what the equipment was called. ‘Temporal resonators to make time travel possible?’
‘A temporal resonator was a fundamental requirement for the time machine developed by James Price. Ferdy has improved upon this, so it is no longer a requirement. Francium—a rare element—is still required for time travel, but we have enough on board for at least two journeys.’
‘But how does traveling in time help us?’ I asked, and then realized I already knew the answer. ‘Ignore that question. If we went through the gate now, we’d be hundreds of years in the future. But if we go back hundreds of years now, and then through the gate, we’ll end up at pretty much the time we left.’
‘There is a fundamental error in your reasoning, friend Axel,’ Ferdy said.
‘Okay,’ I said.
I glanced over at Chad. He had a worried expression.
What’s he thinking?
Ferdy continued. ‘You’re assuming the hive has been here for hundreds of years,’ he said. ‘That would seem to not be the case. It appears to have only been here a year.’
‘So if we tried going back hundreds of years in time here—’
‘Ferdy is unable to calculate what would occur,’ he said. ‘Travelling back to a time when the hive did not exist would most likely result in our complete destruction.’
Chad still looked distracted. ‘Sounds bad.’
‘The safest course of action would be to travel through the gate first and then go backward in time from the other side.’
‘So we’d be hundreds of years in the future on the other side, but then we could travel back in time to our present day?’
‘That is correct. Judging by the rate that time is flowing, the current year outside the hive is now sometime in the twenty-ninth century.’
What would that future era look like? I couldn’t even imagine. Still, I was expecting Chad to look excited or even hopeful. Instead, he looked more worried than ever.
‘Chad?’ I said. ‘What do you think?’
‘I think I’m scared.’
‘About?’
He turned to me. ‘Have you forgotten that there’s a dead version of you in a morgue?’ he said. ‘There’s not too many ways you could have ended up there. The most obvious explanation is time travel, which is exactly what we’re talking about doing. It’s a sure-fire way to make history come true.’
‘If that is me in the morgue,’ I said. ‘Then I—he—whatever, traveled back at least a year into the past. We’re going back to our own time.’
He shook his head. ‘A lot could still go wrong.’
Bang!
The blast hit the outside of Liber8tor as a shape appeared overhead.
‘It’s another one of those robots,’ Chad said.
‘Correction,’ Ferdy said. ‘More than a dozen robots are heading for Liber8tor with several more in transit.’
‘I think we’ve outlasted our stay here,’ I said. ‘Ferdy, set a course for the exit.’
‘I tried to find the hive’s exit,’ Chad reminded me.
Ferdy spoke up. ‘The exit on this side is only a few microns thick,’ he said. ‘That is why you weren’t able to find it. Ferdy will be able to exit through using Liber8tor’s sensors.’
Chad still looked worried, but another blast hit the vessel's side before he could say anything. He clamped his mouth shut as we zoomed away. I told Ferdy to set an automatic firing pattern at the robots. It wouldn’t stop them, but it would slow them down.
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘Is the ship ready to pass through the exit?’
‘Liber8tor is ready.’
I accelerated the vessel. A dozen robots were now firing at us.
‘How far are we from the gate?’ Chad asked.
‘Three minutes,’ Ferdy replied.
The landscape below us slowly became mountainous as we entered the rocky region we’d landed in. It was a good thing we had Ferdy with us; otherwise, we’d never find this
place again.
Liber8tor shuddered again. And again.
Examining the console, Chad shook his head. ‘That factory must have a machine that produces those things,’ he said. ‘There are more than fifty of them chasing us.’
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘How long till we reach the exit?’
‘Forty-five seconds.’
‘Chad?’ I said, turning to him. ‘Are you okay with this?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘But I don’t have another plan.’
I turned back to the controls. ‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘There’s no sign of the exit.’
‘Ferdy must have control of the ship to navigate us through.’
‘Then you have control.’
Ferdy flew us low over the rocky countryside. We zigzagged between two mountains. At the last moment, I spotted an enclosure in the cliff face. I thought back to our game of chess that Chad and I had made. I glanced back at him. He still looked worried.
‘We’ll be okay,’ I said.
‘I probably will. It’s you I’m worried about.’
Ferdy spoke up. ‘Ten seconds till we reach the exit,’ he said. ‘Five seconds.’
‘Axel,’ Chad said. ‘I’m not sure—’
We passed through the exit.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The ship flew down the long dark tunnel. It was less disconcerting that my journey through from the other direction, but still frightening. I swallowed as my eyes searched the darkness.
‘Ferdy?’ I said. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘Everything is fine,’ Ferdy said. ‘How is Axel?’
‘I mean…is the ship okay? Are we traveling through to the other side?’
‘Everything is proceeding as required.’
A tiny white dot appeared in the distance. Then there was a flash of blinding light followed by a glimpse of sky and darkened trees.
‘Yes!’ I yelled. ‘We did it!’
Liber8tor zoomed low over the valley. Night had fallen, and there was little to see, but I saw stands of trees and dark forest.
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘Put us down.’
Chad turned to me as the ship landed.
‘This is it,’ he said. ‘The future.’
‘Judging by the position of the stars,’ Ferdy said, ‘the year is 2841AD.’
Grabbing Chad’s arm, I told him I was heading outside.
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ he said.
I didn’t reply. Instead, I exited into the night and inhaled air that was clear and flesh. It was intoxicating, almost as if it were free of toxins or pollution. Maybe humans have finally stopped destroying the environment and gotten around to repairing the planet. Moonlight cast a stark light across the valley, carving dark shadows into the tree-covered hills. An owl hooted, soared low over the clearing, and disappeared into the gloom.
2841AD, I thought. Incredible!
At first, I’d thought the sky was just full of stars, but I’d been wrong. I stared at it as Chad joined me.
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘What are those things? In the sky, I mean.’
Dozens of tiny circular objects like little donuts orbited the planet.
‘It’s best to not know too much about the future,’ Ferdy said. ‘Suffice to say, the human race in this era routinely travels across the galaxy and interacts with dozens of other alien civilizations.’
Chad nudged my elbow. ‘Look at the moon.’
The moon was different. I’d only glanced at it before, but now I realized a shining silver object dominated half its visible surface.
That’s got to be some kind of moon base.
‘That is Armstrong base,’ Ferdy said.
‘Are we safe here?’ Chad asked. ‘Are there any people nearby?’
‘This whole area seems deserted. There are no people within a ten-mile radius.’
My eyes searched the gloom and focused on a pedestal at the edge of the clearing. I activated the light on my wristcom. Two figures on the pedestal’s cornice overlooked the clearing.
‘Wow,’ Chad said.
I recognized the statues immediately: it was me and Chad. They were made from bronze and had plaques at the base of each. Moss covered the statues. Beneath the moss, time and weather had tarnished the bronze to green and black. I gazed open-mouthed at them.
‘Well,’ I managed. ‘That’s unexpected.’
Chad shook his head. ‘I never doubted they’d build a statue to honor The Chad,’ he said. ‘But I was sort of hoping it would happen while I was alive.’
‘You are alive,’ I pointed out. ‘At least…I mean…’
Time travel was complicated. I stared at the plaques. They each had our names on them—Axel and Chad—but two lines of text beneath:
Lost in the line of duty
Never forgotten
‘What does that mean?’ I asked, confused. ‘We never get back?’
Does that mean we really are dead?
‘Never fear,’ Ferdy said. ‘We are still in a future era. You can think of this as an alternate history. Once we return to the past, the timeline will reset, and our lives will proceed as normal. These statues will never be built.’
‘A shame,’ Chad said. ‘It’s a good likeness.’
But I was staring at the words on the plaque. There was another possibility, one that I didn’t want to dwell on. It was possible that we never successfully returned to the past. Using Liber8tor as a time machine might not work, and we’d be killed. I thought about Brodie and the others. How disappointed they would be.
My eyes focused on Never forgotten. In this era, Brodie and the others had already been dead for centuries. They might even have their own statues somewhere. Who knew? In this timeline, they’d cried their tears and lived out their lives. Did Brodie fall in love with someone else? Get married? Have kids? I hoped so. I wouldn’t have wanted her wasting her life waiting for me.
‘Chad?’ I said.
He was staring at the statue. ‘There is another option.’
‘Which is?’
Chad turned to me. ‘That we don’t risk it.’ He nodded to the darkened forest. ‘We’re safe here. Right now, you and I are alive. We could contact The Agency—or whatever version of it still exists—and live out our lives here. There’s no risk. We might both live to be a hundred.’ He nodded to the monument. ‘And there are statues of us. That’s hard to beat.’
‘You can’t mean it,’ I said.
He sighed. ‘Axel,’ he said. ‘It’s time travel. We’ve seen before what can happen: a lot of bad and not much good.’
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘What do you think we should do?’
‘Liber8tor has not been tested as a time machine. Chad is right in saying that many things can go wrong. Ferdy calculates only a seventy-five percent chance that we will return to the correct time.’
Seventy-five percent.
Those weren’t great odds.
‘Still,’ Ferdy continued. ‘All of life involves risk. We don’t know what will happen from one moment to the next. Anything is possible.’
I turned to Chad. ‘We need to take the chance,’ he said. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see Brodie again. And Dan. And Ebony.’
‘I want that too. Just be aware that things might not go as planned.’
I nodded. This whole adventure had started because we wanted to discover our origins: family, parents, our past, our true identities. Instead, it had taken us into the far future. Among everything else, we’d found the reader for the second book, but the book itself was wrecked. In my heart, I was pretty sure we needed both books and both readers. Without them, the chances of learning our true origins were sunk.
‘I know,’ I said. ‘But things rarely go as planned.’
We got back onboard Liber8tor and started the engines. Giving control of the ship to Ferdy, he made the necessary calculations. At the same time, Chad and I settled into the pilot’s seats. Chad still looked worried, but I had faith in Ferdy’s abilities.
‘The engines are ready,’ Ferdy said.
‘What do we need to do?’ I asked.
‘Simply fly the ship around the clearing, and Ferdy will activate the device. We should enter the past in the next few seconds.’
Taking off, I did as Ferdy instructed and flew slow loops around the darkened clearing. I caught a last glimpse of our statues.
‘If we get back,’ I said. ‘We’ll never have those statues.’
Chad gave me a wan smile. ‘Honestly,’ he said. ‘It’ll be worth it.’
The scene outside the ship turned to a rainbow of whirling colors. There was a bright flash and then—
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bright sunlight burst through Liber8tor’s windshield. I saw blue sky, trees, and distant hills. Yes, we’ve done it! Taking the controls, I peered out the window at the clearing below.
‘I don’t see the others,’ I said.
‘Me neither,’ Chad said, gazing down. ‘Our statues aren’t there either.’
‘Probably a good sign. That means we haven’t been missing long enough for them to be built.’
‘Ferdy,’ Chad said. ‘What year is it? Are we back in our own time?’
‘The pollution content in the air indicates we have traveled back to the early twenty-first century.’
‘That’s encouraging,’ I said.
I slowed the ship to hover over the clearing. The hive was still present. We may have only been gone a short time. Maybe the others were still around. I opened a channel on my wristcom and tried to contact them.
No answer.
Chad frowned. ‘That’s strange,’ he said. ‘I hope they’re okay.’
I also tried the channel for The Agency, and there was still no reply.
‘Let’s head back,’ I said. ‘It’ll only take a few minutes.’
We flew across the country, not speaking. Something was wrong, and we both knew it. The problem was not knowing what it could be. We were back in the past. Why weren’t the others answering? Had something happened to them? And what had happened to The Agency? Why weren’t Mister Brown and the other agents answering our calls?
It didn’t take long for us to reach New York. This calmed me somewhat. At least New York is still there. Everything looked normal.
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