Angela Verdenius (4 page)

“But the impact is not just on our people, but other races.”  The General looked up from where he was perusing the screen on his desk.  His expression was impersonal.  “Indeed, we need to figure out if it’s worthwhile letting out who and what you are to the public.  Not just our people, but species everywhere.”

“Sorry I’m such a problem,” she said bitingly.  “Maybe you should have left me.”

He shook his head.  “Not acceptable.  If we knew where you were, others would find out.”

“I’m amazed you didn’t just pull the plug on me.”

He was perplexed.  “Pull the plug?”

“Turn off the life support.  Kill me.”

For the first time, he looked astounded.  “Where would you get an idea like that?”  He glanced at Amirov as if the captain would have the answer.

Amirov cast her a glance before giving a slight shrug.

Molly the Mystery Woman, that’s what she was.  Woman of mystery, older than sin. Almost.  Well, maybe not quite.  Or at all.  Molly looked around wryly.  “I can feel the love.”

“Please explain yourself.”  The Colonel looked disapprovingly at her.

“I’m not a prisoner, not allowed free, you have no idea what to do with me, and you won’t kill me.  Are you going to experiment on me?”  Now she felt a little queasy.  “I’m not good with pain.”

They were all three staring at her as though she’d lost her mind.  Except for Amirov.  He was as impassive as ever.

The General rallied first.  Leaning forward, he linked his fingers and spoke slowly and distinctly, as though to an imbecile.  “We do not experiment.  We do not kill needlessly.  In your time, atrocities happened.  They do in this time as well, but we don’t instigate them.”  He took a deep breath and continued, “You were discovered by a Professor’s research.  The implications of your discovery needs to be discussed and studied at length before any further decisions can be made.”

“How long is that going to take?”

He sat back.  “Meetings are being held already.  In fact, I’m due to meet with the other leaders in one hour.”

“Then you’ll know?”

“Patience wasn’t a virtue of your time, was it?”

“Well, some tried.”  Now that she knew she wasn’t facing anything unpleasant, Molly relaxed a little.  “What do your reckon the outcome will be?”

The General stared at her.

“You must have some idea.”

“You will be informed.”  He nodded abruptly to Captain Amirov.  “Take her back to her room.”

“Hang on a minute.”  Molly held one hand up.  “What’s to say that someone on this spaceship, or whatever it is, won’t talk?  Hasn’t talked already?”

“Every man and woman on this research station is sworn to secrecy.”

“Oh, that worked well back in my time.  Secrets never got out.  Anyone sworn to secrecy just kept it automatically.”  Who were they kidding?

“Narc Military and those working for them are implanted with a chip that automatically wipes their memory of every secret of the military if they attempt to talk.”  The General regarded her gravely.  “Or if any attempt is made to extract that information by someone.”

Wow.  Okay, but…
“What about the Professor and his happy little lot?  They know about me.”

“They have no memory of you,” he calmly informed her.

“You wiped their memory?”

“I believe that’s what I just said.”

“Wow.  I guess Rights Acts of any kind never made it this far, huh?”

He just looked at her before standing up, the Major and General flanking him.  “Captain.”  He looked fleetingly at her.  “Molly.”  He said her name like it stuck a little in his throat.

Maybe he wasn’t so impassive after all.  Probably didn’t like her.  That would make her lose sleep.  Not.  With a sigh, Molly turned and started for the door.

“Molly.”

She glanced over her shoulder to find the General watching her curiously.  “Yes?”

“You won’t be hurt.”  He looked a little surprised that he’d even said that much.

Not as surprised as Molly.  “Oh.  Okay.  Thanks.”

The Colonel and the Major were looking from the General to Molly in astonishment, an expression quickly masked behind their normally stoic features.

Captain Amirov watched as impassively as ever as Molly passed him.  She could feel the heat from his body as her shoulder brushed against him.  She could almost swear she felt him flinch a little, but it just had to be her imagination.

Going back to her room seemed like a good idea.  She needed time to process everything.  Sure, she’d had a lot of knowledge pumped into her brain until it was almost at exploding point, and the calming liquid had helped her accept everything and not scream herself mad, but she still suddenly craved quietness.  Alone time.  Time to think.

When the door slid shut behind her, leaving her in solitude, she looked around as though seeing it for the first time.  In fact, it was the second time she’d seen the room assigned to her.

The walls were smooth, a soft grey.  It appeared empty except for the control panel on the wall beside the door.  From playing with the panel earlier under Dr Surnace’s guidance, she’d found that all furniture slid into the walls and only appeared when she used the control panel to bring them out.

Right now she wanted more than an empty room, so she turned to the panel and started pressing, not stopping until the bunk slid out from one wall, a small table and two chairs from a door in the floor, a viewing screen of some kind on the far wall, and the door to the bathing cabin and her new wardrobe.  In the corner near the table stood a food and drink dispenser ready to cater to her whims.

Crossing to the bunk, she lay down on her back and contemplated the ceiling.  It felt strange not to scream and freak out, to be so darned calm instead.  So accepting.  Probably a good thing, because she wasn’t sure the people in this time knew how to use a straitjacket, or even what one was.  

What was really weird, however, was being aware that everyone she knew was dead and gone thousands of years ago.  She was the only person from Earth alive.

Wally, the bastard, was dead.  And lucky for him, because if he was alive right now she’d beat him to death herself.

Molly half wished she could freak out just a little.  To feel a little, well, human.  Instead, all she felt suddenly was sadness, and she didn’t stop the tear that welled up to drip down her cheek.

Wally had really screwed her properly this time.  And not in a good way.

Chapter 3

Narc Military Research Space Station

Narc Section Five

Deep Space

Drawing in a deep breath, Alsandair knocked on the door and waited politely for it to open.  It did so almost immediately, Molly brushing past him eagerly.

“Let’s go exploring!”

It was the first words out of her mouth every morning.  Alsandair turned to face her, his gaze running over her eager expression.  Yes, that expression was the first thing that greeted him every morning as well.  Eagerness and curiosity.

Molly was captivated by the new time in which she was currently living.  Everything fascinated her – the people on the research station, the soldiers, the food, the technology, the clothes, the customs – everything. 

Alsandair found himself looking forward to that bright-eyed expression as soon as he awoke in the mornings.  He found that puzzling. It was natural that Molly would be fascinated with everything.  It was natural, as the Captain, that he would be the one teaching her about the new things in her life.  So why did her fascination and delight make him smile inwardly?

There was no reason whatsoever.

Keeping his expression cool, he studied her as she swung around to face him. 

“What is it today?’ she queried.  “What are we going to see?”

“You’ve seen everything aboard the station.”

“No I haven’t.”

“You’ve seen everything that pertains to you.”

“‘Pertains to me’?  Crap, what kind of hoity-toity attitude is that?”  Bracing her hands on rounded hips, she rocked backward and forward on her heels.  “Come on, Cap’n, I’m sure there are things you haven’t shown me.”

Outwardly cool, inwardly curious, he raised one eyebrow. 

“There are weapons on this station-ship-thing, right?”

“Every station has weapons.”

“You haven’t shown them to me.”

“There’s nothing to see unless a battle ensues.”

“Why?”

“Because all lasers are secured in compartments, appearing only when the controls are engaged.”

“Ah.  I see.”  Molly continued to rock back and forth, her head angled slightly as she studied him back in turn.  Her eyes lit up suddenly.  “Show me the battle room.”

“Battle room?”

“The controls, the guns.  Your planning room. You know, where the big military nobs go when there’s a fight.”

Alsandair caught the gaze of the soldier standing beside her door, not missing the twitching of the woman’s lips.  He frowned.  Since when did soldiers show emotion?

Since Molly had arrived.  That was the bald fact.  Since Molly had arrived he’d heard an unexpected crack of laughter from a solider, seen Cali smiling widely, and the dour cook in the big dining room had actually given her an extra serve of dessert without a murmur of disapproval for taking more than the correctly allotted serving size.

His five thousand year old artefact was having a bit of an affect on some of the people in the Research Station.  Molly was bringing out more emotion in the people than he’d seen since he’d been stationed here.  He wasn’t sure yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  It couldn’t be damaging, though, could it?

More damaging would be what this sprite was starting to make him feel.

“So?”  Molly broke through his thoughts.

“There’s nothing much of interest there.”

“That’s what you said about a lot of things, and you were wrong.”  Big eyes sparkling with eagerness, she teetered up on tip-toes.  “Please?”

He sighed inwardly.  “Very well.”

Just as he’d expected, his agreement had her beaming.  Those apple cheeks rounded as she smiled widely, the blue eyes sparkled, and she almost bounced on the spot.   “Yes!”

She was enchanting. 
No, she wasn’t
.  Alsandair couldn’t stop the frown that followed hard on the heels of his initial thought. 

“Don’t be such a baby.”  Grabbing his arm, she gave a tug.  “Let’s go.”

Alsandair didn’t miss the smile on the soldier’s face out of the corner of his eye, but when he snapped his head around to glare at her, the soldier was staring stoically ahead, her face expressionless.

Molly was definitely starting to be a bad influence.

“You can go ahead to the War Room,” Alsandair ordered the soldier, who saluted and marched on forward.

“Not very nice of you.” Molly fell into step beside him.  “A ‘please’ wouldn’t hurt, you know.”

“I give orders, I don’t beg,” he returned tightly.

“No shit, Sherlock.  I figured that out pretty quickly.”

Listening to her ancient sayings could be entertaining, dare he admit, but sometimes they left him really puzzled.   He glanced down to where her glossy brown hair bounced along just below his shoulder level.  The thick tresses emitted a faint scent of some kind, but it was enough to filter through his senses tantalizingly.

Ridiculous
.  Ruthlessly pushing the thought aside, Alsandair looked ahead once more.

“So, I found out what food is eaten out here, the clothes and other things.  Who are your enemies?”  Molly queried.  “Or don’t you have enemies any more?”

“We have those we watch closely.”

“Watch closely?  You mean enemies.”

“The term enemy is not something we like to use unless an outright attack occurs or a war is on.”

“Bugger me, political correctness must be about the only thing that survived my time.”  She rolled her eyes.  “Sort of like cockroaches.”

Alsandair looked down to meet her twinkling eyes.  Unbidden, he smiled.

“Good gravy, is that really a smile on your dial?  Wonders will never cease!” 

The smile had come without thought.  Alsandair arched a brow at her.

“Oh now, come on, Amirov, a smile won’t hurt you.  You need to loosen up a little.”  She punched him lightly on the arm.  “You’ll never get laid with an attitude like yours.”

“If you’re referring to sexual intimacy-”

“Oh my God!  You actually got the connection!”  Stopping, Molly stared up at him in surprise. 

“Of course.  We’re not total fools.”

“I never said you were,” she retorted.  “It just caught me by surprise.”

“Why?”  Catching her arm, he tugged her into step beside him once more.   He could feel the warmth of her body when she accidentally bumped into him, missing it almost as instantly when she moved away a little.   “I didn’t grow up on the Research Station.  I’ve travelled.  We all have.”

“So you’re saying that some of the things I say have survived the centuries?”

“There are similarities on other planets and with other species.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard about it.”  Suspicion laced her tone.  “Are there others like me out there somewhere?”

“Trust me, there is no one quite like you, Molly.”

There was a snort of laughter from up ahead, but when Alsandair snapped his gaze up, the soldier walking ahead didn’t have her shoulders shaking with mirth.

“So there are others similar to me?”  Molly asked.

Was there eagerness in her tone?  Alsandair glanced down at her.  The wariness in her gaze was unexpected.  “There are similarities,” he repeated.  “But no one completely like you.” 

“We’re here, Sir.”  The soldier came to a stop at the side of the closed door.

“Wait here.”  Alsandair approached the door and it slid open.  He gestured with one hand for Molly to enter and followed her inside, the door sliding shut behind them.

As Molly looked around, Alsandair wondered at her thoughts.  The deserted room was bland to his eyes.  Computers lined the front panel, there were several control stations in the centre of the room from where the laser guns were controlled.  A large screen on the far wall showed the galaxy with the main planets enlarged and labelled.  On a thin panel beside it were different coloured dots that represented the crafts the different species flew.